Was there a limit to stamina's power? That was the question haunting Luke in that moment—when death hovered just a breath away.

During the battle with Morvat, he hadn't dared try it. He didn't want to risk shattering his own bones with a single miscalculated strike. But this time... this was different. He wasn't relying on brute force. This wasn't a punch or a kick. It was something far more refined. More lethal. With steel.

[Force Infusion]—a system-given skill: precise, deliberate, and now fully under his control. It had become an extension of his will, and it worked through sharpened blades.

Charlie burst forward again like a meteor of fury, exchanging blows with the Queen, keeping the beast occupied. Arrows exploded nearby. Fireballs lit up the cavern in harsh flashes of light.

Luke looked at his hand. Unlike Charlie, who channeled her strength into her body, he had mastered the art of channeling it into his weapons. [Force Infusion] wasn't just another skill—it was his signature.

He opened his inventory and, without hesitation, downed a healing potion in one gulp. The liquid burned as it went down, and his body began slowly knitting itself back together. He checked his stamina:

[Stamina: 69/580]

Charlie was thrown across the field. She jammed her sword into the ground, spun to deflect the Queen's second strike—but the creature was already on her again, pressing forward like a living storm.

That's when Allison surged in—a slicing gust of ice, launching herself into the fight with her frost-covered katana. She clashed with the Queen in a deadly dance, but the enemy was faster. Stronger. More brutal.

Luke pulled a stamina potion from his inventory and downed it.

[Stamina: 79/580]

[Stamina: 89/580]

He felt energy trickle back into his limbs—but it still wasn't enough.

On the battlefield, Allison kept fighting. Every slash, every dodge, came at a cost. She was being cut, clawed, shoved back. She tried to spin away and retreat—but the Queen struck. A bladed arm pierced clean through her body.

"Tch..." Allison gritted her teeth and drove her katana into the Queen's arm before being flung aside. Ice bloomed across the limb, freezing the joint in place. She twisted the blade and sliced the tip clean off. She rolled, hit the ground hard, yanked the blade from her own wound, and bit down on a healing potion mid-motion.

Luke threw one of his kukris to test the Queen's reaction. She dodged with ease. Her eyes locked onto a new target—Victoria. The mage.

[Stamina: 189/580]

Luke ran. He leapt, trying to intercept. His kukris glowed—but the Queen swatted him away with raw power. He hit the ground hard.

"Damn it…" he coughed, spitting blood.

Allison reappeared behind the Queen, slashing with surgical precision. Luke fell back, preparing himself for the final push.

[Stamina: 219/580]

The potion had finished kicking in, granting +150 stamina. He gripped his kukri tightly and began to channel everything. [Force Infusion]—to its absolute maximum.

[Stamina: 203/580]

[Stamina: 195/580]

Still not enough.

"Charlie!" he shouted.

She already knew.

Spectral chains erupted from her hands, wrapping around the Queen like serpents made of mist. The creature roared, struggling to break free—and that's when Allison struck like a frozen gale, slashing every exposed joint. With each blow, frost spread further across the Queen's body.

Luke continued funneling his stamina into the kukri.

[Stamina: 65/580]

The Queen tore through the spectral chains, lunging toward Allison with the intent to kill. Before she could strike, a sharp crack echoed through the cavern—an arrow zipped past Luke's cheek and embedded into the ground inches from Allison's head. It pulsed with pure white mana.

Without hesitation, Allison snatched the shaft with her bloodied hand and plunged it into the Queen's chest. The arrow detonated on impact. The blast staggered the beast, but before she could recover, a second arrow struck her back. This one crackled with electricity, paralyzing her muscles for a split second.

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It was all Luke needed.

He hurled his kukri. The air between them split as the weapon tore forward. The Queen turned just in time to see the black blade coming for her like a living shadow. The impact rocked her. The kukri slammed into her torso and exploded, tearing through chitin and sinew. Two of her arms were ripped clean off. Her scream reverberated across the battlefield—sharp, furious, disbelieving.

She staggered.

Then came Allison. Her katana blazed with a glacial light, blue and cold as death. She leapt—clean, deliberate, final. The downward arc of her blade carved through the Queen with perfect precision, frost trailing in its wake.

The beast was split in half. Frozen from the inside out. For a long moment, silence gripped the cavern. Then the Queen's body collapsed, hitting the earth with finality.

*Your class [Demonic Assassin] has reached Level 27! (Class Bonus Points Acquired)*

**[You have reached Level 13! Half-Demon (Rank F)] (+1 bonus point to all attributes, +1 free point)**

*The [Death Knight] class of Princess Charlie has reached Level 23! (Class Bonus Points Acquired)*

Luke lay on the ground, barely conscious. His limbs trembled. Breath came in broken gasps. Then the surge hit. The power of the level-up flooded him. His wounds closed. Bones reset. Blood dried. Breath steadied. Pain vanished. He sat up, renewed. Across the battlefield, Allison remained standing. Her blade hung at her side. Her body trembled with the last of her strength, but she had not fallen. The Queen was dead.

[The General Beast has been defeated]

[The Safe Zone is no longer in danger]

Angelica approached, extending a hand. "Looks like we did it."

Charlie reappeared beside him, silent as always. Farther off, cracks spread across the cavern ceiling. Dust rained down. Rubble tumbled. Tunnels began collapsing under their own weight.

From the wreckage, survivors began to emerge. Jonathan crawled from a gap in the debris, bloodied but alive. Archers limped to their feet, leaning on broken weapons. The battle was over—but the price had been high.

"Help the wounded," Angelica called out, scanning the ruin. Her voice softened. "We lost more people… again."

Victoria knelt beside Melina's limp body. Cecilia stumbled forward, half-carrying Anna, who sipped shakily from a healing potion.

Luke ran to Allison's side just as she fell to her knees, coughing. "Are you alright?" he asked, kneeling beside her.

She offered a faint smile, still catching her breath. "Not even close. But the monster's dead, so I'll take it."

She tried to stand but faltered. "I can't move my foot," she muttered. "Looks like I wasn't lucky enough to get a race level-up."

Luke steadied her with an arm. "Since the day you passed out in the snow, I've kind of gotten used to carrying you."

"Just for a little while," she said, leaning against him. "My passive healing will kick in soon."

They stood together as dust settled over the battlefield—two survivors in the ruins, surrounded by silence, by loss… and by the first flicker of hope.

They walked slowly, her shoulder resting against his. Moonlight filtered through the hole in the ceiling, casting pale light over the bisected corpse of the Ant Queen. The sounds of battle had faded, but a faint tremor still echoed softly through the rubble.

"That passive healing... is it from your class?" he asked. "I wouldn't mind having something like that."

"No... it's from my race," she replied quietly. "It came from my bloodline."

"A race skill that heals on its own? What are you, half-medic?" he joked, trying to smile.

"Dragon," she said—almost in a whisper.

Luke stopped, eyes widening. "What?"

"I'm half-dragon," she repeated, not quite looking at him. "My class evolved into Draconic Swordmaster."

"Y-your bloodline... it came from a dragon?" he asked, stunned.

"Yes. The bloodline I have... my mentor passed hers on to me before she was killed by Lakarion. She was a dragon."

They resumed their pace, slow and uneven. Ahead, the group was beginning to regroup. The wounded sat or knelt on the ground—some receiving aid, others just staring, dazed, at the Queen's corpse. Angelica stood among the rubble, giving instructions, her voice calm but urgent.

"We need to move. This place is far too unstable."

Chunks of the ceiling were beginning to fall more frequently—rocks, splintered beams, even broken remnants of Wild Zone debris. The hole above them was widening, as if the world itself were preparing to collapse.

Luke looked up, then glanced sideways at Allison. After a pause, he asked, softer now, almost intimate, "Why did you tell me that secret?"

But before she could answer, Angelica's voice cut in from across the clearing. "Need help over there?"

The moment passed, left hanging in the air.

"I hurt my leg," Allison replied. "Anyone got a healing potion left?"

"Sorry," Jonathan said, approaching with a grim look. "We're out."

Tension shifted again. The groaning above grew louder; dust fell, followed by heavier debris. Cracks raced across the ceiling.

"This is dangerous!" Anna shouted. "We need to go—now!"

And then—footsteps echoed from one of the tunnels.

"Reinforcements? Now?" Jonathan muttered. "After all this?"

The steps grew louder. Heavier. More numerous than expected.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

Metal on stone. Deliberate. Relentless. The sound stopped. Everyone turned. Two red eyes glowed in the dark. Instinct hit them like a slap of cold air. A silhouette emerged—massive, clad in black armor.

"No... no way!" Anna gasped, stumbling back.

The figure stepped into the moonlight that cut through the rubble. It was a Midnight Warden.

"RUN!" Angelica screamed.

But it was too late. Behind the first Warden, more eyes opened in the dark. Red and burning, like bloodstained stars shining through the void. Five of them. Five Midnight Wardens. The ground trembled beneath their synchronized steps. The weight of their presence pressed down like gravity itself had doubled. They didn't roar. They didn't sprint. They just walked—slowly, mechanically, with purpose.

No words. No threats. Only the silent, suffocating message: The hunt had begun.

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