As soon we noticed another presence entering the room, I turned my attention to the figure and the girls raised their swords against them.


    While the women apanying him were unresponsive, the man had a disgusting grin stered all over his face.


    Miwen: "...And you are?"


    ??????: "I could ask the same of you."


    He didn''t give the same aura as the others in the room.


    It gave me the impression that I wouldn''t be able to make him talk as easily as the others.


    Since I had already figured out that the three who were hired for this job were waiting for someone, I expected another person to join us eventually.


    And so, this timing was too coincidental. I was sure this guy was at least rted.


    And more realistically, he was either the one behind this whole mess or a step above the others.


    Thus hising here presented me with a good opportunity to understand better how this came to be.


    Miwen: "Thest guy who didn''t have answers for me ended up like that, are you sure you''re not going to talk?"


    Lynus didn''t seem to know too much anyway, so losing him wasn''t all that bad, however, I had high hopes for this one.


    Even when talking about levels, he was in another leaguepared to our captors.


    The women apanying him were level 45 and 51, while the man was 58 himself.


    Certainly high, but not enough to intimidate us. Even without discussing it, the girls and I were confident that subduing all three wasn''t going to be too difficult of a job.


    ??????: "I''ll take my chances."


    He whispered something to the women apanying him, and they seemed ready to fight.


    Miwen: "We''ll restrain them."


    On my orders, the girls rushed ahead, but...


    Their sword cut through their opponents, the desing out of their backs.


    Even though I had not ordered them to kill, I couldn''t me them for this result either.


    Basically, it wasn''t their fault.


    The women purposefullyunched themselves forward, a suicidal move against their swords.


    If this wasn''t surprising enough, they also used thest of their strength to grab the girls'' hands, locking them in ce for a second.


    Using this n, the man grabbed Licia and ire''s head for just a moment before both jumped back as their opponents fell to the ground.


    I thought they had instantly freed themselves, but as I was approaching them...


    Ice started to form around my feet, and when I looked in front of me, mes rotating and forming a tornado had beenunched in my direction, the ground being scorched as they made their way to me.


    I instantly reacted and created a water barrier to ward off the fire. It was incredibly strong, and I had to reinforce the barrier to maintain it, but as soon as I focused more on it, an ice spike sprawled from behind me.


    My reaction was dyed due to the ice in the ground holding me in ce still, but with enough strength, I managed to dodge out of the way just in time.


    As the water and fire collided, a lot of steam started to fill the room, and as soon as I used wind magic to take it all away, I noticed the figure of the man casually walking toward the stairs of the corridor leading to our room... with ire right behind him.


    I rushed to create an earth barrier to impede him from escaping to another floor, but I barely had any time, as in a single second, Licia''s sword was reaching for my heart together with a bunch of icicles created by the ice spike she had made before.


    Fighting back against all that was impossible for me considering how strong she and her magic were, so I decided to take the magic attack head-on as I d myself in air armor.


    As for Licia... I never had to face her so seriously before, and I never wanted to.


    Not only because of how much I love her, but also... the girl hits like a truck.


    Except that she does not stop either.


    Mia and she are incredible at overwhelming their opponent by not giving them any time to think and fight. Mia does that using her absurd physical prowess, while Licia keeps creating new hazards for the opponent to look out for as the fight goes on.


    I knew the best way to deal with that was to make a sacrifice. Anna usually face-tanks the magic and concentrates on the sword fighting, so I did something simr and used all my strength to push her back right on her first strike.


    Normally, that would give me time to think about my next move but... ire was ready to follow up.


    Pushing Licia back was already hard, but I barely had time to adjust myself before facing ire''s sword.


    Counter-attacking wasn''t an option for me in this condition, and I knew a single wasted movement would be my end.


    In close-quartersbat, I had no chance against bothbined, so I decided to jump back.


    But even that didn''t grant me a single moment to breathe or talk. Fireballs changingbined with an absurd amount of icicles were aimed at me while the two gave chase.


    As I did my best to survive, a pir of ice formed behind me, and I felt my feet getting stuck in something cold.


    There was nowhere I could escape to now.


    Thankfully, a bunch of swords appeared behind me, meeting the magic of the girls head-on.


    I met ire''s sword with my own, but Licia was waiting for it.


    But a sword wasunched from the ground upward in her direction, which made her retreat.


    As soon as she did, a cat came out of her shadow and tripped her over before quickly returning back to mine.


    I used all of my strength to push ire away too, which finally granted me enough time to get a coherent sentence out.


    Miwen: "This is an order. Both of you, return to the Kingdom."


    I put 2000 points on each just to be sure they would oblige. I didn''t want to hurt them, but I had no choice.


    This was the only way.


    The two of them are too much for me to handle alone, if Cassandra and Lana hadn''t interfered, I wouldn''t even have been able to get a word in, much less fight without hurting them.


    Considering how easily the man brainwashed ire and Licia, getting anyone else involved was too risky.


    It was lucky of me that Cassandra was in her sword form and thus the man hadn''t noticed her, and that Lana''s Gift makes her basically untraceable until she pops out of a shadow.


    If any other girl was with me here, this could''ve be a gigantic problem.


    ??????: "So you also control others... Oh, I get it. They are yours? My bad."


    Miwen: "...?"


    His words didn''t shock me. I barely registered them.


    It was what I saw in the cells in the corridor that surprised me.


    ??????: "But those two were worth a lot... Say, wanna make a deal? You can get anything from this floor, or two from upstairs. I''ll not even charge for the ones you''ve killed. That should-"


    Miwen: "Shut up."


    I knew what he was trying to say, but the idea of selling or trading the girls was ridiculous and disgusting. I didn''t want to entertain it for a moment.


    ??????: "Too bad then. Maybe if you have a taste you''ll change your mind?"


    Miwen: "I said-"


    As soon as he flickered his fingers, the prisoners started toe out of the cells, rushing in my direction.


    But all they had were numbers. They weren''t particrly powerful, most were malnourished, sick, or missing a limb.


    They tried their best to overwhelm me, but it was like seeing desperate zombies.


    Even their magic was weak.


    Miwen: "Cass, give me a sword and return to the Kingdom."


    Cassandra: "Are you sure?"


    Miwen: "Yeah. I don''t know what might happen if I use you to cut him."


    He hadn''t noticed Cassandra''s true identity, but I didn''t want to risk raising and ending up like Lynus.


    Above all, even if alone, there wasn''t a single prisoner here I couldn''t cut down.


    And so, as they came at me, all they met were my de or my magic.


    I noticed the air was beginning to change, as it had happened inside Isabe''s room, so I used magic to close the door leading to the room out of the corridor, and sent thest of the prisoners to a wall, freezing him there.


    Miwen: "Just you and me now."


    The man started to let some sks fall to the ground.


    Contained inside them were spheres, that once out of the ss, started to release more gas.


    Using wind magic I sent it all back his way, but he had a mask prepared.


    Soon, I noticed that there was something wrong. My legs were itching and burning.


    There was a concentration point around them, and the gas was starting to dissolve my skin.


    I used water magic to "wash it away".


    However, as soon as I did that, I noticed that I couldn''t see anything in front of me.


    Another gas had made a thick fog. From there, a bunch of knives flew in my direction.


    However, deflecting them wasn''t all that hard. Theycked speed and power, but... once they touched the ground, I saw that they were burning it.


    It seemed like they were coated in some acid substance.


    I decided it was best to finish this once and for all, and my chance came when he used the fog to strike my neck with one of the knives.


    My body fell to the ground lifeless.


    ??????: "Should''ve given me them when I was asking nicely. Nothing personal boy, but you''re not worth a lot."


    Miwen: "You should''ve shut up when I told you to."


    It seemed like he was good with abination of gas and wind magic. I was interested in this fighting style, but I didn''t allow him to go any further.


    By activating [Hollow Destiny] I disabled his Gift. This should take away his control over the girls.


    As the clone created by [Body Double] disappeared from the ground, I pierced the man''s chest with my sword.


    ??????: "What...?"


    I used the pool of water to tie his hands and legs and started freezing it in his direction.


    I also made my sword approach his neck, which prompted him to start speaking with fear in his eyes.


    ??????: "I don''t want to die..."


    Miwen: "Most people don''t. But luckily for you, I can heal that. For a price, of course."


    ??????: "I''ll pay whatever you want..."


    He didn''t waste time trying to y me and went straight to business.


    Miwen: "I''m not interested in money. I''d much rather get some names."


    ??????: "Count Brisco. You can find receipts in the drawer on the third floor."


    As soon as he told me what I wanted to hear, I cut off his hands and legs.


    ??????: "Why...?"


    Miwen: "You touched something you shouldn''t have."


    I wanted to punish him ordingly, but I wasn''t sure what would happen if he died after getting his Gift back, and while I was confident the effects wouldn''t remain active, I wasn''t going to take any chances, so I finished him on the spot before the timer for [Hollow Destiny] ran out.


    It was a shame to kill him so quickly since he could have more information too, but at the very least, I ended up getting a lead, and if the receipts were true, I might get an even better target for next time.


    Although it would be nice if the mastermind of all of this was someone outside of Isabe''s family...