The sigh of relief that had swept through the reunited teams was quickly suffocated by a fresh wave of anxiety that settled over the ravaged landscape. Adam, despite the strange, dual consciousness that now governed his mind, found himself unable to dismiss the logical anomaly of the situation. His team, 'No Name'—Drake, Kazue, the still-flustered Chloe, Katya, Emir, Falk, and Li—were all present and accounted for, save for one equally crucial member… The collective silence of their group spoke volumes about the fear that had begun to grip them. Where in the world was Gregor?

Chloe, her cheeks still faintly pink from the events from before, wrapped her arms around herself, her worry for the old soldier overriding her embarrassment.

"Where could he have gone? He wouldn't just leave without saying anything, right? … Unless…"

Katya, who had been leaning against a piece of shattered rock, scoffed, a dry, low sound that was purely dismissive, though her eyes betrayed a certain tension as she glanced at the surrounding destruction.

"I don't remember seeing him around at all. Maybe he was ambushed the same as we all but didn't make it."

Kazue, whose body was finally regaining some of its normal energy, turned sharply to the blonde girl, her cheerful disposition momentarily strained by the fear that gripped her heart.

"Don't say that, Katya! Gregor is… he's strong. I'm scared something terrible happened to him, but I'm sure he wouldn't die just like that!"

Solène, who had been lazily inspecting the surroundings, now looked up, her yellow eyes filled with utter boredom. She merely provided a short, sharp sigh before returning to her inspection, completely indifferent to their concerns.

"If the old soldier died, he was weak. Move on."

She said, resulting in Drake shooting a sharp, cold look at her, the anger in his eyes a swift, powerful torrent of emotion that made Solène's lips curl into a small, amused smirk, but he chose to hold his tongue for the moment.

Not far from there, the members of 'Black Phoenix' were caught in a similar, quiet panic, their own group lacking the presence of Nikolai. Alter Drake stood perfectly still, his eyes narrowed as he calculated the possibilities. The numbers simply did not favor their continued survival without the full complement of their abilities and members. He looked at Alter Li, who simply shook his head, a silent confirmation that he had no idea where the man could be.

The quiet, tense panic that had begun to spread through both groups was suddenly interrupted by a calm voice that cut through the silence.

"If you are looking for your missing comrades, I believe I can be of assistance."

They all turned to see Arion Seleran, the elven hero who had helped both Drake and alter Drake during the fight, slowly making his way toward them. He moved with a slight limp, his body still healing from the wounds he had sustained, but his eyes were clear and focused, filled with a sudden determination. Arion raised a hand, pointing toward the colossal mouth of the ruined mountain.

"If I must point somewhere, the most probable scenario is for them to be there, at the entrance."

Alter Drake, who was entirely skeptical of the pronouncement, tilted his head in confusion.

"How do you know that?"

Arion, who was not in the least offended by the challenge, simply smiled.

"Well.. I am an Elf, and my sight is more potent. It allows me to see the movements of the air and the faintest glint of light from miles away. I can see the chaos over there; there is no reason for such a battle to have erupted there if not for your friends."

His voice dropped, becoming a low, amazed whisper filled with a profound sense of awe.

"There is an ocean of Dracling corpses at the base of the mountain. The amount of carnage is simply… impossible."

The image Arion painted was so vivid and so shocking that it completely exacerbated the anxiety over Gregor and Nikolai. The two teams exchanged looks, their expressions now a mix of awe and bewildered worry. The sheer scale of the massacre meant that their comrades had fought a battle of unimaginable scale, and the outcome was completely unknown. With a shared, heart-wrenching sense of urgency, both groups, despite their lingering fatigue, began to move toward the mountain entrance.

The sight that greeted them was a profound testament to the sheer and brutal unpredictability of the system. The path to the mountain was no longer brown earth and gray rock; it was a vast, sprawling carpet of blackened scales, twisted limbs, and ruptured hides, the detritus of hundreds of fallen Darkness Draclings... The air was heavy, thick with the noxious scent of burnt, cursed energy and corrupted blood, a truly horrific, metallic stench that assaulted their senses. Even Adam, who was not easily disturbed after all his experiences, felt a powerful sense of revulsion mixed with a grim admiration. The sheer force required to annihilate such a legion was unimaginable.

Then, they saw them. In the center of the carnage, sitting back-to-back amidst the bodies, were Gregor and Nikolai. They were covered in thick, dark blood, their clothes ripped and hanging off their bodies, and their breathing was shallow and ragged, but they were unquestionably alive. The sight of their two friends, the sheer relief of it, made the two groups charge forward. Nikolai was the first to speak, a wry smirk playing on his bloodied lips as he looked up at the circle of worried faces.

"Well, took you long enough. I was just about to make a very expensive collect call to you all."

The joke, delivered with such an air of casual bravado despite his state, brought a wave of genuine, unrestrained relief to his anxious companions. The teams immediately split, each rushing to aid their respective comrades. Drake, Kazue, and Emir knelt beside Gregor, checking his wounds, while alter Drake, alter Kazue, and Charles surrounded Nikolai, their hands already moving to assess the damage.

Samantha, immediately moving as the efficient support she was, slammed her hand down on the ground, and a small, complex system screen appeared before her. A burst of magical flame roared to life, and a rustic iron cauldron, smelling faintly of old herbs and cinnamon, materialized over the fire, steam immediately rising from the rich, bubbling liquid within.

"What happened here? How did you manage this?"

Li asked, his voice low and filled with a rare, honest amazement as he looked over the desolate landscape. Gregor, in a low and painful voice, simply shook his head, a wry, tired smile on his face.

"We were lucky. Incredibly lucky. The truth is, neither of us was strong enough to even scratch them. My bullets were useless, and the kid's skills were ineffective."

Nikolai took over the story, his voice still weak but regaining strength with every word, painting a vivid picture of desperation.

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"Yeah, well… It was a complete accident. I was shouting at the dragons, but it didn't work, then I got attacked and yelled at this guy's face without thinking while still having my [Silver Tongue] active."

He paused, a triumphant, almost manic grin appearing on his face.

"It didn't affect him, of course, but it completely bypassed his resistance and hit his karma-bound spirits… Or something like that, I don't know, don't remember the whole explanation of his abilities. But it seems they're not exactly the strongest wills, and suddenly, they were all compelled to obey my every word."

Gregor winced, a brief look of shame flashing across his face.

"He ordered them to feed their power into my [Anima Overload] skill. The spirits screamed, but their energy was forced into me, and suddenly, I had barely enough power to take down one of the damn things."

Nikolai leaned back against Gregor, his voice becoming conspiratorial.

"But here's the real kicker: when he finished the first one, its soul was bound to his karma as well. It was an instant reaction to the nature of his skill or something. And that, my friends, was the moment I realized we had a way out... I commanded that spirit to willingly offer itself to the Overload thing skill. The soul didn't want to, but I forced it to, and it worked. Imagine, the force of a dragon inside his body."

The reality of their tactic—a forced sacrifice of enemy souls—hit the listeners like a slap in the face.

"After that, it was a domino effect."

Gregor continued, his voice heavy with the sheer volume of the memory.

"Every Dracling we killed was a new power source. But still, the sheer number was immense, and I took countless mortal wounds in the process… He just kept forcing the newly absorbed souls to sacrifice themselves to my skill. I was bleeding out, dying, and coming back in the space of seconds."

They had fought until the carnage was so deep it had created the literal black sea around them, but they knew they were running out of time. Then, just as they were about to collapse, a strange shift occurred.

"Then, for some reason, they all just… stopped."

Nikolai finished, his voice a bewildered whisper.

"The remaining dragons all looked up and flew away. We have no idea what happened to that massive one, though."

As the grisly tale ended, Samantha finished cooking. She pulled two bowls from the cauldron, the rich, aromatic steam of the medicinal soup filling the air. She served them quickly, and as the two men consumed the strange liquid, a palpable wave of healing washed over them. The cuts stopped bleeding, the deeper, ragged gashes began to close, and the color returned slowly to their faces, though the recovery was not instantaneous.

Everyone from 'No Name' watched the healing with amazed silence. It was always interesting seeing different skills in action. However, it was Arion who broke the quiet moment. He walked toward the two men and, ignoring the filth and the blood, dropped to one knee, bowing his head in a gesture of profound respect and endless gratitude.

"You saved them... Both of you."

Arion said, his voice filled with an intensity that bordered on reverence, reflecting the ancient burden of his people.

"You saved the last haven of survivors... This is a debt that I will never forget. Thank you."

Upon these words, Nikolai was flattered, but Gregor remained with a pretty dark expression… It was clear that being thanked for saving lives wasn't something he was really comfortable with.

While they were eating, Samantha quickly took the opportunity to gather some extra supplies. She took out her "recipe book" and began to methodically store the bodies of several dead Draclings, which disappeared into the book with a faint, shimmering flash of light.

On the other hand, Solène, who had been watching the bodies, suddenly let out a loud, rumbling sound that echoed in the silence, her own stomach violently protesting its emptiness. She wasted no time, sitting down in the ground and diving onto one of the dead Draclings, her incredibly sharp teeth tearing through the blackened scales with a sickening *Crunch*. Everyone watched in horror and revulsion as the High Dragonkin began consuming the corpse with gusto.

Adam approached her, his face a mask of utter disgust, the whole scene completely affronting his rational sensibilities.

"Ahmm… Why in the hell are you eating a dragon when you yourself are a Dragonkin?"

Solène, speaking with her mouth full of raw meat and crushed bone, simply shrugged, the disgusting sight of the blood on her chin a terrifying spectacle.

"It is not a problem for the Dragon race, as long as we do not eat a dragon of the same lineage, which is not the case. Their flesh is cursed, but still highly nutritious."

As she spoke, Adam felt a familiar, deep, and unnerving emptiness in his own core. It was the terrifying, gnawing need of his [The Hunger (Innate)] trait, a pervasive, demanding psychic emptiness that had not bothered him since two scenarios ago… He realized, with a deep sense of dread, that while the Empress was in control, she had never once concerned herself with eating, causing his parasitic hunger, which normally subsisted on his own cursed energy, to build up into a terrifying, unquenchable need.

Drake, who had seen the look in Adam's eyes countless times before, immediately stepped forward before anyone else noticed, his expression one of complete, selfless concern.

"Adam, don't. I'll feed you. Just take the energy."

He said in a whisper, offering his arm like he had done countless times in the past. Adam, despite the intense, gnawing hunger that was threatening to consume him, shook his head, his face a mask of iron control.

"No... That would immediately raise suspicion with the others. They already have enough to deal with the knowledge of my alter ego. As you said before, I can't risk revealing who I am."

He resigned himself to the inevitable. He walked toward Solène, and to the horror of everyone, especially Chloe, who let out a strangled, silent gasp, he sat down next to the red-haired girl.

"Does it at least taste good?"

Solène smiled ferociously, showing off her bloodied fangs.

"It tastes like spicy chicken."

Adam didn't believe her one bit and felt a wave of nausea and disgust wash over him, but he knew he had no choice. The Draclings were beings of pure, concentrated cursed energy, and it was that residual power, not the foul-tasting meat, that would finally satiate his terrifying hunger. He steeled his resolve, and to the utter horror of the onlookers, grotesque, barbed appendages, formed by his [Overmind Parasite], extended from his mouth, and he took a deep, sickening bite of the dragon's tail.

The taste was horrible and rancid, like spoiled meat dipped in copper, but the fresh infusion of cursed energy was an undeniable relief. Adam had no choice but to eat alongside Solène for a while, something that made the girl smile a little more calmly for a change.

The sight was truly grotesque, a testament to the strange, unnatural horrors of the System. Chloe covered her mouth, her eyes wide with a mix weird feelings, while Kazue stared with a morbid, wide-eyed fascination. Alter Kazue simply looked away, while alter Drake and the rest of his team watched while raising an eyebrow, luckily not aliens to their own Solène's… Eating habits.

After a while, with their immediate needs met and Gregor and Nikolai stabilized, both groups stood up. Arion immediately suggested they return to the safety of the mountain refuge to rest and recover, but alter Drake quickly put an end to that idea, his voice rang with renewed, sharp authority.

"That is something we cannot do. Not after what happened."

He looked out over the wasteland, his expression grim and his point absolute.

"Dravhark could return, or worse, he could return with his two brothers and a vastly larger army. We were incredibly lucky to repel him this time, so we must capitalize on this advantage. We must leave immediately."

His cold, unyielding logic resonated with the collective experience of the group, and his suggestion was accepted unanimously.

Arion looked at the group of users, his eyes filled with a new, burning determination. He hesitated for a final, crucial moment, looking back at the entrance of his mountain refuge and the survival of his people. Then, his face resolved itself, and he quickly turned, running toward the group.

"I will accompany you."

He declared, his voice filled with a powerful conviction.

"You are right. Nothing is gained by staying here. In the worst-case scenario, we will all die together, and the dragons will not return seeking vengeance, leaving the refuge safe until they can move to another place. Besides, the debt I owe you must be paid."

With the unexpected addition of the elven hero, the fully regrouped, expanded, and strengthened force set off, their destination clear and unwavering: the 'Great Palace of Vharzun'.

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