He had expected Luna to be a typical mage with weak agility and defense but high magic attack power and mana. But from what he had just witnesses, he had severely underestimated Luna by judging her abilities based on the norm. After all, even the Nebula System had claimed that she was someone who had high potential and could be beneficial to his growth.
Not only was she surprisingly nimble, her combat skills felt like that of an expert and her magic augmented her excellent skills perfectly. Each movement of her body, even the slightest twitch of her toe had a reason behind it that made her all the more fatal towards her enemies.
She looked more like a combat mage or a battle mage rather than a typical mage as her flames burst out in all directions around her making her look like a flaming goddess.
The ball of flames that engulfed her formed a sphere of absolute death five meters around her and acted as both her defense and offense at the same time.
Zach watched with his mouth wide open in shock as Luna raised her hand slowly in front of her. The ball of flames surrounding her followed her action and rose up like a geyser of flame emerging out of the ground. It engulfed the Dark Wood Hedgehog like a huge vertical tower of flame trapping it from all sides in a prison that had no escape route.
Luna had a serious look on her face that felt slightly pained as if a lot of her power was being drained at once but it wasn't something she couldn't handle.
The Dark Wood Hedgehog struggled within the flaming prison as it felt the danger to its life. Out of its beastly instinct, it shot out several of its thorns towards its assailant that whistled through the air like high velocity darts.
Luna had already taken this kind of attack in account before she formed the flaming prison around the beast. She had already known all the basic traits and abilities of the beast so she had taken the necessary precautions in advance and had blocked the vision of the beast in preparation. The beast was only capable of launching blind attacks thanks to her prudence and even those attacks were nullified by the flaming barrier that surrounded it. So, she wasn't concerned about such an attack reaching her and put all her strength into maintaining her attack rhythm.
The temperature of the flame walls was so high that the thorns burned to ashes before even reaching them which made all of its ranged attacks completely useless.
Zach couldn't see a single thing beyond the wall of flames but he was sure that Luna was fully capable of handling the beast from the tactical approach she had taken to confront it.
Zach had a feeling that there would be no need for him to intervene and began to observe the battle and all the intricacies in order to analyze Luna's battle style.
Understanding of each others' abilities was the basic requirement for the cooperation between an attack team. Since Zach and Luna had already become inseparable due to the bond that existed between the two, he needed to incorporate her abilities into their future battles for an optimum result based on their cooperation. For that he had to understand her habits, her thought pattern, her true abilities that he had yet to witness it seemed, and her limitations or weaknesses.
The foundation of a basic cooperative battle tactic rested on the ability of the tactician to cover the weakness of a team member using the strength of the other. Zach needed to know her limitations before he could assist her in battle. Therefore, he didn't intervene at all and let her play to her hearts content.
The flames obstructed his vision and he was barely able to make out what was happening using his other five senses. He noticed the slightest changes in wind pressure and direction to determine the rise and fall in the temperature of the flames surrounding the beast. He heard its roars to estimate the extent of damage dealt by Luna and deduced that the battle was about to end if there were no unexpected turn of events.
Unlike Zach, Luna could see everything as if she was standing within the fire prison with the Dark Wood Hedgehog. She was using her flames as the extension of her senses to locate the beast within the flame boundary.
Any third party would have thought that it was an easy win since Luna didn't show any discomfort in order to not alarm her master. But only she knew how draining it was to maintain the flame prison strong enough to block the Hedgehog and the entire range of its attacks from reaching the rest of them. Therefore, she had to end it before she ran out of fuel.
Pouring in a large amount of mana, Luna conjured a flame pillar that rose with her as the centre and arched in the direction of the flame walls that enclosed the beast.
Death of the beast came in from above in the form of a flaming serpent that was so large that its tail was barely visible.
Like a comet from outer space, the flaming trail ended at the beast and burned it to oblivion without giving it a chance to try and escape.
Luna let out a long sigh and breathed heavily as she waved her hand horizontally away from her as if pushing something invisible away from herself.
The tide of flames receded at her command and scattered into thin air revealing an area of five meters around the fallen beast that was scorched black and utterly devoid of life. Any life before the flame had touched the ground had been burnt to oblivion with not a single trace left behind.
Amidst the scorched region, a shiny orb lay unmoving utterly unaffected by the flame that had ruined everything beside it. It was the core of the D rank beast that had been wreaking havoc amongst the group of hunters earlier.
Zach noticed the crystalline core tinged with a greenish hue unlike the one from the Earth Bear which was transparent with a very slight yellowish touch. He didn't have to retrieve it since Luna reacted faster than him.
She picked up the loot and brought it to him with a smile on her face as if this was the most enjoyable thing in the world for her.
"You can keep it if you want. You killed the beast after all." Zach didn't want her to feel wronged even though he wanted to keep the core for further experimentation or to manage his expenses in the future.
Luna nodded in response to indicate that she had understood everything he was trying to convey to her. But still didn't take back her outstretched hand that was offering up the core to the most important person in her life.
For the first time in his life, Zach felt that something had come so easily to him. if only there were more girls like Luna, Zach could indulge himself to the fullest and be lazy.
The idea of making full use of his ability [Casanova], felt realistic for the first time ever since he discovered his abilities. A harem of beautiful but deadly women who would fight for him and alongside him against all his destined opponents; he could only imagine how easier his life would become with an army like that. Not to mention he could become infinitely stronger through those women as well.
He shook his head in order to shake away the thoughts that were clouding his clear mind and took the core from her pale white palm before putting it away inside his backpack.
Only after they were done, did they notice the group of hunters who were staring at the two of them with awe and shock evident on their faces.
Even though Zach had numerous fans and he had been a celebrity in the previous world, he couldn't figure out how to act in front of them. On the other hand, Luna took it in a stride because the only person she cared about had been proud of her. She had seen it in his eyes earlier when she gave him the core. The others didn't matter to her at all so she was waiting for Zach to address the situation.
The hunters were too afraid to approach the two of them who were mighty beings in their eyes.