Slamming his fist into the ground beneath his feet with all his might, the giant human unleashed a thunderous tremor that shook the streets of Old Ashvarn itself. The earth rose and cracked apart violently, fractures spreading outward like the web of a colossal spider.

The ground shattered into enormous chunks of stone, boulders larger than Jackson himself—

Yet he lifted them effortlessly.

The moment he did, Jackson began playing the role of a living catapult, hurling those massive boulders over the heads of the monsters and clearing a path for Moon Heart to reach Ethan.

Moon’s eyes widened in shock when she saw that rain of stone crashing into the monster horde, scattering them apart before her.

Gustav Heart was even more stunned after witnessing Jackson himself.

"Who the hell is that?! What kind of strength is this?!"

This was the first time they had ever seen Jackson, so their reaction was only natural.

Just one of those boulders would require several hunters working together merely to lift it, let alone throw it like this.

"Allow me to show you what a true human catapult looks like, you young hunters."

Jackson’s muscles twisted again as he hurled another gigantic rock directly before Ethan’s position.

Even now, he still had not activated his Aura Armor.

He was giving Ethan one final chance to decide whether he was truly worthy of Jackson’s support from this moment onward.

The hunters took full advantage of his assistance and nearly reached Ethan—

But the situation was horrific.

The young man had suffered an overwhelming amount of damage to the point that blood covered him from head to toe.

Chai Heart attempted to use Telepathy to contact him, yet his voice never reached Ethan at all.

Every word drowned beneath the thousands of voices flooding Ethan’s mind.

Communicating with him directly had become impossible.

Which made Moon their best remaining chance.

’Moon! Please, listen to me!’

Chai redirected his ability toward Moon instead, since she was the closest one to Ethan.

Moon did not answer.

She was too busy fighting.

But Chai knew she could hear him.

Without wasting time, he relayed the plan Raiden and the others had come up with, telling her to make Ethan lure the monster tide toward her younger sister, Luna Heart.

This was their best opportunity.

And for it to succeed, Ethan needed to drag the monsters there himself.

’I’ll try to reach him. Keep him alive with your arrows until I get there, Chai. This plan means nothing if he dies.’

Chai nodded grimly.

’I know that already... but my big brother’s condition is getting worse by the second. He’s taken far too much damage...’

In truth, things had gone far beyond that.

The fact Ethan still remained conscious after enduring that many wounds was already miraculous.

Chai’s voice trembled with unease, forcing Moon to tell him to focus on the battle instead.

And so the battle descended into even greater savagery than before.

Jackson rained colossal boulders upon the battlefield, crushing monsters beneath gigantic masses of stone without mercy.

Moon resembled a blazing flame cutting through an endless ocean of darkness and monsters.

Gustav guarded her back, while the other knights could do little more than struggle helplessly behind them, incapable of forcing their way forward like Moon and Gustav could.

More archers soon joined Chai atop the rooftops.

Their sole task was keeping Ethan alive.

But Chai’s mana was steadily running dry, and the others lacked his precision.

Eventually, Schierke became Ethan’s final lifeline, restraining the monsters and slowing them from reaching him.

Despite Moon advancing at full speed, five minutes passed.

Then ten. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Then fifteen.

Twenty.

Twenty-five.

And in the blink of an eye, an entire half hour of blood, destruction, and fire had passed.

Half an hour that vanished in an instant from their perspective.

Half an hour during which Moon’s sword slaughtered a terrifying number of monsters, while Jackson’s boulders crushed even more.

And after all that struggle and bloodshed—

She finally reached Ethan.

Yet the moment she arrived, what she saw rooted her in place with shock for an entire second.

Ethan stood before her.

The area surrounding him was littered with monster corpses, most of them killed by arrows.

Hundreds upon hundreds of bodies covered every inch of the ground around him.

Even the terrain itself had changed, transformed into a swamp-like mire due to Schierke’s earth magic.

The archers and the young mage had done everything they possibly could to support him.

Far more than anyone could have expected from them.

Yet even that had not been enough to spare Ethan from the worst outcome due to the sheer number of monsters surrounding him.

Moon instantly leapt toward him, crossing the swamp of mud and corpses in a single motion.

Ethan was kneeling on the ground, barely managing to support himself with his sword.

A pool of blood had formed beneath his feet.

His body had suffered dozens of deep stab wounds, bloody holes carved across his stomach, chest, shoulders, and legs.

The deepest of them lay across his back.

Another horrific wound tore through the right side of his abdomen, to the point where his entrails nearly spilled out.

And one wound in his chest was so deep that Moon could almost see bone.

Ethan’s eyes looked dead.

For a single terrifying moment, Moon thought he truly was dead—

Until the faint trembling of his body proved otherwise.

Without hesitation, she grabbed him with one arm and tried to pull him out of that hellish place while the monsters continued surrounding them.

She did not say a single unnecessary word to him.

Saving him came first.

The moment she touched him, Ethan let out a deep groan of pain, making her realize he was still conscious.

"Ethan... stay with me. Don’t you dare die in my arms!"

Moon shouted, wiping the blood from her face while carrying Ethan over her shoulder and fighting with her one remaining free hand gripping her sword.

Ethan had lost so much blood that it immediately drenched her body the instant she lifted him.

To the point she genuinely could not understand how he was still alive.

He coughed up blood, then a bloody laugh escaped his lips.

"Hey... Moon..." he whispered beside her ear as he felt the warmth of her Phoenix flames.

"What took you so long...? I thought you’d never come."

Ethan laughed again, and Moon realized this twisted humor of his was merely his own warped way of expressing pain.

Everything about him was abnormal.

The fact he remained conscious after injuries like these made no sense whatsoever. Even men with monstrous mental fortitude and nerves of steel would have long since lost their minds from wounds like these.

"Don’t talk. Just focus on staying alive... don’t die."

Enjoying the concern and exhaustion woven into her words, Ethan let out a louder laugh.

"I... won’t die. Just do what you need to do."

Moon gave no response.

Ethan’s resilience was unbelievable, but this was not the time to stand there admiring it.

Pushing herself to her absolute limit, Moon dashed forward with Ethan over her shoulder, attempting to lure the entire monster tide toward the location Chai had directed her to from afar—

All in the hope of finally ending this nightmare.

Jackson ran behind them the entire time, remaining close alongside Gustav Heart as both men slaughtered monsters relentlessly, trying to reduce their numbers as much as possible.

Whether they succeeded or failed now rested entirely upon the young mage waiting at the end of their path—

Preparing to unleash the strongest spell she had ever cast.