Aria then sheathed her sword before walking toward Oliver. Her gaze shifted upward toward Nyx, who was still hovering in the air.

"Has your monster become larger? As far as I remember, it wasn’t this big before." Aria said to Oliver. She still vividly remembered when Oliver had nearly obliterated her brother five years ago using the same blast he had just unleashed moments ago. Only this time, it was far larger and much more destructive.

"Larger? Hmm... I don’t think so. It should be the same as before, I think." Oliver answered casually.

Of course, he already knew the truth. All of his monsters had gradually grown closer to their original boss forms over time. But he did not want Aria asking too many questions about it. He then recalled Nyx back into his system.

"Is that so? Hmmm." Aria narrowed her eyes slightly before shaking her head.

"Anyway, we need to head back to the other two warehouses. If members of the Five Scorpions are there, those four are in danger. You go to Barid and Edgar, while I’ll head to the others."

Oliver nodded and was about to move when Aria suddenly stopped him.

"Let’s ride on my Frostrix."

---

Inside one of the warehouses located on the western outskirts of Hazelbrow City, Waine and Ingram were currently inspecting the cages. Just like the warehouse Oliver and Aria had checked earlier, all of the cages here were also empty.

Suddenly, a massive explosion echoed from the distance, slightly shaking the entire warehouse. Ingram immediately looked outside through the window.

"What was that explosion? We could even feel the impact from here. It seemed to come from that village boy’s area." Ingram said.

"Tch! Let’s go and check on them. This place is empty anyway. I hope that village boy died in that explosion." Waine clicked his tongue before smirking slightly.

The two of them were just about to leave when they suddenly heard a whistling sound coming from behind.

They immediately turned around and saw a man casually sitting on top of one of the cages while repeatedly tossing a stone into the air and catching it.

"I thought I would catch a big cockroach, but instead I only found small ones. This really ruins my mood." Verner said before jumping down from the cage. He slowly walked toward them.

"Waine, this guy must be one of the Five Scorpions. We need to get out of here." Ingram was starting to panic, and even the sword in his hand trembled slightly.

"No. If that village boy can defeat one of them, then why can’t I? I’ll fight him." Waine said as he stepped forward confidently.

"Are you out of your mind?! Lady Aria already told us not to engage them."

"If you’re scared, then you can leave. I want to show her that I’m strong too and worthy enough to stand beside her."

Waine immediately summoned his monster and underwent a Partial Form transformation. Both of his arms transformed into sharp mantis-like blades.

Without hesitation, he charged straight toward Verner. His monster, Razormaw, quickly followed behind him.

"Good! I was getting bored waiting here for so long. I hope you can entertain me a little." Verner grinned before raising his crescent blade and rushing toward Waine as well.

Meanwhile, Ingram was hesitating. His eyes repeatedly shifted between Waine and the exit door.

"Arrgh! Fine! I’ll help you!" Ingram finally shouted before joining the battle.

Ping! Ping!

Waine continuously deflected Verner’s attacks, but the curved shape of the crescent blade made the strikes difficult to predict and block properly.

Waine tried to overwhelm Verner with speed, yet Verner was somehow fast enough to read nearly all of his movements.

Suddenly, Waine smirked after noticing Verner’s attention fully focused on him. Verner had completely forgotten about Razormaw.

Razormaw lunged forward and was just about to slash Verner with its mantis blades when, suddenly its body suddenly froze midair.

Waine’s eyes widened in shock.

A massive tail had pierced directly through Razormaw’s body. From the darkness behind Verner, a gigantic black scorpion nearly three meters in size slowly crawled out.

Razormaw was impaled on the creature’s tail while poison rapidly spread through its body. Its green coloration slowly turned pale as the venom took effect.

"Razormaw!" Waine shouted desperately. Immediately, his Partial Form transformation began collapsing.

’When did he summon his monster? Or was that monster already out before the fight even started?’ Waine began sweating nervously.

Razormaw’s body slowly stopped moving before the giant scorpion casually threw it aside. Moments later, the monster vanished as it was recalled back by Waine.

Waine slowly stepped backward when suddenly Ingram shouted,

"Attack the monster, Thorntailis!"

Hundreds of needles shot rapidly toward the giant scorpion. However, none of the attacks caused any visible injury.

"Hahaha! Your weak monsters can never hurt my evolved monster, Nightstinger!" Verner grinned proudly.

<Nightstinger>

"Evolved monster?!" Waine and Ingram exclaimed in shock.

An evolved monster was a far stronger version of a normal monster, possessing a rank much higher than its previous form.

Which meant the monster standing before them now was at least Rank-S.

Far beyond anything they could handle.

At that moment, Waine truly regretted not escaping earlier. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

---

Barid slowly opened his eyes. He could not remember what had happened.He tried to move his hand, only to realize he could not move it at all.

He looked down and saw that his arms were stuck within thick spider webs. Only then did he notice that he was suspended high above the warehouse ceiling.

"What?! Where am I? What’s happening?" Barid panicked as he looked around frantically. Then his eyes landed on a human-shaped cocoon completely wrapped in webs nearby.

"Edgar! Edgar!" he shouted desperately. But there was no response. Suddenly, the webs above him trembled. Barid slowly looked upward.

A giant tarantula was crawling toward him. On the front of the spider’s body was the face of a bald human.

"Good evening, gentlemen. Sorry for making things so frightening like this. But could you stay still for me? It makes it easier for me to slowly sip away your body nutrients." Gideon said calmly. He was currently undergoing a Full Form transformation with his monster.

"Aaaahhh!" Barid screamed.

Gideon’s mouth was only inches away from Barid.

Boom!!

Suddenly the warehouse roof was smashed apart as a figure crashed down in front of them. Dust and debris scattered everywhere.

Gideon slowly looked forward and saw the silhouette of a man covered in a crimson aura.

Behind him stood a giant wolf with glowing red eyes shining sharply within the darkness.

"Looks like I made it in time," Oliver smirked.