As the team began to walk in the direction where Alfred had detected the stench, Alen trailed behind them. He stayed at the back, observing without participating in the minor battles.

As they walked, they encountered several undead that quickly lunged toward them after hearing their footsteps.

Bram handled the front lines as the undead charged, and Lina supported him from behind with her magic. It was a display of perfect team coordination. No one got hurt as they continued to advance.

Alen turned his eyes to the distance, staring into the darkness where they were heading. As they neared the location, everyone began to smell the foul, heavy stench of rotting flesh and blood.

Alen tried to block it by covering his nose with his hand, but it was completely futile. The stench only grew denser the further they walked.

"It’s here. Just a little further ahead," Alfred muttered under his breath.

Everyone followed him closely. They pushed through a dense thicket of dead bushes and trees, and what was revealed on the other side made a chill run down everyone’s spine.

Behind the treeline stood thousands of undead. Some were eating dead monsters, and some were even eating their own flesh. They all looked incredibly hideous and disgusting.

But as Alen looked deeper into the swarm, he noticed something else. Right in the absolute center of the sea of undead sat a lone figure. It was an undead knight, covered head-to-toe in heavy armor. It sat silently on a rock, resting its hands on the hilt of a massive greatsword whose tip was planted firmly in the dirt.

It emitted absolutely no aura or aggressive behavior like the rest of the horde. It just sat there calmly. If it weren’t wearing that distinct, heavy armor, it would have been nearly impossible to spot in the crowded clearing.

Kira looked at the boss monster and whispered,

"We can’t detect how strong it is yet. We’ll have to fight it head-on. But first, we need to distract the rest of the horde."

"Should I cast a spell in the distance so the undead go in the other direction?" Lina asked.

Kira nodded at her suggestion.

"That’s a good idea. But make sure not to use too much mana; we still have to face the boss."

Lina nodded.

[Wind Magic: Wind Slash!]

She gathered her mana and cast the spell. A sharp, curving blade of wind dove from her hand, shooting far off into the opposite side of the forest.

*BOOOM!*

Hearing the loud blast, the mindless undead quickly turned aggressive and lunged toward the source of the noise. As thousands of monsters shifted their attention and scrambled away, the team didn’t wait. They quickly dashed forward.

"Everyone disperse and follow the plan!" Kira ordered.

"Bram, take the lead and defend us if any undead get in our way. Lina, prepare to cast a mid-level spell. Alfred and Siar, prepare for close combat. Maira, preserve your mana for the end."

As the team followed their commands, they immediately clashed with the remaining undead guarding the center.

Alen wasn’t given any specific orders. It wasn’t just because he was new to the team; it was because they were giving him the freedom to play his own role in the battle. This worked out perfectly for him. He wasn’t the type to blindly follow other people’s orders anymore. He wanted to do his own thing and fight alone.

Finding a suitable chance, he separated from the back of the team. He swiftly kicked away an undead that suddenly tried to sneak up behind him like a tail.

Alen closed his eyes for a split second. He wanted to get used to his new skill he had acquired from the hidden trial.

[Nexus Elemental Art: Maximum Concentration - Overload Punch!]

He gathered a small amount of mana, concentrated it densely around his fist, and punched forward. The immense pressure created by the dense mana cut straight through the air.

*BOOOM!*

The undead’s entire body was completely blasted away into a mist of bone and gore.

"Damn... this skill is really useful," Alen muttered.

"It takes far less mana, but the power of the attack is significantly higher. It’s definitely one of the best techniques I have."

However, the heavy sound of the explosion quickly attracted more undead toward him. Alen grew more cautious and shifted his battle style to quiet, close-quarters combat. He couldn’t just keep spamming explosive attacks; it would attract the entire horde, and it would be much harder to kill them all if they swarmed him in massive quantities.

He glanced over at the team, who had already reached the armored boss monster.

He decided to let them handle the knight. He would take part by handling the horde of regular undead. Crowd control was also a form of contribution, meaning it would surely count toward his requirements for passing the trial.

Alen dodged as an undead dashed directly in front of him. It was holding a severed head in its rotting mouth. Alen kicked it hard in the chest.

"Get away, you disgusting piece of shit!"

"Damn, I feel sick just looking at this. I’m going to develop trauma at this rate..."

"Sigh... calm down, Alen. Focus on yourself. You can’t lose focus just because they’re gross."

Another undead lunged at him.

"I’m going to kill you! Wait, damn, I forgot you’re already dead."

As more undead flooded toward him, successfully distracted from the main team, he quickly went to work beating them down.

"What a pain... It’s tiring to just punch them endlessly. When is this going to end?"

He continued his barrage of punches and kicks. Undead bones shattered to dust with every hit. These regular monsters were only E-Rank, so they barely had enough power to fight back against Alen, who stood at the absolute peak of D-Rank.

As Alen fought the monsters, he felt the mana around him starting to react to his presence.

’It seems I’m very close to a breakthrough now. Let’s wipe them all out in one go, then.’

[Nexus Elemental Art: Sound Element - Shockwave!]

He created a vortex of mana in his hand and mixed it with his newly acquired Sound element. As the mana around his hand became chaotic and vibrated intensely, a rippling shockwave of energy sprang outward.

Alen thrust the vortex directly into the approaching horde of undead.

*BOOOOOOOOM!*

A massive blast echoed for hundreds of meters. As the sound shockwave hit the undead, their bones instantly shattered, and they flew backward like swatted flies.

Several dozen undead were wiped out by that single attack. It even created a small crater in the ground from the sheer, concussive force of the soundwave.

"Damn. That was my first time trying the Sound element. I didn’t expect it to work so successfully, or be this strong!"

Alen felt pure excitement course through his being.

Even though that attack was mostly mixed with his raw mana, it was incredibly effective.

Alen still didn’t fully know how to properly use his new powers. He was just a newbie who had stumbled into a new world of magic. But the whole concept was completely new to him, and that was exactly what made him so excited. He could experiment and try out different things.

"Hehe... Let’s see what my future self will be able to do."