<h4>Chapter 115</h4>


    The holy sword sparkled. Like a dazzling light falling from the sky, Estede pierced through the air.


    Slice!


    “Urgh!”


    Estede cut through the leader’s chest and stomach. It was a critical attack, and the leader quickly backed away. Zich didn’t follow him and fought off the underlings around him instead. Among Zich’s opponents, there wasn’t even one person with a trace of their past confidence, and they all stared at the shining holy sword with fearful eyes.


    Sling! Sling! Sling!


    Bright lights shed in the dark passageway multiple times, and every time a light lit up, an underling’s head fell off. The underlings appeared so weak now that it was hard to believe that they had cornered Zich and hispanions recently.


    Zich stopped moving his sword. Estede’s de waspletely covered in scarlet blood. But a momentter, all the blood flowed down its body and Estede returned back to its original, clean state. Estede was a sword that always maintained its pure white de and didn’t ept any sort of uncleanliness. Soon, Zich’s eyes traveled to the only opponent left—the leader. The leader was heaving near the entrance like he was running out of breath.


    “Do you want to do a kind act before you die? I won’t ask you to do much. You just have to tell me all the information you know.”


    The leaderughed. It was terrifying to see a smile appear on his cold face, and he smiled like a viper.


    “Yeah, I thought so.”


    Seeing that the leader wasn’t going to say anything, Zich raised Estede.


    “Urgh!” the leader groaned.


    Estede still hovered in the air, but the leader hadn’t groaned because of Zich’s attack. Something was happening inside the leader.


    Craaack! Crumble!


    Strange sounds came out of the leader’s body, but Zich remained calm.


    ‘As I thought, they really are connected.’


    Like the leader of the assassins at Suol and Osupirin, this man also transformed. As his physique expanded, his muscles became exposed, and his human figure changed into a monstrous form. Even the wound that Zich inflicted on him disappeared without a trace.


    ‘It’s fast.’ Zich clicked his tongue.


    The man in front of him was not only stronger than the previous assassins, but his transformation was also much faster. While transforming, the man didn’t give Zich and L any time to attack him.


    “Kuaaaaah!” he cried out.


    It wasn’t a human’s cry. L flinched in response, but both Hans and Snoc remained calm. Then, Zich and the leader rushed towards each other. L prepared an incantation in case of an emergency, and Hans and Snoc closely watched Zich’s fight.


    Crash! Crash! Crash!


    It was hard to believe that this was a battle between humans. They heard monstrous shrieks and running, but a shining white de intercepted the violently swinging fists. If the ruin wasn’t protected by a mysterious energy, their surroundings would have been demolished by now. Their collisions created a ripple strong enough to blow Hans and Snoc away. The two quickly escaped behind the pirs, which seemed to also be under the ruin’s protection. However, L didn’t budge. She spread out a barrier with one hand and prepared to strike her enemy at any moment with her other hand.


    Unlike the past guys who only relied on their increased physical abilities after transforming, the leader continued to use sophisticated skills. It seemed as if he had done training in his transformed state. Still, he couldn’t change the flow of the battle, and soon, the fight was over.


    Punch!


    “Kugh!”


    The monster couldn’t escape as Estede pierced his stomach. Zich coldly pulled out Estede again. The monster’s hand flew towards Zich, but Zich evaded it by simply arching his back. Then, he stuck his sword into the monster’s thigh.


    Crash!


    “Urgh!”


    Blood spurted out of the monster, but the monster endured it and tried to hit Zich with his elbow. Zich smirked.


    ‘If your wish is to lose your leg, I shall grant it!’


    Cruuush!


    Zich increased his grip on Estede. Mana extended out of Estede as streams of light raged violently over the de.


    Popppp!


    One of the monster’s legs exploded. Blood, skin, and bone fragments shot out, and Zich backed away to avoid them. Blood dripped down from Estede’s de as it shone.


    “Hu! Hu!”


    The monster groaned continuously, but Zich approached it like an executioner.


    Whish!


    The monster threw its sword at him.


    m!


    Zich easily struck the sword away. Their positions were reversed now; the only difference was that although Zich had Estede to rely on before, the monster was really at its end. Zich ced Estede on the monster.


    “I am asking you for thest time. Do you have anything you want to tell me?”


    The monster spat at Zich. Its saliva was mixed with blood.


    “Bastar—”


    Slice!


    Before the monster could even finish its curse, Zich sent its head flying.


    “…It’s over?”


    Zich turned around and replied to L, “Yeah.”


    L canceled the spell she prepared. Hans and Snoc also came out from behind the pirs.


    Thud!


    Zich stuck Estede back into its original spot.


    “…Why did you put it back?” L stared at him iprehensibly.


    “Because I’m not going to use it.”


    “…What? Why?”


    “It doesn’t match me. If I carry this, it will make me look like I’m some hero of justice or something.” Zich shuddered at the thought.


    “…Are you saying that even after knowing the sword’s capabilities?”


    “Did you not see me just using it? I admit that it’s a great—no, impressive sword. But it’s not my style.”


    “I can’t believe that you’re not using ‘the holy sword’ Estede just because it doesn’t fit your style…” Maybe it was just a feeling, but L thought that Estede’s glow seemed to dim a bit at Zich’s words.


    “Of course, I have other reasons. That’s just one reason. Even if I don’t use that guy, I have a recement for it.”


    “What kind of recement could there be for Estede…” A thought popped up in L’s mind, so she stopped mid-sentence. “…Are you thinking about taking Tornium?”


    “As expected, you know about it.” Zich was not surprised that L knew about Tornium, but he was surprised by her reaction. She pursed her lips and her red eyes stared intensely at Zich.


    Grab!


    She grabbed onto Zich’s sleeve and dragged him.


    “What are you doing?”


    Even though she didn’t drag him with much strength, Zich let himself be pulled. From a distance, Hans and Snoc watched them without moving. It was because the atmosphere looked too serious for them to intervene. L didn’t have to drag Zich far—it was only a few steps, and she stopped right next to Estede.


    “Pull it out.”


    “What?”


    “Pull it out!” She stressed her words with great strength. “Use this instead of Tornium. As you know, Estede is a good sword. It doesn’t lose in abilities to any other sword, and it looks more luxurious and better than Tornium.”


    “Hey. I’m going to say this again, but I’m going to use Tornium. Also, there’s another guy who is going to use that.”


    “How could there be an owner for an ownerless sword? It’s not like Estede didn’t approve of you. It acknowledged you.”


    “But that’s not enough of a reason for me to use that thing. I’m not going to be swayed by this sword’s decision. Even if Estede chose me, I’m the one who decides if I want to use it. I’m the one who makes the final decision. To me, Estede is just one of the many swords I can use. And I don’t really feel like using it.”


    “…Are you nning to be Moore?”


    It was then that Zich finally realized what L was concerned about. ‘Demon Lord of Strength, Zich Moore.’ She was worried that Zich might be a Demon Lord if he used Tornium.


    “You said you were going to live a kind life. That’s what you told me in the bar and when we were going on our dates. Then, you should pick Estede instead of Tornium.”


    “…Even if I decide to live a kind life, it doesn’t have anything to do with me picking Tornium over Estede. Even though Tornium falls into the demon sword category, it’s only because of how strong and ferocious its strength is. It doesn’t make people be evil.”


    Of course, if unskilled people used it, they would cause huge devastation around their surroundings or destroy themselves. This was the reason why it was called a demon sword. However, this would never happen to Zich, as he possessed excellent mana control and skill.


    On the other hand, L refused to ept this answer. She grabbed onto his sleeves even tighter. “…Take Estede, won’t you?”


    Zich looked down at L without saying anything and then–


    Throb!


    Zich scrunched up his brows. One of his fingers hurt. Zich stared down at his finger, but there was nothing on it.


    ‘What the heck?’


    Just as this thought appeared in Zich’s mind—


    Ziing!


    Estede vibrated. At the same time, a strange aura began to spin around Zich and a whirlpool appeared in front of him. Snoc and Hans were shocked. Zich and L were inside the aura, and Hans and Snoc were outside of it.


    Zich stared at L, but she shook her head. “I didn’t do this.”


    “But do you know what this is?”


    “It’s not a magic device. But I think it’s an aura that forcefully makes a teleportation portal in the air. I think it’s trying to forcefully teleport us to a specific location.”


    “The most likely suspect is probably that thing right?”


    “Yep.”


    Zich and L both stared at Estede that vibrated just a moment ago. But Estede was nowpletely still, as if it was pretending to be innocent. Zich tried to go outside, but he couldn’t get past the portal. Zich even pulled out the sword and swung it around, but he was unable to slice through it.


    ‘Damn it, I’m going to get dragged in without a choice.’


    Zich stared at Hans and Snoc; both of them were confused. “Wait for me here, and if I don’te back after a while, just go ahead by yourselves! Wait for me in the lodging!”


    “But Sir Zich, you’re the only one who is able to open the secret passageway.”


    ‘Oh yeah, I forgot about that.’ Zich frowned at Hans’ reminder.


    Hans asked, “Should I try barging through it?”


    “That’s probably going to be hard. Even while I was fighting with that leader guy over there, not even a scratch appeared on the walls of the ancient ruin. We can’t just think that the door of this secret passageway is just like any ordinary door.”


    If they searched the corpses of the robed figures, they might find an item that would let them open the doors. But the robed figure could have also entered this space in apletely different way. Was there no choice but for Zich toe back and save them? But he wasn’t even sure how far this portal would send them. Zich was about to ask L how she was able toe here.


    But before he could ask, L put her hands in the whirlpool.


    Pop!


    A tiny hole appeared in the wall of the whirlpool. L took out something from that hole. It was a small ring. “If you have that, the door will open for you.”


    “Wow, you’ve got all sorts of things.”


    “Well, yeah.”


    “Can’t you stop this teleportation pool with what you just did?”


    “No, that’s too much. Just doing that took an enormous amount of energy. It’s impossible to create a hole big enough to pierce through the portal or for both of us to go in.”


    Upon closer observation, herplexion did look slightly paler. It really seemed as if she had strained herself. Hans carefully picked up the ring. The gold ring was borately decorated with red jewelry. Even from a nce, it looked extremely precious. Hans held the ring as if it was ss that would break any moment.


    “Sir Zich, please be careful.” Even though Hans and Snoc barely worried about Zich, the situation was too bizarre and sudden for them to not worry about him.


    But Zich smirked. “Just worry about yourselves, you punks.”


    Even till the end, Zich was Zich. Thest thing they saw was his self-assured smile, and then he disappeared. Hans and Snoc stared at the ce Zich disappeared off to with concern, and Estede continued to show off its brilliance to all those whoid their eyes upon it.