Their heads snapped toward where their allies should have been sidelined.
The sight that greeted them made their bodies go rigid, horror washing over their face.
Their allies had vanished!
The alpha’s pack — the wolves that had always answered his call without hesitation — were nowhere to be seen.
The boss’s herd — the very family she commanded with her strength and instincts — had vanished without a single trace.
It was as if they had all been erased from existence, devoured by something they didn’t even sense until it was already too late.
Lanz immediately dropped low, pressing himself against the ground to avoid the alpha’s gaze that was sweeping in his direction, since this was the very spot where its pack had been stationed.
His movements were sharp and cautious, his mind racing with the awareness that one wrong twitch would expose him.
Across the clearing, the boss and the alpha stood frozen.
The worry in their eyes was obvious now, and behind that worry, the faint glimmer of something they didn’t want to admit was there — horror.
Their chests heaved as they stared toward the empty space where their troops should have been, their instincts screaming at them that something was horribly wrong.
They could only question what had just unfolded before them.
"Where are my troops?"
"What the hell happened?"
The words weren’t spoken out loud, but the tension in their stares carried the questions clearly enough. This text is hosted at novel_fіre.net
Meanwhile, Lanz remained crouched, hidden among the shadows, trying to figure out his next move.
He was stuck between two apex monsters, both on the verge of tearing the world apart just from existing, and here he was, debating whether this was the smartest or dumbest thing he’d ever done.
..... probably the latter.
The thought hit him like a soft teddy bear, and his confused expression slowly twisted into something far more obnoxious.
A smirk pulled across his face, annoying and mocking.
Without hesitation, he triggered [Phantom Stride].
His body blurred, darting across branches until he perched himself atop the tallest tree overlooking the clearing.
From this vantage point, he could see that down below, the boss and the alpha had stopped their clash entirely, both of them too distracted by the suffocating silence left in the wake of their vanished troops.
They stood tense, postures stiff, still reeling from the absurdity of what had just happened.
And then, cutting straight through that tension, came a loud and obnoxious laugh.
Both leaders immediately snapped their heads upward toward the sound, muscles tightening as their instincts kicked in.
Their sharp gazes tracked up to the tree, and that was when they spotted him.
Perched high above them was an idiot trying way too hard to look cool.
His frame wasn’t exactly imposing, coming in at just around average height, but he wore a full black fit that made him look like he thought he was some mysterious assassin.
Legs firm, one hand holding a blade, it was clear he was absolutely basking in the attention.
For a split second, it worked.
He looked untouchable. (Glaze)
And then the moment ended.
The boss and the alpha glanced at each other, their eyes silently agreeing on the same conclusion — this wasn’t worth their time.
Their allies had vanished without explanation, their duel was still unresolved, and the last thing they needed was to waste energy acknowledging whatever idiot had just climbed a tree to laugh at them.
So, with nothing more than a brief flick of their gazes, both leaders promptly ignored him and turned their focus back to the real problem at hand.
Meanwhile, above them, Lanz stood, still posing, staring down at two beasts who had just collectively decided he didn’t matter.
"Wow," he muttered under his breath, grin twitching. "Rude."
So Lanz — very obviously offended — activated [Phantom Stride] again, his body vanishing into a blur of motion as he blitzed straight down from his perch.
His boots slammed against the dirt as he reappeared in front of the two leaders, his presence dropping on them before they could even flinch.
Without hesitation, he dashed toward them, his movements focused and unrelenting, and immediately unleashed his newest skill — [Quick Sever].
His blade whipped through the air in rapid succession, each strike carving into muscle with surgical precision.
Ten consecutive shallow slashes landed in the span of seconds, his strikes were clean enough to cut through tendons.
Both beasts collapsed almost instantly.
Their limbs gave way under their own weight, their balance shattered as their legs buckled and sent them crashing to the ground.
The pain registered too quickly, and so did the realization.
Their eyes widened, their breaths grew ragged. That’s when the thought hit them in unison — ’What the hell did this guy just do?’
Lanz didn’t even look at them directly.
He stood with his back turned, his stance relaxed, his helmet tilted just enough for both beasts to see the sharp angle of his head, mocking their downfall by barely acknowledging it.
That was when it happened.
For the first time in a long time, both leaders felt something they weren’t used to feeling.
The wolf that had ruled his pack with iron instincts and the boar that had led her herd with overwhelming force, were suddenly staring at something they couldn’t understand.
Their breaths came oblique, their pupils shrank, and what replaced their battle-born fury was a single raw emotion that twisted their insides.
His muffled voice cut through the silence, calm but dripping with venom.
"You know," he said casually, "I was kinda bummed that I didn’t get to kill the rest of the boars myself."
The words sank deep into the ears of the two beasts still writhing on the ground.
The boss’s massive body trembled, her legs twitching uselessly under her.
The alpha’s growl died in his throat, replaced by a low whimper he couldn’t swallow back.
"But what really got me," Lanz continued, tilting his head a little further so his muffled voice carried over both of them, "was that you two idiots didn’t even include me in your little clash earlier." His tone sharpened, the smirk audible in his voice. "So, you bozos can just take the L."
He let the words hang there, his calm delivery somehow heavier than a scream would have been.
The boss twitched, her breathing sharp and erratic, while the alpha’s ears flattened, his gaze shaking as though his instincts were screaming at him to run.
"But oh well," Lanz finished, lifting his blade slightly, his voice shifting into an almost playful mockery, "at least I got to test my new skill on the dumb b*tches that thought leaving me out was a good idea."
ALT SYSTEM — USER PROFILE: ZERO
Global System Tracking: DISABLED
World Rank Association: UNLINKED
STR: 20 | AGI: 10 (Affinity) | VIT: 8 | DEX: 5 | INT: 17 | WIS: 5
[Available Stat Points: 0]
[Derived Stat — MANA: 86 / 90]
[Crimson Slash Lv. 1]
[Phantom Stride Lv. 2]
[Instinctive Blade Lv.1]
[Predictive Guard Lv.1]
[Skill Fusion Menu: Active]
[Dev Tree: Tier 0 Access Granted]
[Developer Node – Fusion Core Anchor: Active]
Aged Blade Fragment (??? Rarity) (Bound)
Training Ring (+1 VIT)
Ring of Genorya - ???