「————」

In the courtyard that was not very spacious, an extremely heavy air flowed in it, and everyone's hearts gradually rose.

Gurdjieff, Gegran, Ivelai, and Clem couldn't say a word, just staring at the two people facing each other in the courtyard, as if they were holding their breath unconsciously.

Rig and Brian stood opposite each other, one standing there very casually, the other with a calm waist, lowering his body, putting one hand on the knife at his waist, and making an attack posture that he could draw the knife at any time.

On the surface, many people should think that the winner of this battle will be Brian, right?

Completely rid of distractions, Brian, who has returned to the posture of a swordsman, is not only awe-inspiring, without revealing the slightest flaw, but also exuding extraordinary force, and his extremely calm expression and eyes are exuding a feeling that a well-tempered warrior should have all the time, no matter from which point of view, it can easily be seen that his strength is strong and focused.

On the other hand, Rieger, standing casually, his movements were loose, he didn't even hold the handle of the knife, his body was full of flaws, and his excessively young appearance only gave others a feeling of not knowing the height of the sky, making people have no doubt that in the face of Brian, he would only need a second to usher in defeat.

However, it was clearly like this, but it was Brian, not Rigg, who looked solemn.

Rig just stood there loosely, and he had already put a terrible pressure on Brian.

"Who the hell is this guy......!?"

Brian had only one question in his mind.

He racked his brains desperately, intending to find out the information of the strong man from his memory that matched the image of the young man in front of him, but no matter how much he thought about it, he could never think of any strong man in the human race who was as young and powerful as the other party.

Could it be the leader of [Cang Rose]? That 19-year-old priest warrior who had already stepped into the realm of heroes?

But isn't that person a woman?

Moreover, although the other party has stepped into the hero realm, it is not as strong as the boy in front of him, right?

At least, Brian didn't think that a priest warrior who had just stepped into the hero realm could put such pressure on him, even if he hadn't stepped into the hero realm yet.

So, who is this teenager in front of him?

Brian couldn't think of a single outcome.

But......

"Now isn't the time to think about that, is it?"

Brian suppressed his suspicions and allowed himself to focus on the next battle.

If you don't, you won't have a chance of winning, that's what your keen instincts as a warrior tell Brian.

So, Brian further eliminated distractions and made himself more focused.

At this time, Rig, who had been staring at him, suddenly spoke for no reason.

"Before you go under the knife, why don't you tell me what you've encountered?"

This sudden inquiry made Brian stunned, and then fell into a long silence.

There was a long silence before Brian spoke. ….

「…… It doesn't hurt to tell you."

Perhaps because he had regained a little of his dignity as a warrior, Brian finally relented.

He just started talking about his experience in front of everyone.

"Since losing to Storonov in the Imperial Tournament, I have joined a group of thieves in order to become stronger and more powerful."

This is to get the opportunity to kill and hone your skills between life and death.

"The bandits were formerly a mercenary group that fought for the nation during wars, and when there was no war, they would attack wealthy merchants or nobles for money."

Brian's words made many people present frown.

Obviously, the errand was not very honorable.

But Brian doesn't seem to care.

"I will join them, not for money, not for violence, but so that I don't waste my skills and have the opportunity to kill people justifiably."

"So, as long as it's a mercenary group, I don't care what kind of mercenary group it is, with this in mind, I joined them."

"And then, I ran into that."

That was the incident that took place in the fortified city of Ye Lantil more than two months ago.

At the time, Rig was just an adventurer who had just risen to the Mithril rank, and Feifei and Nabe had not yet become famous.

In the northern forests of Yah Lantier, however, a powerful vampire has appeared.

"At that time, the mercenary group I was in happened to inhabit that area, and it was in that forest."

"They have set their sights on the daughter of a wealthy merchant who is said to be from the Empire, who has squandered money in the Golden Pavilion of the most exclusive inn in Ye Lantier, and is extremely wealthy, and the result is that he is very unfortunate to be targeted by the people we sent out to keep an eye on."

"I still remember that it was a very quiet night, and the daughter of the rich merchant left Ye Lantil overnight because of an accidental fire in the Golden Shining Pavilion, and was led into the forest by the men who sent out."

"And then something terrible happened."

Brian's voice began to tremble.

"What exactly happened, because I wasn't personally involved in the looting at the time, so it's not very clear."

"I was just staying in the base area, and suddenly I noticed an earth-shattering roar and movement, and then someone came running back and saying that the people we sent out were all dead, and we encountered a very horrible vampire, and that vampire was fighting someone."

"I ran out alone, despite the utter chaos of the base camp."

"As a result, guess what I saw?"

Brian's expression twisted.

"I saw two men fighting."

"Every time they fight, there is a vibration that shatters the ground."

"Every time they collide, the trees in the forest fall in pieces."

"I couldn't even see their faces clearly, I could only see two shadows chasing each other, and it was as if they were passing through a natural disaster, and the whole world was being destroyed by the battle between them." ….

"And I, having used all my might to survive the aftermath of the battle, almost died."

Brian's words made everyone present feel as if they were in the battlefield at that time, and they could clearly feel the fear, fear and despair in Brian's heart.

In the face of natural disasters, the powerlessness of human beings is vividly reflected in such a scene.

Brian was still talking.

"Then there was an even more terrifying explosion in that forest, and I escaped from the center of the city without being affected, and I was lucky enough to save my life."

"But when I think about what happened at that time, the power and horror I felt at that time, I feel that all my efforts have become a joke."

"Can you imagine? While we were trying to hone our swordsmanship in order to cut down a tree, those real monsters were able to easily turn the entire forest over with the aftermath of a battle."

"It was in that situation that I realized that human beings are weak, powerless, and no matter how hard they try, they can't match those naturally powerful alien races."

Brian's hand holding the knife was already so hard that it was bleeding, and his eyes seemed to be able to shed tears.

"In the face of that kind of power, even if I work hard to swing the sword for another ten years, and practice the sword for another hundred years, I won't be able to make a decent resistance, right?"

"What are you doing with sword training like this? What is the use of such strength training?"

"It's better to go back to your hometown and farm!"

As a result, Brian lost all his heart and was beaten

Shattering all his self-confidence, he fled out of the forest, escaped from Ye Lantil, and fled all the way to the royal capital.

That's how Brian Anglaus became what he was.

「…………」

Everyone present fell silent.

Especially Gurdjieff and Gegran, the eyes of the two looking at Brian can be said to be extremely complicated.

They were able to understand Brian.

The more powerful the warriors, the more unimaginable the efforts and exercises they have put in in order to reach the current state, so they know very well how much blood, sweat and tears they have paid, and what kind of hardship and perseverance they have experienced.

Exercising so hard, fighting so desperately, but even surviving in the aftermath of a battle seems extremely difficult, and you can only flee except to escape, such an end is indeed too sad.

Even Clem fell silent, unable to speak for a long time as he watched his hand work so hard that he didn't know how many times he had worn out his sword.

"Alas......

In the end, even Ivel couldn't help but sigh, and that look, no matter how you look at it, seems to be sympathy, pity.

Only Rieger, listening to Brian's story, looking at the unwillingness and sadness on his face, there was a trace of strange emotions in his eyes.

「…… Well, I understand what you've been through."

Rig scratched his cheek and shouted at Brian as if he had accidentally done some overkill prank.

"I won't say more nonsense, you can go out first."

Hearing this, Brian took a deep breath and reinvigorated his heart, which had almost collapsed again. ….

Now, Brian doesn't want to think about anything but the knife.

This may be my last swing of the knife, so let's make everything come to a perfect end here.

"With this one slash, I'll do everything I have."

Let all your efforts over the years bloom in this knife and give yourself an explanation.

"[Ability Improvement]."

At this moment, Brian began to use martial arts.

This is a martial art that can improve the physical ability by one level in a short period of time, and it is more comprehensive than the simple [physical strengthening].

In such a situation, Brian concentrated all his consciousness in one point, allowing his senses to expand outward, clearly perceiving the sounds, air, and vibrations around him.

This is Brian's original martial art, which allows him to clearly grasp all movements within a radius of three meters, and increase the attack hit rate and evasion rate to the limit, which is called ——— [Domain].

After so many years of hard work, Brian has created a number of unique martial arts.

[Field] is just one of them.

Brian also has another unique martial art he created in his quest to deliver a fatal blow faster and more accurately than his opponents, which is called ——— [Flash].

[Flash] is a super-high-speed slash, a slash that maximizes attack speed.

In order to familiarize himself with the use of this martial art, Brian's training can be said to be extraordinary, and the number of times he has swung his sword has already exceeded hundreds of thousands, even millions.

Practicing the [Flash] martial arts like this has caused Brian's hand to hold the knife to grow a cocoon specially designed for this move, and the hilt part of the knife he uses has been sharpened to the shape of his hand.

As a result of this constant pursuit of the limit, a new martial art was born again, and the attack speed was even higher than that of [Instantaneous Flash], and even blood would not remain on the knife after the slash, making it impossible for the opponent to even perceive the attack trajectory.

This move was named ——— [Divine Flash] by Brian.

Brian combined [Divine Lightning] and [Domain] with each other, fused the two major martial arts, and finally cultivated an absolutely inevitable and unavoidable speed slash.

Secret sword ——— [Tiger Falling Flute].

"This is my ...... Knives!"

Brian has put his life's work into this knife, Ling

It blooms in this moment.

"Bang!"

With a violent stomp, the genius swordsman let out a roar.

He turned into a gust of wind, turned into a shadow, and rushed towards Rig with a whistling energy like an arrow that had been struck.

"Boom!"

The knife was unsheathed in his hand.

It was a quick and urgent stab.

When the knife was pulled out of its scabbard by Brian, it was only a fraction of a second that the cold light of the knife had already slashed at Rige's neck.

No one was able to react to this knife.

Whether it was Gurdjieff or Gegran, he only felt an arc of light flash in front of him, and then he couldn't see anything.

Of those present, only two people reacted to Brian's quick and urgent blow.

One is Yvere.

The pupils under her mask shrank suddenly, as if shocked by the speed of the knife.

And then there's Rigg.

He stared at Brian, staring at the knife from the other party, and a gleam flashed in his eyes.

Subsequently—

"Ding—"

A crisp sound suddenly appeared.

It was the sound of Brian's knife being pinched.

Yes.

Brian's knife was pinched.

was sandwiched between the fingers by two fragile fingers.

"What......!?"

Brian's face changed dramatically.

「————！」

The eyes of everyone present also widened.

In front of everyone present, Rig stretched out two fingers and grabbed Brian's knife.

"It's okay."

Immediately afterward, he gave such an evaluation.

"It's not fast enough, but it's good."

As the words fell, Rieg flew out and kicked Brian in the chest.

"Bang!"

With a muffled thud, Brian was kicked out.

It's like talking