"Alone? Yeah, that’s right. I’m currently alone... So what? Are you saying that I’m just a helpless guy who can’t do anything to you now... right?"

Alen stood a short distance away from the towering, grotesque monster. He spoke calmly; there wasn’t even the slightest bit of worry or fear in his expression.

"YOU LITTLE BRAT! DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT BY ACTING SMART YOU WILL BE ABLE TO GET AWAY FROM ME?!"

"YOU ARE NOW TRAPPED IN MY DOMAIN! YOU ARE MY FOOD! I WILL EAT YOUR DELICIOUS BODY TO MY HEART’S CONTENT!"

"JUST BY LOOKING AT YOU, I CAN TELL THAT YOUR BODY IS MORE SPECIAL THAN ANY OTHER PERSON I HAVE SEEN UP TO NOW..."

"Is that so?" Alen smirked, casually rolling his shoulders.

"Too bad. I have absolutely no intention of becoming your so-called food. So give up!"

A heavy silence filled the battlefield. For a few seconds, only the sound of the cold night breeze could be heard blowing through the dead leaves.

Suddenly, Maira’s monstrous expression turned even colder. The dozens of blood-red eyes on her chest began to shine with dark malice.

[Shadow Art: Dark Domain]

Pitch-black shadows erupted from her grotesque body, slowly expanding like a creeping tide to cover the entire clearing. As the darkness swallowed the space around them, pulling them both into her domain, Alen immediately felt a suffocating, crushing pressure.

’What the hell is this? It feels like my blood is starting to freeze.’

’How the hell am I going to beat her? She completely outranks me. Judging by her aura, she is easily at the absolute peak of B-Rank.’

’She was even able to completely hide her rank from Kira and the rest of the team up to now. If she is that skilled at hiding her presence and manipulating mana, it will be nearly impossible for me to defeat her through regular means.’

A crazed, horrifying smile tugged at Maira’s twisted lips.

[Shadow Art: Shadow Summon!]

Darkness violently coiled around Kira’s dead body on the ground nearby. The shadows absorbed into her flesh, lifting her corpse into the air. Her hair whipped wildly as pure darkness swallowed her. Suddenly, a pair of glowing purple eyes opened from within the shadows as Kira’s corrupted corpse descended back to the ground. Her entire body emitted a thick aura of dark magic.

Maira walked over to the corpse calmly. She reached out and touched Kira’s head. Instantly, The monster’s body disintegrated into black particles and absorbed directly into the Kira.

Maira’s aura became exponentially denser as she merged with Kira’s remaining body.

"HAHAHAHA... WOW! HER BODY FEELS SO INCREDIBLY STRONG! IT’S A PITY SHE FOUND ME OUT, OR SHE WOULD HAVE BECOME A VERY USEFUL PUPPET IN THE FUTURE! HAHAHA!"

"Now... what was that power she used earlier? Ah, yes..." Maira smiled wickedly and flicked her massive claws.

[Moon Flow Art: Dark Type- Silverwing of the End!]

Suddenly, Maira’s massive body was covered in corrupted silver mana. She floated into the air as a pair of massive, dark purple wings slowly manifested on her back. Two more glowing red eyes suddenly opened on her forehead.

She looked like the ultimate abomination of darkness. A true boss monster.

"HAHAHAHAHA! NOW I AM THE MOST POWERFUL BEING IN THIS PLACE! NO ONE CAN BEAT ME! I AM THE QUEEN OF THIS REALM! HAHAHAHAHAH!"

Alen calmly bent down and picked up Kira’s fallen silver sword from the dirt. He tested its weight in his hand and pointed the blade at the monster.

"You know, you’re not a Queen. You’re just an ugly witch who doesn’t know her place. Don’t worry, I’ll remind you."

[Nexus Elemental Art: Sound Element - Chaotic Volume!]

Suddenly, a wildly chaotic, high-frequency sound erupted into the surroundings. It was incredibly loud and agonizing, sounding like the violent scraping of steel against a chalkboard, amplified a thousand times over.

Alen had learned this skill earlier during his constant battles with the undead horde. He had experimented with several sound frequencies, realizing how sensitive undead and dark creatures were to noise. By perfectly matching specific disruptive frequencies, he had created a brand-new skill that induced instant, paralyzing misophonia.

Floating in the air, Maira was directly hit by the distinct, chaotic sound.

Instantly, her entire body felt like it was losing control. The massive amount of mana inside her core started to boil and turn wildly unstable.

"AHHHHHHHH! SHUT UP! I SAID SHUT UP! TURN OFF THIS DISGUSTING SOUND! TURN IT OFF!"

Her brain began to vibrate painfully against her skull due to the piercing frequency. Black blood started to leak from her ears, nose, and all of her red eyes. She lost control of her dark wings and Crashed heavily to the ground.

*Thud!*

She clutched her head with her claws. Her bloodshot eyes glared at Alen with pure hatred.

"YOU BASTARD! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!..."

[Shadow Art: Wave of Corruption!]

A massive wave of pure, concentrated dark energy exploded from her body. It flowed like a black tsunami, slowly swallowing the ground and destroying everything it touched as it rushed directly toward Alen.

Alen wasn’t sure if he could deflect an attack of that magnitude. He quickly imbued a large amount of mana into his legs and pushed himself backward, diving away from the incoming wave with all of his strength.

The wave of corruption passed right through the space where he had been standing just a second ago. The remaining undead body parts on the ground instantly disintegrated into ash upon contact.

Alen gasped for air as he rolled to a stop several meters away.

’Sigh... I just barely survived that. If it had hit me, I would have been finished. How am I going to defeat her if I can barely dodge a single attack?’

He tightened his grip on the sword. He had one trick left.

[Nexus Elemental Art: Sound Element - Mosquito Buzz!]

Alen launched his next spell straight at her by swinging the sword.

This wasn’t a physical projectile attack. It was an invisible wave of sound that merged directly with the ambient mana surrounding the boss monster. It created a highly localized, hyper-irritating noise—exactly like the buzzing of a mosquito right inside the ear.

Alen had modified the spell to make it exponentially more disruptive, increasing the frequency and volume tenfold. It felt like the victim was trapped inside a tiny box with hundreds of giant, buzzing mosquitoes amplifying at maximum volume. It was designed to drive any sane person completely mad, and Maira was currently experiencing it at the very center of the spell.

"AHHH!!! WHAT THE F*CK IS THAT SOUND?! STOP IT! YOU CRAZY BASTARD, I SAID STOP IT! I WILL EAT YOU ALIVE IF YOU DON’T STOP THIS!"

Maira desperately tried to cover her ears with her massive claws, but it was completely futile. The sound was vibrating directly inside her skull.

As a dark magic user and a master of necromancy, her senses were extremely heightened. Just like the undead she controlled, she was incredibly sensitive to sound. The spell Alen created was so brutally effective that she was completely losing control over her physical form.

More black blood started to leak from different parts of her mutated body. Her entire being was vibrating unstably. Her bloodshot eyes rolled wildly in their sockets as she began to go completely insane from the noise.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! STOOOOOPP IT!!!!"

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

Her massive body suddenly exploded.

The residual, mana inside Kira’s absorbed body had become too chaotic. Driven completely unstable by the sonic vibrations, the mana from the core violently detonated from the inside out.

The sheer volume of a core of the B-rank individual exploding leveled the entire clearing. The ground beneath her was blown apart, launching massive chunks of rock and dirt into the surrounding area.

Alen, who was standing several meters away, got caught in the massive shockwave of air pressure. He was launched backward, slamming hard against a large boulder.

*Thud!*

"Cough!... Cough!..."

Alen fell from the rock, landing heavily on his hands and knees. Blood leaked from several small wounds across his body, but he was still able to remain alive.

He stared through the dense, swirling cloud of residual mana in front of him. The place where the boss monster had stood just seconds ago was now a massive, deep crater stretching for several meters.

Alen rested his head back against the rock, staring blankly at the destruction.

’Well... I didn’t expect that she will suddenly explode...’

[Ding! The Trial ’Forest of the Dead’ has been successfully Cleared!]

[Ding! You are the lone survivor of this trial!]

[Ding! Distributing the suitable reward according to your contribution rate...]

[Ding! You have gained a new Ability!]

[Ability: Night Vision (B+) (Evolvable)]

[Description: Your sense of sight will be increased tremendously in the dark. You can see clearly through the darkest nights and the densest fog.]

As Alen stared at the screens, a massive mana fluctuation occurred right in front of him. Dense mana coiled into a massive, glowing rotational wheel, and a shimmering Dimensional Gate suddenly ripped open in the air!

Alen stared at the glowing exit gate with an exhausted, blank expression. He pushed himself off the rock, barely able to stand on his trembling legs.

He slowly started to walk toward it.

After walking for a few seconds, he finally reached the edge of the portal. He stopped and turned his gaze back to look at the cursed forest one last time.

The entire forest had suddenly started to disintegrate into particles of light, collapsing in on itself as if its existence no longer held any meaning now that the trial was over.

Alen looked up at the three crimson moons, which were now clearly visible against the dark night sky. It looked eerie but beautiful. He knew that he would see them again as he climbed higher in the Ascension Realm.

"May I never come to this place again..."

With that final muttered prayer, Alen stepped through the glowing portal.

As soon as he passed through, the Dimensional Gate warped in on itself and vanished completely into the void, leaving nothing behind.