The situation had unraveled with brutal speed.
The worst news came first: the moment the Rank 11 Chitinid crossed into Veridan City, it seized a Rank 4 female and vanished into the forest depths. There had been no time—none at all—to send a distress signal or call for reinforcements. The creature moved too quickly, its presence crushing the air itself.
To save her, Kather—who had been standing at the peak of Rank 10—was left with no alternative. He forced Yuel to push his power beyond its natural limits, wrenching Kather's strength upward into Rank 11 by sheer brute force.
It worked.
The Chitinid was destroyed.
The female was pulled back from the brink of death.
But the cost came immediately after.
