Hunter Academy: Revenge of the Weakest-Chapter 1039 - 246.3 - Sister

Their team gathered in silence near Gate D, the briefing already concluded. Today’s dungeon would be a rotational zone—a shifting, circular battlefield with sectors that would move mid-engagement. A puzzle wrapped in chaos.

And no one looked surprised.

"Moving zones," Jasmine muttered, flipping her blade idly between her fingers. "Of course they save the most annoying one for last."

Layla adjusted her shield strap. "At least it’s not another claustrophobic hellhole."

Irina exhaled through her nose, eyes already glowing faintly. "Movement-based terrain. That’s manageable."

Astron didn’t speak. He stood just ahead, still as stone, his gaze focused on the shimmering light of the gate as it pulsed—ready to open.

The gate opened with a deep, resonant hum, casting a veil of silver light that shimmered like water stirred by breath. The air on the other side pulsed—distorted, tense, already heavy with layered mana signatures.

Team Fourteen stepped through as one.

And the moment they crossed the threshold, the world shifted.

The dungeon was unlike the others. A vast, concentric battlefield of floating platforms suspended in a void-like abyss, each sector rotating slowly—like gears in an unseen mechanism. Stone rings drifted through space, tethered by mana ley-lines. Some platforms were wide and flat, others jagged and narrow, constantly rearranging with low rumbles and grating turns. Sectors moved, realigned, separated.

It was as if the dungeon itself refused to stay still.

And within it—monsters.

Lots of them.

Winged aberrants, multi-limbed crawlers, scaled centipede-forms with glistening eyes—each one bursting with mana, their levels fluctuating between Stage-5 and Stage-6.

The first wave surged across two merging sectors.

"Formation C!" Astron’s voice rang out the moment his boots struck the nearest platform.

Layla braced the forward point, her shield glowing with reinforced glyphs. Jasmine took the left flank, her wind-coated blade already gleaming. Irina stood central—a pillar of heat, her presence radiating out in waves. Sylvie, behind them, hands already moving as golden light threaded into the air.

The first clash.

Stage-5 monsters came fast—erratic, wild. One lizard-like beast with serrated horns lunged toward Layla, its clawed feet scraping sparks.

CLANG—CRACK!

She caught it on the shield, absorbed the force, and threw it off the platform with a brutal shoulder-check.

Jasmine blinked behind a rock-skinned crawler—then blurred with Flicker Fang, emerging from the other side as her blade carved a clean line down its spine. SLASH!

Sylvie followed up, casting Pressure Bind on a leaping twin-fanged beast, freezing it mid-air long enough for Irina to let loose.

FWOOOOOSH!

Crimson Arc, condensed and curved, bisected the creature in a single sweep.

The first wave was cleared in minutes.

The second?

Harder.

A group of Stage-6 apex types surged from a rising platform—towering beasts cloaked in thick mana hides. Their limbs sparked with elemental signatures, their movement coordinated, almost intelligent.

Astron flicked his wrist once. "These are different. Stagger them—prioritize disruption."

Irina stepped forward, her fire surging higher now. She didn’t hesitate—never did. Her stats were well above the average. The mana around her flared bright red, flooding the platform in heat as she raised both arms.

Ignition Field.

The area burned—Stage-5 monsters caught in the perimeter instantly collapsed.

But the Stage-6s pressed through. Even with their mana skins searing, they charged.

Jasmine ducked beneath a claw swipe, her blade glancing off the monster’s side—not slicing, glancing. "Tch—they’re thick!"

Layla slammed into another, her shield skidding back three meters under the force. "I can hold—barely!"

Sylvie’s threads swirled faster—enhancing Jasmine’s strength, reducing rebound delay for Layla’s stance. She was everywhere—managing outputs, casting Recovery Thread, then swapping to Mana Coil Boost without missing a beat.

Astron leapt between platforms—clearing a gap just as a beast dove for Sylvie. His dagger curved upward—SHHK!—striking beneath the jaw. Not a kill, but a stall.

"Irina!" he barked. "Its core—left side, between plates."

Irina’s eyes locked on.

She raised a hand—compressed flame swirled in a spiral.

"Solar Rend—Pierce Form."

The beam tore forward like a lance of dawnlight—KRAAAAK!—and this time, the monster screamed. Its chest imploded inward as the spell found its mark. It collapsed in a burst of smoke and cinders.

One down.

Three more.

They were holding—but the pressure mounted.

The dungeon trembled.

The gears beneath the platforms groaned louder, the pace of rotation quickening. More platforms converged and split again, snapping into new configurations mid-combat.

And the monsters—they didn’t stop.

The third wave hit like a flood.

More Stage-6s. Some bordering on elite-class mutations—winged serpents with elemental cores, four-armed fiends wielding jagged mana-wrought weapons, and beasts layered in stone armor, resistant to both piercing and flame.

They came faster. Smarter. Their coordination was unnatural.

"Too dense!" Jasmine barked, slashing as she fell into a crouch. Her arm trembled from deflecting a heavy strike. "We can’t clear them fast enough!"

"I can’t hold this many sectors at once!" Layla grit her teeth, her shield lighting up with defensive runes, struggling to keep three monsters from encircling her.

Sylvie’s enhancements spun across the field—barely keeping up. Her mana wasn’t low, but the cast tempo was at its ceiling.

Then—

Astron’s voice cut through like ice.

"Change formation—delta cross-split, range axis focused. I’m taking center."

The team didn’t hesitate.

Layla rotated to the outer left flank to kite and delay.

Irina shifted to rear-right, her mana condensing into long-range ignition patterns.

Sylvie moved to the rear center, her hands glowing brighter—preparing heavy support spells.

And Astron—

For the first time since the exam phase began—

He unslung the bow from his back.

Mid-black, lined with silver veins of dormant enchantment, the limbs of the weapon snapped outward with a pulse of mana. A soft hum resonated from the string as his fingers notched an arrow—sleek, dark, gleaming with compressed runic tips.

A deep breath.

His stance lowered.

And he moved.

Not with flash. Not with fire.

With accuracy.

The first arrow left the string like a whisper.

THWIP—CRACK!

The projectile struck a mutated beast mid-lunge, not killing it—but bursting into a spread of frost that froze its hind leg and tail, locking it in place.

Another arrow.

THWIP—THK!

A second monster turned its head, only to get hit in the neck with a slowing rune—its movement dropped by half. Its next attack missed completely.

He fired again.

Again.

Each shot precise—not to kill, but to disable.

He struck joints, energy nodes, peripheral nerves.

And the field changed.

"Two downed—clean them," Astron called, voice level.

Irina stepped forward.

Her hand snapped outward, and a stream of tightly condensed flame snaked through the platform like a guided whip.

CRRRAAAACK!

It struck the frozen monster dead center and exploded—sending shards of crystalized frost and fire in every direction.

Sylvie’s eyes narrowed, the glow around her intensifying. "I’m ready!" freēwēbnovel.com

She extended her right hand—and this time, the glyphs around her fingers were different.

A circle of light expanded outward beneath her—engraved with a layered lattice of interlocking runes that looked almost... archaic.

It was one of the spells the Headmaster had shown her a month ago—during her secret enhancement sessions. A style he claimed was used in the early Golden Court, long before modern glyphcasting was standardized.

In a sense, glyphcasting was the previous name of the [Magic Blocks] that the current mages were using.

And Sylvie.

She’d restructured it. Personalized it.

Made it hers.

"Resonance Breaker: Convergence Mode."

The glyph flashed three times—and then released.

A wave of golden light rippled across the platform, then converged like a magnetic collapse on all disabled monsters caught in Astron’s range effects.

THUMP—CRACK—ZINGGG!

The moment the light hit them, their armor shattered. Their limbs bent the wrong way. Their inner mana circuits shorted and collapsed.

They didn’t explode.

They crumpled.

All at once.

A silent cull.

Irina let out a low whistle, grinning faintly. "That’s new."

Astron didn’t smile. Just drew another arrow.

"Twelve more incoming."

It was classic Astron.

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