"hahaha....!"

"finally, these first years are finding out the hard way what hunters experience on a daily basis! it isn''t like the creatures they faced in the first event, even if you considered the boss creature!"

"yeah... i can count at least 250 elite students already eliminated in the last two hours. and it seems the miracle boy is about to experience it."

"do you think he will take on the form he did during the convergence maze event?"

"...."

silence settled in the instructor''s lounge once that point was raised. alex''s path was uncharted territory and they couldn''t make any assumptions without having sufficient data.

instructor horvey remained quiet as well and while he had a few eyes look his way, he had no answers for them.

''i''m as clueless as everyone is, okay? just because i''m his homeroom instructor doesn''t mean i know everything about him!''

right now, they had the display focus on alex frozen in place as the void creature searched for him.

......

*boooom!*

the blast was powerful and it came fast, taking alex by surprise even with his reaction speed. he was sent flying into the cavern ceiling at breakneck speed.

*bam!*

"ugh!"

before he could fall down from that height, he heard the growls of the void creature drawing close, prompting him to lift his head.

"!"

the void creature was upon him with its right claws swinging in his direction and going straight for the head!

"shit!"

with swift action, he brought his staff forward that was now in its long form before...no?v(el)b\\jnn

*clang!*

because the creature was moving while alex practically stayed still, the momentum of the void creature''s swing swatted him down with the force of a moving train. explore stories on empire

*bam!*

the ground cracked under the weight of his fall, creating a mini crater at the sight of impact.

''heavy!''

the amount of pain he felt at that moment was blinding, disorienting his senses and momentarily making his vision blurry.

luckily for him, his armour took the brunt of the impact, sparing him any broken bones. with no time to rest, he had to move.

after several minutes and many kilometres away from the warzone, he spotted another opening high above and simultaneously a ding from his sensors.

"well, lucky me!"

he flashed a victorious grin. the opening may just be an opening to the outside world, and with the system''s notification, he could kill two birds with one stone.

and unlike the previous one he saw; this opening wasn''t a direct path to the surface as it seemed light came through the opening. he had to get through the opening to see what exactly was in store for him.

of course, the minerals were a guarantee.

attaching his spear behind him, he moved to climb the walls of the cavern and shortly arrived at the opening.

"caution first."

after a sharp intake of breath, he slowly climbed through the opening, yet he didn''t go all the way through.

he poked his head out first to look out for any dangers that might be lurking around. well, they say when one goes searching for trouble, he finds trouble.

*gulp*

alex''s eyes widened as his eyes fell on the majestic creature that had its eyes locked on him. he didn''t dare make any hasty moves for fear of the beast lounging at his head before he could move. he did, however, manage to take a quick scan of the space before focusing on the beast again.

the space he saw was exactly as he expected. it had a path leading to the surface and within its walls were hordes of minerals that reflected the light that bound off them—a light alex realized came from the beast.

he then took in the features of the beast to make sure it was exactly what he had seen on the empire''s network. magical beasts and their nature were a course taken in their second year and because of that, the information he knew was what he found himself.

and unlike the magical beasts he fought with ease since he arrived here, alex knew the beast in front of him was no such weakling. from childhood, they were already as strong as a high-tier class f hunter.

and the beast before his eyes was no baby, it was a fully grown beast.

''astralyon!''

it was a magical lion beast with majestic white flames for its mane and on the creature, the white flames were harmless, but against anyone else, it was extremely deadly.

the beast was the size of a full-grown horse and its sharp claws gleamed with a bluish-white lustre; just like its body. the creature''s eyes—a glowing wonder of colours reminiscent of a nebula.

it was majestic.

but...

it was just as dangerous, and the thing the astralyon despised the most was uninvited guests.

*growl.... *

a menacing growl escaped the creature''s maws as it stood up in all its glory, head raised up and eyes still locked on alex.

on one end, alex had a clear path to the surface and an added bonus of magical minerals he could harvest. yet, to move forward, he must face the astralyon or withdraw altogether.

''these kinds of magical beasts aren''t known for letting their prey escape; it will definitely chase after me. what''s more, i don''t know how strong it is!''

it was a grim situation, but there was only one choice to make. there was never a second choice the moment the beast noticed him.