Axel and the girls planned what to do after arriving beforehand.

Though, of course, the plan could only be simple, as they didn't have time. Making it complicated without properly discussing things would lead to failure, after all.

"Alright, as planned!" Axel shouted. "We'll hit them with a big one!"

"Yes!"

Everyone was already out of the Humvee, and the vehicle was stored in Axel's inventory now. They were in formation, circling Axel to keep him safe.

"Then, let's do this!"

Princess Ethernina, who stood in front of Axel, raised her voice. At her command, the other witches began to chant in unison, casting another big spell. Although this time, it wasn't a ritual curse, but rather a high-level one.

As their mana and life energy raged on, monsters began to notice the witches.

Of course, those monsters wouldn't simply watch them either.

"GRAAAAH!"

A mix of low-, medium-, and high-level monsters rushed toward them, causing the ground to shake. If it were earlier, this would've been enough to send the girls into panic mode… but not anymore.

"Release!"

The girls finished their casting, locking their aim forward.

"Curse of the Absolute Ice Domain!"

And along with their voices, a cold wind swept through the entire field.

Everything starting from a few meters before them began to frost over, freezing as sharp, pointed icicles formed rapidly. This phenomenon didn't stop, continuing forward until it hit the rushing monsters.

Not only the small and medium ones, but even the big ones couldn't survive the rushing cold. All of them froze, becoming large blocks of ice in moments before cracking and turning into light particles.

Not even a corpse remained.

"..."

Axel, watching this, felt a chill down his spine.

Not because the temperature suddenly dropped by a few degrees, but because of how terrifying the curse was.

"A curse that freezes anything within its range, lifeless or not, huh?" he summarized.

Unlike the Death Curse, which only had a small AoE, this one spanned the entire fortress and more.

"Confirm that no monsters survived!" Nina commanded immediately.

Using various techniques, they all tried to sense the presence of demons around. But to their shock, no survivors remained… or so they thought.

[Contractor, warning! There's a stealth demon that bypassed the attack!]

It was Navi's voice, panicked and rushed.

Although it was the first time Axel heard the little bugger sound so frantic, he didn't dare delay. "Everyone! A stealth monster remained! Keep your guards up!" he warned.

"What?! Where…?!"

However, none of the girls were able to detect it. Even Axel, who issued the warning, couldn't see it either.

"Navi…!"

[On it!]

With just a simple call, Navi understood what Axel wanted.

The next moment, a new quest appeared—short but concise.

[

Quest: Eliminate the Assassin!

Requirements:

- Kill the Invisible Enemy 1x

Rewards:

- 100 Colts

]

The reward wasn't appealing at all, more like an afterthought. However, that wasn't the purpose of asking for the quest.

"...!"

Axel's vision quickly changed. Apart from the girls, the frozen space, and the small windows beside their figures, Axel saw a giant yellow outline moving slowly toward them.

"Right there…!"

After discovering the enemy, he quickly drew his sword and rushed forward.

He was fully equipped with accessories and armor, so his stats were more or less doubled.

This time, he focused not on speed, but on strength and vitality—two important points if he were to act as the tank in this party. With that, he confidently swung his sword, striking the golden outline approaching him.

"GARURRURU!"

Red blood flew as the strike connected, injuring the invisible enemy.

From the sound it released, it was canine. A giant dog, or maybe a wolf. Axel couldn't tell, but the outline matched the idea… despite being four meters tall and six meters long, tail excluded.

"Damn…! Too shallow!"

He cursed, realizing his initial attack failed to finish it off.

The only reason it connected was because the enemy lowered its guard.

A moment later, due to the injury, the monster began to disable its stealth. Its giant figure revealed itself, causing a series of gasps.

"N-No way…"

"F-Fen… rir…"

Almost immediately, fear swallowed their hearts whole.

They lost the ability to think, staring ahead with despair on their faces. Axel couldn't avert his gaze either, feeling the same shock.

A giant wolf with gray fur, shining with faint particles of light like a mythical being. Although bound by glowing golden chains that dug into its skin, its ferocity was barely diminished.

Its presence alone made the hair on Axel's arms stand on end. Combined with the glowing red eyes glaring at him, it felt like a physical force was gripping his heart.

[Contractor! I strongly suggest you run away!]

To his surprise, Navi was panicking even more than before, flailing its flippers in front of his face as if begging him not to stare any longer.

[With your current strength, you can't beat a monster with an average of SSS-rank stats!]

"SSS-rank?!" He grumbled. "Even if you say that, I can't even make a comparison…"

The passive appraisal didn't work on the Fenrir, so he couldn't check. And the highest stat he'd ever seen was 180, A-rank. He could only imagine how high SSS-rank was—until Navi spoke again.

[SSS-rank ranges from 2,500 to 10,000 stat points! There's no way you can fight this!]

"Ten th—?!"

Axel finally realized how truly screwed he was.

The idea of fleeing surged in his mind.

However—

"GAH!"

He didn't have time to escape.

The Fenrir moved so fast it didn't even register in Axel's vision before he was slammed into the ground. All he saw was a black blur smashing into his face.

'Fuck…!' he cursed. 'If not for my extra vitality, I could've died from that hit…!'

His Health dropped from 810 (with equipment bonuses) to 66 in a single blow. One more hit, and he'd be dead.

"Kugh…!"

Suppressing the pain, he grabbed a potion from his inventory and swallowed it in one gulp. His injuries healed, broken bones reconnected, and his Health surged past its original value.

Yet the dread in his heart didn't fade.

The enemy was too fast—they could barely even see it.

'At this rate… We'll all die before we can escape…!'

The thought dominated Axel's mind.

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