Yua messaged me, [Sorry, Oppa. If I hadn't made such an unreasonable request…]

I reassured her, “No, rather, it’s good that you did. We can fight them before they’re fully prepared to take us on.”

Although Yua had a large army, to the SSS+ rank Destroyers, mantises were nothing more than easily flammable bugs. They were disadvantaged in terms of rank and stats. Yua wanted to stay, saying that this expedition was planned partly because of her, but when Father stepped in and gave her a stern talk, she had no choice but to go back to the guild house.

[I’m sorry that I couldn’t help more…] she replied quietly.

I consoled her, “It’s fine. You will get stronger, and you can help me then. For now… just pray for my victory!”

At the same time I replied to Yua, I shot my spear forward and blew up the Destroyer’s head. The lava from its head jumped up at me as if it wanted to melt my head, but with Flame Sucker’s power, it dissipated without having achieved any damage.

[Ok…! Oppa, good luck!]

“For now, that’s enough!”

I could really feel myself brimming with energy! My younger sister was an angel who always thought and cared for me. For her, I had to go back safely! I looked for the next target and charged.

[Uooooooo!]

The Destroyers’ earthshaking roar rumbled in my ears. The heat from the lava also made my sight hazy. Thundering sounds rang out from all sides as the magic of the succubi and the aura attacks of the other guild members cut through the air and pummeled the Destroyers.

“Eat this and die!” I screamed.

I drew on Peika’s power to the limit, shooting down several Destroyers and absorbing as much mana as I could. I had to make contact with the enemies, but as long as I fought in close-range quarters, Absolute Soul could absorb about the same amount of mana as I used in my attacks.

Considering the fact that I was also using Peruta Circuit, my mana didn’t have a chance to go down. Of course, now that I had Ruyue materialized and fighting by herself, that wasn’t the case.

[Hero!]

I commanded, “Speed up!”

Lotte responded, [Understood!]

Few of those in the guild could fight and come out victorious against a Destroyer in a one on one fight. So, to lessen the amount of danger they would have to face, I had to defeat as many as I could. With Wind King’s Rage, I could at least neutralize them even if I didn’t kill them in one blow! I used Provoke to draw the enemies toward me once again as I sped through the air with Lotte.

Ren suddenly messaged me, [Crown Prince, if you push yourself too much and get hurt, it’ll be the end! My father also…]

[I’m not pushing myself, don’t worry!] I replied back confidently.

I had worked hard all this time to get stronger for this moment! This was nothing compared to climbing the dungeon day and night, challenging my limits in Beyond, and fighting the Floor Masters ten times a day!

“Haaaaaap!”

Lotte’s wings wrapped around one of the scarlet flames flying toward us and reflected it. Although it couldn’t damage the Destroyers, it could at least help stop their movements. Immediately afterwards, we charged towards a Destroyer and hammered it with a spear wrapped in a whirlpool of lightning.

[Guaaaaa!]

“Lotte, how many have we killed so far?” I asked.

She immediately replied, [178!]

Lotte and I had already bathed in the Destroyer’s flames. I wasn’t hurt thanks to Flame Sucker, which nullified flames, but Lotte’s body was already fairly burned. However, she didn’t stop and continued to charge. Her injuries soon caught my attention.

[Hero! Don’t think about useless things and just focus on attacking. It only takes me a day to recover from burns like these!]

I had to take her word for it. “…Alright. Let’s go.”

Wind King’s Rage did not end unless I stopped it. In other words, I could continuously deal wind, lightning, and charge damage. Thanks to the Giant Wolf’s Tattoo, I could also deal an additional 50% in damage.

One thing that was somewhat regretful was that 60% bonus damage to charge type skills disappeared when I upgraded my armor to Pure Black Desire. Instead, I had gotten Desire Thorn, which could steal the life force of others. Unfortunately, this was limited to once per day. In any case, I didn’t have the time to be thinking about useless things. Right now, I had to focus on using the abilities I had to kill the Destroyers in one blow.

“Huaaaaap!”

Wind King’s Rage could be continued indefinitely, as it was a charge type skill, but I had to keep charging for it to stay in effect. In other words, Lotte also had to charge without stopping.

I widened my eyes and continuously thrust out with my spear. If I let my guard down even for a second, I would be speeding into a Destroyer unprepared. I had to maintain my focus. Fortunately, I had plenty of experience fighting battles like this on the Luka and Panan continents. Otherwise, maintaining a skill like this would have been unimaginable.

[Critical Hit!]

[Guaaaaa!]

“Die!”

Sharana was still infused into my body, and she suddenly reported to me as we killed the 26th destroyer, [Master, I can feel the presence of a powerful existence!]

Even as I continued to charge, I looked up and scanned the horizon. There, I saw a line of monsters marching, swinging whips made of lava.

[They’re here! The Sweepers!] Lotte screeched.

“Cleaners?” I asked.

I didn’t know what they were trying to clean, but it was inevitable that I would have to fight them. I had to eliminate the Destroyers before that! I gritted my teeth and shouted, “Lotte, charge! We can’t end this with just Wind King’s Rage!”

[Gryaaaaaa!]

Lotte roared and flapped her wings in response. The spear I shot out towards the Destroyers gathered wind and lightning and tore them to shreds.

Sharana interjected, [Master, the wind energy is getting stronger! I can still control it, but I’m not sure if Master will be fine in the center of it all!]

[It’s the same for me, Master. But since Master can even wield a God’s lightning, I think it will be okay!] Peika remarked.

I nodded. “Right, I’ll be fine! This is nothing!”

Indeed, with just a single misstep, the wind and lightning gathered at the tip of my spear could easily explode and cause me to let go of my spear. However, my clan’s unique technique was full of chaotic, destructive power. In fact, Heroic Stroke was derived from it. Thus, I had already had experience doing this. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to squeeze out every ounce of power in my body to focus it in one point. The more I thought about it, the more I came to understand that my ancestors trained in rather perverted methods. Of course, I wasn’t complaining since I was benefiting from that!

In the distance, someone shouted, “Ice Age!”

Within seconds, a bone-chilling freezing energy reached Lotte and I. I glanced toward the direction the freezing energy came from and saw Ina destroying dozens of Destroyers with lotus-like ice. Her truly incredible destructive power was fitting that of an SSS ranker.

It seemed Ina had exerted a great amount of effort to use that skill as she staggered. I wanted to go give her a hug, but I couldn’t do so at the moment. I steeled myself and continued to charge. Once I had taken care of everything, I would hug her as much as I wanted!

“Uoooooo!”

[They’re coming!] Lotte yelled out.

As the succubi battle units and the other members were all doing fantastic, over half of the Destroyers had fallen. Before I noticed, the atmosphere of the battlefield had changed, and the Sweepers were charging closer.

She warned, [Their whips are dangerous! They’re hotter than the Destroyers’ swords and have the ability to elongate!]

“That doesn’t sound like much!” I shouted spiritedly on purpose and drove Lotte towards them. If the Wind King’s Rage at peak power could not penetrate them, nothing could!

[A living human!]

[We love humans. They’re delicious!]

[Human flesh is so tender, it just melts in your mouth!]

When they noticed me, they sent their whips flying towards me as they blabbered incomprehensible things. I pushed the oncoming whips away with the wind energy around my spear and charged towards them.

“Taste this delicious human flesh!”

[Kuhuk!]

When I stabbed the Sweeper with my spear powered by Wind King’s Rage, its powerful rotational power drilled a huge hole through the Sweeper’s chest. The Sweepers that witnessed their kin’s death widened their eyes and swung their whips, but I continued to speed forward without paying them any mind.

Even if I were hit by the whips, I barely received any damage as I had my cape’s ability to nullify flames. Not to mention, unlike Daisy’s whip, their whips’ movements were completely readable. There was no way I would be afraid of attacks I could read!

[Kugyagyak!]

[Human…Human, Human!!]

I joked, “You guys are pretty tender yourselves!”

I could instantly tell their special characteristics after fighting a few of them. They certainly possessed flames more powerful than the Destroyer’s, but their constitution was weaker, so they had weaker defenses! It was much easier for me to deal with them.

“Lotte, dodge!” I ordered.

[Understood!]

Lotte’s movements continued to get faster. Now that I thought about it, her abilities seemed to have doubled since the first time we met. She had also gotten bigger and more lustrous. This change could be easily seen by the fact that she was charging through SSS+ rank monsters when she was only an S+ rank monster at first.

She warned me, [Hero, there are more coming!]

“I know! Keep charging!”

I gripped the spear in my hands tighter. With a bold smile, I concentrated my energy into my spear. One’s martial path had to be honed through real combat. Charging forward with my life on the line, through infinite repetitions, I was coming to better understand the profoundness behind my spear technique.

The moment I mastered the high-rank Spear Technique, I thought I had seen the end of manaless spearmanship. However, I was only 21. There was no way I could have mastered a lofty martial path in just 13 years. I understood that now. At the same time, I understood that the skill system wasn’t perfect, and that simply relying on skill levels was the same as drawing a line to my limit.

Furthermore, normal spearmanship wasn’t the same as spearmanship while riding. The spear technique I displayed on Lotte’s back was certainly not the same as when I was on my own. The more I became attuned to Lotte, the more I could read her movements and modify my own. Hence, my spear attacks would display greater prowess as it matched the limits of her speed!

[Critical Hit!]

After thrusting out again, the leftover force of the attack exploded the shoulder of a Sweeper standing next to the intended target. I immediately swung my spear to the side and struck his whip away. Lotte acted as if she could read my mind as she changed her trajectory and charged towards that Sweeper. Then, I was able to take its life with a simple attack.

As time went on, my attacks were becoming more destructive, though they still contained the same amount of power as before. It meant that my spearmanship was advancing in a realm where mana didn’t matter. I couldn’t help but smile knowing what was happening.

Becoming stronger like this was incredibly enjoyable! No matter how much at risk my life was, no matter how many enemies I had to face!

“Good…Good!”

[Hero, were you hit by a status effect!?] Lotte asked out of concern.

I laughed wildly. “I’m immune to mental status effects! Lotte, speed up!”

[Hero!?] She sounded a bit alarmed.

Wind King’s Rage didn’t stop. Until all the wind and lightning in the world gathered to the tip of my spear, my charge would not stop!

[Guoooooo!]

Just when I was thinking that, something blocked our advance. Although we tried to charge right through, my spear couldn’t penetrate it! I controlled the energy trying to run berserk as I reluctantly took my stance for the final blow. I raised my head. I wanted to know just what my spear couldn’t penetrate.

A giant over dozens of meters tall was glaring down at me. It wore a thick armor of fire and held a spear of fire that somewhat made me desire it.

I asked Lotte, “Is this the Lava King?”

She said regretfully, [Sorry Hero, but no.]

I sighed in relief. Not using Overlord the moment I saw him was truly a heaven’s fortune.

It was the start of a middle boss battle.