"You actually brought down the whole building…" she said quietly, more to herself than to him, her eyes scanning the smoking rubble as if still expecting it to rise again.
She shook her head slightly, in disbelief . She had already seen him wield fire like it was nothing, but now… earthquakes.
Is he even human? She thought.
Luke glanced at her with a tired grin, his legs still shaky. "What? You didn't expect that."
[Monster Eliminated]
[Monster Eliminated]
[Monster Eliminated]
The notifications kept popping up one after another in his vision like fireworks.
[You have received 170,000 EXP]
[Level up.]
[You have reached Level 13]
Luke blinked through the text, his head pounding so badly that even reading felt like a chore. 170,000…? He quickly did the math in his head. That's about 2,500 EXP each… so there must've been at least fifty… maybe even sixty of them.
His lips curled into a faint, satisfied smirk despite the pain. Even among the Lycans, these were no pushovers—tough, fast, and unpredictable. If this was the kind of foe he could defeat, the EXP he'd gained made sense.
But then, from beneath the shifting rubble, a low, guttural howl cut through the air. Stones rolled aside as a massive werewolf, its fur matted with dust and streaked with blood, clawed its way out. Its eyes burned with rage, reflecting the dim light like molten amber.
"That one's got quite the endurance," Luke muttered, his voice rough. Surviving that collapse meant it wasn't some random Lycan—it was powerful, maybe even a mini-boss.
Selene's gaze sharpened. "It's not dead yet." She raised her gun, her stance tight and calculated. The air around them carried the musky, iron-like scent of the creature, and she knew the werewolf's keen sense of smell could track them if they lingered too close.
"No, let me take care of it," Luke said weakly, his lips twitching into a forced grin despite the pounding behind his eyes.
With his brain screaming in protest, he summoned a Stone Spike. The ground around the werewolf erupted in jagged pillars, spearing upward with violent force. The creature let out a final, pained roar as the stone pierced its chest, collapsing into the rubble.
[Monster Eliminated]
[40,000 EXP received]
Luke's breath hitched. That must have been Lucian… The EXP was far too high for a regular Lycan. His vision blurred as he swayed, his mind screaming warnings that it had reached its limit. Even thinking about using another skill felt impossible.
Selene stepped forward quickly, catching him by the arm before he could stumble.
"The work is finished," Luke said, his voice hoarse but carrying a smug undertone. "We should keep our distance from here. If things go according to plan… our next guests will arrive on schedule."
Some distance away from the collapsed building, Luke and Selene sat in a car parked in a quiet corner of the city.
Luke sprawled across the passenger seat, head leaning back, mouth slightly open, completely knocked out from the mental strain.
Selene remained behind the wheel, her hands loose on the steering wheel, her eyes scanning the street like a predator herself. She didn't fully understand why they were lingering. Luke had achieved exactly what he came for—obliterating the Lycans' hideout—so why wait?
Eventually, Luke stirred, his eyes blinking open like someone dragging themselves out of a deep, relentless fog. The pounding in his skull was still there, a dull, nagging ache rather than the sharp hammering from before, but it reminded him that pushing his limits came at a price.
"How long was I out?" he asked, his voice low, scratchy, and rasping, as if even speaking required effort.
"An hour," Selene replied without looking at him, her sharp gaze still scanning the dimly lit street outside, alert to every flicker of movement.
"Whooh… yeah, that was definitely something I don't wanna try again," Luke muttered, massaging his temples with one hand. Just thinking about juggling that many spells at once made his brain feel like it was about to revolt.
"Nope. Never again… " he added under his breath, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
"They should be coming by now," he said after a moment, his lips curling into a small, knowing smile, his eyes glinting with anticipation.
Selene gave him a brief, sideways glance, the kind that silently asked whether he was joking—or insane. "Who?"
"The cleanup crew," Luke answered simply, his voice regaining some of its usual confident lilt. "First Immortal's private little army. You know, the guys who sweep up after every Vampire–Lycan mess so that normal human society doesn't know the supernatural exists."
He could almost see it in his mind—the silent, efficient teams, moving through the shadows, tidying up destruction, erasing bloodstains, repairing broken walls, and quietly disposing of the bodies that hadn't been incinerated in the battle.
As the Underworld movies had shown, whenever a fight erupted between Lycans and Vampires, these crews always appeared afterwards, like clockwork. With so many Lycans dead and the ruins of their base still sending thin smoke spirals into the air, Luke knew there was no way they wouldn't show up soon.
All he had to do now was wait. Wait for them to arrive, explain what he needed, and convince them to take him to the First Immortal. One quick blood sample, and he could finally get what he had come for.
His mind raced ahead to the possibilities—Selene drinking the blood, the transformation, her becoming a new, enhanced version of herself, finally free from the crippling weaknesses of sunlight.
And of course… he wasn't planning to let that power go to waste. Some of it would go to the system, triggering a massive level-up for himself. The thought made a small, wicked grin spread across his face.
It was a simple plan, almost deceptively so. Sometimessimpler works best. The tricky part, he reminded himself, was that the world didn't always follow a plan. All that remained nowwas waiting.