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CHAPTER 241: THE ESSENCE OF THE DESTRUCTION EMPEROR

The 40th Floor of the Tower of the Lion.

After climbing the stairs and opening the door at the very end, we would enter a plain at dawn with huge rocks scattered everywhere around it.

Generally speaking, these rocks would be useful as objects to avoid attacks from the Boss, and if a party were to defeat the Boss, the rear guard who lacked Durability would probably use these rocks to avoid the line of fire.

However, in this battle, Drake would be the one taking on the Boss in a one-on-one combat. To us, who were just going to watch, the rocks were just mere obstacles.

In the center of the area with the huge rocks was a grassy area, where the Floor Boss, Aquilaleo, stood tall and waited for the Adventurers to come right at it. It was holding a long saber in each of its four arms, and there was no obvious opening for anyone to explore at first glance.  Its appearance, combined with its large size, gave off a sense of intimidation to any possible challengers.

However, upon seeing this, Drake grinned with glee, his fearless expression reminiscent of a ferocious carnivore that has found a worthy prey to hunt down.

「Well then, I’m off now!!」

「Yeah, go out there and give that thing a big bang for all of us!!」

Drake kicked the ground and took out the Red Demon’s Iron Club from his magic bag, running towards Aquilaleo as if flying.

Reacting to the approaching presence, Aquilaleo also crossed its two sabers in front of its chest to take a defensive stance, while at the same time swinging its two remaining arms down at the charging Drake to intercept his approach.

The first contact was a head-on battle of strength. Where the two forces collided, a wind blew as if an explosion had occurred, crushing the grass on its legs in a radial pattern.

For a moment out there, the clash seemed evenly matched, but Drake ultimately won, and Aquilaleo was blown away while still in its guarding position.

Drake, who had originally planned on a short battle, had applied the double buffs of 「Ice Wind Armament」 and 「Steaming Dragon Transformation」 from the very start onto himself, and his stats seemed to have jumped up several times their base values.

However, since Aquilaleo was also a Floor Boss, its Durability was several levels higher than that of the regular monsters up to that point. Although it was blown away, it turned around and flapped its wings to avoid Drake’s attack, which was pursuing him.

「That’s a bad move against me, you know?」

If it was facing an ordinary Adventurer, this would have been the best possible choice of action. However, the person that Aquilaleo was facing was Drake, known in the Kingdom of Alto as the “Conqueror of the Skies” and “Emperor of Destruction.”

Drake stomped his feet firmly on the ground and used his 「Flight」 Skill to pursue Aquilaleo, who had fled into the sky.

……Or maybe it was because he was getting excited, but Drake’s tone was now getting rougher and rougher.

「I need to show my brothers and sisters what I have got!」

As he said that, a chunk of ice stuck to the red Demon Club Drake was holding, making it bigger and more prickly. Not only that, a spiral wind blew around the weapon, and white dust flew as if the air itself had frozen just by swinging it around with one hand.

「Whoa! Giving a weapon dual attributes? That’s really difficult to pull off like that!」

「This is where the real action begins.」

Cinque, who was standing right next to me, looked pleased with the amazement that came out of my mouth. Besides, “This is where it all begins”, you say……

「“Ice Tornado, Freeze Area”」

He casually combined the Ice Magic Ice Needle with the Wind Magic Cyclone and Wind Pressure, and activated a combined spell as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and then Drake activated an additional combined spell called Freeze Area in rapid succession.

Looking at how easily he not only bestowed the dual attributes on his weapon, but also activated multiple combined spells, it seemed like his Skill levels in Ice and Wind Magic must have increased considerably.

Turning my attention to Aquilaleo, who was flying around in the sky, I could see that it was dodging the ice tornadoes well, but its movement speed was visibly slowing down. This was probably the effect of the Freeze Area, but…… Drake was doing so many things at the same time that I could not quite make out what was going on.

「Hm, Drake has gotten better at using magic. He doesn’t just use simple attack magic, he also uses disruptive Area of Effect Magic at the same time, which allows him to corner his enemies more efficiently. In addition to Attack Magic, he also uses wide-area disruptive magic and gives weapons dual attributes…… it’s quite difficult to activate all of these at the same time.」

Kinu must have noticed this as she gave a brief explanation of Drake’s magic.

The combination of Ice and Wind…… When you think about it, it’s a damn good combination.

In fact, if it has such an effect even on Aquilaleo, which has high AGI (Agility) and VIT (Vitality), does that mean that Drake has mastered disruptive magic that can restrict the actions of even high-rank S monsters unless they had some kind of countermeasure in place!?

While this was happening, an ice tornado approached from behind Aquilaleo, and Drake, who has been flying around to pin him down, saw an opening to explore and swung his Red Demon Club, which has been given dual attributes, down on his enemy……

Then, Aquilaleo’s arms, which were blocking it, turned pale and hardened as if frozen, and the Ice Tornado swallowed both Aquilaleo and Drake together.

「This is bad……  Isn’t this an attack that’s almost guaranteed to hit?」

Stunned by the sight, the Ice Tornado suddenly dissipated, revealing Aquilaleo frozen in ice and Drake, armed with his kimono completely covered in ice.

「Wha?! Wait a minute! I can’t understand this!」

「Aun-sama, this is where this particular Skill Art really shines.」

「Huh?! It’s a Skill Art after all!」

A huge block of ice floated in the air as if time has stopped, and Aquilaleo was trapped inside of it.

In a space where even the surrounding plants are frozen, Drake was the only one moving at a speed that is too fast for the naked eye to follow, smashing his Red Demon Club into the ice block from all directions.

A few seconds later, Drake, who had been moving at high speed, slowly stopped, and then……

「”Freezing Destruction: Diamond Break”.」

The moment Drake uttered those words, it was as if time had started moving again, as the huge block of ice broke into tiny little pieces.

In contrast to Drake, who had stopped moving, pieces of ice flew all around, reflecting the light of the morning glow and glittering, decorating Drake all around.

…… In the end, it was an all-too-one defeat that took less than five minutes.

The main character, who had clearly demonstrated his overwhelming destructive power, turned towards us and, with a friendly smile on his face, raised his Red Demon Club into the air in a gesture of victory.