Felix halted mid-air.

Ezekiel's head snapped in the direction of the roar.

He spread his senses across the area, but he was unable to detect any magical beast.

Ezekiel frowned. He couldn't recall any magical beast capable of such a terrifying roar, one that could travel across such vast distances.

Although he heard rumours that deep within Zone 2, there were mid-stage Rank Two magical beasts, and those with special bloodlines rivalling the strength of a late-stage Rank Two Awakeners.

However, those were in the past when the quest list wasn't halved to fifty, and the other half of the dungeon was still opened.

Still, some boundaries in the dungeon restricted these magical beasts from crossing over.

Instantly, Ezekiel remembered the warnings issued by other students in the VR forum about the sudden appearance of powerful beasts in some regions of the dungeon, which had already led to the deaths of a few students.

Even the Dungeon Service Nurses, who were sent to manage the crisis, had been injured. Still, the academy hadn't officially issued any warning, so Ezekiel assumed that they were still investigating the matter and it was being handled as a top priority.

"It doesn't seem that far away."

Ezekiel looked at Felix and asked, "Can you detect how powerful the magical beast is from its roar?"

He didn't want to run into a magical beast stronger than he could handle.

"No. I can't. But I can sense from the vibration that it's almost on par with the same strength as mine. It might be stronger," Felix responded solemnly.

"Okay," Ezekiel nodded. "Let's go have a look then."

Even if it was as strong as Felix's, with his capabilities, they should be able to escape without alerting the magical beast.

"Understood, Master." Felix's thrusters roared against the wind as he turned and soared in the direction the roar had emerged from.

***

Dungeon, Zone Two

Looking at the vast, scorched earth before her, Esther was shocked.

Upon learning that it had been done by the Worst One, she didn't know what to think of it.

She would've questioned it if it hadn't been confirmed by several other top-rankers.

Still, she couldn't help but ask, "This place looks like it has received an attack from one of those monsters in the Magus Department. Are you certain none of them had snuck in here to steal our merit points?" She looked at the young man standing beside her.

If others were present, they would've been surprised at the sight of the two of them together, because she was Esther Palgram, Top Ranker of the Class One Magical Swordsman Department, the strongest First-Year Magical Swordsman.

And the young man was Draven Dalgrim, the Second Ranker of the Class One Magical Swordsman Department.

"We've confirmed that it wasn't. Although the Academy's security has been weakened greatly during this term, it wouldn't be possible for any of them to enter into the Magical Swordsman Department without alerting the Instructors, the Disciplinary Committee, or the Student Council," Draven replied, shaking his head in response.

"But we still aren't a hundred per cent sure that it isn't them. After all, who could fathom the ways of those monsters?"

Esther nodded.

She even suspected that perhaps Ezekiel might also have awakened a Path of the Magus Class, but she didn't dare utter such words due to the implications of doing so.

Because what would that mean?

It meant that Ezekiel Zahara had awakened two Paths.

His future as an awakener would be cut off because he was unable to handle the power of both Paths.

And also, he would be expelled from the Academy because there was no way the Academy would nurture an awakener whose future Path had been cut off.

Considering his relationship with the Zahara Clan, they wouldn't hesitate to cut him off from the clan.

In short, he would be no different from a dead man.

"Have you guys tried talking to him?" Esther asked solemnly.

She wanted to get to the root of the matter quickly.

"...No. I haven't. I don't know about the others, but if I were to guess, it would be that they haven't either," Draven responded.

For them to approach Ezekiel Zahara to confirm their suspicions just after he had begun revealing his strength meant that they would have to put down their pride to do so, which was something that none of them could do.

This was partly due to their role in propagating his infamous nickname, 'The Worst One', which had now become a second name for him, tarnishing his reputation and causing others to look at him with disgust.

"You guys are hopeless," Esther sighed tiredly. "Fine. I'll do it by myself."

She didn't have any relationship with him because there had never been a time when he was on a level to meet her face-to-face.

As for whether any of her clansmen had done something to anger him, straining their potential relationship, that was their burden to bear, not hers.

Suddenly, a resounding primal roar emerged from a distance, causing their bodies to tense up.

Esther unconsciously gripped her sword hilt.

Draven did the same.

They focused on the direction from which the roar had erupted.

"Do you want to check it out?" Draven turned to Esther and asked.

Esther nodded. "Let's go."

They leapt into the surrounding tree branches quickly, heading in the direction of the fearsome roar.

Within several minutes, they arrived at a cluster of massive boulders filled with caves of various sizes.

Beside one of the higher caves, they saw a massive, quadrupedal, golden-winged beast.

Esther and Draven froze at the sight of the golden-winged beast, sensing its aura from a distance.

Rank Two Lesser Beast!

They unconsciously tightened their grip on their sword hilts.

They had heard about the deaths of their classmates within the dungeon due to the arrival of powerful beasts far exceeding the requirement limit of certain regions, and how several Dungeon Service Nurses had been severely injured after subjugating them.

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