The youths who charged forward with Leonel paled. Their legs grew weak to the point some of them all but collapsed. There was even a good portion of them that wanted to turn and run this very moment. But, when they thought about the horde of beasts to their back, they realized that there really was no place to go.

Were they really finished? Just like this?

Some of them were here for a chance to enter an SS-grade Zone. Now that they thought about it, just how foolish were they? A single SS-grade threat like the coy fish had stumped them for so many days already until Leonel came, wasn't it too much of a joke to be striving for such a quota?

The more they thought like this, the more they disparaged themselves, and the greater their fear grew.

In the distance, the horde of spiders was swiftly moving forward, their eight limbs shimmering beneath the sunlight and slicing through the wind. They could only imagine what it would feel like being pierced by one of those things… How horrible would their deaths be…?

Though these youths were part of the Slayer Legion, their childhood's weren't much different from Leonel's. Fights between the Empire and the rebels were much rarer in those days compared to after the Metamorphosis. It could only be said that they were marginally more prepared than other youths since they received military training.

But now… they froze up. Facing a beast one on one was one thing, but suddenly facing over a hundred charging forward like this made them feel as though their lives were already finished. This would really be their last day on this Earth.

"Hey!"

Leonel suddenly roared, shocking them out of their thoughts. His voice was so loud that it traveled over a mile, even overshadowing the rushing sound of Force surging out from the geyser up ahead.

"If you don't want to die, pull yourselves together! You see over there, there's a network of caves. Our goal is to cut through here and make it there. Then we might stand a chance. I'll take the vanguard, don't lose sight of my back!"

They all saw what Leonel was pointing toward.

After the rolling hills of green the blue coy fish had called home, the land suddenly became bleak and desolate, filled with grayish black gravel-like land. This bleak land was connected to the valley system that blocked their entrance from other regions. Without any context, it looked no different from a land of death.

Nearer toward the center of this land of death, there was another hill. Though this hill wasn't as tall, it was very wide. It was made completely of dull grayish black stone and had numerous holes of varying sizes dotted across its surface. In truth, it was more accurately described as a hive rather than a hill.

The geyser of Force, still jetting out into the skies, came out from this very hive, out of a hole at the very center of it all. Leonel could also tell that the origin of this geyser was incredibly deep underground.

Thinking of the deep valley system, Leonel couldn't help but think that they were connected in some way. But, even though he intuitively felt this, he didn't have the time to put his brain power toward trying to figure it out. The spider legion was already closing in. In the beginning, they were over half a kilometer away, but now, they were already less than half of that.

'We have the high ground right now, but trying to maintain this position is stupid. Those beasts seem to have intelligence, so if they see that the spider legion is losing, they won't just sit idly by.

'The good news is that they only sent one of the six groups after us, leaving a gap in their defenses we can take advantage of. The bad news is that we still need to make it through the spider legion and those other five legions if we want to seek refuge in that hive.'

Leonel gritted his teeth. He knew they needed to charge, there was no other way.

The truth was that turning back to pierce through the horde of beasts toward their backs would be easier. They had far less organization and would definitely be weaker than this threat up ahead. But, if they did that… then what?

There were definitely even more beasts headed here from the ocean, having sensed the surge of Force. If they couldn't deal with this problem in front of them, they would be finished.

Leonel flipped his palm, a familiar spear appearing in his hand. Compared to the last time when its spearhead had been split by Hutch's blade, it had already been repaired.

How could he come here without first comprehending Spear Force? After Leonel did this, the dictionary unlocked a lot of information about the Spear Domain ring for him. There were many useful things, but what was most important to him now was the fact that spears acknowledged by the ring can be repaired!

Unfortunately, he had left the primitive man's spear outside for too long, causing its consciousness to dissipate. As a result, the ring no longer acknowledged it and was unable to repair it. But, this primitive woman's spear was different. Not as much time had passed and since it was just a low level spear of the Spear Domain, it didn't even take an hour to repair fully.

Leonel's aura completely changed, becoming even sharper and more violent than before.

Seeing this, the youths inexplicably felt a sense of calm. Before, when the aura was aimed toward them, they found it difficult to even breathe. But now, having experienced the aura of protection Leonel's teammates had for so many years already, they suddenly felt their strength surging.

Leonel took out the dictionary and slipped it into his pocket. With the situation like this, he couldn't afford to keep it hidden any longer.

"What's the weakness of that spider king?"

Leonel's sudden words caught the youths who had just regained their bearing off guard once again. But, they were even more shocked when there was an actual response.

[ *Ping* Replying to Seed, the seam between the head and body is a vital point. ]

Leonel didn't even turn back after hearing this.

"Follow me, I'll carve out a path."

He could feel his blood boiling. He understood that this was his true state. The state his Lineage Factor was meant to be in.