Ch.89Chapter 89: Eradicating the Criminal Organization (9)

Clang!

In front of Lilith, whose body had frozen in place at the beam of light extending toward her like a flash, Valt’s thick arm blocks the radiance.

The flash, which had seemed almost magical, was actually a throwing knife hurled by Sickle.

“Tch, not so easy.”

“Focus on me! You assassin!”

Sickle had determined that Lilith, being a mage, posed a significant threat, and had been watching for an opportunity to eliminate her even while engaged in combat with Riman.

But his attempt was thwarted by Valt.

Lilith, after confirming the existence of the knife that had nearly pierced her head, trembled and said to Valt:

“Th-thank you, Sir Valt.”

“Be careful. Mages are always the highest priority targets for elimination.”

“Y-yes, understood.”

In truth, she hadn’t let her guard down. It was just that the attack from Sickle, the master of the 8th floor, was that stealthy and powerful.

Santar, freed from Lilith’s binding with Sickle’s help, immediately charged toward her.

But that was a poor choice, as Valt stood firmly in front of her.

Valt spoke quietly while tensing his right arm.

“I should have enough time to deal with this one. Hup!”

Squelch-

Valt’s arm swelled instantly.

Seeing this, Santar’s expression turned to shock.

“Y-you monster!”

Santar could tell. He hadn’t risen to the position of leader of one of the four major organizations by gambling.

His ability to sense danger, especially his talent for recognizing the strong, was exceptionally keen.

If he couldn’t win, he would flee.

That was how Santar had survived in the underworld.

The barbarian before him was clearly stronger. If he clashed head-on, he would die. This warning rang loudly in Santar’s mind.

But he had already committed to the attack and couldn’t stop.

So Santar began to summon all the power he possessed.

This seemed to be his decisive move.

Even if his attack proved useless, he thought his skills would at least create an opening to escape.

Tremendous aura filled Santar’s axe, and the axe-shaped aura thread grew enormously.

It was his unique technique—not striking with the blade of the axe, but using its flat side with brute aura to devastate a wide area.

Santar believed that the power now contained in his axe was the strongest he had ever wielded as he swung it.

“Die!!”

Even to Lilith, this looked dangerous. The strike from Santar, a fellow powerhouse of the 7th floor, was something even she would find challenging.

“Valt!!”

But Valt remained utterly composed.

With a slight smile, Valt began coating his swollen fist with metal created from blood magic and elemental power.

Rumble-rumble-rumble-

Needless to say, axes and auras are not living beings.

Just as Santar’s axe nearly reached Valt…

Valt’s right fist, wrapped in blood-colored metal, extended toward Santar’s axe, creating an enormous pressure wave.

Whoosh-

“You stupid bastard! With just a punch?!”

Seeing Valt’s punch, Santar smiled with confidence and pressed down harder with his axe.

However, a different outcome than what Santar had hoped for awaited him.

Thud!

The axe, struck by Valt’s fist extended like an uppercut, spun through the air.

Santar’s hand, which had been gripping the axe tightly, was already torn and bleeding profusely.

His hand had been shattered by the impact of Valt striking the axe.

Santar, forgetting the pain in his hand, was dumbfounded by the impossible sight.

“Wh-what is this? Hitting aura and sending it flying?! Th-that’s imposs—!”

Before Santar could finish his sentence, Valt’s raised fist now swung downward.

A massive metal hammer had already formed on the upper part of Valt’s arm.

‘How amusing. Direct weapon strikes aren’t allowed, but as long as my hand doesn’t touch it, I can strike with a magically created weapon. When you think about it, it’s not much of a restriction.’

This was the moment Valt’s earth elemental upgraded, transforming his previous Rock Hammer into the new Iron Hammer.

Though it was only coated with metal on the outside to increase its size, it was naturally much stronger than before.

[Giant Iron Hammer Stamp.]

Valt’s massive iron hammer came crashing down.

Whoosh!

Santar, shocked first by his axe being sent flying and then by the sudden appearance of the giant hammer above Valt, couldn’t do anything and took the full force of Valt’s hammer with his body.

“Guh, AAAAARGH!!”

CRASH!

RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-

The ground shook and cracked from the surreal impact of the immense physical force, causing everyone engaged in battle nearby to momentarily look toward Valt.

Even Lilith, watching from behind, couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.

“A-amazing…!”

The sight of a 7th floor powerhouse turned into a bloody pulp by one strike of Valt’s hammer.

In truth, there was a trick to Valt’s method.

A way to strike without touching the body.

Valt had swung the enormous iron hammer he created with tremendous force and brought it crashing down.

The iron hammer, accelerated by Valt’s strength in addition to its magical activation, was powerful enough to instantly flatten even a 7th floor powerhouse.

As Valt’s iron hammer dissipated back into mana and elemental power after its sustaining force was depleted, only a red stain of unidentifiable shape remained where it had fallen.

It was so flattened that it looked more like a red smear, not appearing particularly gruesome.

After confirming this, Valt shouted loudly.

“One down! The leader of Santar!!”

Hearing Valt’s shout, his comrades were encouraged and began pushing back against their enemies with renewed vigor.

Sickle, who had been watching this scene.

His mouth, which had been closed in disbelief, opened.

His opponent was, of course, Riman, with whom he was currently crossing blades.

“What is that guy…?”

Riman was in dire straits.

The 8th floor powerhouse of the assassin class was insanely fast.

His sword, known as the Drowsy Sword, was inevitably outpaced by the assassin’s swift blade, though Riman, at the upper end of the 7th floor, could somewhat block Sickle’s sword with only shallow wounds.

But that was only possible because Sickle wasn’t giving his all, focused as he was on trying to kill Lilith.

“Huff, huff. That’s my disciple. How about it? Strong, isn’t he?”

Sickle’s brow furrowed at Riman’s words.

“Disciple? Don’t make me laugh. There’s nothing in common between you and that guy. What kind of monster is he? From what I can see, he doesn’t even seem to use aura…”

As Sickle’s tongue extended, Riman didn’t miss the opening and lunged forward with his sword.

“Hyah!”

Clang!

Blocking Riman’s attack with ease, Sickle spoke to him with a bored expression.

“You’re not enough. You’re certainly quite strong, but you haven’t crossed the threshold. Your sword lacks enlightenment.”

But Riman’s attacks didn’t stop.

“I! Know! That! You bastard!”

Whoosh!

Clang!

Slice-

“Guh!”

This time, not only did Sickle block Riman’s attack, but he also threw a dagger with his left hand, wounding Riman’s body.

Fortunately, Riman narrowly avoided the dagger, but he couldn’t prevent being injured.

Seeing this, even Sickle looked puzzled.

“Interesting. You dodge remarkably well. My attacks shouldn’t be that easy to avoid.”

In truth, the act of “dodging” an attack isn’t limited to speed alone.

If one can observe the opponent’s gaze, shoulders, arm movements, leg position, posture, and so on, and predict where the attack will come from, then the act of dodging becomes possible.

In this regard, Riman’s ability was unparalleled.

The reason his swordplay appeared languid? It was because he extended his sword with the most efficient movements, which to observers might seem monotonous and lazy.

In other words, due to his superhuman ability to predict attack trajectories, Riman’s swordplay was described as extremely monotonous or languid.

“If speed alone determined who could land attacks and who could dodge them, wouldn’t the fastest person in the world be the strongest? We both know that’s not the case.”

Sickle’s gaze grew calm as he nodded slightly.

“I acknowledge that, just as being the strongest doesn’t make you the best.”

“No, if you’re the strongest in the world, then you are the best.”

“What? Don’t be ridiculous.”

Riman glanced briefly at his disciple Valt, who was standing firmly below, watching him, and smirked.

“At least by my standards. I happen to know someone who seems likely to become the strongest in the world through sheer power.”

Even as he spoke, Riman’s mind was ceaselessly working on how to defeat his opponent.

‘Yes, my sword lacks individuality. The nickname “Drowsy Sword” is, in a way, synonymous with lacking distinctiveness. So what am I best at?’

While he was thinking, Sickle began his attack.

“How boring. The Drowsy Sword, was it? A sword style true to its name. Since killing the mage failed, let’s end this quickly.”

‘Think, think. If you don’t, you’ll die, Riman Squat!’

And at that moment.

Whoosh-

Sickle’s form vanished from Riman’s sight.