’Me? A leader? ... Ridiculous.’

’There’s no way I could lead anyone.

I work better alone.

And besides...

I won’t stay with these people for long anyway.’

’I’ll survive this city...

find a way to break that stupid Heart curse...

then leave this clan behind and walk my own path.’

A path no one else could tread.

The path of a Player.

’But first...

I need to survive this Legacy Dungeon.’

With his priorities set,

Ethan pushed forward alongside Jackson and the others,

preparing to throw themselves into another battle.

The battle raging on the opposite side of the city

was far worse than the one Ethan’s group had endured.

That district had become a blazing hellscape.

The flames were so intense

that monstrous amounts of smoke rose into the sky,

forming a massive black cloud

that swallowed the entire area whole.

Within the sea of fire,

monsters burned and charred black—

yet despite that,

the battle continued relentlessly.

A new breed of monsters had appeared there.

Mutated humanoids of much larger size,

some with bloated stomachs, ulcerated flesh,

and horribly deformed faces.

Gigantic insects crawled across walls and rooftops,

spitting venom from above.

Other creatures were grotesque half-human hybrids,

walking on multiple limbs while their arms themselves

served as deadly weapons—

some shaped like blades and swords,

others like massive curved scythes.

There were simply too many of them.

Far too many.

At the very front,

the First Squad’s leader swung his colossal greatsword wildly without pause,

cleaving apart anything that dared approach him.

His Aura Armor overflowed with terrifying intensity,

far surpassing everyone else present.

As the only Elite-ranked hunter there,

he slaughtered incredible numbers of monsters.

But for every one he killed...

three more emerged in its place.

His squad members supported him,

alongside Moon Heart,

who fought at the front line beside him.

Her body burned with magnificent flames

that coated both her sword and Aura Armor alike.

Even though she was merely Advanced Rank—

a full tier below Gustav—

the flow of her Phoenix flames

made her appear completely equal to him.

In fact...

she was killing even more monsters than he was.

Many hunters had died during the battle.

But many others survived as well,

thanks to the combined efforts

of the First and Third Squads.

At the rear of the formation,

a terrifying mage continued casting spells relentlessly

despite hours already having passed since the battle began.

The surrounding priests and mages

stared at her in disbelief.

They had exhausted their mana reserves long ago.

But she hadn’t.

"Great Spirits of Fire...

lend me your strength,

and let your radiance shine forth,

scattering the filth of this cursed darkness."

Luna Heart chanted continuously,

summoning dancing fire spirits around her

that formed hundreds of flaming arrows.

The arrows rained upon distant hordes of monsters,

burning them alive where they stood.

Then came the spears.

Then the giant fireballs.

Then flaming swords...

and blazing meteors.

Luna unleashed every fire spell within her arsenal.

The moment she learned

the monsters were weak against flames...

she never hesitated again.

It wouldn’t have been an exaggeration to say

that she alone was responsible

for this entire blazing inferno.

For hours upon hours,

she continued chanting relentlessly.

Her lips began to bleed.

Dark circles formed beneath her eyes,

and her hand trembled around her staff.

Everything about her was exhausted—

everything except her mana reserves.

She continuously absorbed mana

from the air around her without pause.

Her reserves were practically endless.

But even that...

still wasn’t enough to secure victory.

Their current situation existed because

Gustav Heart had rejected Moon and Luna’s proposal. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Instead, he had insisted on continuing deeper

to conquer the Legacy Dungeon outright.

A foolish decision.

And now they were paying the price for it.

Only now were they beginning to understand

that their strength alone

was nowhere near enough

to conquer a dungeon like this.

But that realization had come too late.

At this point,

even surviving the encirclement surrounding them

was uncertain.

"Damn this city and everything in it!!"

Gustav roared angrily,

beheading three monsters in a single swing

while scanning the battlefield around him.

"If it weren’t for that mage...

we would’ve died a long time ago..."

Luna had saved them.

And they never would’ve survived the front lines either

without Moon,

who was capable of fighting

on the same level as Gustav himself.

Gustav was frustrated.

Those two girls—

the very ones he had ignored—

had ended up saving both him

and the First Squad he’d placed so much faith in.

He had believed in their strength.

Believed they could conquer the dungeon.

Only to have reality shatter that confidence completely.

"We need to find a way to survive...

no matter the cost!"

Fighting with even greater ferocity,

he carved his way through the monster hordes

without looking back even once.

He feared the moment

the mage who had kept them alive until now

finally ran out of power.

And every other hunter shared that same fear.

Then suddenly—

for the first time since the battle began,

Luna stopped casting.

Panic instantly spread among those near her.

"Did she finally run out of mana?!"

one of the nearby mages shouted in horror.

Luna immediately smacked him with her staff,

visibly irritated by his outburst.

"Don’t be stupid.

I could keep casting these spells

for an entire day if I had to."

She spoke with a frown,

wiping the blood from her lips.

"But at this rate, we’ll only lose slowly.

Spells of this level aren’t enough

to wipe all of them out."

Leaning against her staff,

Luna’s crimson eyes glowed intensely

as she desperately searched for a solution.

In truth...

she already had one in mind.

The problem was carrying it out.

"I have a spell...

a high-tier fire spell.

If I unleash it,

I’m confident I can annihilate huge numbers of them..."

The eyes of the nearby mages and priests lit up instantly upon hearing that.

But Luna only frowned harder,

irritated by their stupidity.

"What exactly are you idiots so happy about?!

I can’t cast a spell like that easily!"

"It requires a long preparation time.

Time we don’t have.

If I stop fighting to prepare it,

we’ll be completely surrounded before I can finish!"

Pressing a hand against her forehead,

Luna felt a sharp headache throb through her skull,

made worse by the massive amounts of smoke

created by her own flames.

At this rate,

even if she continued casting fire spells endlessly...

they would eventually suffocate

from the smoke alone.

"If only... someone could buy me time!"

Someone who could replace her.

Someone who could cover for her absence.

This was Luna’s very first mission as a hunter.

And by sheer misfortune,

its difficulty was completely absurd for a beginner assignment.

Even though she had performed remarkably well...

defeat was slowly appearing on the horizon.

"There’s no way I’m dying in a place like this."

Gripping her staff with all her strength,

Luna began chanting the incantation for her spell—

only to abruptly stop

when her eyes caught sight of a massive wave of chaos

erupting where Gustav and her sister were fighting.

The monsters were being hurled everywhere.

Thrown left and right

as though some monstrous force

was tossing them aside effortlessly.

The unbelievable sight made her freeze instinctively.

"What... is happening?"

She spoke aloud in shock.

Then she saw him.

A gigantic man charged forward like a living tank,

crushing monsters left and right beneath overwhelming force alone.

Behind him ran a familiar young man,

wielding a massive sword

that floated through the air ahead of him.

That was the moment

Ethan, Jackson, and the others arrived—

breaking straight through the monster hordes

from behind.