Chapter Ninety-One: The Final Assault on the Starborn Young Fox

Winigo raised his round shield over his head, gave a low growl, pushed open the door, and strode outside.

“An irrational monster of evil... cleansing begins!” Winigo snorted.

Captain Justice’s phantom ability was the power of his shield to rebound attacks. Though this power was limited to the shield in his hand, within it lay the embryo of a law-like principle, and its priority was exceedingly high.

In other words, barring a domain’s force or divine power, there was no attack it could not bounce back!

“One stage of enhancement... strength up. Two stages... speed up,” Winigo murmured.

“Three stages! Weapon enhancement!”

This was Winigo’s hidden card. By the time he returned from the Wyvern Desert, he had already broken through to level thirty-five. After all, the feats he had amassed in single combat—the slaying of Thunder Lizards, the gene-enhanced half-giants—had granted far more experience than the weaker foes he had faced before.

“My whetstone...” Winigo laughed heartily as he looked at the monsters before him. “Come on, then. Step up to me obediently.”

Captain Justice, the bearing of a knight. No matter how formidable the enemy, no matter how many, I will charge forward to protect the comrades behind me.

Not fearing. Not retreating. Not defeated.

The foremost minotaur was already upon him, raising its great cast-iron axe high before bringing it down with savage force.

Crash! With a thunderous clang, Winigo did not fall back but surged forward instead, driving in with a star-breaking assault.

Enhanced strength, enhanced speed, enhanced weaponry! The minotaur’s arms went numb from the shield’s recoil, and then the fierce collision that came straight on drove it off balance; it rolled all the way down the slope.

Standing high above, Winigo gazed grandly at the seemingly endless horde of monsters before him, baring a row of icy white teeth in silence.

“Come at me, all of you, evil.”

With a sweep of the round shield, his enhanced strength granted Captain Justice, already tall and powerful, a fearsome force not inferior to the Minotaur Chief itself, and against these hunters he held the upper hand.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Three consecutive blows sent the three charging minotaurs, together with their axes, crashing back. Winigo narrowed his eyes and suddenly hurled the round shield in his hand.

Silver Frenzy Slash!

The instant the shield flew from his hand, Winigo lunged after it. He clamped both hands around the great axe cleaving toward him, matched brute force with brute force, then with a sudden twist of his arms and a slide of his foot, he appeared at the minotaur’s side. Lifting both arms, he whipped the entire creature up and threw it hard down the slope.

The shield returned to his hand. Winigo caught it, raised it before him, and once again blocked the great axes swinging at him from the minotaurs.

With a shield in hand, he feared nothing.

The minotaurs were shaken by the rebound of their own strength, their arms trembling, but they did not understand that it was because of Winigo’s shield. These creatures, utterly without reason, would only fling themselves forward again, wielding even greater force and hacking at their enemy with even more frenzy.

“Not retreating!” Winigo roared, driving the round shield forward against the pressure that had forced him back step by step. Three powers exploded at once, and Winigo’s arms felt as though they might snap.

But he succeeded. The enormous recoil threw the three minotaurs off balance and sent them reeling backward. Winigo naturally would not miss such a chance. He strode forward, swung his arm with savage force, and the round shield, trailing silver brilliance, cut sideways like a great axe, ripping long wounds across the three monsters’ chests.

The three creatures roared together, raising their axes high, yet they no longer had the chance to bring them down. Two powerful gusts of air burst from beneath Winigo’s feet, driving him forward in a violent rush. Riding that momentum, Winigo swung his shield again, striking once more at the same wound.

This time, it was enough to sever the minotaurs’ innards completely. One strike. Fatal.

Ultimate Star Charge!

Winigo roared and unleashed a fierce impact, carving a bloody path through the monster horde. As he drew up, several demons sprang from the darkness, slashing toward him with sharp claws.

These “demons” were the cloned soldiers of the Kreggan race. The Kreggans were called World Destroyers precisely because of these gene-forged monsters, which could be mass-produced in an instant and possessed remarkable survival ability.

“Ignorant evil...” Winigo gave a faint snort, crouched slightly, and when the monsters pounced above him, he sprang upward all at once.

Stars and Stripes!

Like a rocket, Winigo and his shield blasted upward. The demons, though they had crocodile-like scales, solid muscles, and the ability to spew fire, were still sent flying hard by Winigo’s full-force collision.

Phantom ability—attack rebound.

The moment Winigo landed, he rushed to the nearest demon and smashed the round shield into its face, once, twice, three times... Until that ugly head was beaten into a rotten eggplant of pulp did Winigo finally let the poor monster go and rise to his feet.

Demons had tremendous vitality, and Winigo never dared to underestimate such creatures—even when their reckless attacks were hurled back by attack rebound and Stars and Stripes, he did not let his guard down.

He cast a cold look at the handful of monsters remaining, then suddenly curved his lips.

“Now this is less boring. Though you’re a little late...”

The monster horde seemed to stir, and from among the minotaur hunters stepped forth an especially huge minotaur.

The Minotaur Chief!

“Human, how dare you run wild in Kregos!” the chief bellowed.

“You can talk?” Winigo curled his lip slightly. “You’re the ones who attacked me first.”

“Humans are food for minotaurs!”

“Then there’s nothing more to say.” Winigo snorted and lifted his round shield.

The minotaur raised its battle-axe and roared. Winigo narrowed his eyes; he saw clearly that this chief-ranked monster wore finely crafted chain mail made of steel, and the battle-axe in its hand was certainly a masterpiece.

Custom-made.

“You’re no ordinary minotaur, are you? Intelligent, rational, and equipped with rather excellent gear.” Winigo snorted. “Dare to give me your name?”

“Name?” The monster’s comprehension lagged a moment before it guessed Winigo’s meaning, then it boomed proudly, “I am Grims Bloodaxe, chief of the great Minotaur Hunter tribe!”

“Ultimate Justice, Captain Justice.” Winigo nodded slightly, expressing his respect like a warrior.

A powerful monster, a minotaur chief whose presence could make even mighty warriors feel fear.

It had a more common name: the Bull King. Purely in terms of physical killing power, it was a mighty creature that dared stand alongside dragons, a berserk warrior, a flesh-and-blood tank.

Around Grims, even the other minotaur hunters did not dare draw near. For that raging battle-axe had never distinguished between foe and ally; it would mercilessly tear apart anything living that approached.

In a bloody ruin, no less.

Winigo did not move first. He was observing his opponent, using the Eye of Insight that saw through all things. At the same time, he was also observing himself through the Mirror of Self-knowledge.

He could feel that after infusing divine power, Captain Justice seemed to have undergone some sort of change, and after using it several times, that change had become ever more obvious.

It felt as though something had merged into his body.

Silver Frenzy Slash!

No longer thinking further, Winigo did not wait for Grims to move. He tossed the round shield out first.

The round shield was cleaved away by Grims’s axe and spun back into Winigo’s hand. Catching it, Winigo immediately rushed toward Grims.

Strike after the enemy? Sorry, the berserk minotaur did not understand that phrase. As for Winigo, he had long since settled on the strategy for this battle.

A frontal assault!

His opponent was strong; there was no doubt of that. Winigo understood that with Grims’s strength and battle instincts, he could utterly crush skill with brute force and bring most technique-dependent warriors to tears. So he made the unexpected choice of a direct charge.

His hidden card was Captain Justice’s phantom ability.

A shield that rebounded every attack, a terrifying power akin to a domain.

Clang...

Amid the shockingly loud crash of metal, Winigo spat blood and was blasted backward hard, while Grims did not fare well either; driven by the rebound of its own immense force and the impact of Captain Justice’s charge, it too was forced back a great step to absorb the shock.

Winigo landed, rolled to bleed off the force, then rose and sent out a Silver Frenzy Slash. Grims had only just steadied itself when another blow struck its massive head. Startled and enraged, it bellowed furiously.

Winigo caught the round shield and charged again.

Clang... Winigo retreated once more, and the Bull King Grims likewise took a step back. This time, Grims had not yet fully gathered its strength, and Winigo was forced back only three steps.

So Winigo promptly and gratefully returned Grims a Silver Frenzy Slash, once again striking the nose ring.

Amid Grims’s howls, Winigo launched his third charge.

With Captain Justice enhanced to three stages, and with the shield’s reflective phantom ability, Winigo had a very clear assessment of his own strength.

“It can be done... Ultimate Star Charge! Charge for me!”

Ultimate Star Charge!

Truly worthy of Captain Justice infused with divine power, the fully unleashed Ultimate Star Charge gathered the air around him as he ran, forming a silver-white burst of compressed air like a sonic blast, detonating toward Grims.

For an instant, Grims, the Minotaur Chief who knew no fear and was always brimming with morale, actually felt a trace of terror.

The savagery in its blood quickly overcame that fear, driving it to swing the great axe in its hand.

One cut!

Grims had never known to give its signature move a name. It only knew how to swing so as to kill its opponent utterly, to sever its enemy’s body and soul together!

Boom!

This time, it was no longer the clang of metal, but a true explosion.