The footsteps grew faster, the sound echoing faintly through the space as if someone was running towards her.

Ling Xuan shut her eyes, her body went still as she focused, trying to determine whether what was approaching was human or monster. She listened carefully, her breathing almost unnoticed while her grip on the sword tightened slightly.

The sound came again. But this time it was faster and heavier. Her ears quirked up slightly as a subtle frown settled between her brows.

Then suddenly, it became too fast to follow, as if it had blurred into something unnatural, and for a brief moment, Ling Xuan could no longer clearly track it. A quiet warning rose in her chest.

Suddenly, a huge dark figure lunged from the darkness, its claws tearing through the air as it aimed directly for her throat. Ling Xuan moved at the exact same moment, her body shifting to the side with precise control as her blade rose in a clean arc.

The sword cut through the creature’s neck in one smooth motion, and its head separated from its body before it could even land, its corpse collapsing heavily behind her.

Another rushed in immediately from her blind side, its mouth wide open with jagged teeth snapping toward her shoulder. This time, Ling Xuan stepped forward, her movement sharp and controlled as she drove her blade upward from below, piercing straight through its jaw and into its skull.

Her eyes remained shut as she focused merely on her hearing. She knew that with her eyes open and the surroundings dark, she wouldn’t see anything and could easily lose her composure.

She twisted her wrist and pulled the blade free, and the creature dropped lifelessly at her feet.

She stepped forward slowly, her knees bent in a fighting position and her sword swirled slightly in her hand.

Whoosh.

Ling Xuan noticed the distortion in the air, this time it was more than one.

Two monsters charged at once, their movements wild but fast as they closed in from both sides. Ling Xuan stepped into the narrow space between them, her body lowering slightly as her sword swept outward in a horizontal strike that cut cleanly through the chest of one, then reversed direction in the same motion to slice through the neck of the other.

Both bodies staggered for a split second before collapsing almost at the same time.

Another leapt toward her from above, its claws extended and its weight thrown fully into the attack, but Ling Xuan pivoted on her heel and raised her sword, meeting it mid-air. The blade drove straight through its torso, and with a sharp downward motion, she split it apart as it fell, its body hitting the ground in two separate halves.

The air was filled with the sound of flesh tearing and bodies hitting the ground, but Ling Xuan’s movements remained calm and precise, each step calculated, and ruthless.

Within moments, the last monster staggered before her, barely standing as blood poured from its wounds, and without hesitation, Ling Xuan stepped forward and drove her sword straight through its chest, piercing cleanly through as its body jerked once before going still.

She pulled her blade free. Dark blood dropped from the edge of her sword. She turned in the direction the monsters came from.

’With this many monsters, the person who made the arrow mark might already have escaped... if unfortunate might be no more.’ She thought inwardly.

But she felt the urge to explore deeper. After a moment of hesitation, she took another step forward...

"Commander!" Gabriel’s voice echoed from outside, urgent and tense. "We’re surrounded!"

Ling Xuan’s expression did remain passive as she turned immediately, and in the next moment, she rushed out of the underground entrance.

The scene outside was pure chaos.

Monsters poured in from all directions, their numbers far greater than before as they closed in around the soldiers, who had formed a tight defensive circle while firing relentlessly. Gunshots rang through the forest as monsters dropped but were quickly replaced by more.

"Hold the line!" Gabriel shouted as he fired into the approaching creatures, his voice cutting through the chaos.

Ling Xuan rushed forward into the swarm of monsters.

A monster lunged toward one of the soldiers from the front, its claws inches away from his face, but Ling Xuan appeared beside it in an instant, her blade flashing as it cut cleanly through its torso, splitting it apart before it could touch him.

She moved again immediately, her body weaving through the battlefield in a flash as another creature rushed her, but she sidestepped and brought her sword down in a diagonal strike that cleaved through its shoulder and chest, dropping it instantly.

Two more charged from the side, their movements erratic and fast, but Ling Xuan ducked low, her foot pushing the soil, as her other foot bent slightly.

She swung her sword in one clean motion, cutting through their legs before she raised it in a swift upward motion, slicing through both their bodies as they fell toward her.

The soldiers became confident as they followed her movements, their formation tightening as they covered each other more effectively, their gunfire growing more precise as they aimed for the heads of the creatures while Ling Xuan cut down anything that broke through their line.

Another monster leapt high above her, attempting to strike from behind, but Ling Xuan sensed it instantly and turned in the blink of an eye.

Her blade thrusting upward to meet it mid-air as she pierced straight through its chest, her cold eyes met with the monster’s soulless ones, then she twisted her sword and threw it aside, its body crashing into another creature and knocking it off balance.

"Left side!" a soldier shouted.

Ling Xuan moved swiftly to the other side of the battlefield in seconds as she intercepted a group of monsters trying to break through, her sword flashing repeatedly as she cut through them one after another, her movements swift and controlled, leaving no opening for them to retaliate.

The fight grew fierce, filled with constant movement and the clash of steel against flesh, but under Ling Xuan’s lead, the chaos began to turn, the soldiers pushing back as the monsters fell one after another, their numbers thinning as the ground became littered with bodies.