Maria ran towards the minotaur, her spear covered in a light-blue aura. This was the spear aura she had comprehended after reaching the advanced stage of spear mastery. She was also enveloped in pale yellow flames that extended to her spear. As the flames collided with the spear aura, the spear glowed with a greenish-blue light, fringed with faint greenish-yellow flames.

While Chloe focused mainly on her spear mastery, Maria had perfected a rough fighting style that combined both her spear and flames. This allowed her to wield her abilities with deadly efficiency.

The minotaur charged at her with a crazed expression, swinging its axe. Maria parried the axe blade with her spear, creating intense sparks as the two blades clashed. The force of the parry shifted the axe to the side, but Maria's spear only deviated slightly from its path, piercing the minotaur’s shoulder instead of its neck. The intense heat of the flames cauterized the wound instantly, causing the minotaur immense pain.

“You have successfully angered me, you damned bug,” the minotaur bellowed in rage and pain.

It slashed its axe diagonally downwards, but Maria somersaulted backward, easily evading the attack. She predicted each of its moves, dodging with precision.

“Stay still, bug, let me cut you!” the minotaur screamed in frustration.

Maria seized the moment when the minotaur lost focus due to its frustration. She stepped to the side and sliced towards its torso, creating a deep gash that was again cauterized by her flames.

The smell of burning flesh filled the air, and the minotaur's roars echoed across the battlefield. Maria’s heart pounded in her chest, but she remained calm and focused.

The minotaur finally went berserk, enraged by its inability to hit the bug in front of him even once while suffering from her relentless attacks. It swung its axe horizontally with a furious roar. Maria ducked and rolled forward, narrowly dodging the attack. With swift precision, she thrust her spear multiple times into its right leg before quickly moving to the side to create distance.

The minotaur roared in pain, its movements hampered as its right leg was severely damaged. It struggled to move, its speed was significantly reduced.

Maria took advantage, running behind the minotaur while dodging and parrying its wild swings. She swung her spear to generate momentum and slashed its back, leaving another deep gash.

The minotaur, barely feeling the pain in its berserk state, turned and swung its axe wildly. Maria somersaulted backward and hurled a fireball at its face. The fireball scorched the minotaur’s face, singeing its fur and hair. It closed its eyes just in time to protect them from the flames.

She didn’t let the opportunity go to waste when she saw its eyes were closed and rushed forward. The minotaur swung its axe randomly, but she dodged each attack with ease. Closing the distance, she thrust her spear and punctured its throat, ending its life.

The fight with the other minotaurs was also nearing its end by the time Maria defeated their leader. One of the fox women was injured, her hand bone broken because she was too late to dodge an attack from a rank 1 minotaur and was struck by its mace. Despite the injury, she managed to defeat her opponent. Maria gave her a healing item from the shop, which healed her wound within an hour.

The battlefield was littered with the fallen bodies of minotaurs. Maria took a moment to catch her breath, surveying the aftermath. The scent of blood and burnt fur hung in the air, mingling with the sounds of the remaining skirmishes.

Meanwhile, as the fight between the corrupted elves and corrupted minotaurs raged on, the rest of the fighters battled various types of ice-type monsters. When the elves and minotaurs were defeated, those fighting them joined the rest in battling the remaining monsters.

As most of the monsters were defeated, the last rank 2 monster came into view—a massive ice golem. It looked significantly different from its rank 1 counterparts that were part of the horde. The golem stood towering over the battlefield, its body glistening with a cold, unearthly blue light.

The fox women, who had used their fox fires to easily defeat the ice monsters, even the rank 1 Extraordinary monsters, found that their attacks had little effect on the massive white golem. Despite many of them attacking together, they didn’t do much damage.

The reason was that the golem was an Extreme Ice Golem with advanced stage ice mastery. The fox women’s intermediate fire mastery was no match for it.

Even with the mastery difference, they all had low sequence, Fox Fire which was much higher than normal mortal fire. That was why they easily other Ice Golems who used normal, mortal ice, despite some of them having advanced ice mastery.

But their attacks were nearly ineffective against the Extreme Ice Golem, which was made of Extreme Ice—a low sequence ice, on par with Fox Fire. Thus, the vast difference in mastery levels rendered their attacks almost useless.

Moreover, the attacks of the ice foxes were completely ineffective, as the golem absorbed those attacks and even healed whatever little damage was inflicted by the other fox women.

The ground beneath the golem cracked and froze with each of its movements. The air around it was so cold that it seemed to shimmer, creating an almost blinding glare. The fox women’s attacks, usually so effective, fizzled out against the golem’s icy exterior.

The golem punched towards the fox women, but its punch was met with another flame-covered punch. As the two punches collided, both combatants took a step back from the recoil.

“Leave it to me,” Darla said, steadying herself. The fox women nodded and retreated, leaving her to face the golem alone.

The golem, now focused on its new opponent, launched another attack. Darla smirked and countered with her punch. Her body was enveloped in fox fire, and her hands and legs were covered with an extra light blue aura—an aura she had comprehended upon reaching the advanced stage of unarmed combat mastery.

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The golem’s attacks were slow, allowing Darla to counter them with ease. Whenever it used an ice-based attack, she either offset it with her fire or dodged out of its range. She relentlessly punched and kicked the golem, causing small chunks to crack and fall from its body. Despite the damage, the golem showed no signs of pain and continued fighting as if nothing had happened. It could regenerate over time, making it a tough opponent.

“To defeat it, I need to reach its core,” Darla thought, her eyes narrowing. The core was buried deep within the golem’s sturdy body, and she had to chip away at the outer layers to get to it.

The fight dragged on for tens of minutes. Both Darla and the golem were injured, but the golem was far worse off. One of its hands was completely broken, the other was half-destroyed, and its legs were so damaged that it could barely move. Much of its torso was shattered, and the core was faintly visible through the cracks.

Darla was injured in various places, her body covered in blood and blue from frostbite. She barely kept herself warm with her fox fire, the flames flickering weakly around her.

Despite her injuries, she felt a thrill of excitement as she neared the end of her battle with the golem. It was essentially defeated, unable to attack, and with its core almost exposed, it would lose its life once destroyed.

Darla panted, sweat mingling with the fox fire on her skin. “Almost there,” she thought, determination burning in her eyes. She had to keep pushing.

Just as she was about to deliver the final blow, a voice called out, “Darla, stop! Don’t kill it.”

Recognizing Samantha’s voice, Darla turned towards her, her expression questioning.

“The lord wants to kill it himself,” Samantha explained, her tone calm but firm.

Darla quickly understood the reason behind the order but still confirmed, “You mean...”

“Yes,” Samantha affirmed.

“Very well, you can take it to the lord,” Darla relented, stepping back.

“Don’t worry, the lord knows about your contribution,” Samantha assured her before leaving with the broken golem.

Darla sank onto a nearby rock, her body trembling from the exertion and pain. She took some healing medicine, feeling its soothing effects slowly mending her injuries. As the warmth of the medicine spread through her, she allowed herself a moment of rest.

The battlefield around her was chaotic, with the sounds of clashing weapons and roars filling the air. The ground was littered with the remains of fallen monsters, a testament to the fierce battle that had taken place.

After she was somewhat healed, Darla stood up and joined the others to defeat the remaining monsters.

Samantha transported the golem to Drake by moving through the shadows, making the journey swift and discreet.

When Drake saw the ice golems, he initially considered adding one to the training room, as it still lacked any magic-type monsters. However, upon seeing the Extreme Ice Golem, he changed his decision. Normal Ice Golems were composed of mortal ice, which, regardless of their strength, remained fundamentally limited. In contrast, the Extreme Ice Golem was made of low sequence Extreme Ice, which was much stronger. Training with it would benefit his followers significantly during their sequence 9 progressions.

Drake took out a gun and fired continuously at the golem’s core. The bullets hit their mark, and after emptying an entire magazine, the core shattered. With the core destroyed, the monster was added to the training room.

With the monsters defeated, the territory residents divided into two groups. One group cleaned the battlefield, picking up loot, while the second group ventured into the newly teleported fog zones.

There were five fog zones, but the best items were found in the three fog zones where the rank 2 monsters had originated. The residents further divided themselves to explore each fog zone separately.

The fog zone of the ice golems was covered in ice and snow, offering little to acquire. After collecting a few herbs and other materials, the group reached the center, where a massive ice mountain loomed. At its base, they found a huge ice throne, likely belonging to the Extreme Ice Golem. Near the throne, they discovered many pure white crystals.

Only the ice foxes could approach the crystals, feeling an intense attraction to them. They realized these crystals were a treasure and carefully packed more than a hundred of them into boxes before leaving.

After thoroughly searching the area and finding nothing else of interest, they returned to the territory. They were the first group to return.

The ice foxes brought the crystals to Drake, believing he would be interested. Drake examined the crystals and was pleasantly surprised as he read their description.

Name: Extreme Ice Crystal

Level: Sequence 9, Peak-Stage

Description: Can be absorbed to acquire the Extreme Ice.

When Drake explained the use of the crystals, the ice foxes were the most excited. Unlike the normal foxes who received Fox Fire, a low sequence fire, the mutated foxes only gained the mortal version of their element. If they absorbed the Extreme Ice Crystal, they could replace their mortal ice with Extreme Ice.

Drake saw the longing in their eyes and understood their desires. He checked the store and found a piece of knowledge detailing the safe absorption of the crystals. Incorrect absorption could result in death by becoming an ice sculpture.

He sent the information to the foxes, who became even more excited upon seeing it.

“Thank you, my lord,” Diana and Fiona thanked him in unison.

Name: Diana Wildfang

Loyalty +2, 98 (Fanatic)

Name: Fiona Wildfang

Loyalty +2, 98 (Fanatic)

The ice foxes excitedly purchased the knowledge Drake recommended to them with Maria’s help, each paying half of the price. With the points they earned from the seven waves, the expenditure was merely a small portion.

After reading the instructions, they understood what needed to be done. Each took a crystal and sat cross-legged in an open area. They began absorbing the energy from the crystals using their ice mastery, following the method they had acquired. Ice started forming around them, and soon they were encased in ice blocks.

The other fox women watching became worried, but Drake reassured them. “That’s part of the process,” he explained. “There’s no need to worry. The transformation will be complete in less than half an hour.”

Meanwhile, the group that went to the corrupted elves’ fog zone returned. The best thing they found was Extraordinary potion formulas for ranks 1-7, Trainee Archer for the Archer path. Since it was a common path, no one was particularly interested in it. However, they brought back all the weapons and armor they found, as well as numerous herbs.

What startled Drake was the sight of entire trees being brought back to the territory. Many who had returned from the fog zone went back to bring even more trees. These were fruit trees, which they intended to transplant into the territory. They brought hundreds of trees of various types, piling them in a corner near the river to keep the roots moist.

Soon, the group who went to the corrupted minotaurs’ territory also returned. They brought many trees, but all were oak trees. In total, they brought twelve oak trees and several baskets filled with acorns. Additionally, they brought many weapons from the fog zone.

Drake didn’t initially understand why they brought so many oak trees. However, upon closer inspection, he realized the reason. Among them were two normal oak trees, but the other ten were real treasures.