Chapter 194: Absolute Soul (6)

Though I was somewhat expecting it, the moment we left the forest, I became stifled for breath. The number of monsters present made me wonder if all the monsters in the world were gathered here. It wasn't that I thought our presence was unnoticed, but this was too much. It was almost as if... all the El Patiz in the world were deployed to hunt us.

I had already seen a sky full of monsters, but the number of monsters filling up the plain was as if all the floors in the dungeon broke down and had their monsters released. Even Daisy, who commanded an army of undead, seemed to flinch.

If we tried to charge through them like we did previously, we would undoubtedly be swallowed up before we could advance even a 100 meters.

"Ren... What are we going to do?"

"Crown Prince should already know. We can only break through."

Right, I wasn't a devil who would abandon the children after coming this far. Plus, even if we retreated to the forest, it wasn't a place the children could survive in without Ren. The ocean, the place the El Patiz couldn't go. We had to reach that place.

"Alright, then let's fly."

There was no need to mind the monsters on the ground!

I breathed in and jumped on Lotte's back with Ren, two beastmen children, and one human girl. The others were riding Daisy's Flame Drake, Pookie. The monsters on the ground charged at us like an army of ants and roared, but that was none of our business.

"We're going straight to the ocean!"

"Got it."

Lotte flapped her wings and shot up. Instead of the monsters on the ground, which became like dogs chasing after chickens, the flying monsters roared and flew toward us. A majority of them instantly turned into stone and fell. The monsters on the ground hit by the rocks screamed. This was truly killing two birds with one stone!

"Shin oppa is cool!"

"Thanks, Elfa."

No matter how much they used each other as shields or came from different angles to avoid my sight, unless their resistance was above SS+ rank, they had no choice but to turn into stone the moment they neared me. To me, numbers didn't mean a thing anymore.

"Lotte, full speed ahead!"

[I know, Hero!]

Lotte accelerated, and Pookie chased after us. Enemies in front of us all turned into stone, and enemies behind and to our sides were first pushed back with Mad Typhoon, then turned into stone. There was 50 km from the start of the plain to the coast, and we had already passed about 10 km.

[Hero, there are attacks coming from below.]

"Raise the altitude a bit more! Guys, remember, if you're feeling tired, use the mana breathing method!"

"Okay!"

"Un!"

After a while, the number of monsters that couldn't be petrified increased. I held onto a Mana Potion with my mouth and swung my spear at the giant flying monsters attacking us fiercely.

"Ren! Protect the children!"

[I can handle that much!]

"Pookie, breath!"

[Guaaaaang!]

Daisy, who was following from behind, seemed to have been attacked by the monsters as well. As I attacked with my spear, I once again used the power of my Evil Eyes against the army of monsters.

"Let's see if you can be so energetic when we get to the ocean!"

[Kiaaaaaaak!]

[Kyaaaaa! Eat this!]

Lotte flapped her wings fiercely and breathed out black flames, burning the enemies in front of us to ashes. If a path was open for even a moment, I would go through it! With the Riding skill, Lotte and I were like a single entity as we displayed flawless coordination, becoming a single acute bullet that shot through the air. Because of our incredible speed, Ren, Sharana, and Ruyue all had to help prevent the children from falling.

"Oppa, look!"

Then, Elfa screamed. I looked at the direction Elfa was pointing to, as I stabbed my spear through the neck of a wyvern. In the air was a giant tuna. Though we were far away, its fat body and tuna face was too clear. I doubted my eyes. It was just too big!

"What the hell is that tuna? Why is a tuna flying?"

"Dear god, it's the Guardian Aikan... The divine beast protector of the ocean kingdom Zenyt!"

"A tuna is...?"

"I thought they would be safe from the El Patiz, but to think even Aikan had been taken over...! Ku, did they aim for when it came out to protect the kingdom!?"

"It's a tuna! You know, the fish!?"

Ren spoke with grief without paying attention to my questions. Regardless of whether it was a tuna or a salmon, it was giving off a terrifying mana. We were over 1 km away, but the mana it was emitting made my body tremble slightly.

[Guaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!]

The giant tuna cried in the air and charged toward us like the devil. It was incomparably bigger than the Power Basilisk, which gave me the Evil Eyes! It went without saying that the mana it possessed in its body was something I could not hope to affect with my Evil Eyes. If it simply crashed into us, we would undoubtedly be crushed to death! The other flying monsters seemed to be terrified by the tuna too, as they all scattered away.

At that moment, Pookie stepped in front of Lotte. Daisy took out a chain whip with a flushed face.

"That figure, I like it."

"But it's a tuna."

"Extremely powerful. Smooth body. I want it."

"But it's... a tuna!"

What's wrong with these people!? Something was wrong! Daisy pulled on her whip, as if she was burning with passion, then swung her whip when the tuna neared us.

"Spines! Bloom!"

In an instant, the end of the whip split, forming thousands of gross tentacles, which swept over the tuna. From the distance, it looked like a jellyfish sticking onto its prey. In any case, its repulsive appearance made me want to turn away.

"It looks like you tried to make it sound cool, but words can't change tentacles into spines!"

"Kuk, the skill... couldn't be changed..."

Daisy's voice was full of grief, even making me feel sympathy for her. Of course, looks had little to do with strength. Each spine, possessing terrifying levels of mana, reached the tuna, crawling straight to its brain. Ren spoke as he shuddered.

"It feels like I'm watching an El Patiz mutant..."

"Well, I'm sure they're only trying to destroy the brain. I won't argue that it's disgusting though."

Why did this continent have to filled with things like bugs and tentacles? Thankfully, I was the only one seeing such cruel sights. Even while I thought rather stupid things, the tuna didn't stop charging toward us. It shone with a brilliant light and burned away the tentacles sticking to its body. Although its overwhelming power was worthy of its name as a guardian, there were more tentacles being created then being burned. How amazing!

"Brain, open it. Let's be friends."

[Guaaaaaaaaang!]

Daisy made the worst kind of proposal one could get as she added in another skill. Her ears seemed to perk up slightly, after which a black mist spread out from the hand unoccupied by the whip. When the tuna touched the mist, the tuna's resistance began to dwindle slowly. I suspected that it was a skill necessary to create an undead.

[Guaaaaaaaaa!]

"Uut, resisting. Kang Shin, help."

The tuna's roar rang out sonorously in all directions. Then, countless number of flying monsters once again began to attack, like soldiers following the command of a general. However, they weren't attacking us, but rather the tentacles connecting Daisy and the tuna. 'Were you guys okay with being ordered around by a tuna!?'I lamented. Regardless, if we could make the tuna become part of our strengths, it couldn't be better. I materialized Peika.

"Peika, go wild! Burn up everything!"

[That's exactly what I like to hear!]

Daisy shot out countless number of tentacles; the tuna roared, bounded by the tentacles; and many monsters swooped in to free the tuna. Peika jumped into the fray daringly and shot out vast amount of lightning. The sky was almost being dyed gold.

[Come! I'll fry all of you to crisp!]

As powerful as Peika was, she expended a vast amount of mana. Although the fight between the tuna and Daisy was leaning towards Daisy's victory with Peika joining, I was paying for it with my mana. I impatiently waited for the Mana Potion's cooldown time to end. Meanwhile, I put a highest-grade Mana Potion in my mouth and circulated Peruta Circuit even more strongly to collect mana from the surroundings.

Perhaps because I was focused on Peruta Circuit, I was the first to notice.

"The tuna is doing something!"

"It opened mouth. Before it does something, destroy bugs."

Daisy calmly spoke and poured out flying undead monsters from her inventory with a wave of her hand. The undead monsters flew in a straight line and attacked the giant tuna's head. Although many tentacles were going inside the giant tuna's body from its mouth, the tuna paid them no mind as it opened its mouth wider. Daisy's expression turned slightly perplexed.

"That, must dodge. Similar power to, mana wave. Tentacles... Spines are, being destroyed."

"No, it'll be hard to escape from its range, so let's destroy its brain before then!"

"Guild master's spirit, cool."

I grinned at Daisy's comment, then charged towards the tuna on Lotte. The children screamed, but I couldn't hold onto them right now.

"Hold on, guys!"

"U-Un, oppa!"

"Un!"

I raised my spear high, and called Peika and Sharana. I infused Sharana in my body and Peika in the Chaotic Spear! Then, Lotte and I shot towards the monsters blocking our path with the force to destroy a world.

"Wind King's Rage!"

The power of lightning and wind that had begun to gather in my body drove me forward. Lotte adapted to the flow surprisingly naturally, flying faster than lightning and freer than wind. Every time a monster in front of us was sent flying, the hard-to-contain power intensified. Though only a little, mana was also filling up inside me!

Using Mad Typhoon, I contained the wild and turbulent lightning and wind in the form of a whirlpool. I then changed directions and dug into another group of monsters. There was no need to dodge anything. No monsters existed that could be my spear's opponent!

"Huaaaaaaaaap! Now it's your turn!"

The attack had long since charged up to 150%. I held up the spear buried in a giant whirlpool and pointed it at the tuna's head. By now, visible particles of mana had gathered at its mouth. If possible, I had to neutralize it now!

"Crooooooooown Princeeeeee! The children will diiiiiiie!"

"Hold on tight!"

Even I couldn't control Lotte's speed! I focused solely on piercing the tuna with this whirlpool of lightning and wind in my hand. Now!

[Kuaaaaaaang!!]

I didn't have a chance to clash with whatever it was trying to do, as the spear bore through its head and caused a giant explosion.

[Critical Hit!]

I pulled out the spear from its head, which was dug in like a crater. I could feel it slowly closing its mouth. Of course. How could it shoot out a mana wave when its head exploded?

Ah. I really poured out all the strength in my body. The skill description said I wouldn't be able to use the skill for 3 hours, but that wasn't it. I didn't know if I had the strength to use other skills. I was completely exhausted.

At that moment, hundreds of tentacles approached me and dug into the place my spear had pierced through. They were truly disgusting.

[Good, reached the brain.]

"Uek, disgusting."

Daisy seemed to be extremely elated as she even messaged me to report on her success. Meanwhile, I could feel something inside its brain puffing up unnaturally. Soon, a giant bug popped out. There were strange bumps on its body, and its mouth looked like a drill. So this was an El Patiz. It wasn't even dead.

"I need to kill it."

"Crown Prince, you look tired."

"This is not—"

"Crown Prince!"

Before I could finish my sentence, I became startled by Ren's shout and turned around. However, I couldn't turn my body. It seemed like my body was fixed in place.

"This is something special prepared just for you."

An unpleasant voice of a man rang out. It came from one of the children on Lotte's back, Uruto.

"I didn't think I'd be able to capture another Hero. You see, we only have two of our kind that can contain a Hero... Losing Aikan is a bit regretful, but if we can obtain a Hero in exchange, it is more than worth it. Ah, don't think about using your elementals. As long as I'm touching you, I can damage you as much as I want."

"U-Uruto!?"

"Don't come close, Elfa! He isn't Uruto!"

"Kuk, Crown Prince, I can't get him off! I-If I use an attack skill, you'll...!"

"Ren, I'm fine, so take the others and go to Daisy! I'll deal with this on my own!"

"Kuk... Understood!"

"Oppa, Shin op—!"

Elfa closed her mouth mid-shout. More exactly, Ren had grabbed her and the other human girl. Lotte seemed to have noticed what was happening on her back as she thrashed about wildly.

[A mere human brat dares to attack the Hero!]

However, Uruto was no longer in a human form. I didn't know how he was binding me, but there were something adhesive stuck to my chest and limbs.

"You can't escape. Your mana should be frozen as well as your body. You won't be able to open your inventory much less open the door to the dungeon. I was created for this purpose. Unless you're something like a Mana Eater, you won't be able to escape. Now, open your mouth. Become our ally."

It was a powerful binding just like the Demon Lord's curse cast on me by Shina in the Luka continent. Although I should be able to use skills, it was difficult to do so without being able to move my body.

Plus, the El Patiz binding me was perfectly guarded against the one person who might be able to free me, Daisy. Knowing that she was a necromancer, it had provided a prey in the form of Aikan. It knew that Daisy would try to use necromancy on Aikan the moment it was defeated. Currently, Daisy was completely focused on making Aikan into her own, so much so that she didn't even realize the danger I was in.

"But I didn't detect any mana from your brain...!"

"I told you, I was created for this purpose. I hid myself to hunt the last explorer when I had the chance."

The voice no longer belonged to that of a human. The bug that had jumped out of Aikan's brain was approaching me slowly.

"Then you won't be discovered by anyone!?"

"Huhuhu, I can imitate anyone with my mana. Unless you can read my thoughts or read my soul, you won't be able to see through me."

"... Right, it was indeed difficult to read your at first."

Of course, that wasn't the case now. Although it was a bit embarrassing to say, I had the Absolute Soul skill. I could be called an expert when it came to souls.

"...?"

"Sky God's Play."

The next moment, I was floating in the air leisurely... as what people from Earth would call, a fly.

"What...!?"

[Guaaaaaaaaa!]

Uruto, who had turned into a slime-like creature, and the unpleasant-looking bug that looked like a floating vein both made disconcerted shouts. I yelled as a fly.

"Peika, scorch them!"

[Got it!]

"Kuk, in that case, we'll take the other one...!"

[Unless you're faster than lightning, it's over!]

The moment the slime tried to stick onto Lotte's body, Peika's lightning shot down. The slime that had imitated Uruto then vaporized in mid-air. While the other bug didn't know what to do, I returned to my original form and grinned.

"Villains can't die without giving out all the information, can they? You said there's one more of you?"

[Guaaaaaang!]

10 minutes after that, we set off toward the coast once again. This time, with a new friend, Aikan, and at full speed.