Chapter 81: Endurance test

Over the next five days, the deep wetlands became a relentless, grinding test of their endurance.

The isolation imposed by the camp rules meant they received zero oversight or assistance from the instructors. They were completely on their own, forced to carve out a bloody path in the western reaches of the swamp while hunting under an ever-present gray gloom.

Their primary targets during the initial stage were the swamp reptiles. These multi-legged, scale-armoured predators held a massive population density throughout the known marshland blocks, ranging strictly from Grade D to Grade C. They weren’t particularly fast, but their numbers were immense. Thomas used himself as bait to lure the creatures into the open mud, allowing Ryan and Julian to cleanly sever their vital lifelines with precise sword strikes. By the third afternoon, the group had cleanly cataloged a massive row of mana beast, their coordination growing tighter with every engagement.

But the relative safer zones of the marshlands completely changed on the fourth morning when they crossed into a dense thicket of rotted cypress trees.

Out of the black mire erupted a massive Mud Viper. The beast was an absolute behemoth, holding a dangerous Grade B rank classification. It possessed a heavy, calcified armored hide infused with the earth element, and its flat head carried dual fangs dripping with a highly concentrated, viscous purple poison.

The confrontation turned catastrophic in a single frame of motion. During a chaotic split-second trade, the serpent violently whipped its heavy tail through the muck, shattering Thomas’s defensive positioning and launching a high-velocity bite that caught Ryan squarely on the shoulder plate. The venom instantly bypassed his cheap leather armor, turning the veins around his neck a sickly shade of charcoal black as his wind core violently stuttered.

“Ryan!” Thomas shouted, his face remaining calm as he immediately dropped his weight to catch his companion’s collapsing frame.

Julian moved with an instantaneous, ruthless efficiency. Utilizing his Grade S Talent, he collapsed the physical space directly around the Mud Viper’s upper skull, crushing the beast’s earth-armoured brain to pieces before the venom could fully reach Ryan’s heart.

The situation was incredibly critical. Ryan was sweating profusely, his skin turning a pale, lifeless gray as the earth poison aggressively shut down his motor functions. Luckily for them, Julian had a high-level neutralising antidote stored back inside his trunk at the campsite tent. The proud High-blood had meticulously prepared for every single regional toxin vector before taking off from the Holy City fortress walls. They had to execute a brutal, high-speed dead lift to carry Ryan back beneath the camp’s protective mana dome, administering the charcoal-tinted serum just a few minutes before his vitals failed completely.

By the fifth morning, Ryan had recovered enough to limp back into formation, but their toughest battle of the entire excursion was still waiting for them deeper in the western fog.It was a solitary, apex territory guardian known in the ancient frontier ledgers as an Swamp Thallophyte.

The beast was a horrific, multi-jointed nightmare that resembled a massive leopard, but its flesh was made of semi-translucent, calcified green bone and stringy, moss-like muscle fibers. It belonged to a rare species of parasitic plant-beast hybrids that fed directly on the local ambient spiritual currents. It moved with a silent, law-defying velocity that completely bypassed the natural moisture currents of the swamp, its razor-sharp claws shimmering with a heavy, localized wind compression that could cut straight through polished steel plates.

The battle lasted for two grueling hours under the dark canopy. The predator systematically dismantled their defensive perimeters, its high-speed blitzes leaving deep lacerations across Julian’s silver armour and cracking two of Thomas’s ribs even through his Diamond Skin adaptation. They were entirely drained, their remaining internal mana pools dipping dangerously close to the absolute zero mark as the ancient creature pinned them against a massive wall.They narrowly escaped with their lives thanks entirely to Lina.

The quiet Grade D girl played an exceptionally big, heroic role during the climax of the confrontation. While staying hidden behind a cluster of rotted stone blocks, she continuously pushed her Talent past its limits, channeling her healing sparks directly into their legs and chest nodes right as they fought. Every time the beast landed a disabling strike, Lina’s warm green mana would instantly stitch the muscle tissue back together, giving Thomas and Julian the narrow physical windows required to continuously reset their stances.

Using his Talent, Julian forced a massive spatial collapse right in front of the creature’s snout, blinding the beast long enough for Thomas to grab Lina and lead a frantic retreat back toward the camsite’s boundary line.

Currently, the group was sitting quietly inside Julian’s tent, their bodies bandaged and completely spent from the five-day meat grinder. Despite the extreme physical attrition, their hunting ledger was incredibly impressive. They had cleanly secured a total of thirty mana beasts bodies, which were now equally divided among the five of them to ensure their get enpugh points.

Thomas sat down quietly wiping a line of dried copper blood from his knuckles while looking at the map spread across the dirt ground. They were already planning their next outing into the deadly marsh fully aware that subject 4314’s roots of the uncharted land were still watching every single step they took.

“We need to prepare and return to the Swamp Thallophyte’s location and kill it.”Thomas finally spoke after awhile.

Everyone’s attention returned to him, Ryan’s eyes widened.

“What the heck man, why would we do that?” he asked.

Thomas turned to face Julia then raise a bow, Julian shrugged and answered.

“Well as e are all aware tomorrow is our last day in the marshlands, and we have to assume that the rest of our class is slightly ahead of us when it comes to the amount of mana beast thy have hunted since day one. Now if we catch that Swamp Thallophyte, we can make up for the lack of points that one single Beast.” Julian explain.