The Pikachu, Tress, hovered in midair without responding.

She hung frozen in the air, staring in disbelief at the unrecognizable ruin of her home. Her eyes were filled with fear and bewilderment.

Suddenly, the petite Pikachu’s body shuddered, as if a drowning person had just grasped a piece of driftwood. Her small voice carried a trace of irrepressible excitement.

"Wait! I... I feel her!"

Tress’s voice was hurried and weak.

"It’s the Fairy Queen! Her presence... it’s faint, very faint... but she’s still there! Deep within the woods, near Star Tear Lake!"

"Calm down, Tress."

Roland gently blocked the Pikachu, who was desperate to fly off, with his fingertip. He spoke in a deep voice.

"I understand how you feel, but panicking won’t solve anything, understand?"

"I... I understand, Roland."

Tress sobbed, pleading softly.

"Can... can you help me?"

"Of course..."

Roland gave a slight nod.

Besides, the Pikachu had been a great help on their journey, and the two had gotten along quite well.

His very purpose for this journey was to find the Fairy Queen, hoping to use her Space-Time Spells to escape this perilous place.

By all accounts, both emotional and logical, he had to lend a hand.

Moreover...

Roland’s gaze swept over the sap still slowly flowing from the base of the trees.

He already knew the identity of the demons that had ravaged this region.

Their abilities were a bit tricky, but now that he knew their weakness, defeating them wouldn’t be a problem.

At this thought, Roland softly spoke a few more words to comfort Tress.

The Pikachu nodded forcefully, doing her best to suppress her inner panic.

After pulling herself together, she dimmed her glow and silently flitted between the low-lying, luminous bushes and twisted tree trunks, guiding Roland.

As they cautiously ventured deeper, the surrounding sounds grew clearer and more frequent. A grating sizzle, like potent acid eating away at something, was mixed in.

"Just ahead..."

Tress’s voice was a mere whisper. Her tiny wings vibrated at a high frequency as she landed on Roland’s shoulder, pointing to a forest clearing encircled by giant, withered fungi.

By the dim light cast from a few faintly flickering, phosphorescent fungi, Roland could make out the scene in the clearing.

A battle was underway, but it was far from evenly matched.

On one side were innumerable, wildly thrashing vines.

They were the same vines he had seen earlier, covered in dark purple patches of mildew.

They writhed like dying pythons, erupting from the surrounding ancient trees and corrupted soil to whip, entangle, and pierce with frantic energy.

But attacks of this degree had no effect on their opponents.

It was a swarm of misshapen demons.

They looked like amalgams of foul, dark purple and gray-green ooze, constantly squirming and shifting form.

At times, they would split open to reveal maws lined with sharp teeth; at others, compound eyes shimmering with chaotic light would bulge from their forms, or tentacles covered in barbs and suckers would extend.

A dark purple fluid spread out from beneath them like a tide.

Everywhere it passed, moss and plants instantly dissolved into charred residue, filling the air with a pungent, corrosive stench.

’Void Mayflies...’

Confirming his assessment was correct, Roland showed no sign of tension. He simply raised an eyebrow, recalling his past encounters with this type of demon on his travels.

Like the Slime Toads he had faced before, the Void Mayflies also originated from an Outer Plane, according to Vanessa. They were a type of Chaos Creature.

Their methods of attack were simple. The greatest threats they posed were their astonishing speed, which belied their appearance, and their deadly slime.

The slime was extremely corrosive to anything it touched. The consequences of being sprayed by it were severe.

However, as long as one could avoid the slime, they could be killed effectively by destroying the "eyestalk" structure at their core, which was responsible for perception and command.

As Roland analyzed the situation, the Void Mayflies in the clearing had already gained a decisive advantage.

Tentacles formed of slime easily ensnared the thrashing vines, emitting that same grating, sizzling sound of corrosion.

The dark purple corruption spread swiftly along the vines, causing them to wither and become brittle.

Meanwhile, the maws that split open at their cores greedily devoured the faintly starlit sap that flowed from the vines’ severed ends.

The thrashing of the vines grew weaker, and their range of motion was being steadily compressed.

Deeper in the clearing, through the gaps between the writhing demons and dying vines, Roland caught a glimpse of a small body of water.

As clear as the purest crystal.

On the lake’s shore, a soft, silver glow flickered tenaciously. It was so faint it was almost completely submerged by the chaotic presence radiating from the demons.

"Her Majesty the Fairy Queen! She’s by the lake!"

Tress’s voice was exceptionally urgent.

But Roland’s focus remained unshaken. His gaze, as cold as a blade, swept swiftly across the battlefield.

’Twelve of them. Not too many...’

Roland drew the Mithril Longsword from his waist, his gaze locking onto a slightly larger Void Mayfly, its body crawling with more chaotic eyeballs than the others.

Just as it scanned its surroundings aimlessly, not yet having located their hiding spot...

"Tress, stay hidden!"

After a low shout, Roland moved.

Without a moment’s hesitation, the inconspicuous ring on his left hand flashed with a faint light.

A translucent film instantly spread out before him.

At the same time, a scorching current of air erupted from within him, flowing like awakened magma along specific pathways through his entire body.

The Void Mayflies were incredibly fast.

When Roland had fought them before, he had needed to activate [Fermented Battle Intent] and coordinate with Freddy to kill them.

But things were different now.

A stream of cold, clear Energy, seemingly sourced from the depths of his soul, suddenly flooded Roland’s consciousness before spreading to every corner of his body.

[Mental Self-Formation]

This Spiritual Energy flowed like a glacial river, distinctly separate from the scorching Fighting Spirit driven by his Breathing Technique. Yet, on a deeper level, they synergized perfectly, precisely enhancing his neural responses and muscular coordination.

Unlike [Fermented Battle Intent], which required continuous combat to stack Attributes, the enhancement from this Spiritual Energy was instantaneous. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

In an instant, the world around him seemed to slow down.

The movements of the Void Mayflies, once too swift to track, became clear and discernible to Roland’s Spiritual Energy-sharpened Perception.

’Now!’

Noticing the Void Mayflies were starting to cluster together as they fed on the vines, Roland left a faint Residual Shadow in his place and charged toward a tentacle that was just about to spew slime.

The flash of his sword was like lightning.

In the instant the Void Mayfly’s chaotic eye constricted in shock, Roland’s longsword had already become a deadly silver thread, piercing with unerring accuracy through the fragile, red-glowing eyestalk at its core.

"SKREEE!"

A sharp, ear-piercing wail, as if countless pieces of glass were scraping together, rang out.

The Void Mayfly’s massive body went rigid, then convulsed violently before collapsing and melting away.

Freed from the restraint of a core will, the chaotic matter making up its body rapidly dissolved into a bubbling, foul-smelling pool of sludge.

A one-hit kill.

But this was only the beginning.

Roland’s movements didn’t falter for even a second.

Empowered by [Mental Self-Formation], his Perception spread over the battlefield like a spider’s web. The Power from his Breathing Technique, now perfectly coordinated, was unleashed to its fullest extent.

He sidestepped!

[Shield Skill] flashed, deflecting a stream of slime from a mayfly to his right.

The corrosive liquid flew past the edge of the translucent film.

He lunged forward!

His longsword carved a fiery arc as his Fighting Spirit surged, cleaving a mayfly in two as it tried to wrap around his ankle.

Spinning sweep!

Harnessing the centrifugal force of the spin, the edge of his blade shrieked through the air, severing another mayfly pouncing from behind—along with its gaping maw.

The battle erupted in an instant and was over almost as quickly.

Roland’s figure weaved between the dozen or so Void Mayflies, dodging and striking at high speed.

Every move precisely avoided the trajectory of the slime; every strike of his sword aimed for a vital point.

Be it a fragile eyestalk or a critical node connecting its tentacles.

The extraordinary reflexes and coordination granted by [Mental Self-Formation] allowed him to easily predict the attacks of these demons, which were known for their speed. Meanwhile, the explosive power from his Breathing Technique ensured every blow dealt lethal damage.

Less than half a minute.

With a despairing shriek, the final Void Mayfly’s spray of slime was deftly dodged by Roland. He closed the distance instantly, his longsword striking like a viper into its core, scrambling the mass of writhing, chaotic consciousness within.

All that remained in the clearing were the sizzling remains of slime, rapidly decaying and melting, and the guardian vines, which now drooped limply as if their last ounce of strength was gone, their target eliminated.

The air was thick with a nauseating stench of rot and something scorched.

Roland panted lightly as he deactivated his Breathing Technique.

As the scorching current subsided, the cold stream of Spiritual Energy also receded, leaving behind only the mental fatigue that follows intense concentration.

He glanced down at his ring. The light of the [Shield Skill] had already faded.

"Ro... Roland..."

Tress’s trembling voice sounded from behind him.

Her tiny figure flew over and landed on his shoulder, urgently pointing toward Star Tear Lake.

"The Fairy Queen! Hurry!"