I jumped backward, avoiding the sharp claws that passed in front of me, while staring at the armored body of this monster.
Standing on four limbs with a long jaw filled with sharp teeth and eyes full of pure killing intent.
The moment I retreated, its claws struck the ground and shattered it, sending dust and small fragments of stone flying everywhere.
At that moment, a small blade passed beside me and reached the lesser monster’s head before plunging into one of its eyes.
The lesser monster opened its mouth wide enough to bite half of my body in one go and released a loud scream.
But that was a grave mistake on its part.
Because in the next moment, a ball of fire entered its mouth and exploded inside its throat, and as if that wasn’t enough, Kyle’s arrow followed it, piercing through the inside of the mouth.
Without hesitation, the monster closed its mouth, enduring the pain while blood dripped between its teeth.
Only to find me directly beneath it.
I raised my free hand, a bullet loaded with Essence above my fingers before firing it directly at the underside of its neck.
The small bullet pierced the armor, forming a small bloody hole, but even with that, the thing didn’t die.
In the next moment, Leona arrived there and leapt up to the height of its head.
Her position and the timing of the jump were perfect, as if she had seen the future before doing it... which she actually had.
The moment Leona jumped, the monster’s head moved toward her in an involuntary motion caused by the pain.
But Leona didn’t panic. Instead, she raised her sword before her, and in the next moment, the blade plunged into the lesser monster’s other eye.
Once the sword went deep enough, Leona wrapped it with a clear radiance of pure Essence that destroyed the monster from the inside.
Its scream rose even higher, but this time it didn’t last long.
Because soon its steps faltered and it collapsed to the ground, dead.
I let out a tired breath. "That was a little difficult."
I turned my head while looking around, where there were two other corpses like this on the ground. Through my ability, I could see the Essence leaving their bodies and spreading into the air, so I urged the others to consume it quickly.
"Don’t waste time. Absorb the Essence from the corpses." Even before I said that, Kyle was already placing his hand on one of them.
I stared at him as I watched the Essence pass through his hand and spread through his body before gathering again.
I had seen this process several times before, but today it was a little different.
There, deep within his soul, something new was happening.
Like a new star being born there.
Slowly, that star spread and engulfed his soul, making it brighter. At the same time, his expression changed and he stopped absorbing the Essence from the monster.
Then at some moment, that light exploded within his soul and spread to every corner of his body before merging with him and fading away.
The light vanished, but the change it caused remained.
Kyle breathed a little roughly before raising his hand and clenching his fist, as if sensing his new strength.
I even saw a faint smile form on his face before disappearing just as quickly.
Elliot, who was closest to him, smiled at the solitary hunter. "Congratulations on the advancement."
Kyle’s only response was a simple nod. "Thanks."
As soon as I saw that, I turned my head and stared at someone a few meters away from me. "Only you remain. It’s better not to fall too far behind."
The moment I said that, Izel clenched her jaw slightly. I saw the annoyance and anger on her face, but she didn’t complain about my words.
Because even she knew that staying behind would hinder all of us.
Instead of venting her anger at me, she walked toward one of the monsters and began absorbing the Essence again.
When I saw that, I returned my attention to Kyle as I moved toward him and Elliot.
It only took a few steps before I reached them. "So, how much further do you think we need to advance before you can see what’s there?"
Kyle looked at me. "From what I saw last time, that place is an empty circular area with those walls surrounding it and enclosing the space."
"And from what it looks like, the center has a diameter of about fifteen kilometers, so we need to be at least that far away for me to see what’s down there."
Well, I understand where that comes from... after all, it’s just some basic physics.
I raised my hand while brushing dust from my hair. "Then we’ll keep moving once we’ve rested a little."
...
I sat on a rock while staring at the star-filled sky, while my perception surrounded the areas around me as usual.
In fact, ever since we arrived here, my ability had been working continuously without stopping, except when I slept.
I didn’t suffer from a shortage of Essence because of the constant killing and the Essence stones I had.
But recently, the burden had begun falling somewhere else... on my brain.
I sighed. "Maybe I should rest a little." I could rest later after we at least check what’s in the center.
I pushed myself up as I stood from the rock before looking at the others. Each of them was doing something.
Elliot was wiping his magnificent sword, while Kyle sat fiddling with one of the monster shells we had just killed... it seemed he was trying to make an arrow.
As for the girls, they were simply resting.
The moment I stood up, everyone noticed me, and their eyes trembled slightly.
It’s true that I had been pushing them recently, but they only objected a few times while following me without many questions.
I was doing that on purpose... I know they’ll thank me for it in the future.
...
We walked slowly between the high walls. The deeper we went, the fewer monsters there were, until they had almost completely disappeared now.
And that wasn’t a good sign.
We had only crossed a few kilometers, so we were still very far from the center.
My perception swept the areas around me while my mind analyzed the data... as a result of this, I began to suffer from a slight headache.
It was nothing... just a headache that would go away after some sleep.
The faint sound of our footsteps echoed between the walls of the maze, until I felt something.
A strong wave of headache swept through my head to the point that I closed my eyes while holding my head. At the same time, I thought I saw something in the air.
Elliot, who was beside me, noticed me. "Are you okay?"
The wave of headache only lasted a few short moments before disappearing. I removed my hand from my head. "I’m fine, just a headache."
"Maybe you should stop pushing yourself and get enough rest," Elliot commented, but I ignored his words.
I thought I saw something just now.
Maybe it was just me.
Still, we crossed a few more kilometers without encountering any monster.
Until at some moment, a loud cry swept across the world around us.
Without hesitation, everyone raised their heads toward the sky... the source of the loud screech.
There, one of those birds was flying directly above us under the bright stars... but something was different this time.
Its flight was unstable and very slow, as if it was struggling to stay in the air.
"What’s happening?" Izel asked.
Without hesitation, I asked the only person who could see from this distance. "Kyle... what’s wrong with that bird?"
Like someone who knew what he had to do, he answered immediately. "It’s injured."
I felt my brows furrow while Ellen muttered, "What could injure it?"
The answer was obvious... something else equal to it in strength... or stronger.
But as if the world wanted to satisfy our curiosity, I caught a glimpse of something shooting over the wall at incredible speed while the sound of tearing air echoed around us. It struck the bird precisely in the belly.
That thing sank into the monster’s stomach while the latter released one last cry before beginning to fall.
The enormous body of the greater monster accelerated downward while we were still standing there staring.
Everything happened quickly, and by the moment I realized where the thing would fall, it was already above us.
The massive body of the bird struck the maze walls with a thunderous sound, causing large chunks of rock to fall toward us.
Without hesitation, everyone moved away from the falling rocks while the bird’s corpse slid between the high walls as it descended downward.
It was far enough from us not to threaten us with being crushed, but even so, the enormous corpse filled the entire path with a width of dozens of meters.
I stared at the body that was still falling with wide eyes while noticing the thing that had pierced the monster.
It was a spear.
"Damn... what is happening?"
Within short moments, the corpse reached the ground, throwing dust and stones everywhere while destroying a large part of the walls that were three hundred meters tall.
The last thing to hit the ground was the monster’s head adorned with six horns and a beak capable of swallowing all of us at once without difficulty.
"I think we should run before the thing that did this arrives," Elliot spoke, urgency in his voice.
But before I could say anything, I heard a sound like cloth fluttering in the wind.
All I did was raise my head to see a silhouette falling from above directly onto the corpse.
Her foot landed gracefully, directly on the monster’s belly where the great spear was, her back facing us.
With that smooth landing, she extended her hand toward the spear stuck there and pulled it out with incredible ease, before turning around, her long black hair fluttering in the air.
In the next moment, bright hazel eyes stared at us while a powerful pressure enveloped the area around us.
Her lips moved, forming words in a language I hadn’t heard for a very long time.
"Who are you?"