An ordinary profession creates the world's strongest

"hateful!"

Bart strengthened his body to the limit, took a step forward, and flew over to catch Balf.

In an instant, a dry sound like the air breaking was heard—

The heads of the orc warriors who had just been rescued flew up into the air. No, not only them, but also dozens of federal soldiers around them had their heads chopped off.

Several heads flew into the air like handballs, and at the center was Lilith, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, her body ablaze with lightning. With her head lowered and her sword lowered, she looked eerie.

“—『Thunder Break』!”

As soon as she spoke, lightning emanated from her body in all directions. The deafening roar numbed the ears, and the intense flash of light blinded the eyes.

"Harvest—Aegjes!"

Bart held Balf in one hand and turned his scythe into a shield, blocking the incoming lightning storm and using the weapon's power to absorb and offset the lightning strikes.

Even if it only took a few seconds.

But the effect was remarkable. When his vision returned, the Union soldiers and orc warriors were gone, as if they had all been reduced to charcoal by the electric current.

"There's no distinction between friend and foe... As expected of the Church, right?"

Bart continued to sarcastically speak, despite the cold sweat and twitching cheeks. Lilith glared at Bart fiercely, her piercing gaze frightening.

"There's nothing we can do about it."

Thick fog disrupts your sense of direction? Can't aim your attacks?

So what? Just destroy everything in sight.

Granting the happiness of martyrdom to one's own side, and bringing down divine punishment on the enemy, all of this is—

"For the Almighty God!"

This is the essence of Lilith Akain, no, this is the "God's Favorites" belonging to the Church - the root of all the Knights Templar!

There was a snap, and the air vibrated. In a flash, she was behind Bart. She used magnetism to achieve a near-instantaneous teleportation, difficult for ordinary people to see, but Bart was no ordinary person.

“—Eggess!!”

Bart turned around and slashed behind him, and a blue magic blade flew out, but before the magic blade touched Lilith, a snapping sound was heard again, and her figure disappeared.

But the next moment, she appeared from an entirely unlikely direction, stumbling upon an orc warrior locked in a standoff with a coalition soldier. Sure enough, she slew both the orc warrior and the coalition soldier. Then, she repeatedly employed near-instant teleportation, dashing into the dense fog without hesitation, killing everyone she saw without distinguishing friend or foe.

Bart was not affected by the thick fog. Just when he could clearly feel the situation around him, the light of the morning glow restored Balf.

"Ugh! Bart! Sorry, where's that guy!?"

Bart stopped him and activated the spare earring-shaped communication artifact given to him by Miledi.

"Ryu! Remove the fog around Lilith!"

"Is this okay?"

"It's okay! That woman attacks indiscriminately. It's troublesome to be randomly moved by her."

"I understand. Good luck."

Instantly, the fog cleared to create a dome-shaped space within a 200-meter diameter. The orc warriors within were startled and couldn't help but pause.

Bart took a breath and shouted loudly, with a volume no less than Lilith's thunder:

"Back off! This is our battlefield! Don't let other knights get close!"

Just from this one sentence you can understand what he means. He means that this fog dome is the fighting arena for the top figures of the two camps.

The orc warriors forcibly pushed aside the fighting Federation soldiers, and several of them attacked the Temple Knights together, trying to ram them out of the dome, but—

“Guaaaaaaaa!?”

While forcing the Knights Templar behind the thick fog, only the warriors were knocked back inside as if bounced off the wall.

“Huh!?”

At the same moment, Cui was blown away, blood spurting out. Balf immediately rushed over to catch her, and then the "hole" immediately opened, and a morning glow descended on Cui.

"Really? What is Mr. Balfe doing? Leaving Cui alone and getting chopped off! If you're going to get chopped off, please at least be Cui's meat cushion before getting chopped off! I thought I was going to die!"

"I'm so sorry, you scumbag!"

Despite having a large hole in her abdomen, Cui continued to regenerate while spewing foul language. Even with veins popping on his forehead, Balf apologized to Cui, after all, he had left her to face a powerful enemy alone.

"Has the fog cleared, idiot?"

A humanoid figure emerged from the wall of thick fog. As if formed from the fog itself, it began to sway, gradually transforming into water before becoming solid. He was Zeba, the commander of the Third Army, who wielded the inherent magic "Liquify."

"Zeba, just keep the knights outside! Continue the indiscriminate attack! Only let the federal soldiers in!"

"Understood!"

After receiving Lilith's order, Zeba stretched out his arms horizontally. The colorless and transparent liquid arms immediately absorbed moisture in the air, twisting like tentacles, and gradually surrounded the outer edge of the arena like a ring.

Why were the knights under his direct command kept out, while only the Federation soldiers were allowed in? Before he could even raise this question, Lilith's lightning bolts erupted towards the orc warriors left in the arena.

"Don't even think about it!"

"Your opponent is me!"

"That's annoying! I want to go home~!"

Bart used his scythe to neutralize the lightning strike, Balf stayed close to the ground and rushed towards Zeba quickly, while Cui disappeared.

He swung his iron claws at Zeba, simultaneously unleashing his inherent magic, Float. In melee combat, a loss of balance is a fatal flaw, and this is an extremely terrifying ability.

However, Zeba was not afraid of such ability. He immediately "liquefied" his entire body. The ability to destroy balance was ineffective against the liquid that slid freely in the air.

Even though it doesn't work... it's fine that way.

"Go to hell!"

“Pfft! That trick again!”

Cui suddenly appeared and threw out a small bottle, wanting to mix the green liquid spilled from the bottle with Zeba's "liquefied" body.

That green liquid was, of course, poison, a blend of several plant poisons from the sea of ​​trees and monster poisons, a specially crafted poison from Cui. Its toxicity was astonishing, with just one drop capable of instantly killing a monster over five meters long.

Even in the "liquefied" state, it is still Zeba's body. Even if all physical attacks are ineffective, as long as the poison is directly mixed into the body, it will die the moment it materializes.

Zeba instantly cancelled out "Liquify" to evade, and Balf took advantage of this opportunity to swing his iron claws again.

Zeba did not rely solely on his ability to climb to his current position. This can be clearly seen from his physical and short sword skills, as he is fending off the attacks of Balf, whose physical ability is far superior to his own.

That being said, it's still a fact that I'm being held back, so—

"Get out now! Don't let the federal soldiers in!"

“Got it!”

Zeba was unable to execute the order, allowing the orc warriors in the arena to escape.

"Don't even think about escaping!"

Lilith, who was originally fighting with Bart, was about to use her ability of near-instant teleportation to move to the orc warrior who was facing away from her.

"Don't even think about it!"

"Ugh! Damn Knight Hunter, how long are you going to keep hindering us?!"

Bart perfectly embodied the phrase "strike the enemy first". He swung out his scythe quickly, slashing at Lilith's foot as she was about to take a step. Lilith hurriedly dodged, and her prey had already retreated behind the thick fog during that time.

"So I won't let you go."

"hateful!"

Bart's scythe was still a step faster, sweeping across to block Lilith's way. Her movements were undoubtedly seen through.

"How many times do you think we fought? That move, which is like teleportation, should have shown signs of activation anyway."

There was a faint flash of electricity in the direction of advance, a phenomenon that occurred when Lilith realized the direction of movement, a bit like her bad habit. If there was no fog effect, her skills were so advanced that the signs before the attack would be extremely accurate.

"Don't act like you know everything!"

Lilith's expression was bitter, she had to admit that Bart was very powerful, which was driving her crazy.

However, Bart's mood was bitter, as he simply lacked the decisive blow. It should be said that the other party was worthy of being the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, always able to respond at the critical moment. Just preventing her from causing harm to others was already a struggle.

(That’s why the title Knight Hunter is a bit of an exaggeration.)

Bart couldn't help but let a self-deprecating smile appear on his face.

With neither inherent magic nor magical talent, Bart Wachas is a completely mortal man. It's only through constant, almost tortured training, repeatedly pushing past the hellish limit, that he's reached a level strong enough to barely compete with geniuses. He's just that kind of man, so—

"Balfe! Can you help me?"

"That's my line, idiot!"

Bart and Balfe guided Lilith and Zeba, making them think they were fighting alone, but in reality they were circling and changing positions as if looking in a mirror.

"What!"

"Knight Hunter!"

Balf's "Floating Body" disrupted Lilith's balance at the most opportune moment, while Bart's scythe, with the power worthy of its name "Demon Eater," cut through the "Liquified" Zeba. Furthermore—

"Oppose overtime work!"

“Hmm!”

Though Cui complained, she did her job perfectly. As if emerging from space itself, Cui slashed Lilith's side with a dagger coated in poison.

Lilith and Zeba were seriously injured and on the verge of collapse. Just when Bart and the others thought this was a great opportunity and prepared to attack -

"Don't underestimate me—"Ten Thousand Thunders"!!"

"──"Pure water"!!"

Lilith spat out blood, and the moment she raised her knight's sword high, tens of thousands of lightning bolts rained down from the sky, centered around her. The sound and thunder alone were almost unbearable to the eyes and ears.

"Balph! Thuy!"

Amidst the intense force that burned even the air, Bart held his scythe high. Egerjess, radiating blue light, spun, forming a round shield to block the lightning. Balf and Cui slid beneath it.

"Eh? The poison just now should have been fatal!? What's with that gorilla girl!?"

Seeing that Lilith was poisoned by the immediate poison but still released thousands of thunders, Cui had a stiff expression.

Looking through the gap in the lightning, the answer became clear. Lilith and Zeba were both drinking a bluish-white liquid. Lilith, whose face had turned pale, instantly recovered, and Zeba's serious injuries healed as if in a video replay.

They would never have imagined that it was the holy water, a secret medicine that the church only distributed in limited quantities to group leaders.

Lilith and the others were forced to play their trump card, their anger burning hotter than magma. But Bart and the others were equally frustrated, for they had finally achieved some results, only to be back to square one. Cui's eyes were dead, Balf gritted his teeth in unwillingness, and Bart had no time to care about anything else.

“Uoooohhhhhhhhh!”

"Bart! Show some perseverance!"

"I hate you! Please protect Cui even if you die!"

A cry of pain came from between his clenched teeth. Even Eggjess could not completely swallow Lilith's lightning, so Bart swallowed it and spit it out at the same time!

"It's time to kill—Aegis!!"

Bart met the Ten Thousand Thunders with Ten Thousand Blades, and then forcibly cut a path to Lilith.

"Balfe!"

"Understood!"

Balf sprinted, sprinting through the path created by the counteraction. To stop him, Zeba, insulated by his "pure water transformation" and somewhat impervious to lightning, attacked Balf.

"You are not allowed to interfere with the Chief!"

"Ahh, seriously, for Cui, just die!"

Cui rushed out in despair, slashing at Zeba head-on. Both men were armed with two-handed daggers. Amidst the roar of thunder, the clashing of weapons could be heard.

Balf was not idle either. He quickly approached Lilith, as fast as a shadow. He used his iron claws to strike repeatedly and activated "Floatation" at the same time, finally succeeding in stopping Wan Lei.

However, as soon as one difficulty is overcome, another one arises.

──Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Countless roars echoed as numerous federal soldiers broke through the thick fog and rushed forward. This offensive could be described as "endless."

"I'm sorry, Warrior-Captain Balfe! We can't stop these guys!"

"They actually charged forward using their comrades' corpses as human shields."