*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*
*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*
Within the ruins that had turned into a sea of fire, a torrential rain of flames continued to fall. It shook the ground without pause, shattered the walls, destroyed everything in its path, and carried its thunderous roar outward with each violent tremor.
At the edge of the inferno, the First-Class Adventurers of the two strongest familias in Orario stood facing one another, the air between them thick with hostility.
Members of Bringar stared fixedly at their fellow pallum Braver, releasing a palpable murderous aura.
Jormungand reacted immediately, glaring toward Bringar and repeatedly trying to rush forward, only to be firmly restrained by Amazon, who locked her in a tight hold.
Hildrsleif and Dainsleif respectfully faced Nine Hell, the high elf who was part of elven royalty, while, at the same time, they coldly watched Braver.
Under these circumstances, the werewolf known as Vanargand clicked his tongue in irritation, while the Sword Princess, holding her sword, dared not relax for even a moment, silently adjusting her breathing.
If such a standoff were to occur on the surface, it would have terrified every witness to the point of collapse and drawn screams from adventurers.
At this moment, the tension was on the verge of igniting, as if a battle could break out at any moment, which couldn’t be helped.
On the surface, the two familias were enemies to begin with.
The Loki Familia and the Freya Familia, the two strongest familias in Orario, had opposed one another countless times in the past and clashed on numerous occasions.
Now that sworn enemies were meeting face to face, mutual hostility was only natural.
Even then, both sides were actually exercising considerable restraint, because standing before them were the only enemies they truly acknowledged and remained wary of.
Everyone understood that once fighting began, the outcome would be devastating, which was precisely why the white elf Hedin had spoken with such certainty before.
"You don’t want to fight us here."
"If it comes to that, your expedition will end before it even begins—there’s no way you’ll be able to continue."
"If you think that doesn’t matter, then go ahead and make your move."
Under Hedin’s calm, rational words—so cold they felt almost heartless—Finn narrowed his eyes.
"So you’re telling us to just stand by and watch our familia companion be unilaterally brutalized by the captain of a hostile familia?"
Finn’s single sentence prompted every First-Class Adventurer of the Loki Familia to raise their weapons.
Hedin responded with obvious irritation.
"You call that unilateral brutality?" Hedin questioned coldly. "Open your eyes, you arrogant pallum. What’s happening over there is a life-and-death battle. It’s a fight that doesn’t allow interference from either side. How does that count as unilateral brutality?"
He shifted his gaze toward the sea of fire, and the others followed suit, a range of emotions surfacing in their eyes.
Within the inferno, amid the ruins, the young human swordsman struggled to stabilize himself as he was knocked backward, then fearlessly charged forward through the rain of flames toward the advancing boaz warrior.
With swordsmanship so refined it defied belief, and with high-speed chanting so fast it made even Riveria widen her eyes, the human unleashed a storm of slashes and a barrage of magic at the same time, actually forcing his opponent back.
Such a sight couldn’t help but shock many, making others look at the young human swordsman in a new light.
Gripping his sword, Hedin continued without expression.
"Orario’s strongest magic swordsman... I thought that was just the usual, exaggerated nonsense from foolish gods and ignorant citizens who love stirring up trouble. But now that I see him, that human does at least have the right to call himself that."
Hedin’s words caused Hogni, standing beside him, to tighten his grip on his black longsword.
Both of them were magic swordsmen, and neither had ever believed that anyone in Orario surpassed them.
Yet now, they had to admit that the young human swordsman battling the boaz warrior might stand above them.
It was not a pleasant realization.
Hogni was clearly dissatisfied, and so was Hedin.
Even though Hedin spoke rationally, flames that symbolized a heart for war burned in his eyes.
Clearly, both of them had developed a sense of rivalry toward Riezel, now regarding the young human they once dismissed as a true opponent.
"No wonder that stupid cat suffered at his hands," Hedin said, making a remark that would have drawn extremely ugly expressions from certain people who were present. "And no wonder Lady Freya took an interest in him."
Finn caught that comment immediately.
"Ahh, so that’s how it is..." Finn said, giving Hedin a deep look. "Your Goddess of Beauty has taken an interest in our monster rookie, so that’s why you’re all here? To have Ottar test Riezel’s strength?"
Hedin showed an annoyed expression in response.
"Hmph, if that were really the case, I’d actually feel better about it," Hedin replied with a snort. "At least compared to that stupid, hard-to-train rabbit with rocks for brains, if we’re going to make this kind of fuss, I’d much rather it be someone capable of fighting that boaz to this extent."
"What do you mean by that...?" Finn asked with a frown.
Instead of Hedin, the ones who answered were the four pallum warriors.
"It means that kid of yours is just incidental."
"We came to block you, but that muscle-bound boaz didn’t."
"His mission is to give a certain stupid, hard-to-train rabbit a trial."
"He stops anyone who gets in the way, but your kid just happened to run into him, and only because he caught our goddess’s interest did she send us here to keep you from interfering."
After saying this one by one, the pallum warriors then spoke in unison.
""In other words, you’re just incidental to the incidental. Got it?""
Such an openly contemptuous remark nearly sent Bete and Tione into a rampage.
"Looks like you’re really asking to die... Fine, c’mon! I’ll kick your asses to death!"
"Don’t stop me! Tiona! I’m gonna smash these four bastards!"
"Don’t! Dammit, this will turn into a huge mess... though I really want to go too!"
Bete, veins bulging on his forehead, stepped forward, while Tione struggled furiously, prompting Tiona to shout her angry complaints while restraining her sister.
"Stop," Riveria said, restraining them as she spoke in a low voice. "They’re right. No matter what, we’re still in the middle of an expedition."
At her words, Ais exchanged a glance with Finn at the front, as if silently asking whether they truly could not act.
Finn gave no response but spoke to Hedin instead.
"I won’t speculate on the Goddess of Beauty’s will, but I won’t keep watching either."
Just staying silent, doing nothing, was something Finn would never compromise on.
Not only because Riezel was their companion, but because, in his judgment, it was still too early for Riezel to face Ottar.
Finn turned his gaze toward the burning ruins.
He could see that, although Riezel continued to launch astonishing sword and magic attacks at Ottar, the latter only appeared to be at a disadvantage.
As a long-standing enemy, Finn knew very well what Orario’s strongest adventurer was truly capable of.
Others only saw the surface fact that he was Orario’s sole Level 7 and did not understand that Ottar was far more than that simple label. Not only had he surpassed Finn and the others by reaching Level 7 first, but he had never stopped pursuing further refinement.
Even though precise intelligence was unavailable, based on Finn’s judgment, Ottar had already honed his status to the absolute limit of his current level, reaching a point where no further advancement was possible.
And that was indeed the truth.
...
Ottar
Level 7
STR: S999
END: S999
DEX: S991
AGI: S989
MAG: D566
...
If one looked at Ottar’s current status, his four basic abilities—STR, END, DEX, and AGI—had all reached the highest S-rank, either already at the absolute limit of 999 proficiency or extremely close to it.
Needless to say, this was true stagnation.
Not the exhaustion of potential like others faced, but having touched the peak of status itself, the very limit of Falna, beyond which one could go no further.
It could be said that, aside from cheating and unreasonable entities like Riezel, who could break limits, Ottar was the most abnormal individual in the Lower World.
Four basic abilities at S-rank were already a monstrous status, capable of horrifying gods and mortals alike.
And yet, Ottar refused to stop there.
Even after reaching the limits of those in the Lower World and touching the wall of Falna, he never slackened, continuing to seek ways to become stronger.
When his status could no longer increase, he refined his technique.
When his body could no longer be honed, he honed his mind.
Before his most revered goddess permitted him to stake his life on a glorious feat, he continued to train himself in ways that could even be described as dull-minded, repeatedly practicing and polishing himself to the extreme.
And that was how he developed his combat style and constructed the exaggerated tactic known as Absolute Defense, using technique and strategy to prevent anyone from ever reaching his body.
’Ottar is already extremely, extremely close to Level 8.’
In Finn’s eyes, Ottar was not merely Orario’s only Level 7, but also someone on the verge of entering a new realm, touching the domain once held by the Zeus Familia and the Hera Familia, and reaching Level 8—a level that no one else had yet attained in the current Orario.
When facing such an overwhelmingly abnormal opponent, even Finn, Gareth, and Riveria often felt powerless.
’It’s still too early for Riezel to shake Ottar’s position.’
Finn concluded silently in his heart, and as if to prove his judgment, the situation within the burning ruins suddenly changed.
"HAAAAAAAAAHHH—!!!"
Ottar’s roar erupted, instantly drawing everyone’s attention.
===
[A bonus Chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
[Support me and read next Chapters early at: /VALRRR]