——Most adventurers who could be called first-rate were accustomed to using multiple Skills simultaneously, combining their own Skills with those granted by Mana Tools.
Some focused on cultivating a single powerful Skill, but that was a specialized exception. The fleeing adventurers—the leader and three others—were making their way toward Baim while avoiding the groups lying in wait around them.
Starting with the leader, all four were using Skills that enhanced their physical bodies, whether through their own Skills or Mana Tools. The four carried weapons and had discarded all unnecessary luggage as they ran. Their reinforced bodies let them move at speeds far beyond what an ordinary person could manage.
All of them were core members of their party—the leader, a scout, a vanguard fighter, and a mage. That was fortunate. With that balanced composition, they could force their way through any group of a reasonable size. At least, that was what the leader believed.
"Keep moving! Once we get through here—"
The scout running alongside him clicked his tongue in irritation.
"—Tch. Leader, we've got a tail. They've locked onto us completely. Just one."
Upon being told that a pursuer had pinpointed their exact position and was moving even faster than they were, the leader made his decision.
"Anyone else out there?"
"Nobody. He's operating alone. Maybe he's confident in himself. I'd hope he's just some fool, but... he doesn't seem like one of ours."
The vanguard, a man who carried a massive sword like a slab of iron, reached for the hilt.
"Hey, then why don't we take him out before he catches up? Better than letting him close in and attack us, right?"
He was a rough man, but what he said made sense. It was unlikely that their pursuer was superior to them in combat. In Dungeons, there were Monsters twice the size of a man, and others that moved several times faster. These were adventurers who fought such Monsters regularly.
It was only natural they were confident in their own abilities.
The mage backed up the vanguard's suggestion.
"It would be wiser to stop, face them, and be ready to attack or defend rather than showing our backs and risk being hit by a spell from behind. We could try to deal with it while running, but we'd take casualties."
The leader spoke.
"…Everyone, stop. Draw your weapons."
Choosing to make their stand, they all halted and took up their arms. The leader drew his prized twin blades—holding one in each hand and assuming a dual-wielding stance.
The scout specialist checked his preparations while muttering something about being the expert here, then drew his crossbow from his back and took aim.
The front-line fighter stepped slightly ahead of the leader, drew his greatsword, and rested it on his shoulder. The mage raised his staff and began preparing his spell.
Everyone secured their own distance and stanced themselves, waiting for the approaching response.
The scout specialist called out to the group.
"They're coming… from over that slight rise. Five, four, three, two—here they come!"
When the scout specialist saw an adventurer come sprinting as if bursting over the hill, he pulled the trigger on his crossbow. The expensive crossbow was designed to allow rapid reloading of bolts.
He fired a bolt and immediately loaded the next. The mage shouted.
"Lightning!"
A pale blue flash was unleashed toward the enemy. Rather than aiming at a single point, the spell was cast over a wide area, engulfing the swift enemy before slamming into the ground and kicking up a plume of dust. The four felt the shockwave and rumble of the explosion but didn't let their guard down.
The scout specialist shouted.
"Not over yet! Here he comes!"
They fired bolts and saw a man burst from the smoke. When his hood came off, there stood a young man with blue hair and blue eyes.
"The enemy commander?!"
The muscles of the greatsword-wielding front-liner bulged as he charged forward, gripping his greatsword in one hand. The leader also stepped in to push ahead. And then, Laiel—who held no weapon—clutched the blue gem at her chest with both hands—.
Having dodged the spell and burst from the smoke, the adventurers who had been giving chase were waiting for him.
He wrapped both hands around the Jewel, holding it tight, and the voice of the Fifth Generation echoed from within.
*'First showing, huh?'*
A blue light radiated forth, and a pair of silver short swords were now gripped in both of my hands. The short swords that had belonged to the Fourth Generation were reborn in my grasp as silver blades.
The reason I had deliberately gone after them alone was—to fight first-rate adventurers. The Successive Heads had acknowledged that I possessed that level of strength.
Normally, no matter how powerful someone is, they can be dealt with if surrounded. Even with Skills enhancing them, it's difficult to come away unscathed when cornered. But what if you could break through unscathed even while surrounded?
I possessed several Skills like that.
Among them, there was one left behind by the Fourth Generation—.
"Full Drive."
As I murmured the Skill's name, the movements of those around me began to slow. It was a Skill I'd experienced within the Jewel, but using it devoured my mana at a frantic rate.
Thinking I couldn't use it for long, I dodged the attack of a greatsword-wielding adventurer who had lunged toward me. The blade looked large, but the swift downward slash from overhead even seemed to draw in the surrounding air as it bit deeply into the ground.
I moved sideways to evade, but he immediately wrenched the greatsword from the earth and swung it sideways, scattering dirt and debris in my direction.
He'd clearly prepared a follow-up for when his initial strike was avoided.
As a frontliner who relied on a straightforward enhancement-type Skill and a complementary Skill to back it up, he was quite the capable adventurer. The fact he could react even with me moving so quickly was impressive.
Inside the Dungeon, he must have been a dependable adventurer who led the charge.
"One down."
However, the short swords I'd hurled with both hands embedded themselves in that very capable adventurer's head and chest. Shifting my gaze from the bewildered figure, I looked toward the adventurers positioned behind him.
Three remaining.
There was the dual-wielding man who appeared to be the leader, and in the rear, an adventurer with a crossbow who was firing arrows toward me. But the most troublesome one was the mage.
While his allies were still in the mix, he probably wouldn't unleash any wide-area magic, but I still needed to take him out first.
I dashed forward, opening my palms, and short swords materialized there. The Fourth Generation was known for the dual-wielding short sword style, but that didn't mean he only ever carried two.
Multiple short swords appeared on my back, floating in a circle and rotating individually. With a thought, they'd come to my hand.
As I tried to slip past the left side of the man who seemed to be the leader, he swung the sword in his left hand. His reaction was fast; all of them were adventurers of a certain caliber.
Deflecting the blow with my own short sword, I closed the distance to the mage and drove my short sword through his chest, armor and all.
"Two down."
The man with the crossbow to my side loosed an arrow.
Slowly dodging the arrow as it passed by my side, I closed in on the crossbowman with my short sword. He swung his left arm toward me.
It looked like a concealed weapon hidden in his arm. I sliced the arm off at the wrist, weapon and all, with my short sword, then drove the blade straight through his heart.
"Three."
But just then, the slow distortion of time around me gradually returned to normal.
The man who seemed to be the leader stared at the situation around him in bewilderment. The man with the greatsword lay face-up on the ground, and both the mage and the crossbowman had their chests pierced, coughing up blood as they crumpled to the ground, clearly having no idea what had happened.
The leader, a sword in each hand, looked at me.
"What the… What did you do?!"
The short swords I had plunged into the adventurers floated behind my back in an arc, returning to the row of hovering blades.
The Third Generation spoke from within the Jewel.
"'You might have made it to the end if you pushed harder, but… well, this is about right. Lyle, it's one on one now, so don't let your guard down.'"
"Yes."
With that, I gripped a short sword in each hand and charged toward the apparent leader. Whether he figured he couldn't escape or not, he came running at me too.
His ability to wield a sword in each hand with ease was different from the Fourth Generation's style—rather than using one for defense, he employed both for attack and defense simultaneously. Closer to my own approach.
As I drew near, I noticed purple lightning crackling along his blades. I caught one of his slashes and felt a jolt of numbness shoot through my hand, forcing me to toss the short sword aside and create some distance.
"You won't get away! As long as I keep the range close—!"
Was it his Skill, or the effect of a Mana Tool? Purple lightning coursed over both swords, so I focused entirely on dodging the slashes.
Blocking them meant going numb, so I picked up a short sword and hurled it. But—
"Is that all you've got?!"
"Oil?"
It should have pierced him. The Second Generation's Skill—Select—had locked onto his vitals with certainty. Yet the dagger never sank in; it simply slid right off. The apparent leader had shifted his body slightly to the side, and he was wearing rounded armor.
However, when the dagger slid off, something like a liquid seemed to shimmer around it.
The leader, now discharging arcs of purple lightning across the area, closed the distance to pin me down. The grass growing on the ground was scorched, and patches that had once been green were burning.
I hurled both daggers at him, and when the opponent swung his sword to deflect them, his torso was left wide open.
I drew the pistol from the holster at my back, interrupted the use of my other Skill, and fired.
The Mana Tool pistol launched its bullets with tremendous force, hurtling straight toward the apparent leader.
But—
All six rounds had stopped, embedded in the surface of his armor.
The Mana Tool pistol's power was enough to punch through Monsters with tough skin. No—it had enough force to blow them apart. Yet he seemed to be absorbing all of it.
"You've got ranged weapons too—but!"
The apparent leader lunged forward, so I leaped back at the last instant. The purple lightning was steadily growing in power, and his sword had begun to glow.
Even as I dodged, the purple lightning scorched the surface of my clothes, giving off a burnt stench.
"This is your fault! All the comrades and equipment I've lost... this is on you!"
It looked as though he was half-committing to a suicidal attack just to vent his rage at me. As the surroundings scorched and the ground turned black, I hurled daggers one after another.
The apparent leader deflected them, slid them aside, and sent them all scattering into the surroundings.
"Pointless! No matter how many of those attacks you throw at me—"
"—Sorry about that. These daggers are special."
All the daggers had been scattered across the area, but when I raised my right arm, they levitated and pointed their tips at the apparent leader.
Launched at the leader in succession, besieged from every direction, the apparent leader tried to parry every single one.
Even as he deflected them, the daggers rose again to press the attack. The apparent leader was visibly growing desperate against the endless barrage.
I prepared my magic. Aiming my right hand at the enemy, I bought time to unleash my spell, then used magic at its fullest power.
"Flame Burst."
A towering pillar of fire erupted around the apparent leader, drawing in the wind until it became a blazing inferno. When it detonated, it blasted everything outward.
My daggers spun around me like a shield, protecting me. I also deployed a magical shield, and after weathering the full impact, a massive crater scarred the surroundings.
The spell carried devastating power, but it required that much preparation—which meant I had needed to lock down the enemy's movements first.
At the center of the devastation, the apparent leader knelt on the ground with his sword still in hand. He had endured, but his entire body was covered in burns. Half his face was in a terrible state.
"You survived that, huh."
"…Tch."
The apparent leader adventurer collapsed, unable to hold on any longer. But there was no liquid on his surface. Had he lost it to the flames, or was it some effect of his Skills? I couldn't tell in the end.
And then, gasping for breath, the man spoke.
"Why. With that kind of power… why did the Guild target me? If I'd known, I could have used entirely different means."
From an adventurer's perspective, it would have been far better for them to simply assassinate me. In fact, that was probably their original intention. But the Guild couldn't carry out an assassination through Baim—my fame and the circumstances wouldn't allow it.
The leader before me didn't seem to understand that.
"You ambush someone's companions, and when you're the one who gets killed, you're going to make excuses?"
At that, the man burst into laughter.
"Ha, haha… yeah. You're right. I just got killed in return. That's a fitting end for me. They called me top-class, and I forgot who I really was. I'm nothing but gutter trash… No matter how high I climb, I stay in the gutter, huh… What will you do with our bodies?"
"Display them. As a warning, obviously."
Hearing that, the adventurer managed a faint laugh, even cracking jokes like, "Then I wish you'd kept me in prettier condition—these burns are embarrassing."
"Hey…"
The adventurer's eyes lost their light, and his voice grew fainter, as if he could barely move.
"What is it?"
"It can't be helped if you strip me bare. I lost, after all. Take the Mana Tools too. That's how it's always been for me. But this..."
There, I saw a short sword hardly befitting a top-tier adventurer.
"The man with the crossbow had one too. Retrieve that one as well. They're cheap pieces that won't fetch any money, but they're precious to us... Just bury them. Anywhere is fine... Five in all."
The adventurer drew his last breath.
I picked up the short sword — no traps had been set on it. When I drew it from its sheath, there were characters engraved along the blade. It was old but well-maintained, and a party name had been carved into it.
The Third Generation looked at it.
"A memento from when you were starting out with your companions, I suppose? Good grief, asking this much of an enemy. What'll you do, Lyle?"
I looked around at the adventurers who had been blown away by my magic. The man with the greatsword had been charred black, and the adventurer whose left arm had been cut off had been blown away but wasn't burned.
"...I'll have them retrieved. Five in total? I'll ask the Valkyries to search through the recovered cargo. They won't fetch any money, so if we find them, we'll bury them in the same place."
Mireia watched my actions.
"I don't think you need to bother? Well, it's a matter of your feelings, Lyle, so do as you like. Things are going according to plan, so doing something like this shouldn't be a problem."
My actions were apparently unnecessary. But it seemed I could go ahead as long as it didn't interfere with the plan. Conversely, that meant I shouldn't do it if it would get in the way.
The Seventh Generation muttered with distaste.
"Hmph. You hone your skills this much, yet you're content to remain an adventurer, and this is what happens. If you'd become a military officer for some noble house, you might have walked a different path."
I shared the same sentiment. But not everyone could live wisely. I myself hadn't chosen a wise path.
It wouldn't be strange if I met the same end as the adventurers I'd defeated someday.
Lyle had rushed off, and Ludmilla sat on a folding chair with little interest, issuing orders to those around her.
If mercenaries or adventurer-related individuals had fled here, the Eastern Branch would welcome them warmly and dispose of the rest. Occasionally, they even deliberately let some escape toward Baim.
Ludmilla had been entrusted with command by Lyle, but with everything already decided, she had little to do.
"She should've brought me along. I wanted to see Lyle's abilities with my own eyes."
The one watching the queen sigh like that was Erhard. Damian and Maxim were off operating with other units, so Erhard had nothing to do and was helping Lyle out of boredom.
He figured he should at least work for the amount of Mana Tools he'd received. He was already being paid a hefty sum simply for accompanying them under contract. Lyle had the right to reclaim the Mana Tools, which also made him feel a little awkward.
Once you gained knowledge as an adventurer, you could appreciate the value of Mana Tools to some extent. These were clearly worth well over a thousand gold coins apiece. Erhard wasn't so ignorant that he could simply accept them and smile without a second thought.
He was wondering whether this might lead to some outrageous request being dumped on him.
"No, she said one person was fine, so one person is fine, right? More to the point, Your Majesty, should you even be here?"
At Erhard's question, the surrounding knights and soldiers gave small nods of agreement. At that, Ludmilla drew her sword and pointed the tip at Erhard's throat.
"Hey — I may be a queen, for now. I'll be losing that position before long, but I'm still royalty, you know? Watch your tongue. If this were a formal setting, I'd have taken your head off right then and there."
"Y-yes! I'm sorry!"
When Erhard apologized, the extended longsword retracted to its original length. Then, as Ludmilla sheathed it, she looked rather displeased.
"It was a joke."
She muttered.
(That didn't sound like a joke at all! You can't exactly laugh off the "jokes" of someone with power!)
While Erhard was seething inwardly, one of the knights approached.
"Ludmilla, a group that appears to be friendly forces is approaching from the direction of the forest. It seems to be the units of Galleria and Rusworth — they're headed this way. Representatives from both nations have apparently come as well, and they say they have business with us."
Ludmilla stood, slung her sword over her shoulder, and started walking.
"Galleria and Rusworth, hm? The Two Great War Maidens, right? I heard they were coming, and I'd like to meet them. I'm curious just what kind of remarkable women they are."
Hearing that, Erhard thought the two war maidens might get along. However, one of his companions suddenly grabbed Erhard's arm as if remembering something.
"What is it?"
"Hey, this is bad! I just remembered — the representatives of Galleria and Rusworth are—!"
Erhard remembered too. The rumors that Lyle had charmed them on the battlefield. Erhard broke into a cold sweat.
Erhard's companions began to think about how they could escape the situation—.
"...Hey, are you scared of a war maiden's battlefield or something?"