Flames spread rapidly through Thornveil.
Sten's fireballs had begun igniting the dry brush and bark, and smoke slowly thickened beneath the forest canopy.
Heat rose.
Visibility worsened.
But even as fire consumed the surrounding woodland—
Nero kept moving.
Zeak's sword.
Bren's shifting stone.
Sten's relentless fire.
All three attacks came in coordinated succession, yet Nero continued slipping through them with razor-sharp precision.
At one point, Nero deliberately maneuvered Zeak toward a dense tree trunk, baiting him into overcommitting.
Zeak took the bait.
His blade came down with brutal force—
And cleaved straight through the tree.
Wood split apart like wet paper.
Nero's eyes narrowed slightly.
Enhanced strength indeed.
Even while evading another fireball and sidestepping rising stone, Nero spoke casually.
"Those two back there…"
He parried Zeak's strike.
"How exactly are they doing the fire and rock thing?"
Zeak didn't stop attacking.
"Magic," he answered mockingly.
"Even children know that."
A grin twisted across his face.
"Don't tell me you've never seen magic before."
A sharp swing.
"Can't you use it?"
Bren's irritation flared immediately.
"Why are you talking!?"
He raised another stone trap.
"Just kill him already!"
Meanwhile—
Gareth rushed to Maria's side.
She remained unconscious where Nero had dropped her.
Gareth quickly checked her pulse.
Steady.
Relief washed through him.
"Maria—"
He gently shook her shoulders.
"Wake up."
No response.
He uncapped his water flask and splashed some across her face.
Maria stirred almost instantly.
"…Mgh…"
Her eyes slowly opened.
"Gareth…?"
He let out a breath.
"Thank god."
"You're alive."
Gareth carefully helped her sit upright.
"You got knocked out by Nero."
Maria's expression tightened.
"Nero…"
She reached for her head—
Then immediately winced.
"Fuck—!"
A sharp groan escaped her lips.
"It feels like I got hit by a damn cannonball…"
Her anger returned quickly.
"That asshole kicked me in the head!"
Gareth's expression darkened.
Yet his thoughts remained conflicted.
He could've killed her.
Killed all of them.
He clearly had the ability.
So why didn't he?
Maria's gaze suddenly shifted toward the growing flames.
Her eyes widened.
"For fuck's sake, STEN!"
Her voice cut through the battlefield.
"You set the forest on fire!"
"Now the guards are definitely going to investigate!"
Sten didn't even look back.
"Spare me the lecture!"
He launched another fireball.
"If you haven't noticed—"
"That monster is still completely unharmed!"
Maria's anger faltered.
"…What?"
Her disbelief was immediate.
"Three Silver-Ranked adventurers…"
"…And we haven't even scratched him?"
Bren barked back, frustration evident.
"Stop distracting us!"
"He's fast as hell!"
"And hits like a cannon!"
Nero's voice immediately echoed through the chaos.
"Thank you for the compliment."
Zeak snarled.
"He wasn't praising you, you freak!"
Even Gareth nearly froze at that response.
Maria tried pushing herself up.
"Give me five minutes."
"I can still fight—"
"Stay down," Bren snapped.
"We've got this."
Inside Nero's mind—
Angelo's voice surfaced.
Cold.
Practical.
"We've seen enough."
A pause.
"End this before the guards arrive."
Nero's expression shifted.
Subtle.
But dangerous.
He released the stolen sword from his hand.
It dropped into the dirt.
Zeak, Bren, and Sten all noticed immediately.
Confusion flickered—
But they didn't hesitate.
Zeak lunged forward for a killing thrust.
Sten unleashed another fireball.
Bren raised massive stone walls on both sides—
Attempting to crush Nero where he stood.
This time—
Nero didn't dodge.
Instead—
He simply tapped the ground once with his foot.
The earth answered.
Massive walls of ice erupted violently upward.
Thick.
Dense.
Freezing.
Zeak's sword slammed uselessly into the frozen barrier.
Bren's stone walls collided against reinforced ice.
Sten's fireball exploded harmlessly against its frigid surface.
Steam hissed violently into the air.
Silence followed.
Then—
From behind the towering ice—
Nero's voice emerged.
Flat.
Cold.
"You heard the lady."
A pause.
"Guards will be here soon."
The temperature itself seemed to drop.
"Sorry, fellas…"
Another pause.
"Time to wrap this up."
Gareth's eyes widened.
"ZEAK—MOVE!"
Nero's voice was quieter.
"…Too late."
The ice wall before Zeak shifted instantly.
A massive spike erupted forward.
Zeak barely threw himself backward in time, crashing onto the forest floor—
But survival wasn't escape.
More ice branched downward from the primary spike like predatory limbs.
His wrists.
His ankles.
Frozen solid.
Encased in thick, crushing ice before he could recover.
Zeak thrashed—
Then stopped.
Additional spikes formed.
One hovered at his throat.
Another near his eye.
A third over his heart.
Perfectly positioned.
Absolute restraint.
Zeak went still.
For the first time—
True fear crossed his face.
Bren and Sten rushed to intervene—
But the ice walls flanking Nero suddenly launched outward.
"DODGE!" Gareth roared.
Both adventurers barely escaped as the frozen structures tore through the forest, smashing violently into surrounding trees.
Bren reacted immediately.
Stone surged upward, attempting to block Nero's vision—
But Nero simply punched through it.
The wall shattered instantly.
Fragments exploded in every direction.
Bren's expression faltered.
Nero slowly lifted his foot.
"Your tricks…"
A pause.
"…are getting annoying."
He stomped.
The ground detonated.
Massive stone spikes erupted forward at terrifying speed.
Bren desperately raised wall after wall—
But each barrier was obliterated.
Shattered.
Pierced.
Overwhelmed.
The spikes surged around him—
Close enough to feel death.
Then stopped.
Bren froze.
His breath shook.
He looked down.
No wounds.
No blood.
His grin returned.
"You missed, dumbass—"
Thunk.
A loose chunk of stone dropped from above.
Directly onto his skull.
Bren collapsed instantly.
Unconscious.
A faint, amused smile tugged at Nero's lips.
Maria tried forcing herself upright—
But pain still crippled her movements.
Sten, panicked, hurled another fireball.
Nero didn't even turn.
Ice rose automatically.
The fireball slammed into the frozen barrier and exploded, blasting a crater into its surface.
Smoke hissed.
Cracks spread.
Then—
The wall shattered.
Nero stepped through the vapor.
Unimpressed.
"You call that a fireball?"
He slowly raised his left hand.
Palm open.
Gareth's instincts screamed.
Move.
Now.
He launched himself toward Sten.
A pale blue sphere of flame began forming before Nero's palm.
Small.
Then larger.
Denser.
Hotter.
Its temperature alone warped the air.
Nero's voice remained flat.
"This…"
A pause.
"…is a real fireball."
The pale blue sphere collapsed inward—
Then expanded into a wide stream of pale blue flame.
And everything in its path vanished.
Trees—
Gone.
Stone—
Liquefied.
Earth—
Melted.
The forest itself ceased to exist where the blast traveled.
Ash.
Molten ruin.
A sharp chemical stench lingered in the scorched air—acrid, unnatural, and sharp enough to sting the back of the throat with every breath.
Then—silence.
Nero closed his hand.
The flames vanished instantly.
Like they had never existed.
Maria could no longer speak.
Bren remained unconscious.
Zeak was immobilized.
Sten—
Alive only because Gareth had reached him in time.
Gareth tackled Sten away just before the blue inferno swallowed the forest behind them.
The two crashed hard outside the blast radius.
Breathing heavily.
Barely surviving.
Gareth slowly rose.
And Nero noticed it immediately.
That same faint green aura.
Surrounding him.
Just like Zeak and Sten.
Gareth drew his sword.
Enough hesitation.
Enough confusion.
Enough doubt.
His voice dropped.
"I've had enough."
Nero tilted his head slightly.
Then—
He drew his combat knife.
And lowered into stance.
The forest held its breath.
Because now—
This fight was about to become something else entirely.