What a surprise I got when I was expelled from that prison-designed dungeon. For a moment, I thought I would return to Skyblue River City, but my assumptions couldn’t have been more wrong. As soon as my body was teleported outside, I found myself wrapped in a chaotic situation.

  The fall of several hundred meters makes my stomach churn. That damn portal left me suspended in midair, and the strong winds toss me around like a paper bag. I force every part of myself to generate a small but strong layer around me. My mana and Imra respond, reinforced by Laws and the Banner.

  Somehow, I manage to create armor amid this chaos. The winds had already begun to injure parts of my body; I can see deep cuts all around my arms. With my body secured, I focus on healing my wounds and injecting as much mana as possible into the bracelets. I don’t want to end up like a pancake smashed on the ground.

  Several seconds pass in a struggle between gravity, the violent winds, and my desire to survive. In the end, I manage to stabilize my flight. I’m floating in the air, much calmer now. “What would I have done without these bracelets?” My voice sounds a bit muffled at this altitude.

  I descend to a safe distance to try to locate a nearby town or city. I need to figure out where I am and how to return to the academy. From the bottom of my heart, I hope I’m close. I don’t want to spend days flying. Even from my current position, I can see some monsters focused on me in the distance. Fortunately, they don’t seem very strong.

  As I descend, I don’t see any humans nearby. While moving through the area, an incredible source of mana catches my attention. My senses detected it from several hundred meters away. I appear at the location in less than ten seconds. Right now, I’m as fast as a race car in the air.

  To my surprise, the overflowing mana source is a dungeon. I see several monsters coming out of it. “Why are there so few?” If this were a monster stampede, there should be hundreds of them, not just a few dozen. Have they already moved elsewhere?

  I feel some monsters leaving the radius of my Personal World. I move to catch up with them, follow their path for a few seconds, and notice more of them a few hundred meters ahead. A bad premonition surges within me. My alarms go off, ringing loudly inside my head.

  Without wasting any time, I shoot forward following the monsters’ direction. Along the way, their numbers keep increasing. Finally, I spot a village and a massive number of monsters dangerously close to its walls. Before I can arrive, a barrage of spells flies from both sides.

  The leader monster has a humanoid build. Its skin is gray and grotesque, its head resembles that of a bull, and it’s enormous—about four meters tall. Is it a minotaur? I never thought I’d see a monster like that.

  I arrive just in time as the minotaur finishes constructing a powerful spell. The death mana is extremely noticeable even from a distance. I accelerate my flight as the monster launches its attack, shattering the wall and advancing toward the villagers. I reach it just in time to strike its attack with my swords, slow it down with gravity, freeze it with ice, and destroy it with lightning.

  I manage to stop that magnificent construct of rock and death, though I’m injured in the process. Several small rocks tear through the light mana-Imra armor as if it were paper. The death mana tries to advance but is halted by my own.

  I pull two sharp pieces of rock from my body—one embedded in my shoulder, the other piercing my hand. The explosion kicks up an enormous cloud of dust. I use that time to heal all my wounds.

  I turn to look at the villagers. Most of them would have survived at the cost of the lives of two elderly men. I’m glad I arrived in time. The elders’ sacrifice would have only bought a few seconds; everyone would have died shortly after.

  Why are there only young people and elders here? I can only see two people around my father’s age. The rest are either under twenty-two or over sixty. Is everyone else dead? What happened here? Questions flood my mind.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  One of the elders thanks me. I can feel his turbulent emotions from where I stand. I give the villagers my best smile to calm them. “Sit back and enjoy the show. I’ll take care of the rest.” As soon as I finish speaking, I have to construct several ice walls in different locations to block attacks from the other monsters.

  They’ve gotten very close. They’re about to enter the city. I shoot forward to intercept them and destroy them quickly. Only one of them seems particularly strong—the minotaur leader. I’m surprised to see it several meters behind the others, its gaze fixed on me.

  The moment the first monster steps into the city, an ice sword pierces its head. It dies before taking a second step. I’m already here—it’s time to show off a bit. I won’t let them destroy the city.

  The battlefield turns into a complete massacre. Every swing of my sword claims a life. Every construct takes a monster’s life. Every movement is carefully calculated to annihilate the monsters around me as efficiently as possible.

  I’m venting some of the stress I’ve been holding back. I’m still angry about being locked up for three months and aged three years. Honestly, I’m furious. But since I have no way of knowing who did it—and they’re probably very powerful—I’d rather take it out now.

  Monster are cut cleanly in half. Some turn into ice sculptures after being trapped in my gravity prisons. Right now, I can hold six grade-three monsters without any problem. They remain frozen in place, completely helpless. Their willpower can’t compete with mine—not even close.

  Hundreds of monsters gradually disappear. Some try to sneak into the city but are crushed into the ground by my crushing zone. Those slippery ones are all killed by Joyeuse x2. Apparently, the rest understood my warning, because no one else tries.

  Electricity chars monster bodies every second. I hear screams all around due to the electric field surrounding me. My mana writhes like a snake, swaying from side to side. It doesn’t just defend me—it also attacks indiscriminately.

  The foolish smile on my face shows my happiness. My training hasn’t been in vain. The electric field works. I’ve blocked long-range attacks and inflicted serious damage on monsters with weaker defenses.

  I’m not only happy about the progress of my lightning affinity—my gravity mana is shining brighter than ever. I can restrain multiple grade-three monsters as if they were simple objects. If I apply enough pressure, I could even crush them until they explode. Every swing of my swords is so fast that no monster can follow it. I’ve even managed to kill some using only gravity shockwaves.

  At some point, I lose myself. The joy of seeing my progress and releasing stress by killing everything within sword range clouds my mind. I stop abruptly when I no longer sense any presence. All the small fry are dead.

  I look around. Everything is destruction and chaos. I went a bit overboard… bodies cut apart, mutilated, frozen, shattered, even exploded. My savagery crossed a line. For a moment, I even think about the citizens. What will they think of me after this massacre?

  I look at them, but their expressions aren’t hostile. Some look shocked or disgusted by the scene, but none are staring at me like I’m a monster. I can see a glimmer of salvation in the eyes of the younger ones. I let out a calming sigh.

  “Hey, big guy, don’t waste my time and come at me.” The minotaur should be able to understand me—or at least my intent. It’s a grade-four monster, intelligent enough to command a massive horde.

  The monster doesn’t respond. It simply grips its massive axe and slowly prepares itself. I can feel some of its emotions leaking through at this close distance: fury, resentment, and fear. This monster is afraid of me.

  The minotaur hurls its massive axe with a swift motion, the weapon flying incredibly fast, while it runs in the opposite direction. I let out a slightly disappointed internal sigh. The axe won’t kill anyone. I don’t bother stopping it and teleport to its side.

  I see confusion on its face as it tries to take a second step in its escape—its limb that should touch the ground isn’t there. When I teleported, I went straight for one of its legs. It felt like cutting through a massive metal tree trunk. Its skin is ridiculously tough.

  The monster roars in fury, screaming so loudly that my ears start bleeding, and I’m briefly disoriented. I dodge its punch and move quickly to avoid being cut by its weapon. Through my Personal World, I feel its axe return to its hand the moment it hits the ground.

  My calm mind—thanks to my mental skill—keeps reacting smoothly to every attack. Its next move is wide and reckless, and I seize the opportunity to sever its right arm.

  My head stops spinning, and I heal my ears to regain my balance. I construct two ice swords and pin its remaining leg to the ground, forcing it to collapse.

  I hold it in a gravity prison. No matter how much it struggles, it lacks the strength to break free, and in its current condition, it can’t beat me in an Imra clash. Its amputated limbs start regenerating—it has excellent regeneration.

  “Thanks for letting me test my new tricks.” I don’t want to prolong its suffering. I inject as much power as possible into my Thundersnow Fangs, and with a polished vertical strike, I sever its head, ending its life. “It’s time to find out where the hell I am and what’s going on here.”