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Ignoring the leader’s answer, I coldly swept my eyes over everyone present.

The villagers were clearly arguing with the soldiers, meaning they weren’t together.

Now that I had a better look, I estimated there to be 500 soldiers present. The majority were two-stars. There were three eight-stars present, along with a team of mages; the strongest mage was a seven-star.

There were traces of a dimensional array on the ground, meaning they had teleported over as well.

Was it a spy who carved this array for them to use? Was that how they managed to kill off those in the Demoness Abode, and then ended up in conflict with the villagers who found them later?

Regardless, that array was now useless, and the odds of any further reinforcements were slim.

In that case, there was only clean-up required.

With a wave, Icy Inferno materialized in my right hand. Between me and the soldiers was a mere fifty meters -a paltry distance I covered in one charge.

Yet the moment I dove into the fray, a massive wall of fire rose out of the ground in front of me. Even without touching the flames, I could feel the air around me burn within seconds.

An elemental mage? Too bad he chose fire.

A faint glow emitted from Lion’s Majesty. I continued diving into the fire wall, emerging an instant later unharmed and sword swinging. A massive wave of sword energy sliced apart a thirty meter arc, bifurcating the soldiers close to me.

The instant the sword energy struck, I felt a coldness descend upon me. Countless icicles each the size of a human’s arm rained down upon my position, covering a twenty meters diameter!

I raised my left hand to the sky, back facing upwards as I channeled more mana into Lion’s Majesty. A shield emerged above me, composed entirely out of fire so dense the shield almost looked corporeal.

Though the icicles were many, the shield guarded me like an umbrella blocking the rain. Any icicle that fell upon it melted immediately. Unaffected, I dove once more into the next group thirty meters ahead.

I was beyond calm at this point. Deathly so. Within me, however, an all-consuming rage to kill and murder them swirled through my head. No matter what, they were going to pay! But first, that blasted mage had to die; the amount of spells that mage could throw might even be a bigger threat than those three eight-stars.

“Hammer of Justice!”

Before I made it out of the icicle rain, I heard a booming howl echo above me. A golden hammer of light crashed down upon me from the heavens, viciously hammering the fire shield.

The initial collision immediately cracked the half-meter wide hammer, causing a powerful shockwave to emanate forth, staggering me for a second. But that was the extent of that attack. A mere second bought, and nothing more.

This shield was brought forth by an epic-grade accessory. In terms of star level, it would be the equivalent of an overlord. Unless these eight-stars could suddenly bring the power of an overlord to bear, there was nothing to fear!

“Little brother, you need to calm down. That’s an eight-star paladin you’re facing. Even with those accessories, you’re still just a seven-star. At least summon Wyrm!”

Wyrm? Never! How am I supposed to feel the raw sensation of blade rending flesh if I wear that?!

“You know Ancarin and Regine are…”

Die!

Shadow Demon!

Even without my conscious direction, my black shade of a shadow demon extended itself like a whip, swiping at the troops before me.

From a mere ten meters away, I could clearly see the firm resolve in their eyes in the face of death. These were all elite soldiers. Even when faced against an impossible opponent like me, none of them wavered.

What of it? I don’t care who you are, or where you come from, but the moment you touched my demonesses, you deserved death!

My shadow demon had combined with the epic-grade Shadowfang, thus even this simple swipe was sharp beyond belief. In one fell swoop, dozens of them were slain.

“Sacred Slash!”

That golden-armored battalion leader brought down his massive greatsword clad in the holiest of auras upon my shadow demon, splitting it apart easily.

Blast. That meddling old man… My shadow demon could have netted me at least another dozen kills if he didn’t stop it.

“Bring out the inferno lion, quick! That bearded old man is no pushover, there’s a chance you might lose!”

I paid her no heed once more. Both wings extended, I took to the skies.

At the same time as I ascended, countless purple feathers of mana fell off my wings.

Each of these feathers had the power to kill a two-star. With so many of them raining down at once, there was a very real chance that half of their forces would be wiped out in one move.

“Distant Spell: Ice Shield!”

In tandem with my feather attack, that seven-star mage, whom I could now spot amongst a heavy contingent of soldiers, cast a defense spell. Distant Spell was essentially a metamagic, turning a basic spell into a much larger version of itself.

In the time it took to blink, a gargantuan white shield of ice crackled to life, covering the heads of hundreds of soldiers.

Feather after feather stabbed into the meter-thick shield of ice, perforating it with ghastly potholes. However, not a single feather was able to penetrate the shield. And with how spread out the damage was, there was no way any amount would do so.

In that case… Feathers — Coalesce!

With a mere thought, I called forth hundreds of feathers once more. However, they did not fall right away. Instead, they swiftly gathered in one spot, forming into an ornate-looking drill before falling.

The combined attack began rotating at a blinding pace, crashing into the meter-thick ice with an ear-splitting screech, easily penetrating it like a hot knife through butter once contact was firmly made.

Having drilled a massive hole in the shield, they promptly split up, seeking out targets like nimble swallows of death.

“Ahhh…”

Screams of agony filled the air, signaling that my feathers had worked as intended.

With a massive hole in its dome, the ice shield didn’t take long to crumble, especially since the feathers managed to seek out the offending mage, wounding that mage and causing a mana backlash.

“Consciousness Impartment! Not bad. You’re learning, little brother.”

However, her praise fell upon deaf ears, as I sensed that I had only half of mana pool left.