Amid the raging horde of monsters driven mad by the curse, Moon Heart ran at the absolute limit of her speed with Ethan slung over her shoulder.

The moment she carried him, she too became a target of every creature around them, finally understanding what it meant to be crushed beneath that overwhelming killing intent.

Breaking through the horde earlier had been far easier while the monsters had their backs turned toward her.

Escaping from them, however, proved far more difficult.

"I honestly don’t understand how you survived all that... but you did well staying alive."

She spoke in an exhausted voice, trying to talk to Ethan every now and then just to make sure he remained conscious, afraid he might die in her arms after losing so much blood that her armor itself had been stained crimson.

"I would’ve done... much better... if their voices... weren’t flooding my mind..."

Ethan replied with difficulty, barely able to speak at all, his eyes unfocused and clouded as though he could hardly see anymore.

Moon understood perfectly that he needed treatment immediately.

But the situation still did not allow it, so she urged him to endure just a little longer.

"We’re almost there... it’ll all be over soon..."

Moon sprinted through the main street, occasionally changing direction under guidance from Chai Heart, who remained close while following from the rooftops above.

Using Telepathy, he guided her toward the fastest and safest route while supporting her with arrows every time a monster got too close.

By now, Chai could no longer fire his specialized mana arrows.

He had switched to ordinary arrows taken from the other hunters instead.

Though they lacked the destructive power of his mana arrows, Chai’s terrifying precision compensated for the difference entirely.

’Keep running straight ahead! You’re almost there!’

Chai transmitted his final instructions, informing her that they had nearly reached their destination.

Behind them, the maddened monsters stormed through the narrow street, their eyes seeing nothing except Ethan and Ethan alone.

Jackson Heart was still close behind as well, slaughtering any creature foolish enough to approach them.

His serpent-like eyes swept across the surroundings repeatedly, trying to understand what exactly the new generation of hunters was attempting to do.

"We’ve returned to where everything first began..."

Jackson muttered with a frown after realizing that the path Moon was taking would ultimately end in the same dead end where the Hearts had once been trapped earlier.

At this rate, Ethan’s efforts would be wasted completely.

After enduring hell to lure the monsters away, Moon was now leading them back to the exact same place again.

Though most of the hunters had already moved away from the area, Jackson still spotted one lone young hunter remaining behind in the distance.

Her hair was black as coal.

And from the long glowing staff she carried, Jackson instantly recognized her as a mage.

Yet the mana flowing around her revealed that she was merely at the Advanced Rank.

"They’re seriously planning to win by relying on that mage?"

Jackson voiced his disbelief toward the Hearts’ plan.

There were hundreds of monsters chasing them.

If that mage failed to deal with them, Moon, Ethan, and the others would end up completely surrounded.

In other words, it would not be an exaggeration to say their fate now rested entirely in her hands.

Jackson did not believe even for a single percent that she could truly accomplish anything significant.

But those doubts vanished in less than a second the moment Luna Heart prepared to release her spell.

Without warning, the pressure in the air around the young mage changed completely as the amount of mana surrounding her exploded to an absurd degree.

The aura around Luna turned into a dark crimson blaze, igniting violently around her and engulfing her body within a pillar of mana.

"Impossible... that’s a High-Tier spell..."

Jackson’s eyes widened as he recognized the type of spell before him.

Normally, only mages at Saint Rank or above possessed enough mana reserves to cast High-Tier magic.

Yet today, for the very first time in his life, he witnessed an anomaly—

An Advanced-Rank mage unleashing High-Tier magic without issue.

Luna stood perfectly still, patiently waiting for her sister to arrive.

And the closer Moon drew toward her, the more the mana pressure around Luna intensified.

It rose higher and higher—

Until Moon finally reached her and moved outside the attack’s range.

At that exact moment, Luna released the High-Tier spell through her glowing staff.

"Crimson Flame King’s Wheel."

In truth, Luna had already finished the chanting and preparation long ago.

All that remained was releasing the spell itself.

The crimson mana transformed into raging inferno.

That inferno took the shape of a gigantic wheel, expanding until it surpassed the surrounding buildings in size, its width covering the entirety of the main street.

The blazing wheel ignited—

Then began spinning violently as it surged toward the monster horde, crushing and incinerating them one after another.

The flames annihilated everything in their path.

Buildings exploded apart on both sides while the paved streets of Old Ashvarn blackened beneath the overwhelming heat.

Every monster touched by the wheel burned to ash instantly.

And in mere moments, horrifying numbers of them were erased from existence.

The Wheel of Flames never stopped. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

It continued spinning forward relentlessly, destroying more and more creatures until it finally reached the stunned Jackson himself.

The giant man hurled himself away toward a nearby rooftop, continuing to watch from afar.

That gigantic wheel of fire altered the temperature of the entire city in less than a minute—

As though a scorching sun had finally risen over a city buried underground for countless years.

Soon, the flames devoured the last of the monsters before exploding violently at the very end, scattering fire across every direction and leaving behind a trail of charcoal, molten stone, and flowing magma—

As if a volcano had erupted through the heart of Ashvarn itself.

This was High-Tier fire magic.

A single spell had annihilated the vast majority of the monsters in the blink of an eye.

The moment the attack ended, Luna collapsed instantly after unleashing her devastating spell, barely managing to remain standing by leaning against her staff while gasping desperately for air.

But her Wheel of Flames left behind nothing but suffocating smoke, to the point where Luna could barely breathe properly anymore.