"Stormfury Wrath!" Kael raised his staff high, the laws of his Minor World pressing down with crushing force. Orc's body stiffened under the immense suppression, his horror mounting as he realized—Kael's Minor World was stronger than his own!
"How is this possible?!" The discovery sent a chill of dread creeping up Orc's spine.
Stormfury Wrath—a dual-elemental spell Kael had mastered from The Book of Immortality, combining wind and lightning.
A gale howled, its gusts sharp as blades, while purple lightning crackled, enveloping Orc completely.
Orc's expression twisted. With no time to dodge, he hastily chanted, conjuring a magical barrier. But the moment his shield formed, the turquoise wind and violet thunder slammed into it, shattering the defense instantly!
The spell struck Orc directly.
His body swayed, his face drained of color. Staring blankly at Kael, the light in his eyes dimmed—yet the shock within them never faded.
Then, Orc plummeted from the sky.
"You actually…" The peak tenth-tier mage uttered one last stunned sigh before his body crashed to the ground with a deafening thud.
Orc was dead.
Yes—Orc's corpse lay motionless, his life extinguished.
Kael, at the initial stage of the tenth-tier, had slain a peak tenth-tier mage!
The spectators were dumbstruck.
The air itself seemed to solidify, not a sound escaping. Every onlooker held their breath, staring at Kael in disbelieving silence.
"H-he actually killed Orc?!"
"No way… This is insane! How old is this kid? Reaching the tenth-tier was absurd enough, but killing Orc?!" To them, the world might as well have shattered. Not only was Kael a tenth-tier mage, he'd annihilated a peak tenth-tier veteran!
The revelation hit like a bolt from the blue. Their gazes toward Kael now brimmed with awe and terror.
Monstrous. Absolutely monstrous.
Yet Kael stood calmly at the center of the battlefield, exhaling slowly. Orc's strength had been formidable, but in the final moments, Kael had pushed past his limits.
He had broken through. Using Orc as his whetstone, Kael's power had ascended yet again—reaching the mid-tenth-tier! His mana grew denser and more potent, securing his victory over Orc.
Progress beyond the tenth-tier was agonizingly slow, but with Orc's pressure, Kael had shattered another barrier. The power of the mid-tenth-tier was terrifying, far surpassing his initial tenth-tier capabilities. Feeling the surge of strength, a satisfied smile curled his lips.
To the onlookers, Kael now seemed godlike. Their gazes brimmed with reverence and fear as they stared at the young man.
When Kael's eyes swept over them, they flinched as if electrocuted, too terrified to meet his gaze.
Kael paid them no mind, basking in the joy of his breakthrough. Behind him, the kitten chuckled mischievously:
"Kael, you finally took that guy down! Quick, check their bodies—what treasures did they leave behind?"
Kael blinked, eyeing the sparkling-eyed kitten. Since joining him, the little creature had grown increasingly greedy, especially when "loot" was involved.
"Why are you staring at me like that? Is there something on my face? Impossible—this lady remains as radiant and breathtaking as ever!" The kitten licked its paw smugly.
Kael rolled his eyes.
Still, the kitten wasn't wrong. It was time to inspect the spoils. Retrieving Orc and Carman's spatial rings, Kael's brows rose in appreciation upon opening them.
"Top-tier magic gemstones…" What impressed him most were these gems—essential cultivation resources for high-tier mages and warriors, with demand skyrocketing as one's strength grew.
The rings were overflowing with them, enough to make Kael whistle in admiration. The kitten's eyes shone with naked greed.
"So many gems…" The creature drooled, utterly spellbound by the glittering hoard.
"Kael, can I have one or two? Just one or two!" It grinned ingratiatingly, content even with a tiny share.
Kael smirked. Handing over a couple was no issue—there were thousands here. Their total value likely exceeded five million gold coins. Overnight, Kael had become filthy rich.
The magic gemstones shimmered with a crystalline glow, spanning all elemental affinities—more than enough to fuel Kael's future cultivation.
"A century's worth of the Reynolds' accumulation… Truly astonishing. These are all top-tier gems—priceless and rare. And this is just from their personal collections. Imagine the family vault…" Kael murmured to himself.
The kitten quivered with excitement, practically seeing mountains of gold coins raining from the sky.
"Kael!" At that moment, Alaric lumbered over, his massive frame shaking the ground. "We've wiped out every last Reynolds scum!" he boomed.
Kael nodded. The Reynolds stood no chance against Alaric and the ninth-tier Unicorn Rhinos—this outcome was inevitable.
The Reynolds manor now lay in ruins: walls shattered, debris littering the grounds. With this battle, the Reynolds name was erased from the continent.
All three of their tenth-tier experts had fallen to Kael's hands. The family's power was annihilated in a single stroke.
"Mooncrest City… will never be the same."
"Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. Who is this boy, to single-handedly obliterate the Reynolds…?" Whispers rippled through alleyways. Observant souls knew—the balance of power had shifted.
A colossal force, toppled by one young man.
In truth, remnants of the Reynolds' strength lingered. Their elite Black Eagle Guardsnumbered eight thousand in total. While Zev had taken five thousand, three thousand still remained in Mooncrest.
But Kael had struck too swiftly, leaving Orc no time to mobilize them. Now, with the family decapitated, the Black Eagles were leaderless—useless.
To Kael, a tenth-tier mage, three thousand Black Eagle Guards were nothing—just a few spells away from annihilation.
"Let's go. Time to raid the Reynolds' vault." A faint smile curled Kael's lips. With the Reynolds eradicated, a thorn in his side had finally been plucked, leaving him immensely satisfied.
The sheer scale of the Reynolds' manor exceeded Kael's expectations. Spanning over a kilometer, it resembled a miniature palace, a world apart from the city outside.
"The Reynolds were never decent folk. Who knows how much they've extorted over the years?" Alaric snorted, displeased.
Kael nodded. What noble house wasn't built on the people's suffering? In this world, aristocrats were all the same.
"The vault's over there!" The kitten's eyes gleamed as it pointed a claw excitedly.
The moment it spoke, Kael's gaze snapped toward the direction.
He trusted the kitten's senses implicitly. Bringing it along had been the right call—it had played a pivotal role. Without its Winged Serpent illusion shaking Carman's focus, Kael's victory wouldn't have been so swift and decisive.
Following the kitten's lead, they weaved through corridors before arriving at a hidden basement.
A massive stone door, weighing tons, barred the entrance, impossible for ordinary folk to budge. Worse, a magical barrier had been cast before it, requiring most mages to dismantle the spellwork first.
But to Kael? Child's play.
With a flick of his staff, a bolt of lightning shattered the door into rubble, revealing the treasures within.
"So many goodies…" The kitten gasped in delight.