Originally, Ren Kuroda had shattered the ground beneath his feet and launched himself straight toward the Storm Great Calamity. But the moment he received Rimuru's mental transmission in midair, he immediately altered his combat approach.
Ren Kuroda slid his long blade back into its sheath. Borrowing the recoil from his earlier leap, he drove a brutal knee strike straight into the Storm Great Calamity's lower jaw.
Compared to the gargantuan Storm Great Calamity, Ren Kuroda's body was so small it wasn't even as large as a single one of its scales.
Down below, quite a few people couldn't help letting out mocking laughs when they saw his move.
Setting aside the fact that the Storm Great Calamity's scales were said to be as hard as steel—possessing extremely high resistance to both magic and physical attacks—just based on size alone, Ren Kuroda looked utterly insignificant.
Without using magicules, what could a kick like that possibly do? At best, it would probably just tickle the monster.
If anything, people thought it would be hilarious if the Storm Great Calamity emerged completely unscathed while Ren Kuroda ended up crippling his own leg.
"BOOM——!"
Just as everyone was doubting him, Ren Kuroda's knee strike landed squarely on its target.
To be precise, with a body that massive, the Storm Great Calamity simply couldn't evade the blow in time.
The instant his knee collided with the blue scales, an overwhelming shockwave erupted, sweeping across the battlefield. Even those standing directly beneath the monster were blown away by the violent aftershock.
Before everyone's stunned eyes, the scene they'd expected—Ren Kuroda suffering for his recklessness—never came to pass. Accompanied by a thunderous roar, the Storm Great Calamity, which had been flying in a straight line, was actually kicked off its trajectory by Ren Kuroda!
At the same time, the Storm Great Calamity let out a roar unlike the one it had made upon its appearance.
Clearly, even with a body of such tremendous mass, it had felt pain from that blow.
Enraged, the Storm Great Calamity's massive single eye locked onto Ren Kuroda—the one who had dared injure it—and fired a purplish-red beam of destruction straight at him.
In terms of sheer durability, Ren Kuroda couldn't yet match the Storm Great Calamity. But when it came to speed, this oversized living turret was laughably slow in his eyes.
The instant the beam erupted, Ren Kuroda vanished from his original position.
With its target gone, the purplish-red beam swept across the ground instead. Its map-wide destructive power instantly annihilated large numbers of monsters, making it painfully clear just how terrifying a calamity-class monster truly was.
As for Ren Kuroda, when he reappeared, he was already standing on the Storm Great Calamity's back.
Against opponents of this size, Ren Kuroda was practically a seasoned veteran by now.
A massive body was an advantage—but also a fatal weakness. Creatures this large struggled to keep track of every part of themselves, and their backs were usually a blind spot.
Unfortunately for Ren Kuroda, the Storm Great Calamity was no pushover like the rat demon king he'd faced before.
The moment it sensed Ren Kuroda on its back, the monster's scales snapped upright like soldiers standing at attention, then erupted outward, firing toward him in a dense barrage.
Yet as the rain of scales came crashing down, Ren Kuroda didn't panic—instead, a satisfied smile crept onto his face.
"I've been waiting for this," he muttered."Calling upon the immovable majesty of the sacred mountain—Unyielding as the great gate itself… Immovable as a Mountain: Great Gate!"
Facing the overwhelming storm of armored scales, Ren Kuroda calmly drew his Nichirin Blade. As he swung it, the faint image of a towering mountain seemed to rise behind him.
Not a single scale could break through his defensive blade field. All of them were deflected away.
And at the very moment he knocked aside the last of the scales—while the Storm Great Calamity's armor had yet to regenerate—Ren Kuroda seized the fleeting opening.
When the monster had unleashed its first "Storm Scale Rain," Ren Kuroda had already noticed how rapidly its scales regenerated.
His earlier knee strike, empowered by Freakish Strength and Chaotic Might, should have inflicted far greater damage. Yet much of that force had been mitigated by those armored scales.
So from the very beginning, Ren Kuroda had been waiting.
No matter how fast its regeneration was, it still took time. As long as he struck during the brief window after the scales were fired but before they regrew, he could deal maximum damage.
Up until now, he'd been deliberately baiting the Storm Great Calamity into using its scale attacks—and at last, it had taken the bait.
Blocking the second wave of "Storm Scale Rain" with Immovable as a Mountain, Ren Kuroda then exploded forward at full speed. Using Swift as the Wind, he dashed to the area where the scales had yet to regenerate.
Standing directly on the monster's exposed flesh, Ren Kuroda showed no restraint. He unleashed every ounce of his demonic power, gathering it all into his fists.
With Freakish Strength and Chaotic Might pushed to its absolute limit, Ren Kuroda clasped his hands together and brought down a devastating hammer blow onto the Storm Great Calamity's massive body.
"ROOOOAAARR——!"
With no scales to protect it, the damage this time was catastrophic—easily several times greater than before.
Flesh and shattered bone flew everywhere as the Storm Great Calamity let out the most agonized scream it had ever produced. Those on the ground watched in disbelief as the enormous shadow in the sky began to plummet.
"BOOM——!"
The earth shook violently as the heavily injured Storm Great Calamity crashed down like a falling spaceship, smashing into the ground with apocalyptic force.
Every single person present stood there, mouths hanging open.
What had they just witnessed?
Someone had beaten a Storm Great Calamity into the ground… with their bare fists.
It was utterly absurd. Just what kind of monster was this guy? Even an ordinary Demon Lord couldn't pull off something like that.
And what left everyone completely speechless was what happened next.
The savage culprit who had punched the Storm Great Calamity out of the sky actually leapt back onto its body and started raining down blow after blow, pounding it mercilessly while it writhed on the ground.
If not for the monster's heartrending screams, everyone would have thought they were dreaming.
This was a Storm Great Calamity—a being born from the magicules of the Storm Dragon. Though ranked as "calamity-class," it was known as a natural disaster incarnate.
Yet here it was, looking like a defeated stray dog, being ridden and beaten senseless by a single person.
Just who—or what—the hell was this oni-like man…? Did he really have to be this brutal?
"Damn it, what kind of creature is this thing?!" Ren Kuroda cursed under his breath as he continued punching."It's got no scales right now, and it's still this tough!This regeneration is ridiculous—how did people in the past even manage to take this thing down?!"
While everyone else was in awe of Ren Kuroda's ferocity, he himself was clearly dissatisfied with the results.
His all-out strike had unquestionably inflicted severe damage—but it still wasn't lethal.
With his full demonic power unleashed and Freakish Strength and Chaotic Might amplifying it, even an S-rank yokai would have been beaten to death by a blow like that if caught off guard.
Yet the Storm Great Calamity, despite screaming nonstop, showed no sign of actually dying. Worse, it was still regenerating.
Its skin had been pierced through, most of its internal organs reduced to pulp—but any normal creature would have died long ago from such injuries.
Not this thing.
Still brimming with vitality, the Storm Great Calamity even summoned more reinforcements—over a dozen flying shark minions—to stop Ren Kuroda's relentless assault.
These flying sharks also possessed magic interference abilities. While not as absurd as the Storm Great Calamity's, their special-grade magicule levels combined with weakening-type Magic Interference made them extremely troublesome opponents.
Ren Kuroda was still pinning the Storm Great Calamity down, punching it continuously. If he stopped, it would regenerate at terrifying speed.
Right now, its regeneration was focused on restoring its organs and skin. It didn't even have the spare capacity to regrow its scales—because Ren Kuroda kept inflicting fresh damage without pause.
But if Ren Kuroda let up even for a moment, the monster would likely fully recover within a minute or two.
"Lord Ren Kuroda, please focus on the battle. We won't let those big fish interfere."
Just as the flying sharks lunged toward Ren Kuroda, Nekomata, the Hand-Washing Oni, and the others suddenly appeared in front of him, intercepting the attackers.
Benimaru, Shion, Ranga, and the rest joined in as well. With most of the high-ranking majin already slaughtered by Ren Kuroda, and the orc forces drastically reduced by his intimidation pressure and the Storm Great Calamity's indiscriminate bombardments, these top-tier fighters finally had the freedom to act.
Of course, since Rimuru had yet to devour the Orc Disaster, Benimaru and the others still struggled against special-grade flying sharks.
Thankfully, Nekomata and the rest were more than capable. Together, the dozen or so fighters barely managed to hold off the flying sharks.
Through firsthand experience, Benimaru and the others finally understood just how dangerous these creatures were—and with that realization came a profound respect for Ren Kuroda's strength.
They were having this much trouble against flying sharks whose Magic Interference merely weakened magic… yet Lord Ren Kuroda was single-handedly pinning down and beating a Storm Great Calamity.
That level of power was nothing short of terrifying.