Now, the Juggernaut was completely trapped in a net of hundreds of increasingly numerous ice chains. Although the monster brutally shattered dozens of chains every second, Aishia continued to produce the same number of new ice chains every second.
In this situation, Charlie could actually have seized this opportunity to attack the helpless Juggernaut at close range. He could have flown slowly towards the monster and rained down slashes of Terminus Est on its body.
Was Charlie so foolish that he didn't realize such an obvious and safe tactic?
Of course not!
Then, why did he choose a far more difficult and risky path, shooting towards the monster at an uncontrollable hypersonic speed of Mach 12? Why did he act contrary to his philosophy of [If there's an easy way, why choose the hard way?].
His goal was clear: he wanted to develop a new ultimate technique entirely based on speed!
After facing the Juggernaut and realizing how dangerous his reliance on Spirit Arts was, Charlie was enlightened. He realized that perhaps in the future he would encounter enemies with strong anti-magic abilities, which would render his Spirit Arts useless.
In such a scenario, he had to have another way to fight and win. That's why he decided to develop a new ultimate technique unrelated to Spirit Arts, unlike Sky Clear.
"Kinetic energy is equivalent to mass times acceleration squared. As long as I'm fast enough, I won't be any less powerful than anyone!"
About 300 meters away from the Juggernaut, which was still trapped in Aishia's ice chains, Charlie felt he had fully adapted to his new speed and power.
"Strong Body gives around 2 tons of raw stat increase after leveling up + Chain Attack that constantly doubles my consecutive attack power + Spirit Arts that give me Mach 12 speed..."
"The combination of these three results in unimaginable raw power when hitting a target at high speed."
In the short time while Aishia held back the Juggernaut, Charlie had conducted dozens of trial and errors, composing the recipe for his new ultimate technique. He felt he understood the principle and was ready to execute it.
"Let's do it."
Charlie gripped Terminus Est tightly.
The next moment, his figure vanished from sight, leaving behind only a powerful shockwave and a series of deafening supersonic booms.
*WHOOOOM!*
*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*
*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*
In less than a second, Charlie traversed the Juggernaut's body six times in a hexagonal pattern.
"...!!!"
When Charlie finally reappeared where he had originally stood, the Juggernaut froze in place for a few moments.
*CRACK!* *CRACK!* *CRACK!*
*CRUSH-BANG!*
Then, the Juggernaut's body began to crack and shatter into fine black dust that instantly disappeared, blown away by a gust of wind, leaving only a large magic stone falling downwards before being caught by Charlie.
"It's over...?"
Aishia was stunned to see the Juggernaut, which had almost killed Charlie moments before, defeated so easily and quickly.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
In fact, it wasn't just Aishia who was surprised and confused by the sudden turn of events.
Deep within the Prayer Room beneath the Guild, Ouranos, who had been watching the critical situation through the crystal ball and was already prepared to order the forced evacuation of all adventurers from the Dungeon for their safety, was far more shocked than anyone else.
His usually calm eyes widened in disbelief at the scene before him.
"The Juggernaut that annihilated the Astraea Familia... defeated by an unknown adventurer?" He murmured in a low voice filled with astonishment.
Ouranos had prepared for the worst consequences. However, in the blink of an eye, the threat vanished, destroyed by a young man he didn't recognize at all.
Even after observing the white-haired youth closely since his appearance on the 37th Floor, Ouranos still couldn't identify him.
His ignorance of the youth's identity could only signify one thing: the other party was not a famous adventurer or a member of any large Familia. Then, who exactly was this mysterious young man with such tremendous power?
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
"How did Charlie defeat that monster?"
Flying closer and gently tugging on Charlie's sleeve, Aishia looked at him with curiosity. Astonishment was still clearly visible on her usually expressionless face.
"It's simple. The monster was destroyed by the incredible kinetic energy carried by my speed, which far exceeds the speed of sound, and the mass of Terminus Est, amplified by my raw strength of three tons."
In front of Aishia and Est, Charlie didn't feel the need to hide anything and explained the principle behind his lightning-fast attack earlier.
He was completely unaware that there was a third party observing them from afar.
"When I move at Mach 12, every swing of Terminus Est carries enormous kinetic energy. Plus, I relied on the Chain Attack Development Abilities to constantly double consecutive attacks."
"My first attack produced a kinetic energy of 25.41 MJ (Mega Joules), which could destroy a car or a small house."
"The second attack 50.82 MJ: Destroying several houses or a medium-sized building."
"The third attack 101.65 MJ: Leveling a small residential complex."
"The fourth attack 203.30 MJ: Destroying several multi-story buildings."
"The fifth attack 406.59 MJ: Significantly damaging a small urban area."
"And finally, the sixth attack 813.19 MJ: Destroying an entire city block or large infrastructure."
"I named this ultimate technique Oblivion Strike."
Charlie finished his explanation. He was happy that he had finally created his first original technique, not just imitating moves from other anime characters.
In terms of destructive power in a single explosion, Charlie admitted that Oblivion Strike was weaker compared to the nuke-like I Am Atomic, or Sky Clear, which could cut anything, even clouds in the sky.
However, the main advantage of Oblivion Strike lay in its attack being oriented towards raw power and pure speed, without any magical aspects directly involved in producing the damage.
In other words, Oblivion Strike was a very effective counter to all entities with magic immunity thanks to anti-magic abilities.
If Charlie were to one day face an enemy with such abilities—like the Juggernaut, which was immune to most of his Spirit Arts—he would no longer feel miserable and helpless like today. Oblivion Strike gave him an attack option that relied entirely on enhanced speed and physical strength, an answer to situations where magic became useless.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
"Fels, do you understand what this young man is talking about?" Ouranos asked, his tone revealing deep confusion despite his attempts to hide it.
He had witnessed the Juggernaut's rapid and sudden destruction, yet the explanation behind it felt foreign and difficult to comprehend.
"..."
Fels tried to digest the information he had just heard.
"Only a little, Ouranos. In short, it seems the young man utilized his extraordinary raw strength, generating astonishing destructive power as he flew at extremely high speed and struck the Juggernaut repeatedly in a short amount of time."
Faced with modern physics concepts like kinetic energy calculated based on mass and the square of velocity, their combined knowledge was no better than elementary school students who had just learned the basics.
"Tell Royman to immediately investigate the identity of that young man. I want to know all information about him, no matter how small. It's impossible for an adventurer with fighting strength and intelligence of that caliber to have no name or clear record."
Ouranos commanded Fels in a serious tone.
"Understood, Ouranos."
Then, Fels disappeared from the Prayer Room, moving quickly to find Royman, the head of the Guild who had access to all records and information about adventurers in Orario.
"..."
Ouranos stared at the crystal ball, his gaze returning to the gaping hole on the 37th Floor, pondering the implications of the appearance of this mysterious adventurer.
"I hope this young man's appearance brings a positive impact to Orario..."