“Hold onto it, dammit…!”

The knights who had their hands sheared off belatedly held onto their wrists to stop the bleeding. They wanted to retrieve their hands that had fallen to the floor, but couldn’t because if they did, they would lose the remaining one hand as well.

The same went for other escort knights.

Seeing the blood dripping from Neria’s sword, they didn’t dare put their hands on the hilt.

‘No one can react to such precision and speed…’

Unlike the knights of the Kingdom of Prona, which were of lower quality, the knights of the Kingdom of Carta were of high quality. That’s why they were able to see Neria’s sword attack.

But that was to it.

Even if they and their position had changed, nothing would have changed ultimately.

‘This is a Hero’s companion…’

Only one explanation to sum up the gap in the skill.

‘Can we win if we rank together?’

Knights who had similar notions soon denied the idea. They were not colleagues, not the knights of the same order, but knights from different families.

Even if they fought together, there was no way they could synchronise with each other.

And even if there was an iota chance of defeating her, fighting her alone itself was a problem.

It was not just Neria who was here.

“What are you doing? You want to aggravate the situation?”

Hero Cloud.

And his colleagues filed behind him.

Assuming that they were all on the same level as Neria…

They had no way out.

The nobles and their escort knights made the prompt judgement and twisted their gaze to Lorian.

He was also a Hero, so they wanted him to stand up to Cloud.

Lorian looked down at Cloud with a displeased expression.

“Do you want to impose regardless?”

“Why not? What do you want me to do? Do you want me frightened by your nonsensical pranks and leave the city as it is? Lorian… please don’t f*ck with me.”

“…I guess I didn’t make myself clear enough.”

Lorian muttered to himself in a voice that everyone in the hall could hear.

Cloud stood up and trudged toward Lorian. As soon as he moved, the startled nobles and escort knights gave way.

A path that parted into a straight line.

When Cloud arrived in front of Lorian, Lorian’s skin and armor were covered in grayish-white stone.

Seeing this, Cloud laughed.

“You’re not some kind of gargoyle, come on.”

“Looking at you talking nonsense, you don’t seem to be nervous yet.”

Lorian drew his sword and cut wide in an oblique swing in front of him. As Cloud widened the distance and avoided it, Lorian’s companions took advantage of the gap and handed him a shield.

It was a silver shield with a lion’s face protruding.

“Time to put you in your right place.”

“Sure.”

Following the conversation, the two Heroes kicked off at the same time. Caang! Sword and shield clashed. The nobles and escort knights winced at the wind pressure emanating from between the two Heroes.

‘Can’t see…’

They could only make out blurry apparitions of Cloud and Lorian moving, but couldn’t properly grasp them.

Caang! Vish!

Sparks flew with the sound of metal clashing.

Whoo!

Only the fierce and resounding clatters and clangs told them a battle of unimaginable prowess had ensued.

‘This is a battle between Heroes…’

Level… No, the realm was different.

When the escort knights felt a sense of helplessness that they hadn’t felt since becoming official knights, the two Heroes drifted apart.

“Come to think of it, this is my first time fighting you.”

Cloud said as he patted his wrist. At that, Lorian narrowed his brows, then sighed and laughed.

“First time… Have you forgotten what happened that day? Well, from your point of view, it must have been disgraceful… It wouldn’t be strange if you possibly forgot it.”

In the past, Cloud had been overwhelmingly defeated in a spar against Lorian. Those who saw them sparring said that it was like an adult and a child fighting. At the time, Cloud was very shy whenever anyone brought up the anecdote.

The current Cloud didn’t know that.

However, it was possible to make a rough guess based on Lorian’s schadenfreude.

“Sages of old tell the important thing is the present, not the past.”

“You’re trying to win a mental victory regardless. It’s ugly.”

“It’s your face that’s ugly.”

[All Bless]-!

[All Bless]-!

The stacked blessings greatly amplified Cloud’s physical abilities.

He immediately leapt at Lorian.

Lorian hurriedly lifted his shield and tried to defend himself, much faster than before.

[All Curse]-!

[All Curse]-!

The curse, stacked twice, darted and Lorian’s abilities efficiency was greatly gnawed. Lorian was shaken by the sudden deterioration of his physical abilities. Cloud, who had reached close range before he knew it, poised his sword.

Lorian quickly regained his composure.

‘It’s okay to get hit once.’

His defence had been greatly increased with [Turtle’s Blessing], and there was also a protective layer in form of [Gargoyle’s Skin].

One attack would be acceptable.

While thinking about the next move, Cloud’s sword drew a blue trajectory.

Drake-style swordsmanship.

[Tree Sunder]-!

Crack!

The heavy sword strike broke the [Gargoyle’s Skin] and crumpled his pauldron.

“Keugh?!”

Lorian’s expression contorted at the unexpected pain.

‘It wasn’t enough to break the gargoyle’s skin, he pierced through the shoulder blades and even broke my shoulder blades?’

Unlike past, the current Lorian would not take much damage from Ogres’ swings. However, still he was injured by Cloud’s blow, it was no wonder he was taken aback.

The problem was that the fight between the two was a battle of zero points, not seconds, and any emotional agitation that occurred in between was fatal.

Retrieving his sword, Cloud once again jammed his sword downward.

This time, with the intention of cutting off his arm altogether.

However, when Lorraine stepped in front of Lorian, he had no choice but to relax his arms.

Kang!

His sword and Lorraine’s sword collided.

Taking advantage of that gap, Lorian threw himself against the wall of the inn. Hard. The wooden wall collapsed and he tipped outside.

Cloud looked at Lorraine without even looking at her.

“What were you thinking?”

“…you were thinking of killing him?”

“What?”

“You were thinking of killing my brother, right?”

In Lorraine who said that, he couldn’t find her characteristic boldness.

“Do not do that…”

“…”

Cloud let out a deep sigh as he looked pitiful like a stray cat in the rain.

“Alright, won’t kill him. Hah. Do I look stupid enough to kill a fellow Hero?”

“…”

Lorraine silently shook her head.

Cloud walked past her and headed toward the hole in the far inn wall that Lorian had created.

She didn’t stop him either.