Just then, the woman chuckled as she saw a new wave of ants. They had swollen crimson abdomens and stronger bodies, and the sight of their ominously glowing undersides was chilling.

They were Dire Ants, and she eagerly anticipated seeing Mountain, a mere summon who had dared to tell her to keep silent, face these magma-spitting beasts. She could already picture Godfrey watching the armour of his precious summon melt like paste.

She deliberately slowed her pace while Isaac, who was at the forefront, clashed against the advancing ants. A Dire Ant suddenly spat a ball of magma, which Isaac's summon slapped aside out of reflex, only to screech as its sleek exoskeleton began to smoke and blister from the damage.

Other Dire Ants followed suit, launching balls of molten fire, and the Mammoth Spider responded by shooting thick web-balls. But they burned to nothing in an instant as the magma surged toward it, until several golden knights stepped forward and blocked the attack with their shields.

Smoke rose thickly, and the woman cackled under her breath. "Inexperienced brat rushing to—!"

In the next moment, her words died as her eyes widened. The Dire Ants were the ones whose heads melted off, some losing their chests as magma poured from them before they collapsed.

She barely had time to comprehend how the ants were suffering what the knights should have faced, as the armoured summons charged like tanks, their shields raised before them, slamming into the swarm and cutting them down ruthlessly.

The magma balls reflected harmlessly off their shields as they hacked and slashed. The sight was oddly terrifying to the woman, the very creatures they had once fled from were now being slaughtered by these massive knights, and the realization twisted her gut with envy.

"He retrieved his summon. Will he return?" Joana asked as she saw the Mammoth Spider vanish.

Godfrey was silent. It was about time for Isaac to retreat, the battlefield was more brutal now, but instead, the freshman suddenly dashed forward, leaping and plunging all four spider legs into a Dire Ant, killing it instantly.

Those sharp legs ripped free and launched again in different directions, piercing through four normal ants.

"It's not over…" Isaac panted, pulling out his combat dagger. "I'm not stopping!" He launched himself forward, driving one spider leg into the paved ground to pivot out of the path of a magma ball, then impaling another ant with a different leg.

As he fought, Isaac recalled a conversation he'd had with Godfrey in the taxi, when he asked him if he wasn't afraid. Godfrey had replied that he was. Entering a dungeon was always a risk, but he was the only one left to protect his mother, a woman who had spent sixteen years devoted entirely to him.

He had a duty. A duty his father had died upholding. For that, fear had to step aside.

That conviction Godfrey carried had burned itself into Isaac's mind. It motivated him, it made him ashamed of his cowardly nature, and it made him angry.

He shot a web string at the face of an ant, pinning his feet to the ground and spinning, using the creature like a wrecking ball to crush others.

His father was gone too, and instead of becoming someone like Godfrey, all he had done was heap his problems onto his mother, over bullies he couldn't face, even after being given power.

Seeing the once innocent-looking teen, who usually smiled or shivered depending on what he heard or saw, now transformed into a raging beast on the battlefield left Joana shocked.

Godfrey, however, knew what he was witnessing. Isaac had broken free from the state many in school were, the ones who flaunted power without ever facing true life-or-death situations.

Those people cowered when the strong appeared and boasted only before the weak. But those who had survived a dungeon, who had taken a life, could always tell who was bluffing and who wasn't.

They could recognize a true predator from an acting one.

"It's time," Godfrey muttered. Ballista gave a nod and nocked three lightning arrows, which multiplied into nine mid-air, piercing through the swollen abdomens of three massive Dire Ants, the guards of the dungeon boss.

Their abdomens exploded, splattering magma in all directions, though the molten liquid that splashed onto the dungeon boss simply slid right off its golden armour.

The fact that three 5.7 high tier tier mini-bosses were taken out in one attack shocked the twins.

"Didn't those mini-bosses almost kill our leader's summon, or have they grown weaker?" one of them asked, riding atop his Quicksilver Falcon.

The ants grew even more aggressive, attempting to break through the line Mountain held to reach Ballista.

Ballista manifested another arrow, this one different from his usual ones. It had a spiraled arrowhead, greater length, and lightning crackled across his body so fiercely that Joana and her sister instinctively backed away to a safer distance.

All the lightning gathered into his bow and arrow.

"Don't tell me he's stupid enough to try to kill the boss from that distance. It's almost a mile away!" the second twin scowled.

"The armour will definitely block the blow! We threw two bombs, and they didn't do a thing!" the other replied.

Just then, Ballista released the arrow, unleashing Trail Blazer. It streaked forth, flying past everyone before they could blink, and struck the dungeon boss, cutting through it like a hot blade through wax. The massive ant fell, its body splitting in two and slamming heavily into the ground.

In the silence of everyone's disbelief, Godfrey clicked his tongue. 'That skill still takes a huge chunk out of my mana.'

"Get the core, now!" Scar roared at the top of his lungs as all the ants collapsed. The twins commanded their falcons to dive at great speed, but just as one was about to grab the core, a webbed hand connected to a string lashed out and pulled it straight into Isaac's grasp.

"Mountain!" Isaac bellowed, throwing the core toward Mountain.

Just then, thick roots burst out of the ground, one of them slamming Isaac hard into the ruins of a building.

"Brat!" Scar grounded his feet. "We don't have much time!"

Warden, his summon, slammed the ground and roots in great numbers erupted from the paved street, writhing like snakes as they wrapped around the Sword and Shield Knights, gathering even more around Mountain.

....

A/N: We crossed 400 powerstones last week, going strong this week already and almost 200 golden tickets. My God! This is unbelievable!

Well, thanks!!

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