A little over an hour later.
With most of their ammunition spent, the various clearance units began withdrawing from the Abyss Beast Nest's territory in turns, covering one another according to plan.
Truck engines roared as they carried the exhausted but exhilarated trainees back to the training camp.
Though their bodies were weary and their muscles sore, none of them felt the slightest bit sleepy.
For a while, the trucks rang with excited, even feverish conversation.
The trainees, fresh from their first taste of battle, eagerly shared their impressions of the fight, recounted the moments they had killed Abyss Beasts, and discussed their mistakes and how they could improve their teamwork.
The groups that had been fortunate—or perhaps unfortunate—enough to face the pressure of a Stardust Rank Abyss Beast and witness Lin Yi's earth-shattering strike with their own eyes became the center of everyone's attention.
Inside the truck beds, they talked with such enthusiasm that they were practically spitting as they marveled at what they had seen.
"My God! You should've seen it. When that thing pounced, I felt like my heart had stopped. All I could think was, 'I'm dead, I'm dead. I've got to fight it!'"
"What happened next? Did the Chief Instructor really make it disappear with one strike from that far away?"
"Of course! There was a flash of white, then a 'whoosh' and a 'boom.' That monster was gone—not even a speck of ash left."
"That's insane! It was like a video come to life. I'm so jealous. Why couldn't I have been there?"
The atmosphere was just as lively inside a truck carrying mainly the delegation's auditing students.
Several young people gathered around Elizabeth and Adams.
"Miss Elizabeth, Mr. Adams, I heard your group ran into a Stardust Rank one too. Tell us what