As the battles continued, bruises and injuries began piling up.
Several awakened suffered cuts from wind attacks.
One girl sprained her ankle.
A Vanguard dislocated his shoulder.
Even the talented ones weren’t completely untouched.
Reality was setting in.
Distorted Zones weren’t training grounds. They were battlefields.
While the awakened recovered and collected materials from the defeated boars, a few guides gathered nearby.
Their expressions were noticeably tense.
Damon happened to overhear them.
"Something feels wrong."
"I noticed it too."
"There are too many."
"And they’re more aggressive than normal."
One guide frowned.
"The Zephyr Imps weren’t behaving naturally either."
The others exchanged looks.
Nobody liked what they were thinking.
Still, they couldn’t alarm the students yet.
One guide eventually shook his head.
"We keep moving."
"But stay alert."
Everyone agreed.
Damon silently memorized their conversation.
If even the experienced Elemental Users were worried...
Then something bigger might be waiting ahead.
A cold wind swept through Tempest Hollow.
The dark clouds above seemed heavier now.
The newly awakened continued forward, stronger than before.
The deeper they went into Tempest Hollow, the less anyone felt like talking.
At first, the newly awakened had been excited.
Then they became confident.
Now they were simply cautious.
Every step felt heavier than the last.
The group continued pushing deeper under the protection of the experienced Elemental Users, but Damon could see the changes.
The guides had stopped joking.
They spoke less.
Their eyes constantly scanned the surroundings.
Every unusual sound immediately caught their attention.
Damon noticed the silent glances they exchanged.
The whispered conversations.
The uneasiness they tried to hide.
And eventually, the awakened noticed it too.
Something wasn’t right.
This distorted zone was different.
Far different.
The textbooks had described Tempest Hollow as a growing zone.
Dangerous, yes.
But manageable.
What they were experiencing felt completely different.
The further they advanced, the more obvious it became.
It wasn’t just the monsters.
The environment itself was becoming more hostile.
The winds grew stronger.
Sometimes a sudden gust would sweep across the landscape and force everyone to dig their feet into the ground just to remain standing.
Large rocks were ripped from cliffs and hurled through the air.
Trees bent until they almost snapped.
Dust storms formed without warning.
Several awakened were thrown off their feet more than once.
The deeper they went, the more it felt like the entire zone wanted them gone.
And they were still only in the Wind Region.
Nobody wanted to imagine what lay beyond it.
The group pressed forward anyway.
That was when they encountered their first D Rank beasts.
The difference was immediate.
The Galehorn Boars had been dangerous.
These were something else entirely.
Larger.
Faster.
More aggressive.
Their attacks carried enough force to kill an unprepared Resonant Rank awakener in a single mistake.
The experienced Elemental Users finally stepped into the spotlight.
The newly awakened could no longer handle everything themselves.
Orders echoed constantly.
"Left flank!"
"Fall back!"
"Don’t chase it!"
"Healer!"
The battlefield became far more chaotic.
Damon watched experienced Vanguards throw themselves directly into charging beasts.
Arcanists unleashed powerful elemental arts to control the battlefield.
Supports worked without rest as elemental barriers appeared. And healing light flashed repeatedly.
Yet injuries continued to pile up.
The zone refused to give them breathing room.
Whenever one fight ended, another began.
Whenever they thought they were safe, another beast appeared.
It was relentless.
The first death happened before most people realized what was happening.
A young awakener from another city reacted a second too slowly.
A beast crashed through his barrier.
The fight continued.
By the time it ended, he wasn’t moving anymore.
Silence spread through the group.
The reality sank in fully.
People died here.
Not characters in stories.
Not names in textbooks.
Real people.
People who had stood beside them only minutes ago.
The guides wanted to stop.
To recover.
To regroup.
But Tempest Hollow didn’t care.
More monsters appeared.
The survivors were forced to move.
There was no time to mourn.
No time to process anything.
Only survival.
The confidence that had slowly built up over the past few days disappeared.
Panic returned.
Several awakened began making mistakes.
Others froze under pressure.
The guides had no choice but to adjust.
Their attention naturally shifted toward the stronger talents.
Not because they wanted to.
Because they had to.
If someone had the potential to become an Elite Elemental User someday, they became a priority.
It was cruel.
But reality often was.
Damon saw it happen with his own eyes.
A guide had enough strength to save only one person during an attack.
A talented fire element user.
Or a mediocre awakener from a lesser family.
The guide chose the fire element user.
Without hesitation.
The other boy died.
Nobody even argued. Nobody questioned it.
Everyone understood.
Strength mattered.
Talent mattered.
Potential mattered.
The weak were always the first to be abandoned.
Damon quietly tightened his grip on a stone.
Aether flowed through his veins.
He didn’t feel angry.
Just aware.
This world was exactly as harsh as he had suspected.
Maybe even worse.
And nobody was coming to save him.
Not the family.
Not the guides.
Not anyone.
If he wanted to survive, he had to do it himself. And he has been extremely lucky surviving this long.
The fighting continued.
Hour after hour.
The group pushed forward while mapping the distorted zone and collecting valuable materials.
The guides were visibly exhausted.
The healers were running low on Aether.
Even the talented awakened were beginning to struggle.
Kane remained one of the strongest among them.
His Lightningstorm Serpent tore through enemies while violet lightning exploded around him.
But even he wasn’t untouchable.
Nobody was.
The disaster struck without warning.
A powerful windstorm descended on their position.
The sky darkened.
The winds screamed.
Visibility dropped instantly.
"Everyone together!"
A guide roared.
The order barely carried through the storm.
The ground shook.
Monsters emerged from every direction.
The beasts had somehow used the natural disaster as cover.
Panic erupted.
People were separated immediately.
The guides rushed to contain the situation.
The strongest awakened fought desperately.
Kane’s lightning flashed repeatedly inside the storm.
Then came a shout.
"Dodge!"