When the lightning giant was about to strike the butterfly with a massive metal axe, the weapon crumbled as if it were made of flowers, reaching the butterfly's defensive barrier but posing no threat.

Unfortunately for the 5th stage butterfly, it had already expended much of its mana in defense. By the time it realized its error, Casey had already infiltrated its mind, beginning to erode its mental structures.

Casey was only an Earth Sovereign, while this beast was a Low-level Paragon. However, even a Paragon would be in a delicate situation if they casually accepted the full-powered attack of a magician like this guy with long black hair.

Casey had no small talent and could fight those up to a level stronger than himself. The moment he entered his opponent's mind, he specifically targeted the parts of his opponent's mind that were responsible for the creature's fighting ability.

By dismantling its fundamental structures that would make the creature more cautious around potential threats, he caused it to shriek in pain, its cries revealing an eerie insect-like voice.

Meanwhile, all of Casey's companions in the area used the mana in their armor or individual powers to force the creature to the ground.

The large butterfly trembled as it tried to get up from where it had fallen. But with the power of the armor that Vicente had created and the metals that the young man had placed around its body, the creature had no way to escape.

In the midst of this, Vicente's third pentagram glowed as he made Casey's job easier by sending out weaker mental attacks, but ones capable of distracting the creature's mind from the main attacks.

Feeling this as his entire body began to shake from the exhaustion of his mana, Casey took his final step, using a firearm charged with the rest of his mana.

Bang!

He fired, having already subdued the creature's mind, only one step away from killing it.

The shot rang out, and in a single instant, everyone saw the creature's head damaged by a 4th-grade bullet, which opened a noticeable wound in the creature's head.

Seeing this, Casey drew a sword from his spatial ring and lunged at the butterfly.

He reached the creature's wound and used his sword to pierce the creature's body through the wound.

As soon as he removed his weapon from the enemy's body, all of the creature's muscles relaxed as its aura began to dissipate.

Seeing the creature's black blood on his sword, Casey fell to his knees on the ground, extremely exhausted.

"Hah... Hah... Hah..." He took a shaky breath but couldn't help but put an exuberant smile on his face.

"I did it!" He muttered as Vicente and the others stopped suppressing the creature and immediately turned their attention to their surroundings.

"Take a recovery potion and start absorbing his pentagram immediately," Vicente told Casey, who promptly did as he was told.

Three minutes after the battle ended, Casey sat in a lotus position over the dead beast's body and began to absorb the pentagram it had created.

A vibrant green essence emerged from that body, and Casey's companions, who didn't yet have an essence of that color, couldn't help but anticipate the moment when they would receive the same as he did.

They were on the hunt, so it wouldn't be long before their next targets were reached!

...

A few hours later, Casey finished his absorption, opened his eyes, and stood up from where he had been meditating while his colleagues recovered and secured the area.

As he did so, he revealed his four pentagrams to all present, showing how much he had grown after this absorption.

His Earth Sovereign aura increased enough for everyone to notice the improvement, probably saving him a few months on his journey to the next level.

But the most remarkable thing was his first pentagram, finally showing signs of progressing to orange!

Everyone congratulated Casey as he demonstrated his current configuration, happy for him, but also for the team, as someone like him with a new skill would help the team greatly on the journey ahead.

"You will probably advance your first pentagram when you become a Paragon. That's good; it will give you a new skill and make you much stronger," Vicente commented as he shook one of Casey's hands.

"I'm looking forward to it," Casey replied in a humorous tone, which was rare for someone as serious as him.

"Anyway, since you're done, it's time to go," Vicente told the group. "Let's continue our journey to the Hot Wasteland. There, some of us may find opportunities to improve our strength."

The Hot Wasteland was of particular interest to several of them. It was vast, with a variety of hard-to-explore areas that made the region famous for its special resources hidden in the most unimaginable places.

The place was hazardous, but if one accepted the dangers and decided to explore, it would not be difficult for even Sovereigns to find opportunities for advancement.

There, they would hunt for Layla's Pentagram, as well as cultivation resources for Torne and Onyx, since the area also had a remarkably interesting section for Dark Path creatures.

With this place in mind, the group left the area shortly after Casey collected the remains of the 5th-stage butterfly.

They were all recovered from the previous battle, so they simply left within minutes of Vicente's decision.

...

Meanwhile, to the north of the Kingdom of Eternal Dawn, a man dressed in a Congregation of Revelations robe was flying rapidly south.

This individual was not just any member of that religion but a 5th-stage Sacred Devotee, someone even stronger than the beast Vicente's group had just faced.

As he flew south, he wore a serious expression, reflecting on the last mission he had received before fleeing from the northern part of the continent, where Demien Bloodthorne was slaughtering 6th and 5th stage magicians.

He wisely set out to complete such a mission where he could hide!

He was devoted to his organization, but frankly, he saw no value in his death. If he stayed alive, he could do much more for the continent's largest magicians organization!

'I will change everything when I find this Dark Path magician,' he thought to himself as he flew toward his target.

'You tried to hide by deleting your data from my organization, but you made a mistake, hehe.' A strange smile appeared on the man's face as he looked at what appeared to be a tracker map showing the real-time location of his target.

His target was in the Kingdom of Eternal Dawn, coming towards him!