I exhaled heavily, still kneeling. Standing up felt impossible — my legs trembled like they’d been supporting three hundred pounds of dead weight while trudging uphill through mud.
’Ah...’
Another breath escaped . Life sure was hard for F rank people.
’What the hell was that? What did I just experience?’
I glanced up at Kassie. She was staring at her sword with a fierce scowl, examining the edge where that person had caught it. Caught it. With their bare hand.
"Do—do you have any idea who that could be?"
Soone that size — they’d looked my height, maybe shorter — it made no sense. That fragile-looking fra shouldn’t have been able to stop Kassie’s enormous blade. Not without losing the hand. Not without effort.
Her eyes grew distant as she studied the weapon. Then she looked at and shook her head.
"No idea."
I exhaled again. Third ti in barely a minute.
’Fuckshit.’
Kassie’s gaze fixed on , carrying that familiar condescension I’d grown to hate.
"And what are you doing?"
I frowned at her defensively.
"What? Resting? You weren’t the one with death breathing down your neck. And as far as I know, you just failed at protecting ." My voice rose despite myself. "I literally felt death before you even moved!"
The mory alone made my blood run cold. That presence. That weight. I’d never felt anything like it in my life — this absolute certainty that I was about to die, that my existence was about to end, and there was nothing I could do about it.
’And I’m supposed to just... bounce back from that?’
"I wouldn’t need to protect you if you could protect yourself."
I threw my hands up in frustration.
"Then for fuck’s sake, why am I a summoner? I might as well have beco a Swordsman!"
Kassie’s gaze went flat.
But there was sothing about that flat look — that dead, unimpressed stare — that rubbed the wrong way. I frowned at her angrily.
"What? You think I can’t?"
Her expression didn’t change.
"You’d be very surprised, Kassie. I swear, don’t underestimate the power of a man with nothing left to lose."
She sighed and turned around.
"I suppose that’s the lie you tell everyone. We have to—"
The entire cave suddenly shuddered.
The cave had been trembling on and off since we’d entered. But this was different.
This was massive. World-ending. The ice groaned and cracked around us, stalactites breaking free from the ceiling like enormous frozen spears. The whole structure was coming apart.
I rolled to the side as one of the stalactites crashed down where I’d been kneeling a second before. My body moved on instinct — faster than it should have, lighter than before.
’Thank you, adrenaline. Or thank you, not wanting to die.’
I wasn’t about to overthink it and get disappointed when the temporary boost wore off.
I stared around in shock, still on the ground from my roll.
"What is this?"
Kassie looked ahead with a dark expression.
I followed her gaze toward the depths of the cave. Toward where that person had co from.
She glanced at . I glanced at her.
We both knew.
’The guardian! That’s where the guardian is!’
God forbid soone had taken my at.
I grabbed the makeshift bag of cores and hurled it over my shoulder, breaking into a run. Kassie was already moving, her helt materializing back onto her head as she sprinted forward.
I followed imdiately, my legs screaming in protest.
’Weak or not, I’m not losing that kill.’
We pressed forward through the curving ice passages and arrived at a large chamber. The cavern door stood wide open — broken on one hinge, actually. It looked like sothing had hit it so hard it had nearly been torn off the wall entirely.
’Well, that’s not ominous at all.’
Several entry points connected to this central chamber from different passageways. The whole thing was like a frozen labyrinth, tunnels branching off in every direction.
My heart thumped against my ribs as I trudged forward, each step heavy with dread. As I entered, I saw the marks.
Everywhere.
The walls were caved in, webbed cracks spreading across the frozen surface like shattered glass. Blue blood was splattered across the hall in wild arcs — macabre paint thrown by a violent artist.
Toward the edge of the hall, a massive pool of blue blood had spilled across the ice. I followed the trail, my steps slowing as the scene ca into focus.
A white humanoid creature lay severed at the torso. The other half of its body wasn’t visible — probably thrown sowhere across the chamber. Blood had sprayed in a wide radius from where it had fallen, painting the ice in grotesque patterns.
And there, peeking through the exposed ribs, a pale blue orb shone directly into my eyes.
A smile crept across my face. Relief washed over in a wave.
’My at. Still mine.’
The Spirit Gate Guardian’s death was truly terrifying — brutal, violent, the work of sothing far stronger than . But honestly? I was too focused on sothing else to care much about a dead beast. I bent down and, with an irritating squelch, managed to harvest the core and add it to my collection.
The cave trembled again.
Just then, multiple footsteps and voices echoed into the hall. They stopped the mont they spotted standing over the dead guardian.
’Oh no...’
My classmates. Not all of them but about five along with the Maxwell guy with round glasses. The expressions on their faces were almost comical — shock, horror, disbelief painted across every feature.
I wanted to quickly deny everything, to explain I wasn’t the one who killed it. But they all looked like they’d just seen a ghost. It was satisfying.
Then one of them spoke.
"God, Cade, did you have to be so cruel? Just how angry were you, taking it out on a mid-tier beast?"
’Mid-tier? This thing is Primal—’
Another muttered, a tinge of genuine revulsion in his voice.
"The sheer brutality... the—oh, I think I’m gonna puke."
Bleugh!!
The bastard actually puked.
’Wait. Wait, guys. Aren’t we missing the point here?’
"Wait, guys, aren’t we missing the point here?" One of them — sensible, thank god — stepped forward with a frown. "How could Cade possibly kill a Primal-tier guardian? It’s supposed to be impossible, even for C-ranks! According to Instructor Squareface, it makes no sense. This guy’s an F-rank!"
’Yes! Finally! Soone with a brain!’
"I’m sure he had help. Elena helped you, didn’t she?" Maxwell said simply, adjusting his glasses.
Before I could respond, another group of students entered the hall. A familiar figure pushed to the front, glaring at with a fierce scowl. He walked closer, looking around at the carnage with barely concealed disdain.
Derek.
His voice ca out thick after a mocking chuckle.
"There’s no way you possibly could’ve done this. You?" He laughed again, the sound grating against my nerves. "You’re a flop of human creation. A mistake. Soone like you can’t even."
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