The heavy gates of a walled city opened, allowing five figures to pass through as they advanced without stopping, each carrying different equipment.

Miguel wore full golden armor, carrying his reliable spear and curved sword.

Ininise wore her usual white oracle dress.

Anastasia wore her red-and-black outfit, but one notable detail stood out in her appearance—a large demonic hand serving as a gauntlet on her right arm.

The first time Uriel saw it, he was surprised; apparently, it was an artifact that enhanced her powers as a necromancer.

Vladimir stood out among them, wearing a long coat and black gloves, looking quite imposing.

And finally, Uriel himself—now that the paladins of Soleil had become his sponsors, he carried a massive hammer as large as his body along with steel armor. As a result, he had become slow as hell, but he didn’t really care. What he wanted was to endure hits.

What they had to do was simple: enter the second zone and follow the traces of Soleil’s divine energy that only Uriel and Miguel could see.

But first—

"Alright, Comrade Uriel, let me handle this. In a few moments, you’ll have everything you need."

Anastasia raised her giant hand, and negative energy began to surge from her gauntlet. From the ground, three skeletons started to rise.

The skeletons immediately scattered, searching for enemies.

The area outside the city walls was infested with level one monsters. The reason they had stopped was that the group needed to even out their levels—for now, Uriel, after spending a week asleep, had fallen too far behind.

So now, according to Miguel, they were going to do something called farming to raise Uriel’s level quickly—or at least as quickly as possible.

Uriel wondered why not everyone simply did the same thing, but the answer was actually very simple: as you leveled up, the power gained from creatures weaker than you diminished. That meant that if you wanted to grow quickly, you had to kill stronger monsters or elites.

Luckily for Uriel, being in a zone full of level 1 monsters while he himself was at that level meant he should be able to level up quickly.

Everyone set up a small camp while waiting for Anastasia’s skeletons to return.

Uriel was secretly excited to see how his new companions would interact with each other, but he was surprised to find that they only did so when necessary.

Anastasia spent time with Vladimir, Miguel focused on training, while Ininise was praying. This definitely wasn’t the dream team where everyone got along that Uriel had imagined.

He felt a bit disappointed. In the end, they had only talked about strictly necessary things like combat positions or what to do in specific situations.

"COMRADE URIEL!"

Anastasia’s shout made Uriel stand up. That meant they had returned.

Uriel approached, and in the distance, he saw the trio of skeletons returning, chased by a horde of monsters. There were the weak zombies from the first floor, but also skeletons with weapons, making it more dangerous than before.

Quickly, all the group members stood up. No one needed to say anything—they all knew what to do. They hadn’t decided on a leader yet, but once they moved forward, they would have to.

Uriel lifted his hammer and prepared himself. Ten enemies—and he had to kill seventy. This was going to be a long day.

The group understood their role: avoid killing the monsters, divide them or weaken them enough for Uriel to land the final blow and claim the power.

In any case, this would serve as training for him.

Uriel took the lead as the tank and raised his hammer. In his first attempt, he would crush a couple of skulls.

The hammer in his hands felt like a natural extension of himself, as if he had been born to wield it. He wondered where that feeling came from.

But what he did know was that he was about to put on a show.

His fighting style had changed completely.

"Hrrraaaaaagh!"

He let out a grunt, as if it would give him more strength. It was a bad habit he knew he had to break eventually, but he couldn’t help it—it was fun.

The hammer rose as a clear symbol of the violence of this world.

The skeletons were already approaching.

Uriel knew what to do: a lateral swing to destabilize them.

His eye lit up with excitement.

And finally—

They were within range.

Uriel twisted his body perfectly. As a child, he used to bat stones—this was similar.

He couldn’t help but smile as the hammer swung with all his strength toward the skeletons. The sound of impact and breaking bones was the second thing he felt.

The first was the sensation of pulverizing his enemies into pieces.

After that, the remaining skeletons and zombies stumbled, tripping over their fallen companions.

Three skeletons had died in that single swing. Uriel was delighted with this new weapon—fighting felt natural, like a part of him. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

But now came the problem.

One of the skeletons wielded a spear and quickly thrust it toward Uriel’s body. However, the skeleton’s spear could do little against his armor.

Still, Uriel didn’t want it getting dented, so he tried to deflect incoming attacks with the hammer’s shaft.

It worked—for now.

Before another attack could come from the skeleton, a red spear shot past Uriel’s body—but it wasn’t aimed at him. The arm of the skeleton attacking him exploded.

In front of him appeared Ininise, clad in crimson armor. She glanced at him and winked before continuing to tear apart the skeleton’s limbs.

This was Ininise’s new class—a battle mage. It wasn’t that she had changed; rather, this had always been this version of Ininise’s class. Apparently, since they functioned as different entities, they had different classes.

This particular class was probably a blessing from the Eleventh Finger.

At least, that’s what Uriel believed.

In his opinion, it was an absurdly broken class—basically a warrior who could also cast spells, and thanks to her natural agility, she moved efficiently across the battlefield.

Uriel watched her back. Her spear struck with precision as she dodged enemy attacks—she was truly showing off.

He couldn’t help but think that this Ininise was the complete opposite of the other. In a sense, she seemed braver, like a warrior born to fight. The other Ininise was the opposite, relying entirely on spells.

Suddenly, Ininise turned around and smiled at him.

Oops. He had forgotten she could read minds.

Uriel refocused on the task at hand. He wanted to return to his world, to see his sister and his family.

The rest of the group finished quickly as well.

The seven monsters were stripped of most of their bodies and laid out in rows.

Uriel stood before them and brought down his hammer.

The sound of skulls exploding would echo quite a lot today—but it was necessary.

Time passed, and more waves arrived. Sometimes Vladimir or Ininise would go too far and accidentally destroy skeletons, which earned them scoldings from Miguel for wasting time.

Vladimir would simply look at him as if he were an ant and ignore him, while Ininise would wave dismissively and walk away.

It turned out Miguel wasn’t the most patient person with anyone who wasn’t a paladin of Soleil.

This was a problem. If this continued, the team members would end up hating each other.

"Hahh..."

"Ninety-eight."

Uriel raised the hammer again, counting slowly as he approached one hundred.

The sound of the hammer crushing bones echoed once more.

"Ninety-nine."

Uriel was tired. This had taken almost the entire day, and his arms ached badly. Even as a tank, this was exhausting.

He was about to kill the last one when—

"Wait!"

Anastasia stepped in front of him.

"What are you doing, you lunatic?!"

Ininise was the first to shout. She was honestly exhausted, and Uriel couldn’t blame her.

"I’m not crazy! Stop! This skeleton spoke to me—IT’S A HUMAN!"

What the hell...

Now Uriel wanted to shout too.

He knew Anastasia had some kind of mental issue—it was obvious. She often talked to herself, staring into nothing—but she had never interrupted like this before.

Vladimir moved quickly and reached her side, lifting her into his arms.

"No, wait! Let me hear its last words!"

Miguel couldn’t help but facepalm. This was ridiculous.

And Uriel agreed.

Which is why he didn’t stop.

He brought the hammer down, and finally—

[You have leveled up]

Name: Uriel - The Last of the First

Race: Human

Level: 2

Stored Power: 0.65

Status: Alive

Stats

Strength: 1.4 Dexterity: 0.80 Vigor: 2.8 Willpower: 1.75 Perception: 1.2

Uriel stared at the faint blue panel in front of him, his breathing still heavy from the relentless grind.

Level 2.

So this was what growth felt like.

At first glance, the numbers didn’t seem overwhelming. No sudden surge of power, no dramatic transformation. But Uriel knew better. These numbers weren’t meant to impress—they were meant to define.

Not bad