Inside each spach rift, the battlefield continued to rumble with explosions, roars, and the clash of magic. One by one, the remaining teams finished the first wave of monsters. It didn't take long and the second wave was also dealt with — though at varying speeds.
Some elite teams tore through the E-class creatures with practiced ease. Others struggled but ultimately managed to clear the wave with teamwork, grit, and desperation.
But among the twenty teams… one stood out for a very strange reason:
Derek's team had already finished fighting. And yet, they hadn't moved forward.
They remained standing there in the same rocky plain, positioned protectively around Derek, who still sat in lotus position, his eyes closed, completely unmoving.
In the gallery, murmurs rippled through the crowd like the rustling of dry leaves carried by the wind.
"Why aren't they advancing? And why is that boy still sitting like that?"
"Did something happen to him?"
