CHAPTER 48: CHAPTER 48: ONE AGAINST ALL

[Iron 2 successfully reached!]

"Huh? I’ve already advanced?"

Lian had continued his geometric cultivation, traversing nine more lines before stopping.

His body had undergone a slight improvement, reaching Iron 2, a small but tangible step forward in his physical strength.

"I take back everything I said about the system..." he murmured while throwing punches into the air, testing his newfound strength. "It’s incredible!"

He had crossed a total of ten lines before advancing in rank, unlike the fifteen needed to reach Bronze 2.

This meant only one thing: advancing as a Mage was harder than as a Knight.

At least for now. Lian could not be certain.

"I feel only slightly stronger, nothing compared to when I became Bronze 2. But that’s normal; after all, a Mage’s body is a bit stronger than a mere Knight’s due to the mana surrounding it."

Lian did not think much before continuing his cultivation.

Like meditation, the ten cultivation lines had outlined a circular quadrant, a quarter of a circle.

"Good, let’s keep going!"

The eleventh line appeared, the first after advancing. With determination, Lian positioned himself on it.

"Hm, this time the pressure has increased significantly," he murmured with a thoughtful expression. "But not enough to stop me!" The resolve in his eyes grew stronger as he walked along the line.

His mana was still unusable and would remain so for who knew how long.

After crossing three lines, Lian stopped. The pressure had become unbearably high; he could not handle the fourth line.

"Hm, I feel slightly stronger..." he said, looking around. All that surrounded him was rocky terrain, boulders, and massive stones.

And since he could not do anything else...

"Well, this seems like a good spot to rest. I’ll just wait for my mana to recover before continuing exploration and training."

Lian sat on the ground, leaning his tired back from cultivation against a rock, waiting to recover...

But before he could rest even a few minutes, a tremor shook the ground, snapping him to attention.

Lian opened his eyes abruptly, standing up, searching for the source of the tremor, but found nothing. There was nothing suspicious nearby.

Yet the tremor continued, not steadily but rhythmically, like the tremor of footsteps.

"What the hell is happening now?" His expression was slightly irritated as he sat back down. Whatever was happening, he could not face it in that state.

As time passed, the tremor grew more intense. A sigh left Lian’s lips as he stood again. "Alright, I get it... I can’t ignore it."

The frown on his face was prominent as he moved cautiously toward the source of the noise.

The closer he got, the more he could hear them.

They were footsteps. Rhythmic, slow, powerful.

"What kind of creature could cause this?" he wondered as he climbed a taller rocky hill. The entire earthy area became visible to Lian’s scrutinizing eyes.

"Let’s see what you are—" His breath caught, his words stuck in his throat as his soul nearly left his body, a wave of dread washing over him.

A massive creature, as large as a house, was walking at a slow pace.

Its figure closely resembled an elephant. A long trunk extended from its head, while four curved, sharp tusks protruded from its mouth.

Its legs were thick, muscular, and powerful, its torso defined and full of muscles. It had a long tail ending in a spherical shape studded with spikes, dragged along, leaving a trail of destruction on the ground.

"What kind of monster is that!?" Lian backed away, frightened, his eyes trembling as he instinctively crouched. The monster before him bore no resemblance to those weak, quirky golems with strange tendencies.

Lian could not gauge the monster’s power; its aura was contained while the elephant’s eyes were closed.

Only the rhythmic sound of its steps crossing the rocky area could be heard distinctly.

"Alright, no questions—" At that moment, the mana within Lian began to flow again.

But before he could celebrate, he saw the monster’s head turn in his direction.

"Oh, damn!" he shouted instinctively, only to notice a moment later that the elephant’s eyes were still closed.

Lian did his best to suppress the mana within his body, trying to remain invisible, but he failed. After all, he had not learned such a technique.

Damn it! he thought, covering his foolish mouth with his hands.

Despite all of Lian’s antics, the monster seemed to notice nothing. Turning its head back to its original position, it continued its path toward an unknown destination.

Trying to stay as still as possible, Lian waited patiently until the monster was farther away before turning and running at full speed.

"That was close! What the hell was that, the boss of this Gate?! How am I supposed to face it?"

Questions upon questions, but no answers in sight. Lian kept walking for a while when a golem appeared.

"Oh, yes, finally. I was starting to get bored..." he said, calmly observing the roar of the Bronze 1 monster. "Pointless, you’re too weak to face me. You’d need some help, you know?"

Lian had his arms crossed over his chest and an expression of pure pride on his face. It would not take him long to take it out.

But with a sudden tremor of the earth, cracks and fissures opened in the ground, revealing more golems. Some were larger, others smaller, but one thing was clear.

They were not friendly, more like a hostile horde emerging from the earth.

"Okay, maybe I should just shut up. Is it possible I never learn?!"

The roars of the newcomers joined the first golem’s as the ground beneath Lian began to crumble like paper.

The monsters that appeared this time were not just simple Bronze 1s and Bronze 2s. Lian sensed the power of a Bronze 4 in the mix, along with several Bronze 3s.

It was a full formation, with dozens of golems in sight.

"Oh yes! So many Mana Core just for me!" Lian did not panic. He knew the golems’ spells and would not be caught off guard. With mastery and agility, he began dodging the spikes emerging from underground while avoiding the cracked ground.

"Damn you, you really love burying people, huh? Now it’s my turn!"

"Geometric Spell, Square"

Lian had no intention of failing this time. He had understood his mistake and would not repeat it.

Taking his time, Lian began drawing a massive square with mastery. Needless to say, it was perfect, just like the first one he had drawn.

"Terra Fortis, Terra Tremor"

[Precision: 78%]

Lian uttered the spell, and a moment later, a powerful tremor echoed through the area, a shockwave that disrupted the battlefield.

The golems were hit by a strong quake, their movements slow and imprecise due to their short, thick legs.

Many lost their balance and fell to the ground, others were swallowed by the earth, while some managed to stay upright by sheer luck.

"Not bad!" Lian murmured before drawing a simple, normal-sized square in his mind.

"Terra Fortis, Terra Petra"

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Author Note!

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