At its initial level, Nature's Bond reduced the aggressiveness of wild creatures, enhanced the healing power of herbs and other natural elements, and allowed one to read natural surroundings. Essentially, it was useless at the moment, but it could be very helpful once the transfer was complete, so I took it anyway, spending all the points I had gathered with great effort.

"I wonder how the others are doing in other places."

"Grandmaster, do you think others are better off than us?"

"I hope so. Our major problem turned out to be the lack of unity. If we had been more cohesive from the beginning, we could have faced this trial better, as a fixed number of enemies appears based on the number of people at the start of the trial. Every time we lose someone, our total strength decreases."

"I wonder what will happen to humanity in the world of Glamoria. After all, there are supposed to be established civilizations there."

"Well, it seems the world is still growing in some way, so theoretically, there should be room for everyone. However, if we project humanity and its way of thinking onto others, there might even be cruel and bloody wars over territories and resources in Glamoria."

"Are you saying that even after we finish here, we have to keep fighting?"

"That's right. Everything indicates that."

I paused, John seemed downcast for some reason, and both of us fell into meditation. Just a few days ago, we were just simple teenagers about to finish our high school education. Today, John was a Knight of the Holy Ashes, and I was the Grandmaster of the order. Tomorrow... tomorrow was a great mystery.

Suddenly, Jane interrupted our silence.

"Grandmaster Alex, we've finally cleared the path to the infection zone. Furthermore, our brethren are ready to march to protect the central refuge. When should we depart in both directions?"

I closed my eyes to meditate, rested my forehead on the pommel of my two-handed sword. I had to keep moving forward; it was my duty to guide these people as far as possible.

"Gather all our brethren to march toward the infection zone. I won't take any risks of losing anyone."

"Sir?" Both Jane and John asked in bewilderment, but Jane's face quickly changed to a smile.

"Yes, sir, they'll be here in a minute."

"Are you sure they'll be all right like this, sir? Last time, they were almost overwhelmed."

"Most likely, those bastards have been hiding their power all this time. They've used our forces to not expend theirs and continue growing. It's time to make them pay back. We'll let them protect the central headquarters while we clear as much as possible and gain some advantages."

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"Yes, sir." John saluted and left.

The past few days had really hit me, not so much the arrival of supernatural monsters, but how quickly a human could change. It was only now that I realized how adaptable we are. After all, these people didn't do much; they used to be the children of wealthy multi-billionaire company directors and other important figures. Today, however, they were knights fighting on the front lines and answering to the son of a lieutenant general of the army.

Anyway, it was necessary to keep moving forward. When I saw Jane calling me in the distance again, I put on my helmet and joined the rest of the sanctuary. As always, before an expedition, we gathered so that I could give them some words of encouragement.

The leader of this wave was particularly problematic; for the first time, we weren't facing a being using magic in all its splendor, but one that was especially unpleasant: a necromancer. As soon as we entered his battlefield, the necromancer raised his bone staff and summoned hundreds of skeletons onto the battlefield.

Without wasting much time, I gave the order.

"Switch to your blunt weapons; he's a magic user, so besiege him with everything you have. Don't let him continue with his incantations."

The enemy skeletons advanced in a disordered manner towards us, which was one of our greatest advantages.

"Jane, take the left flank; John, take the right. Both of you eliminate as many enemies as possible, don't break their formations. I'll take care of the three big guys guarding this bastard. Archers, take any chance to disrupt his chants."

This kind of battle was better fought with everything from the beginning because the longer it dragged on, the more tired we would be, while our enemies wouldn't. Although there were three bone giants protecting the necromancer, the only problem was how to deal with them quickly. They could hardly harm me, but the opposite was also true; these things could take a lot of punishment before being destroyed.

"Who dares wins," I yelled to inspire myself and then charged forward to face my enemy. I ran towards the necromancer, but a bone giant quickly moved to stop me. With its bone club, it made a sweeping strike towards my legs.

With the momentum I had, I jumped with all my might and delivered a downward blow with my greatsword aimed at its head. The overwhelming force of the blow turned the giant into dust instantaneously. I looked at the necromancer and could see some fear in his eyes.

"Intercept him," he ordered while raising his staff, and a black aura emanated from it and entered the two remaining giants.

In the next moment, one of the giants swung towards me with a downward blow which I managed to dodge with a jump to the side. However, I was intercepted by a blow from the second giant, which I had to confront with a blow of my own.

This time, the giant was able to surpass me in strength, sending me flying backward. As I retreated two steps, the other giant attacked again with a horizontal strike. This time, although I could defend myself by placing my greatsword vertically, my feet weren't positioned properly, so my strength was inferior, and the blow sent me flying back by at least a meter.

Quickly, I got back on my feet, but the giants were already on top of me, launching a flurry of blows that I could barely evade.

"Kua kua kua, did you really think you could defeat me, pathetic excuse for a knight?"

"You talk a lot for someone who's about to die."

Soon, Jane and John arrived to help me fight the giants. At this point, the necromancer realized that he had neglected the rest of the army, and the majority had been destroyed.

Although he wanted to raise more dead, I didn't give him the time, and with one strike, I cut his bone staff in half.

"Your turn has come," I said to the fallen necromancer.

"Wait, I can offer you..."