Having once again grasped a Battle Intent, Kanzaki Rei stood upon the surface of the sea, gazing at the monsters streaking across the sky.
「Battle Intent: Myriad Combat Arcana」
A perfectly lucid revelation.
After reaching this layer of understanding, Rei felt that every spell and combat technique he possessed had become tightly intertwined, fully fused into a single whole.
Magic was combat technique.Combat technique was magic.
Spells could now be executed through martial techniques, and martial techniques could be released through spells.
Magic felt like an extension of his body.
And martial arts felt like an extension of magic.
Rei raised a hand toward the Lord-rank monster before him, which had lifted a massive wave and condensed it into an enormous water blade descending toward him.
"Combat techniques aren't limited to being released through the body."
「Instant Storm Burst × Tempered Mana Forging Art · Second Form: Piercing Arcane Sky-Kick」
BOOM!
A storm exploded instantly in front of the creature's chest!
In a single instant, its breastplate collapsed inward under the blast.
The originally harmless Storm Burst had nearly shattered the hardened shell of this Tier-6 Lord-class monster with a single strike.
"Whitefire Piercing Pillar."
BOOM!
A column of white flame erupted from Rei's palm, piercing directly through the monster's already-crushed chest.
Then Rei clenched the pillar of flame.
「Whitefire Piercing Pillar × War-Staff Style · Second Form: Shattering Circular Dance」
SWOOSH!
The pillar of fire transformed as though it were a solid battle staff!
Rei channeled a martial technique through it!
In an instant he swung the blazing pillar in a wide arc—
BOOM!
With a backward swing, he smashed the creature violently into the ocean behind him—dragging down the monsters that had been pursuing him from the rear and sending them crashing into the sea!
Another arm of stone formed in midair!
「Colossal Stone Fist (Tier-3) (LV: 301)」
「Colossal Stone Fist × Invincible Style · Third Form: Army-Breaking Heavy Cleave」
BOOM!
The towering stone fist swept sideways with overwhelming force!
With a single sweeping punch—
The shell of a Tier-6 King-class monster shattered instantly.
These attacks had not even been deliberately aimed at weak points.
This is my Battle Intent!
Everything had connected.
Rei could now completely feel the fusion of magic and combat techniques—everything was interconnected!
SWISH!
SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH—
「Flash Step × War-Staff Style · Fourth Form: Chaotic Star Thrust Barrage」
Using flash magic to unleash war-staff martial techniques!
It was like countless staff strikes stabbing wildly in rapid succession!
Not only had the power of the magic increased dramatically—
Even the martial techniques themselves had become astonishingly flexible.
They were no longer bound to his hands or body.
The combinations of techniques had become endlessly varied.
Rei fought with exhilarating freedom, already drifting into a state of near-complete immersion…
When he finally snapped back to his senses—
His entire body was drenched in blood.
Like a god of slaughter.
"...I got a little too excited."
Rei looked down at his hands. Even he hadn't expected the battle to feel so satisfying.
He glanced toward where Izparut and the others were waiting.
"Time to head back."
When Rei returned to the gathering point, Sekiro stood up and clapped him on the shoulder, completely ignoring the fact that he was still covered in blood.
"So? Your Battle Intent?"
Rei replied with a bright grin.
"Honestly? It feels incredible."
The Battle Intent of the War God he had once comprehended had ultimately belonged to someone else…
Although it suited him well, it had never been perfectly aligned with his own heart.
As for the idea of never being defeated—
He had lost before.
He had lost to Izparut.
Though that had really been more of a training match.
But when it came to enemies of the same tier—or even those one or two tiers higher—when fighting seriously…
Rei had never lost to anyone.
Still, Rei's extreme risk-averse mindset differed greatly from the true "Unbeaten Heart" Battle Intent.
The realm of spirit simply wasn't the same.
But now—
"Myriad Combat Arcana" was a Battle Intent perfectly aligned with his own heart and will.
Rei could feel it clearly.
He could now advance to a Level-3 Warrior.
"Sister Kumironi."
"Can I advance to Level-3 Warrior right now?"
When Kumironi heard the question, she felt an indescribable emotion rise in her chest.
Little Rei… your advancements are happening far too quickly.
Level-3 Mage.Level-2 Death Priest.Level-2 Cryptology Scholar.
And now he wanted to advance to Level-3 Warrior.
It had only been a little over two months.
In total, he would have advanced ten levels across different classes.
Ten levels…
For many people, that represented an entire lifetime.
And every single advancement had been perfect, with nothing to criticize.
Even someone like Kumironi—who lived surrounded by prodigies—couldn't help but sigh in amazement.
Sekiro nudged Izparut.
"See, Iz? Didn't I say Rei had talent as a warrior?"
Izparut sneered.
"Hmph. His talent as a warrior definitely isn't as high as his talent as a mage. Haven't you noticed most of his warrior strength comes from his mage abilities?"
Sekiro scoffed.
"That's because he switched to warrior late. Wait until he becomes more proficient—you'll see him improving magic with a warrior's mindset."
Izparut snorted.
"Magic isn't something you improve by blindly fighting."
Sekiro shot back.
"And warriors don't improve just by sitting around thinking."
How had this turned into an argument again?
Kumironi sighed yet again.
I've sighed far too many times today…
If I keep this up, I'll get wrinkles.
"Little Rei, if you're advancing to Level-3 Warrior, I recommend doing it back in Knorloya."
"The last time you advanced to Level-3 Mage, it attracted a great deal of attention."
"And your spiritual resonance is even stronger now."
"The formal advancement ritual array in the Advancement Hall will be much safer in case anything unexpected happens."
Rei's spiritual presence was simply too terrifying.
The attention it attracted was something ordinary beings could never withstand.
Advancing from Level-1 to Level-2 might be manageable.
But Level-2 to Level-3—
Kumironi still preferred caution.
Rei thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Yeah… that makes sense."
There likely wouldn't be any battles ahead that required his help anyway.
Now that Rei had finally comprehended his own Battle Intent, the group officially wrapped up their work and left the dungeon.
As for the dungeon's final boss, they never killed it.
If they did—
The dungeon would disappear forever.
Leaving it alive meant Rei could keep sacrificing souls to the dungeon repeatedly, turning it into a reusable monster-spawning farm.
Rei's ability was likely unique in the entire world.
Other Death Priests could perform sacrifices as well—
But noble souls were extraordinarily rare. Gathering enough for even a single sacrifice was already considered the limit.
Unlike Rei.
If the sacrifice wasn't enough—
He simply reset and tried again.
When they returned to the wilderness, dusk had already begun to fall.
In November, darkness came early. Around 5 PM, night had already settled in.
The nights were far colder than the days.
Without sufficient protection outdoors, people could easily freeze solid.
The death rate during this season was already extremely high.
Even outside of dungeons, many people died simply from freezing to death.
Rei performed another sacrifice.
This time, he injected 200,000 souls directly.
A vast torrent of souls poured into the dungeon entrance.
The light outside the dungeon visibly deepened, growing darker and more ominous.
Sekiro patted Obades on the shoulder.
"Let's go."
Obades nodded seriously and stepped through the door.
Though he rarely drew attention, he was still the true front-line tank of the team.
Rei entered last as always.
The moment he stepped inside—
The scene before him was already mid-battle.
SWISH!
Sekiro sliced apart vines and leaves that filled the entire sky!
His shout echoed across the heavens.
"Iz! Don't go overboard!"
"Don't destroy my loot again!"
Izparut had just raised his staff.
Hearing Sekiro's shout, he lowered it again.
"Fine…"
WHOOSH!
A magic circle flashed briefly.
A sea of blazing flames swept across the sky, instantly burning away the endless vines and leaves.
Kumironi stood beside Rei and Luluvi.
Obades stood in front of the three of them.
Kumironi said calmly,
"Obades will ensure our safety."
"We'll leave the rest to them."
Rei asked,
"Shouldn't Obades go help?"
Kumironi glanced toward the enormous flower monster continuously sprouting countless vines.
"For something at this level, Obades doesn't need to intervene."
TING!
A flying leaf suddenly sliced toward Rei!
Instinctively he raised his hand and unleashed a spell to block it!
Yet his magic was crushed and destroyed instantly.
Even with his newly comprehended Battle Intent, even with the fusion of magic and martial techniques—
He couldn't stop the sweeping leaf strike!
That strong?!
Rei instantly realized the leaf's power far exceeded his expectations.
Yet—
His danger sense had issued no warning.
Just as Rei's mind raced to determine how to evade or defend against the attack—
CLANG!
The flying leaf shattered instantly with a ringing sound.
Obades stood motionless before them, immovable as a mountain.
"I'm here."
His calm words were like a pill of reassurance, instantly settling everyone's nerves.
Rei looked toward where the leaf had shattered.
Only then did he notice that an invisible cubic barrier had completely enclosed their area.
The leaf had struck the barrier—
And shattered.
Something that could tear through all of Rei's magic defenses had shattered the instant it touched the barrier.
That defense… unbelievable.
Indeed.
No one in this team was ordinary.
Rei relaxed and calmly observed Sekiro's battle.
Izparut seemed to be slacking off, casually throwing out a few fire spells.
He didn't appear eager to attack.
Sekiro, however, pressed forward relentlessly.
He broke through layer after layer of defenses and reached the monster's face in moments.
SWISH!
A crimson beam descended from the sky!
Crashing toward the earth!
"Heaven-Cleave!"
The colossal demon flower—its vines and leaves stretching across half the sky—
Was split cleanly in half with that thunderous shout.
Rei watched the leaves raining down.
He fired a spell at one of them—
And felt an incredibly resilient resistance.
The leaf wouldn't burn.It wouldn't pierce.
And yet—
Sekiro cut through them as easily as slicing cloth.
Only after personally striking the leaves with magic did Rei realize something.
His magic likely couldn't even break the defense of a Continental-Sink-class monster.
At least not one of Tier-6.
Maybe Tier-5 would be different.
"Hahaha! Iz! See?"
Sekiro dragged the enormous flower corpse with one hand.
"Since you didn't mess things up this time, I got a huge haul!"
Through Luluvi's perception, Rei looked down from above.
From that perspective—
It looked as though Sekiro was dragging an entire continent behind him.
How much strength does he even have…?
Rei had always known Sekiro was strong.
But he had never known how strong.
Now that he saw it…
Is this even human?
Rei compared silently.
At full strength, he might be able to lift a 20-meter-tall hill.
The difference was enormous.
"Another one."
Through Luluvi's senses, Rei saw the battlefield behind them.
Sekiro had killed the giant flower in about one minute.
And there was still another monster present.
This one had formed a massive grid-like barrier of light across the sky.
Izparut's magic had activated.
The creature—covered with countless bull-like faces—was trapped behind the luminous barrier.
It slammed against the barrier repeatedly.
CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG!
But it couldn't break through at all.
They weren't planning to kill this one.
If they did—
The dungeon would disappear entirely.
They still needed the dungeon as a farming ground.
"This flower monster…"
"Roots, stems, leaves—they're all useful. Even the teeth."
"A Continental-Sink-class monster is valuable from head to toe."
More importantly—
Its enormous size and incredible durability meant the corpse alone was worth a fortune.
Sekiro estimated the value at tens of billions of gold coins.
The real question was—
Would any merchant guild actually buy it?
At this level, monsters were no longer measured by ordinary money.
Even if someone had that much gold—
What could they realistically buy with it?
There weren't many Level-5 adventurers across the entire continent.
Even counting travelers and reclusive hermits, there probably weren't two hundred.
And even among Level-5 adventurers, few possessed assets in the tens of millions.
If a merchant guild spent tens of billions buying this corpse—
How would they ever make their money back?
Who could afford the finished products?
Or would they simply sell materials from a Continental-Sink monster cheaply?
Then again—
Such a massive corpse didn't necessarily have to become luxury items.
Sekiro's brain started overheating from the calculations.
Forget it.
Why am I thinking about merchant problems?
Once they extracted the materials they needed, they would simply ask the merchants whether they wanted the rest.
Sekiro wasn't actually someone who avoided thinking.
On the contrary—
He often thought very seriously about things.
The most valuable parts of the monster were harvested first.
Its strongest leaves.
And the seeds hidden inside its body.
Those seeds were taken by Kumironi.
The rest was distributed in small portions to everyone.
Everything else was packed away by Sekiro.
No one knew just how large his spatial storage bag was.
Even sliced and compressed, the corpse was still enormous.
After everything was settled—
The group exited the dungeon once again.
Rei prepared another sacrifice.
Was 200,000 souls still not enough?
Judging by their strength, they could easily handle more than one Continental-Sink monster.
Then let's sacrifice one million souls.
Rei thought.
And he poured even more souls into the dungeon.
The spectacle of one million souls was overwhelming.
In the dark night sky, the souls howled through the air alongside falling snow, forming a terrifying sight.
From far away, ghostly silhouettes of the souls could be seen.
It looked like some secret forbidden ritual, sacrificing vast numbers of souls for an unspeakable purpose.
Kumironi's emotions were complicated beyond words.
She was a High Priestess of the Church of Life.
Yet here she was—
Standing beside a Death Priest, openly helping him sacrifice souls to increase the disaster level of a dungeon.
And the only thing she could do…
Was cheer him on.
She sighed inwardly and prayed silently.
Sophia above…
I have not betrayed the principles of life.
The million-soul sacrifice was complete.
Rei stared at the dungeon gate before him.
It had become a swirling black vortex, so deep it seemed capable of pulling in a person's very soul.
Even he couldn't help swallowing nervously.
..
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