The dungeon sky burned crimson.
[Final Phase — 2 Hours Remaining]
[Only Top 100 Advance]
The forest had gone unnaturally quiet.
No beasts.
No random skirmishes.
Only converging intent.
Zael and Lily stood atop a broken ridge overlooking a wide basin scarred by past battles.
[Lily — Rank 2 | Points: 52,400]
[Zael — Rank 5 | Points: 47,300]
They were no longer just high-ranking contestants.
They were targets.
Lily's grip tightened on her spear.
"…They're coming."
Zael felt it too.
Not one presence.
Not three.
A formation.
Mana signatures layered together in disciplined waves.
From the treeline ahead, figures emerged.
Ten awakeners.
At their front walked two who didn't bother hiding their auras.
One radiated sharp, burning mana.
The other distorted the air with spatial ripples.
Their panels flared briefly:
[Rank 11]
[Rank 17]
The squad fanned out smoothly, cutting off every escape route.
No shouting.
No taunting.
Only calculation.
The spatial-type leader spoke calmly.
"Rank two. Rank five."
His gaze lingered on Lily.
"Your points alone are enough to push three of us into top fifty."
Then he looked at Zael.
"And you're the unknown variable."
Zael sighed.
"So polite about robbery."
Lily whispered, "…They waited until there were no beasts left."
Zael nodded.
"Because this is worth it."
The fire-type awakener raised his hand.
> Skill Activated — Suppression Field
Mana pressed down like gravity.
The squad advanced as one.
Not recklessly.
Not stupidly.
Like hunters closing in on prey that could kill them back.
Zael stepped half a pace forward — then stopped.
He did not release everything.
He did not use Ascendant Echo.
He drew his blade normally.
"…I'll take the leaders," he said quietly.
"You farm the rest."
Lily glanced at him sharply.
"…Don't push too far."
He smiled faintly.
"That's why I won't."
The basin exploded into motion.
Got it.
Zael takes both leaders.
Lily wipes the remaining squad and ascends to Rank 1.
Zael stays Rank 5 and below her in points.
No Ascendant Echo.
Only his established skills + strategist tactics.
Here's the continuation:
---
The suppression field slammed down fully.
Mana pressed against bone.
The ten-man squad moved as one.
The fire-type leader raised his arm, flame sigils igniting across his gauntlet.
> Skill Activated — Flame Sovereignty
A wave of compressed fire rolled across the basin.
Zael didn't retreat.
> Skill Activated — Void Step
Space folded.
He vanished from the wave's path and reappeared directly in front of the spatial-type leader.
The man's eyes widened.
Too late.
> Skill Activated — Night Sever
Zael's blade flashed once.
No explosion.
No shockwave.
Just a silent line of darkness across the man's chest.
The spatial distortion collapsed.
> Contestant defeated — Points gained: 4,200
Zael Total: 51,500
The fire-type leader roared and slammed both fists together.
> Skill Activated — Infernal Rampart
A wall of blazing mana erupted outward, forcing Zael back.
Behind them, the squad surged toward Lily.
She inhaled once.
> Skill Activated — Spear Art: Storm Line
Her spear became a streak of lightning.
The first attacker fell before he even realized she had moved.
> Contestant defeated — Points gained: 4,100
Lily Total: 56,500
Two more closed in from opposite sides.
> Skill Activated — Spear Art: Twin Crescent
Her weapon carved intersecting arcs of blue light.
Both were thrown backward, bodies skidding across stone.
> Contestant defeated — Points gained: 4,300
Lily Total: 60,800
Contestant defeated — Points gained: 4,200
Lily Total: 65,000
Zael faced the last leader.
Flames twisted into a rotating drill around the man's arms.
> Skill Activated — Blazing Cataclysm
He charged.
Zael planted his foot.
> Skill Activated — Blade Domain
The air warped.
Within the domain, his blade speed doubled.
> Skill Activated — Phantom Split
Four afterimages burst outward.
The fire-user struck one—
It vanished.
Zael stepped through another.
> Skill Activated — Resonance Strike
He met the flaming drill head-on.
The absorbed force detonated outward.
The explosion shattered trees behind them.
The fire-user staggered.
Zael was already inside his guard.
> Skill Activated — Night Sever
The blade pierced through mana, armor, and chest in one clean motion.
The flames died.
> Contestant defeated — Points gained: 4,400
Zael Total: 55,900
Across the basin, Lily was already finishing the last four.
One tried to flee.
> Skill Activated — Spear Art: Sky Anchor
Her spear pinned him to the stone.
> Contestant defeated — Points gained: 4,000
Lily Total: 69,000
Another unleashed shadow blades.
She spun once.
> Skill Activated — Spear Art: Falling Arc
He fell.
> Contestant defeated — Points gained: 4,000
Lily Total: 73,000
The final two attacked together.
She met them head-on.
A blur of motion.
Two impacts.
Silence.
> Contestant defeated — Points gained: 4,200
Lily Total: 77,200
Contestant defeated — Points gained: 4,100
Lily Total: 81,300
The basin fell quiet.
Burning embers drifted through the air.
The ranking board trembled.
[Lily — Rank 1 | Points: 81,300]
[Zael — Rank 5 | Points: 55,900]
Lily stood with her spear lowered, chest rising slowly.
"…We just eliminated a top-ranked squad."
Zael sheathed his blade calmly.
"And didn't make too much noise."
She stared at him.
"…You defeated both leaders."
He shrugged.
"They were in the way."
Her eyes narrowed.
"You could've taken more."
"Then I wouldn't be fifth," he replied.
She didn't argue.
The board confirmed it.
She was first.
He was still hiding.
Around the dungeon, mana signatures flickered and vanished.
Only ninety-something remained.
The hunt had turned into a war of elites.
Lily looked at him again.
"…How far are you really willing to go?"
Zael glanced at the sky where the system timer burned.
"…Just far enough."
And nowhere near as far as he could.
The ranking board didn't just update.
It jumped.
Points surged in violent bursts, numbers rewriting themselves so fast the light panels blurred.
Across the dungeon, contestants froze mid-step.
Mid-hunt.
Mid-fight.
In one corner of the forest, a spear-user halted and stared upward.
"…What?"
[Lily — Rank 1 | Points: 81,800]
[Zael — Rank 5 | Points: 55,900]
A wave of silence spread.
Then—
"Did you see that spike just now?"
"Both of them… at the same time?"
"They wiped out a squad. Has to be."
Whispers spread like fire through dry grass.
"They're together."
"No way. Rank one and rank five moving as a pair?"
"That's unfair."
Somewhere deeper in the dungeon, a bruised contestant leaned against a tree, clutching his ribs.
"…So that's why they felt impossible to approach."
Another, still shaking from being eliminated, stared at the board outside the dungeon through the recovery screen.
"…Lily's carrying him," someone scoffed nearby. "Obviously. No way rank five does that much work."
"Yeah," another agreed. "He's just riding her momentum."
Behind them, a few of the eliminated contestants who had faced Zael directly went quiet.
Their mouths twitched.
One of them clenched his jaw.
"…If they knew," he muttered.
If they knew who actually cut them down.
If they knew whose blade shattered their leaders.
If they knew who had really stood at the front.
But the board didn't show that.
It only showed points.
It only showed ranks.
And to the outside world, it looked simple:
Rank 1 and Rank 5. Together.
Somewhere in the viewing hall, an observer leaned back in his chair.
"…Interesting. Either Lily found herself a shield… or Zael is far more dangerous than he looks."
Inside the dungeon, Lily glanced at the glowing board, then at Zael.
She didn't say anything.
Zael didn't either.
But as speculation spread, as rumors twisted and formed, one truth remained quietly buried beneath the numbers:
The dungeon thought it understood what had just happened.
It was wrong.
And the ones who had been cut down by Zael…
were the only ones who knew how badly.