"Hey, take the reins and drive the carriage toward the place I tell you."
There were more and more enemies now.
Rayleigh could no longer keep intercepting them from atop the carriage, so he grabbed Welf and dragged him to the driver's seat.
After saying that, he did not care whether Welf could actually manage it or not. He jumped straight off the carriage.
In the span of two breaths, Rayleigh was "surrounded" by more than a dozen men.
Facing a spear-encirclement formation, he lowered his body, swept his arm over his head, and slashed upward with his razor-sharp blade.
Clang!
Every spear shaft was cut apart.
Then he turned his slash into a horizontal sweep, the blade cutting across several men's waists and slicing five of them cleanly in half.
He picked up one of the spears, gripping the end of it one-handed with his left hand, and swung it around with ease.
Every enemy within two meters of him was forced back by his monstrous strength.
Several of them raised their weapons to block, only to be smashed flying backward, coughing blood as they went.
"This guy... he's absurdly good at fighting!"
"Careful!"
"He's from Orario! He's very likely a high-level adventurer!"
"Attack together! Don't give him a chance to breathe!"
In the middle of the fierce battle, Rayleigh suddenly raised his palm toward the sky.
The people around him were startled by the movement, thinking he was about to use magic again.
But after two or three seconds, nothing happened.
They decided Rayleigh was only bluffing and continued their assault.
Whoosh!
His blade came down.
Another man was split in two from the shoulder.
Watching a living, breathing comrade turn into two bloody chunks of meat right before their eyes had an enormous impact on Ares Familia's side.
The younger members, who had never seen such a gory scene before, began to lose their nerve.
Rayleigh's gaze cooled.
If they had been juniors on his own side, he would not have minded giving them guidance.
But right now, they were enemies.
And this place was a battlefield.
It was a pity.
But he would not hold back.
Nor could he let an enemy's opening pass.
He stabbed his sword into the ground to fix it in place, then gripped the spear with both hands and spun the two-meter-long weapon, switching his grip between them as it whirled.
His terrifying strength stirred up a violent storm.
Those blown away by the wind pressure were still considered lucky.
The ones struck directly by the spear spinning at high speed had parts of their bodies torn away and blown apart in an instant.
After clearing the enemies around him, Rayleigh reversed his grip on the spear and took a throwing stance.
Reiryoku poured into the spear.
Boom!
The spear turned into a beam of light, piercing through the street, blasting away everything in its path, then slamming directly into the center of the knight formation farther back.
Bang!
It was like a missile had exploded!
A gigantic ball of light bloomed on the ground, and a mushroom cloud rose into the sky.
Rayleigh did not bother checking the results.
He immediately swung his blade and deflected the projectiles flying toward him.
After knocking away several arrows in succession, Rayleigh suddenly noticed that a metal ball had been mixed into the incoming attacks.
It was a clever move.
His blade was thin and not suited to taking such a heavy blow on its side.
If he used the flat of the blade to block it directly, there was a high chance the blade would crack, or even be smashed apart outright.
Of course, that was assuming...
It was an ordinary sword.
Whoosh!
Facing the incoming iron ball, Rayleigh slashed directly.
The sword slash cut the iron ball apart and swept toward the rooftop at the same time.
"Impossible!"
The man who had fired the iron ball was almost scared out of his wits when he saw it get sliced apart from a distance.
When the sword slash swept toward him, his legs went weak, and by sheer coincidence, he avoided the killing blow.
His hair, however, was not so lucky.
The aftermath of the sword pressure swept across it and carved his hair into a kappa-like style.
In other words, a bald spot right down the middle.
The man's pants grew wet.
He had pissed himself in terror!
"Hadō #31: Shakkahō. Thirtyfold volley!"
Clusters of flame gathered around Rayleigh.
The fire condensed into crimson orbs, then, under Rayleigh's control, all of them flew toward the rooftops at once.
Incantation abandonment.
A single Kidō spell copied thirty times.
Dense fireballs appeared behind the running Rayleigh and circled him.
Then, at his command, they shot out one after another, drawing long trails of flame through the air.
The sheer intensity of the firepower dyed the sky over a large area red.
The moment the fireballs fell, a chain of explosions swept across the rooftops on both sides of the street.
The roaring flames rose like fire falling from the heavens.
"Aaaaaah!"
Several subordinate Familias under Ares Familia suffered heavy losses in an instant.
Those who collapsed to the ground cried out for help one after another.
Seeing the enemy fall into chaos, Rayleigh did not continue fighting. He turned and chased after the carriage.
He knew very well that a small victory like this meant nothing.
As long as they were still inside this royal capital, the battle would never truly end.
There were only two conditions for victory.
First, escape this place.
Second, annihilate Rakia Kingdom.
The second victory condition meant he would have to kill roughly one hundred thousand enemies.
If he chose that option, his stamina and Mind would be the first things unable to hold out.
That was why Rayleigh would not let himself get dragged into a prolonged fight.
His thinking remained clear.
While chasing after the carriage, he fought several faster enemies who had managed to close in.
After cutting down several more men, Rayleigh's breathing was still steady.
It had not even quickened.
"Monster!"
A scout from Ares Familia watched Rayleigh's performance from a vantage point, cold sweat breaking out across his forehead.
Unbelievable.
To think someone could fight this ferociously even under a large-scale siege.
Were all adventurers from Orario this inhumanly strong?
After comparing him to known figures, the scout could not match the boy in front of him with any famous adventurer.
First of all, among high-level adventurers, it was already rare to see humans.
Most were elves or beastmen.
Looking at the composition of Freya Familia and Loki Familia's top combat forces made that easy to understand.
Loki Familia's three executives were an elf, a dwarf, and a palum.
Freya Familia was the same.
Their strongest fighter, Ottar, was a beastman. Next was the Goddess's Chariot, Allen, also a beastman.
The black-elf magic swordsman and the white-elf magic staff were both elves.
Humans had average potential and short lifespans, which made it much harder for them to produce high-level adventurers.
Special cases like Zald and Alfia were always the minority.
Among the names Rakia had listed as requiring the greatest caution, there were only a handful of humans.
"Fire the magic!"
Buzz!
Brilliant magical light filled heaven and earth.
More than a hundred mages chanted in unison, their combined magical energy sending tremors through the air itself.
Spells of every element and color fired out.
Their target was Rayleigh.
Against magical bombardment like this, forget Level 3—even a Level 4 adventurer could not expect to survive.
However, Rayleigh had no intention of dodging.
"Bakudō #81: Dankū!"
An invisible barrier rose in front of Rayleigh, and the storm of fireballs, ice blades, and stone spikes all crashed against the shield of Dankū.
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