Ding!
Forty-two Ice Shards instantly formed around Cruelty – Esvarro!
At the same time, Groundfire erupted in continuous rows, merging with the Sea of Fire already covering the ground.
BOOM!
Ice Shards pierced through the monster's upper body, while Groundfire blasted into its lower body!
In an instant, a dual assault of ice and fire took shape.
With a wave of his hand, Kanzaki Rei manipulated the battlefield, shifting the coverage of the vast Sea of Fire.
The blazing terrain overlapped repeatedly, focusing specifically on the thirteen King-Class bosses.
Fortunately, all thirteen King-Class bosses were Third-Tier.
If they were Fourth-Tier Lords, Rei's magic would have difficulty dealing effective damage.
There was no complicated reason.
His damage output simply wouldn't be enough.
He had already fought Fourth-Tier monsters before.
Compared to Third-Tier monsters, Fourth-Tier creatures possessed vastly superior shell hardness and regeneration abilities.
Heavy Walls rose!
Wind Burst repelled!
These spells continuously interfered with the movement of the King-Class monsters.
Among them was one called Explosive Insect Nest.
This King-Class monster was formed from hundreds of white cocoon chambers stacked together like a massive beehive.
Countless holes of varying sizes covered the cocoons.
From these openings, different kinds of insects poured out endlessly.
Bang!
Bang bang bang bang bang—
The moment the insects touched flame, they exploded midair, triggering violent detonations!
Rei experimented with attacks like Groundfire and Wind Blades.
The results were decent.
The Nest's outer shell gradually became damaged and ragged.
However, it wasn't the kind of monster that could be instantly killed in a single attack.
Rei's magic prioritized focus-firing the faster King-Class monsters.
The distance of one kilometer felt far too short.
BOOM!
The city wall shook violently!
In an area Rei wasn't defending, a King-Class monster had already reached the wall and slammed into it.
The Level 4 adventurers were quickly retreating to reinforce that position.
The Third-Tier King-Class monsters they had originally been holding back—
Had now become Rei's responsibility to defend against.
The battle line was actually far longer than expected.
However, in the direction of the city gate, someone had deliberately placed monster bait.
This lured the majority of the monsters toward that location.
If the monsters had scattered in every direction, the stretched battle line would have been far more difficult to manage.
Even with the bait, however, plenty of monsters still slipped through the net.
WHOOSH!
Groundfire erupted again!
Rei first eliminated the Evil-Face Demon Spider Lord.
That creature could launch long-range mental attacks.
Fortunately, Rei could drink Mental Resistance Potions, and there were healing casters nearby restoring any mental damage he suffered.
The remaining negative effects were too minor to place him in danger.
CLANG—
A violent crash echoed beneath the city wall.
It was simply impossible to block so many King-Class monsters simultaneously.
One King-Class monster had already reached the base of the wall!
In almost an instant, several adventurers were gravely injured.
King of Swift Black Hornets.
Its speed was terrifying.
And it could fly.
Originally, it had rushed toward Rei to assassinate him.
But midway through its charge, Rei blocked it with Wind Burst and his barrier.
After being blasted to the ground, the hornet king fell within the taunt range of the defenders on the ground.
At that moment, however, Rei's primary firepower had been focused on eliminating the Evil-Face Demon Spider Lord.
By the time that spider lord was killed—
The Hornet King had already begun slaughtering.
One kilometer…
For something moving at supersonic speed, that distance meant only three seconds.
Some of the faster King-Class monsters truly possessed that level of speed.
Fortunately, Level 3 Defenders weren't made of paper.
Even when facing a King-Class monster head-on, they could endure several attacks.
With healing casters supporting them from the rear, the brief clash resulted only in serious injuries, not deaths.
This was also thanks to Rei's Sea of Fire, which had greatly reduced the battlefield pressure and allowed the adventurers to maintain decent combat condition.
Once they recovered—
Rei's magic began relentlessly pursuing the Hornet King.
Ice Shards pierced toward it from all directions.
Each shard exploded upon impact, freezing its body and slowing its speed.
At the same time—
Deep Curse Arrow reduced its defense, strength, and speed.
In just a brief sequence of spell combos, the Hornet King was completely suppressed beneath the city wall.
With Level 3 archers, mages, warriors, and assassins cooperating in a coordinated assault—
The monster was quickly finished off.
The Blood-Origin King really had been a special case…
It had only been so difficult to kill because it was connected to the Blood Pool.
Other King-Class monsters were stronger than Lords, but not to the extent that they couldn't die even after being hit by hundreds of spells.
In less than ten seconds, Rei had already killed two King-Class monsters.
The centipede-like creature had also had all its legs completely severed by the Wind Cluster, losing its mobility.
Now it could only lie there helplessly, being slowly roasted by the Sea of Fire.
Meanwhile, the Moth of Torment continuously emitted piercing shrieks.
Under the observer's reminder, Rei drank a Deafness Potion, temporarily rendering himself unable to hear the moth's screams.
Its sonic attack became almost completely ineffective.
Rei also had a barrier surrounding his body.
Although sound waves could still affect him somewhat after reaching his body, the barrier significantly weakened the attack.
However, the moth's mobility in the air was extremely agile.
It fluttered and danced through the sky.
Rei could only pursue it using spells like Ice Shards and Wind Clusters.
If his control over his spells hadn't been so flexible, he wouldn't have known how to deal with it.
After all—
Level 3 adventurers couldn't fly.
It wasn't hard to imagine how troublesome this creature would be for a normal Level 3 adventurer team in the wild.
Level 3 warriors had terrible anti-air capability.
Only mages and archers could attack flying enemies.
But Level 3 mages' spellcasting…
Left much to be desired.
Their projectile speed was also slow.
In the end, the only reliable damage dealer would be archers.
And this creature's evasion speed was practically short-range teleportation.
Even Extreme-Speed Ice Shards and Vital Wind Clusters, two extremely agile spells, were repeatedly dodged.
If it were Level 3 archers' arrows…
It was hard to say whether they could hit at all.
Fortunately—
The speed-evolved Ice Shards weren't so easy to dodge.
And as long as one hit—
The target would be frozen stiff.
On top of that, Rei used the evolved form of Flash Spell, Blinding Radiance, to stun the creature.
At that point, it had almost no way to escape his attacks.
Once struck by Ice Shards, its movements became drastically slower.
After being hit more than a dozen times, it turned into a floating target in the sky.
Ice Shards pierced it wildly in midair, while Wind Clusters ruthlessly shredded it.
Within only a few seconds, it lost its life and fell to the ground—
Becoming nothing more than a cold, lifeless fluttering moth.
Its speed had been impressive.
Its agility had been terrifying.
But its durability was poor.
Each of these King-Class monsters had distinct characteristics.
Yet in the end, they all still fell within the range of enemies Rei could handle with relative ease.
However…
Just after eliminating three of them—
Two new King-Class monsters emerged from the forest.
What is that forest?
A monster spawner?
Why hasn't anyone destroyed that forest yet?
That thought crossed Rei's mind.
But he also knew it was impossible.
The forest in the distance was vast beyond sight.
Looking across the horizon revealed only an endless sea of trees.
In fact, the trees around Rine Town itself had already been cleared.
But the monsters were constantly arriving from farther away.
"Genius…"
"My mana is already exhausted."
The Level 4 mage leaned against the city wall, gasping heavily.
Seeing the mage beside him, Rei suddenly thought of something.
"I say…"
"Do you have any suggestions about my spellcasting?"
The Level 4 mage looked at the overwhelming storm of magic surrounding Rei.
Inside, he muttered to himself.
What advice could I possibly give a freakish genius like you?
Any spell you casually throw out is already a height I could never reach in my entire life.
Still—
He carefully observed Rei's casting for a moment.
The spells were powerful…
But they carried a wild, chaotic style.
It was completely different from the structured spellcasting taught in formal academies.
He himself had always been trained to achieve the best results with the least mana cost.
A combat system focused entirely on efficiency and precision.
That was completely opposite to Rei's no-cost-too-high combat style.
"If we're talking about suggestions…"
"I don't think I can give you any."
"But these spells…"
"Did you create them yourself?"
Rei blinked.
"Create them myself?"