<h4>Chapter 85 </h4>


    The leader of the sea orc defense copsed, its brains spilling from its maw in a spray of blood.


    The True Demon Tier sea orc had fallen with one strike. With their leader dead, panic spread among the sea orcs once again. That human had not only crossed the sea on foot and cut down theirrades like des of grass, but he had also in their leader with no effort.


    Perhaps they could have put up more of a fight if they were bloodthirsty orcs with berserker abilities, but as sea orcs, there was nothing they could do.


    <i>Creech...!</i>


    The orcs retreated in fear, their eyes wide at the sight of Leonard drenched in blood. But suddenly, a harpoon flew from behind, shattering the head of a fleeing orc.


    <i>Crack—!</i>


    The harpoon didn’t stop there. Twisting in a deadly spiral, it tore through the orc’s head and continued its path, cutting through the nearby orcs. Six or more fell in an instant, throwing their ranks intoplete chaos.


    The harpoon was controlled skillfully, reeled in and manipted by a rope at its end. It hadn’t just been thrown; the lethal weapon was guided with precision, demonstrating Gno’s mastery of spear techniques.


    Leonard nced toward the direction the harpoon hade from, thinking to himself, <i>It didn’t even take three minutes. Is it perhaps because there are no additional reinforcements?</i>


    While Leonard hade ashore and yed dozens of sea orcs along with their leader, the rest of his squad had caught up with him and joined the battle.


    Following Gno’s harpoon attack, Ninian swiftly fired her arrows with precision. She no longer relied carelessly on brute strength or spiritual arts. Her arrows were faster than before, each of themnding true.


    Though still far from responding to ten thousand attacks with one arrow, Ninian had trained to the point of responding to one thousand attacks just fine.


    Her expertly trained fingers handled the bow and arrows with wless precision. As soon as one arrow flew, another was nocked, each striking the orcs with deadly efficiency.


    <i>St!</i>


    <i>Screech!</i>


    <i>Thud!</i>


    Ninian shone brightly as a refined assassin archer. Each arrow drilled a coin-sized hole into the foreheads, necks, and chests of the sea orcs, dropping them quietly with only faint gasps being heard from them.


    Although Ninian’s techniquecked the shy spectacle of Gno’s harpoon, it was superior in terms of speed and effectiveness. Whether fleeing, ying dead, or charging desperately as ast resort, each orc received an arrow.


    And just like that, the beach was almost clear of sea orcs.


    “Lightning Bolt!”


    Esther, too, was eliminating them with lower-ss spells. As she chanted the spell that Leonard had helped her optimize, her lightning arrows struck the sea orcs and paralyzed them. Although not lethal on its own, the spell turned the sea orcs into easy targets for Gno’s harpoon and Ninian’s arrow.


    Lightning Bolt stunned the targets, and the harpoon and arrows secured the kill.


    <i>Everyone is ying their roles naturally. They’ve adapted to the mission seamlessly, showing their vast experience. </i>


    While each member of the team performed their respective roles well, there was little coboration to cover each other’s weaknesses. Ninian’s arrows struggled againsts, which either Gno, with his harpoon, or Esther, with her magic, ought to have intercepted.


    Likewise, Ninian could have aided Esther in defending against the enemy’s harpoons, and Gno, though unintentionally, was obstructing his teammates’ vision with his powerful spear techniques that stirred up a lot of sand.


    “...Not that I''m one to talk, but theyck cooperation.”


    Leonard, a lone wolf in his past life, had extensive experience fightingrge groups of enemies. He had faced the Blood Cult’s Deadly Asura Squad, the Yellow Lotus Temple’s Hell Blood Sickle Squad, the Great Namgung Family’s Heavenly Sword Squad, and the Mount Hua Sect’s Blossom Swordsman.


    He had fought them all, regardless of their affiliation or faction—that was how crazy Yeon Mu-Hyuk used to be. There were times when other people attacked first, and there were times when he initiated the fights himself.


    <i>A spearman, an archer, and a mage.</i>


    Teaching them joint attack formations seemed pointless, as their roles didn’t have the synergy to execute such formations. Rather, keeping one in the front and two in the back seemed to be the best approach.


    Unlike archers, who could only attack and keep the opponent in check, mages were quite versatile, so it seemed better to craft a strategy with that in mind. As Leonard shook off the blood from his sword, he sketched a n in his mind.


    As for the sea orcs, he had mixed feelings.


    <i>They have gills and scales, and their physical abilities surpass those of regr orcs. But their use of internal energyplicates things. A sea orc at the Chaos Demon Tier could far exceed the power at the Tenth Degree External Force Tier.</i>


    Given that they were an orc species, it was unlikely for any of them to reach the level of a Master even if they managed to reach the Chaos Demon Tier. ording to Bermuda’s regtions, facing a Rank C4 monster required at least four warriors at the Tenth Degree External Force Tier or a well-coordinated trio of simrly skilled fighters.


    <i>If they can’t use augmented sword energy or if they go berserk by overheating their internal energy, they would be on par with Conrad. If they’re stronger than that...</i>


    If Leonard hadn’t fought seriously, the other three would have perished. They needed Sword Aura or a simr power to fight against augmented sword energy or ss 7 magic. Matching their strength would have been like trying to shatter a stone with sand.


    “Leonard!”


    At that moment, his teammates, having exterminated the sea orcs, gathered around him.


    “You can’t just say what you want, then charge ahead and leave us behind! We know you’re strong, but it’s still scary when you go in like that by yourself!”


    Unlike Esther, who was nagging Leonard, Ninian shook her head and said, “I have noints.”


    “What?”


    “Leonard must’ve had a good reason to make that call. We just don’t know what it was, and it wouldn’t make a difference if we did.”


    Gno pondered for a moment before nodding in agreement. “Yeah, the situation was a bit too chaotic to talk strategy. If we were going to coordinate our movements, we should have done that before entering the Rift.”


    “Gno, you too...!” Esther eximed.


    Both Gno and Ninian were greatly indebted to Leonard, so they were naturally tactful toward him. Esther, on the other hand, pounded her chest in frustration, feeling suffocated by the situation.


    “Next time, I’ll make sure to discuss things with you all beforehand,” Leonard said with a wry smile. “So please let it go this one time.”


    “Ugh, fine. I can''t reallyin since you covered for my mistake too,” Esther conceded with a deep sigh.


    Having settled the dispute, Leonard continued with a more in-depth discussion. He spread out the map received from Frances, which revealed a detailedyout of the Rift. Although the map was iplete in some areas, the overall structure was clear.


    The map showed a path leading ind from the coastline near the Rift’s entrance.


    “This Rift isn’t very profitable, and we can''t kill everything within five hours. So let’s just do our best to quickly find the core that’s hidden somewhere on the ind,” Leonard suggested.


    Esther stared at him wide-eyed. “Do you really want to attempt stealing the core? It might be too difficult for the four of us to handle a Rift Guardian.”


    “If it turns out to be at the Master Rank, we’ll retreat immediately. The Guardian has to protect the core, so it won’t chase after us,” Leonard exined.


    “Hmm, well, I''ve never heard of a Guardian giving chase,” Gno added to the discussion.


    “Finding the core and the Guardian in the Rift is no easy task. Search magic doesn’t work inside a Rift, and spirits can’t exactly cover long distances. They’ll disappear too quickly. We have to search on foot,” Gno went on.


    “Oh, I didn’t know detection magic doesn’t work here. Why is that?” Leonard asked casually.


    Gno didn’t seem to mind Leonard’s informal tone. Among them, Esther was the only one he was formal with.


    “I heard about it from a magest time. He said that in the Rifts, the mana mastery of mages and the affinity of spiritualists are greatly suppressed. The further from the body, the greater the resistance.”


    “Really? Let me give it a shot...”


    Esther attempted to extend her mana mastery only to realize it was significantly reduced; she could normally extend it up to fifty meters, but now it wouldn’t even reach ten meters, as if something powerful was pressing down on it. And trying to force it could cause a bacsh in her Circle.


    “I can’t do it. Detection magic also cuts off before reaching one hundred meters, and higher-ss spells won''t resolve this either,” Esther confirmed.


    “Is that so?”


    Leonard infused rotational force to the Five Elements True Dragon Ring, which resonated within him. As he extended his mana mastery via Circling, his Dragon Heart showed its power. The mana mastery extended far wider than Esther’s but was soon met with resistance.


    <i>Grooownggg...</i>


    However, something within reacted aggressively toward the suppression.


    <i>Vrooooooong—!</i>


    Leonard was flustered by the violent reaction. A fierce wave of hostility erupted toward whatever was suppressing his power, vibrating intensely.


    <i>What’s this? Is it being hostile to the Rift’s internal space? I still don’t understand this heart of mine.</i>


    Regardless, it became clear what the Five Elements True Dragon Ring was trying to do. The mana domination, which was spread out circrly, took an arrowhead shape, pointing northwest from where Leonard stood, clearly indicating something.


    <i>...No way. Is it sensing the core’s location?!</i>


    If that was really the case, Five Elements True Dragon Ring could simplify the search for the core, the most challenging part of a Rift conquest.


    <i>It''s worth testing it out.</i>


    Leonard pointed to an undefined, unclear part of the map, an area making up about thirty percent of the unexplored region.


    “Let’s head this way.”


    “Why?”


    “Call it a hunch.”


    Esther, Gno, and Ninian all stared at him, but Leonard’s decision was final. Thus, they ventured into the unknown, beginning their quest to find the Sea Orc Den’s core.


    ***


    The Sea Orc Den—given that expedition teams rarely ventured here due to its low profitability, the ce had naturally be infested with monsters over time.


    Barely ten minutes after moving ind, Leonard’s group was faced with its second battle. With a straight path ahead and no structures for cover, they had no choice but to fight.


    “Phew, they’re not exactly weak, and they’reing at us like swarms of ants,” Gno grumbled as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.


    “I’ve heard low exploration frequency can cause this, but it''s troublesome for those who have to deal with it,” Esther agreed before chugging the water from her sk.


    “...I still have a lot of arrows remaining,” Ninian added after she checked her quiver.


    They hadn’t faced as many sea orcs as on the initial defensive line, but engaging in battle was nevertheless exhausting.


    Having observed their battle dynamics twice now, Leonard was satisfied.


    “Gno, Esther, Ninian.”


    The three turned to face him. They already recognized Leonard as their team leader, despite no one acknowledging it out loud.


    Leonard met their eyes andmanded, “From now on, follow my instructions exactly.”


    It was time to train them in coordinated teambat.