My Special Ability is Growing Muscles

'F*ck that bastard who said the mission is easy!'

Kairo thought as he gritted his teeth. His eyes burned, tears falling down his cheeks in waves; it was so embarrassing and the only grace to his dignity was the fact that he was not the only one with tears flowing down his eyes.

Besides, if tears was the price to pay for survival, then he didn't care.

The crimson haze clung to the caravan like a living thing.

Every breath burned, and every step left raw blisters. The students coughed into their sleeves, huddling tighter around the wagons as the instructors barked orders from the front while still battling the Treants.

They've killed a few of them, but more of the tenacious bastards remained.

Kairo's eyes swept the red mist, his nerves stretched taut like wires. His gut told him this wasn't over.

And he was right.

The haze stirred and new shapes emerged, not beasts this time, but figures, humanlike silhouettes with jerking and unnatural movements.

'Dammit!' He cursed at the sight of them.

As they stumbled closer, the truth revealed itself.

"Gods…!" Someone whispered, voice raw with terror.

They were husked corpses!

These were literal human soldiers and hunters that were twisted by plantoid tendrils bursting from their flesh, hunters who died right here in the Wild Zone.

Spores replaced their eyes, their bark fused with their skin, and their broken jaws gnashed with plant-grown teeth.

Kairo stared, visibly shaken. 'Our classmates yesterday… if we didn't bury them, will they become like this?' He shuddered at the thought.

A girl screamed, another boy gagged as they recognized the corroded insignia of a fallen patrol on one husk's chestplate.

Well, the nerves of the students were already on the brink. Now, the mere sight of this set panic loose as it rippled through them like wildfire.

But Kairo didn't let it.

"Hold the line!" His cold voice cut through the fear like steel, sharper and steadier than the tremor in his gut.

Mira wheezed, coughing through the haze, but she forced a gust of wind to thin the air around their squad.

Draven slammed a foot into the ground, activating [Seismic Stomp] as the ground rippled outward in waves, staggering the husks just long enough for the frontliners to brace for collision.

Then came Valek.

Somehow, his demented mind was not affected by the sight of the husks.

With a grin that was all cruelty, he spread his arms as crimson tendrils erupted in a flood, weaving into blood-forged spears that skewered three husks in one sweep.

"See the difference, slumrat?" Valek sneered, fangs glinting as his vampiric aura pulsed. "I don't just survive, I dominate!"

Kairo's face twitched. Valek was annoying, but in the end he was a good teammate to have in a battlefield situation like this.

He was a true powerhouse in battle.

Kairo ignored him, his jaw set as his eyes locked on the husks pressing toward the weaker students at the flank. He lunged as he finally activated [Muscle Lock], his bones groaning as he shattered a husk's chest cavity in one devastating punch.

'I'm not here to posture, I'm here to keep us alive'. He reminded himself as he charged forward to attack.

Not just him, the Monster Trio struck like falling stars.

Adrain froze time in flickers, pulling two collapsing students back before their throats were torn out, then cleaving husks in controlled arcs with cold precision.

Selene gracefully swayed to a dance of death, her Moonveil Sorcery glowing in eerie silver as phantasmal blades scythed through the husks. Her Phantom Mirage duplicates wove between enemies, creating a battlefield of confusion.

The gap was clear between the students was clear, the Monster Trio were prodigies. They carved through the enemy with elegance and power.

Yet amid the chaos, it was Kairo's raw grit that steadied the panicked.

His presence alone anchored the others. The brutality of his style, the way his fists cracked skulls, his growls forcing trembling students to swing their blades instead of freezing in the face of danger.

Valek noticed, and he hated it.

"You're not fighting to protect," Kairo snarled as their paths crossed, his fist pulping a husk's jaw. "You're fighting for applause, and that's how people die fool!"

"What did you just say?!" Valek snapped but he didn't stop as his Serpent Phantom coiled behind him, hissing and drinking blood from the fallen husks.

He smirked coldly. "Only the strong deserve to live slumrat, the rest are casualties. You're a slumrat but you're strong, you're lucky".

"At least you know I'm strong". Kairo smirked, that subtle acknowledgement being all he needed to hear to sideline all of Valek's follow-up talk.

His stomach turned, but there was no time to argue.

Because some of the real monsters had finally broken through the wall of the instructors and arrived.

BOOM!

The ground shook as a hulking Crystalback Alpha Beetle lumbered through the fog, its carapace glittering with diamond-hard plates. Beside it, a Spore Treant towered, every swipe of its arms releasing clouds of paralyzing dust.

D- Rank… beyond the students' reach.

"Instructors!" Someone screamed in panic.

When the instructors noticed, a few of them quickly surged in, blades flaring with mana as they clashed with the titans, but the students weren't free. The husks kept coming, dozens more spilling from the fog.

"Hold!" Kairo roared again, blood pounding in his ears.

He dove, tackling a husk away from a collapsing wagon wheel.

His ribs screamed as he forced the axle back into place with raw strength, muscles tearing under the strain.

Draven rushed to reinforce him, Mira whipping the air to scatter spores. Together, they held, even if it was barely.

Valek arrived late to reinforce them as his blood lances skewered the husks that Kairo had already weakened. He smirked as gasps of admiration came from the surrounding students.

Kairo ignored his shenanigans.

After what felt like forever, finally, the instructors slew the D Rank monsters, their mana flaring bright enough to push back the haze.

And then, the retreat horn sounded.

The battered caravan dragged itself back onto higher ground, away from the suffocating spore basin.

The students slumped, coughing, bleeding, and exhausted. Some vomited, and some even wept, traumatized by the encounter.

Mira leaned against Kairo, her breathing rough. "That was a tough one," she muttered, her voice grim.

Kairo's stomach growled loudly in reply; Mira looked at him and laughed. "Typical you".

He smirked faintly, but his eyes stayed sharp. "It's not my fault that I have the appetite of a Bear".

The Wild Zone wasn't done with them, not by far.

And then…

DING!

~----~

[Class Progression Detected]

[Congratulations! You have advanced to Warrior Lvl. 2]

[Stat Growth Applied]

Strength: E

Agility: E-

Stamina: E-

Vitality: E

[Notice: You are nearing threshold for Rank advancement → E-]

~----~

Kairo blinked. 'The heck, my stats are like this and I'm still at F+?!'

His chest heaved as the words burned into his vision; he blinked again in disbelief. 'Oh well,' his lips eventually curled into a tired grin.

F+ Rank or not, this was growth and he was satisfied with it.

Warrior Lv. 2… closer to E-… it all meant that he was closer to survival and that was a reality that made him smile.

He straightened, his fists still trembling.

"I'm not done yet".