A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

“But, regardless of whether it’s me or not, is it really okay for just the three of you to come here?” Marek said, glancing at Bray.

Bray lowered his head slightly and placed his hand on the scabbard.

Despite knowing that Marek would appear, he underestimated how annoyed he would be facing Marek.

He's on par with Jonathan.

"Three people?" The female mage laughed.

"Do you really think we'd be foolish enough to send only three people to deal with a demon lord who has wiped out countless S-class adventurers?"

"Oh?" Marek exclaimed with interest.

The female mage took out a long scroll from behind her and pulled it open forcefully.

"Teleportation" has always been a strategic capability throughout history.

Spells with teleportation properties have always been among the most widely used spells.

Just like this scroll.

In the blink of an eye, in the time it takes to think, more than a dozen mages dressed in different outfits appeared behind the female mage.

Yun Ji stated from the beginning that her goal this time was not to kill the Demon King of the Masako Society, but to capture him.

To this end, Yun Ji hired a large number of adventurers to weaken the enemy's abilities.

"I didn't expect that the young lady who was in charge of this operation would have such a thorough plan. She's truly a wise lady," Marek chuckled.

"You've got one thing wrong."

“I’m probably not the target you’re looking for,” Marek said, catching his breath.

Marek was deeply hurt by Beatrix before, and he still hasn't recovered.

However, he remained standing there in order to continue with the original script.

"Attack!" Someone gave the order, and more than a dozen teleported mages simultaneously used their spells.

"Slow Spell", "Weakening Spell", "Aging Spell", "Armor Blunting Spell"...

Countless spells were aimed at Marek.

But at that very moment, Marek smiled.

“The person you’re looking for… should be the one behind me.” Marek took a few steps back to the side.

The spell, which was originally intended to be cast, seemed to have lost control, swerving away from Marek and flying backward.

Even though most of the spells didn't even have a projectile trajectory, they were still redirected to the rear.

Behind Marek, however, there was no light.

In that place, there is a stone seat, and on the stone seat is Nalan, unchanged.

No, Nalan seems to have changed in some way, but it's probably not noticeable from his appearance.

“I suppose the Demon King you’re talking about—you mean him,” Marek said quietly, his hands always behind his back, seemingly at ease.

All the spells landed squarely on Nalan, neither canceling out nor missing their mark.

Even though Nalan was entangled in multiple negative states, he still didn't react.

His eyes were open from the beginning, fixed on Bray.

"The enemy has already..." the mage behind him began, sounding the horn as if preparing to launch an attack.

“You’re trying to say, ‘The opponent has been weakened, we can go in now,’ right?” Marek said, looking at the group with a half-smile.

“Unfortunately, you weren’t the ones who struck first,” Marek said slowly.

"Whoosh—" A whooshing sound rang out in the darkness.

Nalan, who was originally sitting on the stone seat, had disappeared from it at some point.

"Clang!!!!!" The ear-piercing sound of clashing swords rang out in the not-so-spacious hall.

The instant Nalan swung his knife, Bray's sword also "splashed" out.

Without hesitation or pause, the sword met the blade the moment it left its sheath.

The turbulent currents shook the ground behind Bray, causing the bricks to buckle and pile up like lotus petals.

In the instant she lost her footing, the female mage raised her hand and released a spell at top speed.

"Danger." That was the female mage's first thought.

"Mountain Guardian"

Small hills rose from the ground, broke through the ceiling, and transformed into solid walls, protecting everyone behind them.

"What exactly happened?" As a mage, she had no idea what had happened in that instant.

Just like before, Bray didn't know she had cast a spell.

"That demon king made his move...and then we were rescued," the young adventurer said in a deep voice.

He saw it clearly: in that split second, only two people moved.

The young adventurer was shocked to find that his strength was insufficient to react in that instant.

No, that's impossible to react to. Bray probably doesn't rely on reaction speed to deal with things either.

It's as if you knew in advance that the other party would do this, and took action beforehand.

Therefore, it appears as if the opponent's knife actively sought out Bray's sword, rather than as if Bray was defending.

"They were rescued?"

"Yes, he saved me." The young adventurer nodded, looking at Bray.

Although he regarded Bray as a senior to some extent, the strength Bray had previously demonstrated was not enough to earn him much respect.

He initially viewed Bray with nothing more than the simple attitude a junior should have towards a senior.

However, at the moment Bray drew his sword, he was shocked.

Only then did he realize that he was the junior and Bray was the senior.

The vast majority of those present were mages, and they will probably never understand what terrifying thing happened in that instant.

"Think of something, the wall is about to collapse!" The female mage's expression changed drastically; the wall, as thick as a mountain, was beginning to crumble.

"Did you really weaken that demon king?" The female mage began to doubt whether the spell she had just cast had actually worked.

"They all hit their mark, and there's no sign of them being dispelled," a mage who had come to provide support quickly explained.

"So what exactly is going on now...?"

"BOOM!!!!!!!!!" Nalan's knife and Bree's sword hadn't moved from the beginning, but the impact continued to spread, and the female mage's stone wall was destroyed bit by bit.

The formation of the mages standing behind the wall was blown about by the strong wind.

The female mage gritted her teeth, intending to use the second scroll given to her by Yun Ji to teleport another group of people responsible for the capture over.

“It’s meaningless; they’re no match for you.” The young adventurer pressed down on the mage’s shoulder and said solemnly.

Even if we send more people over, it's all for nothing.

He understood this after seeing the clash of swords.

As a newcomer to the S-rank adventurer class, he knew that the gap between S-rank adventurers was vast.

But Bray and Nalan made him realize that the gap could be as vast as a dimension.

"So, do you intend to retreat?"

“That’s right, retreat.” With that, the young adventurer picked up the female mage and ran away as fast as he could.

"Retreat..." The female mage bit her finger and reluctantly gave the order, even forgetting that she was being held by a man.

These mages, skilled in auxiliary spells, hastily retreated a great distance using magic.

"Ding!!!" At the same time, sparks flew, illuminating the darkness.

Using the force from Nalan's knife, Bray retreated rapidly, sliding right up to the retreating group.

"Is this guy on drugs?" Bray, who was still flying backward, jumped up to dodge the rocks behind him and muttered to himself.

Nalan's strength has increased dramatically.

However, unlike the way of forcibly increasing strength, speed, and magic, it felt like suddenly realizing a lot of things and "leveling up" all at once.

To be more specific, Nalan's knife skills underwent a qualitative change, no longer the clumsy knife techniques of before.

"Senior, what should we do now?" the young adventurer shouted to Bray ahead.

"Huh? You called me?" Bray didn't react for a moment to the young adventurer's address of "senior".

"Yes..."

“Of course we’re retreating.” Bray glanced at Nalan; the spells were indeed effective, and Nalan had been significantly weakened.

But if a fight breaks out now... Bray is pretty sure a lot of people here will die.

"But..." the young adventurer said, looking at Nalan who was walking towards him step by step, with some difficulty.

Although Nalan appears to walk very slowly, he could appear before everyone in the blink of an eye if he wanted to.

He also wanted to retreat, but he asked Bray because he wanted to know how to retreat.

“Only you, you are not allowed to escape, the one who upholds the precepts on the front,” Nalan said in a very deep voice.

This was the first time Nalan had spoken since the meeting began.

His voice was filled with murderous intent, as if there was some reason why he had to kill Bray.

The killing intent materialized, and as it lunged at Bray, those around him couldn't help but feel a chill.

"Your killing intent is truly intense," Bray said indifferently, looking at the other person with dead fish eyes.

However, since that's the case, things become easier.

"You have half a minute, see if you can get away," Bray said, turning around.

"That's enough, but what about you, senior?"

"Well, I guess I'll just have to hope for the best," Bray said casually.

Of course, the so-called "good luck to everyone" means that Bray plans to hold off for a while longer before starting the race.

Because Bray really doesn't need to fight to the death with the other side.

Not only would it be a thankless task, but it would also satisfy Marek's strange desires.

---

It was only half a minute, really only half a minute.

But in that half minute, Bray and Nalan clashed countless times.

Swords flashed wildly, their cold light gleaming in the shadows, and the attacks from both sides were so fierce they were suffocating.

"Seriously, what exactly did you do?" Bray muttered.

“I experienced ‘death’ and then came back,” Nalan replied.

"Don't you think that kind of line is stupid?" Bray replied calmly. There was no sarcasm in his voice; Bray's tone was indifferent, and his eyes remained lifeless.

But to Nalan, this sounded like an insult.

"You actually called me stupid?!"

"How dare you say the pain I went through was stupid!"

Bray's words seemed to have touched a nerve in Nalan, causing his expression to change abruptly.

The already intense killing intent surged once more.

"..." Bray didn't speak this time.

It seems the other person has gone through something extraordinary.

However, this has no necessary connection to his intention to leave.

"Clang!" Taking advantage of the moment when the other party was enraged, Bray deflected the other party's knife with his longsword.

"Tsk." But as he was shaken off, Bray's hand also started to hurt.