Chapter 44: Chapter 44
"Are you all right?"
Ais turned back and spun her sword, flicking the filthy blood from the blade.
The look she gave Kiriya showed clear concern.
Kiriya was speechless.
’You interrupted me before I could finish her off.’
He really wanted to say it.
But when he saw the girl’s quick breathing and the strands of hair stuck to her sweaty forehead, the words didn’t make it out.
"Thanks." In the end, that was what he said.
After using Yang Power: Everflowing Vitality to heal himself, he asked, "By the way, how did you know I was here?"
He did not remember making plans with her to explore the Dungeon today.
"She told us," Ais said. "She was asking about you on the eighteenth floor and smashed up several shops. The whole town knew she came looking for you! As soon as I heard, I came down."
"Damn. This toad woman really can’t keep anything quiet, can she?"
Kiriya felt amazed.
Who picked a fight this openly and still acted so proud of it?
After a sigh, Kiriya noticed Ais’s gaze drifting downward again.
He couldn’t help but laugh.
"What’s wrong? What’s so interesting about that ugly thing?"
"She’s Level 5." Ais’s gaze was complex. "You can already defeat a Level 5 by yourself. You’ve gotten stronger again."
"Luck. Pure luck." Kiriya waved his hand, wearing a look that said ’keep a low profile’ even though he looked incredibly smug.
"If she hadn’t been so full of herself and lowered her guard around me, I never would’ve found the opening."
If Phryne had been awake, she probably would have drowned him in spit from pure rage.
Who could have expected Kiriya to turn a binding skill into a heavy assault technique?
Phryne assumed Kiriya’s magic only summoned wooden spikes and pillars.
What were those toothpicks supposed to do to her?
Then the bastard summoned a giant wooden man, its massive fists hammering her like crazy.
That level of explosive power was enough to threaten a Level 5 adventurer.
Of course, if she could move freely, Phryne could have chopped that wood into scrap with her twin axes.
But Kiriya had tied her arms and legs first.
He was completely shameless!
By this point, Kiriya had already bound Phryne tightly.
While he was at it, he used Forest of All Things to drain a large amount of life energy from her and feed it into himself.
So although Phryne looked swollen from the beating, her insides had been drained by Kiriya.
She was empty and weak.
Not only that, he used Ais’s blind spot to leave something inside Phryne’s body.
It was nothing big.
Just a tiny, almost invisible splinter of wood. It entered through her wound and slipped into her blood vessels, clinging to the inner wall near her heart.
Normally, that splinter would quietly stay there without affecting Phryne’s movements or combat ability.
But if Phryne ever tried to harm him again, Kiriya could control that splinter from a distance.
He could make it absorb her life force and turn it into a deadly blade that pierced straight through her heart!
When that happened, even a Level 5 adventurer with monster vitality would be finished!
As for whether other mages could discover this trick, Kiriya felt confident.
After all, he had tested it many times on Ais.
Every time they finished exploring the Dungeon and returned to the surface, Kiriya would leave tiny wood splinters on her body.
At first, Riveria—known as Nine Hell—could still detect them.
However, even Orario’s strongest mage didn’t think too deeply about it, assuming they were just debris left over from battle.
Kiriya kept fine-tuning the trick until even the Nine Hell could no longer notice it.
"What should we do now?" Ais looked down at the unconscious Phryne.
She looked troubled.
’Stay here and guard this toad woman?’
That was obviously impossible.
Not only would it delay her Dungeon exploration and stat training, but the toad woman might not even appreciate it.
The first thing Phryne would do after waking up was grab her axe and try to chop Ais apart.
Even the airheaded Ais knew that Phryne’s hatred of her had sunk deep into her bones.
’But abandon these people entirely?’
Strictly speaking, they were enemies, so leaving them here wouldn’t be unreasonable.
Still, with Ais’s kind nature, she couldn’t get past that line in her heart.
Let Kiriya decide?
If she did, these people would become monster food before long.
While the girl was caught in her thoughts, hurried footsteps came from nearby, mixed with curses and angry shouts.
She turned back and saw Samira from the Ishtar Familia charging over with several Berbera.
"Aisha?" Samira spotted Aisha lying on the ground.
Her expression changed.
She rushed forward, lifted Aisha into her arms, and checked her condition.
As for Phryne beside her, Samira ignored her.
In fact, it wasn’t just Samira. The other members did the same. None of them cared enough to even glance at their captain.
She wasn’t dead anyway.
After checking Aisha and confirming her life wasn’t in danger, Samira let out a breath of relief.
But when she saw how badly her friend was injured, rage surged into her chest!
"Sword Princess, what is the meaning of this?" Samira snapped her head toward Ais, her eyes burning with anger.
"Are you trying to start a war with the Ishtar Familia?"
Ais was confused af.
’What’s wrong with this person? Why did she suddenly aim her anger at me? I only just arrived and killed a few monsters. Why are they looking at me like I murdered their families?’
At that moment, she truly understood what it meant to be blamed for something out of nowhere!
"It wasn’t me," Ais said calmly.
If she had done it, she would never deny it.
If she hadn’t, no one could force her to admit it!
"Then who else could overwhelm Phryne, a Level 5, along with this many Level 2 and Level 3 Berbera?" Samira grew more agitated as she spoke. "Other than you, Sword Princess, who could’ve done it?"
Ais simply shook her head and pointed at Kiriya.
"He did it."
"Heh..." The Berbera laughed, their voices full of mockery. "Sword Princess, do you take us for fools?"
"I don’t—"
Ais had just begun to speak when a hand landed on her shoulder.
She turned back and saw Kiriya shaking his head.
"You’re still too nice," Kiriya said. "With people like this, this is how you handle it."
He turned his head.
The gentle smile on his face vanished, replaced by a cold, deadly calm.
"I’m the one who beat them. Got a problem with that? Then come test me!"
The moment he finished speaking, his killing intent burst out.
In that instant, the Berbera felt a deep chill.
Goosebumps rose on their skin, they wanted to teach this boy a lesson.
But the words wouldn’t come out.
They were backing down.
They were afraid.
They were terrified of this boy who wasn’t even an ’adult’ yet!
"You..." Samira felt herself shrinking back, and humiliation surged inside her.
She was a Level 3 adventurer.
Was she really going to lower her head to a Level 2?
"Kid, don’t get too full of yourself!"
"Heh. If young people aren’t full of themselves, are they even young?" Kiriya raised his sword slightly.
"This is how I do things. Don’t like it? Then fight me."
Samira bit down on her lip, not caring when the taste of blood filled her mouth.
She wouldn’t allow herself to keep acting pathetic.
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