The Last Paragon in the Apocalypse

"Good job, everyone," Klaus said, walking toward his friends, who were catching their breath after the intense battle.

The dead bodies of the Crimson Wolves littered the battlefield. The battle had lasted less than an hour, but it gave Klaus a good sense of his friends' fighting power and styles.

Klaus collected the cores before stopping in front of his friends.

"There's a cave a few kilometers that way. It belonged to the Alpha wolves I just killed. We can rest there and evaluate our performances," Klaus suggested.

His friends accepted his suggestion and soon began moving toward the cave.

"Interesting. It seems the wolves are much more humanlike than we thought," Mark commented, observing how well-maintained the cave was.

"The two I killed and some of the Tier 7s you took down are in the phase of becoming beasts. This means they've started to gain human-like intelligence. So it's only natural for them to have such a clean place."

Klaus, who had witnessed the true nature of beasts multiple times in his past life, knew it wouldn't be long before his friends' perspectives on monsters began to change.

"Klaus, what's the difference between monsters and beasts?" Anna asked.

"Monsters are brutes," Klaus began. "They only know how to destroy. They don't have the intelligence to act with purpose. You could say monsters are mad and insane.

"Beasts, on the other hand, are just like us humans—intelligent, cunning, and very powerful. If you can take down a Tier 7 monster at your current level, you wouldn't even be able to land ten blows on a Tier 7 beast.

"That said, beasts can also take human form. However, the moment you see them, you'll know. Despite having human shapes, they still retain some part of their beast nature. But they can talk and think like intelligent humans."

"Sounds scary," Hanna commented.

"Very scary," Klaus agreed. "I have a feeling the Lightning Hawk we're going to face for the Thunder Berry has already stepped into the True Beast stage."

"How do you know that?" Kay, the quiet one in the group, asked.

"Because the missions were only posted three days ago, and the Crimson Wolves we just dealt with were in the medium stage. But you saw how dangerous they were. This only means the one we're going after is either already a True Beast or very close to becoming one."

"I see. I just hope we can complete this mission so we can focus on the rest," Kay said with a nod. The others followed suit.

"Don't worry," Klaus reassured them. "If we can't take it down, we can always negotiate. I doubt it chose to guard the Thunder Berry instead of taking it for itself if it weren't reasonable.

"Then again, we could always tame it. I think it would make a good companion for fighting and training." Klaus smiled slightly.

"Well, we're not beast tamers, so that's out of the question," Lily sighed. "Though I'd love to have a flying beast as a mount."

"Who said you have to be a beast tamer to tame a mount?" Klaus asked. "I can do it in my sleep. The only advantage beast tamers have is the ability to create Beast Space in the Sea of Consciousness.

"But I can do that too. In fact, I was already thinking of creating two or three spaces for you guys and helping you tame a few beasts. That way, I wouldn't have to worry about your safety when you go on solo missions."

"You can do that?" Lily's face lit up.

"Of course. I am not only handsome, cool, and strong, I am also very capable. In fact, in one of my past lives, I had a beast companion who was a Nine-Tail Demon Fox. She was the best," Klaus said with a smug expression.

"Tsk. I wonder who's going to believe that," Anna chuckled. His friends wore similar expressions after hearing his shameless comment.

Hanna, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes when she heard Klaus talk about his past life. But, of course, she said nothing.

"You guys should just relax. I promise that after this mission, you'll all find where your strengths lie and work on them.

However, I think our team will be complete once we add Lucy, Nia, Asha, Aoi, and Lulu. For now, Anna will play the role of control, but once Lucy joins us, you can switch to support."

"Wait, I won't be controlling the flow of the battle anymore?" Anna frowned at hearing that.

"Yes," Klaus said plainly, not wanting to hide anything.

"Why?" she asked.

"It's simple. While your water element is good for controlling the battlefield, I think it will be better suited for support, such as healing. Just imagine healing your teammates by letting them step into the water.

Also, I want you to switch to support because Lucy's wood element is meant for control. She can reach places on the battlefield you wouldn't be able to.

Plus, she has the ice element, perfect for protecting herself without needing Lily and Hanna to do that. This works out best for you, too, because aside from supporting, you can fight more actively with your ice.

And with you and your sister working together, you can control and support each other far better than one person doing the job alone."

"I see. I guess I'll have to talk to my big sister and see if she'll allow me to be her support." Anna was disappointed, but she knew Klaus was right.

She really wasn't suited to control the battlefield.

At first, Klaus had wanted her to handle control, but after learning of her ice element, he realized she would simultaneously be better suited for support and offense.

Klaus wanted to prepare them for when things went bad. After attending Instructor Simon's class a few times, Klaus started to see that Earth was far more vulnerable than anyone might think.

If and when things went south, he wouldn't have to worry about his friends and could fight more actively. Right now, Klaus wanted nothing more than to grow stronger, and one way of doing that was by having capable friends.

While they were away farming beast cores, he could simply absorb them. In fact, he wanted to turn them into his beast core mules.

But to do that, he first had to dig into their potential and bring out their best. It was also one of the reasons he wanted to help them tame a few beasts.

Since the legacies and clans were after him, he knew it was only a matter of time before they set their sights on him. The last thing he wanted was to worry about his friends when they were away on missions.

"Let's relax for now. In a few hours, we'll visit the ThunderBerry tree and see if we can pluck one with or without resorting to violence," Klaus said, retrieving the cores from their recent battle.

"Since these are fire-type cores, only I, Kilian, and Kay can absorb them." He divided the cores equally and handed them over.

Three hours later, they were ready for their first mission.