The eyes glowed red in the darkness of the forest, nestled among the shadows.
The Morak who saw it instinctively backed away, all preparing to confront the creature that was quite far away. But just a glance slowly approached, making it seem as if their distance was not far.
"Grrrhh…" they growled, alert to the threat.
From a distance, the red eyes grew clearer as they approached, creating a distance close enough for them to see directly without any aids.
However, as the distance narrowed, the eyes disappeared, as if the creature had closed itself and hid in the darkness.
Then—without warning, something silver and long, like a sword slash, appeared from above their heads. It struck the neck of one of the Morak who had briefly looked up, separating its head from its body.
SCRAK!
The sound of the slash didn't echo, but it was enough to draw everyone's attention to the Morak.
Blood spurted from the slashed neck. Meanwhile, the owner of the red eyes landed smoothly on his two feet, wearing brown lace-up shoes, watching the fresh blood flow continuously before the Morak's body fell to the ground, along with its head.
Upon impact, its body and head vanished like burning paper, starting with the blackened edges, then disintegrating into ash in an instant before disappearing from sight.
All the remaining Morak couldn't allow themselves to die without a fight, so they surrounded the man from all directions, even ignoring Towa, who was right next to them.
The man rolled his eyes, looking in all directions to count the remaining Morak.
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6," he muttered, finally arriving at the definitive answer.
Wasting no time, the Morak immediately charged toward their enemy. With murderous glares, they fought back with all their strength and speed.
"Grrrhhh!"
The three adventurers were shocked by the sight, their eyes wide open, as if they couldn't believe what they were seeing.
"...?!"
The man gripped his sword tightly and swung it in a circular motion, turning his body to adjust to the wind.
Swing!
All the Morak, who had been attacking in a surrounding manner, now turned around. They were all blown back by the man's sword slash, wielding only one artifact that could channel wind magic into any weapon.
WOOSH!
Those who were knocked back fell hard to the ground, their backs hitting the ground.
"GARRGH!"
The man, or Towa, who had tried to fight the Morak earlier, was utterly shocked to see one Morak cut down by someone—from his perspective, he saw the person's appearance.
He was a tall man with brown hair, wearing an unbuttoned dark blue shirt, revealing his black undershirt. He also wore long gray pants, and a belt with several pockets around his waist.
He didn't know who the man in front of him was, but he had clearly managed to cut the neck of the Morak he had fought earlier. The one he couldn't even attack.
"Who... is he?" he muttered, asking himself. (He's capable of such a significant impact on Morak... Yet I haven't even been able to inflict a single scratch! Is this the difference in power between adventurers...?)
Towa currently assumes this is due to the difference in adventurer levels. He believes the man before his is an example.
Towa and the adventurers themselves are familiar with the levels of the adventurer system.
The adventurer system is divided into several levels that classify an adventurer's strength and influence. The classification is similar to the tiers for magical artifacts.
Towa even knows the artifact the man used earlier: the Aegis Voltara. (In fact, the artifact he used earlier was the Aegis Voltara, a Medium-rank (Tier-A) artifact, one of the rarest artifacts!)
That's why the AtzilutH ArtifactS shop could have one of the Saga-class artifacts.
While he was silent, one of the revived Morak attacked from Towa's left.
His friend, the witch girl, warned Towa. "Towa, watch out!"
He was shocked, "?!" He immediately assumed a defensive stance, raising his sword to block the sudden attack. The two metal blades clashed against the ground.
CLANG!