Ch.88Chapter 88: Eradicating the Criminal Organization (8)

The attack by Riman and Lilith signals the start of the operation.

Riman Skwat’s languid sword.

But that didn’t mean the sword’s power was languid as well.

Riman and Lilith’s first attack involved Riman releasing aura concentrated on a single point while Lilith unleashed a wide-area spell through that opening.

It’s obvious that a wide-area spell is more powerful when there’s an opening than when there isn’t.

Riman and Lilith’s first attack was powerful enough to throw the Four Organizations into chaos.

It even killed two members of the organization leaders’ royal guards with that single strike.

“Hahaha, it’s been a while. Lilith, you’re quite impressive!”

“Thank you for the compliment, Professor.”

“By the way, why isn’t that guy coming…? Oh! There he is.”

After spotting Valt, Riman immediately turns his attention elsewhere, greatly expanding his aura sense.

He was searching for the strongest Master of the 8th Floor among them.

‘Where are you, where are you….’

While Riman was focused on spreading his aura sense to find the enemy,

Valt shouted loudly and quickly ran toward the explosion site.

“It’s good to see you outside, Professor.”

Riman answers without looking at Valt.

“Yes, my precious disciple. I’ll definitely repay this debt. If I survive.”

Riman was confident.

If he could survive a life-or-death battle with an 8th Floor powerhouse—no, if he could even win—he would surely be able to ascend to a higher level.

Valt nodded and shouted to his friends.

“Everyone, don’t get hurt! Ask for help if it gets dangerous!”

“Got it!!”

Everyone responded in unison to Valt’s words, and Viktor was the first to take the lead and rush forward.

“Hahaha!! I’m going in!!”

“Be careful!”

“I’ll take on the strongest one!!”

“I’ll show them the power of muscles!!”

Valt’s friends, each making their own distinctive remarks, began charging toward the enemies.

As expected of the top fighting force of the Four Organizations, everyone except the first few casualties remained unharmed.

“Enemy! Protect the boss! Everyone to your positions!”

Some of the enemies shouted like this, gathering their organization’s royal guards, while the leaders of the enemies were still nowhere to be seen.

The royal guards who quickly came out and lined up numbered 14 in total.

Five were selected from each organization to protect their bosses as royal guards, but they had already lost two to Riman and Lilith’s first strike.

“Don’t give them time to regroup! Arias, form four teams! Teams 2, 3, and 4 except Valt, take five enemies each from the left! Reduin and Lati, fall back now!”

The one giving orders was Princess Elias.

It seemed that the princess, who had already mastered imperial studies and military sciences, was the most rational commander in this situation.

Valt was in the middle of assessing the battlefield, as he needed to pay attention not only to this battle but also to Riman’s fight.

A battle between 9 Academy students and 14 enemy royal guards.

They would start with just team members, as Solphin, Lilith, and Airin would need to break away to face the enemy leaders when they appeared.

“Viktor! Yuria! Seirun at the front, the rest support those three! Arias, focus on healing! Robin, provide covering fire from the rear! The enemy has no mages!”

Just as Elias, who had quickly assessed the situation, gave orders to her comrades, and as Yuria and Seirun, considered the strongest among them, were about to launch themselves at the enemy royal guards—

BOOM!—

The four leaders of the enemy organizations appeared simultaneously.

“Just who the hell are—!!”

But the leader’s speech was quickly cut short.

At Valt’s shout, the members who had been waiting to engage the leaders rushed in without giving them time to speak.

“Engage!!”

The first to rush forward was, of course, Professor Riman.

Riman had already identified the enemy with his aura sense before Valt’s shout and charged at Sickle, the leader of the Shadow Reapers and the strongest among them, launching a sword energy attack.

Swoosh—

The four leaders who had been clustered together scattered at the sudden powerful sword energy, and Riman quickly closed in on Sickle.

“Good! It’s you!! The assassin!”

Saying this, Riman brought his sword down vertically.

Sickle quickly gathered his aura and drew a crescent-shaped dagger from his waist to block Riman’s vertical slash.

CLANG!

Sickle blocked it with great ease.

Though his face was covered by a mask, Riman thought the guy was smiling right now.

“For all your big talk… you’re not much.”

It was a small whisper from Sickle, but Riman heard it clearly and, sensing that his opponent was definitely stronger than himself, raised his fighting spirit even more and launched a series of sword attacks at Sickle.

“I’ll admit you have the skills to back it up! Let’s see what you’ve got!”

Clang—

Clang!

CLANG!

Clang-clang-clang—

As the battle between Sickle and Riman began, Valt’s comrades rushed toward the remaining leaders.

Each chose their opponent based on instinct.

The first to shout was, of course, Solphin.

“That one’s mine! Hyaah!”

A flaming fist extended toward Sven, the leader of Thorn Swamp, who looked the most intimidating.

“Graaah!!”

Sven’s main weapon was a greatsword.

Sven, who was more agile than expected, swung his greatsword at Solphin’s fist.

He naturally expected his sword to cut Solphin’s fist in half.

But what he felt instead was a heavy impact and noise.

CLANG—

“W-What!?”

Pushed back by the impact of his deflected greatsword, Sven leaped further backward to regain his posture, and Solphin pursued him.

“Kyahaha! That’s not enough! Die!”

Following him, Airin decided to take on Kalson, the leader of Venom.

Airin, who had been diligently training her muscles, now had a fairly solid body, and her once delicate frame now gave the impression of a well-forged blade.

Such an Airin made a comment while looking at Solphin.

“I can’t do that… how brutish… Still, I’ll show the results of my training!”

[Lushtian Swift Sword Style, First Secret Technique: Wind Slash]

It was the very technique she had shown to Seirun in the second semifinal match of the Academy tournament.

Of course, since this wasn’t a duel, Airin didn’t call out the technique’s name.

Swish—

Whoosh—

Airin’s form disappeared as she passed by Kalson.

SLASH!

Kalson, startled by the incredible speed, shouted with wide eyes.

“What the hell!?”

Airin was an early 7th Floor powerhouse. In terms of realm, she wasn’t that far behind Kalson, who was in the middle of the 7th Floor.

While Kalson was a step ahead, Airin was clearly a threatening opponent for him.

Slash!

“Argh!”

Despite his concentration, Kalson couldn’t properly respond to the speed of Airin’s Wind Slash and received a long bloody gash on his forearm.

And then came the second sword energy.

Airin’s Wind Slash was a secret technique that delivered two attacks with a time difference, so if one turned their eyes to chase Airin, they could receive a fatal wound from the following sword energy.

But Kalson was also a 7th Floor powerhouse.

His eyes did follow Airin, but he was able to draw his sword and block the second Wind Slash’s energy attack.

“Y-You damn woman, showing off your little tricks? Start reciting your death prayers.”

Airin, who had used her secret technique from the start, was smiling for some reason.

“Haha, this muscle training really works?”

If she had used this level of power against Seirun, Seirun might have died on the spot.

It was only because this Kalson had an extremely tough body and was a 7th Floor aura user that the damage was limited to this extent.

In fact, this was Airin’s first life-or-death battle against a stronger opponent.

But why was her heart pounding so much?

A chuckle escaped Airin’s lips as her smile deepened, and she readjusted her grip on her sword.

“Heh, what are you waiting for? Weren’t you going to kill me? Come on!”

Provoked by Airin, Kalson charged at her with bloodshot eyes.

“Die, you bitch!”

Just as the attack was about to begin, Santar, who had been standing by and watching, tried to rush at Airin along with Kalson.

It was a very rational action to attack together and eliminate the enemy quickly.

Recognizing this, Lilith’s hand moved.

Until now, Lilith hadn’t shown much movement.

She had been quietly gathering magical power for her blood magic.

Due to her nature as a mage, rather than launching a preemptive attack like the others, she had planned to let her comrades engage the enemies first while she would block the movements of the remaining enemy.

[Blood Bondage]

As Lilith softly chanted the incantation and extended her arm, dozens of blood-colored ropes stretched out from around her body to bind Santar.

Realizing this, Santar quickly turned and swung his weapon, an axe.

Whoosh—

But her magic twisted like a living thing and wrapped around Santar, binding him tightly.

“G-Guh!”

[Blood Spear]

Quick succession.

Lilith, with none of the various expressions she had shown Valt, but rather an indifferent face, instantly extended and launched a blood-colored spear.

The current Lilith was in an awakened state with white hair after drinking a little of the blood Valt had given her.

Such a Lilith was practically at the edge of the 7th Floor in power, so her attack could be fatal even to Santar, who was also on the 7th Floor.

“D-Damn it all!! Aaaaargh!!”

Just as one of the leaders was about to die—

Whoosh—

SLASH!

A flash of light from somewhere cut through Lilith’s magic.

And that flash quickly approached from another direction, aiming for the top of Lilith’s head.

“Huh?”