System's POV
chapter-449

Diana wore a white Neuro-Link that resembled a Knight's helmet and laid down on the Yoga Mat.

Albion, on the other hand, wore specialized Vizor Sun Glasses, which allowed Monsters to connect directly to the game.

Diana entered Monster Hunter Mode as per Thirteen's instructions and chose an open plain as their battleground.

Thirteen looked at Diana's Rank and discovered that she was in the top 50 of the Heavenly Rankings.

Unlike Derek who specialized in offensive attacks, Diana focused more on defense.

She was always on the front line of the party, preventing her companions from getting hurt and taking some of the strongest blows that could break the bones of a person if they were unlucky enough to get a direct hit.

"I will be assessing your reaction time," Thirteen said. "Since you are your party's first line of defense, I want to know how fast you react to enemy attacks."

Monster Hunter Mode gave Wanderers full access to their abilities and equipment to a certain extent.

But only equipment properly registered in its database would retain its function in the game.

Those who wished to keep the information of their gear a secret would not be able to use their weapon's abilities because it wasn't registered.

But for most people, that was fine as well.

Since they valued their privacy, they were worried that the game was made to collect personal information of Wanderers, which could potentially be used against them in the future.

Just like many Wanderers, Diana didn't register the abilities of her equipment in the game and simply wore them for what they were.

These gears retained their physical and magical defenses, but their active and passive skills would not be usable.

Monster Hunting Starts in three seconds.

3!

2!

1!

"Monster Hunting Start!"

Before Diana could even move from her spot, she felt a threat coming from behind.

Immediately, she conjured a small shield made of light on her back, successfully protecting herself from the sneak attack aimed at her blind spot.

The Magic Bullets Albion had conjured landed on the White Shield and was neutralized completely.

But before Diana could breathe easily, her sixth sense kicked in, and she felt a threat in every direction, making her eyes widen in shock.

"Aegis!" Diana shouted as she thrust her sword into the ground, creating a dome of light that shielded her entire body.

The sound of explosion followed as countless magic bullets landed on the strongest defensive skill that Diana could use.

Aegis was a skill that created a dome of invincibility that lasted for five seconds.

However, she would not be able to use this skill again until an hour had passed.

In short, it was a skill that should only be used as a last resort, yet Diana had used it right at the start of the battle. She knew it too, and her face turned grim.

Swinging her sword to the side, Diana dispelled the dust cloud that surrounded her.

She needed to see where her opponent was so that she could prepare to defend herself at any time.

Expanding her senses to its fullest, Diana stood completely still.

Her breathing was steady, and her stance was calm.

When she sensed Albion's barrage coming in her direction, she used her shield to block it. For the sneak attacks she thought she could take, she parried them with her sword.

Soon, the intensity of the attacks rose with each passing minute, attacking her from every direction.

Diana wasn't able to block all the Magic Bullets that Albion had cast.

Some of them landed on her armor, which made Diana stagger but not fall.

Despite the overwhelming punishment she was enduring, she held her ground.

'How many minutes has it been?' Diana thought as he blocked another magic bullet aimed at her head. 'How long have I been defending like this?'

The sword and shield in her hands were getting heavier and heavier as fatigue slowly built up in her body.

She didn't know how long Zion's assessment test would end, so she did the only thing she could do and that was to defend.

As more minutes passed, Diana felt as if the sword and shield in her hands weighed a ton each.

Seeing a giant fireball headed in her direction, Diana roared as she lifted her shield for the umpteenth time and cast a support spell to empower it.

"Elemental Shield!" Diana roared, as she braced herself for the oncoming attack.

When the fireball collided with her shield, Diana felt as if all the air in her lungs had been blown out, making her body fly backward due to the impact of the spell.

She crashed heavily on the ground and groaned in pain.

The young Crusader tried to move her hands, but they no longer obeyed her will.

Her strength had left her, and even the act of lifting a finger felt like a monumental task at the moment.

After struggling to lift her head from the ground for a few seconds, she finally gave up and panted for breath.

Her entire body was aching as if she had been punched and kicked in every part of her body.

"Not bad for a human," Albion commented after teleporting beside the fallen crusader.

Diana ignored the Unicorn and did her best to regain a bit of her strength.

Suddenly, she heard a notification inside of her head.

"The Wanderer named Diana has reached her limit and will now be automatically disconnected from the server."

After hearing the notification, a five-second countdown appeared in front of her, making her sigh in relief.

"Finally, it's over," Diana said as she closed her eyes.

She was not only physically exhausted.

She was also mentally and emotionally drained.

"She fell asleep," Shana said after she had successfully removed the Neuro-Link from Diana's head.

A moment later, she started to use her power to heal and revitalize her friend's body.

Although Diana would recover normally, the battle she fought was as real as it could get, so she still felt exhausted in the real world.

While this was happening, Thirteen was checking the data of Diana's performance.

He planned to create a custom training for the Crusader, which focused entirely on defending.

Although he couldn't pass down Divine-Ranked Techniques to her, he could still teach her the proper ways how to move her body with minimal effort, ensuring that she would be able to block attacks quickly, and more effectively.

"She's great, right?" Derek asked with a smile. "She lasted for half an hour against that Unicorn."

Thirteen nodded. "She's at least ten times better than you."

Derek almost choked on his saliva after hearing the younger boy's words. However, he didn't dare refute him, especially after getting beaten by Remi, who was half his age.