When the blue glow of Alexander's attack receded, the group sighed in relief to see they were fine.

  The scorpion was lying on the ground without one of its pincers and part of its head destroyed.

  It didn't take long for Alexander to descend from one of the nearby trees after that.

  He was so tired he had to drive part of his spear into the tree trunk and use the friction with it during the descent.

  Upon reaching the ground, Alexander tried to say something, yet realized he was out of breath and gasped for air.

  Frightened by the situation, Diana tried to go to him, but Alexander gestured to her—as if saying it was no big deal.

  What most of them didn’t realize was that he wasn’t telling them not to worry.

  His warning was for everyone to move away from the {Earth Black-Scorpion}, which wasn't dead yet.

  Since most of the group didn't notice the scorpion was alive, Ocean was the only one who could react and attack it.

  The scorpion, already sensing its end, no longer cared about taking attacks. It just wanted to take some of the creatures that condemned it with it.

  Charging at the group, the scorpion ignored Mark and Ocean—having already witnessed these two were quite resistant.

  Diana also wasn't a good option. She had moved away when running towards Alexander.

  That left Stella and her familiar, the {Blue-Fire Fox}.

  Sensing the danger, the fox placed itself in front of its mistress and released a blast of blue fire at the scorpion.

  Ignoring the pain, it struck her with its remaining pincer and hurled its stinger at Stella.

  Seeing the stinger coming towards her, Stella tried to stay strong and cast a spell to take the creature with her.

  At the last moment her body betrayed her and cowered in fear… She didn't want to die.

  In that life-or-death moment, every second seemed to become a century for Stella.

  Even after what seemed like an eternity to her, the stinger never reached her.

  Stella was so surprised by this that—for a moment—she believed she had died instantly from the attack.

  The shrill sounds of pain woke her from her reverie and she was faced with a bloody scene.

  As soon as she opened her eyes, Stella saw Alexander and the {Earth Black-Scorpion} in front of her.

  Both writhing in agony—their bodies nearly impaled.

  The main difference was that one had its chest almost completely pierced by a poisonous stinger, while the other had its head almost entirely pierced by a spear.

  Alexander had been impaled while saving Stella from the stinger, and the scorpion suffered the same fate for continuing its attack even in his presence.

  With its head almost entirely pierced by a spear, the scorpion ran and thrashed until it fell dead not far from the spot.

  This was good for the team, not so good for Alexander. He was shaken back and forth by the scorpion's stinger in his chest.

  When his team arrived to help him, Alexander was sitting on the ground with one hand against the wound on his chest.

  Cold energy flowed from him as he pressed a hand to his chest, and the scorpion was nowhere to be seen.

  "Where's the scorpion?" asked Mark, not knowing the creature was already dead. "Did it escape?"

  "Escape after doing this to me?" retorted Alexander, who was in a foul mood. "Only if I were no longer alive."

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  "I already stored it, because we have to get out of here," replied Alexander. "Who knows what our fight attracted in this direction."

  Mark agreed. However, he couldn't help but wonder how a commoner had a spatial item of that caliber.

  Unable to hold onto Ocean properly due to the injury, Alexander had to rely on the strength of his legs and Diana's help.

  That solved the mobility problem—but nothing else.

  The bleeding from his chest continued to flow and weaken him.

  With no time for more talk, the group returned to their mounts and headed towards the path Alexander had previously indicated.

  Alexander's initial plan was to tend to his wound once they reached a more peripheral area of the Star Forest.

  However, during the escape, he felt several 1st evolution creatures, attracted by the smell of his blood.

  None dared to attack due to Ocean's intimidation, exuding power and hostility.

  Even so, Alexander still thought it better not to stop and leave his group too vulnerable to attacks.

  Continuing without stopping reduced the risk of attack, yet it worsened Alexander’s condition.

  The |Invigorate| spell, enhanced by the (Frozen Water Heart), slowed the bleeding—but it was far from stopping.

  With no better idea in mind, Alexander had Diana hold him with one hand while he forced his more wounded side so he could wash the wound with [Intermediate Health Potions] without interrupting his spell.

  After feeling great pain and suppressing several anguished groans, Alexander finally managed to wash the wound well, which made his situation improve a bit.

  He only felt a little better after drinking the [Advanced Health Potion] he had bought for emergencies.

  Seeing Alexander recover a bit, Mark urged his horse, which wasn't very happy about it, to pull alongside Ocean. "Can you continue?"

  "I should manage somehow," replied Alexander weakly.

  "Thank you," said Stella very quietly, almost a whisper.

  Alexander merely nodded slightly at Stella. He had neither the time nor the energy to think about her pride or mixed feelings.

  "I have to ask," said Mark, entering the conversation to break the heavy atmosphere that formed around Stella. "How did you do that?"

  "I chained a magical combination that allowed me to use a Tier II spell with the maximum overload I could withstand," replied Alexander.

  "You forcibly increased the amount of mana to boost the destructive power of your spell?" asked Stella incredulously. "That's taboo…"

  "An amount of mana like that could have killed us if you had lost control," she added.

  "It wasn't your lives I was betting," replied Alexander quite directly. "You were already basically dead in that situation."

  Alexander's answer hit the exact weak point of everyone there.

  It was a fact that without him there, they would probably be dead.

  If they hadn't been there, he could simply have fled without even having to fight.

  "I must admit one thing: you're very good at what your fighting style aims to do, Mark," Alexander added. "Otherwise you wouldn't have been able to hold that {Earth Black-Scorpion} for so long."

  Alexander wasn't making empty compliments, he truly thought so.

  In his opinion, for someone so young to hold back a creature like that, which almost impaled his superhuman body with a single strike, had to be very good at defensive combat.

  Mark thought for a moment and agreed: "The {Iron Will} talent is the foundation of the most prominent members of the IronShield family."

  "Thus, the combat skills, as well as the ways of fighting, taught by the family are modeled and grounded to work in conjunction with that talent," he explained.

  Alexander nodded to show he understood and turned his attention back to the wound.

  He needed to concentrate fully to avoid consuming too much mana and bleeding to death as his mana ran out.

  After a few hours, when the group left the Star Forest and returned to the Empire, Alexander, who had been somewhat inert until then, turned to his companions riding beside him and said: "Follow in my direction and don't provoke anything or anyone along the way. You'll probably reach a road safely."

  The pair on the horse didn't understand the instructions, or why they were given, until Alexander told Diana to hold on as tight as she could.

  Ocean then shot forward at high speed.

  When Alexander—who had been triangulating the direction he should take upon leaving the Star Forest since he entered it—finally reached Phoenix City, the veil of night had already begun to cover the day. This left the guards even more alarmed by Ocean's rapid approach.

  When one of the guards was ready to fire at Ocean, he noticed there were people on her: so it was probably a familiar.

  "Adventurer… Wounded… Guild… Treatment," stammered Alexander, rising with difficulty to show his identification upon reaching the gate.

  Alexander’s case clearly had its peculiarities, but the guard seemed used to situations like this.

  However, even though he was used to situations like this, he couldn't help but frown upon looking at his injury.

  "Go quickly, kid," said the guard after finishing checking the identifications. "There might still be time for you."

  As soon as his entry was cleared, Alexander focused again while Ocean ran to the adventurers' guild at a minimally "acceptable" speed for inside a city.

  "You'd better get down, Diana," said Alexander as they approached the Guild. "Adventurers shouldn't enter the Guild with their familiars under normal circumstances. Much less ride them."

  Diana followed Alexander's advice and dismounted before they entered.

  When Ocean entered the guild hall, everyone turned to the group and frowned.

  Fortunately for him, Alexander managed to find some familiar faces in the service and assistance sector and focused on them. "Treatment… Wounded."