The journey from Zone A to Zone S was not a change of scenery.

It was a change in reality.

They stepped through a curtain of energy at the edge of the volcanic plains.

And came out into a world of impossible scale.

They stood on a floating island. One of thousands drifting slowly in a sky the color of starless twilight.

Below them was not ground. But a bottomless swirling abyss of purple and black clouds.

The Graveyard of Gods.

Giant skeletons of creatures beyond imagination. Ribcages the size of cathedrals formed natural arches. The skull of some long-dead titan, eye sockets large enough to fly through, served as a grim mountain on a distant island.

This was the final zone. The home of the Bone Dragon.

And they were trespassers in its kingdom of the dead.

The air was thin. Carrying a strange electric charge. A constant hum of sleeping ancient power.

The monsters here weren't just territorial animals. They were apex predators. The new rulers of a fallen world.

And they were all S-rank.

They spent the first day navigating the floating islands. Leaping across gaps with Masha's ice bridges.

The silence was unnerving. A constant, looming threat.

On the second day, the silence broke.

Hiiissssss...

A low and a rough hiss. Quickly growing into a chorus of sharp hunting shrieks echoing off the giant bones.

From behind a massive fossilized spine, they came.

Void Drakes. A pack of seven. Lesser S-rank dragons.

Not slow, fire-breathing giants. These were terrifying creatures built for speed and slaughter.

Twenty feet long. Covered in scales of shifting shimmering black that drank the dim light. Bodies serpentine. Movements unnaturally fluid.

Their heads were narrow and cruel. Jaws opening wide to reveal rows of needle-like black teeth.

But their most terrifying feature was their wings.

Not leather or feather. Pure, shimmering emptiness. Leaving trails of black mist as they beat the air.

"Seven of them," Eric rumbled. Planting his feet. His greaves glowing as he anchored to the stone.

"All S-rank."

"Their speed is their main weapon," Edgar's analysis confirmed in Dante's mind. "They attack in coordinated packs. Flanking to surround and overwhelm."

"Their claws carry flesh-rotting venom. They can breathe short, concentrated blasts of pure force."

"A battle of speed and control," Dante said. His mind already dissecting the threat. He drew Soul-Drinker.

"We trap and destroy them. Don't let them scatter. Don't let them flank. We create a kill zone."

He pointed his sword at the largest Drake. A scarred beast with a broken horn. The alpha.

"That one is the head. We kill it, the pack weakens."

His team moved with practiced efficiency. No longer desperate students. Now a veteran monster-hunting unit.

"Masha!" Dante commanded. "The arena!"

Masha stepped forward.

The S-rank core she'd absorbed pulsed with deep orange light under her tunic. Its fiery energy now tied perfectly to her ice magic.

She slammed her grimoire onto the ground.

CRACKLE!

A massive, circular wall of solid ice erupted from the stone. Fifty feet high. Twenty feet thick. Enclosing their island and the entire Drake pack in a frozen arena.

The sky above was open. But their flanking paths were cut off.

The Drakes, enraged by the sudden trap, let out a collective shriek and charged.

"Eric, brace!"

Eric became a mountain.

The alpha Drake, moving in a blur, slammed into his shield.

BOOM!

The sound was a thunderclap. Eric's shield, already ruined from previous fights, finally gave way. Exploding into metal splinters.

But he held his ground. His greaves glowing. His gauntleted fists taking the impact.

He was thrown back. But he didn't fall.

Behind him, Rina's hands were already glowing. The Seed of Yggdrasil pulsing as she poured healing into their immovable wall.

The other six Drakes split. Two took to the air. Four charged the flanks.

"Lana, Talia, the flyers are yours!"

Lana let out a manic laugh. Her crossbow appearing.

Thwip! Thwip!

She fired a volley of silent, invisible bolts. One Drake shrieked as a bolt pierced its wing membrane. Sending it into an uncontrolled spiral.

Talia, daggers gleaming, ran up the sheer surface of Masha's ice wall as if it were flat ground.

She leaped from the top. A descending ghost. And met the second Drake mid-air.

Shliick!

Her poisoned blades sank deep into its neck.

While the air was being cleared, the ground became a whirlwind of steel and magic.

Jin fought two Drakes. Not matching their strength. Using his gauntlets to block venom-laced claws.

CLANG! CLANG!

Impacts creating showers of sparks. He used their momentum against them. Forcing them off-balance.

"Erica, Kael, left side! Focus fire!"

Erica's Sunstone Shard glowed as she created a plasma lance. Kael copied the spell instantly.

FWOOSH! FWOOSH!

Two identical beams of destructive energy tore across the arena. Striking one of Jin's opponents.

The combined power punched through its scaly hide. Burning it from the inside out.

It was in this chaotic, coordinated dance of death that Masha found her moment.

Her main job, creating the arena was complete. Now she was the master of the cold.

Her eyes, however were not on the Drakes.

They were on Dante.

He stood at the back. Soul-Drinker in hand. Not attacking. Observing.

His spectral Edgar was a constant presence. Feeding him data.

He was the brain. His commands the invisible threads weaving their individual strengths into an unstoppable force.

A Drake, dodging Jin, charged toward their backline. Mouth open to unleash a blast of force.

Before Dante even gave the command, Masha reacted.

She had been watching him. Anticipating his needs.

She thrust a hand out. A spear of jagged black ice—ice so cold it seemed to burn, erupted from the ground. Stabbing the Drake from below.

SCREEE!

Her eyes met his across the battlefield.

In that moment, something inside her shifted.

The anger she'd held for so long. The fear. The resentment.

It melted away.

Replaced by a wave of pure awe so powerful it made her heart ache.

'He took us when we were scared, broken children and forged us into this. Into something so brute, something they would never thought of.'

Every artifact they wore. Every ounce of power they wielded. It was all because of his ruthless, brilliant leadership.

The warmth that bloomed in her chest was no longer just admiration.

It was something deeper. Something more dangerous.

A fierce, protective loyalty that she would have once found unthinkable.

'I... I'm falling for him. For that Dante. How did this happen?'

His voice cut through her thoughts. Sharp and clear.

"Masha, the alpha is recovering! Box it in!"

Her focus snapped back. The alpha Drake had shaken off Eric. Was preparing to charge again.

Her new feelings fueled her power.

She slammed her grimoire down. The ground around the alpha exploded into a forest of massive ice pillars. Trapping it in a tight cage.

"Now!" Dante roared. "Everyone! On me!"

The remaining two Drakes were quickly killed by Lana and Talia. Now only the alpha remained. Trapped and furious.

His team came together. Forming a circle around the ice-caged beast.

"This is the end," Dante said. Stepping forward. Soul-Drinker humming. "Unleash everything. Don't give it a moment to breathe."

What followed was slaughter.

Masha maintained the cage. Her ice groaning and cracking under the alpha's furious assault.

Eric stood before the weakest point. A living brace.

Rina poured healing into him.

And the rest became killers.

Erica and Kael fired a continuous stream of plasma lances. Superheating the ice. Creating clouds of steam that blinded the beast.

Lana fired bolts into its eyes. Its joints. Any exposed flesh.

Jin and Talia were a whirlwind. Darting in and out. Their blades leaving a thousand poisoned, bleeding cuts.

Drip. Drip.

And Dante... he simply walked closer. His black sword held loosely.

He didn't need to strike. With every passing second, Soul-Drinker was feasting. Draining the alpha's immense energy. Weakening it. Making it slow and clumsy.

Finally, with a last, defiant roar, the alpha Drake shattered its cage in a desperate explosion of strength.

CRASH!

It stood there. Bleeding from a hundred wounds. Poisoned. Burned. Utterly exhausted.

It fixed its hateful eyes on Dante. The source of its downfall.

It lunged.

He didn't move.

Before it could reach him, a massive shadow erupted from the ground.

FWOOSH!

Ouroboros. His Abyssal Shadow.

Its seven heads, a nightmare of living darkness, descended upon the last Void Drake.

There was no fight. Only complete destruction.

The Drake was simply unmade. Its body and soul devoured by the void.

The arena fell silent. The ice walls began to melt under Zone S's twilight.

They stood victorious among the corpses of seven S-rank dragons.

Wounded. Weary. But undoubtedly the masters of this savage world.

Masha looked at Dante. Her heart pounding.

Everything had changed. And she didn't know if that terrified her or thrilled her.

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