CHAPTER 59: CLERIC AND COWARDS

The noise echoed through the dungeon like the clicking of a thousand mandibles scraping across stone.

"Chk-chk-chk-chk-chk-chk..."

Kaelen’s eyes narrowed. His Third Eye activated, scanning the waves of mana signatures rapidly converging toward them. His jaw tensed.

"They’re not stopping," he muttered.

"And.. eeeekkkk!!!." Kaelen screamed like a frightened girl.

"Damn it Kaelen," Neal muttered."Really?"

But there was no time to scold him.

From the darkness emerged the next wave: thousands of worms crawling all over the chamber followed by dozens—no, hundreds—of grotesque silver-rank creatures. Some towered over them, hulking beasts covered in chitinous armor.

Others moved like mist, shadows given form and bloodlust. Their levels danced between 240 and 310. Not quite Derek-tier—but for gold-rank awakeners, an impossible wall.

Alira vanished into the shadows.

Neal roared and lunged forward, his fists igniting with radiant flame as he clashed with a pack of serpentine hounds that spat molten bile.

Kaelen stayed back, casting Purging Guard, Life Veil, and Radiant wall on his teammates. His hands moved with absolute precision, guiding raw mana like an artist guiding paint.

Minutes passed.

Neal hurled a chimera beast into the wall, blew a worm apart with his bare fist, and turned to look.

And finally realised that he was the only one fighting.

After punching away the monster he looked towards his friends exasperated. He was the only one fighting these grotesque monsters and they were not weak at all.

The feeling of fighting against deformed monsters and ugliest worms who refused to die was very unsettling even for him.

"Kaelen would you—"

Kaelen was crouched behind a rock, whispering to himself while holding up two fingers in a holy cross sign."Nope, nope nope not a chance. I’m a cleric, I heal. I buff. I make you pretty. Not fight ugly worms."

He refused to help.

He looks towards Derek "Uncle?"

Derek just smiled and shook his head. "Told you, prove yourself."

Then finally with some hope he looks at Alira. But Alira was sweating bullets and hiding behind Derek constantly shaking her head.

"Don’t look at me! They have spider legs, flesh antennae, worms and ugly hairs!"

All hope was lost.

Without any help, Neal began to falter.

The monsters were relentless. When one fell, three more took its place. For every wave he struck down, the dungeon sent a deadlier one.

Neal screamed into the void, "I AM GOING TO DIE FIGHTING A SEA OF FLESH WORMS WHILE YOU PLAY CLERIC AND COWARDS?!"

Derek remained at the rear, arms crossed, a stern frown on his face. He occasionally slashed apart any stray monster that got close, but he did not intervene.

"You wanted to prove yourselves," he murmured. "So show me."

Neal gritted his teeth as another massive beast—a spider-wolf hybrid with blade legs and a level reading 308—lunged toward him. He dodged the attack and grabbing one of its legs, he slammed it towards the ground. But the monster came out unscathed.

"Shit!"

Neal didn’t need to think twice—he was outnumbered, outmatched, and barely holding on. Against the spider-wolf abomination and its horde, retreat was survival. He weaved and ducked, dodging fangs and legs with bursts of desperate movement.

His armor was cracked and scorched, solar flames flickering weakly across his battered frame. Sweat mixed with grime, and every breath was labored.

Behind him, Kaelen crouched safely in his shadow—and still had the audacity to complain.

"Hurry up, legendary warrior! It’s just a bunch of worms! Are you this useless?"

That did it.

Neal froze mid-motion, his eye twitching as he turned ever so slightly. "What. Did. You. Say?"

Kaelen blinked, genuinely confused. "I said you’re slow! It’s not like they’re dragons or anything—"

"Damn you, Kaelen!!!" Neal roared.

A sudden shift in the air snapped Derek to attention. The veteran Awakener’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t hesitate—instantly casting a wide-range shield that enveloped Kaelen, Alira, and himself.

Because he knew.

Neal’s solar flames erupted without a whisper of warning—no incantation, no chant—just raw fury igniting into cataclysm.

SUPERNOVA

BOOM!!!

Light and fire devoured the battlefield in a single blinding pulse. The ground buckled, trees vaporized, and monsters screamed into ash.

When the dust finally settled, the terrain had transformed into scorched glass and smoking craters. Every worm and lesser beast was gone—obliterated.

Neal stood in the center, chest heaving, eyes glowing with residual flame.

The moment Kaelen stepped out from behind Derek’s protective shield, he snapped—arms flailing for emphasis.

"What the hell was that, Neal?! You almost got all of us killed!"

Neal, seated on a scorched chunk of earth, didn’t even look up. Smoke curled from his armor, his hands resting limply over his knees.

Alira appeared beside him in a blink, crouching close. "You alright?"

He exhaled shakily. "No. But I’ll live."

The battlefield around them was a wasteland of charred earth and crumbling stone. All the weaker monsters—worms and lesser beasts—had been vaporized in the blast. But the bigger threats still lumbered forward, their roars echoing through the cavern.

They just kept coming.

"We have to retreat!" Kaelen called, already backing away.

But Neal stood, dragging his blade through the dirt with sparks flying. "Nope. Just heal me."

Then, without another word, he charged headlong into the next wave, swinging his sword like a man possessed.

Alira hesitated—jaw clenched, aura flickering—then sighed and raised her hands. "Alright. Don’t die."

With the worm swarms gone, the battlefield had thinned out just enough to make the remaining monsters manageable.

Derek had had enough.

He stepped forward, his blade gleaming as he carved a clean path through the advancing creatures. "Fall back to the entrance chamber—now!"

But Neal didn’t so much as glance back. He kept hacking, wild and relentless.

Kaelen groaned, rubbing his temple. "Aish... Seriously?" And then he, too, ran back into the fray.

Derek stood still for a long second, jaw twitching. His grip on his sword tightened.

No one was listening.

He muttered under his breath, voice tight. "Rebellious damn kids."

Then he shouted at them. "Enough, this is not your everyday low level dungeon, fall back. Many adventurers have lost their lives in this dungeon, don’t be stupid. We will come back with better prep. Maybe two days. And you’ll still be heroes."