No! I don't want to be a Super Necromancer!

Energy crackled around Damien in a storm of mana.

He didn't need to look to know Lieutenant Zhao Lin was releasing lightning bolts—he could feel the shift in the air, hear the sharp snap of voltage, and see the flashes on the edge of his vision as swarms of wasps dropped from the sky, twitching.

The ground trembled as Zhou Feng stomped down, sending a surge of earth energy rippling beneath the beetles before jagged spikes erupted upward, impaling them mid-charge.

Beside that, the heat from Wang Yu's fire spells licked at Damien's skin, precise bursts that turned spider webs to ash and cooked the oversized arachnids where they clung.

None of it distracted him.

His eyes stayed locked on the tide of beasts approaching through the underbrush. He exhaled slowly. His death energy flowed out like silk through a needle, slicing with purpose. One by one, creatures collapsed, their vital points severed with no wasted movement, no wasted mana.

Jiang Xiao Yu moved beside him, her presence as cold and graceful as her magic. Frost blades shimmered through the air, freezing wings midflight, shattering chitin armor with every sweeping motion.

The two of them fought like they had rehearsed this for years.

Jiang Xiao Yu was rising to the occasion very well indeed.

But the beasts kept coming.

Wave after wave, driven by mindless fury.

The captain's voice echoed in Damien's earpiece. "Steady! Maintain your pacing! Don't waste mana!"

The ground rustled to his right, louder than before.

A rhinoceros beetle exploded from the trees, charging headlong toward Verdant Razor.

Damien didn't flinch. His hand rose calmly. Death energy curled into a tight crescent at his fingertips. He waited until the last possible moment.

Then he released it.

The black crescent shimmered and sliced through the creature in silence. Its body split cleanly in two, momentum carrying it forward another two steps before it crumpled at his feet.

Blood steamed on the forest floor.

Nearby, a mantis leapt toward Xu Meilin's Storm Widow.

SKREEE!!

Its shrill shriek rang out as it swung a scythe-like appendage towards her. Meilin ducked low inside the cockpit and struck back, her electrified blades stabbing deep into the mantis's chest.

One hit. One kill.

They were holding.

But Damien could already feel the weight of mana drain settling into his limbs. The fight was only beginning.

Then the ground began to tremble in earnest.

His eyes narrowed.

That vibration… It came from deep within the ground.

Captain Lin Zhong's voice came sharp and loud. "Incoming heavy attack, brace yourselves!"

The forest floor split open.

A massive, thorn-covered vine shot upward from the soil with unnatural speed, its movements eerily familiar.

Damien's heartbeat spiked, not from fear, but from recognition.

The A-ranked plant-type beast.

The same one that had torn through their transport.

Captain Lin's next command came just as the vine cracked the air.

"Scatter!"

The mechas swiftly dodged sideways, narrowly evading the colossal vine as it tore through their formation, gouging a deep trench into the forest floor.

The captain recovered quickly.

"Keep watch! It's still out there. Don't lose focus!"

Damien exhaled slowly, letting his mana settle into a focused, refined flow.

His perception expanded outward.

Every breath of wind. Every tremor in the ground. Every whisper of hostile intent. He sharpened it all, lacing death energy across his senses like a fine net. The enemy was hiding, but not for long.

It was far too bloodthirsty to stay concealed.

While he waited for the A-ranked beast to reveal itself, he turned his attention to the battlefield before him.

They were surrounded and outnumbered, hemmed in by A-ranked beasts whose raw power and mana density far exceeded their own.

But to Damien, it looked less like a trap and more like a feast.

A whole buffet of high-grade monsters.

It was the perfect opportunity to devour and perhaps raise one or two for later.

Something shifted.

Damien caught the faintest ripple, a subtle dissonance in the ambient mana flow. A split-second later, he saw the captain glance sharply eastward, eyes narrowing. Damien followed the direction just as the forest canopy exploded outward.

The sound of trees snapping filled the air, followed by the emergence of another colossal presence.

"Another A-rank incoming!" the captain barked over the comms, voice clipped but unshaken. "Hold the perimeter! I'll handle it!"

From the gloom burst a monstrous scorpion, larger than anything Damien had ever fought in the real world.

Its armored exoskeleton gleamed in the strange, eerie hues of mana-soaked light. Twin pincers opened and closed with mechanical menace, and the stinger loomed overhead, dripping acid that hissed as it hit the undergrowth.

"Stand firm! Keep the B-ranks off my back!" Lin Zhong called, already moving.

The captain's mecha lit up as power surged through it, glowing lines of mana tracing across its limbs like veins of molten gold.

For one heartbeat, all Damien could feel was pressure. Pure, suffocating force radiating from the man. Not wild, but impossibly controlled.

The greatsword on Titan Mourn's back came free in a blaze of golden energy, and then Lin Zhong charged.

Damien turned his focus back outward, clearing space with swift strikes of death mana, but he kept one eye on the battle.

The scorpion surged forward, claws wide, but before it could strike, the earth buckled again. The plant-type beast from before lashed out, vines erupting toward Titan Sentinel's exposed flank.

Titan Mourn twisted with impossible speed for something that size, launching off a nearby trunk. The vines missed. The scorpion's claws snapped on air. And both beasts collided into each other in a mess of shrieking chitin and thrashing vines.

Then Lin Zhong came down like judgment.

He landed with a force that cracked the earth. His blade traced brilliant arcs, blinding in their intensity. Each swing hit with pinpoint violence. The scorpion tried to counter. Its tail lashed at him, poison spraying through the air.

The captain didn't even flinch.

One smooth upward strike. The tail flew free, the venom scattered harmlessly across empty sky.

Before the beast could react, Lin Zhong stepped in and rammed his blade through its chest. A violent pulse of golden mana exploded from the impact, bright enough to turn night into day. Damien instinctively shielded his eyes.

The scorpion dropped, dead before its brain had even processed the final strike.

But the captain didn't stop moving.

The plant-beast roared in fury, vines slamming into everything around it. Trees exploded. Stone shattered. The forest reeled under the weight of its panic.

Lin Zhong's energy condensed into a singular point at the tip of his sword.

"Rest in pieces, beast." the captain said, low and cold.

Then the sword swung.

A golden arc of pure mana burst forth, too bright to look at directly. It cut through everything, vines, trunks, stone, and air itself.

And then there was only silence.

Damien smiled faintly, death energy humming at his fingertips.

So that was the true strength of the captain.

"Impressive" Damien nodded to himself.

The plant-beast shuddered violently, its massive, writhing limbs sliced cleanly through, falling away lifelessly. With a final pulse of energy, its corrupted mana core ruptured, disintegrating into dust and scattering to the winds.

Silence returned briefly.

The students stared in awe, stunned by the sheer dominance of Captain Lin Zhong's display of strength.

Damien exhaled slowly, admiration flickering briefly in his eyes.

This was true strength.

Even among A-rankers, Captain Lin Zhong was clearly extraordinary.

Lin Zhong straightened Titan Mourn, calmly resting the greatsword against his mecha's shoulder. He turned back toward the students, his gaze firm yet reassuring.

"Let's keep moving," he said simply, his voice calm and steady as tempered steel. "We've only just begun."

"That's not even his full strength." Lieutenant Han Jie said to the two War God College students, his words actually encouraging for once. "We'll be fine with him around, trust me."

"Yes. Thank you." Came Xu Meilin's ragged reply. She was clearly panting heavily even though it was a relatively short fight.

Zhao Tianlei didn't say a single word, probably not trusting himself to say anything without his voice cracking.

Damien merely nodded as he subtly channeled his mana to devour the remains of the two fallen A-ranked beasts.

Immediately, a wave of energy surged through him, bolstering his physical power, sharpening his senses, and filling him with newfound insight as his stats spiked once more.

A familiar system notification flashed briefly in his mind:

[Two A-Rank beasts devoured]

[New Skill Unlocked: Poison Orb – Conjure and launch a potent orb of poison, effective against lifeforms up to the wielder's current strength.]

Damien allowed himself a faint smile as power gently settled within him, ready to be tested.