"HARPIES," Lev half-shouted for all the teams to hear. His young voice was rather embarrassing to hear on a battlefield but thankfully, nobody seemed to mind except Lev himself.

  Can't wait to not be a kid again, he sighed.

  Six shields formed around him as the monsters closed in. There were more than fifty of those, so Lev open-fired with arrows without hesitation.

  Lightning rained down on the small flying horde through his arrows. Most of the harpies powered through and dove, while some unfortunate ones were killed due to pierced or burnt vitals.

  Stargazer flashed thrice, releasing an overloaded lightning slash each time. The large crescent attacks were too fast for the monsters to dodge, and all of them landed amidst several clumped-up harpies.

  [

  You have slain [Forest Harpy - Level 169]

  You have slain [Forest Harpy - Level 170]

  …

  ]

  Lev prepared himself for a clash when they got too close. Half his focus was on the surrounding teams, and the other half was on the glaive in his hand and the approaching monsters.

  The radiant team below him didn't need his help. Rena's fire magic lashed out as a whip, swatting away several of the diving monsters.

  Lev didn't have the time to observe more. Four of his shields shot forward, hitting two of the descending harpies and deflecting their flight. Stargazer was thrust forward, piercing the body of another.

  Lightning seared the insides of the harpy as Lev stabilized himself midair. The force of the impact had pushed him back for several meters.

  The first two harpies circled behind him. Shields blocked their path again as he fired lightning arrows in the direction of a team with four mages. They were close to getting overwhelmed.

  Enhancement formation came alive as Lev met the harpies circling him in melee. Claws met barrier blade and were lopped clean off before the monster was cut in twain by the same blade. The second harpy didn't fare any better.

  Several arrows found their marks close to the first team he had helped with his shields, which announced the end of the harpy horde.

  2% or so of my mana in that fight. Guess I should listen to Rena. Got another level too.

  Perhaps it was because he killed so many by himself, but the level came much faster than expected. That was nice. The last 25 levels were going to take months or years to cross, so it would be better to get there quickly.

  The Masters fighting up ahead were killing most of the monsters, which meant the hunters close to the wall had to face mini-waves during the wave.

  "How many second-threshold monsters did you guys face usually before?" Lev asked, keeping a close eye on the huge bears closing in. They were pretty slow yet still too fast for their size. He was rightfully nervous.

  "No more than twenty, ever," Rena replied, also gazing at the bears.

  "Don't join in melee," Elias ordered. "I will distract them."

  Lev nodded. Elias was the fastest member of their team by a large margin. Instead, Lev shot several lightning lances on the bear targeting the two teams to his left.

  Focused as it was on the mages, the bear didn't even see the projectiles approach. Each thudded into its hind legs, stunning it without doing much damage.

  Not letting that one out of his sight, Lev focused on the two charging his team. He got to witness why the team he was stationed with was a radiant team.

  Mana streamed out of Lisa and into Elias, buffing his dexterity and strength to much greater heights. Rolling his shoulders, Elias moved.

  One moment, he was scanning the bears, and the next, his sword was cutting a long gash along a bear's side. The bear didn't take it standing down. Roaring, it reacted instantly and raised a paw to knock Elias away, making him abort the cut.

  The warrior deftly dodged the giant paw and kept the second-threshold monster occupied for the mages to target.

  Viktor rushed ahead too, similarly buffed by Lisa. He still didn't meet the bear head-on and instead baited it into a bite. Craters formed on the ground from where the bear accelerated in a blink. Its large jaw closed on empty air as Viktor dodged with a similar burst of speed.

  Plumes of dust rose from their movement, in stark contrast to Elias, who moved like the wind.

  Rena finished preparing her spell just as the warriors engaged the bears. Ten whips of solidified fire slithered forward like jagged vines, accurately wrapping themselves around the necks of the bears.

  The damage dealt was minimal, and she wasn't aiming for that either. Both of the bears immediately focused on the threat to their vulnerable throats. Elias and Viktor capitalized on their distractions and hacked apart their hind legs to cripple their mobility.

  Lev thought they were underestimating him quite severely if they thought there was still a need to take precautions. Two overloaded lightning lances embedded themselves into bears' chests with a flash, not exploding immediately.

  Seeing the dangerous projectiles, both Elias and Viktor quickly made distance. Lev commanded the lances to explode after that, lethally wounding the bears with their huge, charged explosions.

  "They're not dead yet," Lev called out the obvious. He focused on the third monster currently being slashed apart by the other teams.

  Three warriors kept its attention while seven mages attacked it without hesitation. Predictably, it died soon after Lev received the notifications from their kills.

  [

  Your Group has slain [Direbear - Level 252]

  Your Group has slain [Direbear - Level 251]

  Your Group has slain [Direbear - Level 250]

  Mana Tempest has reached Level 182

  ]

  No wonder they're known as the weakest second-threshold monsters, Lev thought, happy to see another level. It felt unearned, but he would take it regardless.

  Now, to explain why I'm wasting mana left and right.

  "No, I'm not low on mana. No, that was not a significant portion of my pool either. I haven't even used a twentieth of my pool yet."

  The last bit was a half lie, as he had regenerated the mana used by previous attacks in the past hour. Regardless, he was comfortably sitting at 96% or so. It was hard to measure such a large pool accurately.

  Elias' hard expression eased a little before freezing in place. "What?"

  "Exactly what you heard."

  "You can't be serious- … oh. That makes more sense."

  Lev gave him a stern look. "Keep it to yourself, please."

  "Naturally," Lisa smiled and walked close to him. "You just keep getting more and more adorable."

  Lev looked at Sherron standing on the distant wall and sent a silent message to send help. Somehow, she knew exactly what was going on, and just returned a toothy smirk.

  He sighed and surrendered to his fate. Soft, warm hands pinched his cheeks as the barrier armor vanished. Whatever annoyance he may have felt was washed away by the pure joy wafting off Lisa.

  "Alright, that's enough."

  Lisa didn't push it either, more than happy with that little experience. Lev didn't really mind the treatment. Of course, no soul would ever hear him admit that.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  "Are those harvesters?"

  The question came from Lev, who was new to fighting against waves. Several mages landed in front of him after a few seconds.

  [Mage - Level 202]

  [Mage - Level 114]

  [Mage - Level 120]

  The higher leveled mage was a carrier, a wind mage who specialized in ferrying people to and fro. The other two were a construct and a water mage.

  Sharp arcane swords cut open the bear with great difficulty as the water mage skillfully kept the blood and gore flowing away from the corpse with a large stream of water.

  The core was pried out within seconds. The group was off to the wall again half a minute after harvesting all three bear cores.

  "Definitely harvesters," Lev answered himself. That was efficient work if he had ever seen any.

  Summoning back his armor, he formed a platform fifteen meters above them and observed from atop it.

  Hours passed as Lev launched arrows without holding back. Lances were reserved for when too many monsters showed up at once.

  With a chunk of fire infused into each, he could easily clear scores of panthers and treants. Orcs, trolls, and thornlings were dealt with even more easily. The one time a level 165 commander had shown up, Rena had torn it apart with her whips. Her face had been colder than a glacier during the whole encounter, and nobody dared interfere.

  There really isn't much to do in smaller waves, is there?

  Windkeep was special in terms of how much manpower was stationed there at all times. It had dungeons, caves, mines, dreadwoods, and several other options to grow in strength, which meant a large portion of all of humanity's hunters stayed there.

  Consequently, there were more than enough Masters to stop a seven-rated wave entirely by themselves.

  Wave ratings were fixed. Regardless of city, a seven-rated would have the same level of danger and number of monsters everywhere. Windkeep naturally excelled at easily dealing six and seven-rated waves. Eight-rated waves could still get dicey.

  When the suns were close to setting, the wave gave one final push. The dreadwoods came alive as thousands of monsters rushed out at once, each hellbent on destroying the humans arrayed them.

  90% mana left. This is gonna be fun.

  Lev grinned. The wave was almost nearing its end with how the squads were being cycled. While no one had told them to switch, the four teams near him had already been rotated out twice.

  "The wave is ending, right?" Lev asked Elias, just in case.

  "It is, or at least, that's how it should be. You never know."

  "Finally," Lev exclaimed and opened the floodgates. The Master hunters had lured all the stronger monsters away, which meant a large, weaker horde was coming straight at the remaining defenders.

  Arrows formed above him by the dozens. Mana rushed through his skinsuit, cycled till all of it was converted into fire or lightning mana. 65% of it was converted into the latter and 35% into the former. Lev had found that to be a good ratio for explosive attacks.

  Go.

  Not a single projectile was left behind as they shot forward in waves, landing randomly amidst the large horde. Notifications started rolling in as more arrows formed, quickly filled with large amounts of mana.

  Wave after wave followed when loud cries washed over the hunters. Dozens of second-threshold harpies exited the treetops of the dreadwoods, diving at the Master teams with reckless abandon.

  Four of them aimed for the weaker defenders closer to the walls. In a blink, three of them were pierced by Sherron's lightning lances and killed on the spot. Only one was left alive.

  That last harpy happened to be the one heading towards Lev. He just smiled in exasperation and prepared himself.

  [Mature Forest Harpy - ???]

  There was something to note about the previous harpies being young, but such considerations didn't exist in a kill or be killed situation.

  Overloading his armor, Lev charged away from the monster while sending a lightning slash its way. The attack was dodged, albeit barely, and captured the harpy's full attention.

  The monster was too strong to fight amongst other teams. Lev was wary of hitting other humans with stray attacks, thus he was guiding it away from the arrayed defenders. He was going away from the wall too, so he hoped it wouldn't be too dangerous. Sherron's attention may be occupied be something else, which could render a single misstep lethal for him.

  With his maximum flight speed, he was away from humans in seconds and quickly losing ground to the following harpy.

  Whirling around, Lev made the first move with a lightning slash and took in the visage of the monster.

  White feathers gleamed like scales, covering its entire body like armor. It was considerably larger than the rest, nearly twice his height. The wingspan was similarly massive.

  Claws the size of his arms met the slash, taking only minor damage from the raw amount of lightning condensed into the attack. The monster was still jolted for a split second.

  Hateful screeches washed over Lev as the harpy charged, covering half the distance between them in a blink. Fire arrows were barreled through, doing negligible surface-level damage, so he changed his approach as he flew back.

  Lightning arrows rained down on the monster instead as it got close. Enhancement formation powered up as Lev also advanced with Stargazer primed, thrusting it at the monster's chest.

  With all the force behind the attack and the sharpness formation on the blade, Lev was at least expecting it to pierce. He had to hastily control himself as Stargazer only slid off, leaving a shallow cut in its wake.

  Lightning followed, stunning the monster for an instant, which Lev used to try and make distance. Before he could accelerate, a wing several times his size slapped him down.

  Dozens of projectiles were fired at the monster before Lev hit the ground. He intentionally launched a fire slash at the ground before he landed, creating a large cloud of dust and hindering the harpy's line of sight.

  The monster's Perception couldn't be overwhelmed so easily, though. It knew exactly where Lev was and dove down, beak primed to skewer him.

  Lev waited till the last moment before swinging Stargazer, letting out an overloaded lightning slash. The booming impact cleared all the dust around him for a second before the harpy crashed to the ground, but that was enough for Lev as another dust cloud rose.

  Two more slashes and dozens of arrows impacted the downed monster, doing little damage. Large wings flapped once, pushing away all the dirt and smoke, revealing Lev only a few meters away from the monsters, rushing in with Stargazer cackling with electricity.

  By now, it was obvious he didn't stand a chance in a direct confrontation. He wasn't aiming to damage it with his weapon, only to stun it by using lightning for his projectiles to find purchase.

  ****

  "Who's dealing with the third-threshold monsters?" Sherron questioned, eyes on the horizon for any nasty surprises.

  "Dawnbringers."

  Since when was that team strong enough to do so?

  Sherron didn't question it if Hakim wasn't doubtful. He knew better than anyone else how to manage different teams.

  She instead observed Lev, who had lured the harpy away from everyone else. For the past nearly three minutes, they were playing a game of cat and mouse. Every time, he baited the monster close, temporarily immobilized it with lightning, and then shot many arrows at it.

  The amount of mana Lev had used already would've seen several mages bottom out, but he was still going strong. Sherron knew that he still had at least half his pool remaining, ridiculous as it was.

  In a blink, two people landed beside her. The psychokinetic sibling duo was supposed to be stationed at the ravine, but it took mere hours for Exalted like them to cross the distance.

  "Sherry~" came a singsong voice.

  Instead of replying, Sherron smiled widely and hugged the blonde woman with great enthusiasm.

  "It's good to see you, Stella."

  By her side, Stella's brother, Stephan, gave a respectful nod to Hakim and took a place next to the guildmaster.

  "Why are you two standing here like statues? Especially in front of that dreadful place?" Stella questioned, gazing at the dreadwoods.

  Instead of answering, Sherron pointed to Lev's ongoing fight. Thrice, he had tried to pierce the harpy with his glaive, failing each time.

  "Level 183? Why is that guy fighting the harpy alone?"

  "Because he can," Sherron replied.

  "Crude form," Stephan remarked.

  "Self-taught," Hakim filled him in.

  "That the crafter's creation?"

  "Upgrades."

  Stephan nodded and went silent. Both Sherron and Stella looked on with exasperation as the two men evaluated Lev like near-lifeless piles of meat.

  Shaking her head, she instead looked at Stella. "So, what's the occasion?"

  "Oh, you know, wave finished not long ago, so we have some downtime. Thought I'd come to see you."

  Sherron grinned and gave her a side-hug. "Good timing. Let's see if Lev wins or not."

  "He's wasting a lot of mana though… why?" Stella leaned into the hug, almost purring.

  "Not even half a year has passed since he got his class. You can imagine the rest."

  Stella scrunched up her nose. "I don't like people who rush things. Why didn't you stop him?"

  "See for yourself."

  "He will run out of mana soon. What's even the point?"

  "Nope. The fight has been ongoing for nearly five minutes now."

  Stella paused before observing the fight more intently. By now, the harpy had several long, charred gashes on its chest. The torso had been deliberately targeted, preparing it for what could only be a final attack.

  ****

  40% mana left. Damn monster is tougher than a nuclear bunker.

  Lev had been bombarding it for long enough that his entire body hurt from minor mana poisoning. Pulses of healing mana dealt with that issue admirably, but the damage was mounting.

  Seeing no other choice, Lev reverted to his tried and tested method of overloaded lances. Enhancing his movements as much as he could, he rushed the harpy as lightning flowed into Stargazer.

  Up close, he traded a slash for a wing slap. Stunned, the monster crashed to the ground as Lev was sent flying. He was bleeding internally from several small wounds. Healing mana took care of those as the first lance landed on the harpy struggling to find its bearing.

  Large amounts of fire mana combusted at once. Going by the mental feedback, Lev knew the lance had found its mark.

  Four more followed, each hitting the floored monster accurately through the large cloud of flames.

  Much of his remaining mana surged into a final huge lance. Half fire and half lightning, it was supposed to serve as the finisher for the extremely durable monster.

  With a loud shockwave, it descended like a bright comet. Lev had to form a large shield in front of him to counteract the gigantic explosion.

  Several seconds passed as flames raged on, yet Lev's lips were pursed into a straight line.

  No notification.

  Before the blast zone could clear, he was already flying straight to the harpy in the middle. The monster was on its knees, wobbling and failing to stand straight.

  It looked up just in time to see Stargazer pierce its burned and damaged neck, which finally reaped its life.

  [

  You have slain [Mature Forest Harpy - Level 298]

  Mana Tempest has reached Level 184

  Mana Tempest has reached Level 185

  Aerial Maneuvers has reached 2nd Level 7

  Aerial Maneuvers has reached 2nd Level 8

  ]

  Getting out of the searing hot blast radius, Lev took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. For the first time, he had fought a strong monster that wouldn't have killed him for a small mistake. The fight was considerably easier than the core guardian because of the harpy's simple nature, and Lev would dare say it was… fun.

  Still not a single level in third-rank skills.

  The leveling speed was starting to worry him a little, but at the same time, his lifespan was in the centuries already. They both matched.

  Gazing at the wall, Lev had to do a double-take. The number of spectators had doubled on the west wall, and the wave had finished as well.

  Which meant almost literally every hunter in Windkeep had seen him kill a monster more than a hundred levels above him solo, and in quite the spectacle.

  Good thing he was going to return to the Exalted observers.

  Totally not to escape any questions or social interactions.