The group jumped down the rocky ledge of the cave and stepped directly onto the fractured stone pathways of the ruined kingdom.

As the sun dipped below the dimensional horizon, the fading light cast a hauntingly beautiful, golden-purple glow over the decaying architecture.

Even in its destroyed state, the sheer scale of Eden was breathtaking, especially the towering silhouette of the royal palace resting solemnly in the distance.

Solomon walked quietly behind the three high-ranking hunters. For him, navigating these specific streets felt incredibly surreal.

He had seen this exact kingdom in its absolute, pristine glory through the Undead Paladin’s memories. Now, walking past the crumbled remnants of what used to be bustling marketplaces and magnificent marble statues left a strange, hollow feeling in his chest.

Zoro noticed the boy constantly glancing at the crumbling buildings. Assuming the first-year student was intimidated by the eerie atmosphere of the night-time ruins, the red-haired mage intentionally slowed his pace.

He dropped back to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with Solomon, allowing Vlad and Miro to take the lead.

"You do not need to worry," Zoro reassured him with a warm, friendly smile. "Stick close to us. If any high-level situations pop up, we will easily handle them."

’I wasn’t really worried about the monsters,’ Solomon thought to himself. However, he kept the remark entirely internal. ’Although, I can feel the backlash in my body after pushing it to limits.’

Zoro was being remarkably kind and humble, especially when compared to the blatantly arrogant royal walking a few paces ahead of them. There was no need to throw the mage’s goodwill back in his face.

Solomon shifted his gaze toward the golden-haired swordsman’s back. "Is he always like that?" he asked quietly.

Zoro let out a soft chuckle. "Vlad? Yes, unfortunately. He is not exactly the most approachable person on the planet."

"I mean, I don’t necessarily blame him," Solomon continued, keeping his voice casual. "He is a royal. Since royal bloodlines naturally possess superior physical and magical traits compared to standard humans, it is completely natural for them to carry a certain level of inherent arrogance. Still, they probably shouldn’t just throw that attitude around at everyone they meet."

Zoro stopped walking for a fraction of a second. He stared at Solomon with wide, surprised eyes. "You figured out he was a royal pretty quickly."

Solomon instantly froze. He slowly turned his head to look at the mechanical bronze owl hovering faithfully by his shoulder, suddenly realizing he had just casually broadcasted that deduction to over a thousand live viewers.

"Wait," Solomon asked, his face going slightly pale. "Was that supposed to be a closely guarded secret?"

Zoro burst into genuine laughter and waved his hand dismissively. "No, no! There is absolutely no need to panic, kid. It is definitely not a secret. Everyone in the upper echelons knows exactly who he is."

Before Solomon could breathe a sigh of relief, Vlad’s authoritative voice echoed sharply from the front of the group.

"Zoro!" the royal swordsman called out. "Stop chatting and get up here. We have nocturnal hostiles approaching from the perimeter."

"Just deal with them yourself, Vlad," Zoro responded lazily, casually stretching his arms above his head.

"You might want to reconsider that statement and come look for yourself," Vlad called back, his tone unusually serious.

Solomon and Zoro quickly closed the distance, stepping up beside the golden-haired royal. As they reached the crest of the ruined street, they looked down into the sprawling, sunken plaza below.

An absolute sea of twisted, shadow-drenched creatures and towering skeletal hounds swarmed the courtyard. There were easily more than a hundred of them, their glowing red eyes piercing the encroaching darkness.

Solomon immediately shifted his stance and brought Eden’s Penance down from his shoulder, gripping the hilt tightly. "Is it normal for this many high-tier nocturnal mobs to travel in a massive pack like this?"

"If we were in an active, chaotic dimension, this would be entirely normal," Zoro noted, his friendly smile fading into a sharp, focused line. "However, for a stabilized dimensional fragment like this one, an organized army of this size is highly irregular."

Vlad suddenly stepped back and shoved a gloved hand against Solomon’s chest, forcefully pushing the student backward. "Stay behind us, kid. We do not need your help. You are just going to get in the way and get yourself killed."

’Who the fuck are you calling a kid. You barely look older than me!’

Under normal circumstances, Solomon would have ignored the arrogant command and charged right into the fray. However, his curiosity entirely overpowered his pride.

He genuinely wanted to see exactly how a World Ranker fought, especially since he lacked the magical talent that defined the world’s absolute strongest. He lowered his greatsword and took a step back, deciding to act strictly as an observer.

Zoro cracked his knuckles and stepped past the royal swordsman. "I will handle the warm-up."

The red-haired mage walked directly toward the monstrous army completely alone. Vlad and Miro did not even bother drawing their weapons. They simply crossed their arms and watched from the safety of the ridge.

As Zoro approached the horde, the ambient temperature in the plaza skyrocketed. Brilliant crimson flames erupted from both of his hands, casting a harsh, violent light across the decaying marble buildings. He did not bother casting a defensive barrier or maintaining a safe distance.

Instead, he dashed straight into the center of the swarm.

The moment the first wave of shadow beasts lunged at him, Zoro spun gracefully, unleashing a massive torrent of concentrated fire that instantly vaporized the entire front line. The sheer heat distorted the air around him, turning the plaza into a blazing furnace. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

He moved with the fluid, deadly grace of a martial artist, seamlessly weaving close-quarters physical strikes with catastrophic magical output.

When a giant skeletal hound tried to bite his flank, Zoro grabbed its jaw with his bare hand. The monster’s skull instantly melted into a puddle of bubbling slag under his grip. He then swept his arm outward, generating a crackling whip of condensed, white-hot fire.

He lashed the fiery construct through the dense crowd, cleanly slicing dozens of monsters in half before the flames detonated outward, blowing their severed bodies into ash.

’Is this really the same guy who just politely offered me a drink of water?’ Solomon thought to himself, his eyes widening as he watched the absolute massacre unfold.

The friendly, humble mage had completely vanished. The man laughing amidst the sea of fire was utterly merciless, executing his enemies with a ruthless, almost terrifying joy.

He didn’t just kill the monsters like one would, he actively sought to eradicate them entirely, leaving absolutely nothing behind.

’Man, that guy is nuts. Who fights like that? I would never.’

Zoro leaped high into the air to avoid a coordinated strike from the remaining beastmen. While suspended above the horde, he brought both hands together above his head.

A miniature, blinding sun materialized between his palms. With a wicked grin, he slammed the sphere of pure thermal energy directly into the center of the plaza.

The resulting explosion sent a massive, booming shockwave of fire roaring through the streets. The blast completely incinerated the remaining monsters in a single, devastating wave of destruction.

The stream interface rapidly scrolled with terrified and awestruck messages.

[LazyCat: WHAT DID I JUST WATCH?!]

[GoonLord: HE JUST NUKED THE ENTIRE PLAZA! HE DID NOT EVEN CHANT A SPELL!]

[BloodKnight: This is the terrifying reality of a World Ranker. Their magical output defies human logic.]

[User12: bro really just solo’d an entire dungeon floor’s worth of mobs in exactly forty seconds.]

When the smoke and dust finally cleared, the entire plaza had been reduced to a scorched, glowing crater. Zoro stood entirely alone in the center of the destruction, casually dusting a stray piece of ash off his dark cloak as if he had just finished a light evening jog.

"Sorry it took so long. It’s hard to move around with a cloak, you see."