151 No way it is going to be that easy, I see....#2

"No way it was going to be that easy, I see…." Ryu spoke in a bitter voice as he stepped out of the carriage, trying to maintain his cool not to panic Jue and Aiena,

Rafa, who fell off the carriage, was already far from their crash spot, and the person in Robe stood near her with his hand holding her hair and a gigantic sword in his other hand, which looked as if made out of bones segmented and emitting an eerie aura,

Ryu, who looked at Rafa, felt anger brimming inside him, but he held back as he spoke in a low yet clear voice. The adventurers who looked at his face were confused, too, as he spoke,

"Sir Paladin, why did you interrupt our long ride?"

'What the heck with him….' One of the adventurers thought as the atmosphere of Ryu, who was smiling while talking in such a cold voice, was sending a chill down their spine, but Elite Paladin, who was lost in his pride, spoke with a laugh,

"You thought you could fool me!? This is the last chance…." But before he could even complete Ryu interrupted him,

"So there is really no other way…." A dagger shot from where Ryu was standing near Elite Paladin's neck. The adventurer who stood behind got hit in his arm and yelled loudly in pain,

"My Arm!!? My Arm!!" It wasn't just that his arm was stabbed. There was a bulge in his vein, indicating poison on the dagger,

The Robbed man who stood holding Rafa was amused but didn't make a move. Meanwhile, Elite Paladin was feeling breathless as he thought,

'I almost died…. Died' he gulped, and Ryu, who stood against him, spoke in a loud and clear voice,

"Even if you all come at me once, along with Elite Paladin!! I'll make sure to poison you all with my daggers; I will make sure none of you went back from here alive."

One of the adventurers felt anger seething in himself as he shouted, not caring if Elite Paladin stood near him,

"You bastard!! I'll kill you!!" The adventurer seemed to be close to the adventurer who got shot, and Ryu just shrugged as he spoke,

"If you have time for that, take your friend home… he is going to die in 10 mins."

'Nor is that poison deadly… nor do I have it on all of my daggers, but they don't need to know that,' Ryu thought in his mind as he smirked,

"So what will you choose? I don't want fellow adventurers to get hurt in a useless fight," Ryu spoke with a voice filled with confidence, but more than that, it had a certain sense of mockery; the adventurers could feel it in their bones and flesh as their hurt partner cried holding his arm and shouting,

"Save me!! Save me, please, please."

The adventurers seemed to be talking amongst each other, and the one who shouted at Ryu earlier spoke to the Elite paladin,

"Sir Elite Paladin, we don't think we have what it takes to be paladin… We'll leave with our friend. Please teach that brat a lesson."

"Wai…" Elite Paladin tried speaking, but before he could, the robbed man put his finger on his mouth and said to Elite Paladin,

"Shush," he spoke, and Elite Paladin's face went red with humiliation and anger,

'Since I met that boy…!! No one… is taking me seriously!!'

The adventurer left the spot in a hurry as they knew the fight that was going to take place was beyond them; the Elite paladin felt seething anger in his bones as he shouted at the robbed man,

"How dare you stop me from speaking!!? I am the one in charge. You remember what Holy Knight said!!"

"They would've just been in our way," the robbed man said as he moved his hood backwards, revealing a gentle smile on his face, a calm face,

Ryu tried to scan him instantly with [Hide & Seek], but there was no result; understanding that the opponent was more powerful than him by many times.

Ryu found his eyes quickly moving to Rafa, as she was the one who dealt with those that he couldn't so far, but now she was limp in the grasp of the enemy, Rafa's body was shaking slowly as tears from the unexplained sadness began to form a puddle near her knees this made Ryu a bit enraged, but he held back,

'I don't know his strength….' Thought Ryu as he asked, still in a calm, clear voice,

"What did you do to her?" Ryu looked straight at the former robbed man. The man smirked with a sadistic expression on his face as he spoke with a grin,

"Isn't it fair to have introductions first? I am called Sam; I'm in Elite Paladin's care for now."

"Sam…." Ryu remembered he had heard this name before, and Jue suddenly spoke out,

"He's the one who messed with Faltar Uncle!!" As Jue spoke out, it suddenly made sense to Ryu as he realized what kind of opponent he was against,

"What did you do to her?" Ryu asked in a low, cold voice again, and the man just laughed as he replied,

"Made her meet an old relative." The Man began grinning as he swung out a huge, broad sword,

"You want her back?" Sam grinned as he pulled a bit on Rafa's hair and threw her towards Fusion Souls Elite paladin was confused about his action and shouted from behind,

"What are you doing!? Have you gone insane!!" but Sam just replied, shrugging,

"Let them have their little reunion. I don't want him to be half-hearted 'cause I had a hostage."

"Holy knight made it clear what our priorities are!!" Elite Paladin shouted, but Sam just looked at him and sighed as he spoke,

"See, unlike you, I'm not a dog, so quit barking if I want to have a fight, I'll have it" As Sam stated it Elite paladin held back as he knew his words weren't having any impact on Sam,

As Rafa fell near them, Fusion Souls moved to cover her from the sight of Elite Paladin and Sam, as Ryu stood in front of her and Jue in right there with Aiena standing at the back. There were no words said. Everyone knew what position to take,

'He understood it without saying,' Ryu thought, as he kneeled near Rafa, his face towards Elite Paladin,

"Rafa, big sister, are you hurt?" Ryu asked in a low but clear voice, but no reply came from Rafa. Her face was pale, and she kept breathing heavily as incomprehensible words escaped her mouth,

"I could not…. I could not save him…"

"His ashes…"

"Why… why!!" Rafa's voice was shaking, and face down. Ryu couldn't understand what was going on, but he knew Rafa was in great pain,

"Are you done with your reunion?" Sam asked in a mocking voice as he stepped forward toward Fusion Souls. Ryu stood up and stepped forward, knowing there was no way out of this. He remembered what Faltar had told him about Sam earlier,

"If you don't give me a good fight, I'll kill her and all of them before I finish you!! So fight with all you got," Sam warned with an arrogant smile. Ryu didn't know why he was so focused on fighting him, but this was also an opportunity as he was sure the man before them was more than capable of the things he claimed,

Sam rushed toward Ryu and swung the big sword towards him in a horizontal slash. Ryu barely managed to pull out a dagger and parry it at the last moment as he jumped to the side; after exchanging a few more slashes, Sam talked in an irritated voice maddened voice,

"Do you think I am dumb!? If you don't use your full strength, you'll be manure by night!!" Sam said as he shouted,

'Full strength, this bastard!! Give me time to chant then!!' Ryu thought as he kept parrying a flurry of slashes. There was no way to speak or think much as he knew if he missed even for a second, he'd be slashed,

'I got one shot!!' Ryu thought as he jumped backwards, making a considerable distance towards him and Sam.

Sam, who took Ryu's action as mocking, felt enraged as he rushed toward him with a sword ready to slash him down. Ryu threw multiple daggers at him, but all got slashed by the big sword, ending up here and there. Finally, Ryu threw a purple-coloured dagger; the sword wasn't able to deflect it as it seemed to have changed size in the middle,

'Illusion skill!?' Sam thought as the dagger passed by his ear, cutting it a bit, but that much was nothing for him as he could see his defenceless prey standing before him, losing all his weapons. Sam's face had a certain sense of gloom as he had hoped for a good fight. As he reached near Ryu, he readied his sword to attack him straight,

'One chance…' Ryu thought as he picked out another purple dagger and breathed once to calm his mind; as Sam was at one hand distance from him, Ryu stepped forward, lowering his body to Sam. This looked like a stupid action as he moved his sword towards Ryu's back, but suddenly he felt a seething cut on his leg, and he saw the dagger in Ryu's hand changed into a dagger,

"It wasn't an illusion!? A manifest!!" Sam roared in amusement. He didn't have a slight bit of dread as he shouted,

"[Clamis Slash]!!" and his sword, which was moving towards Ryu's back, disappeared, appearing again near Ryu's flank, repaying him for what he just did,

"[Heal]!!" Aiena chanted from behind Rafa, healing Ryu's wound, and Sam mocked,

"Ohh, a healer, how cool, you'll die despite that, haha," Sam mocked as he kept slashing at Ryu; Ryu was being pushed behind. He didn't even get time to draw glyphs or chant magic; there was barely enough time to move his body. If he missed a step, it'd be his end.

'How is he even moving like that!?' Ryu was shocked by Sam's movement as he moved his arms like his joints had the engine in them. There was not even a slight gap in his movements,

'If only I could chant!!' Ryu gritted his teeth as he tried to keep parrying and trying to push back, but for Sam, it was like he was playing with food served on a plate,

"What happened, kid? Your fancy sword isn't saving you?"

Ryu couldn't even waste a second speaking as he knew it would end up hurting him; Rafa whose face was downcast, moved it a bit up, noticing Ryu struggling against Sam, and thought,

'I need to save Ryu… I'm his big sister!!' but her body won't move, and the noise in her head gets louder,

'It's your fault I died!! You should've listened to me!! You killed me!!' the familiar voice from a distant voice saying words. Her mind was being consumed by the memories from the past, all flooding back one after another,

"I'll kill you all aside from that wolf girlie, and maybe after having my fun with her… I'll give her to Sir Holy knight; it will give me the position of his right hand and the opportunity to do anything I want!! I'll be free, just like Teran taught!!" As Sam spoke this, something changed in Ryu, the kid who was only dodging his sword like a wimp now stood straight,

'What is it!?' Sam thought as he suddenly stopped attacking and stepped back, feeling a threatening Aura coming out of Ryu,

[Awakening initiated] Ryu grinned as the message appeared in his field of vision

-to be continued