"Hm?"
Hyakinthos's long leg lashed straight toward Roy's head. When he saw Roy actually block it, a trace of surprise flashed through his eyes.
"A LV.3 resorting to a sneak attack—so this is how God Apollo teaches you?" Roy took two steps back and shook his slightly numb hands. Fortunately, the Dungeon training and the earlier fight had already allowed him to grasp LV.2 strength to a basic degree. Otherwise, he would have been kicked flying on the spot.
"Shut up!"
"A lowly trash like you doesn't deserve to talk about Lord Apollo!" Hyakinthos roared as his fist slammed down violently.
"Still better than you freaks!"
Roy's face turned cold as he mercilessly tore away the Apollo Familia's fig leaf.
The overwhelming power of a LV.3 surged toward him. Roy locked his gaze onto his opponent, muscles tensing throughout his body, and chose to evade. The punch brushed past his cheek.
When your status is inferior, meeting force head-on is nothing but stupidity. Defeating an enemy across levels requires a combination of ability values, technique, strategy, courage—even words.
Roy appeared to be forced into a frantic retreat by Hyakinthos, narrowly dodging attacks at the last possible moment. Hyakinthos's movements were fierce and flashy, yet in reality, he hadn't landed a single hit.
This only made Hyakinthos more furious.
Roy was like a patient hunter lying in wait within the grass, calmly waiting for his prey to expose a flaw.
That moment did not take long.
Compared to the original timeline, Hyakinthos was only a little over seventeen at this point—newly promoted to LV.3, riding high as the familia captain, proud and arrogant.
His movements were far from refined.
"You monkey who only knows how to run!" Hyakinthos stepped forward in a burst and threw a wide, rising uppercut.
In that instant, Roy seized the opportunity.
Roy tilted his body, slipping past the rising punch. His body spun one hundred and eighty degrees, wriggling into Hyakinthos's guard like a loach.
With his back pressed tightly against the man's chest, Roy drove an elbow hard into his abdomen.
"Gah—!"
Hyakinthos's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he staggered backward, coughing violently.
"You're LV.2!"
Saliva dangled from the corner of Hyakinthos's mouth, but he no longer cared about appearances. After this exchange, he finally confirmed that Roy was not a disposable LV.1 nobody.
The surrounding adventurers erupted into an uproar.
Roy looked barely fifteen. A LV.2 at that age was rare—among them were even people in their thirties or forties still stuck at LV.1.
"Surround him!"
The contempt vanished from Hyakinthos's face. LV.1 and LV.2 were entirely different realms.
Reaching LV.2 meant achieving a feat. An adventurer like that was bound to possess accomplishments in certain areas that surpassed ordinary adventurers.
Underestimating a LV.2 was asking for disaster.
Twenty to thirty members of the Apollo Familia encircled Roy—mostly LV.1s, four or five LV.2s, and Hyakinthos himself, the LV.3 captain.
Nearby adventurers backed away, their eyes filled with schadenfreude. Meddling in other people's business, huh? Looks like he was about to reap what he sowed.
"Hmph."
Roy swept his gaze over them, disdain evident on his face. Did they really think only they could call for backup?
Since the opponent was higher level and even resorting to numbers, continuing to fight alone would be sheer stupidity. Roy opened his mouth and shouted loudly:
"Miss Ryuu! A member of your familia is about to get ganged up on!"
Through the system's teammate tracking, Roy had known from the beginning that Ryuu was nearby.
With a LV.4 bodyguard following him, how could he possibly be afraid of the Apollo Familia?
Several seconds passed.
Nothing happened.
An awkward silence seemed to fill the air, and people almost thought they heard crows cawing.
Roy's face darkened. No way—was she really going to watch him get beaten up?
"Sigh…"
Finally, a helpless sigh rang out, extremely clear in the quiet crowd.
Everyone turned to look. That familiar cloaked figure—who else could it be but Ryuu?
"Gale Wind!"
The onlookers hastily retreated, clearing a path. Ryuu's deterrent power needed no explanation.
After dealing with the Rudra Familia, she had once emerged from the Dungeon looking like a blood-soaked specter.
Ryuu first gave Roy a quiet glance, then said coldly, "Apollo Familia, stand down. He is a member of our Astraea Familia."
The Apollo Familia members exchanged looks, and in the end, all eyes turned to Hyakinthos.
"Gale Wind, he let our target escape. You think you can just take him away with a few words? That's going too far," Hyakinthos said in a low voice.
If it were the Astraea Familia of old, they wouldn't dare provoke them. But now that only Gale Wind remained, the Apollo Familia might still be able to clash with her!
They didn't know how these two had wiped out the Rudra Familia in the Dungeon, but on the surface, those methods wouldn't work!
Seeing Ryuu remain silent, Hyakinthos thought he had the upper hand and continued, "Gale Wind, you're just remnants of the old era. There's no place for you in the new age!"
Hyakinthos's suicidal provocation left Roy dumbfounded. He watched as Ryuu's expression grew increasingly grim.
Fight, fight! Roy fanned the flames inwardly.
As he wished, the cold light in Ryuu's eyes intensified. In the next second, her figure burst forward.
Facing the long-renowned Ryuu, Hyakinthos did not dare lower his guard—but the gap in strength was something he simply could not overcome.
Before he could even clearly see her movements, a long, slender blur flashed past—it was Ryuu's wooden sword, striking him and sending him flying, his mind going blank.
Thud!
Hyakinthos hit the ground and rolled several times.
Ryuu swung her wooden sword in rapid succession, countless afterimages flashing as she lashed Hyakinthos mercilessly—deliberately striking places that hurt like hell but were not fatal.
Hyakinthos's screams echoed through the night sky.
The Apollo Familia members did not dare step forward to interfere.
This was a LV.4 adventurer!
In all of Orario, there might be only around a hundred of them, most concentrated in the top familias. Encountering one in everyday life was no easy thing.
The higher the level, the greater the gap—especially at the upper tiers, where a single level difference was like an insurmountable chasm.
Before long, Hyakinthos was beaten black and blue. His once-handsome face had swollen into something resembling a pig's head. He lay on the ground, utterly drained of strength.
Ryuu rested her wooden sword against Hyakinthos's neck and asked emotionlessly, "What was it you just said?"
"I… I lost… I apologize." Several of Hyakinthos's teeth had been knocked out, his words leaking air. Fear now filled his eyes as he looked at Ryuu.
"Let's go," Ryuu said, casting a glance at Roy.
"Miss Ryuu, you're amazing!" Roy laughed as he followed after her.
As the two passed by, the killing aura on Ryuu's face had yet to fade, her dominance overwhelming. The onlookers recoiled in fright, scrambling to get out of the way.
Their figures gradually disappeared into the distance.