Chapter 22: The Waves

  I could hear sounds coming from every direction as I ran toward the tower. Just how many monsters are there in this damn forest?

  Then suddenly, a massive green creature humanoid in shape, with two thick horns protruding from its head stepped into my path.

  A zombie? No, it looked way too solid and powerful for that.

  Its massive fist came crashing down toward me.

  BAM!

  The impact shook the ground, leaving a crater where I had stood a second earlier.

  Goddamn... some of these monsters pack serious power.

  I dashed toward its leg and swung my sword, aiming for a deep slash.

  But instead of cutting through, it felt like hitting a wall of stone.

  “Fuck…” I hissed.

  I didn’t want to use Surging Blaze so soon. The technique was powerful, sure, but also a drain on my energy. I needed to pace myself.

  I had no idea how many monsters were waiting ahead, and blowing all my essence early would be suicide.

  Fine, if the monsters are too strong, I’ll just outrun them. If I stay too long, I’ll end up surrounded.

  I kept pushing forward, ignoring the sounds of Layla finishing the monster behide me.

  Still, my thoughts lingered. That green thing… it looked like a mutated zombie. I thought zombies were supposed to be weak?

  Clearly, I was wrong. This forest was full of surprises and not the good kind.

  More and more monsters kept appearing. I moved like a shadow, avoiding the bigger threats and taking down the weaker ones with quick strikes.

  I decapitated a wolf the size of a horse by suddenly shifting my sword’s shape mid-swing. The beast never saw it coming.

  Then I heard it, something slicing through the air above me.

  Crap.

  A yellow bird with glowing eyes dove straight toward me, its talons gleaming.

  I twisted my body and narrowly dodged its claws, counterattacking mid-motion, but the damn thing shot back into the sky, out of reach.

  Annoying bastard.

  The pressure was rising. Monsters were converging from all sides.

  I activated Phoenix in my legs again, boosting my speed to weave between attacks.

  I slashed, ducked, and dashed, but the longer this went on, the more I felt my stamina draining, my muscles burned and my breath came in ragged bursts.

  Suddenly, a shadow appeared at my right. I jumped instinctively, but...

  SHINK!

  Pain exploded through my shoulder. The bird again! Its talons tore through me as I rose into the air.

  I gritted my teeth and forced a burst of healing through the wound, only to see a massive mouth open wide below me.

  Not today.

  [Blazing Surge]

  A wave of explosion burst from my blade, incinerating the creature before it could eat me alive.

  I landed hard, barely keeping my footing.

  Slash

  A new pain bloomed across my back. Something had cut me open from behind.

  “Shit!”

  More essence and more fire. I forced power into my legs and leapt, vaulting over a swarm of charging beasts. The air burned in my lungs, my vision blurred and my arms trembled.

  How many monsters had I killed? Two dozen? More?

  I didn’t even know anymore. I only knew one thing: I was running out of steam fast.

  My sword skills had come a long way, but my body couldn’t keep up. My footwork was slipping and my reactions were slower, I could feel it in every limb.

  But I couldn’t stop.

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  I wouldn’t stop.

  I had to prove I could do this, that I wasn’t just someone to be protected, I could fight too. I could be someone others could rely on.

  Something stabbed into my thigh. I didn’t look. I didn’t care.

  I slashed, I dodged, I healed and I exploded forward.

  Over and over, like a broken machine running on willpower alone.

  Mutated beasts from all species swarmed me, crawling, flying, slithering, charging.

  Then--

  My foot caught something.

  I fell.

  CRACK.

  My face hit the dirt hard and the world spun.

  My vision swam. Pain bloomed across my chest and legs.

  I forced myself to look up.

  And there it was.

  A sea of monsters, so many it looked like the entire forest had come to meet me. Beasts of every shape and size stood between me and the tower.

  What... what kind of place is this?

  How the hell did Will make it through all this alone?

  I wanted to prove that I could do it too, that I could follow in his footsteps, take this trial on my own…

  But this…

  It wasn’t something a normal human could do…

  Even after all my growth, all my effort, all my training...

  It wasn’t enough.

  I could tell just by looking: there were at least three monsters in that horde I couldn't even beat on a good day.

  The only reason I got this far was because I focused everything on speed, deception and timing.

  But that was no longer enough.

  While I had probably made it through three-quarters of the way, it was clear that the closer I got to the tower, the stronger the monsters became.

  Haa… Well, that was as far as I could go on my own. Time to let myself get carried the rest of the way.

  I mean, yeah, I had hoped to do more, but I couldn't deny how far I'd come either.

  I still remembered when I couldn’t even kill a single beast on my own.

  “You did really well, Elian. You should be proud,” Layla said softly, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips as she calmly stepped in front of me.

  "Phoenix Strike."

  She raised her spear, and a surge of red, crackling essence enveloped it. Then, with a single fluid motion, she unleashed her attack.

  A wave of blazing fire erupted from the spearhead. I could see the outline of a fiery phoenix taking form as the inferno surged forward, consuming everything in its path.

  The heat was so intense I felt it from where I stood, it even singed the edges of my cloak.

  Trees, monsters, debris everything was vaporized. Nothing remained but scorched earth glowing red with heat.

  Damn... Is that really the kind of power you get from ranking up?

  “How many monsters did she even kill just now?” I muttered under my breath.

  “Seriously? You couldn’t leave even one or two for me to warm up?” Will groaned behind us, looking genuinely annoyed.

  Layla shot him a look of disdain but didn’t bother responding. Instead, she turned back to me.

  “We’ll take care of the rest. You’ve done more than enough already. You won’t gain anything from being stubborn now.”

  She was right, I was at my limit. I already got what I came here for. Not like I could gain experience until I ranked up anyway…

  So I relaxed a bit for the rest of the way, letting Will and Layla wipe out everything that came close.

  It was hard to even call it a fight.

  They tore through dozens to hundreds of monsters like it was nothing.

  By the time we reached the tower, the ground was littered with burned remains and shattered bodies.

  I could feel it deep in my bones: the wall between ranks was real and massive.

  Before I could even catch my breath or reflect on anything, everything went black.

  I woke to the sound of the earth trembling. My eyes snapped open.

  What now?

  “Hey, how are you feeling?” a familiar voice asked to my right.

  I turned my head to see Layla watching me with a worried expression.

  “Don’t worry,” I said with a groan as I sat up. “Actually, I feel kind of… great.”

  “I guess my healing worked then,” she said with a smirk.

  Ugh. Another debt to her…

  BOOM.

  My body jolted slightly at the sound. “Okay, seriously. What the hell is causing all that noise?”

  She sighed and turned toward the forest, visibly annoyed.

  “Will got bored, so now he’s clearing out every monster near the tower.”

  Ah.

  Yeah… that definitely sounded like something he’d do.

  As I sat up fully, I noticed a few people I didn’t recognize nearby, strangers.

  This was the first time I’d personally seen survivors from outside the dorm since the apocalypse began.

  Most of them looked tense, probably nervous about entering the tower.

  At least here, they were safe from monsters. For some reason, there seemed to be a perimeter around the tower that no beast dared to cross.

  “How long was I out?” I asked.

  “Hmm... three hours, maybe?” Layla said, thinking aloud. It wasn’t like anyone had a working watch anymore, so that sounded about right.

  Still, her healing really had come a long way since her rank-up.

  I felt like I could sprint a marathon.

  Then a voice interrupted from off to my right.

  “Hey! You two!”

  I turned toward the source. A guy in a brown coat with messy blond hair was walking over, irritation written all over his face.

  “You’re with the freak that’s out there brawling with monsters, right? Can’t you tell him to cut it out already? Some of us are trying to concentrate here!”

  Oh… I guess some people were annoyed, I thought as I glanced around. Yeah, definitely, most were even nodding in agreement.

  “Think you can go get him, Layla?”

  “I’m not leaving you alone here with all these strangers,” she replied flatly.

  This girl… so overprotective.

  “Sigh… Alright, let’s go together then.”

  She nodded and followed without another word.

  When we reached Will, he was standing proudly on top of a literal mountain of monster corpses.

  I guess the remaining monsters finally got the message and stopped coming. Nothing around him was moving anymore.

  “Will, you had your fun, right? How about stopping now?”

  He turned, blinking at me in surprise. “Oh, suicide boy’s awake. Took you long enough. I was starting to get bored, couldn’t find anything else to fight.”

  Seriously…?

  “I thought you stopped calling me that!”

  He grinned. “After what you just pulled out there? Congrats, you earned the title back, champ.”

  This bastard…

  Wait. Actually… he kind of had a point.

  Ugh. Never mind.

  “Just come back to the tower, will you? People are complaining about the noise.”

  He looked at me like I’d just said the dumbest thing ever. “And why would I care about that?”

  Still, he shrugged. “Eh, whatever. I guess I’m done anyway. Can’t find any more beasts worth my time.”

  He passed by me and started heading back, casual as ever.

  Sigh. Let’s just get this over with.

  When we returned to the tower, the blond guy from earlier was waiting with a somewhat awkward look on his face.

  “Well… thanks, I guess? I kinda expected you guys to brush me off, honestly. I was in a bad mood.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck, looking a little sheepish. “Anyway, name’s Gab. What about you?”

  “My name’s Elian. These two are Layla and Will,” I said politely.

  I knew damn well Will had no interest in making small talk, and Layla still had her guard up.

  As for me… well, I wasn’t exactly that social , but being polite didn’t cost me anything.

  “I’m guessing you’re the one aiming to rank up, right?” Gab said, nodding toward me. “Those two are way too strong to be under level 26.”

  He smiled slightly. “Still, seeing how relaxed you guys are kind of helps me calm down, so… thanks. If you manage to survive, I’ll consider having a dept to pay back.”

  He turned around but threw one last line over his shoulder:

  “Also… You better not forget my name because I’m going to be the strongest in the country!”

  …Okay?

  I mean, good for him, but also… cringe. At least it didn’t last longer.

  Anyway, for me, there was only one thing left now.

  It was finally time to face the Tower of Evolution. Once and for all.