Chapter 690: The Leader.

"Stop it!" Nina cut them off from attacking Moon, and despite her own frown, despite her own fear, she stepped between them. "Moon has a reason. He always has a reason... Just trust him for two more seconds before you—"

"A reason?" Kayn wheeled on her. "It’s a Surpasser Lesser Elf that has just powered up! There is no reason good enough for unleashing it at us!"

The team’s voices rose over each other, the argument spilling out in raw fear, and none of them were watching the thing that mattered.

The northern commander, still grinning, had begun to walk toward them across the bloodstained snow.

Ever so slowly.

Moon finally spoke, his eyes never leaving the approaching commander.

"It seems I haven’t made myself clear. I’m the leader here, my word is final. And if you don’t like that, then leave. I don’t need you. I won’t say it again, because that thing is walking toward us and I don’t have time for your whining. If you’re scared, go. If you want to work as a team, then stay and shut up."

The words slammed into each of them, snapping them out of their hysteria.

Harsh as they were, Moon was right, and every one of them knew it. This was the most basic rule of gate work, the thing every newcomer learned before their first entry. The leader decided everything. Unless he gave an order that was outright suicidal, you did not disobey. You did not second-guess in the middle of a fight. You trusted the chain of command or you got everyone killed.

And leaving wasn’t an option, not really. They all understood, deep down, what walking away meant. Moon was the reason they were still alive. If he fell here, so did the rest of them. Without him, against a Surpasser, none of them would last a minute. Abandoning him wasn’t survival. It was just a slower death.

Vela took a deep breath, relaxing her mind, and regaining her composure.

"You’re right, I’m sorry for our behaviour. Especially me, I’ve captained teams before. I know better than to lose my head like that. I let my emotions take over."

Moon cut her off before she could go further.

"I don’t care about apologies. Focus on the enemy."

Vela closed her mouth, straightened, and gripped her hammer.

"...Okay."

Kayn stared at Moon with open hatred, his jaw tight, but even he brought his breathing under control. He couldn’t argue with the logic, and he couldn’t afford to keep fighting it.

"...If we survive this," he said through his gritted teeth, "I’m reporting your reckless actions to the Association. Every one of them."

Moon ignored him completely.

He stored his bow in his storage ring. The shot had done its work, and the bow had nothing more to offer him now. Against what was coming, archery wasn’t where his strength lay. Compared to what he could do with a sword, he was weaker with the bow, and weakness was not something he could afford in the next few minutes.

His hands were empty for only a moment.

Then Moon summoned his two swords and squared off against the Surpasser-tier elf closing the distance.

Through his peripheral vision, Moon pulled up the evolution requirement for the Beast Soul he’d just gained, the number of Lives it would cost to push the Lesser Elf blademaster from B-rank to its A-rank potential, evolving his Beast Soul to Surpasser rank.

He saw the figure and dismissed the thought immediately.

So expensive.

He didn’t have enough. Even with the fifteen thousand Lives from the kill and everything he’d banked from the frozen wasteland, the evolution sat well beyond his reach.

A summonable A-rank spirit blademaster would have been the perfect ally he needed right now, but it wasn’t happening. He filed it away for later and let it go. No point wanting what he couldn’t have with a Surpasser seconds away from his throat.

Moon took a deep breath and began to channel his newest skill.

Ice-Assimilation.

Ice materialized along his left sword, and rather than coating the surface, it began to seep inward, threading into the blade’s structure, integrating with the metal itself. The cold sank into the weapon’s core, empowering it with his Cryomancy, transforming the sword into a conduit of ice from the inside out.

The blade took on a pale frost sheen that ran through it.

His right sword crackled with purple lightning, threaded through the channeling runes Master Veylin had etched into it, the two blades now carrying two different elements at two different depths of integration.

Behind him, the team stared.

Elsa most of all.

She could see exactly what Moon was doing, and it stole the breath from her lungs.

He wasn’t just assimilating ice into a single arrow, he was holding the assimilation active on a melee weapon, sustaining the integration continuously, and he intended to fight in close range with it.

An assimilated arrow was released the instant it was formed. An assimilated sword had to be maintained through every swing, every parry, every clash, the mana and mental focus poured into it without pause while the rest of his mind managed a life-or-death duel against an opponent of greater power.

The mana cost alone was astonishing to think about. The mental load of holding the technique stable while fighting for his life was difficult to imagine.

Who are you? The thought echoed through her, half awe and half fear. What kind of monster are you?

Moon settled into his stance, one blade of ice, one blade of lightning, and fixed his eyes on the elf.

"I’ll be the first line of contact," Moon said, his eyes locked on the archer. "Your job is to survive, not to win. If you see a clean opening, take it, but do not overextend for anything. A single hit from this archer will seriously injure you at best. At worst, it kills you outright. Don’t trade with it. Don’t get greedy. Stay alive and support when it’s safe."