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Last night, after a tentative spar with Tiona, Ryoji had already recognized his current strength.
Compared to when he was Lv 3, the level-up improvement was, of course, enormous.
Because he had accumulated a huge amount of hidden stats, his Agility could be said to be unmatched among Lv.4s. No one at Lv.4 could compare with him, only an Lv.5 skilled in Agility could surpass him.
His Dexterity was also among the top Lv.4 levels, and his Power and Endurance were solidly in the upper tier for Lv.4 as well. His overall strength far exceeded that of a normal Lv.4.
Plus, with his sword technique that could be called "breaking the rules," he was fully qualified to face an Lv.5 head-on.
"What's happening?"
"Is it coming from the direction of the dungeon?"
From outside, a faint commotion could be heard, chaotic footsteps gradually approaching.
In the dim corridor, Ryoji took a deep breath.
Time was running out.
If too many people surrounded him, escaping without revealing his true identity would be difficult, especially since drawing the attention of the goddess Ishtar would cause even bigger trouble.
Of course, retreat was not an option.
Such being the case, it was time for a decisive battle. Ryoji raised his katana at the mid-stance. This should have been the most standard defensive posture in kendo, but unexpectedly, he charged forward, launching an assault on Phryne from this stance.
His eyes were full of fierce aggression.
It was as if his mind contained only an unstoppable will to push forward, with no hint of hesitation.
"Whoa Oooh--!"
Phryne was confused.
She only saw Ryoji launch a renewed attack after a brief pause, so for the sake of survival, she roared and launched her counterattack quickly. This time, she had learned her lesson, not sweeping this time, but instead clamping the shaft of her halberd under her armpit, trying to continuously thrust with the spear tip.
Within less than half a second, the two clashed again.
Ryoji ignored the possible upcoming thrusts from Phryne, his eyes locked tightly on the spear tip. His keen insight allowed him to immediately catch her first strike.
The silver-glinting blade and spear tip collided in the blink of an eye.
"--Ten'i Muhou!"
Puchi!
Suddenly, the whirlwind-like thrust attack was stopped dead in its tracks. Phryne spat a large amount of blood from her mouth, her face suddenly turning pale. Shortly afterward, her figure hunched over, her body shaking violently. She dropped her halberd without realizing it, her expression full of disbelief.
"What happened… Magic? Skill?"
Why?
Just a brief moment of contact, and she seemed seriously injured, no, she was seriously injured, feeling paralysis in her limbs, internal organs trembling uncontrollably, as if she could collapse any moment.
How was this possible!
Phryne was shocked beyond words.
Ryoji was also shaken back several steps, his arms trembling so much he almost couldn't hold his sword.
"Hiss… Huff!"
Ryoji took several deep breaths, then pulled a recovery potion from his waist pouch and drank it.
'Ten'i Muhou'
This was the ultimate profound truth of the Ayatsuji Ittō-ryū style that he learned from Ayatsuji Kaito's body, a supreme "strike first, strike hard" technique. It was the strongest sword skill that Ayatsuji Kaito had spent his whole life researching.
This sword skill could block any attack from an opponent. On the surface, it looked like a perfect defensive move, similar to Ryoji's Buddha's Light no-leak technique, but its essence was actually reflecting damage back.
In other words, it was a counter-damage technique.
Ayatsuji Kaito had used this move countless times to defeat Blazers far stronger than himself. It should be noted that Blazers have terrifying Magic Power defenses; bullets could hardly pierce them, but this counter-damage skill could ignore defenses entirely and directly transfer the damage back to the attacker. It was incredible.
When sparring with Ayatsuji Kaito, Ryoji plagiarized this technique for himself.
"It's over." Ryoji stepped forward and kicked the halberd lying on the ground away.
"W-wait! Don't be impulsive!" Seeing the dangerous hostility in his eyes, Phryne suddenly shuddered.
She had no medical items on her body and was already seriously injured, with her left arm bleeding heavily. Coupled with the one-sided fight just now, she clearly understood she could not defeat Ryoji.
She curled her lips into a disgusted smile with difficulty.
"Look, I, no, my Familia has already paid you so much money. By rights, we're even now, aren't we?"
Ryoji pulled the corner of his mouth into a disdainful sneer.
Yeah.
You're even with Loki Familia, but what does that have to do with me settling our personal grudge?
"Wait a moment! I get it, if you don't want to, I won't force you!"
Seeing that Ryoji showed no sign of softening, Phryne grew even more terrified. The life-threatening crisis made her shiver as she hurriedly tried to sweet-talk him.
"Whatever you want, I can give you! Money? Beauties? Our Familia has them all! Lady Ishtar is very beautiful, I can help you catch her, and I can accompany you, "
A beauty like me is definitely more valuable than Lady Ishtar.
She believed this without any self-awareness.
"Hiss!"
Ryoji sucked in a cold breath from disgust.
Then his hand trembled.
Accompanied by a crescent-shaped slash of blade light, a huge toad's head flew through the air.
Phryne hadn't even reacted before her head was cut off, her face still frozen with the obsessed fantasy of perhaps getting close to the beautiful boy.
Her massive body shook, then collapsed, the blood pooling and gradually staining the ground.
"Fuck! Didn't even bother to think why I came here specifically for assassination, no awareness at all!"
Ryoji's eyelid twitched.
A complete rookie, killing for the first time, but he only felt disgust for a moment, then nothing else.
From the moment he set foot on the swordsman path, he expected this scene. With his extraordinary mental state, he was psychologically prepared and wouldn't collapse from the guilt of taking a life.
But it was still so disgusting!
"Let's go, let's go!"
Ryoji put away his weapon, stored the empty potion vial back into his waist pouch, carefully scanned the surroundings, found no traces that could point to him, and hurriedly left the dungeon.
"You… ah~!"
"You… hmm~!"
Along the way, Ryoji opened a path with Charm.
A dozen or so Amazones who encountered him at once all blushed deeply and collapsed, their consciousness completely disrupted. When they woke up, they would completely forget having met him.
Truly… climax with just one look!
The Charm skill was indeed awesome!
After leaving the dungeon, Ryoji quickly departed the Ishtar Familia base.
The incident happened suddenly, and the outer Amazones and customers hadn't realized what had occurred. He swiftly melted into the crowd and disappeared into the dark night.
Not long after, Phryne's headless corpse was discovered, causing a huge shock throughout Ishtar Familia.
With customers spreading the news from all over, the death of the Lv.5 Captain of Ishtar Familia spread throughout Orario overnight.
However, by that time, Ryoji had long since left the southeast district.
Moreover,
"Finally shaken into a new world!"
(End of chapter)