"Come at me, Hyakinthos!"
Roy spoke coldly as his figure blurred forward, closing the distance in an instant. He swung the Muramasa Sword down with brutal force. A sharp arc of sword light tore through the air, dazzling as it cut forward.
Clang!
Hyakinthos raised his blade to block. Violent sparks erupted as steel scraped against steel, his face twisting into a feral snarl.
"Just because you've gained ability values equal to mine, don't get cocky!"
He had no idea what method Roy had used to boost his status, but as a Lv.3, the battles he had fought, the feats he had achieved, and the experience he had accumulated far surpassed those of a Lv.2 adventurer. That alone gave him absolute confidence.
And reality seemed to support that belief.
Hyakinthos's sword left afterimages as it struck from sharp, treacherous angles, forcing Roy to retreat again and again.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Each collision rang out with a clear metallic note, sparks flying everywhere. Roy was driven back repeatedly, making the spectators' hearts clench with tension.
"Don't worry—there isn't even a hint of panic on Roy's face," Hermes said, his eyes burning with excitement.
The calmer one stayed, the closer they were to victory.
Roy's footwork showed no disorder at all. In terms of real combat experience, he was indeed slightly inferior—but not by as much as one might imagine. After all, he trained daily against Ryuu, a Lv.4. Compared to that, Hyakinthos's Lv.3 speed didn't seem particularly threatening to him.
Within the sword net Hyakinthos constructed, Roy keenly caught a fleeting gap.
Whoosh!
The Muramasa Sword shot forward like a venomous serpent striking from its lair, piercing through the dense sword net and aiming straight for Hyakinthos's head. The icy killing intent felt almost tangible, like a poisonous snake coiling around Hyakinthos's neck.
At the critical moment, Hyakinthos jerked his head aside, narrowly avoiding death. Cold sweat poured down his back.
A warm liquid trickled down. Hyakinthos reached up and felt a sharp pain. When he looked, his fingers were stained red—the blade had still sliced his cheek.
"You bastard!"
Hyakinthos flew into a rage. Ever since that mysterious illness, he had become extremely sensitive about his appearance.
"Grahhh!!"
Like a berserk warrior, Hyakinthos swung his sword wildly, hacking toward Roy in a frenzy.
Roy, like a seasoned assassin, withdrew after the failed strike and returned to silence, switching to pure defense.
Waiting.
Waiting for the right moment.
A cold, oppressive killing intent lingered faintly in the air, making Hyakinthos feel as though something were stuck in his throat.
Crack!
Under Hyakinthos's relentless slashes, the Muramasa Sword in Roy's hand became covered in marks. A fracture spread rapidly—until the long blade finally snapped in two.
"Hahahaha! As expected of a poor Familia that owes sixty million valis—you don't even have a decent weapon!" Hyakinthos laughed arrogantly.
The Sun-Flame Shaped Sword in his hand was a high-grade weapon of the Apollo Familia, a blade reserved exclusively for successive captains!
Pressing his advantage, Hyakinthos swung the cold blade down toward Roy's head.
Roy raised his Steel Armguard to block.
The Sun-Flame Sword scraped across it—without leaving so much as a mark.
"That armguard…?"
Hyakinthos felt the recoil travel up his arm, his palm going numb as he frowned.
The Steel Armguard was a genuine epic-grade item—of even higher quality than the Sun-Flame Sword.
Roy stared at Hyakinthos with icy eyes.
In truth, he had already had several chances to counterattack—but he suppressed the urge. He had no interest in skirmishing.
If he was going to strike, it would be to kill in one blow.
"My name is love, child of light. This body I offer to my sun.
My name is sin, envy of the wind.
I call upon the raging gale to descend upon me!!"
Hyakinthos suddenly ceased his attacks, leaping backward toward the edge of the arena as he began chanting.
"Not good—it's magic!"
Faces paled across the stands. Magic was always a trump card; once unleashed, it often decided the outcome of the battle!
Hyakinthos wasn't Ryuu—he couldn't simultaneously manage high-speed offense, movement, evasion, defense, and chanting. At best, he could only combine retreating with chanting.
Against a stronger opponent, such half-baked parallel chanting would be suicidal.
But his enemy was a Lv.2 Roy.
With full effort put into fleeing, Hyakinthos was absolutely confident that, for a short time, Roy wouldn't be able to catch him.
All Roy could do was watch as the magic was completed.
And Roy understood this perfectly. He didn't pursue at all, instead remaining where he was, preparing to block.
"—Unleash, Flaming Wheel! Come forth, Wind of the West! Crimson Brilliance!
Heterodox Magic · Zephyros!"
The chant completed. A glowing ring formed in Hyakinthos's hand, spinning violently as flames erupted. He hurled it forward, the blazing ring carving an arc through the air toward Roy.
In an instant, it was right in front of him.
Guardian.
Roy silently activated the special effect of the Steel Armguard. Invisible ripples spread outward, forming a magical shield.
Boom!!
A violent explosion erupted. The ground shook as flames roared like a giant dragon, engulfing dozens of meters around him.
The spectators' hearts tightened. This was going too far—wasn't this going to get someone killed?
When the thunderous roar faded, a figure emerged from the dust.
As the haze cleared, the silhouette grew sharper, standing at the center of a massive crater.
It was Roy—completely unscathed.
"Hiss—!"
A collective gasp rippled through the arena. He had taken a Lv.3 adventurer's magic head-on?!
Only the gods and high-ranking adventurers focused their gazes on Roy's armguard, eyes filled with contemplation.
Hyakinthos, however, knew nothing of this. The confidence on his face finally cracked as he roared in fury, "Why aren't you dead yet?!"
Roy didn't answer.
Instead, just like Hyakinthos, he retreated and began chanting.
"Charge forth, spear of thunder. By my authority as the executor—"
"You think I'll give you time to chant and cast magic? How naive!"
Seeing Roy imitate him, Hyakinthos sneered in ridicule. He had thought Roy was hiding some trump card—but this was just laughable.
Before his words even finished, Hyakinthos burst forward at full speed, charging like a raging bull straight at Roy.
Everyone watching instinctively clenched their fists in anxiety. Roy had been an adventurer for less than a month—there was no way he could have mastered advanced techniques like parallel chanting.
Only Ryuu remained calm.
It was over.
Back in the Dungeon, Roy had already set his trap for Hyakinthos.
Facing the oncoming Hyakinthos—
Roy suddenly advanced instead of retreating.
Activating the special effect of the Gale Boots, his Agility and Speed broke through their limits, reaching SSS rank.
The two looked as though they were rushing toward each other, the distance between them shrinking almost instantly.
Hyakinthos was caught completely off guard.
A sinister smile curved Roy's lips. His chanting had not stopped—but golden lightning had already surged from his palm, crackling violently as it formed into a sphere.
Hyakinthos's eyes widened.
The magic was already complete?!
The lightning sphere in Roy's hand expanded again, growing to a full meter in diameter. Dangerous thunder surged within as it slammed mercilessly into Hyakinthos's face.
Boom!
Lightning swallowed Hyakinthos's figure, the resulting explosion no less violent than the spell before it.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH—!!"
A bloodcurdling scream tore through the sky.