Kyle was sitting quietly, his eyes fixed on the dark cave ceiling where shadows of water droplets danced softly as they fell from tiny cracks. The air was cold and damp, carrying the scent of wet earth and the faint echo of distant sounds. Inside him, however, raged a storm of heavy thoughts weighing down on his chest. He breathed slowly, trying to steady his breath, yet feeling an indescribable weight pressing upon him.
Then he slowly lifted his head, breaking the silence with a coldness that almost shattered the stillness, looking around. His features were calm but concealed the fire of deep tension.
Kyle: "Did Danny really do it? He's not as strong as you make him out to be. It seems you tremble over nothing."
09 looked toward the horizon, his hands spreading tiny ice crystals that radiated a chill to make one's blood run cold.
09: "You took him down because his body is shattered and worn out; he can't fight now. Do you think he earned his position by chance?"
Kyle smiled a bitter smile, then said in a low but sharp voice, as if pronouncing a final judgment.
Kyle: "There are those who got the title of leader without any merit... not a shred of it."
Brian laughed hysterically, his voice breaking the cave's dark silence.
Brian: "If I weren't here, I'd be dead by now. Yet here you are, mocking me."
Kyle gave a cold smile carrying a silent challenge.
Kyle: "Don't take it seriously. I'm talking about raw power, not titles or tactics."
He then added with measured seriousness:
"I'm capable of taking down that monster myself, but I don't want to be its bait. Is there a way to escape?"
09 spread his hands, and ice crystals spread around them, his surroundings shining with deadly cold.
09: "I'm spreading the ice. We'll move immediately when the ice reaches a safe location."
Cloe looked at the suspended body with eyes full of worry, her tense body struggling to breathe.
Cloe : "He could die at any moment because of these holes... We'll interrogate him now, and if he survives, we'll investigate him further in the city."
Brian nodded confidently, as if confirming the decision was final.
Kyle advanced steadily toward the bound Bron, whose face was frozen in a mask of pain, his body trembling from weakness and curse. Kyle grabbed his neck with a merciless hand and squeezed for more than six minutes until Bron began to flail, gasping for air.
Kyle released him to take a deep breath, then rained a rapid series of punches on him, like sharp knife strikes, relentlessly.
Bron screamed with a broken voice from the pain:
Bron: "Ask me! I'll tell you what I know!"
Kyle smiled a cold grin.
Kyle: "My goal is to see your blood. If you say something useful, maybe I'll stop."
Bron's bleeding, distorted face had not fully succumbed; his eyes still held remnants of resolve.
Bron: "You know the curse stops me from speaking, but I can tell you what I planned, and what I discovered alone."
Cloe sighed firmly.
Cloe : "I told you he'll stop only upon hearing something useful. Move your tongue, say whatever you can."
Kyle continued his unyielding blows until Bron spoke in a faint, broken voice.
Bron: "I wanted to take you hostage to exchange you with the army, if they agreed, in return for letting me escape to the sea... or to gain favor with the smuggler organization, to find a smuggler or hideout."
Cloe asked harshly:
Cloe : "How were you going to communicate with them?"
Bron sighed, replying with a broken, despairing voice:
Bron: "I think everyone knows their pages on the internet. You leave your message there, and they find you."
09 intervened in a calm, reserved tone:
09: "Don't you have secret codes or signals in those messages? We tried to deceive them many times, but it didn't work."
Bron suddenly collapsed, whispering while bowing his head:
Bron: "I... really don't know."
Suddenly, Kyle stopped hitting him. He felt a shiver shooting down his spine; his body stiffened as if sensing an approaching storm.
09 stood quietly, his hands spreading glowing ice crystals in the air as if summoning the storm itself. He gently freed Bron, and the air seemed to dissipate into a deadly silence.
Everyone was transported at lightning speed, vanishing in a flash as if disappearing in a moment of time.
Kyle then stood, cold sweat trickling down his forehead, heart pounding, his mind flooded with anxiety. This was unlike anything he had faced before.
It was the first time he truly felt fear.
Cloe looked at him with skeptical eyes, trying to read beyond his composed face.
Cloe: "Is fear creeping in?"
Kyle smiled a mixture of confidence and tension, cracking his knuckles loudly.
Kyle: "This monster is completely different... but don't think I'll lose."
He turned his back, eyes sharp and piercing.
Kyle: "What's our next move? Head to the city?"
09 moved with steady steps, carrying Bron on his back calmly as if carrying a light burden, yet his presence filled the space.
09: "No. We'll split up and flee in different directions to confuse the beast. If we follow by Ether or scent, it will reach Bir, and that will be a disaster."
09 moved swiftly, flowing toward the northwest, leaving behind sparkling frost with each step.
09: "Kyle, carry Brian and run randomly. When you feel the monster is eighty kilometers away, turn toward the nearest city."
Brian refused help angrily.
Brian: "I don't need help."
Kyle carried him silently, and they ran together in silence.
Cloe moved gracefully, like a shadow flowing between the rocks.
After several kilometers, Kyle found himself surrounded by a massive herd of Iron-tier Tyrans, their eyes burning with fierce rage.
Without hesitation, Kyle charged through them, his sword gleaming under the copper sun, cutting through their ranks effortlessly, as if they were brittle branches snapping beneath his hand.
Brian tried to restrain him.
Brian: "Avoid shedding blood, it might attract the monster."
Kyle: "Don't worry, 09 is distracting them. We just need to get away."
In surprise, Brian asked:
Brian: "How does he do that?"
Kyle smiled sarcastically.
Kyle: "I think he uses ice to herd the monster packs toward himself."
They received a message from 09 advising them to head toward the sea to hide their tracks, confirming rescue planes were on their way.
Kyle continued slicing through the herd until he reached a valley leading to the sea.
He jumped into the cold water, swimming with the current toward safety.
Secret Briefing – Monster Classification Information
Greetings, dear followers! I will reveal to you some secrets about the classification of monsters according to their threat level in military operations.
After years of prolonged conflict, the military leadership established a strict system to categorize the monsters threatening the continent — from the weakest to the most terrifying, reaching beyond human comprehension.
Class One – Shadow: The weakest classification. Most soldiers can easily deal with them using either Ether weapons or their own abilities.
Class Two – Iron: Requires experienced soldiers skilled in using Ether abilities efficiently. These creatures possess high endurance and combat capabilities exceeding average fighters.
Class Three – Majestic: Immense power that can only be confronted by elite soldiers or an entire battalion assigned to face a single one.
Class Four – Royal: Only three people in the continent's history have defeated this class; two died immediately after defeating their foes, while the third (Danny) survived but his body severely deteriorated. Moathan is an exception, having defeated all classes. The Royal class has three levels, with the third level approaching the power of Class Five.
Class Five – Catastrophic: Monsters with exceptional intelligence and astonishing evolution, marked by tattoos similar to those of the Awakened Flower consumers, making their encounter a rare event that only Moathan has survived.
Class Six – Cosmic: A completely unknown classification. The only thing known is that Moathan alone faced one, and there are no records of that battle.