Four days passed in a constant thrum of battle. Sometimes, monsters rushed in like a low-rated wave, putting all the hunters on high alert. Most of the time however, they streamed in slowly.

Lev and Beatrice floated in their bubble, seated in two cushioned sofas summoned from his ring. One was keeping an eye on the skies, and the other was firing barrier arrows at unsuspecting monsters below. The horizons were still clear except the near-imperceptible darkness towards the north, above the endless oceans.

Arrows enchanted with acceleration were neatly piled up next to Lev. They left the bubble and flew up when he noticed a horde of trolls marching towards the city gates. All of his projectiles were gradually filled with lightning as Beatrice started buffing him. They had developed enough of an understanding for her to do so without needing Lev to ask for it.

Like a miniature meteor-shower, each blue arrow streaked forward at once, illuminating the empty streets and roads underneath with their passing. The barrage impacted the monsters in a ruinous chain of blasts, each explosion empowering the next.

Fire and lightning did their thing, greedily absorbing the power from every projectile and finally blowing up in a charged wave of decimation, eviscerating most of the horde instantly. Even if stragglers remained, Lev had done his job.

[

You have slain [Troll Warrior - Level 190]

…

You have slain [Troll Commander - Level 205]

…

You have slain [Troll Shaman - Level 198]

]

"See anything?" Lev asked, not expecting a positive answer.

"Nope," Beatrice replied. She was much more relaxed around him than she was on the first day. Observing him fight for days straight, albeit with a bit of rest in between, had also numbed her to his insane advantages. She had long accepted that he was monstrously strong for his level and moved on.

"Alright," Lev stifled a yawn, blinking back the drowsiness as they landed on top of the spire. The sofas vanished as he spoke, "I'll ask Noah to let us relax-"

He paused when Beatrice's eyes widened in alarm and fear, still looking at the sky. Lev's bleary mind took a second too long to react, at which point time had already slowed down to a crawl.

White was slowly overtaking his vision as he formed domes around them, enchanting them with durability as quickly as he could. He couldn't even turn his head before the first of them shattered.

The unbelievably fast attack shredded through all his domes one after another, on track to land on his armored back. Or at least, it would've if Beatrice hadn't reacted without hesitation, throwing herself forward to push Lev to the ground.

Her face was frozen in panic and terror, yet she continued all the same, intent on tackling Lev out of harm's way. Only…

No…

The bolt of lightning was close enough to blind him almost entirely. Beatrice had pushed Lev away enough for the attack to miss him but not her. It was going to hit her squarely in the torso.

You… Barrier threads formed, wrapping around her and yanking her forward. In the slowed moment, she just barely jerked ahead from the pull. It seemed like she was going to dodge by a hair's breadth.

Then the last barrier dome, the final hurdle slowing down the bolt shattered as the slowed Perception came to an end. The lightning bolt landed a few meters away in a large blast just as Lev was tackled to the ground, tightly holding a sizzling and burning Beatrice in his arms.

"No, no, no, no," Lev gently put her on the ground with trembling limbs as the fires around them faded, completely forgetting that there was a monster somewhere above them. Mana rushed into the healing converter as a wild torrent, stressing the skinsuit's enchantment more than ever before but he couldn't have cared less. Items were temporary.

The aura mage coughed out blood as Lev started healing her. It first rushed to the huge hole in the right side of her torso, stemming the bleeding as best it could while regrowing the flesh and missing lung in excruciating slowness.

"Run…" Beatrice croaked out weakly, eyes looking at something behind him. Reality caught up to him at that moment, and he bolted with Beatrice in his arms without looking back.

The stairs to the lower floor were small and only covered with bulk doors that were currently open, barely large enough for three people to ascend side-by-side. Lightning mana built up somewhere behind him before he could rush down them.

Lev lunged, the fastest he could manage in his dizzy, shaken state, but luck was not on his side. Midair, he turned his head slightly, seeing huge wings covered in black feathers as lightning flowed through them like snakes. Despite the hundreds of meters of distance between him and the monster, they seemed utterly gigantic.

Another lightning bolt tore through the air, setting the oxygen alight in its passing. Lev closed his eyes just as he started to fall through the ground and down the stairs, knowing he wouldn't make it, especially after Identifying the monster.

[Stormrider Vulture - ????]

A huge, black round shield landed on top of the spire and blocked the lightning bolt, thrown over the edge as a result. The last thing Lev saw before hitting the ground of the lower floor was the wide back of a powered armor and a massive, silver greatsword.

Beatrice groaned from the impact, jolting Lev back to the present. He redoubled the amount of restoration mana being channeled into her and looked for any healers nearby.

Frantically asking for directions told him that they were at the lowest floors. Lev flared his enhancement at the maximum and jumped out of one of the windows, staying close to the spire and flying to the ground.

Someone quickly noticed him at the gates in the base of the spire. From there, Beatrice was taken out of his hands and taken to the healers in an area sectioned off with white clothes, blocking off all manners of Perception.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

She's alive, Lev dismissed his armor and sat down on one of the benches for waiting, wiping away tears. Just why…

With a deep sigh, he leaned back on the uncomfortable metal bench and closed his eyes. Hunters were gradually returning to the spires and closing off all the gates. Complete evacuation of all forces was going to happen earlier than planned, and Lev knew exactly why.

Simply because I was out in the open, high above… Lev blinked tiredly as the fact that he was safe started setting in. No part of the Seen title ever mentioned reducing the effects of my presence, only that I will not see another chaoswalker anytime soon.

Somehow, the fact had slipped his mind. That wherever he went, trouble would follow, sometimes in the form of third-threshold monsters that could evsicerate him from afar.

Beatrice had almost paid with her life because of it. She… Lev's fists clenched at his sides. The idiot had prioritized his life, someone she barely even knew, and almost perished because of that split-second decision.

It didn't help that he would've done the same for her. He didn't want anyone to die for him, ever. The mere idea felt so wrong and revolting that it made him nauseous. But there he was, blankly staring at the white curtains Beatrice was currently being treated behind.

Life had taught him a cruel lesson that day and saved him from one far worse, or perhaps even the last.

****

"She's up, hunter," an attendant called out to him. Lev rubbed his eyes and looked around, having fallen asleep at some point. "The healers wanted to inform you to never use so much healing mana at once. It took a great deal of effort to control all the undirected saturation of restoration mana and prevent cancerous growth. Be careful in the future."

"I will," Lev replied seriously, immediately wide awake. "Please show me where she is."

"Follow me."

They crossed many closed off white rooms before the attendant entered a random one. Beatrice was lying on a white hospital bed, eyes glazed over. They refocused when Lev entered.

The attendant left quickly, and a basic sound ward was activated around them, muffling the conversation at best with its minimal functions.

Lev stood there, unable to utter a word as the memory of her torn and charred torso kept surfacing in his mind. He gave his head a firm shake to banish those thoughts and looked at her.

Hollow eyes stared back. The words died in his throat as he summoned a chair and sat down. Both of them stayed silent, lost in their own miserable thoughts.

"I'm so sorry," Lev quietly broke the silence while staring at the ground. He didn't have the guts to look at her while saying that. "I was supposed to protect you."

She didn't reply or even turn to look at him, only shedding silent tears while replaying the earlier events in her head. Lev wanted to comfort her, to say something that would make her stop crying.

But what could he even say? Not only was he next to her back then, but it was also him that was supposed to be the target of the attack. That was already bad enough as it was, but she wasn't even aware that it was all his fault in the first place.

Anyone could attribute the event to bad luck and a side effect of his huge mana pool. Monsters were sensitive to mana, after all. Beatrice however, had jumped in front of the attack that was lured by Lev's presence to begin with and almost died on the spot, yet he still couldn't tell her. The information was too sensitive to share.

And just when I was finally starting to open up to others, Lev wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. Life is going to be extremely lonely, isn't it?

Going further down that line of thought was naught but a spiral of depression, so he pulled himself together. Lamenting could wait; there was something he had to say before anything else.

"Thank you," Lev looked into her eyes, letting her see all his gratitude. "Most likely, both of us would have died if you hadn't moved. Thank you."

Whatever little control she had over herself was shattered by those words. Her face changed into one of intense fear and sorrow, cutting through Lev's eroding reservations. Gently, he put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

Gut-wrenching sobs went through her body, far from her usual prim and proper self. Both ugly and jarring, each of them cruely reminded him never to be so careless again while sending shivers down his spine.

****

The storm was still more than a week away when the order for moving to shelters came through. Underground passages leading to them were opened for everyone to step through. Too many second and third-threshold monsters had attacked the spires ahead of the calamity, which forced the defenders to retreat.

Over seventy dead, Lev repeated in his head, eyes blank and face neutral. The Master team was wholly inadequate to deal with the massive vulture. So, in a way, their deaths were caused by me, just like they had been when facing the threader.

This time, the fact hit him much harder. Where the threader was dealt with rather quickly, a third-threshold monster was a much, much bigger threat. If there hadn't been a Master team present on the site, Lev didn't know just how massive the death toll would've been.

Nobody was expecting stormriders so early. Most certainly not ones above level 500. It left them all scratching their heads, except for the hunter currently making his way down to the shelters. Due to direct orders from someone, Lev was being guided to the most isolated one. Beatrice had been recalled after their short, emotional moment. He resolved to find her later, for he owed her a great debt.

Two attendants accompanied him, both of them warriors above his level. While he walked in the middle of them, Lev checked all his previous notifications.

[

Mana Tempest has reached Level 194

Mana Tempest has reached Level 195

Mana Tempest has reached Level 196

Rapid Infusion has reached 3rd Level 3

]

Acceptable for four days of low-intensity combat, Lev mused tiredly. Their silent march continued for hours in a smooth, spiraling tunnel before something changed. When they reached a dead end, one of the warriors pressed a medallion against the stone wall.

With a loud rumbling, the stone slid away to reveal a much smaller and darker pathway. Lev was waved in, and he silently followed their instructions. No point in asking questions from people who probably didn't know anything.

Minutes passed in a leisurely yet interesting walk. Some life returned to Lev's eyes when he noticed the incredibly detailed but cloaked enchantments on the walls, obscuring any and all hints of mana and auras to the outside world.

The double gates at the end further amplified his suspicion about something being wrong but he couldn't bring himself to care much. He simply strode inside when they swung open noiselessly, revealing a large hall that was just as heavily enchanted as the path leading up to it.

Inside, there were only a few people, most of them Masters. Strategist Noah was also present, glaring at him with quiet anger.

His path was blocked by a mountain of a man suddenly appearing in front of him. Built like a tank with long brown hair tied in a ponytail, he had thick arms crossed over his chest and looked down at Lev with a scowl.

[Diviner - ???]

"The hell did you do?"

Lev blinked slowly and took in the diviner's towering visage. It really didn't match the class.

"Nothing."

"Don't try to lie to me, brat!" The man roared and grabbed Lev by the throat. His hands tightened enough to be threatening but not enough to hinder Lev's speech.

I see how it is, Lev thought, bemused.

"The vulture ignored all the forces outside the walls or roaming the streets to attack you directly. Do you think we are retarded? All of my skills only point to you being the cause as well. Answer, or I will make you," he finished while leaning closer and staring directly into Lev's eyes, trying to cower him into giving up his secrets.

"Do try," Lev blankly remarked. "See how some of the strongest of our kind will tear you apart, limb by limb."

"And you believe they will save you down here?" the man smirked.

"And you believe I need them to deal with you?" Lev countered, having noted that nobody in the shelter was a combatant.

Palpable tension was present in their staredown. Lev's mind was already on a short fuse from the earlier happenings, and his twitchy fingers reflected that. If the Master made one wrong move, he was ready to fry the diviner to ashes in a single burst.

"Hmph, you've got guts, at least. Still, watch where you run your mouth. Not everyone will be as forgiving as I," the diviner said and let go of his neck.

The man was sorely mistaken if he thought Lev would've taken it lying down. More than half of his pool remained, and he wasn't averse to making a point.

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