The distribution of fifth-stage extraordinary beings across the continent is relatively balanced. Among these hundred or so top-tier powerhouses, many form groups of a dozen or so, such as the seven grandmasters of the Alchemist Association, the nine supre seats of the Ether Academy, the eleven commanders of the Revolutionary Army, and the thirteen dukes of the Empire...
In the Western Lands, aside from the four dukes, there are eight fifth-stage adventurers, seven of whom are registered with the Zero Explorers Association, jointly forming the organization that oversees all adventurers' guilds.
Herbert York, known as "Knell," the feared leader of the Executioners' Guild and a fifth-stage adventurer of notorious repute, is naturally among them.
York, outwardly, appears to be an unremarkable young man. He wears a brown scarf, a black vest, and carries two daggers at his waist, with ordinary trousers and boots completing his ensemble. His appearance gives off the impression of a nondescript adventurer, like one rely making up numbers in a selection tournant.
However, his achievents are terrifying. Among the trophies of this Executioner leader are the skeleton of a fifth-stage dragon and the head of a fifth-stage extraordinary being.
As the pinnacle of commission-based adventurers' guilds, Knell York has not uncovered any earth-shattering treasures; his record of triumphs is his hallmark.
For the right price, he will take down a fifth-stage extraordinary being. If the price is even higher, he might even dare to challenge a duke.
At this mont, Knell reclines on a sofa, juggling a dark golden curved dagger.
Opposite him sits Faust, the legendary adventurer whose reputation has recently swept across the Western Kingdoms.
"So, that's the situation."
Though Knell appears as a young man, his voice is low and hoarse. Gripping the dagger's hilt, he presses his elbows to his knees, leaning slightly forward, his expressionless gaze fixed on the dark-haired youth before him:
"Your people, acting on their own, played with my inept subordinates. Their lack of intelligence and vigilance is their problem..."
"Do you think I would say that?"
This incendiary remark made Swordfish, standing behind the sofa, twitch an eyelid. He glanced stealthily at Faust, who seed indifferent.
Knell tossed a ring onto the table between them: "Inside is twice the value of the information fee those thirty-nine n received. Considering the informant might be one of yours, I didn't bring his head."
"From your tone," Faust said nonchalantly, resting his fist against his cheek, "it doesn't seem like you intend to settle this matter."
Knell nodded slightly, his expression calm: "I don't know if that little girl under you acted on her own or at your behest. If she did this under your orders, then this matter cannot be settled easily; if she did not, then it definitely cannot."
He casually tossed his dagger, the sharp curved blade spinning rapidly in the air before piercing precisely through the ring's hole.
"In our line of work, business is tied to reputation. That little girl of yours may be a re mortal, but she's clever enough to pull off sothing like this."
The man leaned forward again, gripping the dagger's hilt, the so-called "compensation" lying beneath his blade.
"If she can use such a minor issue to threaten my n once, she could use 'Executioners being played by a re mortal girl' to threaten us a second ti."
"I despise such troubles, Faust," Knell said. "I might not be able to control my n from losing their heads and killing a mortal no different from an insect. So—"
"Hand over that reckless little thing to ."
Knell's thumb rested on the dagger's hilt, his voice indifferent: "This compensation, which a thousand of her couldn't repay, is yours."
At this mont, Ravenna was not simply hiding as usual. She had gathered all of Nidhoggur into the bracelet on Ansel's wrist, making her presence unseen but still able to observe and think.
Knell's response was giving Ravenna a headache.
Ansel had never been one for wanton killing, but when he played Faust… it seed he never hesitated to use violence. In the Imperial Capital, Ravenna had prided herself on keeping up with Ansel's sches, driven by fate. Now, Miss Scholar had a clear self-awareness—no matter how she played, she couldn't match Ansel's cunning.
Even if Ansel told her that Faust's persona was entirely at his whim, she couldn't predict what kind of Faust Ansel would play next.
Surely, this won't escalate into a full-blown conflict… right?
And what was Marlina's purpose in pulling such a stunt? I stay by Ansel's side every day and never saw him give any such orders. If it wasn't at Ansel's behest… what was Marlina's goal?
Ansel, resting his face on his hand, was unaware of his friend's chaotic thoughts. He rely stared at Knell for a few seconds before continuing in a nearly indifferent, lazy voice:
"A master assassin of the Chronos Guild, reduced to a wandering hyena?"
At this, Swordfish's expression changed drastically, and even Knell, who had been speaking to Faust as an equal and making threats, froze montarily.
"You…"
As he muttered the word, his eyes lowered, his index and middle fingers of one hand shot towards Ansel's brow.
In that frozen mont, a phantom erged from him, drawing the two daggers from his waist, one slashing at Ansel's neck, the other stabbing at his heart.
[Blade the Tibreaker], a terrifying technique born from unparalleled mastery of temporal elents, allows an attack to be launched simultaneously from the past and a frozen present. This was the unsolvable kill move Knell created when he reached the fifth tier and earned the title of master within the Chronos Guild.
Without profound comprehension of temporal elents, one would never detect the slashing strike from the "past." anwhile, the frozen present is crafted by superimposing three layers: local ti freeze, accelerated self-ti, and decelerated opponent-ti, manipulating temporal elents in three distinct manners within a fleeting instant.
Knell hadn't used this move in a long ti. Clearly, Faust, who had pierced through his secret with a single sentence, posed an imnse danger to him.
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