The final Crag Mutant was skewered by Garland’s blade, its mangled body collapsing to the ground with a gaping hole. That marked the end of a battle that had lasted no more than ten minutes.
These mithril crags were difficult to destroy due to their mithril-infused composition, but individually, they were weaker than Swamp Trolls. A team of three A-ranks and a B-rank who were practically an A-rank working together could handle them with ease. And with Leon felling over half in a single strike, the ti needed for combat had dropped drastically.
“Unit 8 has completed battle with eleven Crag Mutants. No injuries. Resuming shaft sweep after a short rest,” Leon reported over the communication crystal.
—Unit 11, roger that.
—Sa here from Unit 14! That was fast, huh!
Letting Berger’s booming voice wash past one ear, Leon tapped the crystal in his ear to end the transmission. It seed the first victory of the day belonged to their unit.
“We’ll rest here for five minutes, then continue,” Leon said to his unit.
Their damage was negligible. Leon, who had mastered the one-shot kill technique known as Void Shatter, was naturally fine. Garlond, who had danced around the crags with sharp footwork, had only broken a light sweat. Hazel had used only low-tier spells, and Karen had mostly focused on long-range suppression with her daggers, so both were still fresh.
We don’t have to rush just yet.
As Leon ca to that conclusion and glanced at his mbers, he found all three of them staring at him. Startled by the sudden attention, Leon took a step back.
“W-what’s with those looks?” he asked.
Hazel’s eyes sparkled, unlike her usual expression, as she remarked, “Amazing! You took down crags made of mithril in one hit. I really can’t believe you’re still a B-rank!”
Leon didn’t know it, but the Crag Mutants in mithril mines were infamous for draining the strength of adventurers. Even with repeated magic or Aura strikes, they were tough to bring down, and extracting usable materials was a hassle on top of that. It was rare for this many A-rankers to confront them as a group, so they were usually considered formidable foes.
“Hahaha, as expected of the man who saved . I had a good idea of your skill after what you showed in the forge, but you still exceeded expectations.”
Garlond praised him again, genuinely impressed. Even though he had cast off his noble status to beco a rcenary and surely had pride in his own strength, there was no jealousy. It ant that he sincerely recognized Leon as superior.
“Hmph! This is normal for Leon!” Karen said, puffing out her chest as if the praise had been directed at her. She acted like a parent proud of their child, and Leon couldn’t help but laugh.
As a result, the vibe of Unit 8 got even better.
Not a bad start.
He’d gained his teammates’ trust after a single battle and had even developed a new application technique. If he were to score himself, it’d be a solid nine out of ten.
—Yeah, nah. Eight points.
El-Cid cackled, teasing him.
Cursed swords can’t read the room, huh?
—You should’ve puffed out your chest and strutted a little. That would’ve made it a nine. What kind of Hero gets embarrassed by so complints?
Your scoring system’s ssed up.
—They’re impressed now because they think you’re a B-rank. If they knew you were the Hero, they’d just see it as expected.
That made it even more frustrating—because he wasn’t entirely wrong. Five minutes passed as Leon tapped El-Cid’s hilt and finally stood up. It was ti to resu the tunnel sweep.
***
Having secured their first win, Leon’s Unit 8 quickly advanced through M13-2, sweeping away the monsters lurking within. The mithril mine was a place where a single mistake could an death even for seasoned adventurers, but even in such an environnt, Leon’s team cleared monsters as easily as harvesting ripe grain.
With Leon turning even the troubleso Crag Mutants into training dummies, they had plenty of breathing room against lesser threats. For example, the Steel Ants, rated B in danger level.
“Frost, race across the land and snare the hooves of horses. Bitter cold from the heavens, ride the winds and strike,” Hazel muttered.
A fifth-tier spell, Frost Gale, swept across the ground, freezing the nerve nodes in the ants’ legs.
With their mobility gone, the swarm was easy prey. Without Leon or Garlond needing to lift a finger, Karen’s daggers skewered their heads with ease.
“Wow, compared to those stone freaks, these are soft as jelly,” Karen remarked.
Unlike the mithril-bodied crags, Steel Ants had durability no greater than iron or steel, at best. That was enough to deflect an Aura Weapon once, but it wasn’t enough against Karen the Assassin Master. She hadn’t yet ford an Aura Blade, but her control and application were monstrous nonetheless.
—Unit 11 has eliminated thirty-two Steel Ants. Proceeding forward.
—All good here too! Twelve crags and twenty Steel Ants! We’ll catch up after a short break!
Units 11 and 14 were making good progress as well. Leon ran a quick calculation in his head and ca to a positive conclusion.
We’re already halfway through. At this rate, we could reach the target zone in three, maybe even four hours.
That was twice as fast as the estimate from the briefing. With their efficient takedown of the crags, they even had enough ti to rest if needed.
However, typically, that was exactly when things got dangerous. When one starts to relax without realizing it, that was when fate rolled the dice. Unit 8’s next challenge ca from the most unpredictable of monsters—an amorphous being.
Without warning, the ceiling above their path collapsed, and a silvery mass of sli began pouring down.
Hazel was the first to recognize it, and she shouted in alarm, “M-Mithril Sli?!”
It was a rare and powerful monster. Rookies who’d only fought regular slis often made the mistake of underestimating them, but any sli above A-rank was leagues more dangerous.
Among them, Mithril Slis ranked in the top ten. Accounting for their mass, strength, and magical abilities, they were rated S-minus—on par with the cyclopes from the Titan Mountains.
“Karen! Grab Hazel!” Leon shouted.
“On it!”
Karen scooped Hazel into one arm, who was flustered at being treated like a duffel bag. However, she quickly realized it had been the right call when the Mithril Sli extended several tentacles and whipped them like lashes.
Unlike slis from the plains, those in mines were heavy. Their tentacles, made of viscous fluids containing lead, iron, and rcury, could shred armor just by grazing it. So, what could a tentacle made of mithril do?
“W-wha...” Hazel stamred, still shaken after her brush with death.
No one pointed out. It was simply a natural reaction.
The four mithril tentacles tore through the tunnel like it was butter, aning that they were as sharp as a masterpiece sword. Their massive weight and acceleration channeled power into deadly linear force.
“Don’t block them! Just dodge, no matter what!”
Feeling Karen and Garlond both nod behind him, Leon ignited a golden fla across his entire blade. This was no ti to hold back.
I have to cut the flow in one strike.
The range and power of those lashes were devastating. If he let it run wild here, they’d be overwheld in an instant.
He lunged in, aiming for the mont when the tentacles recoiled. Grand Chariot wouldn’t work, and Eclipse was too focused to work on a sli. He had to burn it down by pouring out Aura at full force.
“Hah!”
Leon appeared in front of the sli in an instant and brought his sword down in a golden slash. The heat warped the air, leaving mirage-like trails. It may have been inefficient, but it was strong enough to bisect even a mithril crag.
Or it should’ve been. Instead of slicing the sli, the Holy Sword slamd into empty space and bounced back with trendous force, hurling Leon away.
“What?!”
He barely caught his balance and opened his eyes wide. The Stigma of the Observer sharpened his focus.
He saw what shouldn’t be visible—waves of magic forming a spherical barrier around the Mithril Sli. The mont his sword had struck, the shape of that barrier briefly revealed itself.
And once again, Hazel was the first to realize what they were dealing with.
“Force field...? A sli using a sixth-tier defensive spell?” she muttered in disbelief.
A sixth-tier mage was the equivalent of an expert in martial terms, soone far beyond anyone but a Master. Hazel couldn’t claim to fully wield them as she had only barely learned a few of them. And yet that sli had activated a sixth-tier defense spell, Force Field, in response to Leon’s high-speed strike.
“Karen, evade with Hazel while keeping it pressured! Garlond, fight as you see fit! Hazel, is there any way to break that barrier?”
“No! With that kind of reaction speed, even if we wait for an opening, it’ll still block the attack! Our best bet is to concentrate all forces on a single point!”
“Got it!”
Leon swallowed dryly, comprehending her reply. He needed to combine offense and defense into one. To bring down this Mithril Sli, brute force was the only option.
If they were outside the tunnel, it would be easy. He could simply spam Grand Chariot until the sli’s goo dried up under sunlight and moonlight.
Not here! Its whip attacks only cracked the walls, but Grand Chariot would collapse the whole tunnel!
Evading a tentacle that ca down at a terrifying speed, Leon shifted half a step and swung his sword. Aura compressed along the blade with Eclipse pierced through the barrier, but only a splash of goo had been sliced away.
“Tch...! Still not enough?”
The core was still far too deep. This wouldn’t work, no matter how many tis he tried.
Three tentacles flew at him in retaliation. He twisted midair and landed, and Garlond used that break to charge in and swing his blade. However, just like Leon, he was repelled by the invisible barrier.
“What a troubleso beast! Even with full power, I can’t cut through!”
Garlond clenched his teeth, dodging tentacle whips while eyeing the barrier, rippling from his strike. The monster’s sheer magical output was reinforcing the force field.
To break it in one strike would require an Aura Blade or a seventh-tier spell. Since they couldn’t do that, they’d have to chip away at it until the Mithril Sli ran out of mana.
Then, El-Cid chid in with a tinge of disappointnt in his voice.
—Really? You’re rubbing the key against the chains like a saw, instead of putting it in the lock.
What?
—Think. Think about what you can do. Free thinking is what overcos the limits of martial arts. Just because you’re holding a spear doesn’t an you can only stab. Just because you’re holding a sword doesn’t an you can only slash.
El-Cid was asking Leon what he needed right now.
What I need is... A force like a hamr that can shatter the barrier...! Leon thought as realization lit up his eyes.
He looked down at the Holy Sword in his hand. He was the one who had been limiting himself.
There should have been no limits. If holding a spear only ant thrusting, or a sword only ant slashing, that would have ant that he was a second-rate warrior. A first-rate warrior could smash with a sword or cut with a spear.
“Garlond! I’m going to break the barrier, and once I do that, I need you to strike!”
Leon raised his sword to his upper right. Not to slash, but to strike, as if he were holding a club.
“I’ll break the force field! Hit it the mont I do!”
Whether by instinct or fear, the Mithril Sli turned its attention from Garlond to Leon as if it had detected the new threat. The goo writhed and launched ten spikes.
Where its previous attacks were whips, now it stabbed like spears. The hardened goo shot forward in formation like a phalanx, strong enough to punch through shields.
With a loud clang! Leon swung once, slicing through all ten tentacles as if they were nothing. Whips retained force even when cut, but spears lost all power the mont their shafts were severed. The hardened goo turned soft again and splattered to the ground, crushed beneath Leon’s step.
It was a mistake on the sli’s part. To stop Leon, using whips to form a physical wall would have been more effective than spears. Whips had a wider, unpredictable range, while spears were predictable and linear.
There won’t be a second chance.
Determined to succeed in one go, Leon lifted his sword. A single blow wouldn’t be enough. To destroy the barrier, he needed a chain of strikes.
“Hup!”
Leon took a deep breath, held it, and tightened every muscle in his body before unleashing a whirlwind of blows. He reshaped his Aura Sword—not into a blade, but a mass—then slamd it into the barrier like a battering ram.
Between Aura and magic, it was hard to say which was superior, but in terms of density, Aura had the edge. Each strike scattered the barrier’s energy.
There was no need for wide swings. What mattered was infusing Aura. Leon hamred short, quick strikes using only his wrists and elbows.
Each ti the blade struck the barrier, ripples spread out like concentric rings. Before those ripples could fade, Leon struck again and again. The injected Aura resonated with the expanding waves, cracking the barrier in sync.
Leon could see the distorted gap forming after exactly seventeen strikes.
Aura Arts, Secret Technique, Void Shatter Chain: Wave-Crushing Blade.
He slamd the final blow into that point and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Now!” calling out to Garlond, who had been gathering strength behind him.
And then, with a crisp sound, the barrier shattered like glass.
“Magnificent,” Garlond said, having lowered his sword and gathered all his Aura. He smiled with admiration and added, “I shall et your expectations, my rescuer!”
He was the man who was said to have descended from the fad knight who once quelled a tornado with a single slash. He unleashed the secret technique of the Storm Sword School.
The swirl of energy around his sword was the Storm Sword’s essence—Aura spiraling around the blade like a drill.
“Wail, O wind!” Garland roared like thunder and lunged.
Storm Blade, Secret Technique: Dragonfang Sweep.
The spiral shot forward with the thrust, piercing the Mithril Sli’s exposed body. Its penetration alone was fearso, but that wasn’t all.
The rotating Aura tore through the interior, slicing and pulverizing until it reached the hidden core at the center and drove its fang deep.
With a dry snap, the core split. The sli’s sole, absolute weakness.
Once its core was destroyed, a sli couldn’t hold shape for even seconds. It lost the “fra” that bound it as a monster. The Mithril Sli was no exception.
Its gooey body collapsed into a puddle, soaking into the ground, leaving behind a mound of mithril powder. Thus ended the monster ranked S-, the Mithril Sli.
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