"Stop right there!"
Just as Riezel's group arrived at the entrance to Sorren's residence, several knights immediately stepped forward and blocked their path.
All of these knights were the same as the ones guarding outside Lizbeth's residence—every single one of them wore a Sword Master Medal.
However...
"Hm?"
Riezel, whose path had been blocked, raised his eyes and glanced at the knights standing before him.
"!!!"
In an instant, the knights felt a chill run through their hearts, as though some great disaster were about to descend upon them.
Naturally, they knew exactly why.
Who was the young man standing before them?
He was the youngest Sword Saint in the history of Jinas, and even the youngest Sword Saint in the history of the entire continent.
And now, they were attempting to stop a Sword Saint.
How could that possibly not feel like courting disaster?
Yet, understanding that duty was still duty, the knights could only steel themselves and endure Riezel's gaze without backing away.
"Beyond this point lies the residence of His Highness the Third Prince. We ask that you refrain from trespassing."
Stepping forward, the knight captain leading the group respectfully bowed toward Riezel, Euryale, and Lizbeth.
"We came here to visit Prince Sorren. Please step aside."
Riezel spoke calmly, his expression completely nonchalant.
"Visit..."
At Riezel's words, the knight captain hesitated for a moment before replying with a troubled expression.
"I'm really sorry, but His Highness is currently recovering and isn't in any condition to receive guests."
Riezel suddenly smiled soundlessly, carrying an unreadable emotion.
"It's fine. I just so happen to be a magician as well, and I even know recovery magic, so this is a good opportunity for me to take a look at the prince's injuries."
Hearing that statement, the knight captain could only believe half of it.
At this point, the entire kingdom knew that the Lightning Sword Saint was not only a swordsman, but also a magician.
For that reason, while the knight captain believed that Riezel knew healing magic, if someone claimed that he had come here specifically to treat Sorren's injuries, the knight captain would never believe it.
Even though he did not know that Sorren had ended up in his current state because of what Riezel had done, the conflict between the prince and Riezel was common knowledge among the nobles and knights.
Because of that, there was no way the knight captain would believe Riezel had come with good intentions.
As a result, the knight captain prepared to speak again and offer yet another excuse, but before he could say anything, he and the knights under his command suddenly realized with horror that they could no longer move.
"You—!"
Immediately, the knight captain stared at Riezel in shock.
At that moment, within Riezel's eyes, a mysterious, magical light flickered faintly.
Evil Eye.
Riezel activated the eye-based magic capable of inflicting various negative effects upon enemies, placing the 'binding' status upon the knights.
Ever since returning from the world of Danmachi, he no longer used the Hero Ring to absorb excess power, nor did he suppress the effects of the various items he wore.
Under such circumstances, with his current level, combined with the support of Development Abilities such as Mage and Magic Chant, as well as the amplified enhancement provided by Morgan's Ring, restraining several Sword Masters equivalent to Level 5 was effortless for him.
In the next second, the magical glow within Riezel's eyes gradually faded away.
"Let's head inside."
Leaving behind those words, Riezel walked directly into the grand residence.
Lizbeth, Euryale, and Luna hurriedly followed after him.
"Um... Master..."
As they walked through the residence corridor, Lizbeth spoke with some unease in her voice, wanting to know why Riezel had suddenly decided to visit Sorren.
"Don't ask for now. You'll understand later."
Riezel understood what Lizbeth meant and replied calmly, his gaze still fixed forward.
As he led the group deeper toward Sorren's location, they did not encounter a single person along the way. Whether knights or servants, such a massive residence somehow contained none at all, which felt extremely strange.
However, once one noticed the faint smell of blood lingering in the air, along with the traces of bloodstains left upon the floors and walls that could no longer be scrubbed away, it became obvious why nobody wished to remain here.
No matter how one looked at it, the interior of the residence no longer felt like a residence at all. Instead, it resembled the insides of some enormous beast, with the air so thick and heavy that it made anyone instinctively want to stay far away.
"T-This place is terrifying..."
Luna could no longer help herself as she wrapped her arms around her body and rubbed them repeatedly, looking as though she were freezing all over.
"It's okay, Luna. My master is here with us."
Lizbeth immediately comforted Luna softly.
Luna immediately glanced toward Riezel, and the chill in her body lessened considerably.
No matter what, traveling beside a Sword Saint gave people a powerful sense of security. Because of that, even if she did not want to admit it, she understood that his presence gave her tremendous courage.
Among the three women, only Euryale still appeared completely calm—in fact, she even seemed sleepy. If Lizbeth were not holding onto her, this vampire would probably have collapsed onto the floor and fallen asleep right then and there.
Truth be told, Riezel was rather curious about how strong this woman truly was.
Back in the burial chamber within the ruins, Euryale had effortlessly suppressed him while he was still at Level 7 and had injured him in a single exchange. Although he had only been Level 7 at the time, his combat power had absolutely not been inferior to that of a Level 8.
Yet despite facing someone whose combat ability rivaled Level 8, she had still managed to wound him in a single encounter. Because of that, he had never been able to determine just how high the upper limit of this vampire's strength truly was.
Now, however, he had advanced to Level 8.
Even in his normal state, his combat power already rivaled Level 9, and with his various magical abilities, he no longer feared opponents who surpassed Level 9.
If his current self fought Euryale again, what would the result be?
He was genuinely curious.
Unfortunately, now was not the time for such things.
Shaking his head lightly, Riezel walked directly toward a room.
*BANG!*
Without the slightest hesitation, and amid the startled cries of Lizbeth and Luna, Riezel shoved the door open and entered without any courtesy whatsoever.
However, the moment he stepped inside, Riezel frowned because the sight before him was truly unbearable to look at.
It was an extremely luxurious room filled with expensive furniture and lavish decorations everywhere.
At the very back of the room stood a bed, and someone was lying upon it.
Yet beneath the bed, thick stains of blood that could no longer be cleaned away spread across the surroundings like a glaring pool of blood. Trash littered the floor everywhere—either shattered vases or fragments of broken furniture.
Riezel even spotted pieces of human remains among the debris, likely leftovers from the dead.
"Eh..."
"Uhh..."
Lizbeth and Luna finally gathered the courage to follow him inside, only to freeze at the chaotic scene before them and cover their mouths in shock.
Riezel, meanwhile, looked toward the person lying on the bed, his eyes completely devoid of any emotional fluctuation.
"Who...?"
Suddenly, the voice of the person lying on the bed echoed out, but he still did not rise, nor did he move in the slightest.
"Who allowed you to enter...? Want to die...?"
What kind of voice was it?
Put simply, it was like the murmur of a devil, or perhaps the growl of a wild beast.
Anyone could hear the madness hidden within that voice, and anyone could sense the murderous aura contained within it.
Yes.
Simply because someone had opened the door and entered, the master of the room was already prepared to kill.
And he immediately acted on that intent.
*BOOM!*
Along with a terrifying pressure descending upon them, an immense force crushed down on Riezel and the others.
It was none other than the spiritual power of the War King Sword Style—the master of the room had released the spiritual power unique to the War King Sword Style, and he had done so in the most violent manner possible.
An ordinary person would never be able to withstand such spiritual power—the moment it crushed down on them, they would either suffer a mental breakdown, bleed from all seven orifices and die on the spot, or go completely insane and start smashing themselves against walls—there was no third outcome.
Unless, of course, the ones being crushed by that spiritual power were not ordinary people.
Under the right conditions, the current Lizbeth was already capable of fighting against a Sword Saint, much less defeating a Sword Master.
*BOOM!*
Standing beside Riezel, Lizbeth reacted as though provoked and instantly released her own spiritual power.
In that instant, the two masses of spiritual power became invisible force fields that violently collided against each other, but then Lizbeth's spiritual power immediately gained the upper hand and effortlessly overwhelmed the opposing side.
If it had been the previous Lizbeth, she might not have been able to suppress her opponent so easily.
After all, she had only recently become a Sword Master, so naturally, she could not have matched Sorren, who had spent many years within the realm of Sword Master and had long since stepped into the domain of an expert Sword Master.
But within Reinnail's ruins, she had not only broken Moslow's seal, but she had also awakened the bloodline of the Hero Clan, so she had already undergone a complete transformation and was no longer the same as before.
As a result, her spiritual power effortlessly shattered Sorren's spiritual power and crushed back against him instead.
"Ugh!"
In an instant, the person lying on the bed immediately let out a pained groan.
Only then was he finally forced to clearly see the people who had entered through the door.
And the first person he saw was Riezel standing at the front.
"..."
At that instant, his eyes widened, then—
"RIEZEL BRYNHAAART—!!!"
A furious roar erupted from his mouth as though he had fallen into a berserk state.
Within that voice was a murderous aura dozens, even hundreds of times denser than before, along with towering hatred.
Riezel merely looked at the man lying on the bed and roaring with bloodshot eyes at the sight of him, his own expression remaining completely calm.
"Don't call me like that, mad dog. We're not close enough for that."
Riezel spoke expressionlessly, saying words shocking enough to leave any bystander speechless.
Hearing his words, the other party suddenly fell silent for a moment before finally responding.
*Schwing!*
Suddenly, the sound of a sword being drawn echoed out.
Sorren, who had originally been lying on the bed, suddenly moved as though experiencing a final burst of strength before death. Completely ignoring the spiritual power released by Lizbeth, he grabbed the sword hanging beside the bed and lunged toward Riezel.
Seeing the scene, Riezel let out a cold laugh.
At this moment, he carried no weapon with him.
Hermit rested within the storage space of the Dimensional Magic Cube, while Fool had long since been given to Ais, leaving him completely unarmed.
Yet, facing the violent slash coming straight toward him, he not only refused to retreat, but instead stepped forward.
*BANG!*
In the next second, the knight sword, carrying a roaring gale, slammed heavily into the hand Riezel had raised, producing a thunderous explosion and a violent shockwave—the impact blasted away the surrounding debris and broken furniture, while also sending the unprepared Luna flying backward and causing her to cry out in alarm once again.
"Luna!"
Lizbeth immediately abandoned all other concerns and rushed over to catch Luna before retreating to the side.
Euryale also stepped back, though her movements remained incomparably calm.
In an instant, only Riezel and Sorren remained in the center of the room.
Sorren's knight sword, which had descended with overwhelming force, was now firmly caught in Riezel's raised hand—the blade could not even cut through a single layer of skin.
With a status comparable to Level 9 in his normal state, even though Riezel was not a naturally durable dwarf like Gareth, his current END stat still made him extraordinarily difficult to wound through brute force.
At the very least, someone who had not even reached the realm of a Level 7 Sword Saint had absolutely no chance of breaking through Riezel's defense after he had developed his END stat to SSS-rank at every level.
*BANG!*
After catching Sorren's heavy slash barehanded, Riezel immediately kicked forward and sent the mad dog flying away.
*Cough!*
Sorren, coughing blood, was blasted backward even faster than he had charged in, then smashed apart the bed and collapsed amid the shattered remains while violently coughing up blood.
"Riezel... BRYNHAAART—!!!"
Lying among the wreckage, Sorren shouted madly through blood-filled coughs—his hatred-filled roar and insane scream caused Lizbeth and Luna nearby to feel genuine fear.
Only Riezel still maintained an icy expression.
*Swish!*
With a faint sound of air being torn apart, Riezel flashed forward and appeared directly in front of Sorren.
*BANG!*
Just as Sorren struggled to rise, Riezel stepped down onto his chest and forced him back onto the ground.
*Cough!*
Sorren coughed up blood once more.
Riezel looked down coldly at the miserable prince beneath him and continued speaking expressionlessly.
"Didn't I already say it? We're not familiar, so stop calling my name."
However, the only response he received was Sorren's bloodshot eyes, filled with veins and hatred, staring fixedly at him like a pair of cursed eyes.
If looks could kill, Riezel would already have died hundreds or thousands of times over.
Facing those eyes, Riezel slowly increased the pressure of the foot pressing against Sorren's chest, as though he intended to crush his ribs completely.
"..."
Immediately, the blood vessels in Sorren's eyes became even more pronounced, and his face twisted entirely in agony and hatred.
Under such circumstances, a cold and sinister sensation began to emerge from his body.
Almost simultaneously, three people reacted to that cold and sinister aura.
"That's—?!"
Lizbeth's expression changed immediately.
"!!!"
Even Euryale lost her sleepy appearance, her eyes instantly turning sharp.
"Huh, so it really was..."
Riezel's eyes lit up instead, as though he had finally confirmed something.
However, at that very moment, an angry shout suddenly rang out.
"EVERYONE, STOP THIS AT ONCE!"
A group of people rushed in through the doorway and instantly filled the entire room.
===
[A bonus chapter for every 300 Power Stones.]
[Support me and get early access to the next chapters at: /VALRRR]