"Are you ready?" We’ve all rested as much as possible. The plan for the beginning is already decided: the owl group will cause a commotion at the entrance of the cliff to draw the attention of as many monsters as possible, then fall back to strategic positions to reduce their numbers.

  I’ll wait hidden near the cave where Gator saw the feline monster enter. Since I’ll be on the upper part of the ravine, descending would be extremely difficult without some kind of teleportation ability. I’ll simply jump and teleport to a good position, avoiding attention as much as possible.

  The whole group moves to their positions, and I move to mine. I hear some explosions in the distance. Several seconds later, monsters run toward the origin of the attack, leaving only a few guards near the entrance.

  I jump off the cliff with my Thundersnow Fangs in hand. When I’m at a good distance, I teleport near one of the felines. It doesn't react in time, and its body is sliced in half. The other monsters stare at the situation without responding, and I take advantage of that tiny second to teleport in front of the next feline and kill it.

  The other monsters are less concerning; they all die after a few seconds. The felines are very strong—I've already felt a clear resistance in their bodies, and according to Gator, they excel in speed due to their affinity with electricity.

  I sense several monsters approaching and hide inside one of the cracks. I seal off any mana leakage or anything else that could give me away using my Imra in a natural way. Because of the chaos from the attack, they didn’t notice me.

  Moving quickly and safely, I’ve been mapping these connected caves. Every so often I find monsters and try to kill them before they can send any signal to the rest.

  I reach a corner and freeze. Just around the right turn, I sense something different. Six feline-type monsters are lying down, unmoving, guarding a massive entrance. My Personal World doesn’t reach far enough to feel if someone or something important is inside.

  Should I risk it? I doubt it for a moment. "Yes, this place might be important." I charge my abilities little by little. I don’t gather them at full power—if these monsters have good mana or Imra sensitivity, it could draw attention.

  When I’m ready, I rush toward them like an arrow. My gravity field crashes down over all of them. The pressure keeps their heavy bodies pinned for long enough for me to reach one and stab my sword into its brain.

  The feeling of cracking a skull is still disgusting, though I’ve gotten used to it enough—and my mental ability always helps. The other felines manage to get up. Their entire bodies overflow with electric mana; I can feel the energy running across the whole passageway.

  One of them appears at my side, its massive paw aimed at my head. I stop it with my sword, and the force of its strike almost sinks my feet into the ground. The others charge a bolt in their heads and release it with the intention of killing me in a single hit.

  I construct highly concentrated ice walls. They withstand the impact long enough before breaking apart. Their combined attacks disperse without harming me.

  The feline beside me moves dangerously with its jaw wide open, trying to rip my head off in one bite. I evade it at the last moment. My sword goes for its abdomen, but a concentrated layer of electricity stops my strike long enough for it to escape and regroup.

  The inner cave must be enormous—I can't sense anyone inside despite being close to the entrance. Am I mistaken? No, I can definitely feel something like anguish coming from these monsters. They’re protecting something important.

  Two of them stay behind, firing concentrated lightning at me—they’re the opposite of my Electrifying Ferocious River. My ability is designed for area attacks, but this lightning is overloaded with the sole intention of electrocuting me to death.

  Their movements are fast and agile. I feel the electric mana moving through their bodies, very similar to how I use it to enhance my senses and reactions.

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  I feel something different—they concentrate electricity in specific points to gain an extra impulse. Is that similar to my Gravity Burst? Essentially yes, except I use it externally to move my body, while they use it internally.

  It doesn’t matter if they’re faster and more agile than a grade-3 monster—I still surpass them thanks to my combined abilities, not to mention the gravitational pressure weighing down their bodies.

  I dodge attacks from two of them; one stays waiting at the side. Cuts appear across their bodies—they hit hard enough to break my armor, and the electricity leaves small damages throughout my body. If we didn’t share the same affinity, I’d be in serious trouble.

  I jump sideways to dodge the lightning coming from the felines in the back, then move to intercept the monster that stayed at the side. The bastard wasn’t waiting for an opportunity—it was charging an ability.

  It moves incredibly fast. I don’t have time to use Dimensional Step. My sword is in a good position, and my body reacts by reinforcing itself as much as possible. I take the direct hit and go flying into the cave wall.

  "Shit, that hurts." There's no time to complain any further—I have to run out of the hole in the wall because four lightning bolts are coming at my position.

  I heal my completely shattered arm and several internal injuries. I was in a pretty delicate state. My body fully heals, but I can feel something like distrust toward myself after healing.

  "Warm-up is over." I construct several power-concentrated Joyeuse and a few spheres in their strongest version.

  The pace of the battle changes completely. I shift from defensive to offensive. My constructs dance around them. Even the monsters in the rear must focus on dodging and surviving.

  Little by little, wounds accumulate on their bodies. They’re using their electric mana masterfully to erase traces of my death mana, but it’s not enough.

  Blood loss is making them slower and more predictable. One of them dies with a Joyeuse buried in its stomach. The next falls after I slice its head off.

  The last three try everything to injure me. Two more fall after a few minutes. The last one stares at me with clear rage in its eyes.

  I feel it release an enormous charge of energy from its core. Lightning bursts from its mouth toward me. I manage to use my movement skill just in time to dodge. I hear a massive explosion behind me—the cave wall there has turned completely black.

  "Looks like I didn’t make it in time." My left arm is shattered, as if cooked, completely gone. I call my Thundersnow Fang—it flies back to me, perfectly clean and pristine as always.

  I reach the feline’s body; its insides are wrecked. That attack had a heavy cost. If it had fired it at point-blank, I might have died. The huge cat begins to close its eyes. The attack destroyed its body and core, I think. I kill it quickly to avoid wasting time.

  I look again at the completely charred wall. "That was a very powerful grade-4 attack." Its body couldn’t withstand it and died because of it.

  I walk forward without fear and enter the cave. It’s a massive tunnel. After walking for several minutes, I finally sense something in the next chamber—a huge monster lying down. Judging by the silhouette, it could be the missing leader.

  I take some small glowing rocks that naturally illuminate the cave and store them—they’ll make a nice gift when I return. As I approach, the monster senses me, stands up, and clearly strengthens its body with enhancement abilities.

  "Who are you? Why do you appear before his majesty?" The monster’s voice reaches me just as I take the last step into the chamber.

  "My identity doesn’t matter. His majesty will die soon and doesn’t need to carry bitter memories into the next world." Its face turns ferocious. My joke didn’t amuse it.

  "I’ll spare your life if you leave right now. You must have some talent to kill my guards—take this opportunity to flee the dungeon." The monster in front of me is clearly dominant and strong. The yeti was only half a step above. This won’t be easy.

  "My mission is to end this dungeon. Running away is not an option." I spend a few more seconds talking to this feline—maybe it can give me useful information.

  "That is impossible for someone like you, human." Each word comes loaded with more power and strength.

  "Is that so?" I take out the enormous white core of the yeti and show it to him. I can see his feline expression change upon seeing it—first surprised, then furious, with a clear intent to kill me.

  "So you’re the one responsible! The dungeon has undergone changes in the last few days, all because of that damned white monster’s death." The feline looks much more aggressive now, charging more abilities. I do the same.

  "Glia, could you calm down your cousin? He looks very angry." I speak telepathically to the sleepy one.

  "Don’t joke right now. Even if he's a grade-3 monster, he’s as strong as a grade-4. I’m nowhere near that level." I feel some anxiety from her—she’s been deep in thought these last few days.

  "Don’t worry, we’re going to win." I pause for a moment. "And I hope you tell me about your concerns when we’re back at school." She hesitates at first, then I receive a mental nod from Glia.

  A lightning bolt similar to the one that killed the previous feline shoots toward me. Because of the distance, I dodge it with a quick, electricity-enhanced step. The attack booms against the wall.

  Did he just kill himself? I look at the wall—it suffered far less damage, and the feline is fine, perfectly ready to fight.

  "This is going to be interesting!" Those words escape my mouth.