Running for his life, Sora darted toward the [S], hoping he’d run into an ally—or eveer, a group of Fox pyers who could fend off or distract his pursuers.

  He khat the momeopped or even slowed down, he’d be dead. Sprinting hard for a solid ten seds and c a long distance, he suddenly felt something catch him, lifting him off the ground.

  Trapped mid-air like a captured animal, Sred at the rope binding him, frustration and anger building up. He looked up to meet the faces of his captors, determio engrave their appearances and names in his memory.

  [Maxwell Phelps - Level 155][Clémence Berger - Level 165][Pedro Luiz - Level 161][Asia Sanogo - Level 156][Rachel Cude - Level 149]His heart sank as he saw their levels. Seeing Rachel among the group, Sora thought bitterly, 'A group of high level humahat backstabber sure knows how to pick her party members...'

  Clémence Berger, the highest-level pyer, was a woman with golden hair tied ba a ponytail, and her pink armor sparkled as if designed by her inner child.

  Pedro Luiz stood quietly, his dark eyes visible under a hooded cloak. He carried a massive hammer that seemed almost as big as he was.

  Asia Sanogo had short-cropped hair, dark skin, and a mischievous smile. She held a glowing book in her hand. Maxwell Phelps, tall and muscur, had spiky red hair and a mean look in his eyes. He wore heavy armor that hi his role as the group’s tank.

  The rope binding Sora led to the highest-level pyer, Clémence, who looked at him with an amused smile.

  “So you’re the one who raised that monster phoenix oh floor… We’re lucky to find a gem like you so early irial,” she said, her torangely praising.

  Suspeg the group's iion, Sora asked, “Do you hunt other human pyers?”

  Before she could respond, the aused, seemingly fog on something else, then replied, “The friend here says yuildmates. o meet you! And no, you’re mistaken—we don’t hunt humans. We save the human pyers we find, and are focused on trag down the invading races that threaten humanity. We ’t let them grow powerful under our noses. Would you sider joining us? We’re recruiting humans from all groups to handle any threats we might face.”

  Sora was surprised by her words. It seemed they weren’t pnning to kill him and were eveo including him—a Viper—in their Chi team.

  ‘Maybe this is the safest way to avoid leaving my fate to luck… But it means trusting people from a different group… Arusting my back to Rachel again? How ironic…’ He thought.

  Sighing in relief, he said, “Sure. I’ll do my best to tribute.”

  Clémence ughed at his serious tone. “Don’t be so formal! We’re neighbors. I left Belgium years ago, but we already be sidered friends. And don’t worry, we’ll keep a for you if things get rough.”

  Sora was caught off guard by her friendliness, not expeg Rachel’s teammate to be so easygoing. Despite the apparent goodwill, he kept his guard up, prepared to react at the first sign of trouble.

  Pedro, one of the two men in the group, tossed him a pair of boots. “Wear these, they’ll help you keep up with us. You’re surprisingly fast, but without prear, you won’t survive for long.”

  Sora frow the man’s words but caught the boots anyway, thinking Pedro was exaggerating. ‘Who cares about gear? It’s just borrowed strength—why would it matter in the long run?’

  [Normal Boots (Ultimate)][Description: Boots casually fed by a peerless yet anonymous human bcksmith.][Effect 1 (Passive): Movement speed: +400%.][Effect 2 (Active): Movement speed: +4,900% for 5 seds. Cooldown: 30 minutes.][Effect 3 (Passive): Adapts the user to the speed gained.][Requirement: Human.][Warning: Effects are halved for eaega above Omega 33.]Sora’s jaw nearly hit the ground as he read the boots’ effects. ‘What kind of item is this? An Ultimate item? Isn’t Legendary the highest rarity? Casually fed? This treasure is trash to its creator?!’

  He recalled items being ranked from on to Unon, Rare, Epiique, and finally Legendary. This "Ultimate" rank hi something even stronger.

  Without giving ahe ce to ask for the boots back, he quickly equipped them.

  Still in shock, Sora realized that items like this could be game-gers, remaining relevant for a long time. With Omega 33 indig the level 165 ra was far beyond his current power. Notig the human-only requirement, Sora couldn’t believe his luck. ‘This has to be the product of an Innate or Supreme skill... It’s incredible. And these people just go around handing out things like this?’

  “You’re right, one ’t go far without prear. Thank you.” Sora politely accepted the gift, his opinion ging about items.

  “Hey, stop drooling over the boots,” Pedro said with a smirk. “Remember, they e back to us at the end of the trial… Now, let’s get going.”

  Sora relutly nodded, aware that running off with the boots would only lead to trouble. ‘Unless… hehe. And I get to spend time with Rachel, which gives me a ce to see how strong she really is.’

  Rachel, watg his expressions shift from worry to relief, theement, sulking, and finally a grin—all within a minute—could only shake her head.

  Sora quickly leapt to their height, following the flying group as they resumed their jour lightning speed, hunting for enemies. Often, they entered pyers, and depending on their fa, adjusted their as.

  When they found a small party of Elemental Golems from the Fox group, the six humans ganged up on them. Despite their disadvantage against Foxes, they were so powerful that the handicap hardly seemed to affect them. Sora, however, could dispy his might because of the [Venomous] buff.

  'If I remember correctly, Elemental Golems are fog their attacks on North America, where the old USA and ada stood.' he thought, trying to remember the weaknesses of this species.

  Sora watched his teammates fight from time to time, amazed.‘These guys really are something else. Thank god the first PvP event didn’t require fighting directly,’

  Clémehe “kind” leader, turned out to be a ranged fighter who threw flying axes in every dire. The axes would return to her hands no matter where she was. Her method didn’t match her delicate appearance.

  Asia, a mage, had a unique spellcasting teique that stacked spells on her enemies, building up effects in a rhythm until they resonated and expoially amplified all damage. Her spells, whiitially seemed weak, quickly overpped, melting any pyer regardless of Life Force or defense—provided they couldn’t interrupt her of attacks.

  Fighting half-heartedly, Sora marveled at her teique and silently resolved to learn something simir. ‘This is incredible. I o develop something like that to improve my mana effid bring it closer to my body strength. I ’t keep relying on my crude usage of solid mana—it’s not proper mana trol.’

  Maxwell, meanwhile, fought up close, his strikes making his enemies feel heavier with each blow. Sora couldn’t fully analyze the ability, but he suspected it might be either a Supreme or Innate Skill.

  Rachel and Pedro stayed in the back, the battle like parents watg over their kids at a pyground. Sora found the sight disappointing, as it didn’t give him muformation into Rachel’s current strength.

  While his team seemed uable, Sora noticed that their oppos’ losses inated mostly from a ck of levels and coordination. The Elemental Golems had impressive abilities—enough to impress Sora—but they couldn’t capitalize on them.

  Recalling the three Dwarves he’d defeated instantly, Sora sighed in relief. ‘I think I know the path I o take… I’ll focus on killing my enemies before they evehe ce to use their abilities. Learning how to ter all these strange powers would be a waste of time.’

  Wheer entered a team of Vipers, Sora decided to hide, unwilling to risk the system penalizing him for attag—or even assisting in an atta—his own fa.

  After dozens of battles, the team had grown to 35 pyers, including Emily, Kim, Kara, and h-level humans.

  When Sora reunited with his guildmates and Kara, he and Kara exged polite smiles, still hiding their retionship from Rachel.

  “Yo, Min and Oni are o be seen. I doubt they mao pass the trials from the 5th to the 7th floor. But five out of nine members of Aram made it to the 8th floor. This is incredible!” Emily said, clearly pleased with her recruits’ performance. “Good job oh floor, Ralph—you surprised us in the final battle.”

  “Humans grouping together was a brilliant idea. Was it Clémence’s pn?” Kim asked, impressed by the group’s power and efficy. “We kept seeing your names pop up on the kill feed every few minutes… You’ve taken down so many pyers. Clémence's reputation is well deserved, it seems.”

  Sora poi Pedro. “We just kept going wherever that guy pointed, and it was always the right dire.”

  As the group’s attention moved to Pedro, his expression stiffened, especially when Clémenced his way. Her gaze sharpened, and she quickly addressed the team. “Break time’s over. Lateers, equip your boots and follow me.”

  By now, Sora was u seeing Pedro handing out Ultimate-level gear like dy, even givira items to weaker pyers. ‘This guy is a walking goldmine… I would love to get more items from him. Should we kidnap him?’

  Cheg the event panel, Sora sighed when he saw hoyers were left.

  [Remaining pyers : 722]They soon resumed their movement, following Pedro’s guidahey ged dires repeatedly, often just as they stopped in arusting in Pedro’s ability to lead them toward a better spot.

  This pattern tinued until Pedro finally stopped giving dires. He muttered something under his breath before turning to Clémence. After a brief but tense exge, Clémence sighed and addressed the group.

  “Prepare for battle,” she anded, her voice loud. “Form three groups. Chis on one side, Foxes on another, and Vipers o. We’ll fight back to back, c all weaknesses.”

  The team quickly positiohemselves, f three tightly coordinated groups, each fag a different dire. With everyone’s back covered, they braced for whatever was ing. Sora stole a g Clémence, catg the focus in her eyes, and the hundreds of axes she was summoning.

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