During a criminal riot in the capital, I stumbled upon a pair of sisters being abducted by a group of suspicious men.
Initially, everything seemed under control.
No, wait.
That doesn't sound good at all.
Kidnapping in broad daylight is never a good sign!
Although not unheard of in this world.
Which is far from ordinary...
The issue was that the leader of the group was an unknown Archmage, and to complicate matters, his subordinates belonged to a non-human species!
Setting aside the reasons an Archmage might have for committing crimes like the brazen kidnapping of two defenseless girls, the infiltration of a non-human species into the capital was a serious matter.
In the world of Hortana, various hostile beings menace humanity, including goblins, orcs, trolls, undead, and more.
So their presence in the kingdom isn't surprising at all.
In fact, the kingdom's problems primarily stem from the constant onslaught of monsters.
These attacks not only directly impact the lives of the kingdom's citizens but also disrupt normal business operations, negatively affecting the entire economy.
As a result, at least forty percent of the kingdom's inhabitants live in poverty and are forced into a life of crime.
Blame for this situation lies squarely with the worthless nobles of the kingdom.
The Royal Family and the nobles prefer to allocate the defense budget to the Great Demon War, leaving no resources to hire adventurers, knights, or guards to protect cities and villages in the kingdom—except for the capital, of course.
Returning to the main issue:
The monsters typically encountered in the kingdom are non-human species with low intelligence, like those mentioned earlier.
However, the adversaries I currently face exhibit high intelligence, right?
From fantasy stories I read on Earth before, I was familiar with various non-human intelligent species, from elves to dwarves.
The real problem here is that in the four years since I was summoned, I've confirmed through official records that humanity is the ONLY intelligent species in this world.
Excluding the Goddess and the Demons, of course.
If there were other non-human intelligent species, wouldn't it be absurd for a massive conflict between humans to unfold simply because they mistook their opponent for a Demon?
'Who are these guys, though?'
All of them wore black robes that concealed their appearance.
"Ahg-!" exclaimed one of the men I had just cut down with my sword.
'Well, the situation has changed anyway,' I said as my characteristic calm smile disappeared.
Non-lethal capture was no longer the priority.
Suddenly, my expression turned much colder, and an aura unlike the one I previously displayed emerged.
I had just released my bloodlust.
The pressure was so intense that the unknown group went on high alert.
The men in black robes quickly attempted to take a defensive formation.
However,
They failed to react to my next attack.
I moved at such a fast speed that no one could discern when I had initiated my assault.
The next second, at least twenty bodies fell to the ground, decapitated and with their hearts destroyed.
Yes, their hearts were literally obliterated.
When facing a non-human species, cutting off the head might not be enough.
Regardless of who you are, if your heart or 'core' is destroyed, death is inevitable.
I swung my sword in the air to rid it of blood as I looked at the Archmage.
I had never really diverted my attention from the Archmage.
Doing so would have been absurd given the dangers of magic, especially against an Archmage.
What bothered me now, though, was that the Archmage simply stood by and did nothing while I was killing his subordinates.
"Now I understand. You must be Franz Alexander, the Herssian Hero," the Archmage said nonchalantly.
"If you know who I am, I advise you to give up immediately. I don't know why an unknown powerful Archmage like you is in the capital, but from what I can see, your involvement in kidnapping a couple of girls is nothing short of degenerate."
The Archmage frowned at being called a degenerate by me.
"I've heard rumors about your strength as the Strongest Hero, but from what I've seen, I think they're just... Exaggerations."
The Archmage extended his staff in my direction.
[ High-Level Magic - Inferno ]
A colossal wave of fire, akin to a tsunami, surged toward me.
I could easily cut through the magic with my sword.
However, the remnants of the attack could still harm the girls behind me.
Therefore,
I had to block his attack.
[ High-Level Magic - Earthen Fortress ]
I said as I released a large amount of mana.
The massive wave of fire abruptly collided with a wall over thirty meters high that materialized out of nowhere in front of me.
Although the attack was halted, its power was so great that the entire affected street had been charred.
'What a powerful magical attack... If I hadn't shielded it, the girls would have been burned to ashes.'
"I thought you were trying to kidnap them. Aren't you aware that with that attack, you could have killed them outright? Who are you, and what is your goal here?" I asked, annoyed.
Unfortunately, the Archmage didn't answer me.
I was attempting to extract more information from him, but he seemed reluctant to speak.
Tch.
Who the hell are you?
I've personally met all the Archmages officially working for the three great kingdoms, and this guy is none of them!
"Girls, you'd better go and take refuge in a safe place. Right now, the Herssian army is mobilizing throughout the capital to keep you two safe," I said, keeping my eyes on my opponent.
"I-It's useless, we're currently under the effect of Unbreakable Chains... So we can't move from here even if we want to," the younger sister responded, tears falling from her eyes.
The older sister nodded at her sister's words and tried to explain to Franz what to do.
"Please, don't worry about us and fight with everything against him. Even if some attack comes our way, I will use my body to protect-"
Crack.
She couldn't finish her sentence.
The sound of something breaking into a thousand pieces interrupted her.
!!!
A second later,
Both girls could see a longsword with a blue handle breaking through the unbreakable chains.
The girls were incredibly shocked by the unrealistic situation.
Even the Archmage seemed to be quite surprised at this moment.
The chains weren't meant to be broken unless the magic caster allowed it or died.
However,
The chains had been broken with a single swing of that long blue sword.
'There's no way I'm losing to someone like him,'
In fact, I hadn't felt any real danger throughout this fight.
It wasn't for nothing that I was known as the strongest warrior that ever lived.
After all, I'd been through many battles, gaining experience, skill, and weapons of all kinds.
And...
Among what I'd obtained, was one of the world's greatest weapons.
[ Anti-Defense Sword - Merlina ]
Its skill was quite simple.
This sword allows me to cut through anything, ignoring the hardness of the material or the magical defense of anything.
In short, it allows me to cut things that shouldn't be able to be cut.
Of course, the amount of mana should be proportional to what I intend to cut.
However, for me, cutting the 'Unbreakable Chain' wasn't a difficult task at all.
"Now quickly get out of here," I said without changing my expression.
"I'm going to hold him here while you two-"
I couldn't finish my sentence because suddenly the Archmage teleported to my side.
For a moment, this took me by surprise.
Mages specialize in ranged battles.
He would clearly be at an absolute disadvantage at close range.
Though that moment of surprise was enough for me to miss an unknown cube-shaped object that the Archmage held in his right hand.
Thanks to my highly trained senses, I could feel a sinister energy, intangible and invisible, heading toward me.
Unable to dodge it at such close range, I tried to block it with my sword.
Unfortunately, I couldn't accurately detect it, so the invisible attack hit my right arm.
From the impact zone, something similar to a black stain began to spread all over my arm and soon to the rest of my body.
I quickly distanced myself from the Archmage to heal myself from the attack of unknown origin.
I wasted no time.
[ High-level magic - Total Cure ]
From my heart, I began to spread my mana throughout my whole body.
But the moment it came into contact with my right arm.
My mana suddenly disappeared.
A sense of urgency rose within me.
Seeing that the Archmage didn't move at all, I took out an Elixir that I kept in my dimensional storage and began to drink it.
The Archmage simply stood still as he was watching me drink the Elixir.
A smile covered his face.
Because the Elixir that I just drank had no effect either...
"It's useless, Hero.
"Your body is rotting right now."
Hahaha.
He laughed like a madman.
"So, soon you won't be able to move and you will die pathetica- Agh."
He couldn't finish the sentence, though.
Because his body was suddenly cut in half vertically.
Blood dripped down Geronimo's blade.
"Staying at close range against a swordsman just because he is weakened is a stupid mistake that I could take advantage of, asshole!"
After I said that, I exchanged glances with the younger sister for a moment, but soon my gaze blurred.
Finally, my legs gave out and I began to lose my balance.
'Huh... Looks like I'm going to die.'
I quickly accepted my fate.
Affected by an attack of unknown origin, my body began to rot, losing the ability to feel and move my body.
'To think that I would die from such a foolish oversight…'
Who would've expected such an attack, though?
I'd never seen or heard of an attack, be it black magic or curses, that couldn't be removed using high-level healing magic and even an Elixir!
On the verge of losing consciousness, I began to remember all my past adventures in this world.
"Excuse me... Sir hero, please hold on," a female voice reached my ear.
Shh.
Silence, unknown girl.
At least let me remember my memories peacefully before I leave this world,' I thought as I waited for my clearly imminent end.
Contrary to my expectations, though.
Soon, slowly, I began to recover my senses, and I could notice...
That my body was lying down with my head resting on the legs of the eldest of the sisters.
It was a lap pillow.
What really surprised me enormously here, though...
"Sister! Mr. Hero will be alright?" asked the younger sister.
"Don't worry, it seems he'll be fine," the older sister answered calmly.
A beautiful and warm white light, almost divine, emanated from the hands of the eldest of the sisters and covered my whole body.
And in this way…
My whole body, which was almost completely rotten and on the verge of death…
...Well, it was fully recovered as if nothing had happened.
No.
Actually,
My body was in better shape than before, removing even the physical and mental exhaustion I'd been accumulating up to now.
With that, I, still lying with my head in the older sister's lap, raised my head toward her and asked:
"Who are you?"