After the Tier 5s were taken care of, the rest was easy. Despite how tired both of them were, the moment the Tier 5s fell, the rest of the fighting ceased. From what he could tell, nobody fighting wanted to die, especially not the bandits. Throughout the entire battle, they had been fighting very conservatively, and they knew that the battle was over now that their leader was out for the count.

That was a good thing because it meant fewer people died. Thankfully, only a relatively small number of people from the village ended up dying.

The bandits saw many more casualties. They had fewer overall Tier 4s, but a far larger number of Tier 3s. Many of whom were dead.

Julius and Emil both drank some potions to accelerate their recovery. Julius really only needed the mana potion since he had a healing skill to rely on.

With Drasil's help, he released a calm flood of life mana through his body. The fatigue and the soul soreness remained, but he could at least move around with some level of mobility. He went over to Emil and sent a small burst of healing magic through the man, who gratefully received it.

Julius and Emil first checked on the still unconscious Tier 5, sprawled out on the ground. The man was quite injured, and the armor appeared to have some side effect of using that much mana at once. The man's aura felt weakened, and the feeling only increased as time went on.

It almost felt like the man was dying. Not that Julius would complain about that.

With a groan, he bent down and rummaged through the Tier 5's body. The Blightfrost Steel armor was in quite bad shape. Most of it was split into small pieces and littered across the cavern. However, Julius spotted the storage ring on the man's finger, still in decent condition, but right away, he was able to tell that the ring was of a much higher quality than anything he had held before.

Even his ring, which had come from a rich noble, had nothing on this one. Not only did he suspect the space inside was much larger than his own, but there were additional enchantments inscribed in the metal. Some of which didn't feel like they would do anything nice if messed with.

He sighed and pocketed it for later. He would have plenty of time to examine it once everything was over.

In the meantime, it would appear that there were some people he needed to heal. His work wasn't over yet, and he trudged his way over to heal the more serious injuries. As he walked over, he used some of his aura to suffocate the surrendering bandits. They didn't seem to be a threat anymore, but he wasn't going to take a chance. He didn't want to be interrupted during his healing process. Furthermore, they were still bandits and didn't really deserve his sympathy.

Anyone who preyed on the weak was just a human-sized piece of shit in Julius's opinion. They were lucky that he wasn't killing them immediately. He would leave that decision up to Emil.

He healed various injuries, and eventually, he came across the woman with the battleaxe. She had lost an arm and a part of her leg. She also had half of her body covered with frostbite. He was tempted to heal her all the way, but he needed to be careful with his mana. The frostbite wasn't life-threatening, but it would require a lot of attention to heal all of the extensive damage.

He spotted Jakob and his team off in the distance. They didn't come out of the conflict completely unscathed. Their tank was quite literally covered head to toe with blood and injuries. He must have received some healing recently, though, because Julius sensed remnants of life mana.

He would have to go over and double-check the tank later. He wasn't the only person injured. Everyone on the team had some sort of injury. The woman, Mariann, had lost a hand and an ear. Rasmus had a massive gash over his chest that was slowly scabbing over from the healing potion he was drinking.

Julius finished the healing on the woman. He didn't regenerate her arm since it would cost too much mana, but he made sure that he gave himself an easy path for when he had more time and mana.

As he was about to turn to the next patient, he widened his eyes when he felt a surge of mana. He got a little panicked for a moment and turned to see what it was. Thankfully, it was only Emil, but what surprised Julius was that the man had apparently decided he no longer needed the Tier 5. That, or the man just had some pent-up emotions because he slammed his large warhammer into the man without remorse. The chief didn't even flinch as he flattened the enemy.

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And just like that, a Tier 5 was killed. There was no ceremony or anything. One moment he was alive, and the next he was dead. Julius wasn't going to complain either. He had just believed that Emil might have wanted some answers before he did that.

The village chief must have noticed Julius's gaze because he turned and shrugged at him.

Julius wanted to say something, but instead shrugged in return. It wasn't like he was bothered by it, and honestly, he had more pressing things to focus on at the moment. Therefore, he turned his attention back to the man who had a pretty nasty cut that dug into his eye.

For some reason, healing these people was quite peaceful and therapeutic. It let him calm down from the intense fight more than he would have thought possible.

It was only when he felt himself relaxed that he finally took a look at the notifications he had been ignoring.

[Armaments of the Arcane lvl 19 -> lvl 20]

[Sage of Savagery lvl 19 -> lvl 20]

[Phoenix Renewal lvl 16 -> lvl 17]

[Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin lvl 14 -> lvl 16]

[Absolute Spatial Perception lvl 7 -> lvl 9]

[Inexorable Aura of Ruin lvl 15 -> lvl 16]

[Void Strike lvl 5 -> lvl 8]

[Void Step lvl 8 -> lvl 10]

[Kinetic Energy Control lvl 14 -> lvl 15]

He couldn't help but chuckle as he realized that for the very first time, he had gained a level in every single one of his skills. There were times when he had gained a level in almost all of his skills. But never had he gained one in every single one. This was a momentous occasion.

Even better was the following notification.

[Kinetic Energy Control] has reached threshold. Would you like to evolve the skill?

Appraising requirements…

Congratulations. Skills requirement met.

Skill [Kinetic Energy Control] is evolving… possible advancements: [Kinetic Energy Mastery], [Kinetic Force Adept], [Kinetic Energy Refinement], and [Kinetic Energy Amplification].

***

Freya POV

"I told you he would be fine," Cain said proudly to her. Her idiot husband made it sound like it was his own accomplishment.

"He wasn't supposed to fight a Tier 5," she muttered angrily. It was only because Cain forcibly stopped her that she hadn't immediately interceded. For some reason, she felt a soft spot for the boy. She suspected it was because he reminded her so much of Cain when he was younger.

Julius had the same suicidal tendencies that had worn her out as she tried to keep up with Cain. However, just like Cain, behind the idiotic behaviors, there was the same pure soul she fell in love with.

She had not detected any deceitful or spiteful feelings from Julius, not from the moment she had met him. That wasn't something she had experienced much of. Especially now that she was so strong.

People like that were rare. Most people were too scared or too focused on her status rather than anything else. This made interactions feel more transactional and fake.

"I'm going to have some words for him," she murmured more to herself than to her husband.

"Oh, don't be too harsh on him. Imagine if we had intervened before he had the chance to fight? We would have been stagnating his path," Cain said while rubbing her back.

As much as Cain was an idiot, she had to admit that he had a point. This one battle would have lasting impacts far down Julius's path. The experience of fighting a Tier 5, even though he didn't win by his lonesome, would elevate his potential and help him progress further. She should know better than anyone how valuable a fight like this was.

After all, Cain had dragged her into her fair share of those same fights. She still remembered that time they had fought a Tier 5 when they were Tier 3. It wasn't quite like Julius's fight, there was a lot more running involved, but she still remembered that day clear as day. That sole experience was one of the reasons why she had gained her Ice Phoenix Concept.

However, she couldn't admit this to Cain. He would take it the wrong way and use it against her in the future.

"Don't encourage him. There is no point in getting stronger if you die before you reach your goal," she scolded her husband.

Cain gave her a small, solemn smile. "You're right."

That took all the wind out of her sails. As much as she enjoyed hearing him agree with her, she felt dissatisfied. Ever since they had married, she felt like Cain was agreeing with her more and more. As much as she liked it in the beginning, she was starting to find it distasteful. She wanted him to argue with her more, like the old days.

"Should we go and let him know that we are here?" Cain asked her.

She shook her head. "No, we can see him when he gets back. There is no need to let him know that we were watching."

And so the two of them left, not leaving behind any evidence of their observation.

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