The distance between Dante and the shield wall closed in a heartbeat.
To the soldiers of the Iron Domain, it must have looked like suicide, a single swordsman charging a formation designed to stop cavalry charges with nothing but steel and arrogance. They braced themselves, planting their boots in the crystal dust with spears leveled through the gaps in their tower shields.
"Hold!" Garrett screamed from the center of the line. "Skew him!"
Dante didn't slow down and didn't swerve, just kept running straight at them like he had a death wish. At the last possible second, just as the spear tips threatened to turn him into a pin cushion, he poured the Ancient Core's energy into his legs.
He didn't jump over them. He jumped onto them.
