Silence.

There was just silence.

A cold silence flowed, as if even the god Luce had kept his mouth shut.

Only then did Laius realize that he had fallen into a trap.

There was a passage in the original novel that went something like that.

Thanks to his quick recall, Arendt was able to realize that he was caught in a trap set within a barrier.

However, knowing that passage didn’t mean it was very helpful.

He could have said something nonsensical like, ‘Tch, is that a barrier?’ but it didn’t seem like a situation for that.

“This kind of old man…”

There was no sign of the enemy. It seemed like they had used an invisibility scroll.

“…!”

Arendt once again slashed away the flying arrow aiming for his neck.

Kaaaaang!

With a dull thud, someone blocked by Arendt’s sword stepped back.

Just as he was about to feel a brief moment of relief, he felt an eerie coldness right next to him. He quickly twisted his body, but an invisible knife whizzed past, cutting a long line on his arm.

“Wow, shit…”

Thud.

A drop of bright red blood fell to the floor, but there was no time for him to feel any pain, because he had to hurriedly step back at the sound of the blade coming at him again.

In the meantime, he was surprised at himself for being able to avoid it using only his senses.

‘He’s cleverly aiming for the weak spot.’

It seemed like those guys wanted to play with Arendt rather than killing him right away.

He struck down another sword.

Kyaang!

A loud crash tore through the air.

Thanks to that, his head, which had been confused for a moment, calmed down.

‘Let’s think about it.’

Just because he calmed down didn’t mean the situation wasn’t difficult.

Arendt glanced at the dagger that rolled on the floor.

Judging from the location and timing of their attacks, there seemed to be at least four people: two with swords, at least one throwing daggers, and one rushing at him holding a dagger.

The problem was that it was still impossible to see where the attacks were coming from.

There was only one way to destroy the invisibility scroll. However, this was something that only someone like Laius or another captain could do.

‘By using a storm of strong magical power.’

Arendt gripped his sword tightly.

Laius was able to shatter barriers by creating a strong sword energy that tore through space and subdued enemies who were using the invisibility scroll. However, it was not an option for Arendt, who had a relatively small amount of magical power.

Of course, there were other means, but he didn’t really think those could work either.

‘I’m not sure if it’s possible.’

Even while he was racking his brain, the enemies didn’t give him a moment to rest.

Arendt stepped back at someone’s sudden approach. However, there was still an enemy behind him. This time, a long wound appeared on his left cheek, along with a sharp pain.

It meant that there wasn’t much time to hesitate.

“Tch.”

Arendt took hold of his sword. Then he sharpened his senses.

Papak.

He felt the sound of people kicking their feet and rushing at him from all directions at once.

As he drew up his magical power, he felt a coldness that he had become quite accustomed to. The ice that had bloomed on his hand slowly expanded its area, and before he knew it, even his sword was covered in frost.

As the assassins approached, Arendt took advantage of the opportunity to swing his sword in a wide slash.

A pure white trajectory cut through the air.

Sss.

A faint sound of something freezing pierced his ears.

And after a while, the assassins appeared with puzzled expressions a few steps away from Arendt.

There were two men disguised as guards who carried swords, and two others dressed in servant clothes carrying daggers.

Arendt slowly straightened his posture.

The spot where he was standing was covered in a blanket of white frost. The bloodstains that Arendt had left on the ground had also frozen.

It was not the kind of skill that a young apprentice knight who had just become an adult could display. The assassins could not help but feel chills in their hearts at the sight of it.

An unnatural breath escaped between Arendt’s lips.

“Ah, this works.”

“…”

The assassins were momentarily stunned by the inappropriate and blunt words.

Regardless, Arendt just clenched and unclenched his hand several times, and examined his frozen sword curiously.

“Crazy. Why is the floor frozen?”

“…Magic? No, is it swordsmanship?”

The assassin dressed as a guard muttered stupidly.

Only then did Arendt see the assassins surrounding him.

“Do what you must.”

“What?”

“Now that I’ve seen you guys, I can’t just turn a blind eye.”

Crack, crack.

Arendt tilted his neck from side to side.

Ah, there was a mistake in his dialogue… he thought a beat later, but it was already too late.

“I’m not good at controlling my strength, so don’t blame me even if you die.”

“…This kid is being too arrogant.”

The assassin, who seemed to be the leader, winked at his colleagues.

After a brief moment of confusion, they too regained their composure and took their positions again.

The invisibility scroll became useless, but there was only one opponent, and he was just an apprentice knight with little real-world experience.

As Arendt relaxed his grip on the handle of his sword, the assassins kicked the ground again.

Arendt twisted his body and easily dodged the attack.

Arendt struck the enemy’s back, which was briefly visible on the blade of his sword, then clenched his fist and struck the enemy in the face.

With a crack, the assassin’s face turned pale and was hit so hard that he couldn’t even scream. He just rolled around on the floor, clutching his face.

“Ah, shit.”

Arendt’s face turned pale as he felt his magic power drain away. His magic power was already extremely drained due to the blow that nullified the invisibility scroll earlier, but there was no time for him to relax.

This time, he avoided the assassin’s attack from the right and twisted his body to stab his sword in the opposite direction.

Phew.

The assassin, whose neck had been pierced, fell down in a spray of blood. Hot blood splattered on Arendt’s cold skin.

He leaned forward.

Whoosh.

The assassin’s sword barely grazed overhead.

Arendt, who was rolling on the floor, grabbed the assassin’s ankle in that instant.

The assassin’s feet instantly turned into hard blocks of ice.

“Uh?”

The assassin’s eyes widened.

The next moment, bang! A strong blow landed on his temples.

He fell to the floor with a thud, and now only one person was left.

The last assassin to make eye contact with Arendt hesitated and stepped back.

Arendt chuckled and adjusted his grip on his sword.

“It looks like you were the one who deployed the barrier?”

“…”

The assassin dressed as a guard hesitated and stepped back, but that was only for a moment; as if he felt ashamed of the fact that he was nervous, he gritted his teeth and rushed towards Arendt.

“Die!”

Arendt responded by raising his sword.

Chae-ae-aeng!

The two men’s swords clashed, making a loud noise.

Arendt held on with both feet firmly planted on the floor, but the assassin, paying no attention to him, pushed forward with force.

No, he tried to push forward.

As he clenched his teeth and exerted his strength, he soon realized what had happened to him.

‘Cold.’

Suddenly the temperature around them dropped sharply.

The longer he held out, the more the cold air began to drop the assassin’s body temperature. Eventually, his teeth even began to make a clicking sound, chattering and grinding.

Arendt, who had been watching him for a while, blurted out:

“You’re going to freeze to death.”

“What?”

Arendt’s sword that clashed with the assassin’s slowly froze it. The assassin who noticed that tried to quickly retreat, but the cold air flowing through the sword had already frozen the hand that held it.

The assassin’s face turned pale.

“What the hell! What the hell is this fucking kid doing…”

Arendt’s hand struck the back of the assassin’s neck as he struggled.

The man fell down with a thud.

As the last opponent became quiet, Arendt took a deep breath and wiped the blood flowing down his cheek.

“Haa, it’s spectacular.”

The one whose neck had been pierced was limp, blood gushing from the wound, and the one who had been hit in the face was still struggling, clutching his frozen face.

The two remaining people, each unconscious and lying on the ground, had their arms and shins frozen white.

Arendt, who was blankly staring at the spectacle he had created, suddenly realized that the surrounding noise had returned.

The sound of the wind blowing and someone’s chatter coming from far away…

His head was spinning, perhaps because he had used up all his magic power. He wanted to sit down and vent his frustrations, but he somehow managed to pull himself together with his mental strength.

Arendt stared blankly into space, slowly catching his breath, then lowered his gaze back to the floor.

“Tsk.”

The sight of the assassins, their breath taken away, came into view.

If he hadn’t killed them, it was obvious that he would have died without being able to move, so there was no reason to pity these guys, nor was there any need to feel bad about cutting people down.

Arendt shook off the unpleasant sensation left in his fingertips by shaking off his blade.

More than that, the bigger problem was how to resolve this situation.

‘Okay, what do we do now…’

It was obvious who was behind this unexpected attack. There had to be some way for him to use it.

Just then, a loud scream erupted.

“Gyaaaah! A person, a person is dead!”

“Ah…”

The maid who was moving the laundry screamed in a daze.

Arendt looked back at her and glanced at the guys sprawled on the floor. His arm was still bleeding profusely, one sleeve of his uniform was completely dyed red, and his face was stained with blood from the guy he had killed earlier.

There was no need to think about which one looked scarier when comparing himself to the ones lying on the floor. Furthermore, the assassins had infiltrated disguised as guards and servants.

Therefore.

“A crazy knight killed a man!”

…Even after hearing those words, Arendt was at a loss for words.

He placed his hand on his face.

The maid who threw the laundry at the door while cursing ran away in panic. It was obvious that if he waited a little longer, the guards and knights would come rushing in.

“Ugh, life is really…”

He sat down on the messy lawn and looked around.

“I really wish I could beat up the Marquis…”

Since the Marquis was a man who could not control his temper and would even try to hit his servant, it was not surprising that he sent an assassin just because someone had offended him a little.

He was the one who started the fight first.

In that case, Arendt had no choice but to respond accordingly.