Whew.
My breath mingled with the muggy air of the forest. Watching the enemies closing in from every direction, I quietly muttered to myself.
Keep my center low. Keep my lower body firm. When launching an attack…
Be fierce. Don’t hesitate.
Flash.
The instant I half-opened my eyes, I kicked off the ground.
Bam—!
Compressed air burst from my toes, and tremendous wind pressure slammed into me. My superhuman body pushed through it. Leaning into the wind, I shot forward like a cannonball.
Whoooosh!
My hair whipped wildly. The forest blurred past.
Behind me, the Skeleton King yelled at me to take him along, but the rush of air swallowed his voice.
The hundreds of monsters advancing through the deep, sticky swamp and trampling the dense undergrowth were suddenly right in front of me.
—Gwoooooar!
Hundreds of them. Or hundreds of trees.
I didn’t know which word to use for monsters called Ents, but I knew one thing.
I’ll win.
That wasn’t a guess. I was certain. Even the Cyclops watching from behind the Ents as though it were their king was no exception.
The three jiazi1 of Scorching Yang Qi coursing through me were my proof. I’d defeated countless powerful enemies to get here; I was my own witness. And the blue-white Force rising around White Flame’s spearhead was the judge.
The verdict came swiftly, and it was destructive.
Now.
Hiss.
Blue flames evaporated the moisture around me. In less than an instant, White Flame’s transparent spearhead had swept diagonally across the Ents at the front.
Shwaak!
There was no explosive sound. No scream.
Only a gust of wind, and a faint line drawn through the air by the Extreme Yang energy on my spearhead.
The line looked like part of something that belonged in a legend.
Fire Dragon Divine Spear. First form.
Fire Dragon’s Single Tail.
Before I could even finish thinking the four syllables of the form’s name, the faint line suspended in the air rippled.
The dormant blue-white flames awoke from their brief slumber.
Fwoosh.
Tiny embers flared. Feeding on the Ents’ trunks, branches, and lush leaves, the flames became hellfire and devoured everything the line had touched.
Kraaaaaash—!
Blue-white light burst outward, illuminating the forest.
In its wake, the ground lay blackened and melted. Hundreds of Ents stood frozen in place. Then a clear bell rang from somewhere.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
System
Critical Strike!
You defeated Level 95 Corrupted Ent Great Warrior!
You defeated Level 90 Corrupted Ent Vanguard!
You defeated Level 89 Corrupted Ent Vanguard!
…
…
…
Since the level difference between you and the defeated targets is 20 or more, the EXP gained is reduced.
Since you defeated 20 or more Corrupted Ents with a single strike, bonus EXP has been awarded!
You obtained a large amount of EXP and Fame!
But the System notifications didn’t end there.
Ding.
System
You have been surrounded by a great many enemies. But do not be afraid. It is not you who must retreat, but the enemy.
The effect of the Title One Against a Thousand has activated!
Number of identified enemies: 281
Since you are facing a large number of enemies, all your attributes will temporarily increase according to the number of enemies.
When fighting a large number of enemies, your Stamina consumption during battle is greatly reduced, and you will not easily feel fatigue!
One Against a Thousand.
Two months ago, I’d earned the Title by single-handedly sweeping away the undead army serving the Arch Lich. At last, it was showing its worth.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
The bells rang in quick succession, and all my attributes—including Strength and Stamina—rose slightly.
But that wasn’t all. One of the greatest effects of One Against a Thousand was its ability to maximize a single attribute.
System
Intimidation has increased dramatically!
Your majesty and aura, rising like a wildfire, are overwhelming your enemies!
Your enemies are greatly intimidated by your Intimidation!
Your allies’ morale is greatly increased by your Intimidation!
Intimidation.
The power to suppress enemies and encourage allies. An ability that could change the flow of an entire battlefield instead of affecting only me. The System’s information hadn’t been wrong in the slightest.
The encirclement closing around me faltered. Thick branches that had been thrashing violently stopped in place.
—Gwooooo…
The Ents—evil spirits dwelling in giant trees—let out frightened cries. Hundreds of pairs of black eyes trembled between their hard bark.
Fear.
I knew the feeling. Once, it had been mine. Now it belonged to the enemies facing me.
Exhilaration rose in my chest as I took a step forward.
Step.
—Gwoooooar…
—Grrk. Gwooooo…
Rumble-rumble-rumble.
The Ents retreated as I advanced.
No—the entire jungle moved.
The magical power they released as they huddled together was crushed beneath the wave of qi and Intimidation radiating from me.
Power. Momentum.
They couldn’t match me in either of the two things that decided a battle. I had no reason not to fight, and no reason I couldn’t win.
There was, of course, one variable.
—Kraaaaaaaar!
The Cyclops.
The mythical giant’s roar shook the jungle. Its single eye was larger than a boulder, and the Ents that had been edging backward on their roots flinched.
Ding.
System
Giant’s Roar has activated!
The effect of Intimidation has been slightly neutralized!
Some enemies have escaped the pressure of Intimidation!
A fitting ability for the boss monster of this Gate.
But even the Cyclops couldn’t completely lift the pressure on them, and I had no intention of giving it more time.
No. Correction.
We had no intention of giving it more time.
“Haaap!”
Krkrkrkrk! Pow-pow-pow!
With a powerful shout, a spear of bone shot through the air and pierced the Ents.
The Skeleton King had caught up with me. He was raising hell.
“Come at me, you worthless monsters!”
“……”
The bastard had completely lost track of what he was.
Apparently getting the full benefit of One Against a Thousand, he charged ahead without a thought.
“How dare you oppose this exalted body! Die! Die! Dieee!”
Papapapat!
The Skeleton King might have been a little off his rocker, but he was still a Named Monster who had undergone an evolution. There was no denying his power.
Bones erupted from the ground and the air, snapping branches and piercing Ent trunks without pause.
Pow-pow-pow!
“How dare you wave those adorable little leaves before this body!”
Craack!
“No matter how many of you attack, it’s like striking bone with an egg!”
—Gwoooooar!
The Ents’ mournful cries rang through the scene of forest destruction.
The Skeleton King’s arrival had cleared a path. I shot down it like an arrow.
Whoooosh! Slash!
I swept past like the wind, slashing in every direction. Flames crossed the air, and the Ents vanished before they could even scream.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
Hearing the bells ring noisily in my ears, I twisted aside. A tree trunk shot toward me with tremendous force, grazed my side, and pierced the ground.
Boom!
Mud exploded upward. I stepped onto another stem whipping toward me and sprang lightly into the air.
Tap. Swish.
Since Mungyeong’s lessons, my movements had grown smoother and more precise. I glided forward like a feather and arrived before an unusually massive tree.
Level 102 Corrupted Ent Elder
—H-u-man! D-i-e!
Its level wasn’t the only thing that was high. The Ent Elder had enough intelligence to speak.
I brought my spearhead down diagonally without hesitation.
“Welcome, Chikorita.2”
—……!
Whoosh. Slash!
The hundreds of branches it hastily gathered to defend itself were useless. So were the thorns it fired at me.
Along the path of my spearhead, the tree—several meters3 around—slowly split apart.
Crash! Fwoosh!
It fell with a thunderous crash and burst into flames.
I kicked off its stump, dense growth rings exposed, and shot upward. At last, I came face-to-face with the gigantic being blocking out the sky.
Level 130 ‘Red Eye’ Cyclops
There it was. The master of this jungle. A savage, one-eyed giant with hundreds of Ents for servants.
Now that I could identify it, I saw that its level was higher than any monster that had served the Arch Lich during the Small Cataclysm. It even had an epithet. A Named Monster.
A Named Monster in a low-grade Gate like this…
The thought weighed on me, but I had to put it aside. A gigantic shadow was plunging down from high above.
Whoom!
A rock over ten meters4 in diameter—no, something closer to a meteorite—crushed the air beneath it as it fell.
I chose to break through it head-on.
Finish it quickly.
I shot upward. The rock plunged down.
At the moment of impact, I poured the Scorching Yang Qi within White Flame into the tip of its spearhead and thrust at the rock’s center.
And then…
Slash.
Like a hot knife cutting through cheese, the spearhead slid into the rock and turned.
Krkrkrk.
It broke through at a single point. Mighty Force tore through the interior, and cracks spread across the enormous rock’s surface.
Kraaaaaaang!
It shattered with a thunderous roar, scattering hundreds—thousands—of fragments in every direction.
—……!
The Cyclops’s single red eye widened. Unable to withstand the force, it staggered.
Rumble. Crack!
—Gwoooooar!
The ground broke beneath the giant’s movements. Small-bodied Ents were trampled underfoot and screamed.
Neither the Cyclops nor I paid them any attention.
All that mattered was bringing down the enemy in front of us.
—Huuuuuu… maaaaan…
The Cyclops’s roar sounded as though it had been slowed to 0.1 speed.
In that slowed world, I stepped onto empty air and shot upward again without a moment’s hesitation.
Bam!
Stepping on Empty Air.
Compressed air exploded beneath my toes, propelling me farther and higher.
Whoooom.
Sensing danger, the Cyclops swung its fist too late. It was slow enough to make me yawn.
Boom!
The punch split the air with a terrifying sound. But by the time its fist struck empty space, I had already passed it and risen above its head.
Gooooong.
Blue flames spread across the spearhead, heavy with Scorching Yang Qi.
A force both sharp and destructive.
The second and final form of the Blazing Flame Divine Spear, which concentrated three hundred years of the Fire Gate Clan’s macho spirit—the time-honored clan with absolutely no concept of retreat.
Heavenly Strike.
Blue flames fell toward the giant’s head.
Shwoooooosh. Slash!
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