Wolfton kept unleashing waves of lightning-fire bolts, striking the monster beetles racing rabidly toward them.

  Orange energy oozed from his body uncontrollably. Despite that, his movements remained fluid and precise, targeting the beetles’ eyes and maws.

  Still, the strain was building.

  His eyes were losing their vigor, his face growing slack, and his movements gradually became sluggish. The uncontained energy leaking from his body was excessive, causing exhaustion to set in far faster than it should have.

  “Hahaha!” Edric burst into laughter. “I can’t let you have all the fun.”

  He gathered what little energy he had left and conjured a spewing jet of pressurized water that forced the rabid beasts backward.

  Jin, Lysandra, and Aurelia watched them in awe. However, their pride as Champions would not allow them to remain idle.

  Wolfton was just like them, even in a hopeless situation, he had pushed against all odds, gathered what remained of his strength, and miraculously awakened Aura.

  He had given them time to regain their senses.

  Even if they died here, they would do so fighting.

  Still, it raised more questions for Jin.

  Normally, Celestial Energy served as fuel that allowed Champions to use their abilities. Wolfton had awakened Aura, which relied on Mana as its base, not Celestial Energy.

  It was confusing how he was still using his abilities after awakening Aura despite the visible depletion of his celestial energy.

  Were Celestial Energy and Mana deeply intertwined?

  Could refined Mana—Aura, act as a substitute for Celestial Energy?

  Unable to find answers, Jin refocused on the immediate danger.

  He gathered the last of his Celestial Energy and leapt into the air.

  A slicing pressure wind trailed in his wake, knocking several blue beetles off their feet and onto their backs.

  Aurelia trapped multiple beetles within rings of gravity, her face tightened from the strain of exhaustion gnawing at her.

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  Lysandra opened several gates, allowing beetles to enter, only for them to collide violently with each other at the exit points. She too suffered under the relentless drain of fatigue.

  They were giving everything they had to push back the marauding abominations.

  Even knowing they were merely delaying the inevitable, but they kept fighting.

  Suddenly, amidst the carnage, the beetles froze as if responding to a single unseen command.

  Then, hurriedly, they scattered in all directions.

  The five stared in confusion as the creatures fled in fear.

  Wolfton, who had burned through his energy the fastest, felt his consciousness slipping.

  He collapsed,

  but before he hit the ground, Lysandra caught him.

  “You’ve done well,” she said softly.

  The group silently thanked whatever had driven the beetles away and granted them a moment of relief.

  However, their gratitude did not last.

  The ice-covered ground erupted.

  A beetle twice the size of the previous ones clawed its way out.

  Its elytra were a deeper shade of blue, jagged, spiked, and menacing. Its cuticle protruded outward like sharpened blades. Its furry body was lined with large white quills standing erect.

  Its cephalon was crimson, its compound eyes darker and more hostile. Its maws were larger, more vicious. Its antennae curved like horns.

  Everything about it radiated dominance.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Aurelia whispered, terrified. “A Sovereign?!”

  Their faces paled.

  A Sovereign was the second-highest class within the Megafauna category, only one step away from becoming a Threshold monster and evolving into a Mystic Beast.

  Even at full strength, they had struggled against Tusked-class hordes.

  Now, they were nearly spent.

  The Sovereign had appeared at the worst possible moment.

  Jin forced a wry smile.

  Aurelia and Lysandra stared, bracing for death.

  Edric wore a grim, despondent smirk.

  The Sovereign screeched and raised one spear-tipped leg to crush them.

  BOOM!!!

  Suddenly,

  A smoke screen detonated between them.

  The cavern filled with haze.

  When the smoke cleared, the Sovereign stood alone.

  Its prey had vanished.

  It shrieked in rage, smashing ice boulders and tossing aside beetle corpses as it searched frantically.

  Not far away, within a narrow tunnel barely wide enough for a person, the group watched the monster from concealment.

  “Over here, move,” a red stickman with a scar across his cheek beckoned.

  They followed him through the passage and emerged into a wider chamber coated in ice and snow.

  “Thank you for saving us back there,” Lysandra said. “We would’ve been finished.”

  “It was nothing,” a beige female stickman replied.

  “The Nyxarion Cavern has grown increasingly hostile,” the red stickman added. “Creatures normally found in the depths are surfacing. It’s a miracle you survived this long.”

  “I’m Sameer. She’s Triste. What’s your story?”

  “Story?” Aurelia and Jin echoed.

  “Yeah. How did you end up here? It’s been months since anyone entered the Nyxarion Cavern and came out… ever.”

  The group froze.

  Their eyes widened.

  “What?!”