In the midst of an intense battle, Miri redirected her focus towards the large, two-handed wooden club that the giant dummy was wielding. If she could somehow disarm or break it, even for just a brief moment, it might be enough to leave the dummy vulnerable for another Meteor Impact. This could potentially work. It had to. It’s not as though she could think of any other options at the moment, not when she was constantly under the pressure of combat.

  With that tactic set in her mind, she began launching Starlight Bolts right at the weapon itself—targeting precisely at the region between the handle and the thicker, heavier region. She continued launching her magical projectiles right at that exact same spot, one after another as she bobbed and weaved away from the swinging club attacks.

  While the dummy’s attacks may be powerful, they were also slow and predictable, such that even a mage like her—one with limited agility—was able to evade as long as she’s careful and observant enough. Occasionally, the giant would even perform a few earth-shattering shockwave attacks by slamming its club onto the ground, but even that was easy to read and evade.

  For once, Miri’s experience with defeating tough video game bosses by figuring out their attack patterns actually came in handy for this particular situation. Like a speedrunner about to hit their last stretch of a game, she was now in the zone—her movements driven by nothing but pure, raw instinct.

  After a couple more Starlight Bolts, a small crack started to form at the area above the club's handle. At the same time, Miri herself was starting to get physically exhausted from all the dodging and evading, to the point where she was panting and sweating heavily like she just ran a marathon or something. The giant approached her with one more downward swing of its club. Her legs were too tired to run. Here goes nothing.

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  “Crescent Arc!” Miri shouted as she swung her staff at a horizontal arc, unleashing a teal wave of magical energy that soared through the air and hit the club right at the crack, splitting it into two sections.

  While the heavier, thicker section of the club flew far away due to the momentum of the swing, the thinner handle section was all that’s left on the dummy’s grip, becoming nothing more than a useless piece of wood. As the dummy paused to study the broken handle in its hand with a puzzled gesture, Miri took this moment to drink another mana potion, replenishing her mana.

  “Alright, you son of a bitch. Time to end this,” Miri said as she stomped her staff into the ground, unleashing her strongest spell. If one usage wasn’t enough, she’d perform another, and then another, and then another—as many times as she needed until the giant in front of her was absolutely demolished. “Meteor Impact! Meteor Impact! Meteor Impact!”

  One after another, the boulders crashed into the dummy, colliding with an explosion of embers and smoke until the dummy itself was nothing but a pile of burnt wood. Once the enemy had been properly felled, Miri hurried to the finish line of the area, finally completing the test.

  “You have finished with a time of 11 minutes 54 seconds,” the receptionist declared as he checked his pocket watch.

  “Yeeeaaahhh!” Miri cheered with absolute triumph, pumping her fists in the air. “I did it! I finally passed the test! Hah! You just got pwned, big guy! How you like me now?! Fuck yeah!”

  Over at the balcony, Miri could see Anne jumping up and down with overwhelming joy, appearing to be celebrating with her. The mage couldn’t help but smile, even if she felt almost too tired from the ordeal to move a single muscle.