As the nine nobles continued their desperate battle against the wolf, Flavia and Victry watched, waiting for their moment to slip away.
"Are you sure they can hold it back?" Flavia asked, her voice sharp but hushed.
Victry smirked. "Not entirely. The beast will probably start dragging them south soon… but it'll take time."
They kept fighting alongside the others, masking their intentions. Every strike, every movement was calculated—until the opportunity arrived.
The moment Marcus stepped close enough, Victry struck.
Lightning crackled as it surged through Marcus's body, paralyzing him for a few seconds.
The wolf didn't hesitate. Seeing the sudden weakness, it lunged at Marcus—but two other nobles reacted in time, barely managing to save him.
"VICTRY!!" Marcus roared, rage and confusion flooding his voice. "What the fuck are you doing?!"
But as he turned, they were already gone.
Flavia and Victry were flying south, racing toward their true target.
It took Marcus only seconds to put the pieces together. His mind reeled, but the realization hit like a hammer.
They were after the dead beast's body.
"Those damn bastards—!"
The other nobles were furious, their expressions dark with betrayal. One of them even tried to break formation to chase after them, but Marcus held him back.
"No! We're already barely holding on!"
And he was right.
With only seven of them left, the wolf began pushing harder.
The temperature plummeted, dropping hundreds of degrees below zero in an instant.
Frost spread like a living thing, coating the battlefield in thick layers of ice. The air itself became razor-sharp, every breath burning their lungs with cold.
It was no longer just an attack.
The beast showed his other rune in level 5.
An Ice Rune—
The nobles struggled to move, their limbs stiffening as the frost crept up their bodies. Dodging was becoming nearly impossible. Their movements slowed, their attacks sluggish.
And the wolf?
It was faster than ever.
Marcus send a message to his brother asking him to do something
"What!?"
Octavian's fury burned hotter than his lightning, but he had no time to dwell on it.
In that split second of distraction, the wolf's claws tore through him.
Pain exploded through his body as his vision blurred.
His hand—gone.
"Aghhh!!"
Gritting his teeth, he forced distance between them, retaliating with a burst of fire and lightning. The beast recoiled, snarling, but Octavian knew it wouldn't be enough.
Without hesitation, he poured nearly 20% of his mana into his Life Rune, triggering a regeneration spell. Flesh knit itself together at an unnatural speed, bone reforming, muscle reconnecting. The pain was unbearable, but he endured it.
The battle resumed, but this time, Octavian was more careful.
He couldn't afford another mistake.
His mind raced as he sent another urgent message to Sylvester. "Silvestre, get here. Now."."
For a brief moment, he even considered breaking away, trying to return north—but the wolf didn't allow it.
It blocked his every move, matching him step for step, forcing him to stay in this frozen battlefield.
And then it hit him.
Why?
He had been the one dragging the beast south—so why was octavian so determined to go back north now ?
Whatever was happening up north, the wolf thaught that it won't bé a good thing for him.
Nemsus, Nero, and Delilah sat in silence, their eyes locked on each other.
Nemsus finally broke it, his voice low but firm. "Guys, we have to move. There hasn't been a sound from outside for almost half an hour now."
Nero exhaled, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah… I was thinking the same thing."
Delilah didn't speak right away. She just looked at both of them, her fingers gripping the fabric of her clothes. "And if it's worse out there than we think?"
Nemsus shook his head. "Then waiting here won't make it any better."
Ok then let's move Nero responded
Nemsus took lunia on his shoulder and started moving east with Nero and delilah
As they steped a few steps, leaving the shelter behind, the ruins of the orphanage came into view. The sight was grim—collapsed walls, shattered wood, and the faint smell of smoke lingering in the air.
Nemsus took a step forward, but then he froze.
A sound.
Faint, muffled, coming from beneath the rubble. A voice—hoarse, weak, but unmistakably human.
"Help…!"
The others heard it too. Delilah's eyes widened. "Roan…?"
Nero turned to her in shock. "He's still alive?"
"I thought he was dead after Gaius and the wolf started fighting…" Delilah admitted, a mix of curiosity and disbelief in her voice.
Nero let out a breath, shaking his head. "Honestly… I forgot about him too."
Nemsus didn't wait for more discussion. He rushed forward, pushing aside broken beams and stone. His hands bled from the sharp edges, but he didn't stop. As he cleared away more debris, the source of the voice became clear—a pocket of space beneath the wreckage, the remnants of an underground room.
The walls had barely held up, supported by a thick chunk of ice that had frozen over a collapsed section, keeping it from caving in completely. In the middle of that space was Roan—pale, terrified, but alive.
As soon as Roan saw them, a weak, breathless laugh escaped his lips. "You… bastards… hhhh… You really forgot about me?"
Nero was still staring in disbelief. "You're alive…?"
Roan scoffed, still catching his breath. "You bastards… hhhh… You really forgot about me?" His voice was weak, but the smirk on his face showed he wasn't entirely upset—just exhausted.
Nemsus looked away, ashamed. "I… I didn't mean to."
Roan sighed, leaning against the rubble. "Well, lucky for me, the underground walls held up for a while. And when they started collapsing, I used ice to hold them… but my mana was running low. If you guys had shown up two minutes later…" He didn't finish the sentence, but they all understood.
Nero thought about how much Roan was talking—more than usual. Almost dying must make even someone like him open up.
After all, he wasn't really a man that talks much even Viser had forgotten about him.
As they helped Roan out of the rubble, a heavy silence settled between them. No one really knew what to say.
Finally, Nero broke it. "We need to move. Now."
Nemsus adjusted Lunia on his back, Roan pushed himself upright despite his exhaustion, and the group, now whole again, prepared to leave.
"Wait… do you see that?" roan muttered.
Delilah followed his gaze, her eyes widening as two figures appeared in the sky. The first was unmistakable—Duke Victry. But the woman beside him? She was unfamiliar.
Nemsus tensed. "That's not good."
Without another word, they rushed back inside the shel, keeping low. Their hearts pounded as they watched from the shadows, unsure if they'd been spotted.
Meanwhile, high above, Flavia's eyes flicked toward the distant figures. "Kids?" she mused, barely interested.
Victry, however, didn't even spare them a glance. "They can wait. We have more important things to do."
Victry and Flavia stood over the dead beast's body, their eyes gleaming with greed.
Without hesitation, Victry reached into his ring, pulling out a sword.
As he stepped forward, his movements deliberate, almost reverent.
Then, with a few strikes , he sliced open the creature's chest.
Blood spilled onto the ground as he reached inside, fingers closing around the Eny nestled within its heart.
A white, glowing sphere. The monster's Eny. A triumphant laugh escaped his lips.
A deep, satisfied laugh rumbled from his throat. "Finally."
Flavia, standing beside him, narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure our chances are 50%?"
Victry smirked. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure."
He wasn't.
In reality, their chances were closer to 20%. But there was no way he was telling her that.
He was at the end of his prime—ten years left, at best. This was his only chance.
If he became a sovereing he will get a few more hindred years
The truth was, he had lied about becoming a Sovereign immediately. It wasn't that simple.
He still lacked one final requirement.
But with the Level 5 Earth Rune—the rarest and most difficult to obtain—everything else could be figured out later.
"Go on, then," flavia said, her voice practically dripping with excitement. Victry wasted no time.
You know how the spell works right ?
Yeah i used it before when i was younger she replaid
"Hhhhhh." Raising his hand, he started weaving a spell. "Come, flavia."
The two of themn knelt beside the Eny, their postures shifting into a meditative stance. Each grasped one of the other's hands, while their free hands pressed firmly against the sphere.
"Remember," Victry muttered, his voice tense. "Push as hard as you can. Even if the beasts have weaker wills than humans, this one was still a level above us."
From their hiding spot, Nero and the others watched as two persons appeard and stopped over the dead monster's body
They kept watching as they took a meditave posture .
Then they stopped taking
"What are they doing?" Nemsus asked, his voice low with unease.
Nero stared at Victry and Flavia, his eyes narrowing as he tried to make sense of it.
"They… They're trying to break the Will that stayed in the Eny," he said slowly.
It was a guess. But it was the only thing that made sense.
He had never heard of two people attacking a Will Rune inside an Eny together. It was always an individual battle of Willpower.
But there was no other explanation.
For a few minutes nothing happened. Then the expressions on Victry and Flavia's faces twisted into something unnatural. Their skin turned deathly pale.