Bone snapped back into place.
Muscles wove themselves anew.
Skin closed smoothly over the fresh limbs.
Victor's father gasped in shock as his breathing turned steady.
His body was whole again.
The healer then turned to Victor.
A surge of soothing warmth flooded Victor's veins as his shattered arm mended, bruises faded, and his strength returned.
Victor gasped while raising his hands in disbelief and staring at them.
His body felt lighter. Stronger.
But before he could even speak,
A crackling heat rose dangerously, boiling the very ground beneath them.
Victor turned his head—
The Drakenar leader was breaking free.
His red eyes glowed like molten suns and his muscles twitched violently.
The heat around him surged to catastrophic levels, warping the very air into a mirage of fire.
The ground blackened.
Then, a deep growl rumbled from his throat.
"I WILL BURN YOU ALL!!"
A violent explosion of flames erupted from his body.
The Zone Freeze cracked.
Mana shields flickered across the battlefield as the shockwave sent rubble flying.
Victor shielded his eyes just as Cecilia raised a hand.
She was still calm. Unshaken.
"Time to clean up this place," she spoke with a voice as thin as ice.
The female Mage on the right lifted her staff. Her system interface flashed before her, displaying rows of powerful spells.
The healer retreated, reinforcing the mana barriers around them.
Cecilia barely moved.
She simply lifted her hand.
And the air itself… split apart.
Her system interface appeared in front of her, scrolling through a library of destruction.
Spells ranging from catastrophic elemental annihilation to forbidden incantations hovered before her.
Her eyes flicked through them all.
She tapped one spell.
Victor felt it before he saw it.
A pulse of mana unlike anything before.
A weight heavier than the ocean.
The very ground beneath them cracked.
A storm of mana-infused lightning and fire descended upon the battlefield.
Hundreds of Drakenar charging toward them—
Burned to nothing but ash.
The screams barely lasted a second.
Victor stumbled back in awe.
'This… this is the power of a Legendary Mage?!'
The Drakenar leader stood frozen as its eyes widened with fury and disbelief.
Then, for the first time… he took a step back.
Victor grinned through the lingering pain.
"Yeah, you better start running, ugly."
Cecilia took one step forward.
The Drakenar leader stiffened.
She raised her palm, gathering mana.
The Drakenar leader staggered backward, trembling. It had never felt this level of fear before.
The massive gap in power between itself and the human standing before it.
It had fought hundreds of battles, slaughtered thousands, and even faced elite warriors of humanity before.
But this woman… this legendary Mage…
She was on an entirely different level.
Desperation took over its senses.
The molten ground beneath its feet sizzled as it dashed forward, pushing its burning legs to the limit.
It didn't even care about the shame.
All it wanted was to escape.
But Cecilia wouldn't allow it.
She extended a hand causing her system interface to flash before her.
A powerful spell manifested instantly.
A searing golden spear of light formed above her palm, glowing like a miniature sun.
She flicked her wrist.
The spear tore through the air like a divine judgment, traveling faster than the eye could follow.
The Drakenar leader barely had time to react before it pierced straight through its chest and burrowed out the other side.
A massive gaping hole appeared in its body as the spear kept tearing through the air till it slammed into a darkened mountain up ahead. The mountain was immediately punctured.
Meanwhile, the Drakenar leader's vision darkened.
And the last thing it saw—
Was the human boy… the one who had dared to wound it.
The one responsible for this fate.
Its blood boiled with rage one final time as it collapsed.
The blue-robed Mage swept through the battlefield, finishing off the last of the straying Drakenar.
Meanwhile, Mr. Revenant dashed toward Victor while panting heavily.
His voice was filled with raw emotion.
Victor turned and gave a wide grin despite his exhaustion.
Before he could react, his father pulled him into a tight embrace.
Victor froze for a moment.
His father was never this emotional.
"You… you idiot," his father muttered. His voice was hoarse. "What the hell were you thinking coming here?!"
Victor chuckled weakly. "Saving your ass, old man. You're welcome."
His father pulled back, gripping Victor's shoulders. His hands trembled.
For the first time, Victor saw something in his father's eyes.
Victor smirked. "Well, yeah. I kinda—"
Before he could finish, his father pulled him into another hug.
Victor felt his chest tighten.
This… was the first time his father had ever held him .
For a brief moment, he let himself enjoy it.
Cecilia walked toward them with crossed arms.
"Too bad no one survived except you," she commented to Mr. Revenant.
"There are survivors," he said firmly.
Victor's father turned and gestured toward a concealed area.
A hidden crevice near the mines shuffled with movement.
Twenty survivors emerged.
They looked exhausted, injured, and terrified.
Among them, Damien, the man he saved last, stepped forward.
Tears welled in his eyes as he looked at Mr. Revenant.
"You… you saved us," Damien whispered.
Victor's father's usual stern face softened. "I just did what I had to do."
Damien stepped forward and grabbed his hand.
"You didn't have to. But you did. Thank you."
Some of the other workers joined in, patting Mr. Revenant's back and offering words of gratitude.
For the first time in a long while, he let himself smile.
Victor who was watching this from the other end, felt eyes on him and turned.
Cecilia Thorne was staring right at him.