As the roaring flames burning at the edge of the sky gradually faded, everyone in the camp gradually approached the explosion site.
Riezel held Lizbeth in his arms as he dropped from midair, his gaze fixed on the center of the extinguishing flames, his brows furrowed deeply.
In his field of vision, the two attackers who had just been hit by Fireball soon appeared.
Now, their cloaks had vanished, revealing their true faces with stiff, death-like expressions and bodies charred black, covered in burn marks, still smoking.
Such injuries, if they had been inflicted on an ordinary person, would surely have left permanent scars and even caused them to die from the relentless burning pain. Yet, the two attackers, looking like the dead, seemed to disregard their injuries entirely as their faces didn't change in the slightest, and there wasn't even a hint of emotion in their eyes.
"...No match."
"...Too strong."
Just like before, they continued to communicate through air vibrations, apparently realizing that trying to take Lizbeth from Riezel's hands would be impossible.
*Whoosh!*
Another attacker, who had been sent flying by Riezel's sword, swiftly returned and rejoined his companions.
"...Retreat."
He made the decision succinctly, which caused the two burn-scarred attackers to nod.
Deciding to give up on the mission, the three of them suddenly vanished under Riezel's watchful eyes.
"Run?"
Speaking coldly, Riezel's eyes shifted into a severe glare.
"Since I can't keep you here, then die."
With that, Riezel dispelled Hermit's imitation he had created using 'Create Greater Item'.
Just then, the knights from the camp, with Nibald in the lead, finally arrived, seeing Riezel standing in the gradually extinguishing flames with Lizbeth in his arms.
Among everyone, Nibald seemed to have been the one who was alerted right away—he rode on a wave of sand that rose from the ground, carrying him to this place ahead of others.
"Sir Bryn—"
Just as Nibald was about to call out to Riezel, however, Riezel moved.
"Time Stop."
When this magic was chanted, everyone present, including Nibald, fell into a world of complete stillness before they even heard Riezel's voice.
It was as if the entire world was wrapped in a layer of gray energy—or rather, it felt like Riezel was the only one who entered a completely different dimension as everything around him was frozen in time, with him as the center.
The flames remained burning but were frozen in place.
The birds flying in the sky remained suspended in their flight, frozen.
Even the wave of sand, which Nibald had stepped on, was frozen, unable to move.
In this frozen world, only Riezel was free to move.
Still holding Lizbeth in his arms, Riezel slowly moved forward with a cold expression, eventually arriving at a forested area, where he found his targets.
Now, the three attackers, like everything else in this world, remained frozen, suspended in mid-air.
Riezel stared at them for a while before extending his hand.
He had to admit that these three attackers were very strange, extremely peculiar. Not to mention the abnormalities he discovered through the Transparent World, but even during the recent battle, their behavior was also highly unusual.
When his sword struck their bodies, it felt like it was hitting cowhide, unable to cut through them at all, only knocking them away.
When his magic hit them, though not without effect, it didn't cause much harm, which made the results less than satisfactory.
Moreover, they appeared and vanished without a trace silently like ghosts.
He was convinced that this wasn't the kind of power magic or swordsmanship could bring but something entirely different, especially that cold, eerie energy—it made him particularly cautious.
Nevertheless, he didn't have the luxury of worrying too much now.
"I'll see if you can still handle this move."
Riezel said coldly before casting another magic.
"Triplet Delay Magic - Reality Slash."
At this moment, Riezel used the same strategy Ainz had once employed.
In the absolute stillness of time, he launched a delayed magic, calculating the right moment to deliver the final blow. Silently counting the time in his mind, Riezel then deactivated Time Stop a second before the delayed magic was about to take effect.
"..."
Time suddenly resumed, bringing the frozen world back to life.
Unaware of what had just happened, the three attackers were about to continue moving forward and leave the battlefield, but unfortunately for them, they were no longer able to do so.
*Swish!*
Right in front of them, space suddenly shook before three slashes powerful enough to cut through space ripped through the world and the forest.
Before they could react, the three slashes landed on them.
*Pu-chi!* *Pu-chi!* *Pu-chi!*
Accompanied by the sound of flesh being severed, the three slashes, which could easily cut through space, effortlessly sliced the three attackers in half as their bodies, which even Riezel's Thunderclap and Flash could only send flying without cutting, were now divided in two.
""?!!!""
Didn't even realize what had happened, the three attackers, by the time they fell to the ground, unable to even gather the strength to get up, finally saw Riezel standing beside them.
"Y-You..."
One of the attackers, who was still wearing a cloak, seemed to want to say something but stopped midway.
In response, Riezel simply raised his hand again.
"Implosion."
What Riezel cast was a magic spell that could be considered vicious even among 10th-Tier Magic.
Why?
Simple.
It was simply because its effects were too bloody and violent.
Just how bloody and violent?
What happened to the three attackers in the next moment said it all.
As soon as Riezel finished chanting, their bodies, which had already been split into six pieces, began to inflate rapidly like balloons.
Realizing what happened to them, the three attackers stared wide-eyed, unable to even scream, watching helplessly as their bodies continued to inflate.
A moment later—
*BOOM!*
Soon enough, the sound of an explosion rang out as the three attackers' bodies burst open like popped balloons, shattering into pieces.
And with that, the battle was finally over.
===
"—hart!"
At the same time, Nibald, who had rushed to the explosion site, finally shouted out the second half of his call.
However, Nibald, with a stunned expression, discovered that Riezel had disappeared without him realizing when.
'Huh? Where did he go?'
Nibald had just started thinking this when, from the direction of the distant forest, he heard the sound of something expanding and blasting out.
'Is he over there?'
Glancing ahead, Nibald felt the fluctuation of magical energy.
Even though he was surprised at how Riezel had vanished and out of nowhere moved over there, he decided to move first and ask questions later.
*Swish!*
Just as Nibald wanted to go, however, Riezel's figure suddenly appeared before him.
Riezel was holding Lizbeth in a princess carry, as if he had been there from the start, walking toward Nibald step by step after appearing.
'What was that just now...?'
Nibald, staring at the suddenly appearing Riezel, had his expression slightly change.
'Teleportation?'
'Sir Brynhart could use teleportation magic?'
'Could he be... an Imaginary?'
Nibald's heart stirred with waves of shock.
*Whoosh!*
Suddenly, a golden sword shot from the direction of the camp, reaching Riezel and Lizbeth before Nibald could act.
What else but Moslow?
In the next moment, as soon as Moslow landed in Lizbeth's hand, whose body was soft and limp, drained of all strength and unable to move, with her face flushing with a suspicious red hue, a hazy golden light surged out from it and flowed into her body.
"Hm?"
As Riezel noticed this, his curiosity was piqued.
"Master!"
Lizbeth, feeling her strength gradually return and able to move again, instinctively called out to Riezel without thinking.
"Yes, I'm here. Are you okay?"
Riezel's attention shifted from Moslow to Lizbeth in an instant.
"I-I'm fine..."
Lizbeth shook her head, looking confused, clearly struggling to keep up with the developments.
"Grandpa!"
"Sir Riezel!"
"Sir Riezel! Grandmaster Nibald!"
Andrea, Fanny, and Gerald finally arrived, rushing over with a flustered look on their faces.
"What the..."
Felix, following at the back, watched Riezel holding Lizbeth and then looked at the battlefield, now covered by the gradually extinguishing flames, unsure if he felt shocked or confused, so he slowed his pace.
As everyone joined Riezel, the knights gathered and then spread out to stand guard around the area.
Nibald stepped down from the wave of sand and landed right in front of Riezel and Lizbeth.
"What happened? Were you fighting here? Did someone attack you?" Nibald asked urgently.
"Yeah..." Riezel replied while gently setting Lizbeth down, who was regaining her strength. "Lizbeth, they were targeting you, didn't they?"
"I-I think so..." Lizbeth, hugging Moslow, replied while blushing slightly, but as she thought about what had just happened, her face turned pale. "I-I'm sorry... I don't really know what happened..."
She was truly clueless.
She originally just wanted to practice Love Breathing for a bit before falling asleep, so how could she have expected some people to suddenly appear in front of her and capture her?
As a result, Lizbeth was now both shocked and flustered, completely unsure of how to react.
"Targeting Miss Lizbeth?"
Upon hearing Riezel's words, the others looked at Lizbeth, all showing surprised expressions.
Clearly, they hadn't expected Lizbeth to be the one targeted, not Riezel.
"What about those attackers?" Andrea quickly asked.
"I took care of them." Riezel answered calmly.
"Not a single one left alive?" Nibald asked while frowning.
"No choice. I mean, those guys were very strange. I wasn't confident I could capture them alive, so I decided to just deal with them." Riezel calmly shook his head. "But you know what? I think someone here might know who they are."
Shortly after saying this, he cast his gaze toward a particular person, causing everyone to immediately follow his gaze and look at the person.
Feeling the eyes of everyone on him, Felix froze and forced a twisted smile.
Meanwhile, the expressions of the others became either deep, thoughtful, or filled with anger.
Seeing this, Felix really felt an urge to turn and run.