The moment Leo and Niri reached the highest point on the Colossus's back, the world seemed to open up beneath them. From there, it felt like having a bird's-eye view of the surrounding landscape—and that was when they saw them.

Beasts.

Tons of them.

They were running in frantic waves ahead of Howl, scrambling desperately to avoid being crushed beneath its massive feet—or fleeing simply because of the pressure of its aura alone. Trees bent as they passed, dirt churned up in clumsy trails, and the forest floor rippled with panic.

Only now did Leo truly understand why the system labeled only a select few beasts as intelligent.

It was obvious that Howl wasn't crushing anything beneath its feet. It wasn't even attacking actively. Yet the beasts below—creatures with only elementary intelligence—couldn't comprehend that.

They didn't try to change direction or veer away from Howl's path.

They just ran.

Their minds held a single, overwhelming thought to survive, but missing the obvious way.

"They really don't seem intelligent," Leo muttered under his breath, his eyes sweeping across the chaos below.

At a glance, he spotted beasts of various ranks—mostly 1-star and 2-star. Among them, a bulkier figure caught his attention: a pseudo–3-star beast shaped like a massive boar, its tusks gleaming as it barreled forward in blind terror.

"Alright," Leo said, rolling his shoulders. "Niri, start."

The moment the words left his mouth, both he and Niri activated [Solar Beam]. Light gathered rapidly in their palms—two beams each—until four spheres of condensed radiance hummed with restrained power.

A minute later—

[Solar Beam]!!!!

Hummmmmmmmmmm!

Blinding white rays tinged with gold erupted from atop Howl like divine death rays. The beams struck their first marks with flawless precision—and then, as if wielding a massive firing turret, Leo and Niri swept all four beams across the battlefield.

Ding!

+200 XP

+1000 XP

+50 XP

+4000 XP

+200 XP

+2000 XP

+1000 XP

+4 XP

+4 XP

+50 XP

+4000 XP

+50 XP

+50 XP

+4000 XP

Ding!

Level Up!

+4 XP …

The notifications flooded in without pause, stacking one after another as beasts fell in droves. The sensation of growth washed over him again—and finally—

Level 23.

Leo exhaled slowly, steadying himself. Earlier, he had consumed two Elasian Bloom petals along with several Heartstones. The effects surged through his body now, compounding with the level-up as his stats skyrocketed once more. Though the soul ranked didn't increase.

Stats Updated!

(1st arrow from treasures, second from level up)

Level 22: 7112 / 24772 → Level 22: 24772 / 24772

Level Up!

Level 23: 4050 / 32228

Vitality: 209 → 221 → 332 [399 → 522]

Strength: 203 → 222 → 333 [393 → 523]

Agility: 174 → 184 → 276 [364 → 466]

Stamina: 203 → 223 → 335 [393 → 525]

Intelligence: 287 → 314 → 471 [477 → 661]

Mana: 28700 → 47100 [41700 → 66100]

<Existence value of beasts at and below 1-star is not sufficient; they cannot provide any more XP when killing.>

The sudden leap in strength surged through Leo's veins, making his heart pound and his senses sharpen. The feeling was intoxicating—almost dizzying—but once it settled, he narrowed his focus.

"Shyra. Nyxa," Leo called out, his voice firm. "Go down and finish off whatever's left."

The two beasts didn't hesitate. They darted downward in blurs of motion, descending upon the scorched survivors that had endured the Solar Beams. Claws and fangs met the bodies, and within moments, the battlefield fell eerily silent.

After that, Leo worked alongside Niri, activating [Vine Estranglement] to haul the corpses one by one. Thick vines wrapped around lifeless bodies and dragged them upward before dumping them straight into Howl's open maw.

The Colossus ate as if it were enjoying an afternoon snack.

Bones crunched.Flesh vanished.

Not a single scrap was left behind—not even the mana crystals or soul crystals. But despite consuming them all, Howl didn't grow stronger in any permanent way. Its body was simply too vast; those crystals only replenished its empty reserves.

Unlike Leo, whose innate mana increased whenever he absorbed soul crystals, for Howl, it was little more than refuelling an endless furnace. And since the soul crystal of low-ranked beast didn't help Leo anymore, he allowed Howl to eat all up to replenish its energy after a continuous walk.

But he did keep the corpse of Pseudo 3-star Boar for Shyra and Nyxa to consume. Even though the food level wasn't enough to provide excess energy, it kept them full.

"I guess this is the reason, Beast cores and meat are this costly, people don't even have enough to feed their own beast after a hunt, what will they even sell?"

Leo said as he bagged the pseudo 3-star core to check its price in the city later.

He looked towards the city direction,

"Just a bit more and I will be there."

---

---Thalor City---

"S-so many beasts!" A person exclaimed as he fired a fireball shot, which landed on a creature that looked like a mouth but had elongated fangs and a body nearly a meter long.

The battlefield was a mess of mud, shattered trees, and towering beasts that looked like oversized versions of animals pulled straight from the wild. Wolves the size of wagons slammed into horned boars, their fangs flashing as bursts of frost and sparks of lightning exploded from their maws. Massive bears reared up on two legs, fur bristling as slabs of earth ripped free from the ground and hurled into enemy lines, while serpents as thick as tree trunks coiled and spat streams of burning acid. Above it all, human voices cut through the noise—short, sharp commands that dragged the beasts back into formation, turning raw animal fury into something controlled and lethal.

These were the instructors who were handily Low 3-star beasts and the variant beasts. The battlefield was so chaotic that some even attacked a tamed beast, thinking they was wild.

"Have you lost your fucking mind! You nearly killed my wolf, you idiot!" One instructor shouted at another.

"S-sorry, it looked as if it was attacking my beast."

And it was true, the wolf was indeed going to attack the boar of the second instructor.

Lu, alongside Brant, was absorbing the battlefield from above as they hovered using wind magic.

"Tsk, who the hell took them in as instructors?"

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