The whole area meant for the fourth line was now completely cleared of enemies. Darian let out a breath when he heard the trio's response, then turned to the 30 surviving rookies and saw a fire light up in their eyes.
"Well... you've made it through the trial by fire and blood. I'm sure you're no less capable than the ones with a ring in the third line," Darian said casually. "The plan was to kill everything and move forward, right? So let's go."
Everyone nodded. They'd stared death in the face and didn't run. They stood their ground and survived.
Most of the Summoners were people who had already fought and trained a lot in life. But their Spiritual Guardians were still too green. Now, that had changed. Their mindset and will had grown stronger. If they managed to stay alive, their futures had just cracked wide open.
Niara went on ahead, the trio right behind her, while the 30 rookies followed in a loose formation further back.
They walked straight toward the third line, nearly five hundred meters ahead.
Each row had been spaced out by around five hundred meters, with another five hundred meters in between them. That space was crucial — it let those on the front lines fall back and recover away from the fighting.
Each of the four lines was split into two fronts based on the participants' power. In the case of the third, the front was made up of Summoners and Guardians with two rings, while the older ones with only one ring stayed behind, dealing with weaker enemies.
The rookies quickly crossed over, getting closer to the backline of the third row. That's when wicked smiles crept across Niara and Darian's faces.
Right away, they spotted five people fighting the Risen up ahead: the dragon-blooded couple, the elite rookie who'd gotten Niara's milk, and the two who helped move the Risen army.
All nine who were supposed to be defending the fourth line had ignored the Elders' orders and pushed ahead to the third, where the enemies were stronger and more numerous. There, they could rack up way more points.
One of them ended up dead, but the other eight were still standing. The thirty rookies clenched their fists in anger — if it weren't for Niara and Darian, they'd all be dead because of those reckless bastards.
"Well, well... looks like you're having fun, huh?" came a woman's voice, full of spite, from behind the fighters, snapping their attention around.
Niara spread her wings and shot into the air. Her killing intent warped the space around her, like the goddess of death herself had arrived.
"You five! We've got unfinished business. Come die!" she roared, her aura and bloodlust locked onto them.
The three rookies were stunned to see Niara. Agral and Saimph just laughed coldly.
Their partners had had a ring for over five years, and they had C-rank martial arts. Their power wasn't that far from someone with two rings — was this a joke?
"So this is what arrogance looks like? You really think you've got what it takes to fight me?" Saimph sneered.
"I'm going to kill. Anyone in my way dies," Niara shot back coldly, her eyes shifting to everyone else in the third line's backline.
They barely glanced at her, then turned back to the front indifferently. They didn't want to waste time — or points — on something they thought was pointless. They kept on killing the enemies pouring in from the front.
Did they see those five luring fifty Risen away earlier?
Most of them did. But every few minutes, almost two hundred more showed up. If the fourth line collapsed, the mindless Risen would realize the battle was ahead and rush back to the third line. So, in the end, it didn't matter — they decided to ignore it.
Niara landed just a few meters away from the five.
"Hahaha, alright then — let's see you try and kill us!" laughed Agral, standing beside his partner, who looked like a small electric falcon.
The dragon-blooded couple and the elite rookie snorted and took a few steps back. Five powerful enemies turned to face Niara, cold expressions on their faces.
Niara clenched her fists. Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and her green scales pulsed with a blinding light.
"Green Divine Dragon Armor!"
That was the name she gave this new power. The scales covering her body radiated strength, and her aura erupted like a volcano, making the air tremble and fierce winds howl.
This was the same transformation she used when she fought the Celestial Dragon's shadow. Darian had poured ring power into her spiritual root, and she'd absorbed it through her Bloodline.
Because of that, she awakened power close to that of a true Primordial Dragon. The universe resonated with her. A terrifying pressure burst from her body.
Immediately, the dragon-blooded couple felt their bodies give out.
They collapsed to the ground, completely paralyzed — their dragon Bloodline had been completely suppressed by Niara.
She smiled. Her fists lit up with red flames as she activated her martial art.
Suddenly, her wings flapped, shaking everything. A punch flew toward the strongest duo, making their eyes go wide.
Agral and Saimph were shocked. They thought the power gap was huge and that she was just trying to show off.
But this strike didn't hold back — no hesitation, no mercy. They hadn't felt anything like that from any Risen so far — and a rookie duo was pushing them this hard?
"Mountain-Shattering Rain!"
At the same time Niara struck, Ronan and the other rookies attacked too. They used a D-rank martial art focused on offense. All of them had picked the same one at the academy — by coincidence — and during earlier battles, they'd learned how to perform it together.
Droplets of water gathered into a huge ring in the sky.
The ring started spinning rapidly, like a giant circular blade ripping through everything in its path.
Saimph grunted. Her partner curled around her neck, activating their blessing. A yellow aura lit up around them both.
Their bodies and forms swelled. In a flash, they turned into a massive earth golem. It was a rare tank-class blessing, but super useful — the Summoner stayed inside the golem, really well protected.
The six-meter-tall golem threw a punch forward.
At the same time, Agral attacked too. He and his partner turned into a blazing, destructive bolt of lightning, rushing forward to clash with Niara's attack and the others'.
**BOOM!**
The attacks collided.
"What the hell?!"
Blades of wind burst out, but that wasn't what caused the shocked yell. The scream came from a young man who suddenly realized a Dragoness had appeared like lightning right next to him.
The one who yelled was that elite rookie — the same pervert Niara had given her milk to. He'd been standing there arrogantly, arms behind his back, eagerly waiting to watch those idiots get humiliated. He never imagined she'd rush past everyone without a single person noticing.
"Ice Shield—!" his partner activated her blessing in panic.
*BANG!*
Her ice shield had barely started to form when it shattered. A split second later, a punch slammed into the Spiritual Guardian.
He was immediately sent flying...
Then, a terrifying sound of glass shattering echoed through the air.
It was the sound of a Spiritual Guardian being destroyed. The more experienced fighters, far from the main battle, instantly recognized it and turned around in shock.
She had completely destroyed a Spiritual Guardian with a single strike. Then...
*Bang!*
Another punch hit the Summoner. His chest nearly burst, bones cracking, organs rupturing. But this second hit felt a lot weaker than the first.
When the winds finally died down, everyone could see a flash of blood-red light as the young man rolled across the ground.
At that moment, Darian activated the black intruder that had been planted inside this Summoner's body.
Niara turned around and shouted, "Tarn!"
"Mind Puppet!" Ronan's Spiritual Guardian was already ready to use its blessing.
That Summoner was a traitor, and that rookie test had given Darian the chance to plant the black power intruder into two different traitors. Now that Niara had severely wounded him, Darian shattered all his mental barriers without killing him.
Fate had brought someone with a mind-control blessing — and Darian was gonna make full use of it. After Tarn gave a nod, he healed the Summoner.
"Courting death!" Agral roared furiously. He and his partner shot toward Niara like lightning.
His Spiritual Guardian's blessing allowed them to turn into lightning, giving them insane speed, but not much raw offensive power — unlike Artesia's Crushing Lightning Spears.
That's why the Summoner used a level C martial art focused on lightning attacks. It was the perfect combo with his partner's blessing.
Those two had managed to block the rookies' attacks earlier, but just barely. Almost as soon as they'd stabilized, Niara had already moved on and gone after another target, ignoring them completely.
Niara grinned and flapped her wings.
Suddenly, she vanished from where she was, and the pair's attack missed completely.
In that transformed state, Niara felt like a fish back in water. She could move at terrifying speeds with just a thought. But of course, the energy cost was insane. Just from that one dodge, she burned through two-thirds of the power Darian had given her.
A second later, Niara appeared above Saimph and her partner, who were still in their earth golem form.
She struck, forcing the golem to turn in panic.
The two of them were horrified. That feeling of death completely filled their hearts.
They didn't even try to block. They were veterans of losing battles and had plenty of survival tricks. Instantly, a hole opened in the back of the golem, and both of them jumped out, retreating fast.
But...
"!"
Their eyes widened in shock — they'd landed straight into a flame prison that had been waiting for them.
Calil and Shecil barely had any ring power left. But after taking a bunch of pills along the way, they'd recovered about 1% of what they had.
They made a mediocre fire prison, easy to break. But it was enough to trap the two for just a second. After all, they already knew Saimph had a movement martial art — she'd made sure to show it off earlier when she lured the Risen to the fourth line.
Niara smiled as she appeared in front of them.
"No!" A miserable scream rang out. Unable to move, a punch slammed into the Summoner's chest.
Niara didn't hold back. Spiritual Guardians were way tougher and burned too much energy to kill directly. But you didn't need to kill them — just hit their weak point.
A raging power exploded, and the body of that Mannaz was brutally turned into a mist of blood.
At the same time… her Spiritual Guardian froze, and cracks started spreading across its body.
That sharp sound of shattering glass echoed again.
If the Summoner dies, the Spiritual Guardian is gone too. That's the brutal rule of this world.