“Lala~ Lalala~”

Licorice remarked, “Dear Husband, I think we’re done with the monsters in this area.”

I agreed, “There really aren’t many…Plene, it’s fine now.”

“Ok!”

Plene had been entertaining us and leading the monsters to their deaths, and she immediately stopped singing at my request. I sent out my elementals to shatter the petrified monsters as I looked around the area. Far in the distance, I could see a volcano shooting up into the sky. Bulusan Volcano. As expected, it had grown to the point that it was unrecognizable compared to its original appearance.

Licorice pointed. “Dear Husband, can you feel it? The breath of the fierce beast that’s hiding its presence.”

I nodded. “Of course, now that we’re this close, I can feel it clearly.”

Lotte had been listening to our conversation, and she interrupted with a bit of hesitation evident in her voice, “This might be…”

I turned to face her and asked, “Do you recognize it, Lotte?”

“Hero, did I not explain this earlier?”

“No.” I shook my head.

She replied, “I’ll keep it short and simple. There are no humans in the world I came from. Only existences that humans call monsters lived there. Of the five major countries, there was a country centered around a volcano with its king commanding a powerful army.”

My eyes widened. “And that’s…”

Lotte slowly nodded before continuing, “I didn’t notice their special characteristics from any of the monsters we’ve seen, so I didn’t say anything, but I can feel their auras now that we’ve come this close. Even among us monsters, we wondered how the monsters in the army he commanded were so strong. Today, I have the feeling I’ll find out why…It’s making me rather anxious.”

Plene commented brightly, “Ah, I heard about them too! Larva Immoral Leg, right?”

“It’s Lava Immortal Legion, idiot.” Lotte rolled her eyes.

Plene shrieked indignantly, “I lived on an island so I don’t know these things!”

Now that she mentioned it, Plene had also come from the same world as Lotte. I patted her head to calm her down.

“You’re doing fine, Plene, so don’t worry,” I soothed.

She giggled. “Ehehe…”

Lotte said disdainfully, “This is why idiots are too easy to handle…Anyways, Hero, if the king is really here, even your guild members might not be safe. It’ll be best for only a select few to fight him.”

I pursed my lips. “If we get rid of this king, we only have to deal with four others? That sounds like a deal to me.”

She muttered, “It would be nice if that were the case…”

Lotte still looked uneasy. She was usually very confident, and this was the first time I had seen this side of her. Even I began to worry.

She continued, “Our world lost the world’s power and became connected to Earth… It was certainly the five kings who commanded us to invade. But I always thought that there was someone above them. I don’t know why and I can’t remember who it was, but I know someone was there.”

Licorice interjected, “That’s not too surprising. When there is a huge gap between the leagues of two beings, it’s possible that the being of the lower league can’t recognize the being of the higher league even if they were facing each other directly. Even if the being of the lower league recognized the being of the higher league, he’ll forget once he turns around. These powerful existences can cause mental pressure just by being in someone’s memories. That’s why beings of the lower league forget about them, to protect their minds.”

“This is the first time I’ve heard that,” I replied to Licorice’s explanation with a bitter smile and loosened my body by stretching. This unknown leader was most likely the world’s enemy, but the one I had to worry about currently was the one waiting for us in the volcano.

I shook my head and continued, “We already took care of the other areas. Once we clean up the Bulusan Volcano, we’ll be done with the Philippines.”

Licorice warned, “Be careful, Dear Husband. The dungeon’s power might not work on this guy.”

I smiled. “I have a plan even if that’s the case. Don’t worry; we got this.”

After giving an encouraging talk, I opened the guild communication channel and reported, [We’re done. How about you guys?]

Leon replied, [We’re almost done too!]

Michel soon followed, [Just wait a bit, friend!]

Hwaya grumbled, [Already? Your Evil Eyes are too overpowered. Hold on; we’re finishing up too.]

Daisy said in her usual slow tone, [Almost done. Meki, doing work.]

[We encountered an SSS+ rank giant monster. Kang Yungoong is holding it back. If you’re done, come help us, Kang Shin.] It seemed Walker was having trouble as he gave a serious report. I immediately gave Lotte a glance. She grumbled, and returned to her wyvern form, as Plene, Licorice, and I immediately jumped on her back.

I commanded, “Let’s go take care of the SSS+ rank first.”

[I can feel its aura. I’ll hurry!]

Lotte flapped her wings once, soaring up so quickly that the surrounding scenery seemed to warp. In just two minutes, we saw the monster Walker mentioned.

He wasn’t lying when he said it was giant. It was a sixty foot tall giant that was wreaking havoc with its equally gargantuan sword. I noticed instantly that it had an odd feature: its entire body was made of fire. No, that’s… lava?

The moment Lotte caught sight of the giant, she growled, [It’s as I thought, Hero. It’s him! The king is in the Philippines!]

“That’s the Lava Immortal Legion?” I asked.

She snarled, [To be exact, it’s the Lava Immortal Legion’s Destroyer, a soldier in the forefront of their assaults.]

I raised my eyebrows. “Soldier? Not a commander, but a soldier?”

As if to say yes, Lotte accelerated. She really was ruthless. I immediately took out my Chaotic Spear. Although chaos flame was the strongest attribute I could wield, even the powerful chaos flame had a flaw: it wasn’t that effective against the fire attribute. At least, for now…!

I ordered quickly, “Everyone hold on! Lotte, accelerate!”

[Leave it to me!]

Licorice shrieked, “Oh, this isn’t bad, Dear Husband!”

“Grab onto Lotte, not me!” I belatedly commanded.

The ones fighting the Destroyer soon realized I had come and looked up towards me. Although the Destroyer also found out, the vibration from the spear attack Father shot out caused a chunk of lava to fall off its leg.

[Grrrrrruaaaa!] it roared.

“Ruyue, Sharana!”

[Ok!]

A whirlpool of ice raged above my spear. In just 0.5 seconds, it would reach the enemy. The Chaotic Spear shot through the air while carrying the ice energy strengthened by absorbing the wind Lotte raised. The tip of the spear was glowing a bright white.

“Eat this!” I yelled out.

[Critical Hit!]

The moment Lotte crossed its body, my spear directly struck its shoulder. Lava and ice collided, causing steam to rise. Its shoulder that was coated in burning orange flames froze, melted, then fell off its body. In other words, I had cut off its arm.

[Guaaaaaa!]

Father moaned, “Tsk, I could have defeated it by myself!”

“Be honest and thank me!” I retorted.

Lotte interrupted our bickering, [They absorb flames and regenerate themselves. Make sure you don’t use any flames! Quick, destroy the arm that fell off!]

“Ruyue!” I shouted.

Dozens of ice spears appeared in the air and rained down on the giant’s arm on the ground. In an instant, the arm completely melted away, and the enraged giant roared and swung its giant sword towards me with its remaining arm. Its sword burning with lava instantly elongated at a speed faster than Lotte could react. It was trying to attack me. However…

My father howled, “I said your opponent is me!”

A sharp shockwave shot out from the tip of my father’s spear and struck the giant. Meanwhile, Lotte turned around to face it and charged towards it again. While the giant flinched from my father’s attack, I stabbed my spear into its chest.

[Grrruaaaa!] it howled in pain.

I commanded, “Now, everyone, use ice magic!”

Licorice held Plene and shouted as she flew off from Lotte’s back. The succubi all launched ice spheres into the air, while Licorice created an overwhelmingly bigger chunk of ice.

“Dear Husband, go first!”

“Got it!”

I’ve been waiting! I raised Ruyue’s power to the peak and a freezing energy that seemed to freeze even its creator began to emanate from the Chaotic Spear. The giant roared and held up its giant lava sword, while my father and Walker also charged towards the giant.

“Haaaaap!”

I charged with a spirited shout. The giant’s enormous sword instantly swept over me, but I ignored it and continued forward. Its terrifying heat immediately engulfed me.

[Kugagagaga!]

“Son!” my father shouted.

“Don’t overreact, old man!”

[Kugaga…ga?]

The giant stopped its mad laughter and tilted its head. It was to be expected. After all, it should be able to feel its flames subsiding.

Felixes’ Chaotic Cape fluttered and glowed radiantly. The giant’s flames were certainly above the realm of SSS rank, making it impossible to absorb them. However, it was still possible to nullify them!

I soon popped out of the giant sword and stabbed my spear covered in ice aura in its face. It was a Heroic Strike!

[Critical Hit!]

[Kuaaaaa!]

“Die!” I screamed.

“Die!” my father echoed.

Walker grumbled loudly, “When did this become Revival’s official chant!? Can we not use such an aggressive chant!?”

After the giant roared loudly in pain, the succubi’s ice magic descended.

“For trying to harm Dear Husband, you need to pay for it with your life!” they choroused together.

“Attack! Freeze him!”

[Kuoooooo!]

The earth trembled, and the lava giant kneeled with its upper body frozen. Without hesitation, I shot an aura wave containing a compressed snowstorm and exploded its head.

Having lost the control center, the lava forming the giant’s body fell and scattered. The succubi then shot out ice arrows and thoroughly destroyed the lava. There was no longer any sign that the lava giant had ever existed. After confirming that its presence was gone, I took back the spear I was still aiming towards it.

I let out a breath. “Done.”

[As expected of the Hero…] Lotte murmured in amazement.

“Wow! Amazing, Dear Husband!”

I would have liked the succubi to express themselves like Lotte, but it seemed they were deeply touched as they were all running towards me. I immediately looked for Licorice.

“Licorice, do something about them!” I shouted plaintively.

She squealed with excitement, “Dear Husband is so cool!”

[She’s their leader!] Lotte reminded me.

I wanted to slap myself. “Right, they share their emotions!”

Could there be any other group that’s more tiring than them!? At least they are very effective.

After restraining the succubi, I smacked Licorice’s head and shared the information Lotte told me with Father and Walker. Even my father looked tired after listening to Lotte’s explanation.

“You mean there are a lot more of these guys?” he asked, rubbing his face.

I grimaced. “Yes. The fact that they’re here means that the king’s army has moved. They will start their advance soon.”

Walker looked surprised. “Advance? Invading the enemy’s territory and gathering up an army. It’s a rather human method.”

Lotte was back in her human form as she retorted mockingly at Walker, “Don’t look down on them because they’re monsters.”

I explained, “They’re a race that can use their heads like humans. If you look down on them, you’ll regret it.”

Walker shook his head. “Well, I know that. I’ve met intelligent monsters in the dungeon too.”

I asked Lotte to return to her wyvern form. It was time to meet up with the others.

“We know their identity, so we don’t need to hesitate. We’re going to go defeat this king. All of us.”

“You say that, but I bet you’re going to take the last hit again,” Walker groused.

“How else would I act like a guild master?” I rebutted Walker while he and my father got on Lotte’s back. The succubi also turned into bats and flew up.

I ordered, “Let’s go. We’re meeting up.”

Suddenly, a message came through the guild channel, [Shin, a scary giant monster appeared! Wah, my shadows aren’t working well!]

I paused and then said, “…Let’s go help the others first.”

Just when I was trying to act cool…Ye-Eun, you did this on purpose!