The first three monsters that burst out of the Grand Forest were haunting, to say the least.

Lev involuntarily gulped after noticing their sheer size. The first was an insectoid, walking on eight massive legs that extended to its sides. It moved close to the ground, slithering like a snake while producing heavy thuds in its passing, the strength in its limbs too much for the fragile ground riddled with craters in its wake.

To its side, a massive wooden abomination stood, humanoid in appearance. Dark purple and black bark covered its body from head to toe, including the four arms and two wings on the back. Lev wondered if it was even possible for such a massive creature to fly, and immediately had to reconsider his worldviews when a single flap of those wings tore a giant crater into the ground.

The final monster was already in the air, its eyes fixed on Sherron. Waves of lightning coursed over its body, originating from its eyes and traveling all the way to its feathered tail, contrasting beautifully with its dark colors and light blue and white eyes.

Lev took the words out of Amelia's mouth. "What level are those?"

"Don't know," Alec replied, eyes stern but not downcast or worried. "Just above six hundred by my estimates."

"Above 650 for the Ebonwalker. The other two are high five hundreds or low six hundreds. You should make distance," Orianna said, not even looking at them.

It took a moment for the suggestion to register, and it made too much sense when a vast, terrifying gaze found their concealed bubble. Lev was immediately flying away after letting Orianna and Alec step out, the two responsible for facing the abomination.

For the first time, he also realized why Orianna was respected throughout the plains for her strength. As if materializing out of thin air, five fire soldiers slowly took form around her, hovering mid-air without a single whiff of mana usage or skills.

Orianna's aura, which had always seemed slightly weaker than the other strongest Masters, now rolled out in earnest. Combined with her soldiers, it was daunting enough that Lev forgot to breathe for a few seconds, taking a shuddering breath once he was a few hundred kilometers away.

He didn't get a chance to check up on his teammates when the world shook, and a gash appeared on the ebonwalker's arm. The massive fiery attack cooled down abnormally quickly and was absorbed by the monster to slowly heal the wound.

Undeterred, Orianna advanced with several massive, bright yellow whips of solidified fire. Her soldiers spread out, one holding a bow, two holding axes, and one holding a greatsword as long as it was tall. Each of them towered over the humans, nearly five meters in height, and still moved as a blur to Lev's senses.

"Fucking hell," Kayla wheezed, uncaring of how crass she sounded. "Can we not fucking die from suffocation today? I would like to see another day, please."

That broke the tension thoroughly as Amelia laughed first, a mix of relief, awe, and hunger for power slowly melting away. Jack chuckled too, ruffling his girl's hair with a smile.

Lev laughed lightly, too transfixed on the fight taking place. Alec was also supporting the fire mage now, firing shells that specialized in impairing the monster's movements. Crackling attacks landed on the ebonwalker's wings, the lightning and other elements digging into its bark and body and burning off chunks of sizzling flesh.

There was more at play, evident by the monster focusing on Alec instead of the dangerous fire soldiers. Lev was too far to notice any more though, and his attention was stolen by the utterly absurd sight behind them.

"Is that…" Amelia asked, trying to wrap her head around what she was seeing.

"Yeah," Lev nodded dumbly, his voice resigned. "That massive portion of the forest is floating in the sky."

"But how?" she asked, moving up and standing close to Lev's observing position. He gave her a short glance.

"That's two Exalted doing it," he answered. "Stephan and Stella are both psychokinetics. I don't know which of them is responsible for… that."

Beyond the treeline, a storm of trees, vines, roots, stones, clumps of dirt, and many other things revolved around the Exalted. It covered an area several times larger than Lev's manipulation range, and he knew there was more at play from the vibrations that reached his bubble, more than a dozen kilometers away. He could only guess that one of the Exalted was responsible for that storm, whereas the other was attacking the monster.

Sherron and the avian monster were already somewhere far above, out of sight. Only the sound of thunder and echoing shockwaves reached them, nothing else.

"Oh well," he muttered, not even a little regretful at missing out on the chance to test himself against those monsters. It was obvious at a glance that he wouldn't even be able to harm them, especially the ebonwalker.

The bird would've also fried him immediately. Sherron never once talked about just how weak the flamebreather gecko was for its level, but that was becoming obvious now. Little wonder, too, as he had managed to put it down solo. Even if it had cost him his entire pool and all of his strongest constructs, it still shouldn't have been possible. The matchup was also favorable, as something like a windstrider warg would've torn him to shreds without batting an eye.

"So," Lev sent to his team, curious. "What do you guys think?"

"I can't see anything from so far away," Amelia complained, though not seriously, just disappointed.

"Did you know the Exalted were going to join?" Jack questioned.

Lev shook his head. "I had no idea. If I knew, I would've tried harder. My pool and Stargazer are still over 80% full."

"Orianna did say you will still need to fight," Kayla added. "It would be good to have as much mana as possible for that."

"Let's be realistic," Lev replied after a few seconds. "I don't think anything that would require me to fight can survive the aftermath of the current clashes. No doubt, the monsters will target the Exalted first."

The message was further hammered in when a large shockwave rolled through the area, making the bubble shake precariously. Lev looked to where it had come from, finding the source hidden inside the large storm of debris.

Said storm was also moving closer to the Ebonwalker, having probably defeated its opponent. Lev made more distance between them, also flying higher to keep himself safe from stray crossfire. Just to be safe, he also ordered all of his invisible shields to be arrayed in front of the bubble, giving him a higher chance to defend himself. All the enchanted walls also remained close to be deployed at a moment's notice.

Visibility of the fight was nil, and it ended rather abruptly when a giant beam of condensed lightning parted the psychokinetic domain, blowing a hole through the damaged ebonwalker's chest.

Silence reigned on the battlefield after that, only broken by the falling debris. Trees were hurled back into the forest, thrown with enough force to vanish over the horizon. Lev wondered if that alone was enough to kill a few dozen stray monsters.

Sherron landed on top of his bubble. She glanced at him, and then towards the forest, silently telling him that he was up.

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Confused, he followed her gaze, finding nothing. Lev wasn't going to doubt her extreme Perception though, and created a hole for her to enter and let her take control over the bubble.

"Anything I should know?" he asked, while double-checking his equipment.

"Don't use fire, I guess."

The hell is that supposed to mean? Lev nodded, not asking any more questions, and flew out. Her remark made a lot more sense when a new monstrous aura revealed itself.

Second-threshold, probably close to the third, he deduced and picked up speed, and so did the monster. Then the monster accelerated again, and Lev slowed down, increasingly unsure as the creature neared at extreme speed.

Erm, he glanced back at the bubble, where his team and Sherron were surely watching, and then at the forest. How the fuck am I supposed to face something like this?

The chance to retreat was taken out of his hands when a majestic feline exited the forest, raising his hackles from awe and apprehension. Their eyes met, and it took Lev a moment to get past the tiger's fur, which was entirely made out of orange flames. Dark red stripes ran along its length, pulsing with its heartbeat, generating more heat each time.

His nervousness, however, stemmed from the monster's aura. It was an incredibly strong foe, one that outclassed the gecko despite being an evolution lower. Sure, the flames weren't as hot, and the creature wasn't as massive or fast, but those things were an advantage. The tiger was undoubtedly much more cunning, and Lev learned that lesson quickly as they neared each other. Even Identify didn't work, sliding off its mane.

Several fireballs flew at him at a dizzying speed, each blocked by his invisible shields. The force packed in each was enough to disintegrate his constructs with ease, though they also exploded upon impact. Lev hastily formed more of them as the next barrage numbered in dozens, and his own lightning arrows retaliated.

The sky turned into a cacophony of blue and dark orange as dozens of blasts rang out in quick succession. Shields shattered, arrows sheared through a few fireballs, and all intact projectiles were dodged with lethal grace before the combatants collided.

Stargazer's giant blade met elongated claws of solidified fire, cutting through them with minimal ease. Prepared for that, the tiger released a shockwave of fire from its body, which Lev countered with his own lightning wave. A beam of fire burst out of its mouth, tearing through the clashing waves, and was stopped in its tracks by an overloaded lightning bolt from Lev's palm.

A lightning slash followed, and the monster's beam rose in intensity. Powering through the bolt, the beam swiveled towards the lightning slash. Lev didn't get a chance to close in from the side when several fireballs bombarded the area around the monster to keep him away. Lances were also detected, colliding with large firebolts that made them explode on impact, just like the monster's fireballs had.

He was reminded of the tiger's speed once again when it took a single step, blurring towards him with a giant shockwave. Stargazer deflected its swipe to the best of its ability, and a lightning slash forced the tiger to dodge. Lev was on it again in a blink, a torrent of lightning coursing through his armor, stressing its enchantments and structure dangerously.

Befitting its high level, the tiger weaved between his thrusts and slashes effortlessly, still not taken by surprise when several lightning bolts were fired by his bubbles, descending with dozens of ropes infused with lightning.

Lev quickly made distance as all the heat around them vanished into the monster as it roared at the top of its lungs, releasing a giant wall of fire that disintegrated his ropes and attacks.

Feeling even more mana buildup, he channeled lightning into Stargazer as fast as he could, knowing what was to come. All the while, his mind and Perception strained to take in how the tiger shaped its attack, hoping to glean some insights about how to use his own flame breath rune.

A concentrated jet of fire, bordering on blue fire, rushed towards him with enough power to completely blacken the ground for dozens of meters. Lev took a deep breath, feeling the world becoming searing hot, and swung Stargazer straight down, firing a massively overloaded lightning slash.

The extremely strong attacks collided in the middle of the two combatants. Lightning prevailed at first, shearing clean through the large beam. Lasers of fire were deflected in every direction, some flying high into the distance, and some carving giant gashes into the ground as the slash powered through, cutting the tiger's assault in two.

Lev knew it wasn't enough, though. Three lances were receiving a constant influx of infusion while his lightning slash eventually weakened, and the monster, too, was preparing more projectiles even while releasing a constant jet of flames from its mouth.

Reformed ropes descended to make use of the small opening, and the monster fired one final burst of fire at the lightning slash to completely overpower it, dodging the ropes with ease. A few of its fireballs were fired at the bubbles too fast for Lev to move them out of the way in time, so he sacrificed all his ropes to keep them intact.

The rest were thrown towards Lev, who was closing the distance rapidly. Orbs of lightning were flying next to him, and shield after shield shattered to keep them from getting hit. The monster also realized the danger posed by the large amount of infused crackling blue element, eyes darting between the approaching human and the threatening lances hovering far behind.

Making a decision, it formed yet another barrage of fireballs and lunged at him, its speed almost too fast to track. Stargazer was infused with a giant amount of lightning, half of its reserves already gone from all his preparations and previous attacks.

Darting to the side, Lev evaded its dash and slashed at its hind legs. His brows rose when Stargazer, instead of cutting a deep gash, slid off the surprisingly solid fur. Even more worrying was that the glaive's blade almost melted off from the brief contact, requiring a large amount of mana to repair it and overload the durability enchantment.

Matching another wave of fire with lightning, the first lance moved in sync with all of the infused orbs. The tiger's nostrils flared, and it dashed further away to focus on the whistling lance. A jet of fire enveloped the distant lance, blowing it up long before it could do any harm.

Lev capitalized on the opening as his orbs surrounded the monster, and he commanded another lance to descend. The orbs exploded in unison, blocking off all escape routes but forward, from where a massive lightning slash approached.

Caught in a pickle, the tiger mimicked Lev's move, and to his astonishment, a fire slash roared out of its claws. It packed an immense amount of mana, evident by the exhaustion in the tiger's posture, though it was far from done.

Turning around again, using the massive explosion from the colliding slashes as cover, a much smaller yet precise beam of fire eviscerated the lance. Lev's final projectile used that collision as cover and sought to impale the tiger in a quick, sneaky move. He could only ignore its monstrous cat-like reflexes as the lance was dodged by the barest of margins.

Ropes were also evaded with nimble dashes, the monster's fur too slippery to latch on to. Lev still compensated by the sheer number of ropes, all of them infused with a large amount of lightning. They slithered around the monster like snakes, forcing it to constantly move between them and higher to dodge.

Flying with bursts of fire, the monster continued to ascend, slowly falling into his trap. Lev himself was following its movements, gathering lightning in Stargazer before shooting forward like a bullet.

The tiger had had enough and, despite the lethargy in its limbs, roared loud enough to make his eardrums rupture. He braved on, finally finding purchase on the monster with his ropes.

Wait-

It took him too long to notice the slowly decreasing heat around them, the monster covertly gathering fire inside its own body. Lev was too close to dodge when it started glowing with a horrifying amount of fire, and the world slowed down as he quickly folded his limbs, turtling on himself and letting his back be hit first.

As quickly as he could without shattering his armor, he gathered lightning in it and released it in the direction he was flying. The monster, sure of its victory, almost closed its eyes before they shot open. Lev burst through its final attack, Stargazer raised high above his head, and already descending like a blue comet. Armor cracked and flesh melting, he swung down with all his might, releasing the lightning slash halfway through the attack.

The tiger didn't get a chance to dodge as a blade crackling with a metric ton of lightning buried into its neck. Fur and raw power collided for a brief instant before the former's resistance was obliterated, and the blade continued on, digging into the tough flesh until it hit bone. The slash followed next, disintegrating all in its path and lopping off the head before landing on the ground.

Powered by an ungodly amount of mana, the slash didn't explode on contact but instead dug dozens of meters deep.

Even sluggish as he was, Lev grabbed the corpse with a few hastily reformed ropes and ascended away as fast as he could. The ground was rapidly becoming searing hot, and the lightning slash finally lost cohesion after a few seconds.

Large vibrations made themselves known first before a hellish storm burst out of the ground, immediately rising to hundreds of meters and then exploding in a massive blast. It was the most amount of mana he had ever used for a slash, and his deteriorating state spoke to that. Restoration mana coursed through his entire body, the amount lower than usual because of the all-encompassing wounds being too deep and fresh.

Pointedly ignoring his blackened limbs, he weathered the shockwaves from the blast, as well as the similarly potent implosion, before slowly lowering to the ground. When he was far enough to find cool, intact grass, Lev dismissed his armor and lay down on his back. Summoning the highest-quality healing potion from his ring, he slowly drank it in sips while closing all the bleeding in his body.

Even if the burns hurt far more, to the point that he was having trouble thinking straight, letting Kayla heal them was going to provide her with some valuable experience. Before that though, he healed the worst of them as much as he could, and thankfully, Sherron also didn't rush to his position after seeing his state. No doubt, his teammates could guess what kind of injuries he was sporting right now, but sparing them the trauma of seeing them in person was the right call.

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