As I gained this mysterious power surging inside me, I took my chance and tried to attack Borris again while he was stunned for a few seconds.
My punch struck stronger, and despite his massive size, he was thrown out—smashing and crushing through the field. Dust and debris scattered across the ground.
Then he stood up again, absorbing all the damage into his own mana, gaining another surge of power. The more mana he absorbed, the bigger his size grew.
But not only his size—increasing also was his power, strength, speed, and magic. This battle was no longer about physical prowess, it was about endurance. If I lost my temporary power here before defeating him, then I surely would die.
"Kid, it seems I underestimated you," he spoke as his body continued to grow.
I didn't reply. Instead, I attacked him again. He intentionally took the damage to absorb it and then struck me back with triple the force.
But with the speed I had, I dodged it easily, then attacked again—far stronger. Yet once more he absorbed it and countered. Again I dodged, and the cycle continued. Every single time I hit him, he just grew bigger and bigger.
"Fuck this… he's still getting bigger and bigger. Now he's a towering mountain in front of me," I whispered, as I took a few seconds to regain my breathing.
"I need to finish this."
Then, he attacked again. Although I escaped, he still destroyed everything in his path. His size now almost filled the whole chamber. It felt like a battle between the size of a mouse against an elephant, yet his speed and strength didn't decrease—rather, they increased.
I was losing hope. I didn't know any more possibilities to defeat this guy. The more damage I dealt, the bigger and stronger he became.
This time, he attacked continuously, more powerful than before. I had to dodge every strike, because one hit could finish me instantly.
But then—one single mistake.
As he attacked me, I saw debris falling from the ceiling, heading straight for the unconscious kid, Aileen. Even though I had placed her somewhere safe, the battlefield had expanded as Borris's attacks grew wider.
I rushed to help her, but the enemy caught me off guard. Just as I smashed the falling debris that was about to hit Aileen, he seized the chance and punched me mercilessly, sending me crashing across the chamber. But he didn't stop there—he followed up with a magical blast from his mouth. A gigantic energy ball formed in his jaws, firing right in front of me.
Dodging wasn't a solution, so I shielded myself with magical mana, hoping I could survive the fatal explosion.
Luckily, I did.
However, it left me stunned for a moment.
Then he tried another one, but this time he charged it for a few more seconds before firing. With that brief opportunity, I also formed an Explosive Void. Instead of dodging or shielding, I decided to challenge it.
"Let's get this over with, you fucking monster!" I shouted before unleashing my magic.
As my attack collided with his, it destroyed everything in its path. But with his overwhelming force, my attack was being pushed back.
I wasn't thinking anymore—this showdown would decide who survived. So with all my might, with everything I had, I fought.
The memories I had in this world since I was born—the family I cherished, the friends I made, all the things I swore to protect with my life.
The time I had here—the joy, the sorrow, the pain, the laughter, the hope I built. Everything that kept me moving forward.
"I WILL NOT GIVE UP!" I shouted, pouring everything into this one final strike.
"AAaaahhhhh!!" While Borris roared in mirror.
Both of us unleashed our most powerful strikes.
And then, bit by bit, my attack pushed his back—until it hit him. The blast was so powerful the whole dungeon shook, the ground vibrating like an earthquake, dust clouding the air, debris falling like rain.
But I didn't stop.
On the other hand, Borris, so confident that he could take all the damage anyway, stopped his counterattack and instead tried to absorb it.
But it didn't matter to me anymore—I continued pouring out my energy blast to the very limit.
"YES! There you go, kid! Give me all your power!!" he shouted.
But then…
Suddenly, he stopped growing. He stopped absorbing.
"What the hell happened?" he muttered, confused.
Still, I didn't stop the blast. I continued it. Then I realized—back in my previous life on Earth, just like a battery, there's always a limit to how much electricity can be absorbed. Give it too much, and it will explode.
By following that basic principle, I kept going.
Little by little, I noticed his body. Cracks—like marks on stone before it shatters—were spreading across his form.
His body could no longer absorb. He was about to explode from having too much mana and energy.
"What's this?" he asked, confused.
"What is happening? YOU—WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME?" He was panicking now.
"You gave me too much power!"
His body began to collapse.
"You fucking shit!" he shouted desperately, but the cracks didn't stop.
"Stop thissss! Ahhhgg!" he tried to run, but due to his massive body, he struggled.
"Aahhhgghh fuck youu!!" Those were the last words I heard from him before I realized…
He exploded—so powerful that I was certain neither I nor Aileen would survive.
// 40 Minutes Earlier //
Lt. Zack's POV
As we arrived at the scene where the children had just been saved from abduction, I immediately helped those who were injured. Then, I saw Geralt and Nathan on the other side.
When I approached them, Nathan suddenly rushed into the forest.
"What happened?" I asked Geralt, who seemed to be giving instructions to the kid.
"I asked him to follow the mana traces of the gang that escaped," he replied calmly.
"You let him go alone?" I asked again, this time in confusion. Maybe he was starting to let Nathan experience real-life combat.
"Don't worry. I still have my eyes on him," he answered.
A few minutes later, as I was assisting the medical team, I saw Geralt again. He was signaling me — his call signals.
So I followed him deep into the forest. "Where are we going?" I asked.
"I sense a powerful mana from Nathan's location," he replied, but now his eyes were serious.
"Did something bad happen?"
"No… at least not yet. This surging mana isn't from Nathan. It's coming from someone else — someone far more powerful than Nathan could handle," he said.
Then we arrived in front of a cave entrance.
Suddenly, I felt chills all over my body. My blood ran cold, and my heart started beating fast. I was experiencing fear.
"What the fuck is this mana power?!" I muttered as the power surged from below the cave. Something terrifying was inside that place.
"Don't tell me… Nathan is inside?" I had to confirm it. "This mana level… without a doubt, it's Gamma Level — something beyond what any Night Watch can handle. This energy definitely doesn't belong to Nathan."
"This is bad, Lieutenant! Please step back a little," Geralt commanded.
In a split second, for the first time, I saw what Geralt was truly capable of.
He created a gigantic dome made of magical ice — a dome so vast it covered the entire mountain. It was so huge I couldn't even see what was inside, and even the sky seemed to bend above it.
'How is this guy doing this?' I whispered, both amazed and terrified at what a single man could accomplish in an instant.
So this is the power of the man they call The Lone Wolf — and he was doing it without even entering Spirit Dive mode.
"Here it goes," he muttered, then shielded both of us with his icy magic. "Brace for impact, Lieutenant!"
He shouted as if something was about to happen.
Then I felt an earthquake — no, this wasn't an earthquake. The ground began to shake violently, and a powerful mana explosion erupted beneath us.
"What the hell is going on?" I shouted.
But the shaking didn't stop — until…
The entire mountain exploded within the massive ice dome created by Geralt.
An extremely powerful shockwave spread out, shaking the entire forest. Even with the ice dome containing the explosion, the ground trembled, winds howled into the skies, birds fled in panic — it was chaos.
Yet, despite all that, the icy dome didn't even crack. Instead, it held firm, keeping the explosion contained and protecting us all. Logically, without Geralt's barrier, approximately 4,224 hectares would've been reduced to ashes.
A few minutes later, the shaking finally stopped.
The ice dome, which had contained the massive explosion, began to shatter piece by piece, creating a radiant display of rainbow-like crystals in the sky. Cold air covered the entire forest as glittering flakes of ice rained down. It was so beautiful that, for a moment, I forgot about the destruction that had just occurred.
What the hell just happened? Then it hit me — Nathan was inside that cave, now turned into a burning crater.
"Nathan!" I screamed.
"Worry not, Lieutenant," a voice said from the shadows.
A man in a black coat emerged, carrying the unconscious Nathan and Aileen — the missing niece of our beloved King.
"Who are you?" I asked, relieved to see Nathan alive.
"He's my 'eye,'" Geralt replied.
The man laid the two down gently, then disappeared back into the shadows.
I dropped to the ground, exhausted, whispering to myself,
"What just happened…"