-Click!!

-BOOOMMMM!!!

The explosion itself caused no visible damage, at least not on the surface. The demons reacted instantly, drawing barriers in front of themselves or blocking with their hands, their movements sharp and trained by countless battles.

But all they felt was a wave of hot air brushing past them, like a sudden gust rising from the depths of the land.

"&!#%*@&&@ (What was that?)"

"%$%#%@^ (Where did the attack come from..?)"

"#$#%*^@ (That barely even stung...)"

The demons spoke in their native tongue, yet Ash understood every word clearly through his passive abilities.

What they failed to realize was that the explosion had never been meant to harm them directly. It was only the trigger.

The true effect was about to unfold.

And soon enough, they felt it.

"&%^# (This....)"

The air changed.

An invisible wave of distorted energy spread outward from the point of explosion, passing through the battlefield without sound or resistance. Within moments, the natural flow of energy across dozens of kilometers collapsed into chaos.

Barriers flickered and shattered as if their foundations had been erased. Spells failed before forming completely. Attacks unraveled in midair, dissolving into nothingness.

Even the lone knight was affected by the disruption, but Ash knew that mana had never been the source of his true strength.

Even without it, the knight remained a deadly sword master, someone who could carve through demons as easily as slaughtering livestock.

And that was exactly what happened.

The moment hesitation crept into the demons' movements, the knight lunged forward. His speed was almost unnatural. In a blink, he appeared before a demon who was desperately trying to fly higher after sensing danger.

It was already too late.

The knight's blade passed through him cleanly, splitting his body in two without the slightest resistance.

The carnage did not stop there.

In the next instant, the knight shifted targets, lunging toward another demon with precise and ruthless intent. His movements were efficient, refined, and overwhelming, his physical strength matching what one would expect from a peak-ranked Legendary knight.

Now forced into close combat, the demons hesitated. Accustomed to dominating from the skies, they instinctively pulled back, retreating upward and trying to regain distance.

In that brief span of time, five demons fell.

The rest managed to escape his immediate range, retreating while keeping a wary distance.

But Ash noticed something the knight did not.

...It feels like they are in a hurry.....and they are moving with unnatural sync....

Demons moving in coordination was nothing unusual. They were soldiers trained for war. What caught Ash's attention was something far subtler.

A faint pink sheen flickering deep within their eyes.

At first, he had overlooked it. But repeated encounters made the pattern impossible to ignore.

And he knew exactly what that color represented.

Overlord Demon, Lilith.....the Sin of Lust...

Ash's expression darkened.

Is she also inside this dungeon..?

He could not be certain, but his instincts told him there was a high chance.

Looks like the Spirit Crystal is far more important to the demon prince than I thought. Otherwise, he would never send his trusted subordinate into a place like this.....

He stood under the shade of a large boulder near the elevated platform, hidden from prying eyes, yet he was careful to never let his gaze linger on anyone for too long, nor did he allow it to sharpen with intent.

There was a saying.

If you look into the abyss, the abyss looks back at you.

And that saying was not wrong, not in the slightest.

As beings grow stronger, their senses expand beyond the ordinary. They become aware of disturbances that others cannot perceive. If someone looks at them, truly looks at them, they will know. That awareness draws attention, and attention is often fatal.

Especially for the weak.

If you are weak, then there is even more reason to be careful.

The gazes of the strong cannot be felt. Only the gazes of the weak reveal themselves.

And right now, Ash was not overwhelmingly strong.

If anyone his age heard him say that, they would curse him for all eternity.

But that was the difference.

The difference in perspective.

To the world, strength was relative. To Ash, strength was absolute. He constantly measured himself against superior races such as demons, angels, and golden prodigies blessed by the system itself. Compared to them, he always found himself lacking.

While others strove only to surpass their past selves, Ash was competing against the world itself. He sought supremacy over everything and anything that stood above him.

In a way, Ash was greedy.

He wanted more than he could chew.

Yet that same greed was also his greatest strength. He was never satisfied with the power he possessed. No matter how far he climbed, he always demanded more from himself, always pushed forward, always sought greater heights.

Though going against everything should have been nothing short of suicide, Ash was a deathless existence. Death did not come to him easily.

His attention returned to the battlefield, where the fight had reached a brief stalemate, though it did not last long. The demons were forced to attack the knight once more, their movements strained, as if something unseen was driving them forward.

Ash already had a good idea who that something was.

So he watched as the demons fell one after another, though the knight was not unharmed. Wounds accumulated across its form, each clash taking its toll.

It was one against more than fifty demons.

Yet the knight had already reduced their numbers from well over a hundred to fewer than forty.

By any standard, it was an incredible achievement.

But the knight was nearing its limits.

It was not a living being, or at least that was what Ash believed.

...I underestimated how much of a monster Ray Dawson is.....he defeated this knight and the main boss, who was supposed to be even stronger than this knight.....

Ash could already imagine how much his presence had altered Ray Dawson's life. Yet the only truly good thing Ash had done for him was forcing him to grow stronger than he was in the novel, at least at this point in time.

And that strength would continue to rise.

Ray's growth rate was already unprecedented. With Ash now in the picture, it would only become more monstrous.

After all, Ash had given him a goal.

That goal was himself.

As long as Ash continued to move forward and grow stronger, Ray Dawson would follow, and one day even surpass him through sheer talent and genius. Atleast that's what he will believe, right?

Ash had no doubt about that.

Shaking his head to clear away unnecessary thoughts, Ash turned his attention toward the elevated platform.

And then he moved.

He uncorked an invisibility potion and a haste potion in quick succession and gulped them down, then dusted himself with another layer of scent erasing powder before sprinting toward the platform with his full strength.

By now, the region had returned to normal. The disrupted energy had stabilized, flowing back into the surroundings, allowing the demons to fight with renewed ease and confidence.

Lets hope my calculations are not off.....otherwise I might risk exposing myself....

The knight was on its last legs. Ash could see it clearly now. He had to claim the reward for defeating it at any cost.

He had to take the knight's sword.

Sword of both Water and Wind Elemental knights would have been already returned back to the main dungeon boss...

Once the dungeon break happens, the sword would return to the main boss room, further boosting the strength of the Fallen Knight.

Those swords were the key to the Rune.

He had to secure at least one of them. If he failed, the demons would eventually claim the Rune themselves, without even knowing what it was. His plan had less than a five percent chance of success, yet there was no alternative left to him.

He was a frog trapped inside a cage full of hyenas.

If he wanted to win, he had to gamble.

Before long, Ash stepped onto the elevated platform. Almost at the same moment, the knight staggered and fell to one knee, barely keeping itself upright with the support of its sword.

Then, slowly, it lifted its head.

Its gaze met Ash's.

Ash's expression stiffened, but he did not slow down. He could not allow his emotions to surface now. He had to control them, not let them control him.

He maintained eye contact with the knight, even as countless thoughts raced through his mind. Why could the knight see him?

Or perhaps it was not seeing him at all.

Perhaps it was sensing him.

Ash had no answer, and the knight would not provide one. Its body had already begun to disintegrate, its form breaking apart into fading particles of light.

The flapping of wings and heavy footsteps echoed throughout the surroundings.

The demons were descending to the ground.

As the knight continued to disintegrate, the space behind it twisted unnaturally, spiraling inward as a gate slowly began to form.

Ash closed the remaining distance between them. Throughout it all, the knight's eyes never left him. It was as if it truly could see him, even through every concealment he had prepared.

Still, Ash acted without hesitation.

He had to make sure no one became suspicious of the sword's disappearance. Everything needed to look natural, as if the sword itself was dissolving alongside the knight.

Moments later, the final remnants of the knight vanished completely. In that same instant, Ash grasped the sword, stored it within his space ring, and leapt straight into the spiral gate while it was still forming.

He did not care about the side effects of entering an incomplete portal. With the Rune of Space, spatial anomalies held no threat to him.

And just like that, Ash vanished into the portal.

****

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