There were two major factors that doomed Jerry Keller from the very beginning.

No matter how hard he struggled, and no matter what sort of brilliant plan he had… he was always fated to fail.

One of said factors was the constant and overwhelming expenditure of his Aether.

As someone with a limited pool of energy, it was in Jerry’s best interest to minimize its use as much as possible. However, in such an extreme situation where he would lose if he didn’t go all out, he had no choice but to constantly burn through his reserves.

The constant use of Aether was still bearable to an extent, since he was using it to fuel his Spells which in turn defeated his opponents. It was an unavoidable cost for progress.

However, what made this a problem was the excess Aether he had to constantly burn in order to protect himself from Nether Poisoning and also prevent himself from being sucked into the Hive.

That was the problem!

This passive use of Aether was taking a toll on him even more than his utilization of Aether to fight. And the worst part was… none of that Aether was being used to defeat any of the excessive Nether Beasts he had to deal with.

… Which led to the second, and perhaps most bothersome problem.

The Nether Beasts, or at least their numbers.

“Haa… haaa…” Jerry’s lips parted as he poured out heavy breaths, staring at the sheer magnitude of opponents he still had to face.

The Nether Beasts seemed infinite, at least to him.

The more he destroyed, the more they kept appearing, until they became overwhelmingly too much for him to handle.

Not only was he dealing with exhaustion, but the problems he had to face kept piling up.

‘It won’t be long until my strategy falls apart.’

His current plan was the only reason he hadn’t been overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemies he had to deal with. If it broke down, he was one for.

Jerry desperately racked his head to think of an alternative, but he was so exhausted that he felt dizzy already. His cognitive abilities were failing him due to the overheating aftereffects of his Grand Flame Admiral form.

It was never a sustainable transformation, but Jerry had thought he could use it as a boost to wipe out most of the Nether Beasts and corner the rest of them before reverting back and handling the rest in a more slow-burn way if need be.

He never foresaw this situation.

‘What should I do now? I… I don’t think I can go any further…’

As Jerry saw it, he only had one viable option at this point—Give up.

If he forfeited the mission, he would be saved from the onslaught of Nether Beasts closing in on him.

Unfortunately, that would also mean he was going to be disqualified from the team.

‘NO! Not that! Anything but that!’ Jerry’s eyes lit ablaze as his heart thumped faster an harder than ever before.𝑶𝚟𝓁xt.𝚌𝗈𝕞

He could feel his overwhelming heat stinging his skin, but he endured. He was running out of breath, and his Aether was just about depleted, but he couldn’t surrender.

Not now!

Not when he made a promise to the woman he loved!

“Rarrrrrghhhhhh!!!” Roaring at the top of his lungs, her displayed his sheer willpower, forcing his aching body to move despite having past its limits long ago.

‘It’s not an option to fail…’ Jerry’s thoughts echoed as he gritted his flaming teeth, feeling as his very gums were on fire.

His insides churned, and his body begged him to rest, but he wouldn’t.

He COULDN’T!

“I won’t give up! Not now, not ever!” He screamed, his flames reaching a height of prominence as several Nether Beasts began to close in on him.

He knew he couldn’t take down all of them.

Heck, the ones close to him were already a bother, to begin with. He had been hacking and slashing for so long now that he felt he would pass out any second now.

~SWISH!~

As soon as he was done hacking down the last Nether Beast close to him, he saw the immeasurable number of more Nether Beasts rush to him, like hungry predators ready to devour their prey.

He could hardly move his body at this point, but he still didn’t back down.

Even as he witnessed his end approach, he strengthened his grip on his blade and abandined his orb.

Right now… all he could do was render his last stand.

“Come! I’ll take you all o—!”

~BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!~

Before Jerry could conclude his words, he witnessed the most jawbreaking sight ever.

The entire Hive was destroyed in a single explosion, and everything about it was consumed in destructive energy.

All the Nether Beasts that were rushing towards him instantly shifted their attention to the destruction wrought upon their home, and how the flames of eradication neared them.

They instantly knew their fates if they didn’t pick up the pace.

Screeches from the Nether Beasts filled the air as they all rushed away from the Hive’s utter demolition. Their speed increased, and so did the desperation in their eyes.

This time, however, they weren’t rushing towards Jerry because they were the predators.

No, it was the opposite.

They had become prey.

“Haha… haaa…” Jerry found himself laughing unconsciously.

With the Hive no longer existing, and the overwhelming Nether quality drastically reduced, he realized it was now or never.

It was time to make the ultimate gamble.

Abandining all of his defense, he poured the last fraction of his Aether into his final strike, fusing everything into his blade.

‘I don’t need to kill all of them. The destruction will do that for me’ He smiled, readying his blade as he prepared the Spell.

‘… I just need to make sure they don’t escape!’

The purple blade instantly increased in size, nearly a hundred times more than it was previously.

Perfect for the range Jerry was aiming for.

With a final push, Jerry generated his ultimate horizontal slash, sending the final bursts of his flames and energy colliding with the escaping Nether Beasts.

‘Grand Admiral Strike.’

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Looks like it isn’t Jerry too.

I wonder who the culprit is…

Discord Link: https:

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