Flames still flickered over the shattered village. Faint screams drifted through the air, tangled with the beasts' howls and the clang of steel.
Nova hauled himself up the splintered wall of a ruined building, every muscle protesting and his mana still thumping from the last skirmish. From his rooftop vantage, the battlefield stretched before him—a canvas smeared with blood and fire.
He pressed into a crouch, breathing softly. The wind carried ash and the stench of death. Below, desperate villagers fled, while the guards formed a faltering line against wave after wave of summoned monsters.
"I have to plan," he murmured. "If I dive in without thought, I'm dead. I must use what I've got."
Shutting his eyes, he summoned the memory of the alley fight—how his mana surged when he first reached three stars. A new skill had appeared, one he'd yet to test: Level 3 Sealing Magic—Sealing Snipe. Unlike ordinary seals, it was a long-range precision spell melding sealing techniques with projectile mana.
Hands trembling, Nova drew a blank sealing paper and flooded it with power. The sheet glowed a deep crimson and floated before him.
"Level 3—Sealing Snipe."
A fiery bullet formed in midair. He sighted a two-star wolf snarling at a villager below and fired.
Bang!
The flaming shot tore through the wolf's skull. The creature collapsed and turned to ash instantly.
A faint smirk crossed Nova's face. "It works."
But he frowned as he compared its force to a standard fire spell. The sealing projectile was noticeably weaker. "Sealing magic can imitate casting spells, but it lacks raw strength," he muttered. He mentally ran through ways to boost its speed and power.
He almost reached for his Magic Caster—Sniper skill, then shook his head. "No… not yet. I can't let anyone know a sealing mage can channel casting magic."
He grabbed another paper and fired again, then another—each shot finding its mark and felling beasts before they could overwhelm the guards.
Down on the main street, Walter's blade danced. He glanced skyward, spotting the crimson tracers. "So the coward's found his nerve," Walter called out with a sneer. "But courage won't make him better than me." He pressed on toward the summoner, cutting through monsters.
Nova kept firing until his mana dwindled like embers in a dying hearth. Every strike drained him, but he refused to stop—he was saving lives, and for the first time, he felt… useful.
Then, from the distant alleys where he'd slain the three-star beast, the scorched ground began to quake. A new creature emerged—far larger, darker, wreathed in rage. It was the sister of the monster he had killed.
Her voice rent the air in a shriek of fury: "You killed her… YOU KILLED MY SISTER!"
Spikes of bark and thorn shot from her arms as she twisted into a grotesque mockery of herself. "Even if I die," she howled, "I'LL TAKE YOU WITH ME!"
She raised her hands and unleashed a guttural roar that rippled through the field. For a heartbeat, every summoned beast froze—then, as one, they turned toward Nova. Twenty-five creatures thundered in his direction, the earth trembling under their charge.
Nova's heart pounded. "No… this can't be—"
He saw her then, the same form he'd faced before but warped by grief and vengeance. Her grin was both agonized and thrilled, tears streaming from eyes burning with hate. She embodied every twisted feeling—sadness, rage, delight at the hunt.
"She's… smiling," Nova whispered, breath catching.
Another quake slammed the rooftop: BOOM! He braced himself. "This time, I won't run."
Beneath him, the building shuddered. Cracks spread across the stone. Before he could react, the earth split open like a maw.
A colossal worm-like beast burst forth, its gaping jaws rimmed with serrated teeth. Nova never saw it coming. He tumbled straight into its throat as the earth swallowed him, and darkness claimed him.
From the battlefield, Walter paused at the roar of debris and smiled coldly. "Looks like the weakling's finally gone."
The flames still danced. The ground lay still. And deep under the ruins, Nova's story twisted into an even darker chapter.