Supplies 5

Having already expended considerable mana earlier, using the Manifest Sword was impossible.

Then this gambit had to leave him with enough stamina to not only break through the demon beast horde, but also shatter the Tamer’s shield at close range, and subsequently escape amidst the remaining demon beasts.

Doyun organized his plan and unleashed his aura.

‘Dragon’s Aura.’

Still amateurish, yet an aura so dense it could not be mistaken for Hetzling’s, flooded the battlefield wide and encompassing.

Staggered by the overwhelming force differential, the demon beasts faltered.

Outside the aura’s radius, the confused Tamer, unable to comprehend this phenomenon, shrieked indignantly.

“What’s wrong!? Why are you acting like that!”

Doyun’s inexperienced aura, deployed as widely as possible, failed to neutralize them. However, it did momentarily disrupt their command structure’s reaction speed, creating a brief opening.

Leaping down from the walls, Doyun landed on the ground, but the demon beasts hesitated before charging, allowing him to swiftly move.

A black void opened in midair, revealing the emerald blade of a javelin. Doyun drew it and gripped it in his right hand.

The piercing wind javelin Aaer, one of the sister javelins.

The divine armament once known as the ‘Wrath of the Wind God’ glowed brilliantly green as it received Doyun’s mana.

Jjeojeojeojeong-!

With an intense boom, the moment Aaer was fired from Doyun’s hand, a thin horizontal whirlwind formed around it, piercing through the demon beast ranks.

Doyun dashed through the opened path. Despite only Agility 3, his mana-infused legs enhanced by Localized Acceleration Control, combined with his lightfoot technique, allowed him to instantly close a third of the distance to the Tamer.

“Wh, what are you idiots doing! Stop him! Stop him!”

Slowed by the aura’s influence, the demon beasts gave Doyun enough time to run.

But at the one-third mark, they began charging as well. However, Doyun didn’t stop.

There was a technique in the Buske Sword Art that explosively released sword-ki from the trailing sword, utilizing the recoil force to deliver shark-like thrusting attacks.

However, the mana control prodigy Enoch had often adapted this principle as a means of mobility instead.

As he ran, Doyun extended both palms backwards, condensing mana into palm blasts that shone brilliantly.

Simultaneously focusing mana into his legs, he abruptly unleashed the palm blasts in an instant.

[Buske’s Sword Art – Barracuda]

Doyun’s figure shot forth like a bullet, instantly passing through the charging demon beasts.

The distance was reduced to two-thirds in a flash.

“Stop him, you slowed-down bastards!!”

However, the path opened by Aaer closed up, once again surrounding Doyun.

Just as Doyun was about to cleave another path with Aaer…

“Treats, kids!”

Magical energy erupted from the Tamer’s wand, scattering across the battlefield as the demon beasts’ eyes turned bloodshot.

Drooling disgustingly, they charged at Doyun with maddened frenzy, as if driven insane.

‘This is…’

A technique that didn’t exist 100 years ago.

She too had grown stronger, like a demon.

“Get him!!”

Now completely unaffected by Doyun’s aura, they swiftly and recklessly opened their jaws from all directions, no longer leaving any openings for Doyun to act during the moments they faltered.

In an instant, the demon beasts’ fangs tore into Doyun’s body.

The demon beast horde piled atop him like a small hill.

“Aaah…!”

“No!!”

Witnessing this sight, the soldiers lamented in despair while Sophie screamed.

But then…

Kwaaang-!

A razor-sharp semi-spherical wind erupted from Doyun’s position, blowing the demon beasts away.

At the center stood Doyun, both hands gripping the tornado javelin Anemos, its blade plunged into the ground beneath his feet.

Grick-

His teeth ground audibly.

As the jagged winds burst forth from the javelin, sweeping away the surrounding demon beasts, they had naturally shredded Doyun’s flesh where he gripped it directly.

His blood swirled within the tornado.

Opening his previously shut eyes, the mana-protected orbs flickered with a golden radiance once more.

“Th, that crazy bastard!”

The Tamer and soldiers, even his teammates, were aghast at his suicidal attack’s sheer recklessness.

But Doyun remained unfazed – mere flesh wounds couldn’t stop him.

He was a man who could keep swinging his blade until his dying breath, so long as his bones, muscles, and will remained intact.

However, the frenzied demon beast horde quickly charged at him again with increased fervor.

Faced with the heightened difficulty, Doyun revised his calculations.

‘Forget about afterwards, I’ll break through at full power!’

His body naturally assumed a stance as he reached this resolution.

Not his own, but the mounted javelin art of the kingdom’s bravest holy knight from 100 years ago.

Yet through the mere experience of standing on the same battlefields, observing the knight’s ferocious charges from behind, Doyun perfectly mimicked his stance.

[Self-Made Genius]

(You were born unremarkable, but through dozens of deaths and hundreds of years of effort, you have transcended even your own innate qualities. You no longer struggle to learn new things and can swiftly hone existing skills. This is not an inborn talent, but the seasoning of an immense wealth of experience. As such, your growth is based on what you have witnessed and heard.

Your growth rate receives an adjustment based on your lived years.

Your growth approach receives an adjustment based on your experiences.)

‘On Lance.’

Retrieving the recalled Aaer from the void with Nebulae’s ability, Doyun gripped it firmly in both hands.

The piercing long javelin Aaer was securely fixed at his right hip, its blade pointing sharply forward.

‘To Advance.’

His right foot stepped forward, firmly planted into the ground.

The Dragon Heart blazed fiercely as the remaining mana reinforced his entire body.

His body hardened like a thick barding, his thighs swelling like those of a charger.

And the moment the demon beast waves came crashing down upon him…

‘Charge.’

Kwaaang!

With an earth-shattering boom that could deafen, his figure shot forth with the momentum of a warhorse’s charge.

The whirlwind surrounding Doyun, his mana-reinforced hardened body –

the demon beasts struck by that tremendous charge were burst apart and blown away, their thick hides offering no protection, as if trampled by a carriage.

Finally, Doyun reached the 5-meter wolf the Tamer was mounted on.

He leapt high, his upward gaze meeting the shimmering shield enveloping her as he soared above.

‘I just need to strip that away.’

The removal target – the objective of this operation.

Doyun no longer had enough mana remaining to use the Emperor’s Divine Palm even once.

As he descended, he raised his right leg vertically towards the sky and stomped down with all his weight and gravity’s acceleration.

[Hecleus’s Style Pugilism – Log Smasher]

The instant his heel struck the shield, at the same moment the Tamer launched a magic missile at him…

Jjeojeojeojeong-!

Despite being a mana-less strike, the Tamer’s shield shattered, unable to withstand the Fist Emperor’s peerless kick.

The shattered shield fragments scattered as Doyun’s figure was blown into the air by the magic missile’s impact.

“Kkhahaha, you idiot!”

However, his objective had already been achieved.

‘Now I can…’

With just the shield stripped away, the ‘thing’ he had prepared would end her life…

‘…!’

But as he soared through the air, Doyun clearly saw it.

Inside the Tamer’s shattered shield was another, weaker and thinner barrier.

Like the demon beast horde’s frenzy empowerment, it too was an unforeseen byproduct of her growth over the past 100 years.

The Tamer cackled madly as she watched Doyun’s airborne figure.

‘Ah…’

Just as the word ‘failure’ flashed across his mind…

“…!”

White particles coalesced behind the Tamer, and from that point, Sophie’s figure emerged.

The ultimate long-range teleportation ability to travel anywhere a rainbow manifested, unrestricted by location.

‘Celestial Archery Illusion…!’

But how was this possible at night without a rainbow?

The airborne Sophie, mimicking Doyun’s earlier movements precisely as she had learned from him, raised her right leg at a right angle.

“Hngh!”

Accompanied by her signature kiai, Sophie’s heel struck the barrier.

Jjanggang-!

“Wh, what!?”

The remaining barrier shattered, and the Tamer immediately retaliated, firing a magic missile to blow Sophie away.

But even as the magic missile pierced her abdomen, Sophie grit her teeth and remained silent.

‘A measly blow like this…!’

Was nothing compared to the bloodied Doyun’s suffering…!

And so, her figure tumbled through the air.

“Aaargh, you bitches! That startled me!!”

Doyun smiled with satisfaction.

‘Well done, Sophie.’

Extending his mangled hand towards the void…

Ting.

A crisp chime unexpectedly rang out.

Ssak-!

“Those bastards didn’t even try to stop that… kkegh,”

Thump-

A long javelin came flying from somewhere, striking the Tamer squarely in the back of the neck and protruding from her throat.

“Kkh, guh, kkh…?”

Trembling hands reaching up, she stared in disbelief at the pure white javelin with a bell attached beneath the blade, lodged under her chin.

‘I owe him once again.’

That javelin was the ‘Earth-Piercing Javelin’ that had provided the catalyst for Haineken to awaken his A-rate skill [Thousand Li Pike] – an effect that guaranteed a hit on any target observed within four hours.

The ‘Earth-Piercing Javelin,’ sharing its name with the skill of the Blitzkrieg Kingdom’s hero.

Before executing his operation, Doyun had hurled the Earth-Piercing Javelin towards the sky behind the fortress, and its ability had caused it to curve back and impale the Tamer’s neck from her initial out-of-trajectory position.

“Kkh… bas…”

Stubbornly clinging to life befitting a demon race, the Tsunami Tamer eventually rolled her eyes back and collapsed from the massive wolf.

The Demon Lord’s high-ranking officer who had inflicted major damage on the Alliance numerous times, the Tsunami Tamer whom even Enoch of the 18th regression had failed to kill.

That very Tamer…

Had died by Disciple Han Doyun’s hand.

“Phew…”

Doyun, in free-fall amidst the demon beast horde, heaved a relieved sigh.

Soon, he crashed heavily onto the ground, his battered body lying limp.

Despite the tantalizing scent of blood from his shredded flesh, the demon beasts did not immediately attack Doyun.

Grrrr…

They were experiencing great confusion as the frenzy wore off and the Tamer’s control lapsed.

But soon, they would inevitably regain their senses and tear into Doyun’s flesh – it was only a matter of time.

Sophie came running towards Doyun from the other side.

“Doyun!”

“…Sophie. You did really well.”

“Ah… Th, thank you… But more importantly, what should we do now…?”

In response to Sophie’s worried words, Doyun struggled to sit up.

“We have to survive.”

He stated calmly.

Despite his right leg being shattered by the recoil, without a shred of mana remaining, the threat of death was simply a daily occurrence for Enoch Razvolnic.

Doyun drew his sword from his waist and stood back-to-back with Sophie.

Grrrr…

Having regained their senses, the demon beasts licked their chops hungrily at the sight of them.

Although the frenzy and pack mentality had dissipated, they were still surrounded by a sea of demon beasts – a situation where death seemed all but assured.

‘Doyun…’

Just as Sophie resolved to confess her feelings to Doyun, having accepted their impending demise…

“…Kkinng, nnang…”

“Hm?”

“Huh?”

The demon beasts’ behavior became erratic.

“Kking, kkaang, kkaang…”

“Grrr… kkulruruk, kkulruruk…”

They fidgeted restlessly, as if terrified of something, engulfed in great turmoil.

“Wh, what’s going on?”

“…I don’t know.”

As the two wondered at the sudden anomaly…

“Huh? Doyun! Look up!”

The pair gazed upwards.

Piercing through the gloomy clouds and darkness, something trailed a long, crimson tail as it plummeted towards the ground.

“…A, a meteorite?”

“…No.”

While it appeared like a meteorite as Sophie said, Doyun sensed its true nature through its aura.

Descending upon this location at meteoric speeds, piercing through the atmosphere, it was…

Ssak-

Someone both Doyun and Sophie were already familiar with.

Kwaaaaaang-!!

“Yikes…!”

“Kkkyaak!”

The instant it collided with the ground, an immense shockwave powerful enough to rumble the earth and air engulfed the sea of demon beasts.

Doyun embraced Sophie, shielding her amidst the quaking and gales.

The scorching mana-infused windstorm tore apart the ground, instantly crushing and incinerating the demon beasts, their corpses scattered like fallen leaves.

Yet to Doyun and Sophie, that intense heat was merely a warm breeze – a testament to considerable mana control prowess.

As the dust settled…

Grrrr…

From the massive crater left behind as if a meteor had struck…

Grrrrrrraaaawwwwrrr-!!

A dragon’s roar reverberated.

Imbued with a ferocious aura, the surviving demon beasts collapsed lifelessly, rolling their eyes back, the stronger individuals barely clinging to consciousness trembling without daring to approach.

One of the Alliance’s mightiest warriors, inheriting Razvolnic’s title.

The one who carried the blood of the greatest lifeform under the heavens.

Grrrrraaaawwwwrrr-!!

The dragon-human Leah extended her claws as she leapt into the sea of demon beasts.