The creature’s presence was powerful enough to make every single hair on my body stand on end. It was around sixty feet tall. For a raid boss, it wasn’t particularly big, but its amorphous mana armor and large eyes shone ominously and took away a person’s will to resist. Dozens of long and half-transparent tentacle-like things were squirming around its body, like malformed arms and legs.

It commented, [Your mana…seems especially tasty…!]

I shrieked, “Where did this monster come from!? Ren, you should’ve said something!”

He replied, flustered, “Argh! I didn’t know either…On a different note, why are you able to move with no problems, Crown Prince!?”

“Lebuik! You too!?” I asked at the top of my lungs.

She retorted, “Like I said, I got feared!”

Damn, did I have to use it now? Seeing the tentacles closing in on us and the two large eyes of the Mana Eater glowing ominously, I gritted my teeth and shouted, “Kuaaaaaang!”

[You have used Frozen Roar! All enemies in the battlefield have frozen in place. All allies have temporarily become super-armored and all abilities are increased by 50%. Your chance of landing critical hits doubles when fighting enemies affected by Frozen Roar.]

In an instant, the Mana Eater’s movements froze. Frozen Roar had affected both its body and its tentacles. However, the Mana Eater was an SSS rank raid boss monster, so it was already trying to shake off Frozen Roar’s effect. I had to move now!

“Ren, protect the children!” I commanded.

“Got it!”

I shouted, “Lotte!”

[Ride, Hero!]

Lotte had transformed into her wyvern form and I quickly jumped onto her back. The dense forest made it extremely difficult for Lotte to fly. As such, I used Tempest and cleared the trees around us.

The Mana Eater shouted, [I won’t let you disturb my meal!]

“Annoying!”

Tentacles flew toward me from all sides. The thick and long appendages oozed out disgusting black mana.

I enveloped my spear with chaos flames and ordered Lotte to charge toward one tentacle. I vigorously raised my spear up and struck down. Then, with an immense resistance, I felt my mana being sucked in.

[Kuhaha, truly tasty…argh!]

Right after it happily remarked on the taste of my mana, it screamed. As I thought, chaos flames worked on an SSS rank raid boss too! I smiled in relief and shot my spear at another tentacle. I wanted to sever it completely!

Ren warned me, “Crown Prince, be careful! He doesn’t just have one or two tentacles!”

I shouted back, “Don’t mind me! Focus on protecting the children!”

The children had to use mana just to stay in this place. I wasn’t sure if I could win against the Mana Eater in a direct one-on-one fight, much less with the added condition that I had to do it before the children completely ran out of mana!

I shot Tempests infused with chaos flames towards the two appendages flying toward me from behind. The tentacles instinctively backed off as they were afraid of the fire, and I used this chance to escape from them with Lotte.

The boss sputtered, [T-This flame…A mana I can’t completely absorb…Who are you!?]

“I’m a Hero that will end your life, you damned octopus!” I retorted grimly.

It snarled in response, [Try it!]

Dozens of tentacles instantly shot up into the air. The Mana Eater must have completely shaken off the frost covering it. Plus, it did so by absorbing the mana used in the attack. My instincts told me that using chaos flames was the best way to damage it.

“Lotte, can you do it?” I asked.

[Of course.]

Lotte’s reliable response cheered me up. She flapped her wings valiantly, shooting out waves of aura from the edges of her wings. The waves of aura chopped down the nearby trees and created even more space for her to maneuver around.

A few of the tentacles then grabbed some of the trees that fell and threw them at us. I caught them with my chaos flame aura and shouted, “Lotte, I’m going to use Gaia Buster!”

[Got it!]

Lotte flapped her wings strongly the moment she heard me. With each flap of her wings, she flew higher at an incredible speed.

[You can’t escape!] the boss shouted in frustration.

As it screamed, its tentacles shot up into the air towards Lotte. Apparently, it wanted to fight with its tentacles alone.

I thought we had flown up quite high, but I could still see trees all around us because they were incredibly tall. Since we had knocked down the trees around us, there was no problem with Lotte moving around, but the trees here were still too strange. Feeling somewhat uneasy, I bit my lips.

I mumbled. “It’s on the tip of my tongue…”

[Tongue?] Lotte asked.

I came to a decision. “Let’s descend for now!”

The moment she heard me, Lotte shot down like an arrow. A few tentacles attacked us. It was impossible to dodge them all!

I expanded Mad Typhoon’s range as much as I could and created a whirlpool surrounding Lotte and me. Then, I wrapped it with chaos flames. The tentacles hurling toward us didn’t flinch when the flames appeared and fell down after hitting us once. Even so, their attacks had carried an immense force. More importantly, they were stealing our mana every time they hit us!

“Lotte, are you okay?” I asked out of concern.

[This is nothing! Please focus, we're almost back down on the ground!]

“Got it!”

I raised my spear. A single tentacle left a heavy injury on my cheek, then fell back from chaos flames. Furthermore, dozens of appendages had joined together to form a hammer-like arm as if to prevent us from doing what we wanted.

The boss howled, [I’ll suck your mana dry!]

“Lotte, dodge!”

[No problem!]

The tentacle hammer smashed down toward us without warning. It was several times bigger than Lotte!

“Shin oppa!”

“Crown Prince, be careful!” Ren screamed.

[Kuaaaang!]

Lotte roared and flapped her wings weakly. The mana contained within that flap was quite complex, but I realized that we were now only a few feet away from the ground. Dear god, Lotte just used Blink!

[Hero!]

I shouted, “Gaia Buster!”

After Lotte successfully dodged the tentacle hammer with Blink, her shout snapped me out of my daze. I immediately struck my spear wrapped in black lightning into the ground. At that moment, the tentacles had separated from the hammer form and hurled toward us once again. Within seconds, they were all thrown back. The ground exploded and large boulders had shot out. Furthermore, the trees were pulled out along with their roots.

“Protect the children!”

Ren replied, “I know!”

Boulders carrying black lightning clashed with tentacles. The Mana Eater screamed and squirmed its tentacles, but even an SSS rank boss monster couldn’t help but be paralyzed after being hit repeatedly by the boulders. However, I couldn’t relax even after successfully dealing an attack. I could tell that the Mana Eater’s boundless mana hadn’t decreased in the slightest!

[Kuhaaaa…!]

The change occurred the moment Gaia Buster ended. Sticky black mana began to spread out in all directions, forming a thick fog that made it hard to see. Even though my eyes had far surpassed the limits of human sight, I could not see through the fog.

The boss snarled, [You are the first human to injure me…You must pay for this humiliation!]

I could feel its tentacles getting farther away. On the other hand, its killing intent shot up to a peak. This only meant one thing.

[I’ll eat the others first! You will have to face me alone!]

“You bastard!” I screeched.

[Hero, his presence is continuously changing location! If we rashly attack…!]

“I know…Ren, Lebuik!”

Ren said firmly, “I can’t die when I’ve come so far!”

Lebuik added, “Before you take Ren-nim’s life, you’ll…you’ll have to take mine!”

The tentacles had already begun their attack on the others. I didn’t think that Ren and Lebuik would lose, but if even a single tentacle reached the children…I urgently materialized Sharana.

“Take away this fog!”

[Ew, what an unpleasant fog. Master, I’ll get right on it!]

Once materialized, Sharana was truly powerful. As the elemental storm she wielded pushed back the Mana Eater’s fog, I gulped down a highest-grade mana potion. The amount of mana I had used and had been absorbed by the Mana Eater was no joke.

[Kuhaha! Beastmen, how impudent!]

“Lebuik, be careful!”

“I won’t let you hurt Ren-nim!”

The fog dissipated, and I could see once again. With Lotte, I quickly charged toward Ren, Lebuik, Ruyue, and the children. At the same time, I summoned Peika and infused her into my spear.

“Die! Lightning Spear Storm!”

A powerful whirlpool erupted from my spear and attracted the tentacles that were aiming for the children. In addition, the Mana Eater was slowly being pulled toward me. It must have realized my skill’s power as it joined its tentacles together to form a hammer once more.

It crowed, [Let’s see if you can take this!]

“Try it!” I retorted.

I shot out my spear consecutively, stabbing into the tentacles and discharging powerful electricity. Even so, the tentacle hammer didn’t waver in the slightest and slammed down on me from above. Regardless, I had successfully distracted it away from the children.

I commanded hastily, “Ruyue, take the children and run! Ren, Lebuik, go on ahead! I’ll go after I take care of this guy!”

“I can’t!”

[No!]

“Protect the children! Ruyue, listen to me! Everyone here is just getting in my way!”

“Rookie, how can you win against that thing by yourself!?” Lebuik screamed in despair.

I shook my head furiously. “Like I said, all of you are just burdens!”

The moment the hammer slammed down on my head, Lotte used Blink and dodged it. Because of that interlude, Lightning Spear Storm was interrupted, and the tentacles freed themselves from the whirlpool. Seeing the tentacles aim for the children once more, I gritted my teeth. They really didn’t know when to stop!

“Peika, Sharana! I need a big one!”

Peika grumbled, [Why do I have to work with this wind woman… But since it's the Master's request, it can’t be helped.]

Sharana retorted, [Worm-ssi, hurry up and attack! I’ll strengthen it!]

Peika left the spear for a moment and raised her hand. The entire forest was instantly lit up and all the trees burnt up. Sharana also raised her hand and strengthened Peika’s attack, Following that, the dozens of tentacles hurling towards the children were obliterated.

[Kuaaaaaaa!]

“Well done! Ruyue, run! Lotte, let’s run too!”

[Understood!]

The children were already in trouble! Ren and Lebuik gritted their teeth and smacked a couple of tentacles away from them. Along with Ruyue, they then began to run.

[Kuhaha, foolish! You can’t escape from here!]

Just when I thought Ruyue had escaped the tentacles’ range, two thick tentacles sprung up from the ground in front of her! Flustered, I urged Lotte to use Blink. At that moment…

[I’ve been waiting!]

“Ehhh!?”

With a blunt sound, my chest plate shattered. Feeling my vision shaking for a moment, I closed my eyes and opened them.

Five tentacles had skewered through my chest.

“H-How…!” I sputtered.

The Mana Eater shouted triumphantly, [You still don’t understand!?]

I could hear its voice from all sides. I raised my head and was amazed when I saw that the tentacles piercing through me had sprung up from the trees above. Right, the thought that had almost crossed my mind before was…

[I am the entire forest! Foolish Human!]

It was the start of a nightmare.