The moment James Maddox had gotten far enough up the volcanic slope to engage the B-Rank Calamity Lord, the invisible pressure of his S-Rank aura vanished from the clearing.

And the jungle immediately remembered they were there.

A feral, bloodthirsty screech tore through the tree line, followed by the rustling of hundreds of beasts surging forward. The packs of Calamity beasts that had been paralyzed by fear were now rushing the clearing, desperate to claim the easy prey.

SHHHHK!

Hide pivoted on his heel, he summoned the Twin Viper Blades, carving a flawless, silver arc through the air. The heavy steel cleanly decapitated an E-Rank primate beast mid-lunge, sending its lifeless body crashing into the volcanic ash.

Just a few yards to his right, Gideon let out a deafening roar. The giant Warrior had summoned a shield and slammed it directly into the skull of a leaping wolf-type beast, shattering its jaw and dropping it instantly.

All three of them ran back towards the body of Ryan and formed a defensive circle to keep the beast’s away.

"Don’t let them break the circle!" Gideon bellowed, his muscles bulging as he kicked another beast back into the brush.

"I’m on it!" Sora yelled, her body a blur of compressed wind as she darted through the fray, her daggers flashing.

They had formed a tight defensive triangle desperately protecting the unconscious, drooling body of Ryan sprawled out between them.

Behind them a dozen constant impacts rang out from above the volcano.

After almost ten minutes... they all got a small fraction of rest.

Hide’s breathing was perfectly flat, his Abyssal Scale Carapace effortlessly deflecting stray claws and fangs. He had already slaughtered roughly ten F and E-Ranked beasts, his blades moving with the mechanical, ruthless efficiency of a meat grinder.

He drove his blade through the chest of a mutated hyena, kicking it off his sword. As the beast fell, the earth directly beneath Hide’s boots suddenly bulged. Another Calamity beast, a massive, armored centipede, was bursting from the ground, its mandibles snapping toward his legs.

Hide didn’t even look at it. His glowing blue eyes were completely locked onto the translucent system window hovering in his peripheral vision. and there too on the emp count.

Exp: 6,180 / 6,200

He was twenty points away. Hide’s eyes narrowed. If he killed this centipede, he would level up.

Instead of slicing the centipede, Hide simply raised his armored boot and violently kicked the emerging beast right in its face, sending it tumbling backward into Gideon’s path.

"Handle that," Hide said flatly.

Without waiting for a response, Hide activated Phantom Step. He merged with the ambient mana, his body dissolving into a shadowy blur as he completely abandoned the defensive circle and dashed straight into the dense, humid jungle.

"Hide?!" Gideon’s muffled, panicked shout echoed behind him. "Where are you going?! You can’t just leave us—!"

The giant’s voice was quickly swallowed by the thick foliage and the roaring of the beasts.

Hide moved through the dense tropical trees like a ghost. It wasn’t just a sudden whim; it was a highly calculated strategic move. High above them, the deafening, earth-shattering explosions of Maddox fighting the B-Rank Calamity Lord had gone quiet. Maddox was clearly winning.

When the B-Rank sovereign died, the hierarchy of the gate would instantly shift. The strongest remaining beast in the ecosystem would automatically become the new Gatekeeper with the exit orb.

And Hide also wanted to Evolve alone at a place where they would not see him. he couldn’t name the reason of his such thinking, but it was just there.

Hide used his True Sight to the absolute maximum, filtering out the weak auras of the F and E-Rank beasts scattering through the jungle.

’There.’ Deep within a sandy grove, Hide spotted a massive, dense pool of murky green mana.

Hide slowed his pace, dropping silently onto the branch of a thick palm tree. Below him, half-buried in the dark sand, was a colossal beast. It was a massive crab, easily three times the size of a grown man.

Its dark, moss-covered chitin looked as thick as bank vault doors, and its two primary pincers were large enough to easily crunch a human torso in half.

It was a D-Rank. And it was completely still, ignoring the chaos of the distant clearing.

Hide didn’t give it a warning. He dropped from the canopy like a stone, channeling the absolute peak of his strength into his arms. He brought both of his A-Rank Twin Viper Blades down in a devastating, cross-cleaving strike aimed directly at the center of the crab’s massive back.

CLANG!

A shower of bright orange sparks violently exploded in the dim jungle. Hide’s eyes widened in shock. The A-Rank weapon didn’t even scratch the shell. The blades simply slid off the ultra-dense chitin.

The beast didn’t even flinch. It remained perfectly still, as if a minor insect had just bumped into it.

Hide landed lightly on the sand, quickly backpedaling. "What the hell is that armor?" he muttered. He looked for the beast’s neck to find a soft spot.

But there was no neck.

Hide frowned, circling the massive mound of chitin. If its arms and legs were protruding from the front, its face had to be there too. He stepped closer, his eyes scanning the smooth, heavily armored front of the shell.

Right in the center, between the two massive pincers, was a small, dark hole.

Hide leaned in slightly, squinting. "Is that..."

Suddenly, the hole violently dilated.

SNAP!

A grotesque, fleshy head attached to a thick, muscular neck shot out of the hole with the speed of a bullet, its razor-sharp mandibles snapping shut exactly where Hide’s face had been a microsecond before.

Hide threw himself backward using Phantom Step, feeling the rush of wind as the beast’s jaws clipped the very edge of his silver hair.

The grotesque head instantly retracted, sliding seamlessly back into the impenetrable shell like a turtle. The thick chitin plates shifted, covering the hole entirely.

"A turtle crab," Hide breathed, his heart kicking against his ribs. It was a... very weird thing to say, but the beast was smart. It lured the prey in, snapped its head out to kill, and retreated before it could be counterattacked.

A slow, vicious grin spread across Hide’s face. His dark scales flared.

"You like hiding in your shell?" Hide whispered, raising his right hand.

He didn’t use his swords. Instead, he channeled a massive, volatile surge of dark violet mana directly into his palm. The compressed energy began to spin furiously, emitting a terrifying, high-pitched hum.

Hide kicked off the sand, vaulting directly onto the top of the beast’s massive shell. He stomped his boot heavily against the chitin.

Instantly, the beast reacted to the vibration. The small hole at the front dilated, the fleshy neck shooting outward to bite the attacker.

But Hide was already waiting. He dropped his upper body over the edge of the shell, aiming his glowing palm directly down the exposed, fleshy hollow of the beast’s entry hole.

"Have fun."

Hide fired the Mana Blast into the cavernous shell.

The highly compressed dark mana shot down the beast’s throat. Because the shell was so incredibly durable, the blast couldn’t break it from the inside out. Instead, the explosive pressure had nowhere to go but the path of least resistance.

BOOOM!

A muffled, catastrophic detonation shook the clearing. A geyser of dark green paste, boiling blood, and liquefied innards violently blew out from the hole and the joints of the beast’s massive legs.

The crab’s limbs twitched once, then went entirely limp.

[Calamity Beast (Armored Dune Crab) — Eliminated]

[Experience points gained: 1,200]

Hide jumped off the smoking shell, landing softly on the sand just as the translucent blue windows exploded in his vision.

[Level Up]

Level: 29 → 30

Exp: 1180/ 6400

Level Up reward has been added to inventory.

[Congratulations, You have reached the threshold for Class Evolution]