178 - Unstoppable

Now that all of his allies were safe, Rygar had a bit more time to assess the situation. He reactivated his Demon Eyes and observed his enemies.

They were now separated by the wall of Earth Spears that Rygar had just used to kill them, but he could still see them thanks to his Magic Power Eye.

About fourteen Templars had survived his magic; many had died in his surprise attack. That was not very surprising.

Rygar's magic only grew faster and more lethal the more he practiced and advanced.

Even though he hadn't focused much on it during his time at the Sword Sanctuary, he was still an Emperor-level mage of the Earth element, and his mastery over it was near its peak.

Probably more would have been killed by his casual magic if it weren't for the warning from the large man in blue armor.

Rygar didn't recognize him, but he presumed he was one of Milis's generals. Otherwise, he couldn't have been fighting and suppressing the North King, Lerov.

He turned his gaze to the dead man who had tried to assassinate Verdia.

He seemed to have light brown hair, but it was hard to tell: much of his body had been torn apart and destroyed by the blade of light that Rygar used to save her.

Rygar turned his gaze back to his allies. His master, Verdia, bore several wounds but had already used pre-prepared healing circles now that the Barrier was dispelled.

Kilian and Pursena looked even more injured and exhausted. Kilian, in particular, had a large sword wound in his left flank, but his Healing Magic appeared capable of handling it.

Lerov, on the other hand, seemed to be in a more critical state, as he couldn't heal himself.

His body bore deep lacerations, severe bruises, and broken bones—probably due to the terrible tower shield wielded by his opponent.

Aside from the enemies within his Magic Eye's sight, Rygar sensed presences behind the mountain ridges. Likely the priests who had kept the Barriers active before.

In any case, the situation was, in summary, under control. He deactivated his Demon Eyes and spoke with a smile:

"Pursena, heal Lerov's wounds once you finish healing yourself."

Then his eyes turned cold.

"I won't be long..."

And with that, Rygar vanished, executing the Wild Dash in an instant.

---

The Hill pondered seriously which decision to make in that moment.

From the fragmented information he'd received, that man could only be the new bearer of the Sixth Position among the Seven Great World Powers, the Beast God, Rygar Adoldia.

But that... that should have been impossible. How could he have escaped the Divine Vision of the Pope? Someone of such importance would certainly have been cited in the divine revelation.

Perhaps... perhaps he hadn't been shown. A hole in the predictions? An error in Pope Lucios's plans?

In any case, that meant one thing: they had failed this mission. And failed catastrophically.

At least the contingencies for poisoning the water had already been carried out.

These thoughts ran through The Hill's mind in just two seconds after the new opponent appeared.

He was a General with decades of experience, and his instinctive reaction was the same thing that had saved him so many times before: act.

It was thanks to his quick warning that some of the Templars had survived the previous attack. And again, he tried to decide on the correct tactic: a retreat.

"Fall back! Return to Milishion using Dispersal Tactic Number Seven—"

He didn't finish.

He might have been fast, but he was never going to be faster than Rygar, who had analyzed everything with his Demon Eyes seeing everything in slow motion.

And in that minimal interval, he executed the Wild Dash.

The Hill barely saw the shadow approach before feeling the absurd force of a knee to his jaw.

The helmet of his blue armor crumpled like a can under the pressure, and the sound of his jaw fracturing echoed loudly.

His body was hurled in a spiral, violently tumbling across the rough terrain, until he collided with a large mountain rock.

The stone cracked on impact, and the debris partially buried him.

And as smoothly as he had appeared, Rygar landed among the remaining Templars.

With a cold, cruel smile, he said:

"Hello, everyone! I have a better plan... You run, and I'll catch you."

His eyes turned icy. The slaughter began.

The first Paladin to react triggered a chain reaction. Everyone scattered, each in a different direction, in absolute panic. But it didn't matter.

Rygar advanced on the first one. It wasn't even a fair fight; it was like an adult crushing children.

He grabbed the man by the neck, his claws denting the steel of the armor like paper, then slammed his body against one rock, then another, and another.

The impact was brutal. At some point, the armor gave way and limbs detached. Organs were crushed. He threw what was left of the meat sack to the side like an old rag.

Then he ran after another. The man didn't even get to scream—Rygar tore out his vocal cords with a precise claw strike, then kicked him off a nearby cliff.

That was when he saw The Hill rising from the rubble, half-stunned.

Rygar approached like a shadow. Before the General could even raise his arms, Rygar was already above him, leg raised.

He brought his leg down like an axe blade, hitting the man's chest with colossal force.

The impact sank into the ground, cracked the rock beneath, and caused more debris to fall on the General. Blood spurted from The Hill's mouth.

But he was still alive.

Rygar didn't care. He vanished again among the rocks, eliminating all the other fleeing knights, one by one. No one escaped.

When he finished with the Templars, he looked toward where he could sense the priests.

He extended one hand and, without saying a word, conjured an advanced Barrier without incantation.

A gigantic dome of magical energy enveloped the priests hidden behind the mountain range. Rygar then reinforced the dome with multiple layers of magical reinforcement, sealing them completely.

His allies, now more recovered, finally approached.

They watched in silence the devastation Rygar had wrought in seconds: shattered rocks, blood flowing down the slopes, destroyed bodies, the scent of death still in the air.

No word was spoken. The only thing heard was the wind blowing through the mountains and the distant sound of the Nikolaus River's water.

Rygar approached once more the rubble where he had left The Hill.

Pursena looked somewhat surprised, Lerov was dumbfounded as he watched. Only Kilian and Verdia seemed hardly surprised by Rygar's strength.

The man in blue armor finally stood up again, and his body glowed with a green light—probably using some healing circle magic.

But, in front of Rygar, that meant little.

The man looked at Rygar as he calmly walked toward him. Then he looked at Verdia and Pursena—and charged toward them at speed.

Kilian and Lerov had barely gotten in front of the two before the knight was met with another kick to the ribs.

The armor crumpled, the impact caused intense internal damage—the Internal Impact of the Beast God Style.

And, once again, he was thrown far away. Rygar thought:

'Well... he wasn't all that...'

The compatibility of The Hill with Rygar was truly terrible.

Even unarmed, Rygar could use the Beast God Style and North God Style to fight at Emperor level.

But it was even easier to do if the opponent was slow.

The Hill was known for his strength, power, and endurance. But, in front of Rygar, he was just a particularly resilient punching bag.

His lack of speed made him merely a target practice for Rygar. After pondering for a moment, Rygar deduced that he would be a strong King-level combatant.

The knight in blue armor stood up again, refusing to give up. Fanaticism shone in his eyes. He shouted:

"HAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

And charged, swinging his tower shield at Rygar. His sword had already been lost amid the beating.

But Rygar used the Wild Dash and appeared behind him, breaking both knees with precision.

"UOOOOOOOHHHH!!!" The man screamed as he fell and tried to crawl on the ground.

Until Rygar stood over him and used Gravity Magic on himself to make his weight much heavier.

The ground around suddenly cracked under the pressure, and the man let out incomprehensible groans. Rygar was indifferent atop him, and he sat on the blue armor. For a moment, it almost looked like a friendly conversation.

At that moment, Pursena approached with curiosity and asked:

"Boss, is that Gravity Magic?"

Rygar smiled briefly.

"Yes, it is..."

The others drew closer as well, observing the magic. But Rygar turned his attention back to his victim and asked, slowly:

"Hey, do you want to live...?"

The man's eyes were bloodshot as he replied with contempt:

"Die... you damned demon..."

Rygar smiled.

"Seems you're dumb..."

Dealing with a fanatic was always more complicated. Their actions lacked logic—they had the sole purpose of fulfilling the will of a voice in their heads.

Rygar wasn't certain whether there were true gods in this world or anything of the sort, but he was almost sure that this "Milis" was no deity.

The Hill used all his strength to spit some blood on the ground, showing his contempt. Pursena sighed:

"A warrior so proud, humbling himself like this..."

Being mocked by the young girl seemed to anger the warrior even more. Rygar asked:

"Do you have reinforcements?"

The man didn't answer. Rygar asked several questions, and the man remained silent. But he got some answers thanks to the man's unconscious reactions.

Then he asked his group:

"Do you have any questions for this guy?"

Kilian said:

"I don't think so. He wouldn't answer anyway. Even knowing if he's lying would be useless."

Verdia gently added:

"He would be better dead. It would boost the morale of the Iron Legion... even more if we said you killed him as soon as you arrived..."

Kilian softly agreed.

Rygar glanced at the remains of the swordsman who had nearly killed Verdia, and said: "And about him?"

Kilian replied, "He became a famous swordsman recently, but he didn't have much to do with Milis; he was more like a hired mercenary."

Rygar nodded, and after thinking for a moment, he sighed and stood up, dispersing the Gravity Magic.

"Stand up." He said as an order.

The warrior, having his freedom returned, struggled to stand.

Many of his bones were broken, his armor was cracked, and half of his helm was gone. The magic circles he possessed had been destroyed.

He looked at Rygar, leaning on his shield, with unwavering determination in his eyes.

Rygar said:

"You may be just a foolish fanatic, a pawn of a sect that will soon cease to exist... but you can take pride that, at least, you were strong... a strength that cannot be reached by talent alone."

Before the man could respond, Rygar drew his sword in an instant. Using the Longsword of Light, the man's head flew from his body.

At that moment, Rygar heard the sound of a blade slicing through the air coming from inside the Barrier that held the priests.

Immediately, he activated the Wild Dash and rushed there in the blink of an eye, zigzagging through the debris and lightly leaping over the mountain ledges.

Upon arriving, he saw a grim scene: five priests lay aligned on the ground, dead, their bodies still warm. In front of them, sword in hand, an armored man looked directly at Rygar.

Without hesitation, the knight raised his blade and in a quick, cruel movement, cut his own throat. His body fell heavily beside the others.

Rygar took a deep breath. "Right... there goes the Barrier Magic..."

He was considering the possibility of capturing the priests alive and extracting information about the high-level Barrier Magics they used.

But he didn't expect them to be such fanatics as to end their own lives when captured.

Upon closer analysis, Rygar concluded that probably not all would be willing to die voluntarily, and the knight present was both their protector and executioner—tasked with killing them if necessary.

With that in mind, Rygar began to descend back to meet the others. However, he stopped abruptly. He had the distinct sensation of being watched.

His gaze instinctively turned to a specific direction in the mountain range, but nothing was visible. Whatever it was, it could perfectly conceal its traces.

No smell, no sound, nothing in sight—he or she seemed to have some method to avoid detection. The reason Rygar could perceive them was thanks to his sixth sense.

He raised his right hand, and sparks began to form on his fingers. Then lightning swirled around him, forming an electric spiral.

"Lightning Chain."

A bluish bolt shot from his hand like a living spear, striking a rock and, from it, spreading in all directions.

Like an expanding electric web, the lightning multiplied, tearing the mountain apart, shredding stones, trees, and debris, leaving the ground black and smoking in its wake.

The devastation lasted several seconds, with lightning still dancing like furious snakes until they gradually vanished.

Rygar remained standing, alert. Then he thought: 'If he escaped this... then so be it.'

Down below, Verdia was discussing something with Kilian. Pursena watched silently, while Lerov stared fixedly at the blue-armored warrior's corpse with a look Rygar couldn't decipher.

As soon as they noticed him, Verdia seemed more at ease. Her shoulders relaxed, and a slight smile appeared on her face. She walked toward him excitedly.

"Rygar! How long have you been back?"

"Only a few days, actually," Rygar replied softly, surprised to see the elf not stopping her walk.

Verdia leaped into a hug with a radiant smile, and he hugged her back firmly.

God... he really had missed his master. The fresh, pleasant scent, the soft, golden hair, the smile that seemed to shine... Just thinking that he could have lost her today...

He squeezed the hug and thought: 'Come to think of it, this is the second time I've saved her from almost dying, right? What is this...? Destiny?'

Pursena, excited, almost joined the hug, but Lerov grabbed her by the collar before she could. She looked at him, confused.

"Learn to read the mood, brat," Lerov said with a sigh.

She looked even more confused, but didn't resist. After a few moments, Rygar and Verdia separated.

"So," Rygar said, looking at the others, "do you have any other mission? Otherwise, I suggest we return to Tinaver. I've summoned a war council for a few weeks from now..."

Verdia brought her hand to her chin, resting her elbow on her other arm in a thoughtful expression.

"Since Milis already knew about this mission, they've probably implemented countermeasures for the water poisoning. It would be useless to continue..."

She then looked at Rygar with a sparkle in her eyes.

"Besides... now we have an extremely powerful combat force on our side. I dare say that with just you, Rygar, the Iron Legion could counterattack Milis with the right strategy."

Rygar thought for a moment and then asked:

"Right... I didn't have time to ask in Tinaver, but... who is the Iron Legion's Military Strategist? Taes doesn't have experience with complex strategies, even though he's in command."

Pursena, Kilian, and even Lerov smiled in that moment. Verdia smiled even more broadly and said enthusiastically:

"Actually... I'm an excellent strategist too!"

-----

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