The last thing Lev wanted to try before reaching the fighting zone was enchanting his ropes. So far, the ones he had used were too thin and weak for that, which is why he started by creating a much bigger rope.

  Wider than both of his arms combined, the construct was pretty easy to make despite its weight and bulk. Instead of making it too long, however, he divided it into sections that could be linked together with a simple ring mechanism.

  Similarly, all of his shieldwalls also received one end of the same mechanism for the rope to latch onto. From the start, Lev had wanted to be able to impede the mobility of monsters using barrier constructs.

  As a Classer, his barriers were simply too weak. The monsters he faced were way higher than him in level, and he also didn't have enough mental power to really accomplish that goal. Using his disks and arrows while manipulating his armor was already demanding enough.

  When he evolved, his class transitioned towards pure offense instead. The durability issue remained, making his barriers unsuitable for too much physical exertion

  Now, with enchantments and multiple bonuses to the durability of his barriers, Lev could finally try to do that. His thick ropes, which he dubbed cables, were first enchanted with invisibility and durability. Then, five of them were connected to each shield wall. The cables were ten meters in length, which limited how far he could place the walls from each other.

  He didn't expect that to matter much. With the number of shieldwalls he could deploy, monsters would either be forced to destroy them or weave between them, both scenarios working in his favor. In those gaps, his invisible cables would be present near the ground, prepared to trip the monsters or at least unbalance them.

  There were more things he could prepare in advance, such as a field of lightning with the help of enchanted rods, or nets that bind monsters with the help of rods again. Enchantments set them apart, and also the much more detailed functions of the former rods. The latter were more comparable to nails stabbed into the ground for leverage.

  After making sure that the quality of his ropes was up to par and that their enchantments were working, Lev left the bubble when he felt monsters approach. Jared's team had already detected them, so he merely waved towards the enemies and sat down on the first cart, telling them to go ahead and test their classes properly.

  "See anything so far?" he asked Melvine to make conversation as the Master team flew away from the carts. All of them were easily carried by Lorene's domain, another potent use she was no doubt going to make good use of.

  "Only a few third-threshold auras, but they are ignoring us."

  Lev nodded absently, having felt them too. Wherever they were going, monsters were going to be aplenty. The fact that he had felt no less than four third-threshold ones was a bit worrying, but they weren't strong enough to make him change course. With the mist warrior next to him, he was certain they would come out on top.

  "I'm going to start charging the cannons in advance," he told her, getting a grunt of acknowledgement.

  All of his regeneration was channeled into the two fire cannons atop his bubble, their enchantments devouring the fuel without pause. He ignored the passive drain and turned towards the battle in the distance, observing the capabilities of his newly evolved allies.

  The results were pretty surprising.

  Over a hundred trolls, ranging from levels 190 to 220, were charging the group, yet the humans weren't worried at all. Lorene's domain shot out, decimating a fifth of the monsters with a barrage of wind lances, before she quickly pulled it back.

  Her teammates didn't mind, knowing she needed to test her limits. It wasn't the mage's fault that the durable monsters suddenly weren't as durable.

  Gravity bolts were fired next, drilling holes through a dozen more trolls, leaving just over half of the monsters remaining that reached Rosy. The warrior's enhancements were potent enough to be noticeable despite the hundreds of meters between her and Lev, a testament to how absurd her class was.

  A single kick formed a crater underneath her just as two bisected trolls dropped to the ground. The rest didn't even get the chance to turn before another crater appeared, and more trolls died.

  Asta's wave of lightning fried the remaining monsters on the spot, putting an end to that battle.

  All in all, their team was decently strong, and despite the lack of a Shield, they could hold their own against large numbers admirably due to a combination of factors. Lorene had amazing zone control built into her class, whereas Jared's element could easily decimate entire areas with gravity. Asta's spells also covered a large radius, and Rosy was just too fast and strong for monsters at the same level.

  While they returned, Lev and Melvine prepared themselves. Once again, they were in range of six third-threshold auras, two more than they were expecting to face. The number would've been ridiculous if not for the four new Masters backing them, and Lev also expected to be able to take down one of the monsters with his cannons. Even if they failed to kill it, the damage would be significant.

  The carts continued moving forward at the same speed, swiftly approaching their destination. When they were close enough for Lev and Melvine to see hints of movement on the horizon, the carts changed direction, reverting to the stronghold they were meant to reach first.

  All of the platinum hunters were left behind with the non-combatants to protect the goods, whereas all the Masters jumped off, heading towards the dropped feather that was attracting hordes of monsters.

  Now, this is unexpected, Lev mused, flying up into his bubble. All of its concealments were raised to the maximum to let him observe the monsters for longer. Weren't these guys the ones that made Sherron angry?

  Averosts were, if he recalled the name correctly, monsters of the forest. Given Sherron's reaction and Drakys' warning, they probably belonged to the Grand Forest on the other side of the plains.

  Why they were here wasn't hard to guess. These monsters must have incredible senses to feel mana, humans, and treasures from so far away.

  Unfortunate for them, Lev was also swiftly approaching the scene. Humanity had suffered an uncountable loss of life due to these monsters, and no matter how detached he wanted to be, recalling a single retelling of the landing was enough to make his blood boil.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  It didn't take long to make up his mind. None of the Averosts was going to survive, not as long as he drew breath.

  "Jared," Lev momentarily stepped out of the bubble. "Go ahead with Melvine and try to isolate one of the monsters."

  Credit where it was due, no one in the man's team hesitated. Lorene's domain scooped them up before they shot off, rushing after the Master that was already leaving a trail of frozen grass in her wake.

  Silently following them, the bubble rose higher and higher, finally revealing the extent of what they were facing. While Lev could potentially do a lot in melee range, he wasn't going to go down this once. It was as if the entire plains had come alive, calling hordes upon hordes of second-threshold monsters towards the fallen feather.

  Six giant shapes were also present, fighting against hundreds of harpies, galeworms, ravens, and other avian monsters for the large treasure.

  He could feel it now, too. The feather radiated an immense aura of wind, making the very air feel stronger and denser without actually doing anything. Whatever was happening, Lev was certain that the creature it belonged to was very, very far from ordinary, even in the fourth threshold.

  Shaking those thoughts away, he focused on Melvine. As usual, she was rushing in with her dome of mist, somehow killing every monster in her path without slowing down.

  Lorene also reached the warrior after a bit of chasing, Melvine's speed not even close to her maximum. Combined, the Masters quickly decimated everything in their path before the first Averost took notice of their existence.

  The monsters were way too big, in Lev's opinion. Shaped like wyverns of myth, the dragons with one less set of legs, the Averosts differed in their obvious birdlike visage. The beaks were more similar to crows, and their wings were also too long. Even without feathers, they had no similarities with dragons, or at least the dragons Lev had seen on the internet.

  Do dragons even exist? He wondered idly, actively streaming his pool into the fire cannons now. Even worse, do angels and demons exist? What if there's also a hell and heaven in this universe?

  That was a disturbing line of thought. Lev didn't think he had done anything to deserve being sent to hell, but he would much rather it not exist at all. Already, his worldviews had been shattered to bits once. A second time wasn't welcome.

  The averosts were exactly as perceptive as he feared. Even with five of them bearing down on the Masters, with four following Melvine and one the other Master team, there was still one rushing towards his bubble at high speed.

  Unfortunately for the monster, Lev just powered up all his speedy enchantments and shot off, leaving it in the dust without much trouble. For all its bulk and strength, the monster really didn't fly all that fast.

  He was sure of maintaining distance until the monster used an obvious body enhancement skill. Mana wafted off its body in waves as its speed rocketed, and Lev was already flying out of the bubble before the monster reached him.

  Stargazer was primed with fire. A fire slash roared out of its blade, forcing the monster to try and swivel around the attack, only for a condensed beam of flames to land on its face. Given the clear line of sight and its inability to turn in time, there was no chance for the beam to miss, which also ensured that the slash impacted its chest.

  Both attacks blew up in chaotic fires that only served to empower each other, creating a third, last explosion that disoriented the monster enough to make it free-fall. Lev was already closing the distance like a blue comet, quickly imbuing his armor and glaive with lightning mana.

  A flap of the averost's wings was enough to right itself. The monster tried to slap Lev away with a wing, the obvious trajectory making it easy for him to fly under it and fire a point-blank lightning slash at the wound on its chest.

  Courtesy of the element's speed, the attack landed in less than a blink, digging deep into the wound. He had already made distance to avoid the crackling blast and then took advantage of the momentarily stunned target by launching his second firebeam at the same wound.

  [

  You have slain [Juvenile Averost - Level 522]

  Arcane Maelstrom has reached Level 269

  Arcane Maelstrom has reached Level 270

  ]

  Leaving the corpse alone for now, he let it fall to the ground before joining the human Masters. Melvine had already taken down one of the monsters, which wasn't surprising considering how good her element was against wind and how fast she was.

  Lev joined Jared's team, which was doing surprisingly well. Without interfering, he watched as Lorene's wind blades targeted the wings, injuring them enough for the monster to slow down. Rosy, with a quick and smart application of gravity magic from Jared, flew in a straight line towards the injured wing, her greatsword cleaving through the joint between the body and the rest of the limb.

  Immediately, the monster plummeted, and by that point, Lev already had his eyes set on one of the remaining Averosts. Melvine had downed another, and even if her strength wasn't flagging yet, he needed levels for himself, too.

  Dozens of lightning lances appeared in front of him. They were charged for several long seconds of his maximum output before he fired three of them. Melvine, already feeling the buildup of lightning, was leading the monster she was currently facing away from the second.

  Before it could follow behind, the lances landed on its back. Several explosions rang out, and, stunned amidst the lightning storm, it had no chance to dodge the barrage of lances that accurately landed on its chest and head. Lev's passive, combined with a third of his mana, did the rest, frying the brain and tearing open its torso due to the combined blasts, netting him another level.

  [

  You have slain [Juvenile Averost - Level 530]

  Arcane Maelstrom has reached Level 271

  Unerring Volley has reached 4th Level 4

  ]

  Sweet, finally a skill level.

  Those were rare, and he was happy with the outcome. Jared put a hole through the averost on the ground with a large amount of mana, leaving one of the monsters still alive. Predictably, it chased after Lev, and by now, the remaining monsters were also starting to join the fray.

  No one interfered as he flew back, leading the monster away from the treasure. For a while now, he had noticed that his flight skill had never leveled, and he wanted to change that.

  Seconds passed as the chase continued before the averost used its body enhancement. Speed rocketing, the gap between them gradually closed as Lev imbued lightning into his armor without holding back.

  This is… manageable, he concluded, feeling his body armor repeatedly getting zapped by the large amount of mana. No matter how much his control had improved, manipulating such a large amount flawlessly was still beyond him.

  Behind him, the monster's open maw neared, unable to see how easy it was making things for Lev. All of its focus was on flying in a straight line and catching the small human, one that turned around abruptly.

  Stargazer was shaking with the sheer amount of mana packed inside. He wasn't in a hurry to use it, though. Instead, Lev kept flying at full speed and pushing the skill for all it was worth. A bit of extra speed announced that he had completed his task, at which point he grabbed the glaive's pole with both hands.

  Slowing down a little, he baited a lunge from the averost and jerked back with a burst of speed. When the beak closed mere meters from him, he sapped his own momentum and landed on the monster's head. Unable to react or stop in time, it could do nothing as Stargazer's blade pierced its head, releasing half of the stored lightning mana inside.

  [

  You have slain [Juvenile Averost - Level 529]

  Arcane Maelstrom has reached Level 272

  Arcane Maelstrom has reached Level 273

  Arcane Passage has reached 4th Level 2

  ]

  Jumping away from the shower of gore and brain matter, Lev kept the remaining lightning mana under tight control and flew back to his allies, ones that were already clearing hordes of weaker monsters like scythes going through fields of wheat.