Frostguard City
When the supply convoy emerged from the city, the soldiers stationed outside quickly cleared a path ahead.
Led by the reception officer, Caelan and the others swiftly left the city-state.
Everything had to move fast—because the flesh abominations were already regrouping.
"No matter what, the fact that we successfully made it out of the city is already a major success," someone said.
The group advanced along the road for roughly two kilometers, and the tension that had been gripping everyone finally began to ease.
What worried them most now wasn't their own safety—but the supplies on the trucks.
If anything happened to this shipment, they could forget about ever joining Ironclad Legion.
"Stay alert," the reception officer warned.
"We must prevent monsters from attacking the road ahead. Flesh abominations may appear at any moment."
He was extremely cautious.
In truth, he had already led several previous teams on escort missions like this.
But every single time, the supplies had been damaged midway due to flesh abomination attacks.
Even he hadn't expected Alyssa to personally participate this time.
Perhaps it was precisely because of those repeated failures that the higher-ups decided a powerful awakener needed to oversee the mission.
And without question—Alyssa was the best possible choice.
She possessed not only formidable strength, but also the trust of the upper ranks due to her family background.
This mission was absolutely not allowed to fail.
The convoy carried the supplies across vast stretches of wilderness, until they entered a Dark Forest.
This forest was anything but ordinary.
Despite the heavy snow outside, not a single snowflake could be seen inside the forest.
From the trees to the ground beneath their feet—everything was pitch black.
It formed a stark, almost jarring contrast with the pure white world outside.
"Stay sharp," the reception officer said.
"The Dark Forest is anything but safe."
As he spoke, he raised his guard even further.
Out on open plains, enemies were easy to spot.
But in a forest like this, enemies could easily use the trees as cover.
The surroundings were eerily quiet.
So quiet that they could hear each other's breathing.
And it was precisely this silence that made everyone even more tense.
"Look—what's that?!"
Someone suddenly shouted, pointing toward a fleeting shadow in the treetops.
The shadow moved incredibly fast.
Even Alyssa had trouble tracking its trajectory.
"Rustle—rustle—rustle!"
A sudden rustling sound erupted around Caelan.
Before anyone could react, countless black figures surged toward the convoy, surrounding it from all sides.
There were over a hundred of them!
Panic instantly spread through the group.
Where had these monsters come from?
Why hadn't they noticed anything earlier?
But these people were elites among elites.
After the initial chaos, they quickly formed ranks and launched an organized counterattack.
Brilliant flashes of multicolored skills lit up the surroundings.
In an instant, large numbers of monsters were slain.
The classmate who had previously helped Caelan stepped up beside him.
"Brother, my name's Winston. Let's kill some monsters together!"
Caelan nodded.
He didn't activate any skills.
Instead, he drew his sword and charged straight at the monsters.
Even without using skills, Caelan's swordsmanship had already reached an almost transcendent level.
More often than not, the monsters hadn't even reached them yet—
Before Caelan's sword pierced through their throats with precise, elegant thrusts.
Winston quickly realized that Caelan was nothing like the weakling others had assumed him to be.
On the contrary—
Just based on swordsmanship alone, there was no one present who could match him.
"Caelan, your swordsmanship is incredible!" Winston exclaimed sincerely.
As a top student from the Royal Melee Academy, Winston prided himself on his understanding of close-combat weapons.
But even compared to his instructors, there was still a vast gap when it came to swordsmanship.
To be precise—
They weren't even on the same level.
Caelan responded calmly.
"It's nothing. My skills just aren't very strong."
In truth, against monsters like these, Caelan only needed to swing his sword.
He treated it as nothing more than sword practice.
At the same time, cheers suddenly erupted from the front.
"As expected of Alyssa! Her strength is terrifying!"
"Did you see that? She already took down the leader of those monsters!"
In the brief skirmish, Alyssa displayed overwhelming power.
Combined with her immense popularity and striking appearance, she quickly became the center of praise.
The battle itself lasted only a few minutes.
Several hundred monsters were wiped out completely.
Under the reception officer's guidance, the convoy quickly shifted onto another route.
Compared to the previous road, this one was far more rugged.
But it was also the shortest path to the front line.
The officer had already made his judgment.
If they stuck to the original plan, there was a high chance the supplies would be damaged again.
The convoy soon exited the Dark Forest.
But not long after, they suddenly realized—
They were lost.
All navigation devices had failed.
They could only continue forward based on instinct.
What now?
The officer ordered the convoy to halt.
He took out a paper map from his pack.
As an experienced local, he quickly determined their position based on the surrounding terrain.
Unfortunately—
It wasn't a good location.
Because once again, the convoy had to make a choice.
One path led to Moon Shell Valley.
The other led to the Endless Mountains.
Under normal circumstances, previous convoys had always passed through Moon Shell Valley.
But because the valley lay at a lower elevation, it was extremely easy to get surrounded.
Once encircled by flesh abominations, the entire convoy could be wiped out.
As for the Endless Mountains—
They were filled with unknown dangers.
Even locals avoided that mountain range whenever possible.
The reception officer decided to hold a discussion with everyone.
"I think we should still go through Moon Shell Valley. We're more familiar with the terrain."
"But if we get surrounded, we might be completely wiped out. Maybe we should try the Endless Mountains instead."
"..."
As the discussion continued, Caelan stood to the side, utterly calm.
Deciding something like this—
Wasn't it extremely simple?
[Eye of Insight]!