Chapter- 14 Old grievances

Gaping into the vacant hallway of the labyrinth stood Eugene, who immediately prior purged dozens of illusionary trolls with swift precision demonstrating his swordsmanship prowess 

This wasn't something to be confused about. He had already experienced this several times during his exploration.

 The monsters in this labyrinth did not attack unless someone stepped within a certain range of them. This should probably be a safety measure placed in consideration for the ages of the participating children. 

 'Slowly, slowly. Just as Eugene's foot was inching forward, the troll's movements suddenly changed. The troll spun its body around and twisted its head towards Eugene as saliva dripped down from between its tusks. It had a face so ugly it could scare no, terrify children. However, instead of fear, Eugene felt happiness. 

 'As I've always said, they look just like Molon.' However, the truth was that more than one monster resembled Molon. Things like trolls, ogres, cyclops, and so on... basically, any ugly humanoid monster that walks on two legs, this was because he was not able to come up with any 

Eugene believed that all of these monsters really bore a striking resemblance to Molon. Molon had never been able to conclusively deny this fact. After all, he was well aware of how ugly he was. As Eugene recalled the ugly face of his old comrade, he kicked off the ground. It was only after the distance between them had shrunk in an instant that the troll finally showed a reaction. This showed that it was both clumsy and dull.

That was why it was easy for Eugene to do what he did next. 

Slash! 

Eugene's sword sliced through the troll's calf as he slid between its legs. Once on the other side, Eugene quickly got back to his feet and turned to face the troll's back.

 Then, without any hesitation, he swung his sword down at the back of the troll's knee. 

These injuries would have been light for a real troll. But as expected, these illusions weren't exactly the same as the real thing.

 Besides, the blade that Eugene was holding wasn't a real, sharp-edged sword either. All of which made the sharp cuts it inflicted on the troll seem quite unreal.

 Nevertheless, the sword flashed out with one blow after another. As each slash landed where the previous blow had fallen, Eugene finally managed to sever the troll's leg at the knee. Dark green blood spurted out of the wound. 

Eugene didn't allow any of it to land on him as he covered his face with his shield. However, his heightened senses didn't miss the moment when the troll finally reacted. As it tried to balance its now-unsteady body, the troll let out a scream, and one of its large hands swung down at Eugene's head. 

 Eugene's shield, which had been covering his face, shifted upwards. 

Screech!

 Compared to the lightness of his own slashes, the troll's attack was extremely heavy. Although his thirteen-year-old body had been tempered through intense training, he couldn't block the troll's blow head-on.

That was why he allowed it to flow to the side. He used both a tilt in the angle of his shield and the full strength of his shoulder and arm as a support. So the descending fist struck the shield at an oblique angle and slid right off. If his timing had been even a little bit off, his arm could have been crushed, but Eugene had never even bothered to doubt himself for a moment. 

His parrying truly was perfectly executed. With one leg already severed at the knee, the troll's gigantic body lost all balance when its fist slammed into the ground. The troll wildly swung its other arm at Eugene as it tried to stay upright, but Eugene deftly swung the sword that he was still holding in his other hand. 

Chop chop chop! 

Blood spurted out as the skin on the troll's arm was lacerated. As Eugene ducked beneath its flailing blows, he reversed his grip on his sword. 

Squelch!

His swords reach chopped through the troll's slow uncoordinated attacks, before lodging into the troll's neck. 

Swoosh!

Bang! Thump!

Lovellian and Gilead had watched this whole scene take place from beginning to end. Lovellian, whose jaw had dropped open in blank surprise, wondered what sort of remark he should make in response to this. Even if it was all an illusion... that was still a troll. Someone, who wasn't even from the main family, a thirteen-year-old child at that, had... without letting out any sound of surprise upon seeing a troll, proceeded to overwhelmingly tear it to pieces. 

"...Wow, that was... brutal. I don't think there was a need to go that far...." Lovellian muttered probingly. 

He was trying to feel Gilead's reaction to this surprise. Gilead had been looking at the screen with similarly shocked eyes and immediately burst out laughing with a shake of his head as a response to Lovellian's words. 

"Your illusions are so well-made that they need to be treated as if it were a real battle, isn't that so?" Gilead defended Eugene. 

"That might be the case, but...." Lovellian hesitated. 

"It's amazing. Very amazing... He shouldn't have faced a troll before, but... rather than stiffening in fear, he cleanly and confidently neutralized the troll as a threat...." 

Gilead couldn't find any flaws in Eugene's swordsmanship, just like Edward's. If he had to point something out, it would be that Eugene's performance was closer to slaughtering and butchering an animal than it was to pure swordsmanship. However, what does that have to do with anything? No matter how it was done, Eugene had impressively slain the troll with just his sword.

"He also hasn't had any difficulties with exploring the labyrinth," Lovellian praised in amazement as he watched Eugene.

 "Except for the first time, he's never once been caught in a trap." 

 "If you just look at his actions, it would seem as if he was familiar with labyrinths," observed Gilead. 

 "Where is that boy's hometown?" 

 "It's in Gidol province."

"There shouldn't be any ruins there. How remarkable...." 

Most labyrinths were originally created as lairs by wizards. Then sometimes, after the wizard who created the labyrinth had either died or left, these labyrinths were discovered by adventurers. 

If they were lucky, these adventurers might even find a treasure in the labyrinth. Once everything that hadn't been nailed down was taken as loot, the now treasure-less labyrinth would be transformed into a potential tourist destination. 

Well, it's not like he needs to have delved inside labyrinths all that often. He might have learned how to do it from books," Gilead offered an alternate explanation. 

"Normally, a thirteen-year-old wouldn't spend time reading a book about labyrinths," Lovellian refuted. 

"But you can't consider that boy a normal child, can you? Also, if he's not relying on knowledge or experience, that means that he could only be depending on his senses.... 

"...Hm... Although it is a labyrinth made with children in mind... to navigate it by his senses... I shouldn't have made it so easy, that he could simply rely on his senses to get through...." Lovellian pondered doubtfully. 

"No matter how much of a child he is, as long as he was born with impressive talent, wouldn't it make sense for him to show such a performance? Latent talent is something that is a determining factor in prowess in an area of study, Edward, was also born with such talent. An abysmal amount of talent " Gilead asked convincingly

. 

Even Lovellion had to admit that was true, and he knew exactly what such a child should be called. 

A genius. 

Gilead no longer kept his eyes on Cyan & Ciel.

Instead, he watched in delight as he watched Eugene venture close to the Labyrinth center. 

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Authors note- :{ 

 read chapters 19-21 I am getting bored ...