Meanwhile, the two knights surrounding the carriage were knocked flying after the carriage exploded. Meanwhile, the carriage driver, who had been repairing the wheel, immediately moved away from the carriage after the men appeared to destroy it.
"Phew, that was close! I thought I'd be hit by that magic blast too. Luckily, I managed to dodge," said the carriage driver.
The carriage driver then approached Enzo.
"Well done for bringing us here," said Enzo.
"No need to thank me, Sir Enzo. It's my duty," said the driver, who turned out to be a disguised knight of Duke San Angela.
Then the two royal knights who had been knocked flying began to get back up. They were shocked to see the carriage destroyed and burned. But they were even more shocked to find themselves surrounded by a large group of people who had suddenly appeared.
"Sir Rid!!" shouted one of the knights.
"Who are you? What is your purpose in attacking us?" asked the other knight.
"There's no need to be so noisy, Mr. knights. Our true goal isn't you, but Rid. We must kill him," Enzo said.
The two knights were shocked when Enzo said that.
"Sir Enzo, did you plan this?" the soldier asked.
"I didn't plan it, but if you ask if I was involved, I'll answer 'yes'," Enzo said.
"Why would you do this? Aren't you with Sir Rid—" the knight said.
But before the knight could finish his sentence, someone suddenly appeared from behind him.
~Flame Magic : Burning Touch~
The person immediately touched the knight, and the knight was immediately set on fire. The knight screamed in pain. While the other knight was about to help him, he was suddenly attacked with a slash made of wind magic. The slash immediately severed his head, and the knight fell to the ground, his head severed from his body.
Behind the fallen knight whose head was severed, was a young girl with her right hand raised. It was the girl who killed that knight by cutting off his head. Meanwhile, the burned knight continued to scream in pain, but his screams gradually grew softer until he finally died, his body still burning.
"He's finally dead. I'm sick of hearing him say 'Sir Rid,' 'Sir Rid,' 'Sir Rid,' over and over. A commoner like him doesn't deserve to be called 'Sir'," said the person who burned the knight.
"Javier, I didn't expect you to be part of this plan," said Enzo.
It turned out that the person who burned the knight was Javier.
"Lord Duke ordered me to join in this plan. I apologize for usurping your duty to kill that commoner, young master Enzo. It appears he's already dead from the magic I cast. Even though you yourself were appointed as the executioner to kill that commoner," said Javier.
"I don't mind that. Even though I was appointed as the executioner, I don't like getting my hands dirty. Besides, if he dies this easily, bringing so many people seems like a waste," Enzo said.
While Enzo and Javier were chatting, suddenly a large fire blazing in the area where the carriage had been destroyed split and disappeared in an instant. Everyone nearby immediately turned to look at the destroyed carriage. When the fire had dissipated, they saw Rid holding his sword. He didn't have a single wound on his body, despite being attacked by so much magic. They were surprised to see Rid still fine.
"That commoner is still alive despite that attack," Javier said.
"As expected, killing him wasn't easy," Enzo said.
I, having just finished dispelling the flames surrounding me, slowly walked forward. I saw that the two knights accompanying me had died horribly. Then I looked at Enzo.
"Enzo," I said.
"You don't seem surprised to see me like this, Rid," Enzo said.
"That's because I never trusted you to begin with. So I'm not surprised you did this," I said.
"I see. Kill him," Enzo said.
After Enzo gave that order, five adults dressed as bandits began attacking me with their weapons. I also prepared to attack them with my sword.
"Hahaha, what can you do with that blunt sword from the academy, brat," said one of the attackers.
Then the others laughed, but I ignored their laughter.
~Enhance Weapon: Sharp~
The five people attacking me were almost upon me.
~Flower Sword Art: Sword Dance In The Flower Garden~
Then, I immediately slashed at the five people with a rapid succession of slashes. All five of them were hit squarely by my strikes. They immediately fell, blood gushing from their bodies from the numerous slashes. I didn't know if they were alive or dead, and I didn't care anyway.
"Using this technique when I'm not in a flower garden feels very strange," I said.
Meanwhile, Enzo and the others were shocked.
"Five of our best warriors defeated just like that?" Enzo asked.
Then suddenly, a girl shot towards me and launched a massive wind slash. The wind slash was created with just a swing of her hand, without using any weapons. I immediately cut the wind slash in half. The split wind slash passed me by without hitting me at all. But the slash continued to fly behind me, cutting through the trees it struck.
After that, the girl immediately approached me and attacked me with a chopping motion. I quickly dodged it by moving to the side, and suddenly a tree directly behind me split vertically in two. After dodging the attack, I immediately attacked the girl.
~Flower Sword Art: Chaenomeles Thorn Thrust~
I stabbed the girl in the stomach. She was immediately thrown backward, crashing into several trees, breaking them. After attacking the girl, I looked at my sword. There was only a small amount of blood on the tip of my sword after stabbing her.
"Something's strange. Even though I sharpened my sword, why can't I stab the girl deeply?" I thought.
As I was thinking about that, Javier suddenly appeared behind me and prepared to strike me with his sword.
"You're dead, Rid Archie!!!," Javier said.
~Flame Magic : Great Burning Slash~
Javier aimed his flaming sword at me. But I immediately turned and prepared to block the attack.
~Advanced Glacier Strike~
Our two attacks clashed, but the exchange was short-lived as Javier's sword suddenly rose upward after I had secured the uppercut. Seeing an opening in Javier's defense, I prepared to attack him with a Mana-enhanced punch.
~Mana Strike~
I intended to strike Javier squarely in the chest, but before my punch could reach him, a hooded figure suddenly appeared in front of me, taking Javier's place. The person was struck squarely in the chest, sending him flying, along with Javier, who was behind him. They were both sent flying backward, crashing into several trees, breaking them.
After that, no more attacks were launched at me. I then looked at Enzo, who looked shocked.
"Is this all the power you've got, Enzo? Didn't you say you wanted to kill me?" I asked.
Enzo was initially surprised, but this time his expression returned to normal.
"I'm impressed you're still arrogant, Rid, but realize your position. You're currently surrounded by many people. Even though you've defeated five of us, there are still many who are ready to kill you," Enzo said.
The girl I'd stabbed and sent flying by my previous attack had returned to me. Her stomach bore a wound from my attack, but it wasn't deep.
"Damn you, Rid Archie," Javier said.
Javier had also returned to me along with the hooded man. But this time, his hood was off. The man turned out to be a young man who appeared to be around my age. There was a small trace of blood on his mouth, indicating he had just vomited some blood from my attack. But I was a little surprised to see him still able to survive and get back up after taking the blow. Even though the attack had hit him squarely in the chest, he should have been knocked out by that. This left me a little confused; there was something strange about the young man and the young girl I had fought earlier. Then I looked around; there were still many people surrounding me.
"Indeed. Although I had defeated five men dressed as bandits, there were still twenty-five men dressed as bandits surrounding me. But I knew they weren't bandits but knights in disguise. And there was also a driver who was driving us who was also a knight in disguise,"
"Besides that, there's Enzo, Javier, the young man, and the young girl I fought earlier. Plus, there are six more people wearing the same hoods as the young man I fought earlier. That makes a total of 36 people. It looks like it'll be quite difficult to deal with them all," I thought.
Then, Enzo suddenly cast a spell.
~Electric shock, imprison us in your electric cage~
~Electric Magic: Great Electric Cage~
Enzo created a cage made of his electric magic. The cage trapped us all inside.
"This way, you won't be able to escape, Rid. Because anyone who tries to escape this cage will be electrocuted tremendously," Enzo said.
I then looked at the entire cage. It was enormous, probably almost one-third of the forest's area.
"Wouldn't a cage this big make this forest stand out? Don't you think there's a chance someone might notice something strange in this forest because they see this large cage?" I asked.
"The person who sent me already considered that possibility, so they also sent several people to monitor the area outside the forest. If anyone else becomes curious because they see this large cage, they'll explain that this forest is being exterminated by wild animals and monsters that have appeared here. With an explanation like that, no one else will come to this forest. So no one will help you, Rid. You won't be able to run away either. This is the end for you, Rid!" Enzo said.
Then I smiled after hearing Enzo's words.
"Run away? Don't worry, I won't run away," I said.
~San Fulgen Art Water Technique: Rain Swords~
~San Lucia Art: Snow Blade Dance Technique~
I activated and used both techniques simultaneously. Then several ice swords and water swords appeared around me.
"In fact, I'm the one who won't let you all escape. If I let you all escape now, you'll definitely seek revenge on me in the future, and that will be very troublesome. So I'll finish you all off here," I said.
-To be continued