Rei fought his way upward without encountering much difficulty.
By the 90th floor, the nation-destroying–class monsters were already appearing five at a time.
But even five made no difference.
Rei had twenty on his side. Even if it were a one-for-one trade, he would still come out ahead—let alone when it was effectively four against one.
Then came the 91st floor.
Finally, Tier-5 monsters appeared.
A Level-3 War God Tower, forcing challengers to face enemies two entire tiers higher…
King-class monsters.
As far as Rei could remember, he had only encountered two Tier-5 monsters before.
One had been that enormous War Mammoth.
The other was the creature that had nearly killed him—
The King of Aberrant Insects.
The Insect King had also been a King-class monster.
A special type of monster possessing a certain degree of intelligence. It could think—barely—but its reasoning was still simple.
During the past few days of study, Rei had learned something important: even when monsters possessed intelligence, their capacity for thought rarely surpassed that of an ordinary human.
And almost all monsters shared one universal instinct—
They attacked intelligent life on sight.
They devoured people.
They destroyed.
They annihilated.
That was the fundamental difference between monsters and intelligent races.
Which was why monsters were classified as non-communicative hostile entities—targets that, in most circumstances, had to be eliminated immediately.
There had once been people who founded a Monster Protection Society, hoping to establish friendly communication with monsters.
The final outcome, however, was simple.
Those people were eventually "kindly" eaten by the monsters they tried to befriend.
Rei's understanding of Tier-5 monsters was roughly limited to this.
"Strange… it's not nation-destroying class?"
Rei found it somewhat odd.
Previously, when the tower transitioned from Tier-3 King-class enemies to Tier-4 monsters, the shift had been seamless—directly into Tier-4 King-class monsters.
But now the tower had jumped from Tier-4 nation-destroying monsters to Tier-5—
and the enemies were King-class again.
Did that mean a Tier-5 King was stronger than a Tier-4 nation-destroyer?
Rei swept the battlefield with his senses.
Then he noticed something.
There wasn't just one enemy.
Across the wide, desolate battlefield forest stood fifteen creatures.
They resembled humanoids in shape but were lined with powerful, muscular contours.
Not just the one in front of him.
There were many.
Their bodies were no longer massive either.
They somewhat resembled the Insect King, but with a key difference: the Insect King had been closer to a human form, whereas these creatures still retained many obvious monster characteristics despite their humanoid silhouettes.
This time, they were fifteen fully intact Tier-5 King-class monsters.
Back when Rei fought the Insect King, it had already been severely weakened.
A Level-5 adventurer party had fought it to the brink of death, leaving massive wounds across its body.
After that came the suppression of Izparut's gravity formation, which exerted enough pressure to kill Tier-4 Kings outright.
Only through the stacking of all those conditions had Rei been able to seize the opportunity for a counterkill.
Otherwise, the Insect King at full strength would have been completely untouchable.
But now…
Fifteen Tier-5 King-class monsters.
At full health.
Rei's lips curled slightly.
"Interesting…"
One creature with a dragon-like tail—a draconic sub-species—charged forward first.
BOOM!
Its tail smashed against a Void Pillar.
The impact struck the pillar held by the Void Pillar Guardian.
The pillar itself carried a taunt effect, drawing enemy aggression—but this blow actually cracked a large section of the pillar's surface.
"Oh?"
Rei stepped backward two paces.
At the same time—
The battlefield filled with thick, rolling fog.
[Phantom-Weighted Mist Sea (Tier-3) (LV:301)]
[Mirror Illusion Water Dream Shadow (Tier-3) (LV:301)]
Two illusion-type spells activated simultaneously.
Rei's figure vanished completely into the fog.
Within the mist, faint silhouettes of Rei could be seen—but none of them were real.
His Void creatures disappeared into the fog as well.
A mage's greatest strength was not pure destructive power.
It was variety.
An enormous array of spells that, when combined, created terrifying battlefield control.
In pure killing efficiency, warriors often had the advantage.
But against enemies like these—
A mage's control was far more dangerous.
Facing these fifteen King-class monsters, Rei felt no sense of danger at all.
Instead, he finally felt something he hadn't experienced in a long time.
Opponents who wouldn't die instantly.
Since reaching Level 3, Rei had barely used Sacrifice at all.
Every battle so far had been solvable without it.
He currently possessed 31,522,000 souls.
And nowhere to spend them.
In fact, Rei suspected that if he sacrificed them all in one massive detonation—
He could probably blow away half of Central Circle City.
Of course.
That was just a thought.
Within the fog, Rei's presence was completely hidden.
Only the four Void Pillars remained visible—standing like lighthouses in the mist.
The King-class monsters immediately locked onto these pillars.
They rushed toward them.
But hidden in the fog—
The Buzzing Hunters had already begun their assault.
The mist only disrupted enemy perception.
For Rei's side, it caused no obstruction at all.
In fact, it granted advantages.
Any ally permitted by Rei could clearly sense every movement within the fog.
Slash!
Rei's tactic was simple.
Focus fire one target first.
In group combat, the best strategy was to reduce enemy numbers quickly.
Better to sever one finger than injure ten lightly.
One slender King-class monster resembling a flower spirit was instantly surrounded by four Buzzing Hunters.
CLANG!
Their blades struck its stem-like limbs—
and produced the ring of metal colliding with metal.
Those leaves were unbelievably tough.
But they could still be cut.
Rei shared an almost perfect mental link with his Void summons.
He could perceive their thoughts, their sensations—directly controlling every movement.
BZZZZ—
It wasn't just the Buzzing Hunters attacking.
The Thousand-Eyed Void Orbs focused their gaze on the flower monster.
A wave of psychic energy surged across the battlefield.
Instantly inducing—
Confusion.
Mental blankness.
Disruption.
Stun.
Loss of direction.
While the flower monster was trapped in this mental prison—
A giant axe slammed down from the front.
Above, a massive mouth opened in the sky—
Spewing acid, beams, and extending tentacles.
At the same moment—
Attacks struck from all directions.
Meanwhile, the flower monster's allies…
Charged mindlessly toward the four shining pillars.
That was the intelligence level of King-class monsters.
The greatest difference between humans and monsters was thinking ability.
The Void creatures attacked in coordinated waves.
Within moments, the flower monster—the most intelligent-looking target—was eliminated first.
But at the same moment—
CRACK!
One of the Void Pillars shattered.
Under the concentrated assault of multiple King-class monsters, the pillar finally fractured.
The fog around that area dispersed slightly.
Immediately, the monsters surged toward the Void Pillar Guardian holding it.
A blur of attacks followed.
Lightning-fast slashes.
Savage tail strikes.
Piercing breath attacks.
Devastating punches.
The combined assault actually shattered the body of the Void Pillar Guardian.
Impressive.
King-class monsters could indeed inflict serious damage on his summons.
But unfortunately—
BUZZ—
The remaining pillars began glowing.
The monsters paused—
Then immediately turned their attention toward the other three pillars.
Without hesitation, they abandoned the already-broken guardian and rushed toward new targets.
Meanwhile—
The injured Void Pillar Guardian began rapidly regenerating.
A new Void Pillar formed in its hand.
Regeneration.
These Void summons could regenerate extremely quickly.
And even if they died, it didn't matter.
Rei could simply summon another.
Each summon required 200,000 mana, and maintaining them cost 200,000 mana per minute.
But unfortunately for the monsters—
Mana was the one thing Rei had too much of.
[Void Domain (LV:301) — Restores 20% of maximum mana per second. Vastly expands mana capacity. Endless mana growth.]
Just the 20% regeneration alone meant he recovered 5.8 million mana per second.
The reward for 300 consecutive victories truly lived up to expectations.
Awaken the Void was clearly stronger than ordinary spells of the same tier.
The Void creatures pulled the King-class monsters apart piece by piece.
The gap between Tier-5 Kings and Tier-4 nation-destroyers wasn't enormous.
It was difficult to say which was stronger.
The most obvious differences were size and attack style.
Tier-5 Kings were generally smaller, and their attacks focused on single targets or small areas.
Inside the mist, King-class monsters began falling one after another.
[Dark Sacrificial Black Chains (Tier-4) (LV:301)]
Hundreds of black chains erupted from the void—
Piercing through monster bodies while continuously draining life force and mana, weakening their flesh.
Xu Zhou… your spells are really useful.
During yesterday's magical exchange, Xu Zhou had shared many Void spells with Rei.
His spell pool had expanded dramatically.
Now Rei had mastered—
Elemental magic.
Void magic.
Flesh magic.
Mental magic.
Arcane magic.
Summoning magic.
His development had become comprehensively balanced.
Another King-class monster appeared with a layered energy shield around its body.
Rei raised his hand.
[Inner-Piercing Void Crystal (Tier-4) (LV:301)]
An advanced form of Void Spike—specialized for killing shielded enemies.
Within the monster's shield—
Dozens of razor-sharp crystalline spikes suddenly grew.
They pierced straight through its armored shell.
At the moment of penetration—
Void toxin flowed into its body.
Its skin turned dark purple, veins bulging beneath the surface.
The toxin hardened its body, locking its movements.
Mana drain and stamina drain rapidly weakened it.
Since Inner-Piercing Void Crystal formed inside the shield, it directly used the shield's energy as its power source.
Whether that energy was mana or battle aura, it didn't matter.
This world had many forms of energy.
Warriors often fought using vitality and physical strength, though some specialized in external aura techniques.
Just as mages had many elemental branches.
Most people chose only a few paths that suited them.
Otherwise they couldn't progress far.
The heavily armored monster's shield collapsed.
Four merged flashes arrived almost instantly.
[Origin · Instant White Flash]
The flash pierced its body—
Then transformed inside it.
[Origin · Penetrating Thunderburst Rift (Tier-4) (LV:301)]
BOOM!
The explosion detonated within the body of the Heavy-Armored Bull War King, blasting it into pieces.
This was Rei's most powerful single-target spell so far.
The spell resembled a compressed energy sphere like a Rasengan, requiring close contact to detonate.
Normally, spells like this were used by battle-mages or spell-assassins, not traditional mages.
Dual-class builds often became extremely powerful after Level 4.
But leveling two classes to Level 4 was about as difficult as reaching Level 5 with one class.
In terms of combat power, they were comparable to Level-5 adventurers.
Sometimes even stronger.
Rei nodded slightly.
"Very effective."
But personally—
He had no intention of fighting in melee.
He had no martial arts.
No combat techniques.
Why would a mage fight in close quarters?
Safety came first.
Rei preferred to win from a distance.
"And next…"
Rei raised a finger again.
A mote of Origin returned to his fingertip.
Instantly—
[Origin · Instant White Flash]
Four flashes pierced through a female King-class monster.
Then the flashes transformed into—
[Origin · Void Devouring Collapse]
BUZZ—
A violent vortex erupted inside her body—
Shredding her apart in an instant.
Origin magic required other spells as catalysts.
On its own it was empty.
But when combined with multiple spells—
Its versatility became limitless.
In just two minutes, only four enemies remained.
Rei floated high above the battlefield, looking down at them.
At Level 3, he no longer needed ice platforms to fly.
There were many ways to achieve flight now.
A simple current of wind could lift him effortlessly.
Hands clasped behind his back—
He hovered in the sky with imposing calm.
For some reason, it reminded him of the phrase:
"A Dou-Sect powerhouse walking through the air."
The mana consumption was high.
But mana was the one resource he would never run out of.
Enemies that once dominated him completely were now nothing more than toys in his hands.
With the remaining monsters, Rei decided to test a newly created death spell.
[Soul Rending Spirit Seizure (Tier-4)]
This Tier-4 spell had been inspired by Mind Sever (Tier-4).
He combined that concept with death magic to create it.
Although his Death Priest class was only Level 1, his mage level was 3.
Using his understanding of spell structure, Rei elevated the spell to Tier-4.
Rei clenched his hand.
He consumed 100 souls.
THUD—
One King-class monster suddenly froze.
A white soul was violently dragged out of its body.
Its expression twisted in agonizing pain.
RIIIP—
Rei tore at it brutally.
A fragment of the soul was ripped off and dissipated into the air.
Then the damaged soul snapped back into its body.
"AAAAAA—!!!"
Pain.
Screaming.
The monster unleashed a horrifying howl unlike anything heard before.
The agony was overwhelming.
Rei frowned slightly.
This technique… might be too cruel.
Unless facing true enemies, he probably shouldn't use it on humans.
Back when he was Level 2, Rei had not yet learned mental-type spells.
Elemental and arcane magic had little overlap with death priest abilities.
So he had few references for developing death magic.
But now—
After reaching Level 3 and mastering mental magic, while also upgrading spells through Ascension, Rei's understanding of spiritual structures had deepened.
That knowledge finally allowed him to create new death magic.
The King-class monster whose soul had been torn began rolling on the ground in agony.
Above it—
The Thousand-Tendril Maw unleashed spear-like throat tendrils.
They pierced straight through the monster's body—
Pinning it firmly to the ground.