Chapter 386: Demon Commanders

There were so many monsters that he didn’t have a moment to breathe. Despite being able to kill them with a single blow, the sheer number of them was a challenge. Of course, forcibly steering them toward him didn’t help this at all. However, all this meant was that he would be pushed to his limits in a satisfying way.

He was adapting his kinetic energy usage with each moment, every time, making it a bit cleaner and a bit more powerful. His Concept experienced similar growth.

The one thing that disappointed him, though, was that the demons who were still standing behind their army of monsters weren’t doing anything. They didn’t make any moves to come after Julius themselves. It was like they were more than willing to allow their monsters to him.

Or at least that was what it looked like on the surface. However, when he glanced at them, he could see that they weren’t happy with how things were going either. Each of them had strained faces and looked as if they were itching to come and fight him.

He didn’t know why this was, but it saddened him. He wanted to fight these demons since they were the most powerful enemies he was able to sense. Unfortunately, it didn’t appear like it was meant to be just yet.

He sighed. If they wouldn’t oblige him with a fight, he would just continue mopping up their subordinates. So with a heavy heart, he truly started the slaughter. The monsters didn’t stand a chance as he tore them apart one by one.

His ruinous aura did some impressive damage just from him unleashing it on them. It was nice to finally release it without worrying about hurting anyone or standing out too much. Of course, the people generated by the rift were behind him, but he didn’t really see them as ‘real’ humans. It was somewhat uncaring, but from what he had seen, that was how it was.

However, out of all his abilities, he believed his new storm of sharpened mana was quite impressive. While it wasn’t the best against trolls who could regenerate or those with sturdy defenses, it worked well against monsters that didn’t boast these things.

It tore them apart with little effort, something that helped him defeat such a large number of them in such a short period. As he was congratulating himself, a wolf jumped at him from behind. However, the moment it entered the field of sharpened mana, it was torn apart. It barely had time to let out a cry as it was shredded into pieces.

Only after he had defeated over a hundred monsters by himself did he notice that he wasn’t being swarmed as intensely as before. He took the time to look around to see why this was, and his eyes squinted in confusion.

He swiftly figured out why that was. He spotted a large number of monsters retreating from him. He could feel the fear in their auras as they desperately tried to push back against their brethren who were boxing them in.

They couldn’t be scared of little old me? Surely not? He thought to himself with a frown.

However, considering that he was really the only person who was fighting, it was likely true.

Speaking of that, he noticed that nobody from the ramparts was even attacking the monsters. It was pretty much just him who was facing off against the horde. He looked behind with his perception skill and pinched his lips when he spotted the people on the ramparts looking at him with wide eyes.

He shrugged his shoulders and was about to chase after the monsters who were slowly backing away from him, but received the notification from the rift.

Congratulations, Seventh Floor Cleared.

That was it? He was half expecting more enemies to fight. It was sort of a letdown. The rift could have at least let him fight the demons before the floor ended.

He looked over where the demons were standing with narrowed eyes. Actually, what was stopping him from taking them on regardless? It didn’t seem like he was being transported like the earlier floors.

If he was going to remain in the same place, he should be allowed some freedom, such as the ability to take on these demons.

So with a carefree grin on his face, he took a quick step toward the demons. However, to his shock, he found himself slamming into a giant invisible wall. He staggered backwards more out of surprise than pain. He then rubbed his nose as he inspected the invisible barrier that had obstructed him.

He couldn’t detect anything from this barrier—not a single hint of mana or aura—it was truly invisible. He placed his hand out to touch the barrier and was still able to feel the hardened wall. He had no idea what this was, but he did know that it was preventing him from fighting those demons on the other side.

It was likely a feature of the rift to prevent him from taking things too far. But he still wanted to fight those demons, and this barrier was stopping him from doing that. That was why he wanted to test it. He took a step back and, after channeling some kinetic energy into his fist, he slammed it against the barrier with a loud crack.

The cracking noise came from his hand shattering into a thousand pieces. The barrier was way too hard, and when he attacked it, it was almost like all of the force he used was directed back at him. He shook out his hand and used his healing skill.

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He wasn’t done, though. He wanted to test it some more, which is why he took several dozen steps back and created a salvo of his constructs. He made sure to take his time and wove them with aura as well as his new Sharpness Concept. This allowed him to create extraordinarily powerful constructs. The channels he carved into them also allowed him to pack even more mana into them.

Then, without hesitation, he sent them blistering at the barrier. The explosion was deafening, and he almost got blown away by the shockwave. However, when the dust cleared, it was like nothing had even touched the barrier. There wasn’t even a single crack on the invisible surface.

He was about to make another attempt, but was surprised when he felt something wrap around him, and before he could do anything, the rift transported him away. It would appear that the rift wasn’t about to have some fun testing out the limits of the barrier like he had been prepared to do. That was unfortunate.

When he arrived at the new location, he pouted as he examined the dark room he found himself trapped in. There was nothing around him except for stone walls.