Melissa's eyes darted anxiously between the glowing ruins and the frightened villagers herded toward the center of the village.
The air was thick with unstable mana, and each step the ruins took toward them felt like the noose tightening around their necks.
"What should we do, young master? They're getting too close."
Melissa asked, her voice low but tense.
Even Silvy, normally calm and self-assured, looked shaken.
Her eyes traced the pulsing symbols etched into the land, spreading like fire through dry grass.
"I've never seen this kind of ruin magic before. This… this isn't natural. I don't even think it's just magic anymore."
She muttered, her brows furrowed.
Kyle's gaze was steady, even in the face of the creeping curse.
"You two—head to the village center. Keep the people safe. If anything gets past us, you'll be the last line of defense."
Silvy hesitated, but Melissa gave a firm nod.
Kyle turned to Bruce.
"You're coming with me. I'll need your strength to tear the core of this array apart."
Bruce groaned, shoulders already slumping.
"Why do I always get the heavy lifting? You're sending the pretty ones off to chill while I'm stuck with the suicidal work."
Kyle raised an eyebrow.
"You got a problem with that?"
Bruce straightened immediately, giving a salute.
"Absolutely not, young master! It's an honor to be used like a human sledgehammer."
Without another word, Kyle surged forward, following Queen's guidance.
The hawk soared high above them, sharp eyes gleaming as it scanned the terrain.
With its senses fused with Kyle's, he was able to weave effortlessly through the twisting trees, guided by an unseen path. Queen's vision brought him directly to the source.
But as soon as his boots hit the right patch of land, Kyle's senses flared.
Wild mana signatures—multiple—rushed toward him like a crashing wave.
"Bruce, make sure nothing gets in my way. Not even a breath."
Bruce cracked his knuckles.
"Don't worry. I've got your back, young master."
A dozen corrupted beasts burst through the tree line—misshapen wolves with violet-glowing eyes, stags with bone spines growing from their backs, and a wild boar twice the size of a carriage.
Their bodies reeked of cursed mana, and their snarls were like broken chainsaws. They leapt toward Kyle.
But Bruce moved first, slamming his fists into the earth and kicking up a wave of dirt to blind the creatures.
He leapt into the fray with a roar, meeting the beasts head-on.
For a while, he held them off, but their numbers were too many, and his strikes were slowing.
A claw raked his side. Another beast bit into his shoulder before he smashed its skull in.
"I could really use some backup!"
Bruce yelled, stumbling back from the growing tide.
Then the wind shifted.
A towering creature slammed into the battlefield with enough force to shake the ground.
Queen, in its transformed form—a Frozen Armoured Bear—let out a deafening roar. Its body shimmered with icy armor, frost spreading in every direction.
It charged into the monsters with raw fury, swinging massive paws that crushed bones and shattered skulls.
"Queen… you're amazing. I'll not complain about you again…for a while."
Bruce whispered, awestruck, before diving back into the fight with renewed energy.
But Kyle didn't turn to look. He couldn't.
His focus was locked on the glowing ruin beneath his feet, an enormous array burned into the ground in an ancient language no longer spoken.
The symbols pulsed with greed, leeching mana from every root, leaf, and creature in the area.
And when Kyle extended his hands toward it, the ruins reacted.
A surge of dark mana rose like a tide and lashed at him, trying to bind him, twist him, consume him.
He clenched his jaw and pushed his hands deeper, channeling his own energy to intercept the flow.
The ruins clawed at his body, his veins, his mind—tempting him with illusion and pain, offering him power in return for surrender.
The array was ancient, but not flawless.
It followed a pattern—one Kyle had studied before. Complex in appearance, but simple once unraveled correctly. The challenge wasn't knowledge.
Kyle could already feel his body resisting.
His internal mana was burning at both ends, and sharp pain shot through his fingers and up to his chest.
Sweat beaded along his brow, and his breathing became heavier.
"Just hold on…I need five more minutes."
He muttered to himself.
But even as he said that, he knew.
Five minutes might be more than his body could give.
Mana began to condense thickly around Kyle like a gathering storm.
Their wild eyes snapped toward the source of the disturbance—toward him.
One by one, the monsters stopped fighting Queen and Bruce.
As if possessed by something far greater than instinct, they slowly turned and began to move toward the glow of Kyle's mana, drawn like moths to a flame.
Growls rose into the air, low and hungry. Even the trees seemed to hush in their presence.
Kyle, deep in concentration, remained unaware of the creeping danger.
His entire being was focused on reversing the mana flow embedded in the ancient ruin beneath him.
The array trembled under his touch, resisting his interference like a wild beast cornered and wounded.
His arm throbbed violently. It felt as if the blood in his veins had been replaced with molten iron, each heartbeat threatening to burst the limb apart.
His fingers dug deeper into the symbols carved into the earth, and slowly, finally, he felt the tide shift.
The flow of mana, once draining outward to corrupt the land, now began to spiral inward—back into the array's heart.
It wasn't a sound heard with ears, but felt deep within the bones—like the cry of something old and unwilling to die.
Kyle gritted his teeth and gave one last push, forcing every tendril of stray mana to obey.
Light burst from the ground beneath him, and with a violent crack, the array exploded in a shockwave of raw energy.
The beasts froze mid-step, their savage focus shattered.
They flinched, yelped, and then, as if struck by fear for the first time, turned and fled into the forest, vanishing like shadows before the sun.
Bruce, who was now leaning on a chunk of broken tree bark for support, let out a ragged breath.
"Are… are we done now?"
He asked, barely able to lift his head.
Kyle opened his mouth to respond, his own chest heaving from the strain—but his senses screamed a warning first.
A final pulse of resistance surged from the shattered ruins, and a concentrated beam of mana, white-hot and furious, burst out from the core—aimed directly at them.
Kyle reacted instantly.
He grabbed Bruce by the collar and yanked him to the side, rolling with him across the ground just as the beam passed overhead.
The condensed blast struck a tree behind them—and vaporized a clean hole straight through the thick trunk.
The blast echoed into the night, and the tree, with a loud groan, toppled moments later, its fall muffled by the surrounding forest.
Both men lay on the ground for a moment, panting. Kyle's clothes were scorched, his skin blistered in places from the backdraft, but his eyes remained sharp.
Bruce let out a weak laugh.
"Remind me never to complain again."