Path to Transcendence

Chapter 386: Demon Commanders

There were so many monsters that he didn’t have a moment to breathe. Despite being able to kill them with a single blow, the sheer number of them was a challenge. Of course, forcibly steering them toward him didn’t help this at all. However, all this meant was that he would be pushed to his limits in a satisfying way.

He was adapting his kinetic energy usage with each moment, every time, making it a bit cleaner and a bit more powerful. His Concept experienced similar growth.

The one thing that disappointed him, though, was that the demons who were still standing behind their army of monsters weren’t doing anything. They didn’t make any moves to come after Julius themselves. It was like they were more than willing to allow their monsters to him.

Or at least that was what it looked like on the surface. However, when he glanced at them, he could see that they weren’t happy with how things were going either. Each of them had strained faces and looked as if they were itching to come and fight him.

He didn’t know why this was, but it saddened him. He wanted to fight these demons since they were the most powerful enemies he was able to sense. Unfortunately, it didn’t appear like it was meant to be just yet.

He sighed. If they wouldn’t oblige him with a fight, he would just continue mopping up their subordinates. So with a heavy heart, he truly started the slaughter. The monsters didn’t stand a chance as he tore them apart one by one.

His ruinous aura did some impressive damage just from him unleashing it on them. It was nice to finally release it without worrying about hurting anyone or standing out too much. Of course, the people generated by the rift were behind him, but he didn’t really see them as ‘real’ humans. It was somewhat uncaring, but from what he had seen, that was how it was.

However, out of all his abilities, he believed his new storm of sharpened mana was quite impressive. While it wasn’t the best against trolls who could regenerate or those with sturdy defenses, it worked well against monsters that didn’t boast these things.

It tore them apart with little effort, something that helped him defeat such a large number of them in such a short period. As he was congratulating himself, a wolf jumped at him from behind. However, the moment it entered the field of sharpened mana, it was torn apart. It barely had time to let out a cry as it was shredded into pieces.

Only after he had defeated over a hundred monsters by himself did he notice that he wasn’t being swarmed as intensely as before. He took the time to look around to see why this was, and his eyes squinted in confusion.

He swiftly figured out why that was. He spotted a large number of monsters retreating from him. He could feel the fear in their auras as they desperately tried to push back against their brethren who were boxing them in.

They couldn’t be scared of little old me? Surely not? He thought to himself with a frown.

However, considering that he was really the only person who was fighting, it was likely true.

Speaking of that, he noticed that nobody from the ramparts was even attacking the monsters. It was pretty much just him who was facing off against the horde. He looked behind with his perception skill and pinched his lips when he spotted the people on the ramparts looking at him with wide eyes.

He shrugged his shoulders and was about to chase after the monsters who were slowly backing away from him, but received the notification from the rift.

Congratulations, Seventh Floor Cleared.

That was it? He was half expecting more enemies to fight. It was sort of a letdown. The rift could have at least let him fight the demons before the floor ended.

He looked over where the demons were standing with narrowed eyes. Actually, what was stopping him from taking them on regardless? It didn’t seem like he was being transported like the earlier floors.

If he was going to remain in the same place, he should be allowed some freedom, such as the ability to take on these demons.

So with a carefree grin on his face, he took a quick step toward the demons. However, to his shock, he found himself slamming into a giant invisible wall. He staggered backwards more out of surprise than pain. He then rubbed his nose as he inspected the invisible barrier that had obstructed him.

He couldn’t detect anything from this barrier—not a single hint of mana or aura—it was truly invisible. He placed his hand out to touch the barrier and was still able to feel the hardened wall. He had no idea what this was, but he did know that it was preventing him from fighting those demons on the other side.

It was likely a feature of the rift to prevent him from taking things too far. But he still wanted to fight those demons, and this barrier was stopping him from doing that. That was why he wanted to test it. He took a step back and, after channeling some kinetic energy into his fist, he slammed it against the barrier with a loud crack.

The cracking noise came from his hand shattering into a thousand pieces. The barrier was way too hard, and when he attacked it, it was almost like all of the force he used was directed back at him. He shook out his hand and used his healing skill.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

He wasn’t done, though. He wanted to test it some more, which is why he took several dozen steps back and created a salvo of his constructs. He made sure to take his time and wove them with aura as well as his new Sharpness Concept. This allowed him to create extraordinarily powerful constructs. The channels he carved into them also allowed him to pack even more mana into them.

Then, without hesitation, he sent them blistering at the barrier. The explosion was deafening, and he almost got blown away by the shockwave. However, when the dust cleared, it was like nothing had even touched the barrier. There wasn’t even a single crack on the invisible surface.

He was about to make another attempt, but was surprised when he felt something wrap around him, and before he could do anything, the rift transported him away. It would appear that the rift wasn’t about to have some fun testing out the limits of the barrier like he had been prepared to do. That was unfortunate.

When he arrived at the new location, he pouted as he examined the dark room he found himself trapped in. There was nothing around him except for stone walls.

He was also greeted by another message, which was very different.

Notice: Any further attempts to break the set conditions will be met with punishment or immediate expulsion from the rift.

He giggled. It was confirmed that the rift had not been pleased about his testing. It was alright, though, he wasn’t planning to do anything else. He had just been curious and wanted to see how much damage the barrier could withstand as well as how it managed to be completely invisible to all of his senses, even [Absolute Spatial Perception].

He was alerted to another notification.

Eighth Floor Condition: Defeat the five Commanders.

He frowned at the message, but before he could think about it too long, he found himself getting wrapped up in some kind of transportation once more. He allowed it to happen and closed his eyes as he felt the familiar tug of spatial movement.

When he opened his eyes, he was bombarded by a huge flood of sensations. Unlike before, he didn’t have time to prepare for a fight. He was placed in the middle of an already ongoing conflict. Humans and monsters were tearing each other to pieces.

The monsters had somehow managed to break through the gates and were inside the fort. Any form of cohesion or ranks was gone as everything devolved into chaos. It was all about surviving at this point and killing whatever was in front of you. It was quite exciting.

He was brought out of his reverie when a monster decided he was a tasty-looking target and jumped toward him. He barely used any effort to smash his aura into the beast, causing it to cry out in pain.

Just as it was clawing at its own face in agony, he used Pure Severance and some shards of mana to rip it apart. His released aura seemed to be a warning to all of the surrounding monsters and humans in the area because he noticed the moment he attacked, all of the surrounding people and monsters backed away from his location.

It almost felt like when someone smelled really bad everyone went out of their way to avoid them. Only in this case, his smell was his ruinous aura and tried to destroy anything that got within its sphere of influence.

It was somewhat of a blessing that he didn’t have to deal with the monsters. Despite taking care of so many of them on the last floor, he hadn’t gained a single level in any of his skills. They just weren’t challenging enough for him.

On the bright side, he felt some familiar auras off in the distance. Auras that actually piqued his interest, and so without hesitation, he dashed toward them. It was also likely that these auras were the five commanders the notification mentioned.

When he arrived, he spotted the five demons he had seen earlier all tearing through a group of guards. The guards didn’t stand a chance as the demons completely overwhelmed them. Their metal armor was pierced by black spikes of mana, as if they were made of paper.

Julius smiled with excited eyes. Although he hadn’t been able to fight them moments earlier, it would appear that it was allowed on this floor. And just as he did earlier, he sent out a challenging pulse of aura right at the distracted demons.

He grinned when he spotted all five demons simultaneously stopping their slaughter and focusing on him. He didn’t see any recognition in their eyes, but he also didn’t expect them to either. This was a rift and not the real world, that much had been made clear.

And unlike before, the demons didn’t just stand in the back and order their monsters to attack him. Two of them instantly went on the offensive, dashing toward him with admirable speed. These two were the ones he noticed who were likely the warriors of the group. One had a sword and the other had an axe

Julius extended his kinetic restriction technique to try to stop them in place, but chuckled manically when he felt a powerful resistance from their end. It wasn’t like their willpower was stronger than his, but he found it very difficult to actually grasp them with his kinetic energy. It just slid right off like water.

That meant he was forced to duck underneath the brutal strike of the axe and side-step a thrust with a small use of [Void Step]. This seemed to surprise the demons, and before they could recover, he slammed his leg into the spine of the axe-wielding demon, sending it staggering to the ground. He then leapt toward the demon with kinetic energy charged in his fist. The sword-wielding demon tried to help its comrade and slashed at Julius.

However, Julius hadn’t been planning to go after its comrade. His true target was the swordsman, and he turned around with a grin on his face. The demon seemed to realize that it had been played and tried to escape using some kind of movement skill.

However, it didn’t realize that Julius was much faster than it and ran straight into Julius’s fist. The blast of kinetic energy tore a chunk of flesh from its face. It swung desperately to get him away, but Julius didn’t bother with it anymore. Plus, there was a barrage of attacks soaring toward him from the other three demons.

He used another [Void Step] to appear behind the axe-wielding demon, staggering to its feet. It didn’t even notice him as he covered his arm in Pure Severance and shoved his entire arm through its chest.

When the demon’s comrades finally realized where he had gone, they only saw Julius standing there with a bloody arm and their friend dead at his feet.

They froze when they saw what had happened right underneath their noses, and they all furiously roared at him.

Julius, on the other hand, was too busy examining the extremely dark crimson blood from the demon. The blood had some interesting effects, and he was distracted by them.

He barely noticed when the mages sent another salvo of attacks at him. He kept on finding interesting things in this rift. It was really a blessing that he was offered to participate. He had already learned so much.

He couldn’t help but smile as missiles of black mana blasted toward his face and hoped that this trend would continue as he threw himself back into the fray.