97 Awe
"Mr. Riezel, you..."
The closest to Riezel, Ian, had already halted her steps, staring at him who held a bright silver short sword with a face filled with shock.
The others were in a similar state, their reactions momentarily delayed at seeing him effortlessly flicking away the arrow with his sword.
Originally considered useless in the eyes of everyone, Riezel, supposed to lack combat ability, suddenly became the center of attention.
However, when everyone was still in a daze, the unexpected happened.
*Clang!*
The first to react was the burly man, who seized the opportunity to forcefully cleave Ain, catching her off guard and sending her body flying. Ignoring the sparks erupting between them, he turned, displaying astonishing speed that defied his body size, charging toward Riezel like a bull.
"Stop!"
"Mr. Riezel!"
Cries from Ain and Ian rang out, but it was already too late.
The burly man didn't waste any words. Looking into Riezel's eyes, he emanated a murderous aura as his wide-bladed sword, like falling thunder, descended upon Riezel's head with formidable power.
The burly man's strike cleaved through the air, carrying intense magical energy.
*Swish—!*
The whistling wind it created turned into a shockwave, causing Riezel's hair to flutter wildly and his forehead to sting.
For an ordinary person, such a powerful strike would easily cleave through any resistance and split them in half. Even a Sword Master, if struck so violently, would undoubtedly meet certain death.
Of course, provided the strike hit.
*BOOM!*
When the explosion-like muffled sound echoed, the burly man's forceful strike landed on the ground, much like Ain's earlier longsword strike, shattering it to pieces.
*Rumble—*
Cracks spread like veins across the ground, and debris scattered in the tumultuous shockwave.
"What?!"
The burly man stared at his missed strike, pupils contracting. As he still contemplated what had happened, in the next moment—
*Pu-chi!*
A silver gleam flashed, grazing the side of the burly man's torso and slicing it open.
Riezel moved silently to the burly man's side, his expression cold and indifferent. The short sword in his hand moved extremely fast, leaving a trail of blood flowers.
"Gah—!" The burly man groaned in pain.
Disregarding his own injuries, the burly man swung his sword in retaliation without hesitation, lifting his heavy wide-bladed sword to create a dust storm, slashing at his side.
Unfortunately, his strike missed again, only stirring up a chaotic shockwave.
In the next moment, Riezel's figure suddenly appeared on the other side of the burly man.
*Pu-chi!*
A flash of silver once again mercilessly cut through the side of the burly man's torso. It created a symmetrical pattern with the previous wound as his blood spurted forth.
"AAARGHHHHH—!!!"
Bearing severe injury, the burly man's body wavered, but he still held on, refusing to collapse. Instead, he roared in a frenzied manner, launching a furious and reckless attack on Riezel.
Bleeding profusely, with wounds tearing open, the burly man paid no attention to them. He focused on swinging his wide-bladed sword like a meat grinder, creating a fierce gust of wind without stopping.
*Swish—!* *Swish—!* *Swish—!* *Swish—!*
The burly man's sword edge whistled through the air. Coupled with consecutive sword light and powerful wind, he attacked Riezel from various directions, aiming to kill him without mercy.
"Impressive determination."
Riezel finally broke his silence, his tone was as calm as his gaze, with only his figure resembling a leaf, swaying back and forth amidst the sword light and wind.
His movements were minimal, his steps untroubled. With the slightest evasion through retreats, sidesteps, rotations, and steps, he gracefully avoided the burly man's relentless attacks.
In the next second, Riezel finally counterattacked.
Like a flash of cold light, his bright silver short sword moved silently, blurring his hand. In an instant, it pierced through the storm of sword edges created by the burly man, landing on his body.
*Pu-chi!* *Pu-chi!* *Pu-chi!* *Pu-chi!*
Whether it was the sword tip or the sword edge, Riezel's short sword swiftly passed through the burly man's body in the blink of an eye, cutting him open without resistance.
The burly man's body flailed like tree branches in a storm, wildly swinging, as blood sprayed from every corner of his body. Before long, his entire body was covered in slash wounds, battered and bloodied.
"ARGHHH!"
Under such severe injuries, the burly man finally couldn't hold on any longer. He let out a painful cry as the wide-bladed sword in his hand dropped to the ground. Kneeling on one knee, he became a miserable figure drenched in blood.
This man, who could rival a Sword Master, was utterly powerless against Riezel.
This was only natural.
From the earlier battle between the burly man and Ain, as well as Ian's performance, Riezel quietly observed them and had roughly estimated the strength of these so-called Sword Masters.
In his eyes, the strength of Sword Masters should be roughly on par with Level 5 adventurers with the worst basic abilities.
In Danmachi, as long as one basic ability reached D-rank, it met the minimum requirements for leveling up, and at that point, accumulating enough exploits allowed for a smooth level-up.
In other words, the worst status would be leveling up with the condition of 'only one basic ability reaching D-rank' each time. Leveling up with this circumstance each time was undoubtedly quite terrible, since on the same level, disregarding magic and skills, meant being at the bottom.
Facing such people, Riezel could effortlessly defeat several of them when he was still Level 4, even without using his magic.
Now, as a Level 5 first-class adventurer, even without using magic, he could already surpass Ais who was at the pinnacle of Level 5. Considering all of this, he was basically no different from Level 6.
In this scenario, how could a Level 5 with the worst status have any chance of fighting back against him?
If Riezel were to use his magic, he could instantly annihilate anyone on that level.
It was worth noting that among the magic he learned, there were several large-scale, wide-ranging destructive magic.
With wide-area annihilation magic like 'Fusillade Fallarica' in his hand, plus 'Mage' development ability and the extraordinary accumulation of latent basic ability of 'MAG', wiping out a village or an army with a single magic attack was not an impossible feat for him.
Interestingly, to destroy a village or an army with a single magic attack was considered tactical-class magic in this world.
In other words, upon returning from the world of Danmachi, although he was not yet comparable to the top-tier experts in this world such as the unbeatable Sword Saints in combat or Strategic-Class Magicians capable of destroying cities with one attack, he still stood as a top-tier existence within the middle.
As a swordsman, he surpassed the Sword Masters capable of facing a thousand foes in this world.
As a magician, he was not far behind the Tactical-Class Magicians of this world.
At least, Ain, Ian, and the blood-soaked burly man were definitely not his opponents, even if he didn't go all out.
Nonetheless, Riezel's current performance was somewhat horrifying to those unaware of his true power.
"The intelligence was wrong, retreat."
One of the attackers whispered, took a step back, and prepared to escape. The other attackers also retreated without hesitation, preparing to leave.
"No!"
"I won't let you!"
Finally coming back to their senses, Ain and Ian quickly focused their attention on the fleeing attackers in the area and quickly rushed forward with their swords drawn to intercept.
While their battle continued, the battle between Riezel and the burly man was nearing its end.
"Speak, where are you people from?" Riezel asked, calmly holding a short sword and standing unguarded in front of the burly man without any expression.
"Heh..."
In response, the burly man only let out a cold sneer, and shortly afterward, there was no more movement.
Feeling somewhat suspicious, Riezel frowned and quickly kicked the burly man down with one foot.
*Thud*
The burly man's body fell, making no further movements.
He was dead.
Purple-black blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, evidently poisoning himself.
Riezel stared at the lifeless burly man, silently contemplating.
Not long after, the entire dark alley finally fell silent, and all battle noises ceased, returning everything to calm.
Shortly after, Ain and Ian returned.
They returned victorious, defeating all the attackers.
The strength of these two female Sword Masters, even if they were Level 5 with the worst status, was not something ordinary swordsmen could handle.
"Are you okay, Mr. Riezel?" Ian quickly inquired.
Ain remained silent, staring at him with a peculiar expression.
"I'm fine..." Riezel withdrew his gaze from the lifeless body of the burly man. "What about your side? This guy committed suicide. What happened to the others?"
Upon hearing that, both Ain and Ian fell into silence.
Evidently, the fate of other attackers was similar. At least, whether it was Ain or Ian, they both wanted to capture someone alive.
After all, the identity of these attackers was unknown. Since they had been targeted and attacked, it was only natural to inquire about their identity and origin, as well as the mastermind behind them.
Unfortunately, like Riezel, Ain and Ian were also helpless and returned empty-handed.
"Where did these people come from?" Ian gazed at the lifeless burly man and muttered. "They can abandon even a Sword Master without hesitation, resorting to suicide without a second thought once failed... Most major nobles wouldn't dare to do that, right?"
Sword Masters were powerful warriors, capable of facing thousands in a battle. In a large kingdom like Jinas, they were considered crucial combat power. Which faction would be willing to abandon such skilled people?
Yet, such a thing had happened.
'Could it be the Heretic Assassin...?' Riezel pondered, squinting his eyes.
That underground organization, supposedly backed by at least a country, seemed even more complicated to him.
"Let's go." Riezel shook his head and sheathed Hermit. "Have the Frenzel family send some people to collect the corpses and investigate. Maybe we can find something."
""Yes!""
Ain and Ian unconsciously agreed and nodded in response. Their attitude right now was no different from when facing their own master.
Riezel's sudden display of exceptional strength left these two female Sword Masters in awe, making them instinctively follow his instructions. Unlike the previous situation where they obeyed him due to Yuri's orders, this time, they didn't even consider her when obeying him.
As a result, Ain returned alone to the Frenzel residence to bring some people back to clean up the aftermath, while Riezel and Ian waited.
Only after Ain returned with some people did the three of them sit back in the carriage, driven by the newly arrived coachman, heading back to the Frenzel residence.
