He threw out a very far pulse of his perception skill and sensed a large group of monsters congregating outside the fort. He started to understand why he had initially sensed so many monsters when he had been flying over the forest.

Perhaps the prior floor was meant for him to fight these monsters on his way to the fort. He laughed, luckily for him, he had taken a shortcut and got here without having to deal with so many monsters.

It was likely just a part of the rift, but he was quickly taken back to the gates, where he was assigned a place to fight against these monsters. He had talked with the captain some more and he was given a choice about where he wanted to fight. He could have either gone up to the ramparts and used long-range attacks. He also could have chosen to support the other warriors. Instead, he chose to be placed in the most hectic and dangerous area. The very front.

However, after the conversation with the captain, everything seemed much more… artificial. The actions around him were practiced and it was like everything happening around him was for the sole purpose of him fighting these approaching monsters. Which in a way, was exactly what was occurring.

He wasn't going to complain, though. He had a feeling that this floor would be interesting at the very least, and for the first time since he entered the rift, he pushed away his training program. While he had already regained many of his resources thanks to the break after the fifth floor and his shortcut through the sixth, he still recognized the need to save his mana and stamina. Sometimes, taking things seriously was fun too.

Plus, he had a feeling that this wouldn't be the only floor where he would have to face a large number of monsters.

He looked beside him at the other people grouped together. Like the captain and the guards he had met before, these people acted like regular humans. The fear and anxiety coming from their auras felt real.

It was quite impressive that a rift could generate something this complex and realistic. Not to mention that this was only a Tier 3 rift. He couldn't imagine what it would have been like if it were a Tier 4 or Tier 5 rift.

He was rudely awakened from his daydreaming when he heard the signal for them to move out. Many of the people beside didn't take a step forward, and he couldn't blame them either. Their group was one of the few who were supposed to fight outside the fort's gates.

They were the ones who were supposed to defend the bridge for as long as possible, only giving it up when it wasn't feasible anymore. With that being said, it was the most dangerous area to be in, especially when the rest of the fighters were on top of the wall, throwing bolts of mana at the incoming monsters.

However, for Julius, this was the perfect situation. The condition was to protect the fort, and he felt like he could do a better job down here than up there. While he had some impressive long-range attacks, he would likely run out of mana before he could take care of all of the monsters.

He would be more efficient down here. Kinetic energy was still his most cost-efficient affinity. Also, his healing skill was decently efficient when he was being mindful. The addition of Drasil helped matters, too. If things got bad, he could always rely on the gluttonous life spirit, who had gained quite a large capacity of mana with the consumption of the treasure.

After all of this time, it is only fair that Drasil finally pulls his own weight, he thought to himself with a smirk.

He felt a thump in his soul suddenly and looked inside to see a pouting Drasil who must have overheard his thoughts. He ignored the adorable pouting spirit though and focused back on the approaching horde of monsters.

The commander yelled at the people to start moving when he saw they were hesitating and it was only then that they slowly made their way down to the edge of the bridge.

Some men were shaking so badly that their metal armor was making a lot of noise. Julius was one of the very few who weren't wearing any armor whatsoever. However, he was the only person who didn't have a weapon of his own.

Everyone else had some kind of bladed weapon or in some rare cases, warhammers. However, nobody mentioned it to him. As a matter of fact, nobody even acknowledged him at all, it was almost as if he didn't exist in their eyes. It was a weird realization.

However, he didn't pay that much mind. He could only hope that the monsters didn't treat him that rudely.

Fortunately, he was going to find out pretty soon.

***

The monsters came out of the trees in a much more orderly fashion than he expected. It was like watching an army of monsters come out. There were many various kinds of monsters, a lot of whom were ones he had sensed while flying past them.

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He took note of several stronger-looking monsters, though. These ones were above the rest and were on a similar level to the Ironblood Boar. Some of them appeared to be even stronger than the boar.

However, the most notable enemies were the group of monsters hanging in the back of the horde. There were five of them who were clearly of the same race. They had humanoid features, but were much taller and brutal-looking. Each one had large, vicious horns adorning the crown of their head. They also had dark grey skin and blood red eyes.

"Demons," he heard some of the men mutter while taking a step back in fear.

So this is what demons looked like? He thought to himself with a curious tilt of his head as he inspected these so-called demons. He had read up on them, but there wasn't much information he was able to find. He probably could if he tried harder, but at the time, he was more interested in other things.

However, he knew that every individual from the demon was strong. They didn't have to work their way up the tiers like humans did. They naturally grew to Tier 3 without any effort whatsoever and normally ended up around Tier 4 when they matured. A lot of them advanced to Tier 5 if they worked on it, something that most humans would be lucky to see a glimpse of.

These ones in front of him had to be young because they were still Tier 3. However, he could tell that they were bordering on the edge of Tier 3. Even from where he was standing, he was able to feel the powerful ripples coming from their Emblems. They didn't bother to hide their auras or strength. They proudly displayed them like badges of honor, using them as tools of intimidation.

This arrogant display of pride only made Julius's heart pound with excitement and before he could realize what he was doing, he unwrapped some of his aura and let it seep outward. He ensured that it didn't hurt any of the men around him, but he threw it out in an uncharacteristic boisterous manner.

The men all around him froze in terror as his ruinous aura washed over them. And although it wasn't hurting them, they were able to feel the tyrannical and oppressive nature of his aura. They had no idea where it was coming from, and most assumed a monster had already made it within their ranks. He said this because he saw several of the braver warriors take out their weapons to look for the source.

He didn't pay them any heed, though. His eyes were focused on the demons who had sensed this loud provocation. Their red eyes landed on his form and examined him with intrigued gazes. While they did this, Julius smiled challengingly.

He saw one of the demons grin similarly at Julius and turn to one of its subordinates, giving it a command.

Suddenly, as if a dam broke, the monsters all broke formation and charged at the bridge. The entire time, the demon maintained eye contact with Julius wearing the same grin.

Julius giggled like a madman, not needing any invitation, he blasted himself upward and landed in front of the warriors who were bearing shields. Then without waiting for them he dashed toward the enemies without anyone to back him up.

While he did so, he manipulated two very long plates of mana and placed one on each side of him. He made sure to narrow them inward so that the monsters approaching him couldn't get past and were forced to face him.

The condition was to defend the fort, and he believed the best way to do so was to take care of the threat before it could even touch the gates. They did say that the best defense was a stronger offense.

He took this idea to extreme lengths and empowered his body with all of the mana and aura possible. All of the improvements he had made during these past several floors came to the forefront. His kinetic energy was no longer lagging as far behind as it used to. His body was being enforced with it to impressive degrees.

He also deployed a weaker version of his kinetic restriction technique. He didn't want to waste his willpower on immobilizing each monster, which would tire him out in a matter of minutes. He didn't need to do that. It was easier just to kill them without relying on such complicated methods. However, he still used his kinetic restriction technique as a template for using his newly acquired Sharpness Concept.

He even compressed small shards of mana inside this area as well, infusing them with Pure Severance and spinning them with kinetic energy. It was like a hailstorm of sharp razors. Now all he needed to do was wait for the monsters to reach him.

He grinned widely when he saw the results. The moment the monsters ran inside this area, their flesh started to get shredded. They didn't have any Concepts to protect them from the upgraded Sharpness Concept.

The monsters with weak defenses were crippled by the time they reached him. Only the ones who were a bit more sturdy were able to reach him, but that didn't matter. The second they came within distance, he used kinetic energy to boost his movement and slammed his fist into their skulls.

They were dead before their bodies hit the floor. He took care of over a dozen of them within mere seconds, the carnage was enough that the monsters froze in panic.

There was a moment when there wasn't a single sound on the field. All he could hear was the blood dripping from his knuckles onto the stone bricks.

He kept up his field of sharpness this entire time. The technique was surprisingly efficient to use. He was able to reuse almost all of the mana he used to create the shards, and it wasn't too difficult to keep them charged with Pure Severance. As a matter of fact, the shards almost felt like they wanted the Concept and drew it into themselves all on their own.

When the monsters still didn't make a move, he looked over at the demons and with his own eyes pulsing red, gave one more challenging blast of aura. He was daring them to continue.

To his delight, they accepted his challenge and barked out another command. He nodded excitedly as the horde resumed its attack.

This time, he lost himself in the bloodlust and started to rip apart monsters with a calm, viciousness that was only accentuated by his ruinous aura.