A/N: Thank you, everyone, for your support! We’re entering a new month, and I am so happy you’re all still with me! As always, special thanks to the lovelies who sent tickets, gifts, votes, comments, and reviews~!

Special mention to March 2026’s Top Golden Givers Foxiidust, Czaika, Edward_Flynn_1495, master416, and Angelica_Franco_0220~! HUGS~

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There were quite a few powerhouses who managed to enter the place. Most were stopped or injured by the sentries, but if they were powerful enough and had good equipment, it wasn’t too difficult to go through with minimal injuries.

At worst, they’d just have to pull someone to block the sentry shot, ideally an Alterran.

There had been several flares around that indicated there were leaks, and the guards did their best to handle them, and for the most part, they really did. Even if the leaks were in the level 30s, those who were sent to neutralize the threats were organized teams that could hold most of them back.

However, with the sheer number of powerhouses the enemies mobilized, how could it be so easy?

Garan was one of the people who had been taking down the leaks every time they saw flares.

Because he had to at least restrict them until they were dealt with as soon as possible, he had to use a good portion of his mana every time he took down a trespasser.

The high-level enemies were very fast, so even if they were detected at the outer walls, once they entered the streets, it was a challenge to even get a sight of them.

Garan and the rest jumped from roof to roof in teams, handling them as they came, coming after them as soon as they were detected. When the flares dedicated to the bunker were fired, he was fighting against two level 30s.

He did not think anymore and decisively used one of his major skills, Ice Age, to freeze at least half the bodies of a dozen enemies around his level.

He didn’t care even if it consumed a lot of mana, but he left the rest to his teammates as he rushed to the Bunker area.

The bunker was a bloody mess. Everyone was preoccupied with the hundreds and hundreds of enemies stronger than the average Alterran, and he had already seen many people being rushed out to be taken care of.

Garan soon saw his wife, who, after dealing with an enemy of her own, had jumped off the tower and was immediately targeted as she landed. She arrived to block the attack, but not for long.

The enemies were two elementalists in their mid and late level 30s, and people he wouldn’t be able to deal with easily without going berserk, like what happened before.

He had caused a lot of damage back then, to the point that he even had a game named after him, so he knew he had to change their fighting arena elsewhere.

He knew he had to lure them away since he knew how his power could go haywire.

As of now, his mana hasn’t recovered to create an Ice Dome, either. Even if he did, it’d be difficult to maintain considering the sheer amount of powerhouses that would be inside and outside the dome. It was simply not cost-effective. It was better to spend that mana to attack directly.

However, these enemies would want more destruction, and even if he presented himself to fight with them two to one, they had no reason to follow him to another place.

In the end, without warning, he just sent both of them sharp attacks without holding back, ensuring the spike hit a few other enemies to maximize the mana use.

Althea was asked to step back, and she got her vine to take her back up the top of the tower.

Towers were also non-scalable, but her vines had been placed from the top and had been hanging there.

She had her katana up this time, ready in case the speedster–if alive—still had energy to attack. She was careful, though, taking out one of her last protection charms, and she got the vines to pull her up from another angle.

But there was no one there. There was a lot of blood, but there was no sign of a body either.

This was not a good thing.

Her jaw clenched, but she couldn’t dwell on it. She could simply take her Bellagio again and start to shoot arrow after arrow.

She knew that she had to preserve energy or else she’d be a burden that people would willingly die for, so she only weakened the enemies, using the most efficient amount of mana per shot.

Fortunately, her [Precise Aim] allowed her to make deep, accurate shots even if most weren’t lethal, which has already saved many Alterran lives and assisted in taking several of the enemies’.

On the ground, the fight between Garan and the two elementalists continued, with the latter getting more and more agitated with how Garan was still standing despite receiving blows from both of them!

Garan avoided most shots, but there have indeed been hits. Considering the level differences against both enemies, it was a miracle he still had his appendages!

They wondered: How could he still be standing and defending so well?!

The plan was that one of them would take them down, and the other would target the female, but who would have thought that countless ice spikes would stop him?

How were they supposed to know that Garan had developed the [Metallic Body] technique that increased his body’s defense by folds? His defense was really not inferior to people way beyond his level!

However, Garan knew he would not be able to defeat them in his current state, but if he tapped into his hidden potential, then he could lose reason and cause a lot of damage on their side as well.

The closest unpopulated area was the mountains. There were various sites there, like the hot springs, and some farms and orchards. However, it was better than the battlefield.

While he created ice walls to shield himself and to block the enemies, watching them crack after a few times, he wondered what he had to do to get these bastards out of this place.

Garan definitely couldn’t ask the enemies to move places to fight. Their target was the bunker, after all. Even if he left, hoping they’d follow, it was likely that they would not do so.

Instead, since it was clear that the enemies wouldn’t move if he asked, he’d just have to force them out.

Gulping down a superior mana potion, he immediately created spike after spike of ice.

He did it so fast that even the elementalists were shocked.

The two men had no choice but to jump back every time a spire appeared, unconsciously heading to the direction that he needed.

When he found the chance, a block of metal would float and smack them, pushing them further towards the uninhabited areas of the mountains.

They were further hit by Garan’s continuous ice needles. Timing things well, Garan might even create platforms of spikes that would appear underneath the enemies as they jumped, so when they landed, they would land on it, allowing it to carry them meters at a time.

These alone were consuming mana, but Garan was acting as if he didn’t care. At the same time, the elementalists were realizing that this was on purpose, but the attacks were too continuous, and neither was willing to get injured just to see if their conjecture was correct.

The next thing they knew, they were isolated.

They looked at Garan with odd expressions on their faces.

This guy wasn’t thinking of taking them on alone, was he?