----

"Isn't this taking a little too long? I wasn't under the impression that it would take so long for the next wave to arrive. This is kind of putting me on edge. This ongoing eeriness accompanied by the unknown, I HATE IT!" Cezar exclaimed, releasing a snarl of anger afterward.

The respite following the initial wave exceeded their expectations. It took no longer than 5 minutes to deal with the 20 beasts comprising the first wave. Meanwhile, over an hour had elapsed already without the faintest sign of incoming beasts.

"Should we take this as an issue or just remain calm?" Priscilla questioned, looking to the others for input.

"No, don't worry about it. Facing the beasts is inevitable, whether it is later than we expected, it makes no difference. However, the delay should be related to the number of people partaking in this tutorial," Elaine answered, shifting her attention to different spaces in the forest.

Although a great distance separated them, she could still sense their general positions with her perception. Some teams were still engaged in battle, while others were in the same situation as they were—waiting for the arrival of more points.

"Eagh, this is annoying. Staying still too long is not good for my nerves. I need to do something. Damn beasts, SHOW YOURSELVES!" Cezar grumbled, releasing another bestial roar. This time, the roar bounced off the colossal tree trunks indefinitely.

"Damn, shut up! You make too much noise," Elliot yelled, covering his ears to deal with the reverberations of the roar.

On the other hand, Matthias opened his eyes and snapped his finger, canceling the roar with a strange ripple, almost identical to a soundwave. Amongst them, only Matthias' abilities were shrouded in mystery as he had yet to act.

After he canceled the sound, Lucian observed something that the others seemed to overlook while interacting amongst themselves.

'Is it me or is the ground growing softer?' Lucian thought. Unlike the rest who sat on the edge of the Guardian's Stone support, Lucian sat directly on the ground, feeling the rough terrain under his palms.

With time, Lucian's impression grew stronger. Unlike before, when he pressed his hands into the ground, it left an indent, indicating the integrity of the ground was plummeting as was the hardness.

"Uhhh, guys, something is wrong," Lucian called out in a worried tone. At the same time, he jumped to his feet inspecting the tree roots thoroughly. Underneath, albeit faint, he was sure he could see movement.

"U-underground! They're underground!" Lucian exclaimed. Even though he didn't share a relationship with anyone present, the completion of the tutorial took precedence. If the Guardian Stone was destroyed, then remaining weak would be the least of his worries.

"Underground?!" Cezar gawked, placing his hand on the ground as his eyes shimmered with a piercing silver light. With his attention focused on burrowing deep into the ground, he soon found the culprits.

"Sneaky. Sneaky ass vermin!" Cezar barked. Unlike before, he didn't reach for his short sword. Instead, he balled up his fist. If one looked closely, they'd realized a silvery-blue aura materializing around his hand in a form resembling a large fang.

In the next moment, a string of explosive noises could be heard as Cezar's fist bombarded the ground, causing tremors in a 10-meter radius. After the tenth impact, the foes were uprooted, numerous holes opening on the surface to reveal badgers with soot-colored fur.

"I knew it, damn Phantom Badgers! They possess an innate stealth ability that makes it hard to look for them without exclusive intent," Cezar said, looking at Elaine with a nod. "It's up to you."

Silently, Elaine nodded, taking calm steps to one of the holes. One of the shortcomings of this type of badger was its herd mentality. In other words, they tended to stay near one another, oftentimes creating an interwoven network of tunnels underneath any surface.

With the right ability, this could be easily taken advantage of.

Elaine stood before the hole and overlapped her hands, a few crackles of intense flames flickering. As quickly as they appeared, they disappeared, but this wasn't what Elaine was aiming for.

Suddenly, an orb of flames emerged before her palm. Originally, it was the size of a golf ball, but it soon grew to a size rivaling a basketball. Only then did she make her next move, retracting one hand before pressing it against the back of her palm once again.

A beam of sweltering flames projected into the hole, the aftershock causing her long scarlet hair to flutter.

"Hoh? Her flame output has increased! As expected of the Lord of Flame's daughter, her flame control ability never ceases to amaze," Matthias chuckled to himself, gazing upon Elaine with a peculiar gaze. 'Have they given her one of those items? It seems her capacity has become monstrous for our level.'

As she upheld the stream of sweltering flames, there wasn't the slightest fluctuation in her output, indicating Elaine's considerable Mana Quotient.

Moments after her actions, countless angered shrieks sounded from the holes as some singed badgers jetted out of the holes. Their first sight upon exit was Elaine feeding copious amounts of flames into the fruits of their labor.

Fury filled their eyes, intending to attack, but Cezar appeared to intercept their actions, "Aht aht, you're mine! Don't even think about going anywhere. She has already snagged enough of you."

Cezar made his move, spreading the same wild aura coating his left fist, to his right. In this state, his attacks were more lethal. A large hole was left in the torso of every Phantom Badger that received one of his attacks.

Similar to the boars, they were mere E Rank monsters. The only feature that made them tricky was their stealth ability. However, once that was dealt with, there wasn't much needed to overwhelm them.

Be that as it may, there was one other thing in particular that one needed to remain wary of.

"Do NOT take a blow from their claws. Those things are strong enough to shred the earth," Cezar exclaimed when he saw Elliot dashing forward to intercept some of them dashing towards Elaine.

Fortunately, Cezar's warning came in a timely manner, dousing Elliot's intentions to defend. Of course, Elaine wasn't left defenseless. The five badgers who scurried towards her were stopped in their tracks.

To the untrained eye, it might seem as if magic took place but that wasn't the case.

It was the work of the only individual outside of the fight. Matthias relaxed his extended finger, returning his attention back towards Lucian, 'He discovered Phantom Badgers? He might have some use after all. Should I speak for him?'

To locate the disturbances caused by Phantom Badgers required acute senses, leading Matthias to wonder whether or not Lucian's discovery was a mere coincidence or not. Therefore, before he acted, he needed confirmation. For starters, he observed Lucian's actions.

The fur of the badgers was harder than the boars, but Lucian came out lucky. Due to Elaine's actions, most of the badgers who revealed themselves were half-scorched. Not only was their defense compromised, but their health was greatly damaged.

Be that as it may, before making a move, Lucian had an odd premonition, 'I wouldn't be scolded if I killed a few...would I? Cezar's words should've held more than one meaning.'

Although these thoughts crossed his mind, so did the sickly image of Daphne and Silas along with the exhausted state of Cyrus. The images reinforced his decision, 'I'll just have to face whatever repercussions that accompany my actions! I'm doing this for them.'

There was no more hesitation, Lucian dashed forward, striking one of the badger's claws away. After doing so, an opening appeared, allowing Lucian to take advantage of it.

Without another thought, he plunged his dagger into the back of the Phantom Badger repeatedly until finally, an alert appeared.

〈Alert: You have killed a Phantom Badger (E Rank). [Reward: 0.5 points]〉