[Skill "Lesser Negative Autonomy" activated]

Miles calmed himself immediately. He established his priorities and outlined a plan before any of the Shadows in the room moved.

[Skill "Buffing Spell: Double Time" activated]

[Skill "Healing Spell: Sanctify" activated]

[Skill "Healing Spell: Sanctify" activated]

[Quick Status:

Name: Yvette (Selenaut | Options)

Health: 55% (Rare Bleeding)]

'Tch,' Miles clicked his tongue as he summoned his System Shop and immediately bought a new F Ranked Common Grade hunting knife for fifty System Points.

[Skill "Common Blade Intent" activated]

[Skill "Healing Spell: Sanctify" activated]

[Skill "Healing Spell: Restore" activated]

[Skill "Healing Spell: Restore" activated]

[Quick Status:

Name: Yvette (Selenaut | Options)

Health: 85%]

Miles began to move, or rather dash, at the Shadow Cats as they were the biggest threat to Yvette at the moment.

As he began killing Shadow Cats with every attack along his path, Miles thought, 'Yvette probably has a weak Constitution.' He slit a Shadow Cat's throat, 'At Level 120, a group with an average Level of 17.5 managed to gravely injure her.' A different Shadow Cat was bisected at the midsection, 'She's probably a glass cannon. So, even against these weak minions… I need to defend her until she wakes up.'

As all the Shadow Soldiers began to rush at Miles, the Shadow Shamans began to charge up Spells. Though most of them aimed their Spells at Miles, one opted to target the still-unconscious Yvette.

[Skill "Debuffing Spell: Lesser Paralysis" activated]

Miles opted to conserve Magic; especially after using a massive chunk of his reserves to stop Yvette's condition from deteriorating.

He smirked at the sight of his Lesser Paralysis Spell's target being knocked down to a knee as he thought, 'Thank Harrold and his group for the Soul Tempering.'

If not for its effects, Miles wouldn't have been able to more than double his Level and increase his Stats so quickly. And without his higher Stats, the Lesser Variant of his Debuffing Spell wouldn't have been powerful enough to trip up a Shadow Shaman, the most Magically Resistant of all the Shadow Monster variants..

[Skill "Debuffing Spell: Lesser Paralysis" activated]

A Shadow Cat was Stun Locked long enough for Miles to kill it off along with its last three comrades, and kick its body towards the charging Shadow Soldiers. As all the Shadow Soldiers were trained on him, Miles decided to ignore them and kill off the Shadow Shamans next.

He did his best to avoid getting hit by a wall of Spells being hurled towards him, but it was impossible to get closer without taking some damage. Twelve or so Shadow Shamans had charged their Spells for this moment to unleash Fire, Thunder, Ice, and even Earth Magic melded together, bolstered by Wind Magic into a storm that would have hit Yvette had Miles not taken her position into account from the very start and subtly commanded the fight such that she be anywhere but behind the Shadow Shaman Squad for this precise moment.

Fortunately, Miles Magical Stats were his greatest at solid E Rank, which, compared to the lesser E Rank magical prowess of the Shadow Shamans, was enough to come out of the all-out elemental storm with less than 10% total losses to his Health.

Ignoring the deep pain inflicted from losing so much health so quickly, Miles forgoed wasting even a fraction of a second healing himself with Restore in favor of striking while the iron was hot. Spells cast, the group of Shadow Shaman were totally defenseless until they charged up new Spells to bombard him with.

Yet they never got the chance as Miles used his newfound E- Agility and Strength to kill every single Shadow Shaman with a single stab of his knife.

[Skill "Healing Spell: Restore" activated]

Miles felt the burning in his lungs cool to bearable levels as he narrowed his eyes at the Shadow Soldiers that had begun to charge at him once more. Unlike the Shadow Blights and Shadow Inklings that probably would have chased him through the Shadow Shaman Spells, the Shadow Soldiers had enough tact to clear out of the way the moment they saw him make his move towards the Shadow Shamans.

Miles snorted as he watched the Shadow Soldiers come rushing to their deaths. 'Smarter variants they may be, for Shadow Monster… They're still plenty stupid,' Miles felt the corners of his mouth quirk up as the Shadow Soldiers made it too easy for him. Instead of spreading out and attacking him from many fronts, they all came in a line that allow, at most, three Shadow Soldiers attack at once.

With Strength being their only strong point, much like Magic Reserves to the Shadow Shamans or Agility to the Shadow Cats, Miles effortlessly made use of his E Rank Agility to pick the Shadow Soldiers off by targeting the vital points they shared with humans; the main arteries and visceral organs.

When the last one died and began to disperse, Miles ran towards the Dungeon Maintenance Array.

[Dungeon Core Status:

Pre-Raid: Complete (01:37)

Boss: Spawning (-04:58)]

"Oh thank god..." Miles mumbled as he collapsed onto the ground and cancelled all the Abilities and Spells empowering his body. He had about five minutes to rest and recover before the Boss would spawn and among the multiple things he wanted to get done in that time, recovering as much Magic and Stamina possible were at the top of his list.

Miles took a whole minute to settle his thundering heart, which had been elevated to a dangerous peak after sustaining his Blade Intent for so long. He picked himself up and looked at Yvette not knowing how to react as he approached and thought, 'This is starting to get ridiculous…"

'She saves us again, then I protect her while she's knocked out. But... I wouldn't have been able to get through this Pre-Raid Phase of the Dungeon so easily if not for her using Lesser Endow to cure my Meridian Degeneration by completely refilling my Magic while we talked,' Miles thought as he crouched down next to her.

He checked her pulse through her carotid artery and smiled as it seemed like she was stable. His smile quickly faded as he recalled he was a White Mage with Healing Spells; not a doctor. The System's Quick View and All View were less than helpful in telling him how bad her current condition was in detail, however…

'System Shop,' Miles thought as he checked the time. He had a couple minutes to browse and thousands of System Points to spend on something, anything, that could help him get through the next Phase.