The power they were witnessing at the moment was simply unprecedented. They have never seen anything like it.
His power was best described as overwhelming. Against his power, even the dragon head that they brought out from the dimensional space was not being much of a help.
Riley, the boy who Hurial and Rebethra was witnessing right now, was the one who possessed this unprecedented power.
“That stench from the breath sure is horrible.”
In front of the dimensional space, standing on top of the dragon’s nose to be precise, Riley was tapping his shoulder with the flat side of the sword which had become substantially thinner.
‘Just where did someone like him pop out?’
Rebethra knew the story about Riley very well.
He was the brat young master who was born as the youngest in the Iphalleta House, the family which was most famous in Solia for the swordsmanship.
The rumors said Riley was a lazy and foolish young master who never held a sword despite being born in the house of sword.
That was the Riley that Rebethra knew.
Before this boy was mentioned in the Priestess’s divine message about a dragon, and after the message was received… Rebethra actually never thought too hard about Riley.
It was because…
“It would be best for you all to keep your mouths shut, you disgusting little runts.”
It was because he never knew that Riley was this strong.
Riley cut down the corpses that were controlled by Hurial. He cut them down like they were nothing. When Riley saw Astroa’s Seven Circles magic, Riley just yawned as if it was nothing. When the dragon’s head appeared out of the dimensional space, Riley was now stepping on its mouth as if he was squashing a bug, annoyed.
“Well then.”
They wondered if they were just dreaming. The boy’s power was just too overwhelming. The boy slowly turned his head and looked at Hurial and Rebethra who were on their knees.
“It is you guys’ turn, right?”
Riley hopped down from the head of the dragon’s corpse. He cracked his neck left and right as he approached the two who were sitting there vacantly.
“Uuuu. I wonder how long it had been since I moved like this. Thanks to Ian, I ended up this far.”
Riley came this far because of a sincere request made by Ian, and this was the aftermath. With cold look on his face, Riley came to the front of Hurial. Riley raised his sword on his right hand.
“First, I’ll kill the iron leech half way.”
“…?”
Slash.
Riley’s sword drew a blue line. It swept through Hurial’s legs.
“Uuu, uuu?”
Hurial’s mouth slowly opened.
“Ahah.”
The way his face was getting crumpled was somehow slow. As if someone used time magic, the blue line that was drawn on his legs was slowly separating his thighs and knees.
“Ahaak…”
His scream was stretched out long.
Hurial was certain now that someone had cast time magic on him. However… he had no way of stopping any of what was happening. His legs were slowly being cut off, and his face was crumpling slowly along with slow scream that continued.
“Are you feigning pain? You are the one who had been working dead people who died in pain.”
Although Hurial was screaming, Riley looked at him with a cold gaze. Without a moment of hesitation, Riley swung the sword again.
This time, he aimed for Hurial’s arms.
Just above the elbows, starting with the tendons, he cut the bastard’s arms clean. Riley then looked at Hurial’s eyes.
“Uuuu, uuuu!”
Noticing Riley’s gaze, Hurial thought that this must not be the end of it. For the second time in his life, Hurial’s eyes were saturated in fear.
“Pl……ease…”
His words continued slowly. Riley ignored Hurial’s words. As if cutting off Hurial’s arms and legs were not enough, he raised the sword again.
Hurial’s eyes were overflowing with fear. A long, blue line was drawn horizontally on his eyes and made the sound of wind passing.
“Kuuuuaaaaaa… ak!”
From his arms, legs and eyes, Hurial was drawing fountains of blood. It seemed he was affected by Riley’s time magic. Hurial was experiencing pain for extended period of time. He was not able to cast any spell.
“Don’t die yet. Sit tight and wait, all right?”
Hurial’s screams were not the only thing that was slow. The fountains of blood gushing from the cut places were moving at crawling pace. Riley watched it all and told Hurial to die slowly. Riley leisurely turned his body and looked at Rebethra.
“What are you looking at vacantly like that? You will become just like him too.”
“… Huuuu.”
It seemed Riley was rough handling the sword until now. It seemed like the blade was going to be gone soon with a few more swings. The blade was that thin now. Riley mumbled as he examined the deteriorated condition of the sword. He noticed Rebethra was flinching his shoulders. Riley tilted his head side to side.
“Hu… Huhuhu…”
It seemed Rebethra had gone insane from the fear. Rebethra was smiling as he flinched his shoulders. Riley, with his cold gaze, raised the sword on his right hand once again.
“Hu… ugh!”
Unlike the Hurial’s case, Riley cut off Rebethra’s arms first. Riley casually turned his head and looked at the dimensional space where the dragon’s head was still present.
‘This runt… does he still have a trick left up his sleeve?’
Riley didn’t have any ability to read people’s mind. Finding Rebethra’s behavior suspicious, Riley furrowed his brows and swung his sword again.
“Uuuup!”
This time, he swung it against Rebethra’s legs.
“Huu…. Huu… Huuuuuu.”
Just like Hurial, Rebethra was subjected to Riley’s time magic. Feeling the pain from cut off arms and legs, he slowly shed tears. His eyes met with the boy’s gaze.
“I can… only… say that… you are… incredible.”
Unlike Hurial, who had gone mad from fear, Rebethra was maintaining his sanity. He struggled with words as he complimented Riley.
“To think… you would meddle with our work… this… much.”
Although the time magic was stretching out his words, although his face was crumpled from the pain, it looked like Rebethra was feeling refreshed as if he dealt a blow against Riley somehow. Riley furrowed his brows and directed his gaze to the side.
“You… You are the Lazy-Sword, so how?”
“…”
There were Peruda and Hamil.
It seemed they just saw what Riley did. The two men vacantly had their mouths open. Annoyed, Riley looked at his sword.
Even if he was carefull, it seemed like the sword was not going to last after swinging two or three more times.
‘It’s fine. I can just kill them with bare hands.’
Riley bit his lips. He then turned his head away from Peruda and Hamil to look at Rebethra who was struggling in pain.
“I had to ask. What is this life long wish you guys mentioned?”
“…”
Riley asked toward Rebethra.
Rebethra fell to silence.
“This dimensional space… This is different from the dimensional space that I know about? Where did you get the corpse of a dragon?”
Facing silence, Riley nodded and asked a different question toward Rebethra.
“…”
Rebethra was silent again.
“About the world below, just what are you talking about exactly?”
“…”
All Riley got in return was silence. Without hesitation, Riley swung his sword and tore up Rebethra’s mouth wide. Riley promptly turned and walked toward where Hurial was.
“Uuu, uuuuu!”
Hurial could hear slow screams from Rebethra on the side. He could hear Riley’s steps coming toward himself. Hurial, choking on fear, held his breath and waited for Riley’s question.
“I’m going to give you an advice first. It would be wise for you to think carefully and answer straight. I’m not going to tear your mouth. I’m going to cut your neck.”
Hurial, in state of being subjected to time magic, nodded slowly.
“What is the life long wish that you guys mentioned?”
“… It is opening the world below by collecting human souls.”
“…?!”
It seemed Hurial was overwhelmed by Riley ever since he saw Riley cutting the dragon’s breath in half. Hurial lowered his head and answered politely. Having realized this, Rebethra, who was shaking in pain, started to glare at Hurial with violent look on his eyes.
“Where did you get the dead body of a dragon?”
“It was given by the Great One from the world below.”
“Hu…. ri… al!!”
Riley ignored Rebethra’s voice from the back. Riley furrowed his brows after hearing Hurial’s answers. He asked the next question.
“What is the world below exactly?”
“The world below is…”
Before Hurial could answer, it looked like his face was becoming squashy like a jelly. It looked like his head was boiling from inside. His entire face started to wobble.
“Uuu…. Uuuu….”
With his face wobbling, Hurial turned his head toward Rebethra. Hurial started to wave around what were left of his arms after they were cut off, which were shaking.
“Pl…. ease…”
With that as his last word, along with a ‘puk’ sound, Hurial’s head exploded and splashed black blood in all directions.
‘Self destruction?’
Although the body now lost its head, just before Hurial died, its arms were desperately reaching toward somewhere. Having noticed this, Riley quickly turned his head toward the direction.
‘That runt?’
It was headed to where Rebethra was.
“You dare… to… tell… our life long wish…”
Rebethra was cringing, not from pain, but from fury. He breathed in the air along with an audible breathing sound. When he did, from Hurial’s dead body, purple gas-like substance slowly came up, and it was absorbed by Rebethra as if snake crawled into him.
“Instead of your damn mouth, I should have torn off your head, right?”
It looked like Rebethra was up to no good. Having realized this, Riley walked toward Rebethra as he raised the thinned sword. It looked like he could swing it just once more. He raised the sword, but then he realized Hurial’s corpse was crawling towards him. Riley wiggled his eyebrows.
‘It cannot be?’
While Riley was wiggling his eyebrows, the dragon’s corpse, which was turned to a rag from being cut by the sword, opened its mouth again in a heavy motion. It aimed its mouth toward Riley.
“So, you are saying you are going to go as far as you could possibly take this to, right?”
Suuuuuuuuuuu.
Once again, the mana was being collected toward the dragon’s corpse. Riley ground his teeth and fixed his grip on his sword.
‘Damn it. Only if the sword was a little better…’
The sword was noticeably thinner now. Riley thought about the sword from his past life which was able to endure his mana. Riley realized he could not afford to let this drag on any further. He quickly moved his body.
‘I’m going to just smack away that ragged piece of mouth. As for the others, I’ll end them with bare hands.’
The dragon’s head looked like it could throw up the dragon’s breath in any moment. Facing the dragon’s head, Riley, with deadly look in his eyes, was about to swing his sword. However, at that moment, a graceful but stern voice could be heard through his ears.
“… Stop!”
The voice was coming from the sky.
It was not just ringing his eardrums. The voice was shaking his entire body. Riley, who was about to swing his sword, quickly glanced up.
‘That is?’
What he saw was a being with long ears, an elf. She was floating in the air and looking down at Riley.
‘What’s an elf doing here…’
Riley had read about elves in books. Riley thought hard about why an elf was here. With his eyebrows furrowed, he looked at the elf who was flaunting her silver hair.
‘Wait. She is not an elf?’
Elves were blessed with mana from their births. However, it was impossible for any elf to possess the humungous mana that Riley was sensing.
It felt similar to what his friend had. Riley thought she might had more than Andal. Riley looked up at the elf. With a serious, straight face, Riley asked,
“What’s a dragon doing in a filthy place like this?”
Riley had only known one dragon until now. This was the first time for Riley to meet another dragon besides Andal. Riley asked with a violent look on his face. The silver blonde elf, a dragon on an amusement tour in the form of an elf to be precise, lightly lowered her head to show respect. She then came down.
“Sir Riley, correct?”
It seemed she knew his name. She came down and landed on the tip of the nose of her kin’s dead body. The silver blonde dragon looked at the corpse of her kin and continued in a low voice.
“As the leader of my kind, I have a responsibility to stop further damage being inflected on my kin’s head, so I stepped in.”
The silver blonde elf took a knee to the floor. She gently stroke the dragon’s nose. The dragon’s breath looked like it was about to be shot toward Riley, but it withered away at an instant.
“… Also.”
When the dragon’s breath completely disappeared, the silver haired elf got up and turned to look at Rebethra who was grinding his teeth. The elf continued.
“As for this human’s body, we will take it.”