Lev kept his eyes peeled, head on a swivel to spot the moment it all went to shit. The moment… didn't come.

  For a few weeks, at least.

  The day started just like any other. The caravan set off after resting for the night, ready to reach Runespires in a few days. Maybe even less.

  The entire travel was supposed to take 25 days or so, and they were already 23 days in. So, as fate would have it, one of the most feared monsters within the first threshold appeared.

  "Claire!" Lev shouted as blood drained from his face, hidden underneath the armor. Sensing something in his voice, Claire quickly climbed up the hole.

  "Yeah?"

  "Please tell me I'm not seeing an orc general."

  Her eyes went wide at the mention, and she slowly turned her head in the direction Lev was looking. No words were needed as her face went pale as well, and she didn't hesitate to call for their backup.

  "Director Welsh!" Claire yelled, her voice laced with fear. "We need to move faster!"

  "What's wrong?" Welsh's voice reached us. He took one look at the direction she and Lev were staring before his expression darkened. "Leave the general to me."

  The general, the oh-so-feared general, was barely any taller than other orcs yet even while several kilometers away, Lev could feel the tension in his bones. The monster's aura eclipsed everyone in Claire's party combined, making his knees go weak despite being used to Exalted auras.

  The sheer bloodlust and insanity radiating from that one monster was staggering.

  How do we even beat this thing? Lev's mind focused on all possible strategies, only finding one possible answer. Only killing it in one overloaded attack seemed viable, otherwise the monster alone would take them all apart.

  "Claire," Lev called out. "I can kill it if we can keep it stationary for a single second."

  She blinked a few times, her scared mind taking a few seconds to process the words. "What? In one push?"

  Lev nodded, "Probably."

  Claire gulped, glancing at Welsh. The rest of the merchants were still unaware, their carts a bit ahead of theirs.

  "Are you sure, Lev?" Welsh asked calmly.

  "Yes, I can severely damage it, if not outright kill it if you can immobilize it for a few seconds."

  "What about the rest of the horde? They will all most likely be first-threshold orcs with a huge boost from the general," Claire asked, her wits calming down a little.

  Lev was very conscious of his large mana pool at that moment. He decided to risk it a little. "I can kill plenty before they reach us."

  Welsh gave him a proud look for whatever reason. Claire looked like she wanted to argue but stayed quiet, trusting him not to doom them all.

  The next minutes passed agonizingly slowly yet too quickly at the same time. Lev counted the monsters when they got close enough to allow him.

  30… 40… 53. Doable, except one.

  Lev looked at Welsh and the other team, now standing tall in the face of the adversaries. Lev nodded in his mind, they would not falter.

  I really hope showing this much does not come back to bite me in the bum.

  Pushing away the depressing thought, Lev formed four lances before slowly filling them to the brim. The stream of mana being channeled into the gauntlets stood out to him in high clarity, the mana barely held at bay by his weak flesh. His constitution was just barely enough to avoid mana poisoning from the sheer amount being channeled every second.

  The large amount of fire mana demanded a lot of focus to stabilize but Lev could do so with only a little struggle, probably because of his title.

  Now filled, he identified the largest group of orcs before launching the lances.

  Four explosions became visible a few hundred meters away as the lances impacted in a split-second, revealing multiple corpses despite the presence of a general.

  Lev formed four more lances before firing them in the same fashion.

  Then four more.

  Claire's mouth was hanging open and even Welsh was giving him an appraising look, re-evaluating Lev's strength. Precisely the things he didn't want.

  More than half of the horde was already gone, their lack of intelligence making them easy pickings. Lev formed another four lances one last time, firing them one after another. Previously, he had avoided the general to get rid of all the minions first. Despite the large blast radius, the monster was still unharmed.

  50% mana left. Lev concluded, his arms burning from the extreme amount of channeling. They would, mercifully, heal rather quickly but the pain was bad enough to even impact his aim.

  "The rest will be up to you guys," Lev turned around, now looking at an armored Welsh wielding a huge mace. Lev also summoned his bow to assume a more supportive role in case the general went down easier than expected.

  The four warriors hopped off their carts as one, adopting a formation that focused on supporting Welsh from all sides, letting the merchant warrior deal with powerful enemies without interruption.

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  Lev aimed, downing another orc before it even reached the warriors. The arrows, filled with only a little lightning, were enough for normal orcs. Their levels were also low, barely crossing 110.

  Then, the general reached Welsh. The orc, covered in now-glowing tattoos and brimming with power, punched the descending mace.

  The ground near them was split apart as the shockwave from the clash washed over it, uprooting the grass despite the fortification from Claire.

  Lev gulped at the display, keeping half an eye on the battle while killing other orcs with the rest of the warriors. The normal orcs, while strong, were not worthy of mention compared to the elite monster.

  Welsh and the general exchanged blows in rapid succession, the monster deflecting and blocking the spiked mace with its bare hands. Lev was starting to have doubts about his capability to kill it when the general's tattoos flared even brighter. The monster blurred, hitting Welsh in the chest before anyone could react.

  He watched, as time seemed to slow down even without his passive activating, as Welsh flew back like a cannonball, blood slowly flying mid-flight from the man's mouth. His pristine armor now sported a large dent, further damaging the man's body.

  Lev gritted his teeth, turning back to the general only to find it a few meters away, already leaping.

  This time, his passive activated, letting him form just two shields and reinforce his armor as much as he could while crossing his arms in front of his face.

  Time sped up again, and Lev barely perceived his bow vanishing into his ring and the shields shattering before he was sent flying. Darkness crept on him as he tumbled on the ground for two dozen meters, his arms broken and illusion armor deformed. The barrier armor had shattered first, absorbing most of the blow and saving his life.

  Lev spat out blood, uncaring if it was inside his armor, before hastily reforming his barrier armor and flying up. The situation was dire. Welsh was back on his feet, losing every exchange yet refusing to back down. The remaining monsters were dead yet that was of no help.

  Jalen was already bleeding and unconscious, carried away by Ron and Kai. Claire was doing her best to disrupt the monster's movements, failing as the general just plowed through her walls as if they were made of paper. She didn't even bother trying anything else, nothing in her class was capable of damaging the monster or fast enough to hit it in the first place.

  Lev took a deep breath and moved his broken arms with his barrier armor as he resummoned his bow. A groan escaped his lips as the liquid fire coursed through his arms, the pain forcing him to rapidly blink back tears.

  He couldn't afford to miss, not here. Forming a large arrow, he dumped as much lightning as he could in it and waited. Bow drawn, the enchantment slowed down his perception a little more as Lev observed the class between the general and Welsh.

  The general veered back, ready to punch the human's face off. Welsh reacted in the nick of time, bringing his mace down to meet the rapidly approaching fist.

  The ground was torn apart even further as they collided with a boom. The orc, possessing some warped form of battle instincts, took half a step to capitalize on the opening, only for an overcharged lightning arrow to almost hit its skull.

  The damned monster dodged at the last moment, and the arrow hit its left shoulder.

  "Now!"

  Lev's shout was thankfully loud enough to be heard by everyone. Claire dumped almost all of her mana into thick stone chains that rose from the ground, deftly wrapping themselves around the monster's waist. Welsh was even quicker, his flying mace impacting the monster's face like a meteor.

  The barely revealed monster amidst the small explosion was missing a small portion of its shoulder, more from the impact than the explosion. It roared, the sound raw and guttural, promising death to all who dared stand in its way.

  The same time-consuming action turned on it as a lightning lance, cracking at the seams at the sheer amount of mana present in it, impacted its chest.

  Lev's vision turned white and yellow as nearly half of his mana pool was released at once, the resulting blast producing a loud boom that hurt his ears even inside the two armors.

  His consciousness threatened to escape, his armor wobbling mid-air as his focus wavered. Yet he refused to pass out, forcing himself to observe the result of the explosion.

  There's still no notification… The thought was hazy in his head, only a part of his mind fully awake and functional.

  Several seconds passed before the explosion died down, revealing the barely standing general. It was a mess. Much of its chest was missing, letting Lev see most of its ribcage.

  Yet it was still alive, gazing at the human opponents with an unflinching gaze and monstrous resolve.

  Lev slowly descended, incapable of helping out further as Welsh, Kai, and Ron charged the crippled monster already bleeding to death from its grievous wounds.

  Landing on the ground, he pointedly ignored his left arm. The amount of mana he had channeled into that one attack had no doubt overwhelmed his constitution, turning the limb into a blue mess. He had never seen the effects of mana overload before but he'd heard plenty of cases.

  His mind also hurt like hell, mana overuse being a similar yet more common issue. No mage willingly went below 10% of their mana pool if they could help it, and Lev's severe headache reminded him why.

  Several seconds passed and Lev was getting ready to summon his bow again when the notifications came.

  [

  Your Group has slain [Orc General - Level 180]

  ]

  Just 180? Lev let out a surprised laugh. Rereading the notification, he confirmed that his mind wasn't playing tricks on him. The general was really level 180.

  How the hell was it only level 180? The brute I fought would've died ten times over yet it was at a similar level.

  In the end, he just sighed. He wasn't thinking straight and with the amount of pain going through his body, he just wanted to curl up and cry himself to sleep.

  Too bad the others were worried about him.

  "Lev, why aren't you answering? are you alright?" Welsh's voice reached him.

  Lev blinked a few times, only now realizing Welsh was already in front of him.

  "Yeah," Lev mustered a reply. "Just need to lie down. The headache is horrible."

  "Your arms, they are both broken."

  Oh… I forgot about those.

  His state of mind deteriorated even further as another pain registered. Oblivious to the tears streaming down his face, Lev moved past Welsh and flew into his cart.

  "Do we have anyone who can heal?" Lev asked but a small tube was already shoved in his armored face. He gingerly grabbed it, his muddled mind fascinated by it instead of trying to drink it.

  Potions were prohibitively expensive, and for good reason. Even the weakest of potions were potent enough that they were banned for anyone below Adept. Drinking one as a Classer did more harm than good. The ingredients were also a pain to gather, requiring people to delve deep into the pit or scour the grand forest bordering WhiteFall.

  "Drink it and quickly."

  Lev forced his mind to return to reality. He turned to Welsh and Claire, both observing him with more than a little worry apparent on their face.

  "Both of you, leave."

  Taken aback at the emotionless and cold tone, they hesitated for a moment before leaving.

  Only then did Lev dismiss his barrier armor, step out of his illusion armor, and drink the potion in one gulp by grabbing it with a floating barrier hand.

  Instantly, he could feel the potion taking effect. Lev hastily jumped back into the illusion armor and resummoned his barrier armor. The moment the armor closed, the potion started to heal his arms, drowning Lev in a torrent of pain as he passed out.