Zachary took a small step back, his eyes scanning the chaos unfolding around him.
Cole was already engaged with one of the dire wolves, his movements sharp and aggressive. The others were trying to keep up, each barely holding their ground against the relentless pressure.
For a brief moment, Zachary found an opening. And he used it.
"Stone Wall," he cast quietly.
The ground beneath them trembled slightly before a chunk of stone pushed its way upward. It rose unevenly, rough and jagged—but small.
Too small. It barely reached knee height, looking more like a misplaced rock than an actual wall.
At best, it could trip something careless.
Blake caught sight of it from the corner of his eye as he aimed his bow.
For a split second, his face went completely blank.
Then irritation flooded in.
Goddamnit… what kind of weak spell is that? he thought, his grip tightening slightly. 'Even a level 1 should be able to cast something better than that.'
To him, it was useless.
A waste of mana.
A reminder of exactly why they hadn't wanted Zachary here in the first place.
But Zachary didn't react.
He didn't defend himself.
He didn't even look at Blake.
Instead, his eyes remained locked onto the battlefield, calm and calculating. Because that "tiny wall"… wasn't meant to impress anyone.
It was placed deliberately.
Right in the path of one armored dire wolf charging forward
As the wolf charged straight toward him, its metal claws tearing against the stone floor, Zachary didn't move.
His eyes stayed locked forward, calculating, waiting. Then—suddenly—a faint glow appeared behind him.
At first, it was small, almost unnoticeable. But within a heartbeat, it expanded, growing brighter and more intense.
Zachary's eyes flickered slightly.
The light swelled—
And then—
BOOM!
A deafening explosion erupted in front of him, swallowing the corridor in fire and force. The blast tore through the charging wolf, sending debris and dust violently into the air.
The shockwave slammed into Zachary and the others, throwing them off balance as they skidded backward across the stone floor.
The walls trembled, cracks spreading from the impact point like veins.
"—!" Zachary gasped, bracing himself as the force passed.
Dust filled the air, thick and suffocating, blocking all vision.
Then slowly… it began to settle.
As the haze cleared, Zachary's eyes widened, his breath catching in his throat. His mouth hung open, unable to form words at first. In front of him—where the wolf had been—was now a massive crater carved into the stone hallway.
The ground had been completely obliterated, the impact far beyond anything they had seen so far.
"T-T-T-That…" he stuttered, his voice trembling.
His mind raced, trying to process what he had just witnessed.
"That s-skill… can only be done b-by a… a L-level…" he struggled to say, his thoughts barely forming into words. His body felt stiff, frozen between disbelief and realization.
"20 M-mage…!?" he muttered under his breath.
Slowly… almost unwillingly… Zachary turned his head toward where the light had come from.
A figure stood there.
At first, it was nothing more than a silhouette within the fading dust—tall, still, and unmoving. The air around it felt heavy, suffocating, as if the mana itself bent to its presence.
Then, step by step, it began to walk forward.
Each movement was slow.
Deliberate.
Unnatural.