The shadow laced out of the Impossible shadow at high speed. They dropped onto the ground next to everyone.
"Are you alright?" I asked Livia who I tucked under.
"..." She nodded in response.
That's a relief. I thought they would directly attack but they didn't. What exactly is their goal?
"Everyone, get away from the shadows quickly!" Vaelon instructed.
"Huh."
I lifted Livia and jumped away from the shadows. Shortly after the rest of the students followed and at that exact moment they started making their moves.
I drop her off lightly.
The wolves started jumping out of the shadows one by one, already moving after their prey.
"Oh no you don't!" Ernst threw a pebble.
The pebble upon launched moved at super sonic speed with lightning elements and took out all of the wolves in a flash, giving time for everyone to regroup.
What was that?
The pebble moves in such disbelief, it ran through each and every of the wolves core, obliterating them. The course of it's path... It's like the pebble is alive for a period of time.
Ernst Brave, quite the man with a peculiar abilities.
"Here they come again!" Vaelon shouted.
A large black wall was ready to warp us inside. Ernst was ready to use his lightning abilities however...
"Everyone jump!" A deep voice ordered us.
Without questions, everyone did as the voice said. I looked at the direction of the voice out of curiosity and it was a big guy with a dark skin, well built muscles and he was bald. He strike down at the ground with his fist.
The ground scattered in a huge scale that all the shadows that materialized got destroyed causing the warping to cease to exist into thin air.
"What the hell!" Glenn blurted out.
Everyone was shocked at the scene they just witnessed.
It's a reasonable reaction. It's not everyday you see a guy punch the ground and it collapsed. Although however in this case it just scattered the ground into a scrabble.
I thought he could do something about the place we're in right now but seeing the results of the ground... It reconstructed itself in a matter of seconds like time reversal. However it didn't reverse the shadows.
What was that?
We landed right after the floor regenerate itself or rather the floor regenerate the moment we landed.
"What just happened?" Eugene asked.
"It's almost as if the ground was destroyed for a moment and it reconstructed like nothing ever happened." Elizabeth expressed.
"That's exactly what it was." Ernst answered.
Everyone looked as if they were surprised it was true. Or are they terrified?
"This makes sense why no one was able to get out by breaking through the wall. It reconstructed itself faster than we can blink, it was like It's never even damaged in the first place..." Ernst explained.
The shadows began to stir as Ernst explained his theory. They slid out from the stone walls as if the rock itself were only a thin veil. It wasn't natural. It wasn't even logical.
It was as though the darkness had an ego—an existence that rejected the laws of the world.
"Positions!" Vaelon commanded.
The wolves launched their ambush at once—hundreds of them, perhaps three hundred at minimum, yet their numbers grew by the second. There was no time to count. Only time to survive.
Their snarls were a warning, a declaration that resistance was meaningless.
But not a single student stepped back.
Experience or talent didn't matter here. Against this kind of threat, we were nothing more than rookies standing at the edge of an inevitable death. Even seasoned professionals struggled with this place—not because the monsters were overpowered, but because the situation was fundamentally unwinnable.
Still, the mages didn't hesitate.
Support magic surged outward and wrapped around the frontliners. Enhancement spells layered over each other, and luminous orbs appeared, bathing the battlefield in dim but sufficient light.
Vaelon stepped forward and drew a slow breath.
"You're not getting past the luminous range."
He dashed to the edge of the light and raised his sword.
"Illusion Strike!"
His voice cut through the cave—right before he himself did.
His body flickered, then split into dozens of afterimages.
Or rather, he moved so fast that reality struggled to keep up. His form glitched in and out of existence, appearing in every gap between the wolves. Each flicker ended with a clean decapitation.
This was merely my assumption but that's how that performance looks like.
Light-blue arcs carved the darkness in a synchronized pattern.
From the original position, the slashes traced a jagged map of destruction—clean, efficient, almost artistic.
And in the span of a heartbeat, all three hundred wolves collapsed.
The distorted silhouettes converged and snapped back into Vaelon's body.
"…Amazing," the large boy murmured, expression calm but eyes widened.
"Not bad," Ernst said with a small nod.
Not bad?
After that?
"I-incredible!" a few girls whispered, awestruck.
"Wow…" Eugene exhaled, admitting silently that the gap was immense.
"Oh yeah! With him, what are we even worried about!?" Huston laughed in relief.
"I wouldn't celebrate yet," Glenn said quietly.
"Huh? C'mon, man, don't ruin the moment!" Huston shot back. "You saw him! He could take all of them alone!"
"He's right," Vaelon replied before Glenn could answer.
Everyone turned to him.
"The issue was never about whether we can handle the wolves," Vaelon continued. "The real problem is how we escape this place. If we're forced to fight endlessly without another option… we'll simply collapse from exhaustion. And whatever waits beyond this wave might be worse."
"…You're right. My bad," Huston muttered, shoulders dropping.
And our only method of breaking the loop is to exhaust ourselves. This is gonna take a while.
"Enough talking. Look ahead," Ernst said sharply.
He pointed to the shadows.
As if responding to his gesture, the darkness bulged outward—then burst.
More wolves poured out, restructuring themselves midair. Their bodies twisted and reformed as they landed with a heavy thud, shadows solidifying until they looked almost real.
"Seriously?" Eugene muttered, expression flat.
"Are they kidding me…?" Huston groaned, rubbing his temple.
"So this really isn't ending anytime soon." Elizabeth exhaled sharply.
"We're gonna be stuck here forever…" Elaris complained under her breath.
"Stop whining and prepare yourselves," Ernst ordered, voice cold and absolute.
"Yes, sir." The response came in unison from Huston and Glenn, sharp with determination.
"Prepare for the next wave. I'll take care of this one." Ernst stepped forward, posture loose but assured. He bent down and picked up a small pebble, idly flipping it between his fingers as he walked.
"O-okay…" The girls' confidence wavered at his tone.
"Very well. Good luck," Vaelon said quietly.
The wolves stopped advancing, watching Ernst with unsettling focus. They were reading his movements, calculating. Their posture shifted—crouched low, patient, intelligent.
Almost as if they had developed consciousness.
"Alright. Bring it on." Ernst spoke casually, as if bored.
The provocation worked. The wolves lunged forward simultaneously, claws extended, jaws wide.
"Good. Come at me all you want."
They reached mid-air—and a single pebble vanished from Ernst's hand. A split second later, a sharp crack echoed as it pierced through the skull of the leading wolf, lightning bursting outward in a blinding flash. The creature disintegrated instantly.
At the same moment, two wolves emerged silently behind the group, shadows flattening before reforming. They sprang toward the girls.
"Ah—!" The girls flinched and raised their hands, a thin barrier manifesting, but it was too late—the wolves were already upon them.
Ernst snapped his body around, his hand flicking sharply. Multiple pebbles shot out with explosive force, streaking through the air like lightning-charged bullets. They intercepted the wolves mid-flight, tearing through their skulls mere inches from the girls' faces. The bodies dissolved into smoke.
"What reflexes…" the big guy muttered, momentarily frozen.
Ernst approached the girls, tone level. "Are you alright?"
"Y-yes. Thank you," Elaris replied, tension still clinging to her voice.
Regardless of the result, that was still a close call.
"Okay. The rest will take over the next wave. Vaelon and I will sit back this time." Ernst announced calmly.
"Wait—what?" Huston's voice cracked. "What do you mean?"
"You heard me."
"Why?"
"Just do as I say."
"Why is that?" Eugene stepped forward, frowning.
Ernst's gaze swept across them. Eyes watching him. Pressure building. "Man, you guys are persistent," he muttered.
The next wave began to regenerate, slowly forming from swirling shadows. This time their bodies carried texture—fur, shape, muscle. Not silhouettes. Not illusions.
"I'll do it, don't worry," Vaelon started to step forward.
"Don't." Ernst cut him off. "I'm doing this to confirm whether you'll be alright without us. This is going to be a long fight."
"If that's the case, why didn't you say so?" Glenn asked.
"If I said it outright, some of you might take it personally. I didn't feel like dealing with pointless emotions." He paused. "If Vaelon and I waste our Geist and stamina now, who will protect you later? I just wanted to know before I used up all my Geist and become useless."
He wasn't wrong. Words like his would usually spark resentment—it could easily be interpreted as 'You're weak. Prove you're worth keeping.' But none of them reacted negatively.
"If that's the case, you can count on us. Right, guys?" Huston took initiative.
"Of course."
"Alright. Let's do our best."
They took formation. The wolves' bodies rebuilt themselves, features sharpening—glowing eyes fading into fully formed pupils, fangs glistening.
"Guys, don't you think they look a bit different from before?" Lily narrowed her eyes.
"You're right. They're clearer now," Eugene responded, jaw tight.
"Everyone, get ready," the big guy warned.
The wolves completed their reconstruction.
He charged first. His foot slammed into the ground, stone cracking beneath the force, and he smashed the nearest wolf's head downward with a heavy strike, the impact shaking the ground like a quake.
The mages followed instantly—no hesitation.
A lightning spell erupted from above, descending like a spear of white light. It struck two wolves simultaneously, paralysis freezing their limbs mid-motion, electricity crackling violently across their bodies.
Lily's ice spell followed—three needles of crystalline frost shot forward, piercing vital joints: neck, ribs, abdomen. Frost spread rapidly across the wounds, freezing blood solid.
Elizabeth moved her hand sharply downward. The ground beneath the wolves split apart, stone twisting like serpents. Earthen spikes shot up and impaled multiple wolves from below, lifting them off the ground before shattering them into fragments of ash.
Huston flicked his wrist. A small metal object spun through the air in a curved trajectory, leaving a faint green trail. Before the wolves could react, his body blurred—vanishing and reappearing along the same curved path in a flash of emerald light.
In that instant, every targeted wolf dropped, deep slashes carved cleanly along their sides.
What was that skill?
Elaris stepped back, placing both hands together, her voice sinking into a rapid, layered chant. Pale blue rings of mana expanded from beneath her feet, pulsing outward like shockwaves. When the final syllable struck the air, the rings shattered silently, dissolving into particles that flowed into each of us.
A warmth spread through our limbs—light, clean, unmistakably invigorating. Our muscles tightened, fatigue peeling away like dead skin.
A stamina boost.
Glenn exhaled slowly. He crouched without urgency and scooped a handful of pebbles from the broken stone floor. He didn't bother with stance or form—he simply waited, body loose, almost bored. As the nearest wolf lunged forward, Glenn flicked his wrist with minimal effort.
A pebble shot forward.
Crack.
The wolf's skull caved in on impact, collapsing mid-stride.
Then another.
And another.
Each stone left his fingers with surgical accuracy, punching through bone like reinforced steel. He didn't even blink. Glenn wasn't taking it seriously, yet every throw was fatal.
It reminded me of the first time I saw him fight—effortless superiority that felt almost insulting.
Meanwhile, Livia knelt briefly, pressing her palm against two blank metal cores. A flash of crimson patterns crawled across the surfaces like living veins. They solidified into enchanted stone swords, humming faintly with sealed elemental reinforcement. She handed one to Eugene and one to me.
"Don't drop it," she whispered, expression taut.
Eugene tightened his grip, grounding his stance as a pair of wolves sprinted toward him. He surged forward, aura bursting around his legs like compressed wind. The first wolf leaped; Eugene leaped with it. He rotated midair—a perfect spinning arc—and the blade carved clean through its neck. Dark mist exploded from the severed point.
He landed in a slide, momentum carrying him beneath the second wolf's jump. With a swift upward slice, he tore through its underside, splitting it open before it could react.
I remained beside Livia, eyes narrowed, defensive posture ready. I wasn't planning on wasting movement unless necessary.
The battlefield bloomed with coordinated violence.
Lily's glacial spears shattered wolves mid-dash.
Elizabeth's earthen spikes erupted beneath their feet, skewering them with cruel precision.
Glenn continued eliminating targets with silent precision.
And Eugene painted clean circular cuts through anything that approached.
One by one, the creatures dissolved back into shadow, dissolving like melting ink.
Silence followed, heavy and sudden.
Everyone lowered their guard.
I exhaled slowly.
"In the end, I didn't have to do anything," I muttered.
And so we kept on massacring The wolves as they keep on coming back, again and again and again. They never stopped coming.
As we progressed, everyone started to notice that the wolves are getting stronger each time a new wave begins. Although by a small portion, it's still something everyone noticed.