Chapter 24

Titan stepped forward in front of Lambert and swung a heavy punch.

The clawed gloves, Titan's weapon, the "Dragon's Claw of Mithril," tore through the air with a thunderous sound.

Lambert deftly dodged to the left. Titan quickly swung his other gloved hand at Lambert, but Lambert deflected it with his sword and knocked it to the ground.

Water splashed high into the air.

Titan used the splash to hide his body from Lambert while spinning and delivered a powerful strike with the centrifugal force, but Lambert easily dodged it.

Titan slammed the back of his glove against the floor, used the recoil to leap backward, and grinned.

"Hahahaha! Despite that heavy armor, you're quite nimble. Let's end the playtime and get serious! Let's have some fun, eh!"

Titan jumped straight up on the spot.

Seeing this, the adventurer of the "Mithril Dragon" who had been blocking Fiona's path smirked.

"That guy's dead. He was talking about having so much fun, but it seems Lord Titan intends to finish him off right away."

Fiona, sword in hand, retreated while watching the battle between Lambert and Titan.

Titan kicked the wall behind him mid-air and flew straight at Lambert.

His movement was like a cannonball.

Titan, with his arms pulled back, charged at Lambert at a terrifying speed.

The water below Titan's flight path was split by the impact, parting to either side.

Titan spun his body just before reaching Lambert and swung his right arm widely.

Lambert showed no reaction to this movement. He remained almost motionless and collided with Titan.

Titan passed through Lambert and landed right behind him.

To Fiona, it looked as if Lambert had received Titan's attack without resistance, so she turned her face toward Lambert, taking her eyes off the enemy in front of her.

"Lambert!"

Lambert flinched at the sound of his name, and Fiona concluded that he hadn't been hit, so she let out a sigh of relief.

The adventurer facing Fiona was also focused on watching Titan's battle and showed no signs of attacking her in a hurry.

"Not bad, eh! I was trying to break your weapon. These gloves, the 'Dragon's Claw of Mithril,' are my trump card, specialized in destroying weapons and the strongest against humans! You're interesting, you really are!"

In that split second, Titan had swung at the greatsword Lambert held.

Lambert, with minimal movement, swung his greatsword and pressed it against Titan's glove.

"If you insist on calling that a dragon's claw, you must have never seen a dragon."

"Huh?"

Titan, who had been laughing with his mouth wide open, frowned.

"Pretty cheap provocation. What, you're a boring guy. I thought I finally met someone worth fighting. Oh well, I'll play along. Of course, until you die!"

As Titan spoke, he tried to reposition his right arm.

However, it wouldn't lift and hung limply.

Suddenly, a sharp pain accompanied by numbness shot through his entire right arm.

"Wh... What?"

At that moment, a crack appeared in the right glove, and it shattered with a loud noise.

The fragments scattered and floated on the water.

A painful red line, from the back of his hand to his elbow, appeared on Titan's right arm, which was inside the glove, and blood spurted out.

"AAAAAAHHH!?"

Titan screamed and fell to his knees.

The water around him quickly turned red.

"Wh... What nonsense! It's made of an alloy using mithril! How could you...!"

"If you can't master the power, you should have chosen a lighter weapon."

Lambert said this and slowly lowered his greatsword to the ground.

The greatsword, having passed through the water, struck the ground with a dull thud, clearly much heavier than Titan's glove.

"Leave the kids alone! Kill this guy!"

Titan, veins bulging on his forehead, barked.

The four "Mithril Dragon" members, who had been blocking the entrance and grinning, immediately wiped the smiles off their faces, ignored Fiona and her group, and surrounded Lambert from all sides.

Titan, his face twisted in anger, slowly stood up, staring at Lambert.

"You're better than I thought. You are indeed a monster, but five against one is too much for you!"

Cradle, shouting, tried to attack, but Fiona jumped in front and blocked his path.

"Out of the way, woman! You're in the wrong place, back off!"

Cradle aimed a thrust at Fiona's throat, but he noticed the splash of water behind him and quickly dodged, swinging his sword.

Cradle blocked Lloyd's sword, which had come from behind, and then rolled forward, neatly avoiding Fiona's sword and quickly getting back up.

"Did you think you could handle me with two of you?"

Lily, who had moved to a blind spot, threw a fireball at Cradle.

Cradle jumped to avoid it at the last second and glared at Lily.

"Not two, three..."

"Stop moving around...!"

"Urrrrgh!"

Lloyd extended his arm and swung at Cradle, who was in mid-air.

Cradle deflected Lloyd's sword, kicked him in the face, and landed.

"Haahh!"

Fiona swung at Cradle.

Cradle, who had extended his leg to kick Lloyd, landed slightly off-balance and was slow to react.

He tried to dodge but was grazed by the sword, leaving a red line on his cheek.

Cradle, confirming the blood on his finger, distorted his face in a vicious manner.

"Heh, heh... You messed up. Ah, you could have escaped just now."

Lloyd, picking up his sword and getting back into position, said with a trembling, self-mocking voice.

"Lambert! We'll try to hold one of them off!"

Fiona, pointing her sword at Cradle, shouted.

In battle, numbers are a significant advantage.

It's easier to be caught off guard, and the number of attacks is vastly different.

Even the most skilled fighter has moments of vulnerability during combat, and the more opponents there are, the higher the chance of exploiting those moments.

Fiona and her group judged that, no matter how strong Lambert was, fighting multiple top-tier adventurers would be tough, so they decided to use the numerical advantage to hold one of the five back.

"If you had run away now, I would have let you go... If you want to die so badly, I'll kill you!"

Cradle first targeted Fiona.

If he could take out one, the numerical advantage would be greatly reduced.

Then, killing the remaining two would be easy.

"Here, here, here, here!"

"Ugh!"

Cradle used Fiona as a shield to fend off Lily's attacks while casually dealing with Lloyd's attacks and delivering a series of strikes to Fiona.

Cradle, despite being the fifth member of the largest guild, had far more combat experience and skill than Fiona and her group.

"There's an opening!"

After knocking Fiona's sword away with his own, Cradle thrust his palm into her solar plexus with his other hand.

Cradle's hand sank into Fiona's body.

"Ughh!"

Fiona dropped her sword and clutched her abdomen.

"Fiona!"

"Where's your bravado now?"

Cradle ducked to avoid Lloyd's sword, swung his large sword back, and tried to sever Fiona's arm.

A fully armored man slid in front of him.

"Huh?"

A headbutt.

Just a headbutt, but a headbutt from a fully armored man in mithril armor.

Cradle's sword, which had taken the full force of the mithril armor, broke, and the momentum carried it into his shoulder, breaking the bone and sending him flying.

Cradle's body, describing a parabola, flew through the air and hit the ground headfirst, splashing water.

"I told you to look for an opening and run."

"L-Lambert! Those four...!"

Fiona, looking at where Lambert had been fighting the "Mithril Dragon" adventurers, saw the guild master, Titan, standing in the center of the mutilated bodies, dazed and missing an arm.

His right arm, including the glove, had been shattered by Lambert, and the left arm, including the glove, had been cut off by Lambert.

The remaining three were clearly dead, their vital organs severed.

"Thanks to you holding one of them, I was able to finish them quickly."

"Y-Yes..."

Fiona, who had been staring at the four bodies, nodded slightly at Lambert's words.

As she nodded, she felt a sense of unease.

"Maybe... we weren't needed."

Lloyd muttered.