The Gamer's POV

A massive hammer made of ice suddenly descended from above, crushing the last Naga on the bridge into a bloody pulp.

Then, the princess, who stood on the air above, exhaled a thin breath of frost to steady herself. She was so exhausted, and her mana had long been depleted.

Right now, she was using her essence core to sustain herself, but even that was being drained at an alarming rate.

Luckily, all she needed to do right now was to keep the hope of the cadets alive and she would be able to replenish her essence.

It took her a few seconds of labored breathing to find her center, and when she felt her vision clear, she turned to observe the bridge. Then a frown marred her expression as she took in the scale of the carnage.

Only four hundred or so cadets remained, and every single one of them looked exhausted, standing on the verge of collapse.

To be honest, the number of cadets alive would have been far less had it not been for Dion who had suddenly surprised her several minutes ago.

He had suddenly displayed a level of power that she didn’t even know he was capable of.

He swept so many of the cadets into the air and slaughtered the Nagas swarming the bridge in a terrifying manner.

Even though his intervention was brief, that had saved so many cadets from a doomed fate whilst also turning the battle a bit in their favor.

However, unfortunately for Dion, it seemed that he could only sustain that sort of power for a minute before completely draining his mana core.

After returning the cadets to the bridge, he seemed to be in a really bad way, and had almost collapsed from the mana depletion had it not been for Cedric’s summon who helped him out with some of those flowers from her back.

Fortunately, there were not a lot of Nagas in his immediate vicinity, so his bond had quickly begun drawing in mana for him, while the rest of the cadets defended their position.

Time had passed since then, and the battle which had been intense had grown more in their favor. Fewer Nagas were coming out of the lake and even fewer were left on the bridge.

Eventually, only one remained, which she killed some seconds ago, bringing the battle on the bridge to an end.

Yet, despite that, no one was rejoicing because their battle was over, but the war wasn’t. The fighting was still ongoing on the shore, and they all needed to head there to help the vanguards put an end to it.

Though looking at the cadets now, Aurora was beginning to have doubts. These cadets looked like they no longer had any fight left in them, and even those who did were mostly low on mana.

’What am I thinking? Why am I having doubts?’

Aurora thought as she snapped out of her daze.

If anyone should falter, it should not be her. She was their leader and their source of hope, so she should act like it.

"Everyone!" she yelled, looking around at the cadets.

Everyone lifted their gazes tiredly toward her. When she had their attention, she continued in a loud, commanding voice.

"The war is not yet over. We need to head to the shore! Do not waver now, for I can see that our victory is nigh. There’s a hundred more of us than there are of the lords, so we can bring them down. We can put an end to the lords, to this bloody war, and to this godsforsaken ring! What say ye?!"

Everyone suddenly roared in unison.

And as they all let out their battle cries, those who were tired all suddenly felt energetic. Their fatigue began to disperse and they suddenly felt stronger and more capable.

Yes!

They could do it, they could bring down those lords and put an end to all this bloody madness!

Power coursed through their veins as they yelled with their eyes kept on Aurora.

And at that moment, Aurora felt essence flow into her core like a river. It was so exhilarating that she had to close her eyes for a moment to steady the rush.

When she opened her eyes again, she yelled:

"Everyone! WITH ME!"

The roar exploded and in a blur of motion, everyone began running towards the shore with Aurora and the Hollow Ones leading them.

At this moment, the only thing on all of their minds was victory!

***

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..

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Unbeknownst to the cadets who were fighting for their survival on the shore, another battle was taking place somewhere deep within the city of the territory.

The battle was taking place specifically outside the white stone walls of Lee Lim’s obsidian castle where the blue bridge was located.

The entire atmosphere around smelled heavily of the scent of decay and gave off an aura of death.

The only noise that could be heard was the agonizing wailing of a burly man in his thirties. He was lying on his back on the ground not too far from the blue bridge.

Right now, this man was battered and looked to be in a really bad condition, and the expression on his face was one of pure horror.

The reason for his horror was because the foot of a terrifying being was on his chest, and the creature kept staring down at him with white-lit eyes that contained no visible pupil or irises.

The beautiful yet terrifying being looked like an angel with six black wings that unfurled from her back like a heavy cloak. Her clothing was an elaborate, ornate set of "Black and Gold" attire, appearing to be a fusion of a formal gown and battle armor.

A complex circlet that looked like a crown of thorns or sharp spikes designed into a multi-layered halo rested gracefully on her head. And her feet, which were barefoot, pinned the man, Sang-hoon, to the ground with unnatural strength.

Sang-hoon kept shrieking in a mix of pain and terror, and at that moment, the wings of the angel began to retreat into her back. Her long black hair shortened and shifted until it settled into a bob, and a pair of large round glasses appeared on the bridge of her nose.

At the same time, her armor melted away until she was wearing an oversized hoodie and a pair of loose shorts. Within seconds, the angel disappeared and Seo-yeon was left resting one leg on Sang-hoon’s chest while both hands were nestled nonchalantly in her pockets.