The sensation of breaking through, piercing, and exiting the special weave feels as usual — no, it feels a little more vivid, as if my brain had understood that feeling a bit better; my body adapted a bit more to that fraction of a second when I move through that strange, special zone.

Feeling my body completely whole is a new sensation. I haven't lost a single limb! It's the first time in thousands of attempts my body remains intact — a smile of triumph forms on my face and I can see the lord ogre's surprised expression in front of me.

Of course I don't let that damned ogre take a breath. Taking advantage of the surprise of my strike and his lack of response, I slip through his guard.

I gather the maximum power into my Thundersnow in that fraction of a second; my right sword traces a beautiful cut straight for his neck, while my other arm stays ready for any counter or gap in his defense. When my blade is a centimeter from his throat I feel a great joy, but I find a construction of extremely hard rock there.

I can sense how he fused mana, Imra, some Laws, and his Banner into that construction. I manage to pierce it slightly for a split second; because of the delay in my strike the lord ogre moves and tries to grab me with his hand — with a slight body movement I manage to cut off his thick arm and escape unscathed.

The grade-4 monster takes a step back; I can see his arm rebuilding at an impossible speed, and at the same time an armor of the same construction that stopped my blow begins forming around his body. Stone affinity? Now this idiot is taking me seriously — he hadn't used any skill before.

Two constructions like enormous rock logs appear on him and fly toward me; his constructions seem more powerful or resilient, however mine are faster and I can build them in less time.

I dodge the two attacks with the last step of my electrified steps; while I recharge that movement ability I must cut some rocks that are approaching dangerously like a river of stone. The other ogres have noticed me and are moving — the lord ogre stops attacking me to focus on his recovery.

I use those seconds of relief to think about my next moves. My mana expenditure from using the ability was high and I don't know if the next attempt will turn out well; I won't use it unless necessary. If this lord ogre actively joins the fight with everything he has on me I won't have the chance to hold back as much mana as I want; I'll have to use everything in my arsenal to have any chance of winning.

I let out a bitter sigh; I can't keep holding back just to save mana. Killing that grade-4 is already difficult, and everything is complicated by hundreds of other monsters chasing me. I release my bloodlust as much as I can — that halts the ogres' movements and the lord ogre looks at me angrily.

"Come if you've got the guts." I don't know if they understand me or not; a grade-4 monster is intelligent enough to learn human language, but they still communicate in their monstrous tongue — they probably haven't learned ours, or so I think.

I build another ten Joyeuse; I need to accelerate the slaughter as much as possible. It's a shame to leave the other ten guarding to prevent grade-3 monsters from approaching the protection dome.

My Joyeuse dance around me, piercing or impaling any ogre; sometimes one hit is enough to pierce a head, other times I need two or three to annihilate a single ogre. I recycle as much mana as possible from each construction when it breaks.

I move side to side dodging spells, strikes, cuts; the lord ogre actively moves near me seeking any gap or weak point to lunge at. He uses each ogre as cannon fodder to open spaces; so far I haven't given him the chance.

Time passes: first ten died, then twenty, then fifty, and I've surpassed a hundred — adding all the previous ones, only about half remain. The lord ogre's face is hard to read, but if I had to guess, he's frustrated right now.

"Shit." I have to duck and roll to one side; several of the grade-4 ogre's constructions combined with the other ogres' constructions come in sequence — I can't stop for even a second to dodge every spell. The place where we've been fighting has completely changed; now I can see acid, ice, traces of electricity, rock formations, etc.

"Only 34 melee ogres left, the casters and the boss." The ranged attacks come more frequently; the ranged ogres must be taking turns to hit me. I want to finish them first, but I can't get too far away.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

That defensive mana dome recharges with ambient mana. I decide to take a small risk by attacking it with a Joyeuse at sapphire-level strength in a less visible spot. My strike fails to even scratch it; I try a Joyeuse at maximum power, which is slightly weaker than a blow from the lord ogre.

The protection dome wavers a little; I test it with two more to estimate how long it would take to break it completely: about five minutes… so if all those ogres attack together it should take them roughly two minutes.

Plenty of time! I can finish those damn ranged monsters in just over a minute if I give everything. I cancel the guardian constructions and run straight to where the ranged monsters are; the lord ogre bellows loudly to his subordinates.

"Catch me if you can." My vague provocation has the intended effect — he sends half of the other ogres after me and the rest head toward the protection dome.

I build twenty ice swords with all my power and dive into their direction. I must dodge or block several spells on the way; I don't slow down for a second. Small wounds I heal immediately so as not to waste time evading every spell.

Finally I reach their location; my Joyeuse pierce the first caster ogres. The ogres split into two groups, forcing me to go for the smaller cluster first. Using my ice swords and cutting through them with my Thundersnow, I finish that group before the melee ogres arrive.

They rush recklessly, they don't think — they just want to smash me. The mage ogres must feel the same; their spells fly over us regardless of their allies' integrity.

82 seconds — that's how long it took me to annihilate them all. I lost an arm in the process and received multiple cuts and spells to optimize time; I couldn't think about my safety while my students faced possible danger. I regenerate my wounds and reattach my arm as fast as possible — it's time to return.

The 20 remaining ogres with their leader are hammering the defensive dome with everything they have; I can see it tremble with each hit, they're draining its mana as fast as possible.

My students are terrified. Dand is forcing the platform… no, it seems he succeeded and was just waiting for something to use it. His eyes find mine; I see him shout something to the rest of the students and the expressions of fear and anguish change in an instant.

They were waiting for me? They decided to trust me? They must not have known my plan; maybe someone guessed and so they risked delaying their departure until the last moment.

I move at full speed toward that damned grade-4 monster. Throughout the encounter I've been using my new gravity ability; now I feel much more comfortable using my space affinity while the electrical affinity accelerates body and mind — the heat of battle and the urge to finish faster let me do it.

I approach the lord ogre distracted as quickly as possible, I accelerate my body with gravity to try to catch him off guard. When he reacts it's too late — I find a weak point near the knee where his mana is more flexible and I pierce through. His body falls again as that trunk-like leg hits the ground with a dull thud.

I give everything to finish the other ogres as fast as possible; I generate spiked spheres at maximum power. My nose bleeds from surpassing my natural limit; I manage to create more than thirty and take out almost fifteen of them in a second. I finish the wounded ones with precise neck cuts.

My body is a bit exhausted, my mind aching from the last mana assault, but my spirit and soul remain intact. Finally I've finished off all the small ones; only the big one remains. The lord ogre has recovered and is roaring like crazy; his red eyes bulge with rage and his hideous face makes terrifying grimaces.

"Now it's one on one." I plant myself in front of him; my mana reserve is around 15% — enough to finish him, or so I hope.

The lord ogre infuses all his possible power into his enormous sword and forms another huge shield that feels equally strong; he now wears full armor covering everything except his eyes, nose, mouth and ears — very resilient.

His constructions are extremely tough; I can't easily pierce them with my Thundersnow; each cut I make is almost instantly covered. The good thing is he's become heavier by gaining defense, and with my concentrated crushing zone, he can't touch me easily. But I've already learned a lesson: he tore my arm and some ribs when I tried to block one of his direct hits, even though I blocked with my swords and wore armor — his attack power is monstrous.

I come close to deliver several cuts all over; I make him lower his guard and defense for a moment. I launch at his neck and his armor creaks under my force; I manage to break it and feel his skin. When I think I'm victorious I see a smile on his face. That disgusting smile sparks a bad premonition.

His shield transforms into a spear and it manages to catch my sword for a moment. I lose balance and that new spear comes straight to slice me in half — I push my body with a bit of gravity at the last moment, but that cut takes my ear and my left arm, the same arm I'd used to slash his throat.

I can hear my students' screams in my single ear, but this is not the end for me.

I spin in the air with momentum, aided by Gravity Burst, and with my right arm I trace a perfect circle. The spear points where my left sword is trapped. I withdraw that sword into my cube just before it would be struck; due to his broken armor and slightly cut skin, my next strike manages to slice through his entire neck without problem.

The ogre's head flies off to the left and slams down with a heavy thud. I doubt it can regenerate after this, but I won't risk it. My body screams in pain but I hold on; I build two ice swords with all my power and drive them into the spots where his eyes were to finish it. The ogre's body falls on its back and I fall to my knees — exhaustion and pain hit me hard.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.