"Instead of staying home, training in seclusion, and figuring out how to get back at that Valkyrie, why'd you come after me?"
Riezel still wore that faint smile, but the warmth had disappeared from his eyes.
"Or are you here to come after us too?"
As soon as his words fell, an overwhelming pressure descended upon Krauser—the crushing force bearing down on him felt like an invisible avalanche, burying him so completely that he could neither scream nor breathe.
Like a frog caught in a snake's gaze, Krauser did not even dare to move under Riezel's stare.
'Riezel Brynhart... his power is definitely no weaker than those two women from before!'
Krauser roared inwardly as his composure was beginning to crumble.
Why?
Why was this group of youngsters all so unbelievably powerful?
Whether it was those two women from before, that detestable Valkyrie, or the young man standing before him who had become famous across the entire continent in less than a year, they were all so young, yet so incredibly strong.
Compared to them, he felt like nothing more than a clown.
Even his title of Sword Saint now seemed like a complete joke.
*Thump—*
Just as Krauser's confidence was collapsing, Riezel suddenly stepped forward and slowly began walking toward him.
"!!!"
Krauser instinctively wanted to retreat, but his pride stopped him. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to stand his ground as he gripped his sword so tightly that the cold, ghostly glow surrounding the flame-shaped blade grew increasingly brilliant.
In fact, the flame-shaped sword in his hand was the mystical artifact Krauser had discovered in that dangerous place years ago. Together with the Special Swordsmanship he now practiced, it had built the strength and status he possessed today.
Yet as a mystical artifact, the flame-shaped sword came with a severe limitation.
Its limitation was simply that it had been specifically developed to complement the Special Swordsmanship Krauser practiced. If anyone else obtained it, the power they could unleash would be extremely limited. Its performance would not even match that of a high-rank magic weapon.
However, in the hands of someone who had mastered its corresponding swordsmanship, the blade and the technique would enhance one another, amplifying each other's power to a level that surpassed even ordinary artifacts.
Relying on this flame-shaped sword and its matching swordsmanship, Krauser had always ranked among the strongest of his level, and without the flame-shaped sword, he would have been comparable at most to the Shadow Sword Saint Rohm.
But with the blade and its complementary swordsmanship reinforcing one another, he was even stronger than a peak Level 7 like Raven Mavros.
Even Sigmund, who wielded the amber blade and could temporarily unleash combat power comparable to Level 8, might not have been able to defeat him.
If placed in Jinas, Krauser was unquestionably among the top three Sword Saints, second only to Redson and Florent. He could even contend with Florent to a certain extent and hold him off for a period of time.
In Theresis, Krauser likewise possessed the strength to compete for second place while firmly securing third. If that Valkyrie had not risen so quickly and so overwhelmingly, he might even have had a chance to fight for the number one position.
Because of that, Krauser had always been full of confidence, believing he had already reached the summit of the continent. Even if he was not the single strongest individual alive, he was certainly among the highest tier.
Even after suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of that Valkyrie a year ago, Krauser had convinced himself that her victory had only been possible because she wielded the royal family's national artifact, and that if she had fought without it, she could never have defeated him.
Only today, only at this very moment, did Krauser realize just how naive he had been.
Just how much of a frog in a well he had been.
But even so, even in the face of overwhelming power, he would never take a single step back!
"HAAAAHHH—!!!"
When Riezel came within three meters of him, Krauser exploded into action.
He raised the flame-shaped sword high overhead and brought it down with enough force to split mountains apart. Wrapped in endless ghostly radiance, the blade howled through the air as it violently cleaved toward Riezel, detonating the atmosphere itself.
"Body of Effulgent Heliodor."
"Energy Immunity - Ice."
"Power of Gaia."
Facing a strike that seemed capable of splitting mountains and seas alike, Riezel calmly chanted three spells in rapid succession.
Three flashes of magical light briefly shimmered across his body before vanishing, and in the next instant, the ghostly blade of light struck him directly.
*BOOOM!*
Suddenly, the air trembled violently as dazzling light exploded like a miniature sun, blasting countless snowflakes high into the sky. Mixed with the raging blizzard, they formed a roaring snowstorm.
*BOOOM!* *BOOOM!* *BOOOM!* *BOOOM!*
Standing at the center of the blizzard, Krauser continued roaring as the flame-shaped sword transformed into streak after streak of ghostly sword light. Slash after slash descended relentlessly, each one erupting into blinding explosions that ravaged everything before him.
As the continuous explosions echoed across the mountainside, the slope collapsed, and the blizzard descended into chaos. At the same time, the eruption of ghostly radiance caused the temperature to plummet to an astonishing degree, freezing countless masses of ice before shattering them apart once more.
Together with the collapsing mountainside, they were swept into the violent snowstorm, creating a true avalanche.
Viewed from afar, the avalanche roared thunderously as it cascaded down with the collapsing mountainside like a gigantic waterfall, throwing endless clouds of snow into the sky and burying everything in its path.
Yet the one who had caused all this destruction was about to suffer a merciless beating himself.
As Krauser continued his frenzied assault, a figure suddenly emerged from the raging snowstorm, parting the endless snow and ghostly radiance before driving a kick squarely into his body.
*BANG!*
"Gah!"
Krauser's body folded in half as he let out a strangled cry before being launched backward. Like a cannonball, he blasted through the blizzard, carving out a circular tunnel through the wind and snow.
Right afterward, the figure that had emerged from the storm flashed forward, accelerating even faster as it chased after the cannonball-like Krauser through the tunnel.
*BANG!*
A punch landed squarely on his chest.
*BANG!*
Another struck his abdomen.
*BANG!*
And the next smashed into his ribs.
*BANG!*
Right after, one crashed into his shoulder.
*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*
Having caught up to the airborne Krauser, Riezel seemed to transform into a martial god.
His fists flew relentlessly, striking from different angles, trajectories, and directions. Whistling fist winds overlapped with a blur of afterimages, while his movements became almost phantom-like. Blow after blow crashed into Krauser's body, making him tremble violently as though he had been struck by lightning.
Krauser tried to resist and tried to counterattack, but the moment he raised the hand holding his sword, Riezel's elbow smashed into his forearm and knocked it back down.
Even when Krauser attempted to trigger the ghostly radiance and create an ice explosion, Riezel instantly saw through his intentions and answered with a punch straight into his chest, disrupting his magical energy on the spot.
At this moment, Riezel was practically using Krauser as a training dummy, displaying masterful hand-to-hand combat. One moment he threw punches, and the next he followed with elbow strikes, palm thrusts, and backfist blows.
Just like that, the seamless combination assaulted Krauser without pause, beating him until his mind went blank.
To make matters worse, Riezel's strength had been enhanced by the Power of Gaia. Every punch and every palm strike carried terrifying force, making Krauser feel as though he were about to cough up blood, while the impacts were so violent that even his internal organs seemed to have shifted out of place.
*BANG!*
Finally, after Riezel drove a punch directly into Krauser's face, the brutal, continuous barrage finally came to an end.
Krauser crashed heavily into a massive block of ice, shattering it into countless fragments. At the same time, he coughed up mouthful after mouthful of blood.
At this moment, there was not a single part of his body that did not ache. Every muscle and every piece of flesh no longer felt like his own, as though they were on the verge of falling off his body.
*WHOOSH!*
As though he still were not satisfied, Riezel shot down from midair.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH—!!!"
Roaring in fury, Krauser squeezed out every last bit of strength remaining in his body and desperately rolled to the side.
*BOOM!*
Riezel's descending punch missed its target and slammed into the ground instead, shattering the earth and sending snow and shattered rocks flying everywhere.
Even so, Riezel immediately spun around, flashed to Krauser's side, and unleashed a powerful kick, striking him squarely in the waist without losing a single moment of momentum.
*Cough!*
Krauser spat out another mouthful of blood as his body flew through the air in an arc like a kite with its string cut. He finally crashed into the snow and rolled dozens of meters before coming to a stop.
*Cough!**Cough!*
Lying in the snow, Krauser continued coughing up blood as his consciousness gradually became blurred.
As a Sword Saint, he had probably never imagined there would come a day when someone would beat him into this state using nothing but their fists.
He could no longer stand.
He could no longer even feel the pain throughout his body.
Now, the resentment and hatred in his heart had completely disappeared, leaving behind only overwhelming fear.
Being beaten to death by someone was nothing short of a nightmare!
*Thump-Thump—*
A moment later, the sound of footsteps moving across the snow reached his ears once again.
Sensing that demon drawing closer, Krauser genuinely wanted to retreat this time.
Unfortunately, the excruciating pain throughout his body made that impossible. All he could do was watch helplessly as that figure stopped before him and looked down at him.
"How does it feel?"
Riezel's tone was as relaxed as though he had merely finished a warm-up exercise, and in truth, that was exactly what it had been, since he had not even drawn his sword.
"That was Telskyura's hand-to-hand combat that I learned from two of Telskyura's female warriors. Not bad, right?"
Riezel spoke casually with a faint smile.
"I also worked some hand-to-hand techniques from Wind Breathing into it. Seems like it's more than effective enough for actual combat. Now you should be able to calm down a little, right?"
Hearing that, Krauser nearly suffered a mental break.
Calm down a little?
At this moment, he really wanted to shout right in Riezel's face that he was the one who released that murderous aura first!
"What... exactly do you want?"
Krauser could only force out those words with great difficulty.
However...
"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?"
Riezel narrowed his eyes as he asked back.
"What're you guys trying to pull? Why do you keep sending people to attack Chloria over and over again? Even a Theresis Sword Saint like you got personally involved."
"No matter how I look at it, there's gotta be some kind of secret behind all this that I don't know about."
"You can either tell me yourself... or let me figure it out on my own."
"Of course, if I gotta figure it out myself, there's no guarantee you'll be leaving here in one piece."
Hearing the calm yet unmistakably threatening words, Krauser was both shocked and furious, though the shock far outweighed the anger.
It couldn't be helped.
"Y-You... don't know about the doll?"
Krauser was genuinely astonished.
"Doll?"
Riezel appeared thoughtful upon hearing that term.
Was Chloria a 'doll'?
Now that he thought about it carefully, she really was.
"Chloria Michette... that woman is a vessel meant to house Yanivette?"
Riezel's words caused genuine confusion to appear on Krauser's face for the first time.
"Yanivette?" Krauser blurted out instinctively. "Who's that?"
"You don't know Yanivette?" Riezel said with a frown. "She's the other consciousness inside the 'doll' you mentioned."
Hearing that, Krauser became even more astonished.
"So that's her true name...? She actually told you her true name?"
After staring blankly for a while, Krauser muttered with a complicated expression,
"I suppose that makes sense. If even someone like you isn't qualified to know her true name, then no one in this world would be."
"Yanivette... huh?"
"The queendom spent hundreds of years trying to uncover that name, only for a Sword Saint from another country to learn it so easily..."
A complicated smile appeared on Krauser's face.
"How ironic..."
Krauser's self-mocking words, however, failed to move Riezel in the slightest.
"So you guys didn't even know her real name?"
Riezel found that somewhat unexpected.
"...In this world, only her own people probably know her true name..."
Krauser fell silent for a moment before letting out a cold laugh.
"Do you have any idea how overbearing she is? How domineering?"
"In her eyes, anyone she doesn't acknowledge isn't even qualified to know her true name."
"Forget me—even the princes and princesses of the current royal family probably don't know it. Whether the current queen knows it is still anyone's guess."
"Only someone as young and powerful as you could earn her recognition and be entrusted with her true name."
Indeed, when they first met, Yanivette had not even bothered speaking to Riezel before attacking him outright. Only after he had demonstrated his strength and defeated her did she change her attitude and reveal her name.
"No wonder I'd never heard the name Yanivette before... that definitely explains it..." Riezel nodded lightly, then tilted his head slightly and smiled at Krauser. "But you still haven't answered my question. Why do you keep attacking Chloria?"
At that question, Krauser fell silent.
Needless to say, his silence was a clear refusal to cooperate.
"...Do you have a death wish?"
Riezel spoke again, the smile disappearing from his face.
"No."
Even though Krauser said that, he continued sneering.
"No matter what, I'm still a knight. I may not serve them directly—we're only partners—but I won't betray those I work with."
"If you want to kill me, then do it."
"You're stronger than I am. I lost. If I die, then I die."
"My only regret... is that I won't be able to take revenge on that hateful woman."
Immediately after saying that, Krauser closed his eyes and quietly waited for death.
Now, Riezel found himself in a difficult position.
Unlike the previous attackers, the man before him was one of Theresis's greatest swordsmen—a Sword Saint who had been granted the title of count and awarded the Sword Saint Medal, so his status within the nation was second to almost none.
Killing those insignificant attackers earlier had not been a major issue, since the people behind them would never seek revenge against a Sword Saint over disposable pawns.
But killing Krauser would mean Theresis lost one of its precious Sword Saints, and the queendom would never let something like that pass.
And Riezel still had matters to attend to in this country, so for the time being, he could not afford to become its enemy.
Given that, should he kill Krauser or let him live?
===
[A bonus chapter for reaching 400 Power Stones]
[Support and get early access to upcoming chapters at: patreon.com/VALRRR]