"Is that really something someone only at the peak of Rank 2 can conjure?" Watching the fight unfold near the edge of the crater, Faulus and Valyr were left looking at the transformation Loreina's summon had undergone in silence, with Faulus eventually breaking the silence as their eyes slightly widened in surprise.
Standing a fair distance away from Loreina was not a humanoid-looking being made out of greenery anymore, containing a semblance of consciousness in order to act as the commander of her summons. Instead, what stood before her now seemed to be a machine that only knew carnage as its goal, exuding a level of killing intent that seemed uncharacteristic for a summon based on plants.
Then again, the plant commander's current appearance barely resembled anything like a plant.
With its stature seemingly growing a couple heads in height, the plant commander was now covered in thick plate armor, all of which were of an earthy brown color due to the transformation that had occurred earlier. Aside from that, the plant commander now wielded weapons that would normally be wielded by humans, but of a larger size.
"Seriously, I think this is a bit too much." With his attention fixated towards the two large scimitars being wielded by the plant commander, Hal could not stop himself from scratching the back of his head, wondering what he had done for Loreina to act like this.
"Didn't you say you didn't want both sides to go all out earlier? Where did that notion go?"
"…" Hearing the question, Loreina responded with silence, ordering the plant commander to make a move in her mind as she distanced herself once more.
"Ai…" Letting out a slightly exasperated sigh, Hal decided to end the fight as quickly as possible, commanding the other wolves through the wolf king to congregate near the latter as they prepared for what would be their final bout.
"Awooo!" Howling in unison as if to respond affirmatively to Hal's orders, the other wolves swiftly arrived near the wolf king, standing around it as all of them looked for an opening they could exploit as the transformed plant commander continued to move closer.
However…
Whoosh!
Before the wolves could even find an opening and realize what was happening, the plant commander seemed to have appeared in front of them all of a sudden, slashing out both of its blades outward in a horizontal arc as it rendered all of the wolves incapable of fighting any further…
Except for the wolf king.
Swoosh!
Empowered by the mana Hal had given it earlier, the wolf king was barely able to dodge the sudden attack from the plant commander, feeling a great amount of heartache as all of its comrades had fallen victim to the latter's viciousness.
Sadly, even though the wolf king knew that the best move was to move away from the commander and find a way to retaliate, considering that it had not really expended a lot of energy, the wolf king had received a certain command in its mind, allowing its body to be enveloped in the aura being exuded by the plant commander as the two stood face-to-face for what would be the final time.
Bang!
Without any shred of mercy, the plant commander sent both of its blades downward, cutting the wolf king into three parts as the latter gradually dispersed into specks of mana, eventually disappearing into thin air.
Not long after, the other wolves also began to disperse into thin air, as well as the other plant summons that had been felled by the wolves before the plant commander's eventual transformation.
With that, the only summons that remained within the crater was the transformed plant commander, as well as the remaining plant summons that were lucky enough to escape the wolves' frenzied attacks from earlier. Then again, the latter group looked to be worse for wear, with a great portion of their limbs barely connected to their torsos.
"Now…" Making her way in front of the transformed plant commander, Loreina looked at Hal with a solemn expression as she threw her a question. "Are you willing to continue this fight… or would you like to admit defeat?"
"I'll… admit defeat." Though he deliberated on the question for a bit, Hal eventually chose to end the fight then and there, bitterly smiling as he thought about Loreina's condition.
Surprisingly, as if those words from the young man had woken Loreina up, the personality the young woman took on during the fight gradually disappeared, her demeanor returning to how it was from before the fight.
"Though I did say not to go all out… you could've taken me a bit more seriously, no?" Not long after, she let out a slightly annoyed sigh as she looked at Hal, who could only bitterly smile in response.
"If you were in my shoes, you would have understood what I felt when I saw you transform that summon of yours" said Hal. "If anything, it felt like you had gone all out during that fight."
"Eh? Did I really?" As if she briefly forgot what had transpired during their fight, Loreina turned around to look at her remaining summons, eventually focusing her attention on the commander she had transformed near the end of their fight.
"But I haven't really gone all out yet, though?" Pointing at the commander she had transformed, Loreina turned to look back at Hal before tilting her head in slight confusion, causing the latter to be left at a loss for words as he wondered whether or not to believe in her statement.
"In any case…" Deciding not to argue about whether she had gone all out or not any further, Hal quickly shifted the topic to the next fight. "With how things concluded, you're the winner of this fight."
"As long as I get a higher chance of obtaining the leader spot, I guess." Also finding it pointless to argue with Hal as to whether or not she had gone all out during their fight, Loreina decided to agree with the verdict of the fight, heading back to the edge of the crater as Hal followed suit soon after.
"Let us take a short break to recuperate our physical and mental conditions before continuing on with the fights," said Hal after he sat down at the edge of the crater once more, to which the others nodded in agreement.
"By then…" After that, he turned to look at Valyr before smiling.
"Would you finally be willing to choose your opponent, Valyr?"
