When all of the dragoons had been wiped out, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and thought that it was over. But, a report came and said that over a hundred suspicious figures were spotted outside the city, making them go tense again.
In case another attack happened, half of the heroes were left in the city while the rest went to meet the possible threat along with a group of knights. Among them were Ryan, Jayce, Elena, Aria and Cain.
While everyone was hastily moving towards their next possible fight, three individuals were already finishing it up.
“Isn’t Ryner amazing?” [Evelyn]
“Yes, Master really is wonderful~.” [Maya]
Two women commented as they stared at their object of affection. Their cheeks were dyed red, their eyes were moist and their expressions were those of enraptured maidens in love. However, one detail ruined their love-struck figures: dead bodies everywhere.
“Not only does he hold great prowess in battle, he is also a very cunning man.” [Evelyn]
Evelyn said as she remembered how he often messed with the vampires in their old world, not paying any attention to the corpses and blood littered around her. Men and women with destroyed light armors and broken weapons laid on the ground.
They wore black clothes with masks that covered the lower half of their faces like assassins. Their remains were cut up by a sharp object and their innards spilled out. The grass was colored crimson and the wind smelled like blood.
A sword with a golden hilt and a thin, bloodied blade was stabbed into the ground next to her. Despite the state of her weapon, the vampire didn’t have a single stain on her, though it was hard to tell because of her black dress that didn’t fit the situation.
The man that she secretly desired was engaging about thirty opponents. They had split up the work between the three of them, with Ryner taking the bigger piece for himself, and only he wasn’t done. Maya and Evelyn, both being way too strong for their foes, annihilated everyone within a few moments by using overwhelming power.
The unknown and silent opposition was weak. Only a dozen or so were C ranks while the rest would visibly get tired after shooting two or three beginner spells. Upon Ryner’s orders, the two women didn’t join the fray and simply watched from a distance as he dispatched the enemies with ease.
With fluid movements like a river, he deftly moved through the battlefield like a whirlwind. Taking away all emotions, he rapidly calculated his actions like a machine as he took into account his surroundings and any possible attacks that might come at him. Adapting to the ever-changing situation on the battlefield, he faced his opponents and killed them.
A man swung a sword down on him. Ryner hit the flat of the blade with the side of his right hand, diverting its trajectory away from him, and grabbed onto his wrist to immobilize him for a moment.
Then, he quickly dislocated the wrist and stole the sword from the weakened grip. Holding it in a reverse grip, he slashed the man’s throat as he went passed him, staying on the move to evade the other enemies that were looking for a chance to cut him down.
“That’s true~. That ceremony with the white Artifact went just like how he said it would. But, you’re just as amazing for actually pulling it off.” [Maya]
Maya happily said, standing next to the blonde-haired woman and observing her master’s fight. Among the corpses, some had been smashed to a pulp. Heads were crushed to pieces or torsos were punched through and left with a gaping hole. Her hands, as if in testament to that fact, were red with blood.
In front of her eyes, Ryner, who had a stolen sword and dagger in his hands, was blocking and evading attacks from three different people. A fourth one came charging at him from behind with a steel shield in front of him. He planned on ramming the black-haired man and impaling him on his friends’ swords.
Noticing the shield bearer, Ryner simultaneously diverted two sword strikes with his sword and dagger, blocked the third one in the middle with his sword and stabbed the hand with his dagger, causing him to let go of his sword. As he quickly turned around, he threw his dagger like a dart at the fourth foe’s legs before engaging the other two once more.
The shield charger tried to dodge without stopping, but his right leg was hit just as he lifted it, making him trip and stumble because of the pain and impact. During that time, Ryner had instantly slashed at one’s throat, stabbed the other in the throat as well and left his sword there instead of pulling it out.
With no pause in his action, he pulled out the dagger hanging at the waist of his latest kill that was still on his feet and used it to cut the throat of the third one. He sidestepped to the side while turning around to face the shield wielder just as he was about to fall headfirst into him.
At the same time, Ryner stretched his dagger-wielding hand out to his right and the poor man, carried by his momentum, impaled himself in the eye. Before the other enemies could swarm him, Ryner left the dagger in the new corpse and headed straight for the closest victim.
“Of course, it is an easy task for me to fool them. Like Ryner said, going into battle with no information is foolish. Using what he heard from that king, he had told me who I was going to speak to and the general outline of what I should say based on their preconceptions, standings and desires. Spinning a story that is convenient for everyone and that doesn’t betray their expectations will garner you more supporters.” [Evelyn]
“They wanted that boy to be their chosen hero, so you told them a story that answered their wishes and fitted with him being rejected by their legendary sword. It’s also easier for them to accept things if it’s coming from a beautiful woman who is of high standing and share their beliefs, right~?” [Maya]
Maya said with a smirk on her face, thinking about how the men and women in that audience room, especially the men, were all ogling Evelyn’s various assets.
“Correct, people tend to reject ideas from those that aren’t part of their group. Saying that I come from a wealthy merchant family and that I have an interest with their religion is merely a ruse to get them to lower their guard. This is something that I learned when I was still a child.” [Evelyn]
Evelyn answered her conversation partner as she kept her eyes on Ryner. Dual wielding two swords, he collided with a muscle-bounded man that had a great sword raised over his head. Parrying the overhead attack with his right sword by knocking it to the side, he slashed the right side of the man’s abdomen as he went passed him and used the centrifugal force to chain his next attack.
Spinning around, he stabbed the sword in his right hand into his back in a reverse grip, straight through the heart. Leaving his sword, he went after his next opponent with his remaining weapon in his left hand as the large man fell on his knees, bleeding from his two wounds and coughing blood.
“Hmph! Those fools, desiring what they cannot have. Ryner is too lenient, too tolerating. Although he will not hesitate to turn a man into a crying and bloody mess if he crosses a line, but he’ll also not react at all even if he is being insulted or spit on. I will need to work on getting my hands on some blackmail material to keep them in line.” [Evelyn]
Evelyn huffed and crossed her arms in front of her plentiful chest. Maya giggled, happy to see that she could leave these sorts of things to her companion. There was no way she could skillfully interact with nobles like Evelyn or Ryner and pull out incriminating information from them. She planned on protecting her master in her own way, which was by taking down anyone that wanted to hurt him.
But, she doubted her master would be beating up so easily. Right now, he was spinning around with a double-bladed axe in hand. For some reason, he threw his weapon up in the air and charged at a woman that was chanting with her left hand stretched out towards him.
The moment he reached her, her spell was ready and she unleashed her wind bullet. But, as if on cue, Ryner ducked low and grabbed onto her wrist to make her aim at the unfortunate man behind him. He received the wind bullet in his face which broke his nose and fell on his back.
Furthermore, the axe that was thrown earlier fell down and landed on his chest, crushing his bones and digging into his flesh due to its speed and weight. At the same time, Ryner pulled the woman forward to destabilize her a bit, quickly shuffled behind her and snapped her neck with both hands.
“Oh my~, how scary! I’m glad we’re on the same side.” [Maya]
“This is just something I learned from him as well. He is quite unscrupulous.” [Evelyn]
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“But, he’s also kind and can be rather shy~.” [Maya]
“That is true. He can be… Shy, sometimes.” [Evelyn]
Evelyn said as she remembered his blushing face in the bath as well as his naked body. The well-trained, naked body that she had washed and felt on her own skin. The memory nearly made her drool, but as a proper lady, she wouldn’t allow herself to do such a shameful act in public.
She looked at the man that had showed her such a cute expression, but he was far from being adorable since he was churning up corpses left and right. Another soon-to-be victim charged at him with a spear in hand as he tried to stab Ryner through the guts. But, this one merely evaded to the side with minimal movements and grabbed the shaft of the weapon.
He strongly pulled it forward, snatching it from the enemy’s hands and spun around. Raising the spear, he buried it deep into the man’s back as he stumbled in front of him, pinning him down on the ground.
“Master would be perfect if not for his looks.” [Maya]
“Certainly, Ryner isn’t handsome, but he isn’t repulsive either. Why are you complaining now after sleeping with him?” [Evelyn]
Evelyn spoke reproachfully, half out of jealousy, at the pouting Maya who was poking her furry ear with her finger.
“I meant that it would be great if Master was a beastman and had ears like mine. I’m sure he would look wonderful~.” [Maya]
“I see. But, you can’t expect him to be perfect. For example, he can roast meat over a fire, but he can’t cook.” [Evelyn]
Evelyn said as she continued to watch over Ryner with slightly red cheeks, not minding at all that he was in the middle of killing people. If anyone else saw him, they would shudder in fear at the sight of the field of corpses he was creating, but she was the perfect example that love was blind.
“Really? So, Master is no good at cooking. But, it’s fine since he’s great in bed~.” [Maya]
Maya’s cheerful declaration made Evelyn grit her teeth for a second. This beastman liked to flaunt and didn’t know how to hold back.
Interrupting their casual conversation that didn’t fit with the bloodshed, multiple figures arrived behind them along with rapid footsteps and a gust of wind. With movements too fast for normal people to see, Cain and the heroes had finally caught up. The knights that accompanied them were running as fast as they could, but they obviously couldn’t keep up with a bunch of S ranks.
“… What is going on?” [Cain]
They were greatly surprised that Ryner, Maya and Evelyn were already here. The most levelheaded of the group, Cain, asked after glancing at the dead bodies, the two women and the black-haired man who was still fighting. The young heroes were wide-eyed as they stared at him. However, they weren’t admiring his combat prowess like Maya and Evelyn.
Cold, ruthless, quick and precise. Their former instructor was killing men after men, women after women. He was like a reaper brandishing his scythe and they, moths attracted to a flame. Even though he was outnumbered, the battle was overwhelmingly in his favor.
“Bluuurrgh!” [Random hero]
Trembling and frightened from the spectacle unfolding in front of their eyes, many put a hand to their mouths or barfed outright. The stench of blood, the crimson red, the spilling innards, the body parts, the dead eyes, everything seemed to be attacking them mentally.
They had left a burnt field of corpses only to head straight for another one with more fresh meat and more red blood. As such, many had reached their limits, so they had to discharge their stomach content.
“As you can see, Ryner is in the middle of cleaning up. He’ll be done soon.” [Evelyn]
Evelyn answered the knight commander, ignoring the heroes that were puking or backing away from fright. Unfortunately for them, one of the remaining enemies raised his hand towards them and was about to shoot a fireball at them.
But, he was instantly killed by Ryner who appeared behind him and stabbed him in the side of his head with a dagger. Cain relaxed slightly after confirming that the threat was dealt with, but he still tightly held his sword. Evelyn and Maya were completely composed as if they expected such an outcome.
The heroes, on the other hand, instead of feeling thankful, were shaking in their boots and paled even more upon seeing a man get stabbed in the head. A few became teary eyed, such as Elena, while others started to become scared of Ryner.
Two more enemies approached on both sides, swords in hand, planning to corner him. The one in front was going to cut his head off while the one behind was going to skewer him.
The moment he was about to get hit, Ryner moved slightly to the side and jumped back, evading the horizontal slash aimed at his neck by a paper-thin margin. Furthermore, the sword that was pointed at his back harmlessly passed under his right armpit.
He elbowed the man behind him in the temple with his left arm and jabbed his right thumb in the wrist of the hand grasping the sword. Then, just as the other was about to attack again, Ryner grabbed the man in the rear by the head with just his left arm and threw him over his shoulder.
He was accidentally cut by his friend before landing on his back, only to get stabbed in the heart by his own sword that was stolen moments ago. Ryner then used the sword as a support and kicked the other one’s chin, making him stumble backwards. He couldn’t press his attack and had to dodge the incoming strikes from the surrounding opponents.
“Why aren’t you helping him? Putting the beastman aside… You can fight, can’t you?” [Cain]
Cain said to Evelyn, still vigilant against any attack, though the enemies were all busy swarming Ryner.
“There’s no need. They are all quite weak.” [Evelyn]
A C rank who could lift a grown man with one hand and whose skin was as hard as thick leather armor instantly died when a dagger went into his eye socket. Ryner let go, treating all the weapons he took as disposable items, and readied the dagger in his other hand.
One of them was charging at him while crouching low and with his arms spread out. He wanted to knock Ryner down and beat him to death, but his plan was unsuccessful. The black-haired man jumped over him while spinning, his body parallel to the ground, and stabbed him in the back.
The man tripped over his own legs and fell hard, sliding on the green and red grass with a dagger lodged in his back.
“Certainly, they do not seem much of a threat, but are they linked to the dragoon attack?” [Cain]
Cain asked, prioritizing his mission over the wellbeing of the ill-looking heroes. Although it wasn’t a good time, but a part of him was admiring the way Ryner fought. His attacks were well-timed and his movements were precise. It was like the whole fight was choreographed beforehand with the enemies being the poor victims and Ryner being the raging storm of death.
He had seen numerous skilled fighters in his lifetime such as adventurers and they were many that could so cleanly kill in one hit. But, none of them fought like he did. His skills, his techniques, the way he danced about the battlefield, everything simply once more told the old knight that Ryner was a warrior from another world.
More than when he fought Ryan and more than when he sparred with the heroes, Cain could clearly see it. That man came from a world where magic didn’t exist and warriors relied on nothing but their strength and their wits to survive.
“When we got here, they attacked us on sight without saying a word, so they most likely are. No need to worry, we’ll find out soon enough.” [Evelyn]
As Evelyn pointed out, the fight had come to an end. One man was writhing on the ground, his shoulders and leg were dislocated. The other one that was still alive was trying to slice Ryner in two, but none of his attacks connected.
After dodging with minimal effort, Ryner stabbed his left shoulder with his finger twice and the man lost strength in his arm. He then hit his chin to disorient him, grabbed his right arm and stretched it out to the side as he moved behind his back.
Pulling it backwards to keep it straight, he hit the joint in the shoulder with a palm strike and dislocated his right arm. Afterwards, he kicked the back of the man’s knee and pushed him down with his knee on his back.
Over a hundred people were eliminated and two were rendered incapable of fighting for the sake of interrogation. With no other enemies in sight, the disaster of Elura city seemed to be coming to an end.