Luluvi and the others going to farm the Abyss shouldn’t pose any problems.

If something were going to happen—

He would have seen it somewhere within the next thirty days.

At this moment, Shumi’s party had already arrived at the designated hunting zone.

Two Level 6 mages guarded the region.

The Land of Hollow Valleys counted as a fairly massive continent.

And because of the Abyss’s existence, strong individuals were far more common here...

Miserush was considered an ordinary large-scale continent.

But Hollow Valleys—

That was strategic territory.

If an Abyssal invasion into the surface world ever erupted—

This would likely be the first battlefield.

Though...

How creatures from the Falling Abyss could even rise upward into the mortal world was itself a problem.

The law that all movement could only descend ensured the Falling Abyss and surface reality would never intersect.

Their only point of contact—

Was the active opening of Abyssal Rifts.

Kanzaki Rei’s perception extended toward them.

He saw a crescent-shaped stone appear in Shumi’s hand—

Purple-black in color.

She raised it lightly.

A purple-black radiance burst forth.

Craaack—

The sky split open.

A colossal tear.

And from that opening—

Like torrential rain pouring down—

Monsters cascaded out,

Wrapped in black, muddy miasma,

Their forms twisted and grotesque.

[Abyss Creatures]

So these were the legendary Abyss creatures.

He had heard their properties were unique.

Their corpses could be forged into Abyss Equipment—

Gear bearing traits of curse, contamination, corrosion, will erosion, and corruption.

It could cause magic and battle techniques alike 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

to carry pollution and curses.

Against the monsters of most nests—

Such attacks were extraordinarily effective.

The Abyss creatures fell from the Rift—

Dropping from above toward below.

Opening a Rift was effectively cutting open a cross-section of the Abyss.

And the instant those creatures descended—

A light-arrow trailing a long tail crashed into the earth.

BOOM!

A scorching spherical shockwave erupted,

surging outward in every direction.

[Meteorfall Arrow · Starfall]

Meteorfall Arrows were a special arrow type.

Their slender shafts gained enormous mass the faster they moved.

And at the instant of impact—

Velocity dropped instantly to zero,

Releasing a terrifying shockwave.

The arrow—

Was forged by Kanzaki Rei.

Using second-tier material:

Meteor Iron.

Originally an experimental blacksmithing prototype.

Its enchantment effect:

Flameburst Enchantment

Adding fire-element explosive force to the impact wave.

[Starfall Shot] was Luluvi’s bow skill.

It caused arrows to descend like meteors—

Amplifying both speed and impact.

The blast annihilated every Abyss creature on the field in a single strike.

Shumi’s adventuring party stood within the blast radius—

But they had already prepared for it and suffered little effect.

"S-so strong..."

A red-haired woman carrying a greatsword, wolf ears atop her head, stared wide-eyed.

She too was a Level 5 Warrior.

And considered herself one of Miserush’s elites.

Maybe not as strong as Shumi—

But among warriors of the same level there were probably fewer than three in all of Miserush who could beat her.

But...

Luluvi’s single shot just now was beyond comparison.

In raw attack power—

She had already lost.

Seeing her companion’s shocked expression,

Shumi puffed up proudly.

"She can get 5,000 consecutive victories in the combat arena, meow."

"But compared to me, she’s still a little inferior, meow."

As the aftershock faded—

More Abyss creatures continued dropping from the Rift.

Until the Rift closed—

They would pour out endlessly.

Within the Falling Abyss, all movement led downward.

But direction could still be adjusted.

If one tried moving upper-left—

It would become lower-left.

One could not go upward—

But planar direction could still be altered.

And these creatures of the Falling Abyss,

Seeing light appear in the depths—

Probably thought they had found hope of escape.

And leapt toward that "exit" in swarms.

...

[Meteorfall Arrows] were limited in number, after all.

Luluvi had no intention of using those precious arrows for every shot.

"ROAR!"

The Abyss creatures rose after landing—

Howling.

But the next instant—

Thud... thud... thud.

Heads rolled.

Necks severed in perfect cuts.

An invisible figure moved among the monsters,

unseen by every one of them,

decapitating one after another.

Reina Frost was moving.

And every motion she made—

Was validating Kanzaki Rei’s teachings.

Her stance had grown more precise.

Her force application more exact.

Every unnecessary motion growing fewer and fewer.

Though she lacked Kanzaki Rei’s profound battle comprehension—

At her current realm,

She already far surpassed others of her level.

Seeing Reina Frost display such results—

Kanzaki Rei felt genuine satisfaction.

After she moved—

Arrow rain followed.

The mage began chanting.

"Storm of the heavens, scorching fire of the sky, divine flames resplendent, calamity that burns heaven and earth—"

[Skyfire Tornado (Fifth Tier) (LV:4)]

FWOOOOSH!

A flaming tornado spiraled into the heavens.

Rolling heat waves swept the entire battlefield.

Compared to Shumi, Luluvi, and Reina Frost—

The mage’s performance felt somewhat lacking.

Still chanting incantations.

Kanzaki Rei had been around so many mages for so long—

Silent-casting magic felt practically standard.

He could barely remember the last time he’d seen someone needing long chants.

Though—

Perhaps the mage was only practicing lower-tier spells.

After all,

This wasn’t life-or-death combat.

No need to use silent casting constantly.

BOOM!

Warriors shattered the ground and charged into slaughter.

Defenders moved alongside them—

One left, one right—

Ensuring the warriors could ignore defense

and unleash full offensive output.

The seven of them hunted Abyss creatures falling across a region thousands of kilometers in radius.

It had been a long time

since Kanzaki Rei had watched others fight.

This level of battle—

To him now—

Was little more than children playing.

Back then,

Seeing others sever the legs of skyscraper-sized mammoths with a sword had seemed outrageous.

Now—

Mountain-shattering, earth-rending combat like this

felt utterly ordinary.

...

Better forge more equipment.

And finish the enchantments too.

It was now mid-May.

Only fifteen days had passed since he advanced to Level 2 Blacksmith and Enchanter.

And after killing that Level 8 Erudite—

He still hadn’t used the Enchantment Stones dropped from him.

Perfect timing to forge a new equipment set.

And socket in the relic crystal he had dropped.

Perhaps...

He should hunt more high-level class-holders?

After all—

Killing them yielded undead servants.

And Enchantment Stones.

If he could turn Izparut into an undead—

How powerful would that be?

The thought surfaced on its own.

Then Kanzaki Rei immediately shook his head.

That was far too evil a thought.

But...

If he really could obtain Izparut’s undead.

Or the Enchantment Stone formed from Izparut...

The thoughts refused to disappear.

Like a seed already sprouting—

Taking root in his mind.

It was only a thought.

Just a passing idea.

No need to make a big issue of it.

But if he only hunted Level 7 class-holders—

There shouldn’t be a problem, right?

There were always evil Level 7 individuals.

Killing them would simply be eliminating threats from the world.

Inside the [Forge Workshop],

Kanzaki Rei hammered alloy beneath the furnace fire—

Yet the thoughts in his heart lingered without fading.