Ethan fell from the sky, and the Legion Arm was no longer enough to save him from the worst possible outcome.

After one of the giant insects slammed into him and sent both of them crashing toward the ground, Ethan barely avoided being crushed beneath the creature’s massive body by throwing himself aside at the very last second.

Even so, the impact left him with severe injuries and internal bleeding, forcing blood out of his mouth.

His Aura Armor absorbed part of the damage, but not nearly enough to nullify it completely. For a brief instant, it felt as though every organ inside his body had been shaken loose from its place.

Using the Great Executioner as support, Ethan forced himself back to his feet and struggled to steady his balance—

Only for the monsters to descend upon him from every direction, surrounding him entirely.

Their eyes glowed crimson with madness and frenzy, driven insane by the effects of his Beloved by Darkness curse.

Encircled by them, Ethan could hear everything.

He heard them so clearly that his mind was being torn apart before his body ever was.

The Great Executioner soared through the air under the effects of Telekinesis, carving through monsters left and right, yet surviving a situation like this with that sword alone was simply impossible.

He could barely think straight anymore.

Every swing of his blades had become completely instinctive and chaotic.

The first strike came when one of the mutated creatures slashed his back open with a blade-like limb.

A wave of scorching pain exploded from the wound. Aura Armor had spared him from a fatal injury—otherwise, that attack would have cut him down instantly.

Unfortunately, that was only the beginning.

More attacks came from every side as the monsters piled onto him together, each of them trying to tear off a piece of his flesh.

Ethan became completely trapped before Jackson’s eyes as the giant man hurled monsters aside, trying to carve a path toward him.

"Ethan Heart! Look where your choices have led you! Look at what relying on others has brought you!"

Jackson roared, smashing monsters apart left and right. Every punch reduced its target into a mangled mass of flesh.

"You’re going to die, Ethan! You’re going to die!"

He shouted in fury, yet none of his words reached Ethan.

At this point, Ethan heard nothing except the inner voices of the monsters... alongside their savage screams as they tore into him.

Seeing Ethan drenched in blood after being stabbed over and over caused Jackson’s serpent-like eyes to slowly widen as he realized the young man was truly about to die.

’Damn it... so there was no point after all.’

’In the end... he wasn’t different from the others in any way.’

For the first time, Jackson’s expression lost its usual smile and turned completely serious.

He prepared to release his Aura Armor and fight with his full strength.

If he used it now, he was confident he could overturn the situation with ease and reach Ethan before he died.

But the moment he did that, his current relationship with Ethan would shatter forever even if the boy survived afterward.

Jackson would never support someone incapable of surviving within the Deep Districts.

And that outcome was only moments away from happening—

Until the arrow arrived.

It pierced through the head of one of the monsters with terrifying precision just as it was about to devour Ethan alive.

Turning his head, Jackson instantly spotted the young archer hiding atop the rooftops.

After the first arrow came the second, then the third.

The boy unleashed a relentless storm of arrows upon the monsters surrounding Ethan, every single shot striking its target with frightening accuracy.

Even when the arrows failed to kill their targets outright, they hindered them long enough to give Ethan room to breathe.

Then came Schierke’s turn.

The young mage beside Chai manipulated earth magic as the ground beneath the monsters continuously shifted and warped.

She altered the terrain itself—turning it into swamps at times, while raising thorn-like spikes from the streets at others, doing everything she could to slow the creatures down and buy time for the true reinforcements to arrive.

And those reinforcements came by violently tearing through the monster horde from behind in an attempt to reach Ethan.

Moon Heart and Gustav, captain of the First Hunting Squad, advanced at terrifying speed, every swing of their swords shredding multiple monsters apart.

Both of them were powerful—

Especially Moon.

This time, she did not hold back or conserve her mana as she had during the previous battle. Instead, she combined magic with her blazing swordsmanship.

Casting several spells at once, six floating swords made of crimson mana materialized behind her back.

The swords continuously shot toward nearby enemies whenever they approached her, only to regenerate moments later by consuming mana from her reserves.

She cast another spell that dramatically enhanced her agility, causing her to glide through the monsters like a feather dancing through the wind.

Then another spell followed, granting her the ability to unleash a short-range stream of flames devastating enough to incinerate any creature that drew near.

All of this was accompanied by exceptional swordsmanship and monstrous endurance granted by the Phoenix Blessing.

"Moon Heart!! At this rate, you’ll just get yourself surrounded too!"

Gustav shouted after she moved too far ahead of him.

Unlike her, he couldn’t push through the monsters as smoothly due to the sheer size of both his body and his greatsword, forcing him to rely on raw brute force as he chased after her.

Yet despite his warning, she ignored him entirely.

Cursing under his breath, Gustav pushed himself harder in an attempt to keep up.

All of it unfolded before Jackson’s eyes as he watched Moon from afar.

"That flame... so she really is the wielder of the Phoenix Blessing they spoke about earlier..."

Jackson had not expected much from her.

Yet even by his standards, she was impressive.

That was the strength of Magic Knights—

Warriors capable of wielding both swordsmanship and sorcery simultaneously.

Her individual combat power was extraordinarily high, perhaps among the greatest of the current hunters. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

But her specialty was dueling and direct combat, not large-scale warfare.

Which meant that even she lacked the means to annihilate this overwhelming number of monsters alone.

"At this rate... she won’t reach him in time."

Jackson turned back toward the surrounded Ethan, who was still alive only because of the support Schierke and Chai were providing from afar.

Chai, in particular, continued unleashing an endless barrage of arrows with terrifying effectiveness...

But his arrows were made from mana.

And eventually, his reserves would run dry.

Letting out a deep sigh, Jackson’s crimson eyes began to glow as the muscles across his massive body twisted and bulged.