Not too long after, transport came by.

"Ok, let’s get the injured in first," a man in an ambulance uniform called out.

The injured came forth. They were in fact plentiful.

"Wow, that much huh."

"Come on forward."

They loaded them all in.

Hunters of various ranks, limbs lost, eyes gone, ears and full sides just torn apart.

’So this is what hunting is like.’

In about 10 minutes, the critically wounded were all loaded up.

The ambulance vehicles still had so much space to spare.

Casualties.

They expected so many more casualties, probably using the last tower as precedent.

"Wow, the hunters fared a lot better this time. Anyways, what do we do with the remaining buses?"

The drivers all talked it out, and they decided to help with transport before the guilds could send in their own private resources.

"Let’s help out."

"Those of you heading towards the North Prefecture, please come on over here," one driver called out.

"Those going towards Manline Mall and its ensuing estate, over here."

The buses were few, but they helped a couple of hunters get home way ahead of schedule.

The buses were full.

They departed.

The hunters still left behind waved them goodbye.

Songs burst out.

It was actually beautiful.

They had survived what most went in feeling condemned by.

They were pretty much from different guilds. People met hunters who they’d never heard of or would ever have the grace to meet, except in the event of something like the award ceremony.

Hunters weren’t just limited to the top brass.

The A-ranks and S-ranks that everyone seemed to know.

The relations and talks were proof of it.

The guilds needed more than their Shoms and Lushes to survive.

A guy teared up. He started crying so much.

"What’s wrong with you?"

"I..."

"I.... Just love you guys so much!" he shouted out, his tears intensifying.

The hunters all teased and encouraged him.

Others followed with their dungeon stories, talking about why they loved being hunters.

Some time passed, and the first passenger was dropped off.

"Bye, you!"

After a round trip and about an hour, the bus was empty and it made its way back to the hospital.

At the field remnant, guild resources were starting to show up.

The Venus Flame helicopter landed first.

Its guild recruited the high-ranking hunters it was able to spare.

They had sent out just 3, and all 3 made it back alive. They were the only guild who could say this.

James Rebirth sent out a limo.

They got their hunters to go home.

Eventually, even the Black Cranes and their famous buses and vans had made it to the scene.

"All right Rean, let’s head home," Tylan called out.

They headed on board.

They all got dropped off in similar fashion until finally Rean and Tylan got dropped off.

"Rean, go wash up, then I’ll quickly warm something up."

"It’s only 5pm. It’s still pretty bright out. But I’m assuming we both need our rest," Tylan said.

"You’re such a wimp, big bro. Come on. I can still go for a movie or two. You are however right. I’ll get to the bathroom."

Now washed up, Rean lay on his bed.

A gentle knock would be heard from the door.

"You know the guild called for a briefing tomorrow about this whole tower situation. I heard the association will have a rep present, anyways."

"Hey Rean, let’s get to those movies."

"Rean?"

Tylan walked in.

"Oh, such a wimp. Ha."

He walked over to the bed and covered his brother with sheets.

*****************

In another A rank dungeon, a different one this time. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Victor stepped into the boss chamber already irritated.

The gate sealed behind him with a low rumble, thick stone grinding against stone as the enormous chamber lit up with dim amber veins running through the walls. Dust drifted lazily through the air, the entire place feeling ancient and heavy.

And at the center—

The boss moved.

A colossal stone statue dragged itself upright from a mountain of rock, chunks of earth cascading off its body as glowing lines pulsed beneath cracked stone plating. It didn’t look sculpted.

It looked buried.

Its body was massive, broad enough to blot out entire sections of the chamber, arms layered with compressed stone thicker than fortress walls. Every step made the floor tremble, smaller rocks lifting slightly from the pressure of its mana alone.

Victor stared at it blankly.

"...Man."

He rubbed the back of his neck once.

"My mana’s already low from all these raids."

The stone giant’s head turned toward him slowly.

Victor sighed.

"I wonder how Xander would fare if he did any of the shit I’ve been doing on low mana."

The boss answered immediately.

The ground split apart.

Massive boulders tore free from the walls and ceiling simultaneously before launching toward Victor like artillery shells.

Victor raised one hand lazily.

"Wind Talent. A Rank Spell."

The number entered his mind instantly.

Five.

"Wind Vortex ×5."

Five spiraling tornadoes erupted into existence around him, compressed wind shredding the incoming boulders into dust before surging toward the boss. The vortexes collided against the giant’s body violently, ripping chunks of stone free and tearing deep trenches across its surface.

The boss didn’t care.

It walked through the attack.

Unaffected.

Victor’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"...Tough."

The giant slammed both hands together.

The chamber responded instantly as stone spikes erupted upward across the battlefield in massive waves. Victor jumped backward, but one boulder still clipped him from the side hard enough to send him skidding across the ground.

CRACK.

Blood slid down his forehead.

"Tch."

The statue raised one arm.

The earth beneath Victor liquified into stone sludge before hardening again, trying to trap him in place. Petrification spread rapidly where the stone touched.

Victor reacted instantly.

"Flame Talent. B Rank Spell."

Eight.

"Hell Burst ×8."

Explosions detonated beneath him consecutively, blasting him free while incinerating entire sections of the advancing stone field. Molten rock sprayed across the chamber.

Still—

The boss kept coming.

A massive stone arm swung downward.

Victor blocked too late.

The fist clipped him and sent him crashing through a pillar, rubble collapsing around him as petrification immediately spread from where the creature’s hand had touched his arm.

Stone crawled upward across his skin rapidly.

"...Ah."

Victor looked at it for half a second.

Then cut his own arm off.

Blood sprayed across the floor as the petrified limb fell beside him completely solidified.

The system activated again.

One hundred.

Victor blinked once.

Then smiled faintly.

"Healing Talent. C Rank Spell."

"Restoration ×100."

Mana erupted around the severed shoulder violently. Flesh regrew instantly—but not properly.

Too much mana.

Far too much.

The regenerated arm swelled grotesquely under the amplified healing effect, muscles layering over themselves uncontrollably until his right arm became massive—larger than his entire body proportions allowed.

Like a giant’s limb stitched onto a human frame.

Victor stared at it.

"...Well."

He flexed the oversized fingers once, cracking the air from sheer density.

"I’ll have to fix that later."

The boss hurled another barrage of boulders.

Victor raised the oversized arm this time.

"Mana Pulse."

One hundred twenty.

The number slammed into his mind hard enough to make him grin despite himself.

"Mana Pulse ×120."

The chamber exploded.

There was no other way to describe it.

A wave of raw mana erupted outward from Victor in a scale completely unlike anything seen before in the series. Not a blast.

A catastrophe.

The floor vanished under the pressure. Entire mountain-sized slabs of stone ripped upward into the air before disintegrating instantly. The shockwave expanded so violently the chamber walls bent outward under the force, space itself trembling from the density of mana released.

Everything disappeared inside the pulse.

Except—

The boss.

It walked through it.

Unaffected.

Victor’s expression flattened slowly.

"...Something’s up today."

The giant emerged from the fading destruction and ripped an enormous boulder free from the chamber wall—larger than a building.

Then threw it.

Victor answered immediately.

"Earth Talent. B Rank Spell."

Four.

"...Seriously?"

Still, he cast it.

"Grand Boulder ×4."

A boulder even larger formed instantly in front of him, amplified massively by mana before launching forward. The collision detonated the battlefield, both projectiles exploding into a storm of debris that shattered entire sections of the chamber.

Victor clicked his tongue.

"I need better multipliers."

The boss charged now, petrification spreading beneath every step.

Victor inhaled slowly.

Then—

The number arrived.

And for the first time all fight—

He smiled.

Four thousand.

"...There we go."

The giant roared and accelerated toward him, entire sections of the chamber collapsing from its momentum.

Victor pointed forward calmly.

"Space Talent."

The boss kept charging.

"E Rank Spell."

Closer now.

"Subtraction ×4000."

The ability was simple.

It removed whatever the caster pointed at.

Normally weak.

Normally limited heavily by mana.

Today—

That wasn’t a problem.

The boss came closer.

Victor waited.

"Not yet."

Closer.

The giant’s fist rose high enough to blot out Victor entirely.

"Not yet."

Then—

Just before impact—

"Now."

Victor activated it.

Silence.

The boss disappeared instantly.

Not destroyed.

Removed.

Every particle.

Every trace.

Gone.

But the subtraction didn’t stop there.

The chamber vanished too.

Then the floor beneath it.

Then the walls.

Then the gate itself.

The entire dungeon collapsed into absence around Victor as the amplified spell consumed everything within its targeted space.

When the light faded—

Nothing remained.

No boss.

No chamber.

No gate.

Only Victor stood there alone beneath an open sky where the dungeon used to exist.

"Still I wonder if Xander could have done the same with less mana".

He turned back to see the destruction he had caused also affect space in the real world.

’Whatever, I guess ’

"Oh and what was up with all those low ass multipliers. X4000, what’s up with that. Where were all the good stuff."