As the trio stood facing the endless tide of enemies, Alen quickly shared his plan with them. An excited look appeared on Serene’s face after hearing it, and even Zane had to acknowledge that the strategy was brilliant.

Alen stepped closer and gently touched their backs.

[Nexus Elemental Art: Sound Type - Silent Presence!]

As he channeled the spell, the trio’s physical presence suddenly seemed to vanish. Not even the faint sound of their footsteps or their breathing could be heard; it was as if they simply didn’t exist.

"Alright, naive girl, it’s your turn," Alen whispered.

"Hmph! I’m not naive..." Serene pouted.

She raised her hands and cast her spell over the three of them.

[In the name of Heaven... I bless us with increased mana control...]

[The Heaven’s Grace: Invisibility!]

As the spell took effect, their bodies suddenly vanished into thin air. Even their mana fluctuations ceased to exist, masking them so perfectly that not even high-ranking monsters would be able to detect them. This was the exact same spell Serene had used when she first met Alen. If he hadn’t possessed a high sense of hearing, he never would have been able to detect her.

The charging horde of monsters suddenly stopped in their tracks, utterly confused about where the intruders had suddenly disappeared to.

Chaos filled the cavern as the beasts growled, looking around wildly for their prey.

Zane, standing invisibly beside them, immediately unleashed his power.

[Paradox Spiral Art: Dark Type - Violent Waves!]

Alen joined him, casting a large-scale spell of his own.

[Nexus Elemental Art: Sound Type - Irritating Waves!]

The two spells merged together perfectly, forming an even larger area-of-effect spell that shot out simultaneously in every direction across the monster-filled cavern.

When the wave hit them, the monsters were immediately agitated by the bizarre, high-frequency sound, which grated against their ears and made them incredibly angry. At the exact same time, the dark magic invaded their minds, amplifying their violent urges and pushing them into a frenzy.

Because these were low-rank monsters, they possessed very little intelligence or positive emotional development.

Concepts like ’companionship’, ’love’, or ’care’ for their own kin simply did not exist in their minds. They were creatures ruled entirely by the ’Law’ of ’Destruction’. It took very little to shift their aggression. Only high-rank monsters, supported by the higher laws of the world, possessed enough intelligence to feel complex emotions and show restraint.

It’s not that they don’t have emotions. Everyone in this world has feelings—even if some people can’t express them in words, those emotions still exist. Monsters are no different. They also feel emotions, but in them, emotions like hatred and aggression are much stronger than the rest. Because of this, they hate anything that causes them discomfort. And now, the magic unleashed by both Alen and Zane has pushed them into a furious rage.

As the monsters were driven completely haywire by the maddening sound and the dark spell, the monsters lost whatever little sense they had. Blinded by rage, they began lashing out randomly, striking the monsters standing right next to them.

Total chaos engulfed the massive cavern as tens of thousands of monsters began to violently slaughter their own kind.

The trio didn’t wait around to watch. They quickly ran toward a safe, secluded spot behind a large rock formation.

As the massive battle raged, the sheer impact of the monsters clashing crushed the stone ground, sending debris flying everywhere. The entire battlefield was filled with endless hatred and suffocating killing intent. Believing their own kin were the enemy, the monsters fought to the absolute death.

From their secluded hiding spot, the trio realized they had just saved themselves from a near-impossible battle. If they had actually tried to fight the horde head-on, there was no guarantee they would have had the stamina or capacity to survive.

"Sigh... Thank God that actually worked. I thought for a second it was going to fail," 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Zane muttered, looking out at the thousands of dead monsters and the remaining beasts still busy tearing each other apart.

"Yeah... That was a great plan. It actually worked! There is no way I would have been able to fight this many opponents myself... Sigh,"

Serene breathed a sigh of relief. She looked down at her hands, which were still shaking slightly from the spell.

Because Invisibility was such a complex spell, it took a massive toll on her mental energy. Since she was maintaining it alongside her blessing, the impact on her mind was almost doubled. Thankfully, she had both boys there to cover for her so she wouldn’t fall into a vulnerable situation.

Alen sat calmly on a boulder, watching the endless onslaught of enemies destroy themselves.

’Sigh... If Wave 1 contains this many monsters, then what will Wave 2 bring? Will it be Dragons? Or some other massive threat?’

Alen pondered, falling into deep thought about how they were going to handle the next stage of the trial.

The battle raged on continuously.

After several hours passed, the slaughter finally ended. Thousands of corpses littered the field. Only a single Orc remained standing, heavily wounded and holding a massive axe dripping with green blood.

Suddenly, a shadow materialized behind the Orc’s back.

It shaped into a sharp dark claw and shot forward. The Orc tried to turn toward the attack, but it was already too late. The claw sliced cleanly through its thick chest.

*Thud!*

The monster’s lifeless body collapsed. Its weapon clattered onto the stone floor as green blood pooled out from beneath it.

"Tch! It seems he didn’t have any strength left anyway. I should have killed him when he was at full health... What a waste..."

Zane muttered, pulling his shadow back with a look of disappointment.

With the final monster dead, both Serene and Alen dropped their spells. Their figures flickered and became visible on the bloody battlefield once again.

"Sigh... finally, I can breathe. Maintaining the invisibility spell for so many people is really tiring. If I were alone, I wouldn’t be this exhausted."

Serene leaned against the wall, looking very tired. She had used almost half of her mana, and there was still another wave to face.

She looked at Alen, who was standing calmly, without any sign of tiredness or stress.

"You seem completely fine. Aren’t you tired after using so many spells while also maintaining the silent spell?"

Alen shrugged.

"I’m completely fine. It wasn’t a big deal."

Serene and Zane looked at him like he was strange.

Even Alen didn’t understand why he wasn’t mentally tired after using so many spells. If it were someone else, they would have already fainted from using that much mana continuously.

Even though he had used a lot of mana, he still felt fine. He could keep fighting as long as he didn’t waste more mana.

After resting for a few minutes, system notifications suddenly started appearing in their minds.

[Ding!]

[You have successfully completed Wave 1 of the Trial...]

[Preparing for the Wave 2...]