In the distance, 300 or so men ran forward as a unit. They were led by a human male with particularly jagged teeth at the helm. He held a savage expression on his face that made it almost too clear that he wasn't human.

Leonel found this interesting. They're forced to be humans here, huh? But he seems to be morphing back. I wonder what triggers it, and what about me? Am I still considered human in the sense that this Zone would accept? Is that why my Lineage Factors are so suppressed? Or is it something else?"

He made a mental note to check this out more in the future. But right now wasn't the time.

Clearly, there was a method of reverting back to your best state. He just hadn't noticed it yet. But if these people could figure it out, he certainly could.

"LEONEL! COME BACK!" Kammy roared from the other side of the city gates.

"I'll handle this on my own," Leonel said with almost a little bit of a yawn, stretching his body from one side to the other.

Before, he had said that dealing with 300 militiamen would be too troublesome, and that was still true. However, back then, the reason he didn't want to do it was because of the danger he would put Aina in.

But now... the city was under control, and he shouldn't need to worry about Aina's safety.

In that case, he could go all out.

Did he have 100% assurance of winning?

No.

But he would do it anyway because if he didn't put himself to an extreme, he would never grasp what he needed to.

Just as Leonel was about to take a step forward, a howl came from the man with jagged teeth at the helm.

By now, Leonel had already made out his aura. With his memory, he had memorized every single man and woman in the Spear Force holding area.

He knew, then, that this man was actually a Rapax. Considering how rare it was for the Rapax to use weapons, he was either trash or an elite among elites.

Clearly, since he saw Leonel was alone, he wanted to fight alone as well, the pride of a Rapax taking hold.

His head seemed to elongate somewhat when he made this choice, giving him an extremely odd appearance, almost like a human man with a head that was a few shades too long.

Then he appeared before Leonel, his spear thrusting out.

CLANG!

Leonel's wrist flickered, easily parrying the blow to the side and striking out with a palm.

The Rapax was sent stumbling backward, blood flying from his lips.

Leonel looked down at his hand and shook his head. He had actually fractured his wrist on that blow. It was just a hairline fracture, but that didn't stop it from hurting like hell. It would definitely affect his battle.

With a fluid motion, he swapped the brace protecting his right hand to his left, making a mental note to make a second when the time came.

By this point, the Rapax had recovered and realized that Leonel was a strong opponent.

He unleashed another howl and swung down with force.

Leonel shook his head. "Weak"

His spear danced. He took a more conservative stance, realizing that he didn't have the same body he used to have. There was no need to focus on trying to end the battle with style points.

He shifted from stance to stance, the speed of his spear steady, but its blade sharp. Without what seemed like superhuman abilities, the battle was extremely bland to a layman... but the Rapax was sweating bullets. If not for his ability to overwhelm Leonel with strength, he would have already lost his life once, twice.... thrice....

CLANG! CHIIII! PUCHI!

Leonel's spear ripped through his defenses and pierced right through his heart.

With a kick, Leonel sent him flying off his spear tip as he took a step forward.

The army of militiamen was still charging. The battle had had several exchanges, but it had lasted not even half a minute.

Leonel had never come here for the sake of finding one worthy opponent. In the history of existence, after he defeated Old Spear, there was no one at the same level that could match him in spear technique... with or without Spear Force.

What he needed was a pressure that could only come from quantity.

And these men would give him that.

They would be far weaker than the Rapax, but...

Leonel took another step forward, and his aura surged. It was far more muted than it was when he had his full array of abilities, and yet... he still felt like a looming presence in the eyes of those who laid eyes on him.

BANG!

Leonel crossed his spear across his body and roared, his chest expanding as his feet. rooted themselves into the ground.

He clashed with the first line of men and held his ground for a full second before he

was sent flying back.

But that was all he needed.

The delay of the three men he clashed with impacted the row behind them, and then that row impacted the row behind them.

Leonel stabilized his footing, and then his spear snaked forward.

It moved like a shadow through the air, puncturing three throats in quick succession before the line could even begin to recover.

PUCHI! PUCHI! PUCHI!

Blood flew, but Leonel suffered a slash from the side. He didn't have his usual array of movement methods, and at some point, there were just too many enemies.

However, the fact there were so many was also a benefit in itself.

As many as there were, only three or so could attack him at a single time.

Leonel waded into the deep waters, his eyes glowing with determination.

For every wound he suffered, he killed three more, and soon blood began to splash

around him like a dancing array.

Those on the city walls couldn't believe what they were seeing.