A focused and direct wave was released from the plates on its back. The air rippled in the attack’s path, and the sound went toward Lian like an invisible blade.
He saw the Mana movement. Instead of directly defending, he activated Thunder Step again... lightning exploded at his previous location.
The Resonance wave passed through the remaining image and knocked a few Glassmaws behind him to the ground.
"You roar at me, bastard?" Lian appeared behind the Alpha.
[Iron Fortress Charge]
Force gathered in his legs, waist, and shoulder. His shoulder hit the Glassmaw Alpha’s side with full power.
The black plates of the creature’s body sank in. The massive monster was lifted off the ground and thrown several meters into the air.
Directly toward Seris.
That girl had already seen its path. She stepped forward, and heavy pressure formed on her blade.
[King’s Breaker]
The sword hit the center of the Alpha’s chest. The sound of crystal breaking echoed throughout the clearing.
The defensive plates on the creature’s chest cracked from the impact point. The cracks quickly spread across the entire armor.
The Alpha fell on the ground, but before it could pull back, Lian reached it.
Glacial Reaper Claw formed on his hand. Transparent blue claws came out from his fingers.
He sank his hand directly into the gap created by King’s Breaker.
[Glacial Reaper Claw — Divine]
The cold rushed into the monster’s ribcage. The black veins froze in an instant, and the crystal plates on the Alpha’s back turned blue one after another.
Seris raised her sword.
[King’s Edge]
Her precise strike passed through the chest gap. The blade directly split the frozen center of the monster’s body.
The Glassmaw Alpha remained motionless for a moment.
Then all the plates on its back shattered at the same time. Its large body fell on the ground.
From the moment Lian entered until the Alpha’s death, not even a minute had passed.
A monster that thought it was among the strongest in this forest had been easily butchered. It didn’t even have a chance to fight back or resist.
With the leader’s destruction, the colony’s shared rhythm was lost. Some of the Glassmaws immediately retreated.
A few other creatures attacked One chaotically, but the ant’s jaws and legs crushed them.
Seris moved among the remaining monsters. Every strike took down a Glassmaw.
The last two creatures fled into the forest.
Lian did not chase them. The main goal was to save his friends, not to destroy the entire colony.
Sudden silence fell over the clearing.
Seraphina was still holding her sword.
Liana was sitting next to Shadow Wolf, and both were staring at the field in front of them.
Liana had fought alongside Lian before.
She knew Lian as a smart, calculating, and dangerous person; someone who used the environment and the enemy’s weak points to compensate for power gaps.
But what she had just seen was not the same Lian from before. The analysis and precision were still there, but they were no longer being used to compensate for weakness.
Now, raw power, speed, and massive Mana were behind that analysis.
The Lian she saw now bore no resemblance to the Lian she had fought in the border city or earlier in the academy during practice.
This man was a monster! What kind of power was that? They were the same age!
So how had he managed to reach such power? What was his damn secret?
She was so stunned and amazed that she didn’t even know what to say.
Seraphina’s Barrier turned off.
The Magic Circles around her sword collapsed one after another.
She took a deep breath and pulled the blade out of the ground, but her body could no longer handle it after maintaining the Barrier for several hours.
Her right leg bent for a moment.
Lian moved toward them. Before he could say anything, Seraphina closed the distance.
She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. The movement was so sudden that even Lian remained motionless for a moment.
Seraphina was usually too proud and controlled to show her feelings like this.
But now, all that cold exterior had crumbled for a few seconds.
"You came..." Her voice was weaker than usual, and she tightened her arms.
"Our signal really reached you. I thought no one was around here."
"Relax. It’s over." Lian placed his hand gently on her shoulder.
Seraphina took a deep breath. She probably hadn’t believed they were truly saved until she saw Lian.
"I’m so glad you received our distress call."
Lian gave a brief look at her wounds and preferred not to answer.
Liana, who was sitting next to Shadow Wolf, smiled tiredly.
"I’m also glad our savior was you." Her gaze moved over him with weak mischief.
"Of course, I also wanted to hug you, but the glorious vice head of the student council attacked without permission as usual."
"Shut up." Seraphina moved away from Lian and frowned at her.
Liana placed her hand on her chest.
"Even after being saved, you treat me like this? You’re really cruel."
"First, treatment."
Lian’s tone left no room for argument. He couldn’t believe that even in this state, these two still didn’t want to put aside their hostility toward each other.
He didn’t know if all girls were like this, or just these two. He felt his second guess was more accurate.
For example, he looked at Seris. What a calm and quiet girl she is? Of course, apart from the times when she recklessly and stubbornly does something stupid.
Both girls looked at their own condition.
Seraphina took out two bottles from her storage space. One contained a blue liquid, and the other red.
She first drank the Mana potion.
The blue color slowly returned to her face, and her mana was refilled. Then she drank the Healing potion.
Strands of green light passed under her skin, and the smaller scratches and wounds began to close.
Liana also took out a healing potion. She drank half of it and poured the rest into her palm.
She placed her hand on Shadow Wolf’s head. A small summoning circle formed under the wolf.
Instead of falling on the ground, the red liquid turned into strands of Mana and entered the shadowy creature’s body.
Red and purple veins moved through its black body for a few seconds. The faint parts of its body became dense again.
Shadow Wolf brought its head close to Liana’s hand.
She gave a short smile and stroked behind its shadowy ear.
After making sure their condition was somewhat stable, Lian asked.
"How did you get trapped in this situation? What happened from the start?"
Liana looked at Seraphina. The latter sat on a broken root and placed her sword beside her.
"From the moment we entered the Special Area, everything fell apart."
She paused for a few moments, recalling the events of the past few days.
"When I opened my eyes, I was alone. There was no trace of any of you or the others. I didn’t even know where I was in this forest."
"In the first few hours, I thought the reflections were just because of the trees. Then I realized some monsters use them to hunt."
She talked about encountering a few small Prism Beetles.
Insects whose bodies reflected light and attacked in groups from under the soil.
Then she talked about the Glassthorn Lynx; a Level 18 cat-like creature that could become almost invisible, and Seraphina had been forced to use a combination of fire and sword to pull it out from among the reflections.
"Then I found an abandoned shelter. It was very old. Inside, there were two Mana Crystals and a few potions left."
"Were there any writings or signs inside?" Lian asked.
"A few marks on the walls, but I didn’t recognize their language."
Lian thought for a moment. Since it was old, it didn’t belong to an awakened one like them.
It could belong to a native of this world, or maybe to one of the Ruined Realm’s natives who had come here in the past.
There were many possibilities, but in the end, it didn’t matter.
If he saw those signs, he could identify them, but it wasn’t necessary. It wasn’t something he would deviate from the path or delay for.
Seraphina continued that a little further from the shelter, she had found a small pool of compressed Mana.
The water in the pool was not water. It was a thick blue liquid that could increase Mana!
She had trained next to it for a few hours and had been able to slightly increase her Mana control.
In the following days, she had also hunted a few groups of monsters.
"Eventually, I reached Level 19."
"Not bad, it seems you had some good opportunities."
"Yeah... but well, that idiot almost got me killed." Seraphina’s cold gaze fell on Liana.
Liana gave a quiet laugh and clearly didn’t care.
Lian turned his gaze to her this time.
"What about you?"
"I was running away almost from the first day."
Liana said she had appeared at a point much farther from Seraphina.
Only her summons were with her, and from the first hours, she had encountered a group of hunting monsters.
Unlike Seraphina, her class was not built for direct confrontation.
Every Stat Point she had gained in the past few months had been spent on increasing Mana capacity, resistance, and her summons’ power instead of strengthening her own body.
Her personal power without her Summons was even lower than many awakened ones at the same level.
"I barely managed to kill a few monsters." Her smile slowly faded.
Her gaze remained on Shadow Wolf.
"And I lost one of my summons." Her voice lowered in the next sentence.
"It was my first summon." She tried to hide it well, but the sadness in her eyes was clear.
Lian wanted to say something to comfort her, but no sentence seemed appropriate.
For most people, a Summon is only a Skill or a tool for battle.
But for a real Summoner, the first summon is something much more.
They grow together from the first Levels.
Their Mana, minds, and part of their emotions are connected through the contract.
The Summoner feels the Summon’s pain.
The Summon also understands its owner’s fear, anger, and commands.
Losing the first summon is more like losing an old companion than destroying a weapon.
"I’m sorry for your loss." Lian only said.
Liana lowered her gaze.
Shadow Wolf placed its head on her leg. She moved her fingers through the dense shadows of its neck.
"Yesterday, this idiot found me." Seraphina also felt a little and changed the subject and atmosphere.
"The way you say it is very unfair." Liana raised her head.
Seraphina continued without paying attention.
"She found me while a whole army of monsters was chasing her."