Ross and Maizel had been found.
The moment Kanzaki Rei saw them, the staff in his hand immediately pointed in their direction.
「Life-Breath Wind Swarm」
Whoosh!
Wind blades formed in the distance almost instantly—
Slash!
The wind swarm tore across the ground like a meat grinder, shredding through the blood puppets kneeling in worship. Blood sprayed everywhere as their bodies were instantly torn apart!
At the same time—
「Repulsion Wind Blast」
This time, the wind blast was not fired outward from Kanzaki Rei.
Instead, he made a grasping motion.
BOOM!
A violent gale erupted!
The storm carried the wind swarm forward, slicing directly into the blood chains binding Ross and Maizel.
Snap!
The resilient blood chains could not withstand the instant cutting of hundreds of wind blades and shattered apart!
The wind immediately blasted the two of them toward Kanzaki Rei's position.
Slaughtering the mobs below and rescuing the two—
was completed in a single seamless instant.
At the same time, ice condensed beneath Kanzaki Rei's feet as he prepared to leave immediately with them.
Once he caught them—
he would mount the ice spindle and escape instantly.
As for fighting the boss…
Who the hell fights a boss while dragging along two deadweights?
If he wanted to fight, he would rescue them first, then return fully prepared.
Only an idiot would try to force-kill the boss during a rescue operation.
Kanzaki Rei drank a Strength Potion, feeling power surge through his body.
It still wasn't comparable to the physical strength of a Second-Tier Warrior, but carrying two grown adults at once was no longer a problem.
Just as Kanzaki Rei prepared to catch them—
BOOM!
He suddenly saw blood-red patterns appear on their necks.
"They've already been afflicted with the Blood Curse."
"Where do you think you're taking them?"
From the distant throne, the Monarch-Class monster roared in fury.
Swish!
The instant its words fell—
forty-two ice spindles had already been launched.
BOOM!
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—
Every ice spindle pierced straight through the Monarch-Class monster's body.
However, they dealt no damage.
Instead, the creature's body turned hollow like liquid blood, and the spindles passed directly through the gaps—
as if they had hit nothing at all.
"Interesting."
"Human… you didn't hesitate."
Kanzaki Rei gave no reply.
He simply stared at it.
Without any warning, without even raising his hand—
「Earthfire Sky Collapse」「Horizontal Rising Pillars」
BOOM!
The ground beneath the throne instantly turned blazing red and scorching hot!
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
The erupting pillars burst forth almost simultaneously with violent magma explosions!
Every Rising Pillar transformed into a scorching column of molten lava.
Magic Combination.
This was a new technique Kanzaki Rei had practiced recently.
The pillar spell triggered earth spikes erupting upward.
Earthfire transformed the ground itself into molten lava.
Since you can alter your body to avoid direct attacks—
then I'll just use area attacks that cover your entire body.
BOOM!
What erupted wasn't just the rising pillars—
but also massive ash-gray walls.
「Mountain Heavy Wall (LV:201)」
Bigger.
Thicker.
Harder than before.
Three massive walls formed a triangular prison, trapping the monster directly inside.
The Blood Curse.
Kanzaki Rei had read about it before.
Those afflicted would continuously lose blood until they became a dried corpse.
The method to break the curse—
was to kill the caster.
So the moment he heard the monster's roar, Kanzaki Rei launched his attack immediately.
Taking them away and returning to the Life Hall for curse removal was one option.
But in Rhein Town, the strongest healer in the Life Hall was only a Level 4 Healing Priest.
They might not be able to remove a curse cast by a Monarch-Class monster.
A healer at the level of Kumironi was extremely rare.
Kanzaki Rei also had no idea how weak Ross and Maizel already were, or how long they could hold out.
And now—
the source of the curse was right in front of him.
His thoughts raced.
Kanzaki Rei reached a single conclusion.
Kill it.
"Human!"
From within the encirclement of heavy walls, a roaring howl could still be heard!
It wasn't dead?
Monarch-Class monsters really were far tougher than Lord-Class monsters.
If it had been a Lord-Class creature—
that attack just now would have cooked it thoroughly.
Kanzaki Rei crouched down and touched the ground.
The blood covering the ground froze into ice.
He dismissed the heavy wall in front of him.
Then, using a blast of wind, he pushed Maizel and Ross toward himself—another blast—
and they were sent back along the path he had come from.
The monsters along that route had already been cleared.
Well… he couldn't be completely sure whether the dungeon had mechanics that spawned new mobs.
If it did—
then they were simply unlucky.
After all, the main battlefield against a Monarch-Class monster would undoubtedly be far more dangerous.
He was a Mage, not a Defender.
He didn't have the luxury of protecting two unconscious people during combat.
Thinking that, he glanced at them once more.
"…Sigh."
Kanzaki Rei let out a sigh.
RUMBLE—
Three heavy walls rose up, enclosing them completely.
Under the effect of multi-casting, Kanzaki Rei could currently generate twelve heavy walls simultaneously.
If he reached the maximum number, creating a new wall meant canceling an existing one.
He had given three walls to protect them.
That left him with nine walls remaining for his own use.
BOOM!
At that moment, a violent explosion echoed from the distance!
One of the heavy walls surrounding the boss shattered instantly!
"You insignificant mortal!"
RUMBLE—
Before it could finish speaking—
Kanzaki Rei raised his hand and instantly restored the broken wall.
BOOM!
Another dull impact sounded from inside the wall!
Cracks spread across it once again.
Heh.
That's impressive.
My Heavy Wall has already evolved twice, and you can still crack it.
Inside the prison, the boss was even more stunned.
I just destroyed a wall—
and you replaced it instantly?
Immediately afterward—
「Earthfire Sky Collapse (LV:201)」「Horizontal Rising Pillars (LV:201)」「Violent Lightning Flash (LV:201)」「Life-Breath Wind Swarm (LV:201)」「Deep Curse Arrow (LV:201)」
…
Kanzaki Rei didn't know what kind of monster this was.
But that didn't matter.
First, trap it inside three heavy walls, then bombard it relentlessly.
You like sitting on your throne pretending to be impressive?
Then never get up again.
If the monster started moving, it would actually be difficult for Kanzaki Rei to keep it trapped with the heavy walls.
That would require some real maneuvering.
But if it didn't move…
Then sorry.
BOOM!
The heavy wall shattered again.
Yet the moment it broke—
Kanzaki Rei immediately raised another one.
Meanwhile, Kanzaki Rei still stood inside the narrow passage, never stepping into the wide altar chamber.
In front of him stood three thick heavy walls.
Each wall had a small observation hole, but barriers filled the gaps between them.
Through three walls and layered barriers, Kanzaki Rei continued pouring damage onto the monster.
The boss, meanwhile, seemed to have no escape method.
All it could do was rely on brute strength to smash the heavy walls.
Unfortunately—
Kanzaki Rei possessed nearly limitless mana.
Every time the monster destroyed a wall—
another one instantly rose in its place.
"Human!"
"You only rely on cowardly tricks!"
"If you have the guts, let me out!"
"Weakling!"
"Do you dare face me in a direct duel?!"
Despite the Monarch-Class monster's taunts—
Kanzaki Rei gave no response whatsoever.
He had seen countless examples in his previous life's stories where characters talked to their enemies and ended up losing.
Speaking of which…
This monster could actually talk, and quite fluently too.
And seriously—
why was it so durable?
He had been blasting it for this long and it still hadn't died?
Could it be a mechanic-based boss?
Maybe if he didn't trigger the proper mechanic, it could never die?
A blood-type monster…
Did he need to drain the blood pools he saw earlier?
…Forget it.
Let's keep bombing it for a while longer.
If it still doesn't die, then I'll think about mechanics.
…
Meanwhile—
trapped within the three walls, the Monarch-Class monster was equally confused.
How could this human mage cast so many spells?
…Forget it.
A mage's weakness was mana.
And it possessed such a massive pool of blood to sustain itself.
What was there to fear from a battle of attrition?
The moment that human's mana ran dry—
would be the moment of his death.