Eros casually tossed The Brilliant Sun from his pocket. A second later, an orange-yellow radiance, as vibrant as a miniature sun, rose from the ground. His purpose was twofold: first, to purify the tainted flesh of the spirits and the monster; and second, to accelerate the precipitation of the magical materials and Spirit Essences from their remains.
Eros retrieved Annie’s knightly straight-sword and walked over to her. She was still standing there dazed. With a playful glint in his eyes, he asked, "So, what do you say?"
Hearing this, Annie snapped back to reality. Her cheeks instantly flushed a deep crimson. She lowered her head, her lips trembling, unable to meet his gaze. Eros reached out and tilted her chin up, forcing her to look at him. With her face glowing red and her eyes darting away, she looked nothing like the cold "big sister" persona she usually projected—the contrast was striking.
Eros leaned down. A moment later, Annie let out a small, muffled gasp of pained surprise.
"That’s for not trusting me! I’m biting your tongue!"
Just then, numerous figures began approaching from the direction of the camp. Eros released her chin and turned toward the noise. Claire and Mary were leading a group toward them, with Undine and her team among them. When they arrived and saw the scene before them, their eyes glazed over in disbelief.
Undine, however, wasn't surprised at all. She took it as a matter of course, having zero doubt in this "dog-like" man's strength.
Claire walked up to Eros. Looking at the monster’s carcass being dissolved by the purification light and then back at the man himself, her eyes were full of wonder. "Is this truly your strength? So powerful!"
Earlier, when she saw Eros dispatch the first spirit so quickly, she assumed he had used some kind of "Burst Spell"—a technique that drastically boosts combat power for a very short duration at the cost of extreme exhaustion afterward. Fearing he would be vulnerable once the spell wore off, she hadn't dared delay and had gathered everyone at her fastest speed.
Yet, to her utter shock, he had handled the entire pack and the boss monster all by himself.
Eros merely smiled at Claire’s praise, acting quite nonchalantly. As a Sequence 7 with top-tier bloodline and heritage, if he couldn't beat a few spirits and one Sequence 7 monster, he might as well just "delete his character"—living would be an embarrassment.
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Claire glanced at Annie, who was standing behind Eros looking like a bashful young bride, and asked curiously, "What’s wrong with you?"
Hearing this, the shy awkwardness on Annie’s face vanished instantly. She regained her composure, returning to her poised "Ice Queen" state. "Nothing. The incident is resolved. You can tell everyone to go back and rest."
Claire looked Annie up and down with a suspicious expression. She felt something was off about this "tomboy," but she couldn't put her finger on it. It almost felt like... her heart was fluttering? Strange!
Annie glanced at Claire and then quickly looked away.
Puzzled, Claire returned to the crowd. Just as she was about to announce that they could return to bed, a gunshot rang out through the distant night sky. Everyone froze, looking toward the sound. A moment later, several more shots followed.
The sixth-year students immediately turned their eyes toward Claire and Annie. The two women, in turn, looked at Eros. Eros pondered for a moment before saying:
"The gunshots sound different; there’s a high probability it’s more than one person."
"We’re all from the same academy; there’s no reason to watch people die. Besides, in this Sin Realm, there’s safety in numbers. Logically and morally, we should go help."
"As expected of the benevolent and kind Elven race," Claire praised, her eyes curving into crescents. She immediately rallied her class to move toward the source of the gunfire.
Annie had no objections to Eros’s decision and gathered her class as well. Undine and the others naturally followed Eros. Looking at the materials on the ground that hadn't fully condensed yet, Eros sighed. "I’ll have to pick them up when we get back."
He pocketed The Brilliant Sun and led the group toward the sounds of battle.
Elsewhere, eight people—four men and four women—were panting heavily as they fled through the wilderness. They were all wounded, blood seeping from their injuries, but they had no time to care.
Behind them followed a dense swarm of evil spirits—at least a hundred of them, including seven or eight massive mutated variants. These spirits seemed tireless as they hounded the eight survivors. Occasionally, the faster spirits would lunge forward, claws extended, trying to snatch at the fleeing students.
"Charlene, do you have any more Exorcism Bullets?" one of the men gasped.
The girl named Charlene pulled six bullets from her belt pouch. While running, she reached out and handed them to the man. "Just... just six left!" she panted.
The man took them and began reloading his magazine mid-sprint. However, while handing over the bullets, Charlene’s arm was accidentally slashed by a lunging spirit. Blood, bright red with a faint tint of green, began to flow from her wound.
Seeing this, despair flickered in Charlene’s eyes. She knew that without immediate purification, her blood would soon be corrupted by the spirit's essence. When that happened, she would become just like the creatures chasing them—a mindless, bloodthirsty monster.
The others were also suffering from various degrees of contamination, but none as severe as hers.
Once the man chambered a round, he squeezed the trigger at the nearest spirit. Another woman in the group fired simultaneously. Using their last remaining ammunition, they managed to thin the closest pursuers, earning themselves a brief moment to breathe.