As Kaelus ran back into the forest shadows, Sylva quickly analyzed their desperate situation. The sheer distance to the Dragon's Fury Guild headquarters made a direct report impossible; they needed immediate, local action.
She turned to Vara, who was already treating the unconscious Zathis. "Vara, listen! Go to the nearby Hunting Grounds—the ones bordering the civilized lands, just outside the Eastern Entrance. Find the adventurers there, especially any A-rank or higher parties!"
Vara's eyes widened. "And tell them what?"
"Spread the news! Tell them about the S+ threat and the accelerated monsters. Information is faster than traveling to the guild. We need them to understand the danger is escalating too quickly. We need any available high-rank adventurer to help contain this threat inside the Eastern Territory before it spills out! Go!
Vara nodded sharply, her expression hardening with purpose. She melted back into the shadows, utilizing her speed and stealth to begin the desperate dash toward the Hunting Grounds.
Meanwhile, Kaelus pushed his speed past anything he had demonstrated before, the wind howling around him. He ran with the singular goal of retrieving his comrades. He couldn't hear the sounds of fighting, leading him to believe Zane and the others must have somehow managed to escape.
He focused his senses, attempting a broad mana scan to locate them. Instead of his friends, he immediately detected the presence of the three Hazard Class S+ Armored Scorpions—their vast, dark earth mana signatures were impossible to mistake.
But where are the others?
Kaelus's heart clenched, and he pushed his scan wider, finally detecting faint, almost extinguished mana signatures just a few meters from the colossal monsters.
He increased his speed exponentially, using so much concentrated wind magic that he was almost flying, blurring past the trees.
The sight that greeted him was devastating. Grund Stonebreaker was slumped against a scorched tree, his massive forearm nearly severed from a clean, vicious cut. Further away, Jian Stormheart was on his knees, one of his Kijin horns broken, his Lava-infused iron staff bent and smoking. Kaelan Bulkhead was sprawled nearby, his mighty tower shield in pieces, a deep, clean cut across his chest armor.
And standing alone, directly in front of the three towering S+ Armored Scorpions, was Zane Bladeheart, holding the shattered remnant of his longsword. His armor was cracked, his face was bruised and bloody, and his expression was one of absolute, fatal exhaustion.
Kaelus materialized beside Zane in an instant, grabbing the leader. He didn't waste time on questions; he used his wind magic to sweep up all four fallen S-rank adventurers—Zane, Grund, Jian, and Kaelan—and placed them safely hundreds of meters away, utilizing a surge of mana far exceeding his A-rank designation.
He knelt by Zane, whose eyes fluttered weakly.
"Kaelus," Zane whispered, his voice thin, "How are the others? Are they safe?"
"Yes, Mr. Zane. They are safe. You will be reunited with them soon," Kaelus said, his voice calm, pouring a dose of the high-rank healing pills into Zane's hand. "Take this. Make sure they all consume it."
"What about you?" Zane asked, his broken gaze fixing on Kaelus.
Kaelus looked up, and Zane saw something shift deep within the young man. The color of Kaelus's hair began to change, the disguised brown receding as threads of pure, flowing silver-white grew non-stop, lengthening rapidly to cascade down his back. His gentle brown eyes flared, changing to a searing emerald green. The volume of raw, ancient mana he released was terrifying, far surpassing the output of the three S+ monsters combined.
"Me?" Kaelus's voice was no longer that of a worried student, but something far more powerful. "I will kill them all."
Kaelus vanished from Zane's sight instantly and reappeared directly in front of the three monstrous Armored Scorpions. His long, silver-white hair danced in the swirling wind mana he naturally generated, and his body released a constant, pulsing green aura.
He unsheathed the Viridian Sword. The colossal power gathered within him—the power of the dragon core he had kept suppressed for months—compressed entirely into the artifact blade. The air around him began to crackle and distort.
The S+ Armored Scorpions, sensing the sudden, monumental shift in threat level, responded instantly. The first Scorpion wasted no time, concentrating a devastating Area-of-Effect burst attack onto the tip of its tail. The tail instantly transformed into a massive, concentrated lance of black earth mana, aimed to impale Kaelus and flatten the surrounding forest.
Kaelus did not dodge. He met the attack head-on, swinging the Viridian Sword in a perfect, silent horizontal cleave. The blade, infused with the dragon's full power, unleashed a Wind Slash of such density that it wasn't green light, but compressed, solidified air.
The Wind Slash did not cut the ultimate skill; it annihilated it. The S+ skill dissolved instantly into shimmering, harmless dust, and the concentrated power continued, striking the first Scorpion squarely in the carapace. The monster shrieked in pain as the devastating force punched a massive, glowing crater deep into its obsidian armor.
The second and third Scorpions immediately retaliated with coordinated magic. One unleashed a blinding wave of corrosive acid, while the other began channeling a powerful Gravity field designed to crush Kaelus into the earth.
Kaelus spun, his silver-white hair whipping around him. He didn't use the sword. With a simple, dismissive wave of his empty hand, he summoned a rotating vortex of wind. The incoming corrosive acid attack was instantly caught by the vortex, spiraled up, and was thrown back at the second Scorpion, which shrieked as its own corrosive magic devoured its limbs.
Simultaneously, Kaelus settled into a perfect vertical sword stance—the Viridian Sword held high. He began furiously infusing and gathering the vast ambient mana, and the Scorpions felt the very earth around them tremble as the power concentrated. The moment the gathering was complete, Kaelus dropped the blade.
"Ryujin no Kaze," he uttered.
A devastating, vertical slash launched forward. It was an attack so concentrated it seemed to cut and distort even dimension itself, slicing the second Scorpion clean in half. The cut was so refined that it didn't damage the surrounding trees or stir the air near the wound; the attack seemed to have chosen only the Scorpion to sever.
Zane, watching from a distance, stared in horrified awe. Not only had Kaelus killed the S+ monster in one attack, but the move was so impossibly concentrated. It is not the pinnacle of swords, it is far beyond it. And only the Viridian Sword could possibly channel that...
The two remaining Scorpions recoiled, stumbling backward, fearing who would be next. The damaged first Scorpion immediately unleashed a devastating earthquake, destroying the surrounding terrain and trees in an attempt to buy time. In that instant of chaos, Kaelus, who had been in front of them, suddenly vanished.
He was already at the back of the third Scorpion. A light of randomized green slashes erupted across the monster's carapace—a blur of butchery that lasted less than a second. The third Scorpion collapsed, its body shredded by the instantaneous flurry.
The final, severely damaged first Scorpion turned tail and ran at top speed, back toward the deep part of the forest.
"Where do you think you're going?" Kaelus asked, his voice echoing with cold finality.
He didn't need to move. Kaelus simply repeated the vertical sword pose, channeling the overwhelming mana for the finishing blow. He launched another, final Ryujin no Kaze at the running Scorpion, killing it instantly.
The entire fight—the annihilation of three Hazard Class S+ monsters—was over in less than three minutes.