Note: Changed "Trickster Swordsman" to "Trickster Sword."
===
"Riezel!"
"Riezel!"
In the street, Tiona and Tione saw the man-eating plant monster being swiftly dealt with by Riezel and Ais—one of them cheered loudly, while the other sighed in relief, both rushing toward Riezel.
Lefiya was also very surprised and happy.
Seeing the two figures she admired so much appear together and protect her, the feelings of gratitude and excitement in her heart were overwhelming.
Even Ais, who was usually reserved, was visibly surprised, as the expression on her face, which had seemed so dull before, now brightened as she moved toward Riezel, who stood just a short distance away.
As for the adventurers around them, seeing Riezel and Ais appear, one by one, they all gasped in awe.
"Sword Princess Ais Wallenstein!"
"Trickster Sword Riezel Brynhart!"
"They actually showed up?"
"A-Amazing! They handled that damn monster like nothing!"
Seeing the two, the adventurers couldn't hide their surprise and excitement, causing the atmosphere to become incredibly lively.
It was only natural since the pair was well-known figures throughout Orario.
One was the strongest swordswoman in Orario, having recently reached Level 6 and become the first member of the Loki Familia to catch up with the top executives.
As for the other, he had shattered records multiple times, reaching Level 5 from Level 1 in just over three months, and was regarded by various gods as a monster rookie with the potential of a hero.
In this world, Riezel had only recently reached Level 5 just a week ago, while Ais had only recently reached Level 6, and as a result, the topic of their level-ups remained the talk of the city, both in discussion and in popularity.
Now, these two rising stars had appeared together, effortlessly defeating the monster that even the amazoness twins had failed to handle.
How could the adventurers present not be excited and gasp in disbelief?
However, just as the crowd was overcome with excitement, the next words spoken by Riezel doused everyone's enthusiasm like cold water.
"Don't rush."
Riezel turned his gaze forward and spoke in a calm voice.
"It's not over yet."
As these words fell, the ground suddenly began to shake.
*Rumble—*
"I-It's the second one!"
Lefiya, who had felt the shaking before, widened her eyes and shouted to Ais, Tiona, and Tione, though her words were incorrect.
Why?
Because the monster that was about to appear wasn't just the second one.
*BOOM!*
In the next moment, the nearby ground suddenly swelled up and exploded as a massive creature emerged, roaring loudly.
*BOOM!**BOOM!**BOOM!**BOOM!*
As if a chain reaction had been triggered, the ground in the area continued to rise and explode, with monsters emerging one after another from beneath the surface.
All of them had the same appearance as the killed man-eating flower monster, the same species, the same kind, and the same group, yet they also looked different from the first one, as some of them were large, some small, with the largest ones being nearly twice the size of the first one, while the smallest were more than half its size—their sizes varied greatly.
One by one, they continued to break through the earth and appear, creating a scene that resembled a chaotic dance of monsters—this sight stunned the surrounding adventurers and even Ais, Lefiya, Tiona, and Tione.
"How... How are there so many?!" Tiona exclaimed, looking dumbfounded.
"...Were these monsters really captured by the Ganesha Familia from the Dungeon to be tamed for Monster Feria?" Tione questioned with a grim face.
"Wh-What kind of monsters are these?" Lefiya asked in a trembling voice.
Ais, too, could no longer feel joy at Riezel's return.
As she watched many man-eating monsters emerging, her eyes were filled with confusion and wariness.
"I've never seen these monsters before..."
Even Ais, who had reached the 58th Floor of the Dungeon and slain thousands of monsters, couldn't recall any such monsters in her memory, which left her feeling perplexed, confused, and on edge.
Only Riezel, observing the monsters, seemed to gaze at them with a deep and thoughtful expression, though his gaze didn't seem to be that of someone watching monsters that were part of his experience, but rather like he was looking at a group of disgusting pets under control.
*GROOOAAA—!!!*
Not caring how Riezel saw them, as soon as they emerged from the ground, the man-eating monsters let out loud, screeching roars and swung their tentacles wildly around.
Immediately, the walls of nearby buildings were shattered, debris from stalls flew through the air, and some adventurers who failed to react in time were struck by the tentacles, sent flying into the nearby rubble, disappearing from sight.
*GROOOAAA—!!!*
With ear-piercing, metallic roars, all the man-eating plant monsters wreaked havoc everywhere, smashing into anyone they saw and destroying everything in their path, embodying violence and madness.
"Dammit! So annoying!"
"Tch, these monsters are way too tough!"
Tiona and Tione began leaping and dodging again, turning their movements into afterimages, avoiding the countless tentacles that came at them, and even managing to fight back.
However, like before, their punches did not affect the monsters' tough skin, leaving these two First-Class Adventurers as nothing more than targets for the monsters' mockery.
Seeing this, Ais was about to rush in to help when Riezel moved first.
*Swish!*
In a sharp burst of wind, Riezel accelerated from a standstill to a speed where even his afterimage was undetectable, creating a gust of wind that sent debris flying as he charged into the midst of the man-eating plant monsters.
*Whoosh!*
A flash of light appeared as Riezel's sword cut through the leading man-eating plant monster in half, along with its wildly flailing tentacles.
*GROOOAAA—!!!*
Seeing Riezel, the closest man-eating plant monster reacted first, angrily opening its mouth, slimy saliva dripping down as it attempted to bite him in half with its sharp teeth.
But Riezel ignored the monster entirely, continuing to charge forward along his path.
"Unleashed streak of light, bow limbs of the holy tree. You are an expert of the bow."
It was as if he had returned to the time when he was an adventurer, battling various monsters in the Dungeon—as he moved at high speed, Riezel began chanting a magic spell, his voice steady and calm, the chant echoing through the air.
Just then, all the man-eating plant monsters—who had been rampaging through the area, destroying streets, and even chasing after adventurers, including Tiona and Tione—suddenly stopped what they were doing.
*GROOOAAA—!!!*
*GROOOAAA—!!!*
*GROOOAAA—!!!*
One by one, they let out a roar, turned toward Riezel, and charged at him in a wild frenzy.
""What?""
Tiona and Tione, who had been ignored by the monsters for the second time, almost died from frustration.
Lefiya, on the other hand, finally understood the situation.
"They react to magic!"
More precisely, they reacted to magical energy.
It was no wonder that when Lefiya used magic, the first monster abandoned Tiona and Tione and charged toward her.
And now, as Riezel used magic, the same thing happened—these man-eating monsters, one by one, turned toward him and charged mindlessly.
"Don't chant!"
Ais understood this and was about to step forward to assist Riezel, but the next events showed her and the others that he didn't need help at all.
*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*
Countless tentacles slammed into the ground, shattering stone slabs, raising dust, and leaving the street in ruins.
Riezel moved back and forth among the attacking tentacles, his body like the wind, his form like a streak of light, jumping, dodging, spinning, and sidestepping with movements as precise as a special skill, avoiding every single attack that came his way.
"Shoot, sniper of the fairies."
During all of this, Riezel's chanting never stopped—his breathing and tone remained as calm, steady, and composed as ever.
"Concurrent Chanting?!"
"Chanting while dodging all those attacks?"
"Is he nuts?!"
All the adventurers who were running for their lives were stunned upon seeing what Riezel was doing.
Riezel, however, showed them just how composed he truly was.
"Penetrate, arrow of absolute accuracy."
Having avoided all the tentacles and the monsters' charges, Riezel continued to chant calmly and swung his sword, cutting through the attacking man-eating plant monster with a single, perfect strike.
Attacking, moving, dodging, and chanting—he flawlessly performed all four actions at once as he expertly navigated the battlefield of monsters, his form etched into the eyes of every adventurer watching.
Finally…
"Arcs Ray!"
A brilliant golden magic circle appeared among the monsters, pulling them all toward Riezel, who leaped high into the air, riding the wind.
"..."
In the next moment, everyone's vision was filled with a flash of light.
Riezel, soaring through the air, maintained the magic circle high and unleashed a massive light pillar, approximately ten meters in diameter, slamming it down onto the ground below.
*BOOOM!*
In an instant, the deafening roar of the explosion swallowed all the man-eating plant monsters as the light pillar hit the ground, easily destroying everything in its path.
*Rumble—*
East Main Street was shaken, and the area struck by the light pillar collapsed instantly, sending a shockwave that blew away everything nearby, including Tiona and Tione, who were tossed into the air by the force.
"Are you kidding me?!"
"No way!"
Both twin sisters looked on in disbelief, screaming as they were blown away.
"I-Is that my magic?!"
Lefiya was horrified, unable to believe that Riezel had learned her magic.
"Danger!"
Ais quickly grabbed Lefiya, pinning her to the ground to keep her from being blown away.
Nearby adventurers did the same, some unlucky enough to be blown away, howling in pain, while others struggled to hold onto nearby buildings as if caught in the eye of a powerful typhoon, their cries filling the air.
"Wh-What the hell is that?"
"A light pillar?"
"It must be some wide-area annihilation magic from someone..."
Naturally, the adventurers closest to East Main Street either saw the massive light pillar fall from the sky or were knocked to the ground by the shaking earth—some looked at each other in shock.
Loki, unfortunately, was one of the people knocked to the ground.
"What the heck? Isn't that Lefiya's magic?"
Rubbing her painful backside, Loki squinted her eyes and muttered to herself.
"No, wait... even though Lefiya's kinda a magic genius, her attack power's only on par with a Level 5 First-Class Adventurer, so there's no way she could put out Arcs Ray with that kinda power..."
"A single-shot magic with a short chant shouldn't have the power of wide-area annihilation magic like that..."
"It's on the scale of Level 6? Nah, maybe even Level 7..."
Loki's mind raced, and she finally realized the truth.
"Could it be that brat's back?"
If it were him, then it was possible, since he could use Lefiya's magic.
Loki winced, holding her sore backside as she struggled to get up.
"Geez, he actually made it back in just a few days, huh?"
As she watched the light pillar shrink, Loki first muttered in complaint, then smiled faintly.
"Well, at least that girl's gonna recover now."
===
After a long while, the shaking earth finally stopped, and the light pillar that had fallen from the sky also disappeared.
With it, not only did all the ferocious man-eating plant monsters vanish, but the ground had also disappeared, leaving a massive pit in East Main Street, leading deep into the underground.
"Crap, it's too much, huh..."
Riezel descended from the sky, then stood at the edge of the pit and gazed at it, as well as at the chaotic scene around him, remarking softly.
In the end, after a moment of silence, he continued speaking softly, wearing a slightly helpless expression.
"Well, that's it. Loki and Finn are probably gonna flip out."
With such destruction in the city, the Loki Familia would likely face a fine from the Guild.
Meanwhile, the adventurers nearby—still leaning on each other for support, or staggering unsteadily, or covered in dust—turned their fearful gazes toward Riezel.
"Trickster Sword my ass..."
"Can anyone tell me—is he a damn swordsman or mage?!"
"He went too far..."
"If anyone dares call him a rookie again, I swear I'll slap them to death."
"If he's a rookie... what are we?"
Various kinds of shivering remarks echoed everywhere.
Riezel sheathed Fool, standing under the gaze of the crowd, and turned around.
""Riezel!""
"Mr. Riezel!"
Tiona, Tione, and Lefiya shouted at him, looking like they all wanted to have a word with him.
Riezel's gaze, however, was drawn involuntarily to the golden-haired swordswoman standing behind the crowd.
As he stared at her, she was also staring at him, her eyes filled with relief.
Riezel smiled, and then he greeted the shouting, running girls.
===
[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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