Reinhard followed the direction Rowan was pointing.
A long-haired woman in a maid outfit entered his field of vision.
She was beautiful, but there was also an unmistakable air of superiority about her.
Although she wore a maid uniform, every movement she made reminded people of a commanding general on the battlefield.
The strongest in an empire, huh?
Reinhard silently repeated the thought to himself.
When she reached him, he slowly extended his hand.
"Hello, Miss Esdeath. My name is Reinhard."
Esdeath looked the red-haired Sword Saint up and down.
His posture was steady, his expression dignified, and every movement carried the weight and stability of a mountain.
Just moments earlier, Rowan's voice had suddenly appeared inside her head.
I found you a powerful opponent. Come to the Dungeon entrance immediately.
Without question, it had been Telepathy Magic.
The moment Esdeath received the message, she rushed over at full speed.
And judging by what she saw now, this really did seem like a worthy opponent.
Her trip had not been wasted.
"Esdeath, this is Reinhard, the current Sword Saint of the Dragon Kingdom of Lugunica."
Rowan introduced them.
"He refuses to admit it himself, but in my opinion, he should qualify as the strongest person in his world."
Hearing Rowan's introduction, Reinhard smiled bitterly.
"You think far too highly of me. With my current ability, I'm still nowhere near worthy of being called the strongest in the world."
Rowan ignored Reinhard's modesty and instead turned toward Esdeath.
"So? What do you think of the opponent I picked for you?"
"Whether he's the strongest or not, I'll only know after fighting him."
Esdeath was already growing impatient.
A faint wave of cold air began spreading from her body.
However, Reinhard frowned.
"We're going to fight here?"
He glanced around.
The area was unbelievably crowded.
If the two of them fought here, innocent people would inevitably be caught in the aftermath.
Reinhard was extremely resistant to that idea.
"Then we'll go to the Dungeon."
Rowan snapped his fingers.
Without the slightest warning—
one second, Esdeath and Reinhard were standing in the plaza near Babel.
The next, the stone pavement beneath their feet had transformed into deep-purple rock.
The sunlight vanished.
In its place was the dim, cold glow emitted by some kind of phosphorescent moss growing along the walls.
The Dungeon.
Thirtieth Floor.
This place was perfect for their fight.
Esdeath froze for a moment.
Then she burst into laughter.
Her voice echoed through the vast underground chamber, carrying an almost chilling delight.
The stage had been prepared.
The opponent had been prepared.
How could she not laugh?
"Rowan!"
"You finally—finally did something that makes me happy!"
Esdeath's laughter grew louder and louder.
Her long ice-blue hair began fluttering despite the complete lack of wind.
With her at the center, the temperature within a radius of fifty meters rapidly plummeted.
The phosphorescent moss on the rocky walls froze into crystals.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
The sound of them shattering resembled glass beads falling across the ground.
A thick sheet of ice formed beneath Esdeath's feet.
Cold air spread in every direction like a rising tide.
The moisture in the air instantly condensed into countless tiny ice crystals, floating in midair and refracting eerie rainbow-colored light beneath the phosphorescent glow.
"Reinhard, right?"
"Now let me see what you're capable of."
Esdeath violently swept her right hand.
Five ice swords condensed from thin air beside her, their tips aimed directly at the red-haired Sword Saint thirty paces away.
"Let me see just how powerful the so-called strongest in the world really is!"
Before her words had even finished—
the five ice swords tore through the air with piercing shrieks and shot toward Reinhard.
At the same moment, Esdeath moved as well.
A ring of ice exploded beneath her feet.
Her speed increased dramatically as she used the frozen surface to propel herself forward like a cannonball, following directly behind the flying swords.
Her right arm rose high.
A gigantic ice blade more than three meters long formed along her arm.
Its edge was as thin as a cicada's wing and carried enough terrifying kinetic force to split a small hill in two.
Pure.
Unconcealed.
Overwhelming killing intent surged from Esdeath like a tsunami.
She trusted that Rowan would never bring her some worthless fake opponent.
So from the very beginning—
she went all out.
Reinhard watched the five ice swords rushing toward him, followed closely by Esdeath's enormous ice blade.
Not the slightest ripple appeared in his sky-blue eyes.
His right hand drew the sword at his waist.
The Dragon Sword Reid.
His most temperamental companion.
A blade that would only leave its sheath when it encountered an opponent it deemed worthy.
But this time—
the sword came out without hesitation.
In fact, before Reinhard could even properly draw it, the weapon practically leapt from its scabbard by itself.
Without question—
it acknowledged Esdeath as a worthy opponent.
Reinhard rotated his wrist.
The blade swept through a perfectly simple arc.
Compared with Esdeath's spectacular assault, Reinhard's response was almost plain.
No brilliant sword light.
No dazzling effects.
Just an utterly ordinary horizontal slash.
And yet—
that single slash cut precisely through the gaps between all five ice swords.
The instant steel collided with ice, Reinhard subtly rotated his wrist, borrowing the impact of the first sword and transferring the rebounding force into the second, then the third.
With one slash—
all five ice swords shattered almost simultaneously.
Fragments of ice exploded outward, peppering the rocky walls with countless tiny craters.
Even without the Divine Protection of the Sword Saint—
Reinhard was still the Sword Saint.
Years upon years of relentless training would never betray him.
But in the next instant—
Esdeath's enormous ice blade was already less than three meters above his head.
Reinhard did not block it directly.
His left foot slid half a step backward.
His body turned slightly sideways, one shoulder dropping.
The huge ice blade descended less than a palm's width in front of him.
This was what it meant to possess absolute confidence in one's skill.
Boom!
The ice blade struck the ground.
A deafening explosion erupted.
The frozen rock shattered across a wide area, fragments of stone and ice spraying outward like shotgun pellets.
The resulting shockwave blasted Reinhard's red hair backward and made his clothes snap violently in the air.
Yet his body did not move even an inch.
His feet seemed rooted to the earth.
Clearly—
Esdeath had not held back at all.
So Reinhard no longer intended to hold back either.
The exact instant Esdeath's ice blade struck the ground, Reinhard stepped forward with his right foot.
His center of gravity shifted seamlessly from retreat into advance.
The transition was as smooth as a river bending around a curve.
His sword rose from below.
The tip slid upward along the side of Esdeath's ice blade, producing a shower of dazzling sparks.
Then, when it reached the thickest section near the base—
Reinhard suddenly exerted force.
The vibration of his sword traveled through the ice blade and into Esdeath's arm.
Her arm went numb.
For only an instant—
an opening appeared.
But that single instant was enough.
Reinhard's sword tip was already at her throat.
The strike was fast.
So fast that Esdeath had not even seen his wrist move.
At the very last moment, she instinctively leaned backward.
The sword tip brushed past her chin, leaving behind a shallow cut.
A single drop of blood seeped from the wound.
Before it could even fall, the cold surrounding Esdeath froze it into a dark-red bead of ice.
Esdeath leapt backward ten paces and landed on the frozen ground.
She extended her tongue and licked away the frozen droplet of blood from her skin.
It had only been a brief exchange.
Yet Esdeath had already tasted a sense of danger unlike anything she had experienced before.
The sensation of being forced to the very edge of a cliff—
adrenaline flooding wildly through her body—
caused her pupils to dilate.
Her breathing grew heavier.
Her heartbeat thundered inside her chest like war drums.
"Yes…"
"Yes, yes, yes!"
"That's it!"
She spread both arms.
Cold air condensed wildly behind her.
One ice sword after another materialized in the air.
Dozens.
Then hundreds.
They arranged themselves densely behind Esdeath, every sword tip aimed toward Reinhard.
In the dim underground chamber, they looked like a frozen field of stars.
"Reinhard!"
"Let's slaughter each other with everything we have!"
She violently brought her hands together.
More than a hundred ice swords launched simultaneously.
Every sword flew along a different trajectory.
Some were fast.
Some were slow.
Together, they came down like a sky filled with guided missiles.
They began bombarding Reinhard.
Reinhard remained completely unmoved.
The speeding ice swords reflected in his brilliant eyes.
He took a deep breath.
Then the Dragon Sword in his hand began moving at astonishing speed, transforming into a dense curtain of light.
One ice sword after another was knocked away by the Dragon Sword.
Reinhard moved through the rain of blades.
Each step he took was tiny.
Yet every turn of his body was executed with perfect precision.
He forcibly carved a path of survival through the storm.
His sword repeatedly collided with the ice blades, producing a continuous series of crisp impacts.
One ice sword came flying toward him.
Reinhard slid his blade along its side and redirected its trajectory into another sword.
The two collided in midair and shattered into fragments.
Another ice sword approached from behind.
Without even turning his head, Reinhard reversed his grip and struck backward.
The tip of his sword precisely touched the projectile's center of balance and knocked it away.
Three more ice swords descended simultaneously from the left, right, and above.
Within an impossibly small space, Reinhard twisted his body aside, avoiding the two from either side before slicing apart the one falling from overhead.
His movements were light and fluid.
Like flowing clouds and running water.
Beautiful enough to watch as a performance.
But then—
Reinhard realized that Esdeath had disappeared.
His pupils contracted slightly.
He immediately understood.
Those seemingly ferocious ice swords had all been feints.
The real killing move had never been the sword barrage.
It was Esdeath herself.
Where was she?
Ahead?
Behind?
Above?
Reinhard sharpened every sense, searching in every direction.
And then—
the ice beneath his feet suddenly exploded.
A hand burst out from below.
Five fingers curled like claws and locked tightly around his ankle.
The hand was terrifyingly cold.
Freezing air climbed up his leg like a venomous snake.
His muscles stiffened instantly.
Tiny cracking sounds came from his bones as the cold attempted to freeze them.
Esdeath burst upward from beneath the ice.
Her long ice-blue hair clung messily to her face.
Her expression had twisted from overwhelming excitement, and the smile on her lips had widened so far it almost seemed ready to split her face apart.
Her entire left arm was covered in a thick layer of ice.
It had transformed into an enormous ice spike extending from her shoulder all the way to her fingertips.
At point-blank range—
it stabbed directly toward Reinhard's chest.
"Got you, Reinhard!!!"
There was nowhere to dodge.
~~~
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