Meanwhile, in one of Vicente's metal cities on the border between the Snow Province and the Diamond Province...",

From this city, one could see a large, long dividing fence in the distance, with one side of the fence being a green area with plenty of human presence, and the other side being a grayish desert area.

But this absence of beings on the gray side of the fence was not synonymous with peace and quiet. Given the reality between these two worlds, the outside of Vicente's domains near the right ones were not casually used by monsters.

In the shadows and hard-to-see places of such areas, there were certainly monsters watching and waiting for human groups to move in.

These monsters were definitely not going to attack the border between Vicente's domains and this 'free' area, but neither were they going to allow the other side to be so peaceful that there were no dangers on their 'doorstep'.

But today, as was the case almost every day in this coastal city, another group left the town to go outside Vicente's domains.

A group of 12 people left the city and ran in formation toward the exit of the fence, where there was a watchtower, about 5 kilometers from the city.

Of these twelve individuals, all of them wore armor, half of them Earth Sovereigns and the other half High-level Mages, all of them wearing 4th stage armor.

Among them was a girl with long black hair, a well-developed body, and eyes as black as night. Her gaze was serious, and the 7 men and 4 women there respected her deeply.

This was obviously Vicente's younger sister, Nina!

"Make way for Mrs. Fuller's group to pass!" shouted one man in the watchtower as two men at that post opened the main gate for the group of 12 to pass.

Nina and her companions walked on without looking back or talking to the guards in the area.

"Is Mrs. Fuller on another mission near the border? Things seem to be getting worse. She has moved 6 times in the last month, whereas 2 months ago she only moved 4 times." Said one of the six men in charge of this post for the next few hours.

Another person sighed and said. "The crisis is getting worse. Although there is a growing sense of peace, it is only because of the efforts of groups like Mrs. Fuller's. They have been working more and more for the people."

"How much longer will this go on? I've heard the mortality rate among members of such groups is rising again." One of them expressed this doubt.

The death rate of groups traveling outside the safe areas of cities or domains protected by Vicente's fences had decreased during the crisis with the advent of his armor and firearms. Recently, however, reports of deaths among members of groups like Nina's had resurfaced, and the dangers to teams were once again on the rise.

"Sigh! Who knows? The head of the family is out there fighting the monsters, so I imagine things might improve after a while. But for now, all we can do is hang on."

...

While the men at the guard post talked about the most important topic among the warriors in the southern region, Nina's group slowed down and increased their caution as they explored this land without an owner.

As soon as they left the protected area, Nina activated one of her abilities, causing small mana parasites to emerge from her body and instruct them to hunt monsters in the area.

The monsters may have been hiding, but the moment these mana creatures emerged from Nina's powers, their locations became obvious not only to these artificial beings but also to their creator.

"There are 47 3rd stage monsters and 7 4th stage monsters nearby. Let's take care of them before we continue towards our destination..." she mumbled to her group before talking about the locations of the enemies and how they should split up to deal with these 54 opponents.

With Vicente's 4th stage armor, they all had peak Sky Sovereigns combat capabilities, so dealing with this group wouldn't be difficult.

Nina assigned four enemies to each of her allies, leaving her to deal with the remaining ten, seven of whom were the strongest in the area.

None of the men questioned her order or method of division. After over 30 missions with her, like the one they were about to start today, they all knew exactly what Nina could do and how she led.

As soon as she gave her orders, she would move while her eleven companions headed towards their opponents, surprising many of the monsters hiding nearby.

Some of them had camouflage abilities that made them very difficult to spot. When they were easily spotted by Nina and the others, these creatures found the situation strange as they tried to move backwards.

"Huh! Trying to escape?" Nina suddenly appeared behind one of the Earth Sovereign enemies, causing the corpse-like creature to tremble with her voice.

Even reanimated corpses had some life force, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to stand up in this world. When Nina appeared behind this individual and touched the back of its head, the creature felt its strength diminish rapidly while its enemy's strength increased.

Unable to move while being 'devoured' by Nina's ability, this being's body was gradually 'drained' until its flesh was decomposed and its bones crumbled as if they were made of sugar.

As quickly as she had appeared behind this being, Nina moved towards the only Sky Sovereign in the area and appeared in front of this enemy who had a body the size of a house, a monster similar to a Komodo dragon.

Nina's mana parasites attacked the creature, causing it to struggle to remove these hideous creatures from its body, which could quickly harm even individuals at its level.

However, the parasites resulting from Nina's third ability were not the young woman's only weapon. Her first ability activated and her first pentagram glowed in her surroundings before darkness covered her hands and legs.

Then, with a smile on her face, she attacked the creature with her fists and legs, each contact draining the monster of its life force while temporarily increasing her strength, giving her even more power for the following blows.

If you weren't able to neutralize Nina quickly at the beginning of the fight, taking her down later on could become an impossible task!