The battle raged on, the cadets were finally pushing back the horde of powerful monsters, but it was only slightly.
Zach waved his blade in an upward arc, blood dripped from his fingers, his nose was bleeding profusely.
Zach felt like his veins were empty, his vision was hazy as another monster locked eyes with him.
Zach gripped his blade; despite the fatigue, he had to push forward.
More monsters were coming in, but he had to stand strong.
Zach weaved past an incoming tail strike, countering immediately with the crescent slash skill.
Zach could stop using the crimson overdrive, but that was what gave power behind his attacks.
Without the assist of his innate ability, his sword skills only left a dent on the monsters' tough exterior.
[Congratulations!, You Have Killed The ???? Death Wrym]
"...25..." Zach panted.
He had been counting how many he'd killed already.
To kill even one of these was so much effort.
But each one was worth the kill.
[Blood stones: 2540]
[Existence stones 45/100]
Zach hadn't seen a single monster that gave him 100 blood stones ever since the wraith; the wraith gave him a thousand, but 100 was fine.
Zach stood straight, looking at the battle around him.
Aurora was sitting on top of a monster's corpse, Gregory held his bleeding shoulder, still standing tall as ever, Arthur just stabbed a monster through the eye, piercing the brain.
And Eli.
Eli thrived, standing above countless corpses of the beasts, their blood smeared all over her; he took another health potion, chugging down its contents.
She looked like a war goddess as she stepped off the beast, sword stretched out.
"Damn, those immortals are so damn cool, aren't they?" Arthur came up from behind him.
By now, Eli must've chugged down at least 7 vials of health potions.
Zach was still lost in the fact that she had so many in her inventory.
She basically has everything.
"...ah...sigh...". He exhaled, exhausted.
There were some other cadets fighting in the distance; they were doing well, so Zach didn't bother.
"It's been forty minutes already..." Zach glanced at Arthur.
"Yeah, so..." Arthur looked at him.
"The portal, you idiot..."
"Oh, that," Arthur slapped the watch on his wrist.
It should open anytime now.
Roar
A monster popped out of nowhere, jumping at them with wide jaws. Zach just glanced at it calmly; he unsheathed his blade, swinging it at the beast.
The monster's head exploded in a mist of blood and meat, and it fell limp on the snow, just a few meters from him.
"Damn... is it me... or are you stronger than when you were in the academy?" Arthur pondered.
"Obviously..."
"Nah... that's not right," Arthur placed his hand on his chin.
"But despite all that, you'll still be my student when it comes to strength..." Arthur joked, rubbing Zach's hair.
Zach smiled bitterly.
[The exit has appeared!!! All candidates have 10 minutes to exit the space pocket before the time limit]
[Note: If a candidate doesn't make it, they would have to wait till the next portal opening]
[Portal opening duration: 6 months 30 days]
Zach and Arthur immediately stood up.
Above the mountain's peak, the black ball cracked, pulsating before exploding, then turning into a blue liquid ball that shifted space like suspended water.
"It's open!" Arthur shouted excitedly.
"My calculations were correct..."
"Actually, you were off by minutes," Zach nagged.
"Shut it!, professor," Arthur looked around.
The cadets all stared at the portal in awe.
"Finally!, it's open," one of them shouted, rushing in at full speed.
[The fissure guardian has appeared]
"What?."
The next thing, the cadet that got a little too close to the portal split in half from the waist down, and a shining knight that towered over the others walked out.
[The Witcher]
[100000/100000HP]
[Rank: Hunter]
[Weakness: ????]
[Strength: Everything]
[Attack potency: potent.]
[Poison type: none]
[Existence stone drop: ???]
[Blood essence drop: ??]
[1 Random Astra]
Zach looked at the stats, wide-eyed.
It was the Witcher.
But this one was different.
Its armor was rusty; it was clean, polished.
The knight stood in front of the portal and with a swing, wiped the blood off its sword.
It looked around, cold and enigmatic.
Lightning thundered above, and the raging skies seemed to go even darker.
The knight walked forward, raising its blade into the air.
Thunder rumbled, making the skies tremble.
A streak of lightning trailed off its path, hitting the Witcher's blade in a devastating blast of lightning.
Then the thundering blade came down.
The cadets stared in horror.
"GET AWAY NOW!!!"
Zach screamed at the top of his lungs.
Then the blade came down.
BOOOOOMMMMMMM
The earth split under pressure, the snow evaporated as a wide arc of lightning shot out, obliterating everything in its path.
The smoke sizzled off the ground; the monsters lay dead around.
The place was quiet.
"Its strength is everything!!!???, What does the system mean by everything?" Arthur gritted his teeth."
All the monsters that previously spawned out of the oceans quickly scurried away from the scene, terrified by the aura this knight was emitting.
Zach shivered.
The aura being emitted from it was similar to the aura being emitted by those who had reached the stage of curiosity.
The knight's visor turned, and a sharp red eye locked with Zach's.
"Oh, shit..." Zach pressed his lips together.
Zach hoped this guy didn't have past memories; if not, he was definitely done for.
"It cleaved that guy in half"
"We have to be careful"
The knight got in its stance, and all the cadets raised their weapons.
Isaw stood in front of Zach; Arthur stood beside Eli.
Zach couldn't believe Isaw actually survived all that.
But he was alone, most probably because everyone else on his team was dead.
Zach's adrenaline spiked as the knight moved so fast it turned to a blur.
Surprisingly, Eli wasn't the first to charge in this time.
In front of the charge, Aurora waved her spear, clashing with the knight's blade that flowed like liquid silver.
Gregory quickly delivered an assist from behind, but the knight dodged it with ease, going for a stab.
Greg managed to dodge it barely, but his temple was grazed in the process.
Then Eli jumped in.
Then Zach.