Tch, damn it, they reacted pretty fast. I was finally within sight of the northeast gate of the capital city Dianus, but there was a barricade of Knights up ahead.

I can’t just try to crash into them, that may kill at least a few of them, but I’m just as likely to die myself in the ensuing car wreck.

I’m about a hundred meters away and closing in fast, I need to think of something, and quickly! I can’t swerve away either, all that haphazard driving has made a mess of the car, it can’t turn, the brakes aren’t working and it’s taken quite a battering, going straight is about all it can do now.

How do I get through the gate in one piece? My Magic isn’t strong enough to knock all of them away, and speaking of Magic...incoming!

Initiate Skill: Magic Eater!

The dark smoke in the shape of jaws burst out of the side window and moved up in front of the car, swallowing up the Spells that were honing in on me.

As I moved the manifestation of my Skill aside, I noticed the guns that were pointed this way, right as a bullet struck the windshield, cracks spreading out from the point of impact and obscuring my vision.

Shit, I can’t see, what do I-...suddenly, an idea hit me. If I can’t see them through the cracked windshield, they can’t see me either.

I swiftly used a fire Spell with Distance Casting to blast out flames in front towards them from four meters ahead of the car, before using a Dark Attribute Spell to burst out a dense cloud of black fog. Now!

I then put the car into fifth gear and formed a block of earth on top of the accelerator to push it down fully. Alright, here goes...I activated my Pocket Dimension Skill and let it swallow me up, as I simultaneously burst out flames into the car, just to make sure it explodes.

I found myself in a vast dark space, with no end in sight. But I could still see myself clearly, it was a strange feeling. Oh, and Prysm isn’t here, nor are any of the other stuff I’ve stored in here.

When I store something in my Pocket Dimension, it’s not like everything I put into it necessarily ends up piled up in the same place, I can split the space into countless different sections at will.

And to retrieve something, I just have to think of the object I want and which section I stored it in when I open the Pocket Dimension. With my memory, remembering all the sections and what each one stores is pretty easy. It’s really convenient, and seems to be capable of holding an unlimited number of items.

Huh, wonder if it’s possible to swallow up the entire world into my Pocket Dimension? Doubtful, the portal into it can only expand to a certain level, with a maximum radius of ten meters. Which is pretty big, but you know, nowhere near big enough to put an entire planet through. Too bad this world doesn’t have a level up system.

Okay, that should be enough time, let’s get back out there. I opened the portal leading back out and cautiously peered out, to see a thick cloud of smoke rising up from the gate, which was on fire.

Looks like they weren’t able to stop the car fast enough...from what I can gather, it exploded before it reached the gate, but the sheer momentum, coupled with the force of the explosion, must have launched it forward and crashed onto the Knights. Awesome.

Unfortunately, it looks like that stunt had only killed about half the Knights that had positioned themselves in front of the gate, there were still seven of them alive. Two of them look badly injured, but the rest don’t look like they sustained any real damage.

And it didn’t take them long to spot me...mainly because I used an Elemental Earth Spell to burst out some spikes towards them from the ground. They were about twenty meters away, and since my limit with Distance Casting is only four meters, I had to start the Spell about sixteen meters ahead of them and then extend it towards them from that point.

Which gave them time to react, but I managed to deeply gash one of their legs, eliciting a cry of pain from the Knight as he collapsed onto his knees.

"Who the hell are you!? The Magic Eater Skill, Distance Casting, Spells without incantations, and however the hell you slipped out of the car before it exploded...I’ll ask again, who the hell are you!?" Exclaimed one of them, stepping forward and drawing their sword.

That voice, a woman? The top half of her face is covered with a visor, and she was wearing leather armor instead of metal like most of the other Knights I’ve seen. She was about average height with a slender build, and had long, dark orange hair that went halfway down her back.

"You’d think a Knight would know to introduce themselves before demanding another to do so first. How ill-mannered of you," I smirked tauntingly, as I brought out my Soul Weapon.

"Again without an incantation...I am the acting Knight Commander of Dianus, Aries Velenet! I’ll stop your rampage right here and now, and avenge my fallen comrades! I will not allow you to disrupt our peace anymore!" She declared with a look of determination.

Hm, I gotta say...that really pisses me off.

"Peace, huh? What a sick joke that is," I scoffed in disgust, as the other five Knights stepped forward in front of her.

Ah, looks like a ’if you want to get to her, you’re gonna have to go through us’ kinda deal. Also, she said she’s the acting Knight Commander, didn’t she? Wow, they sure reacted fast to Duralles’ death.

I need to deal with this quickly, it probably won’t be too long before reinforcements show up here. This is gonna be tricky though, I may have more than halved their numbers, but I’m still at a disadvantage here.

I think it’s time to unveil a Spell I came up with a while ago, one that I created to use against Knights. It was something that had been on my mind ever since that last day in my village...if I ever find myself in a situation where I’m surrounded by Knights again, how would I go about killing several of them in one go?

I got an answer to that after I started to learn Distance Casting...but at my current range, I’m gonna have to get a lot closer to pull it off. Fortunately, except for the acting Knight Commander, the others had formed a wall and were all approaching me simultaneously, starting to surround me.

They’re being wary, interesting...I was under the impression that all Knights think so highly of themselves that they throw caution to the wind. It’s that very carelessness that has allowed me to kill some of the Knights I’ve previously encountered.

But these guys are being a lot more cautious. No matter, I’ve still got the element of surprise...they won’t see this coming. Distance Casting is a pretty rare technique for people to master, and on top of that, Elemental Metal Spells are among the most difficult to learn.

So, while they’re still in the dark about my capabilities...I’ll kill them all. They’re within ten meters of me now, and starting to spread out further...little bit closer, little more...now!

Having been standing still while putting on a nervous expression on my face to get them to let their guards down at least a little bit, I suddenly shot forward at top speed.

"Don’t get cocky, you little shit!" Snapped the Knight I shot towards.

Not yet...the other Knights are chasing after me from behind and to the sides, but they’re not close enough yet. Come on, just a little more...a little bit more...almost...NOW!

"Manifest Soul Weapon: Te-...!" One of the Knights began to exclaim.

"Too slow, Elemental Metal: Twist and Crush!" I interrupted him with a smirk.

As I chanted, all of their armors suddenly twisted and compressed violently, their bodies bursting like little packs of ketchup, loud clangs echoing out as they dropped their swords and collapsed onto the ground, blood pouring out onto the ground.

No time to stop or slow down, in fact, time to speed things up! I blasted out jets of flames from my heels to shoot myself forward, the acting Knight Commander’s eyes widening in alarm as I closed in enough to get her within the range of my Distance Casting.

"Now, it’s your turn!" I exclaimed, activating the Spell again...she may not be wearing metal armor, but the visor over her eyes is metal, and that’s all I need to kill her! 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Right as it began to activate, she quickly grabbed her helmet and yanked it off in alarm as it began to compress and twist around her face, a deep cut slicing across the spot above her left eye and across her forehead, before she tossed it away and sprang back several paces.

Oh, damn, that was a hell of a reaction time.

"Impossible...a Metal Spell with Distance Casting is unheard of," She frowned, as blood from her cut trickled down the side of her face and dripped onto the ground off her chin.

"Yeah? Well, then once I kill you, it’ll still be unheard of. Convenient how that works, huh?" I grinned in response...I need to throw her off with my attitude, make her think that I’ve got plenty more tricks up my sleeve.

Alright, I can do this...this is my final obstacle in the escape, all I need to do is get past her, and I’m free...

"I’ll make sure that overconfidence becomes the death of you. I’ll warn you not to underestimate me, boy!" She snapped, before chanting, "Now, Manifest Soul Weapon:...!"

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