I was close enough to get splattered by her blood. My tears were streaming down my face, and I could barely see.

Whatever. I knew exactly where I was going.

My face overflowing with rage and blood, I continued my course. He dropped Anastacia’s corpse on the ground nonchalantly. I barely noticed her falling, my fury clouding my judgment.

The only thing occupying my mind was that I wanted to bury the nose of this bastard in his fucking brain.

I closed my fist tightly, pulled it back as far as I could, and, finally, I shifted all of my weight forward, sending my fist into his despicable face. With all these physical buffs stacked on me, I would surely accomplish my current objective of burying his nose into his fucking brain.

The humanoid figure lifted its arm and intercepted my fist in its palm, stopping me almost instantly. My strength deserted me, and my knees yielded. I stumbled toward him, and he used this opportunity to hit me with a powerful knee kick on the rib cage. I was sent flying, ending my debacle on the remains of the door I had previously destroyed.

I choked and coughed out some blood. I think that was the first time I saw my own blood in such a large quantity. It was red, just like anyone else. I was a mere mortal, after all.

Miraculously, I managed to get up, although I was faltering a bit left and right. The demons that were only spectating until then pounced at me all at once.

This reality was more than I could handle, and, as a matter of fact, the easiest way to deal with a twisted reality is to deny it. To isolate my broken self from this nightmare surrounding me, I gave myself to madness.

“Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Dieeee!!!!!!”

From my palm spawned not a spell but a ray of raw mana. The mutants that touched it vaporized, the wooden pillars and furniture ignited, incapable of withstanding such energy. The man to whom I was directing that hate didn’t falter. As the mana touched him, it dispersed.

The others in the room were not so lucky. The mutants were blasted into oblivion, their body disintegrating and leaving behind only a remnant of themselves in the form of stench from a burning corpse.

My bloodshot eyes were tunneling onto one individual.

My mind had been taken over by murderous intent and had lost all sense of rationality. I turned into a beast, following my most primal instincts while paradoxically ignoring every danger to my person.

My hands were boiling with mana, ready to rip and tear whatever got in my path.

Every single mutant in the room was dead, leaving me, the bastard, the prince, and the princess. These two were hidden in a corner of the room, desperately trying to protect themselves from my wrath. I must have subconsciously spared them, somehow.

When I shot that mana ray, the prince dropped to the ground, dragging his sister with him, and covering her with his arms. I must have looked scary.

That man, however, looked scarier.

As he pulled off his hood, he revealed his face. He was not Anastacia’s father, as expected. Still, I recognized his face from somewhere.

His beard was stained in blood, most likely Ana’s blood, and his smile was wider than it was a moment ago.

The fucker was enjoying himself.

“Oh, how long have I waited for this faithful day! My dear Lynch... For the sake of the world, I kindly ask you to die. Nothing personal, mate”

“You fucking lunatic! How exactly are you going to save the world by slaughtering its inhabitants?!”

“Oh, not this one. I am going to destroy your world to save mine. Simple, isn't it?”

Simple, indeed. Under different circumstances, we could have talked things out and found an agreement. We had a common goal, after all. Both of us wanted to save our world, and surely there must have been a way to save both.

But this bastard slit my wife's throat with a smile on his face.

The sin he committed was unforgivable. And so, I would not forgive him. Simple, isn't it?

His purpose might have been noble. Maybe his acts were for the greater good. Maybe by killing him I would do more evil than good. But I did not care. The only way for him to atone was to die.

That said, it was obvious this guy was a sadistic piece of shit. This, in and of itself, was self-explanatory. Surely, killing him was the right choice.

However, these rational thoughts never even crossed my mind. I was fuming with anger, rage, and hate. At the world. At him. At myself.

I had to vent this anger on someone. As it happens, I had the perfect target in sight.

I didn't even notice that my strengthening buffs were down. Indeed, they deactivated when the bastard stopped me earlier.

With the strength of an average man, I charged at the colossus wielding the might of a titan. Unsurprisingly, his fist met my jaw, and I was sent flying once again.

All four limbs spread out; I contemplated the ceiling absently. I was knocked out.

"Are you simply going to charge at me like a wild beast? This body of mine is itching for a fight, and it doesn't look like you're taking this seriously enough."

He was right. I couldn't win if I just kept ramming him mindlessly.

As my dizziness faded, I reassessed my situation. My objective was still clearly spelled out in my mind. I wanted to bury his nose into his fucking brain. In other words, I wanted to kill him.

To do so, I had to calm down and clear my mind of this anger blinding me to clear the path to my objective.

**My magic is ineffective against this opponent. Why?**

I had to rewind to the beginning of this encounter.

My first three soul arrows launched at his wrists and his neck. The arrows dissipated as they touched his clothes. My fourth one tried to reach his face. Before the impact, he twisted his neck, and the arrow collided with his hood.

I had my answer. He himself was not resistant to my magic. His clothes were. Otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered dodging my fourth shot.

With a rapid glance at the red-bearded giant, I observed that he was covered from head to toe in leather armor. He had thick leather gloves and a thick leather hood as well. The hood itself had no flexibility whatsoever and looked really inconvenient.

In the dense mana zones, species adapted to the oppressing mana pressure and developed mana-resistant skins. If you tanned the hide of such an animal, what would be the result? Would the hide keep its mana-resistant properties?

Two days earlier, the king and I talked about Old Man Flint, the hermit blacksmith living in the northern dense mana zone. At the time, we suspected him of equipping the enemy forces with steel armor.

**Could Flint be responsible for crafting this leather armor? Perhaps, but leatherworking isn't his specialty. Actually, his specialty is runic blacksmithing, if I remember correctly.**

By adding magical runes to an existing item, it was possible to grant it special effects.

**Perhaps, by combining runes with mana-resistant leather, one could obtain such an armor.**

A light leather armor, providing decent ease of movement and, most importantly, granting complete magical immunity.

**Sounds like trouble.**

Furthermore, it most likely used these anti-mana properties to undo the seal on the emergency exit. To think my unbreakable seal had such an obvious weakness...

**Still, it doesn't explain how he found the hidden entrance in Humfrey's barn...**

And there was more. The bearded man wearing this armor was experienced in hand-to-hand combat, and his strength was far too great for a mere human. He must have been using magical buffs to boost his physical strength.

**That's not fair. He shouldn't be able to use magic while being covered in this anti-mana armor.**

He obviously couldn't cast any of the classic spells like Conflagration because mana would need to leave his body to activate, and his body was completely isolated. Furthermore, if he used the classic self-buffs, like God Fist or Iron Resolve, they would disperse immediately, just like when I tried to punch him the first time. Instantly, my buffs had been dispelled, and I lost my strength.

Indeed, these buffs put a layer of mana over the skin, the muscles, and other key locations. When this layer touches the anti-mana armor, it deactivates the entire spell.

**He must be using another kind of magic, then. One that doesn't need contact with his outer skin... Contact? If direct contact with the mana is needed to deactivate the spell... A few ideas come to mind.**

I made eye contact with the prince, Léopold.

"Let's do this!"