As the battle progressed, Jeff found his situation to be easier and easier.
He was surprised by the drastic change once he received assistance from Carmen, feeling quite shocked.
'She was struggling to control the Elementalist earlier, but now she's doing it with ease.' Jeff thought, swinging his battle axe at another staggered Raburle.
Normally, it would take him at least 2-5 minutes to kill one of them when being surrounded by so many Raburles. Yet thanks to Carmen, the time was shortened to just 1 minute for each kill.
After all, Carmen was not only disrupting one of the Raburles for him to kill but also hindering the nearby Raburles with the second Elementalist she had summoned.
Added to the fact that Xu Feng buffed him repeatedly and healed him in a timely manner, he didn't have to focus on defense and could place all his attention on offense.
"The battle should be over in around 5 minutes." Xu Feng said after a brief calculation. Unless there were some more external factors interrupting them, the Raburles should soon resolve.
Sure enough, there wasn't some cliche or coincidence of more monsters coming from out of thin air to interrupt the battle as the final Raburle died under Jeff's bloody battle axe.
"Phew, it's finally over."
As soon as the battle ended, Carmen slumped to the ground, exhausted and fatigued, her forehead filled with sweat.
"Have some water," Xu Feng kindly offered, glancing at her with a warm smile. She might have been exhausted, but Xu Feng was already impressed by her fast improvement.
Her improvement helped solidify his thinking that she was definitely filled with hidden potential.
After all, what was said and done, the rumors of Carmen being the infamous demoness that killed numerous experts were only heard through third parties.
Xu Feng himself had never interacted with the demoness in his past timeline.
However, seeing Carmen's fight personally resolved that tiny bit of doubt in his mind. The rumors were definitely not exaggerated in the slightest if Carmen was to continue to improve and rise.
"Thanks," Carmen gladly accepted the water and drank a mouthful of it before feeling refreshed. Her mana was practically emptied out when she attempted to utilize Elemental Command numerous times.
"How was my performance?" She turned to Xu Feng and asked, hoping to hear his evaluation of her combat style.
"You want the truth or half-true and half-lies?"
"..."
Unamused, Carmen held a deadpan expression as she stared at him.
Hearing such a response normally meant the performance was mediocre, and the other party was just trying to be nice by asking if they wanted to hear the truth or lie to deceive them.
"No need to look so sulkingly," Xu Feng consoled. "The performance is decent, but it can definitely be better next time."
Before Carmen could respond, Jeff suddenly interjected, "That's quite a harsh statement. Without Lunar Wraith's assistance, I might have a hard time isolating the Raburles and dealing with them effectively."
"Save your flattery for next time," Xu Feng rolled his eyes and pointed at the Raburle corpses. "Go collect those corpses and bring them over here first. Or do I need to remind you how a mercenary should act?"
Unable to rebuke, Jeff begrudgingly turned around and proceeded to gather the corpses. Even though most of the effort was made by him, he was a hired mercenary at the end of the day. It was his duty and job to do all this menial work.
While sending Jeff away from interrupting him, Xu Feng resumed his focus on Carmen.
"You might think I'm being harsh or nitpicking, but think back to the battle earlier. Just how many times did I need to heal Jeff?" He questioned softly.
Instead of explaining to her about the process, he wanted her to think critically about it. Given her potential, Xu Feng was positive she would gain more if she were to figure it out herself.
Meanwhile, Carmen started to knit her brows, trying to recall the earlier battle.
'My control of the two Elementalists wasn't that great, but it wasn't bad either. I assisted Jeff in lessening his pressure, but it wasn't perfect.' Carmen pondered silently.
She recalled that there were many occasions that she whiffed her skill, allowing a few Raburles to approach Jeff and inflict damage on him.
Had it not been for Xu Feng constantly supporting from behind, Jeff's current state would have been terrible. He would win, but it wouldn't be in his near clean slate— to the point that he still had enough stamina to gather the corpses.
Despite thinking so, Carmen pursed her lips and responded, "I'm just starting to grasp the concept, so isn't your grading too harsh, Feng? Do I look like some genius that can instantly comprehend and master it?"
Stunned for a moment, Xu Feng became amused by her response.
How unexpected was the response she gave?
If it were Zhao Kai, he would have scratched his head, foolishly laughed, and said he'd do better.
However, Carmen realized she was inexperienced and argued that her performance could be considered decent already. Not allowing him to take her down a notch.
Nodding his head, Xu Feng didn't reprimand her and instead approved such a response.
What he wanted was people with self-confidence and a relentless attitude that prevented others from bringing them down.
"Alright, your performance was good enough for your current skills." Xu Feng smiled calmly.
"But I do expect you to continue to improve. After all, you wouldn't want to be kicked again by me who evaluates you as someone with high potential, right?" He cheekily added, riling her up.
"You really are a shrewd person, Feng." Carmen flatly commented. "You want me to join your future guild, but you are refusing to compliment me. Is that how you're supposed to recruit people?"
Xu Feng simply shrugged his shoulders in response. To be precise, he didn't want to recruit people, but talents that he had an eye on.
What was the point of recruiting tons when they were incapable of matching against one talented individual?
