"If no more students arrive to regroup with us... then I’m afraid these are the only ones left in this entire Sin Realm."
After a long, heavy silence, someone finally spoke, breaking the oppressive atmosphere. But their words brought no hope; instead, they added a fresh layer of despair. Approximately ten thousand students had entered this assessment, but now, less than two thousand were gathered here.
This meant that the remaining eight thousand had likely become food for the spirits, or worse... they had become one of them. And the assessment was only halfway through. Could they really make it back alive? Could they even hold out until the academy’s rescue team arrived?
As the students questioned their own survival, the dense fog at the perimeter began to creep inward once more. Simultaneously, the spirits that had been stationary for so long resumed their movement. Clearly, the high-position spirit lurking in the shadows had no intention of giving them any more time to rest.
One student attempted to dash into the thick mist, hoping to use a purification-type sealed artifact to hide and survive until help came. But as he moved, silhouettes began to manifest within the white haze, growing clearer by the second.
Spirits.
The spirits weren't just behind them; they were in the fog ahead as well. He frantically looked to the left and right, only to discover with a sinking heart that in every direction his eyes could reach, one spirit after another was pushing through the mist.
They came from all sides. They were completely surrounded.
No one harbored any delusions of luck anymore. No one shouted words of encouragement because words had become useless. Every soul present understood that this battle would be the one to decide life or death.
Combat was unavoidable. Since their ammunition was depleted, they had no choice but to draw their alchemical blades for close-quarters fighting. This was an immense disadvantage—human physiology could not compete with that of a spirit, and their bodily fluids carried virulent contamination.
Unfortunately, they had no choice.
There was no warm-up, no preamble. From the very first second, the battle entered its most brutal stage. Blood and severed limbs flew through the air. Within moments, the ground was carpeted with shredded flesh—some spectral, some human.
Eros remained expressionless as he smashed the head of a spirit attempting to reach Undine. Dark green blood and brain matter splattered across his face, yet it had no effect on him, sliding off as if it were mere water. Wiping the gore away, Eros frowned. Fighting bare-handed was inefficient.
He scanned his surroundings and spotted a fallen alchemical longsword near a dead student a few paces to the left. With a few swift strides, Eros retrieved the blade and instantly cleaved the spirit that had killed the student in half.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
He returned to Undine’s side, sword in hand. With his current strength augmented by the passive skill 《Nature’s Protection》, these spirits—roughly equivalent to Sequence 9—couldn't withstand a single strike from him. The students fighting nearby felt a surge of morale at the sight, their confidence in returning alive flickering back to life.
Unconsciously, the members who had attended "that party" began to gravitate toward Eros. This phenomenon didn't arouse suspicion; in a chaotic battlefield, it was only natural to move toward the safest person.
After a long while, Eros cut down another mutated spirit. Just as he was about to ask Undine if she was tired, Barbara’s voice suddenly rang in his ear:
"It’s here."
At the same moment, on the other side of the fray, Saliba had just finished off a spirit. As he tried to catch his breath, a series of sharp, piercing noises erupted from his breast pocket.
Saliba’s pupils shrank. He yanked the object out—a small, brass-colored bell. The shrill noise came from its frantic, violent shaking. Looking at the Friendly Copper Bell, Saliba’s face turned ashen. The noise was growing more acute, more desperate.
Suddenly, the ear-splitting sound stopped. Saliba’s face went deathly pale. The copper bell, at the peak of its high-pitched chime, had shattered in his hand.
He knew exactly what the breaking of the bell meant, and because he knew, he was seized by an uncontrollable terror. The sole function of this bell was to sense malice; the greater the malice, the louder the ring. To a certain extent, malice was synonymous with power.
The bell hadn't just rung—it had self-destructed.
Saliba stared with eyes full of despair, whispering in a trembling, near-delirious voice:
"Beyonder..." (超凡)
Eros turned his gaze toward the mist to the rear-flank. His eyes flickered slightly before he lowered his lids, murmuring a few words to himself:
"A Beyonder, huh?"
He turned back to look at Undine, who was still fighting fiercely nearby, and at the other girls he was connected to. Eros let out a long breath, his lips twitching into a forced, faint smile.
No matter what, he couldn't let that Beyonder-level spirit actually emerge from the fog. If a Beyonder spirit revealed itself to the students, every single one of them—aside from him—would likely teeter on the edge of loss-of-control and fall into madness.
Low-sequence warlocks facing a Beyonder might survive with their sanity intact if they were in peak condition, but after days of flight and combat, their mental states were frayed to the breaking point. The moment that spirit stepped out of the mist, the battle would effectively be over.
Eros stepped up to Undine and grabbed her arm just as she was about to charge forward. He leaned down and whispered into her ear:
"I might be away from you for a little while. Remember to be careful."
"Without me watching your back, don't just rush in blindly. Protect yourself. If I come back and find you’ve been hurt... I’ll spank you until your butt is swollen."
Undine’s pupils dilated, and panic instantly flooded her small face. Before he could finish, she asked anxiously, "Where are you going?"
Seeing her clutching his sleeves with such a pitiful, pleading expression, Eros smiled and ruffled her hair. "Don't worry. I’ll come back alive. I told you, didn't I? We’re going back together. So! Don't get hurt, or I really will spank you."
With that, Eros gently pried her hands off his sleeves and began walking toward the outermost perimeter of the group.
Undine bit her lip, tears suddenly welling in her eyes. She could guess that Eros was going to do something incredibly dangerous, and most likely, he was doing it for her.
Sniffling, she whispered to his back, "I believe in you! So... you must come back!"