The portal spat out two figures before vanishing into thin air, leaving them to tumble onto the hard ground.

Soren landed on his feet, his knees absorbing the shock, while Ryan tumbled beside him, rolling once before springing back up.

They looked around, expecting to see the familiar surroundings of the Labyrinth Gate or the transition back into the real world. Instead, they found themselves in a place that looked nothing like where they had entered.

"Huh? Where are we?" Ryan asked, his hand instinctively going to his weapon.

The answer arrived almost immediately.

"RRR..."

"GRR..." 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Low, guttural growls echoed from the shadows of the surrounding trees as dozens of glowing yellow eyes appeared. The creatures emerged slowly, their bodies covered in thick, dark scales. Each monster had three sharp horns and massive claws that dug into the earth with every step.

Soren’s eyes narrowed as he recognized the species. "Aren’t they... Obsidian Drakelings?"

"Obsidian Drakelings?" Ryan exclaimed in recognition, but his voice was filled with doubt. "But... aren’t they Third Circle monsters?"

Soren nodded grimly, but he didn’t have time to respond as a barrage of elemental attacks came flying toward them from every direction.

"Move!" Soren shouted.

He activated Quick Step, his body becoming a blur as he wove through the incoming shards of stone and dark energy. As he moved, his eyes darted toward Ryan, ready to intervene if the boy was about to be overwhelmed.

To his surprise, Ryan was already in motion. The boy moved with a fluid, almost instinctive grace, dodging the projectiles by mere inches without a hint of his former panic. There was a cold efficiency in his movements that hadn’t been there before. No, although Soren only saw Ryan buffing his teammates and picking up the cores, he was sure he couldn’t fight like this before. So...

’Just what did he go through in those trials to change so much?’ He thought, his amazement flashing for a split second before he gripped his weapon.

He reached into his storage and summoned his Ironwood Cold-Iron Spear. The D+ rank weapon hummed as he channeled his ice mana through it, the high conductivity of the shaft allowing the frost to coat the tip instantly.

Soren recalled the data on these creatures. Their scales were nearly impervious to physical strikes, but their joints and the thin skin beneath their necks were vulnerable.

"Ryan! Aim for the joints and the neck! Their scales are too thick for direct hits!"

Soren lunged at the closest monster, thrusting the spear with a mana-imbued strike. The tip grazed the Drakeling’s flank, sparking against the obsidian scales. Even with the weapon’s 15% piercing bonus against beasts, the impact felt like hitting solid bedrock. The Drakeling barely flinched, snapping its jaws at his throat, which he barely managed to dodge.

Clang-!

Clang-!

As the battle went on, these Third Circle monsters proved to be incredibly resilient, their bodies shrugging off standard blows as they began to overwhelm the pair with relentless, synchronized lunges.

’I can’t hold back.’

Soren shifted his stance, his mana swirling violently as he transitioned into the Glacial Edge Spear Arts. He drove the spear in a precise arc toward a Drakeling’s shoulder joint. The cold-iron tip shrieked against the obsidian, finally carving through and freezing the limb from the inside out. Beside him, Ryan managed to drive his own blade into the neck of another, though he was visibly struggling against the creature’s sheer strength.

They had barely taken down two when the rest of the pack closed in, their roars vibrating in the air. Thanks to his Iron Will, Soren managed to withstand the mental pressure. As for Ryan.

"Supervisor, I’m going to buff you!" Ryan’s voice rang out, clearly unaffected as well.

"Alright!" Soren shouted back.

The next moment, a surge of foreign energy washed over Soren. He felt his muscles tighten with new power, his perception sharpening as his speed and strength spiked. It was an incredibly potent reinforcement spell.

’!’

Soren didn’t waste the opening. He vanished from his spot, appearing in front of a Drakeling before it could react. He unleashed a Frost Piercing Thrust, the spearhead exploding through the monster’s head like it was made of glass. Even his ordinary stabs, backed by the buff and the spear’s inherent properties, were now cracking scales and sending the beasts reeling.

"Amazing!" Soren shouted. "Thanks for the help!"

With the massive boost, the tide of the battle flipped.

Soren became a whirlwind of frost and steel, the Ironwood spear blurring as it punctured heart after heart. Ryan moved like a shadow beside him, finishing off the monsters Soren disoriented. Despite only recently breaking through to the Second Circle, Ryan’s timing and precision allowed him to keep pace with Soren’s frantic tempo.

By the time the last Obsidian Drakeling collapsed into the dirt, both of them were breathing hard. They had done it. Most Second Circle Awakened would have been slaughtered within minutes, but together, they had dismantled a pack of Third Circle predators.

Soren let out a long, heavy breath as he withdrew his spear from the final carcass. He wiped a streak of dark blood from his cheek and sat down on a nearby moss-covered rock. Ryan collapsed onto the ground a few feet away, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.

Soren looked over and gave Ryan a firm thumbs up. "You were good. Seriously. If it wasn’t for that buff of yours, taking them down might have been impossible."

Ryan wiped the sweat from his forehead and shook his head, offering a modest, tired smile. "You’re flattering me, sir. You were the one who did all the hard work. I just... supported you."

"Alright, let’s say we both did well," Soren said, his expression turning serious as he looked at the dark, alien sky above them. "But the real question is... why aren’t we back at the previous Gate?"

Ryan sat up, mirroring Soren’s concern. He placed a palm on his chin, his brow furrowed in thought. "That’s right. Where exactly are we?"

Soren scanned the dense, oppressive treeline, the silence of the forest feeling even more dangerous than the fight they had just finished.

"Could it be... we ended up in another Gate?"