Reborn as a Useless Noble with my SSS-Class Innate Talent-Chapter 391: Ch : Going after Shards- Part 1

The tightening of monster defenses did not come as a surprise to Kyle. In fact, he had been waiting for it.

After all, the monsters were nothing more than puppets protecting the last pieces of a crumbling god.

If even a few more shards were shattered, the god of justice would have no choice but to reveal itself.

He knelt in front of the exhausted scout and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You did well. Rest now. Your job is done."

Kyle said calmly, his voice neither cold nor warm—simply resolute.

The scout’s eyes widened in disbelief, but before he could speak further, Kyle turned toward the puppet standing nearby.

"Rean, take him back." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

The puppet gave a curt nod.

"Understood."

Rean gently lifted the scout to his feet and began walking him away.

But the scout turned one last time, urgency still burning in his eyes.

"Young master! The monsters around the shard... they’re small. Bug-like. Fast. They move in swarms and hide easily. The others—"

He paused, throat tightening.

"—The others are already dead. I’m sorry."

Kyle met his gaze, unreadable.

"Then I’ll burn every last one of them. You’ve done your part. Let me handle the rest."

As Rean vanished into the forest with the scout, Kyle turned his eyes toward the dense trees where the corrupted mana thickened like a storm cloud.

Beside him, Queen—the majestic hawk—landed silently on a branch. Its golden eyes gleamed as if awaiting a command.

Kyle didn’t need to speak aloud. He simply looked at Queen and nodded. The hawk understood instantly, letting out a cry that echoed like war drums across the landscape.

The time for subtlety was over.

Aether exploded from Kyle’s body like a storm unleashed. The very earth trembled beneath his boots.

The grass wilted, but the corruption receded slightly, the divine force of Aether overpowering it with sheer presence. Golden strands of light wrapped around his arms, his eyes glowing like miniature suns.

He took a step forward into the cursed forest—toward the monster nest.

They noticed him immediately.

A surge of black figures swarmed from the trees.

Hundreds, maybe thousands—monsters the size of fists and palms, with chittering mandibles and translucent wings that buzzed with malevolence.

Their numbers made the ground ripple like a living wave.

Kyle didn’t flinch.

The first swarm rushed toward him, screeching, claws raised. Kyle extended his hand—and the air around him ignited. Not flame. Not lightning. Pure mana.

The front line of monsters disintegrated mid-air, their forms breaking apart like ash in the wind. The rest hesitated, but only for a moment before charging in recklessly.

Kyle flicked his fingers, and the ground ruptured beneath the creatures.

Aether spikes, elegant yet deadly, shot up in golden arcs, impaling dozens mid-sprint. More replaced them, crawling over the dead with mindless desperation.

Queen soared above, slicing through the air like a blade, its feathers shimmering with magic.

The hawk released a blast of mana, detonating a small cluster of monsters before swooping back to avoid retaliation.

Kyle walked forward calmly, through a storm of claws and wings. He didn’t dodge. He didn’t need to.

Every monster that came within three meters of him ignited into flame, screaming in high-pitched chirps as they turned to cinders.

It wasn’t fire that killed them—it was the divine purity of his mana. It judged them as abominations and erased them.

From the trees, larger monsters emerged—beetle-like giants the size of hounds, their black carapaces shimmering with oily mana. Their eyes glowed violet as they let out roars and charged.

Kyle extended his palm toward the closest one.

"Collapse."

A sphere of compressed aether formed instantly and launched forward, striking the beetle square in the chest.

The creature exploded—not into blood or gore, but into particles of light, torn apart at a magical level. The shockwave from the blast flattened trees in a wide arc.

More beetles came, some launching venomous spines. Others spat acid. None made it within ten steps of him.

Kyle leapt into the air, somersaulting over a horde.

He slammed his fist down into the center of the swarm, and the ground cratered beneath the impact, releasing a shockwave of aether that rippled outward in concentric waves.

Hundreds of monsters were caught in the blast—legs torn, wings shattered, bodies flung back into trees like broken puppets.

"Pitiful. If this is all the god of justice has left, then he’s already lost."

Kyle muttered as he rose from the impact point.

He glanced skyward as Queen circled once before letting out a sharp cry. It was signaling—the core was ahead.

Kyle burst forward like a bolt of lightning, covering ground faster than any man should be able to.

His feet never seemed to truly touch the ground, and the moment a monster appeared in his path, he waved his hand and a blade of mana cleaved them in half.

Finally, he reached a clearing surrounded by gnarled roots and black stone. At its center stood the mana shard—a jagged, floating crystal pulsing with divine corruption.

Hundreds of monsters encircled it, standing guard.

Kyle’s gaze sharpened.

"Let’s end this."

He raised both hands, and golden circles appeared behind his back—twelve of them, rotating slowly in the air.

Sacred patterns lit up within each one, and beams of divine mana burst forth, annihilating dozens of monsters at once.

Kyle advanced without mercy.

A massive insectoid monster, four meters tall and wielding serrated limbs, lunged at him in a blur. Kyle caught its strike with one hand.

The monster shrieked in confusion—no human should have been able to stop that. Kyle looked up at it with calm, gleaming eyes.

"Wrong prey."

He crushed its limb in his grip, spun, and kicked the monster into a tree with a thunderous crack. Then, he launched a spear of aether that pierced its chest and pinned it to the bark.

The creature’s body convulsed once, then turned to light.

The shard pulsed furiously now.

Kyle approached it slowly.

"That’s one more down."

He extended his palm. A sphere of golden light formed once more, but this time, it compressed tighter than ever—nearly invisible.

He released it at the shard.

The impact was silent at first, and then the entire clearing erupted in blinding light.

The monsters screamed and writhed as the divine shockwave tore through the corruption, purifying the area with unrelenting force.

As the light faded, the shard cracked.

Then shattered.

Kyle stood at the center of the devastation, cloak billowing in the wind, surrounded by nothing but dust and silence. Queen landed beside him.

"Three left."

Kyle whispered.

With the crystal shattered, the cursed energy blanketing the forest began to disperse.

The oppressive aura lifted, and sunlight filtered gently through the leaves for the first time in years.

Birds chirped cautiously, and the once-sickened flora stirred back to life. The land was breathing again.

Kyle stood in the clearing, watching as the last traces of corrupted mana dissolved into the wind.

"One more reclaimed."

He murmured, eyes still locked on the empty space where the shard once hovered.

Queen let out a soft cry before taking to the skies once more, scouting ahead and Kyle followed after her.