The air grew cold as the leaders of the two groups pointed their swords at each other.
It was Edgar's cold voice that broke the chill.
"How absurd. A wanted criminal pretending to be in the Defense Army?"
"Edgar Jarrot."
"Do you have an excuse?"
"Is prioritizing your tongue over your sword still your specialty?"
Dominic saw through Edgar's intentions.
It seemed Edgar drew his sword because he suspected the 8th Squad wasn't the Tera Defense Army, but this was just a superficial justification.
His actual suspicion wouldn't be great.
They had shown ample evidence that they were the Tera Defense Army over the past day.
Edgar drew his sword because of his wounded pride from yesterday and to seize the initiative in the plans that would unfold.
Just as Dominic wanted to save the 8th Squad, he would want to save his subordinates.
So, what mattered was the outcome of the fight.
'Can I win?'
He didn't know for sure.
Dominic didn't know his own exact skills.
Before settling in the Tera Defense Army, he traveled the world and experienced countless fights.
He had fought renowned mercenaries and powerful figures who reigned as overlords in certain regions.
But it was surprisingly common for infamous killers to be killed by the swords of retired old knights without fame.
Knights were those kinds of people.
Those who had trained in the art of killing their entire lives.
It had been 20 years since he left the academy.
If Edgar's swordsmanship had continued to develop, the result was unknown.
"I am Edgar Jarrot of the Tera Kingdom's Royal Knights."
"Dominic, commander of the 8th Squad."
"I won't kill you."
"Likewise."
"Will you come first?"
"If you wish."
No sooner had he finished speaking than Dominic swung his sword.
The sword wasn't fast.
Assuming it was a contest between experts, it even felt slow.
The moment Edgar, who had fully grasped the sword's trajectory, reacted to Dominic's sword.
"-!"
The trajectory and speed of the attack changed.
Pouring strength into his big toe and calf, he transformed the slash into a thrust, and the seemingly slow attack instantly increased in speed.
Whoosh!
A magical shift in timing that rendered the opponent's reaction useless.
Edgar's preliminary movements to block the attack had become completely useless.
However, Edgar was no pushover either.
He had been completely defeated in the initial psychological warfare, but he didn't panic.
He assessed that a normal defense was impossible and boldly twisted his body.
"Hmph!"
He deflected the thrust with the sword's pommel and decided to switch to a sidestep to launch an upper attack.
Clang!
The moment Edgar's pommel pushed against the flat of Dominic's sword, his intention seemed to have succeeded.
But Dominic didn't stop.
From the start, he had no intention of recovering his sword and reorganizing.
He pushed his body in the direction the thrust was deflected, kicking Edgar's calf as he was transitioning into a sidestep.
Whack!
Edgar staggered as the outside of his vulnerable calf was kicked.
Then, Dominic's elbow, closely following as if dancing a waltz, struck Edgar's chin.
Crack!
The legs that supported the body's center.
The chin that controlled the sense of balance.
Effective blows landed on both locations.
Conditions were favorable for gaining an advantage in a speed battle.
Even in the midst of that, Edgar tried to swing his sword to secure distance, but Dominic wasn't one to be caught by a sudden, large attack.
"Hmph!"
Dominic, who had retreated slightly, seized the timing of his opponent's breathing and charged in once more.
He struck his chest with the pommel, raised his elbow to strike the solar plexus while spinning, and kicked his calf again.
Thwack, thwack, thwack!
The result of the suffocating close-quarters combat was Dominic's unilateral violence.
In fact, the fight was over.
If Dominic had harbored murderous intent, Edgar would have been dead a long time ago.
But Edgar, not knowing that, retreated erratically, swinging his sword.
However, Dominic willingly backed off.
Some of the onlookers thought Dominic was signaling that the match was decided.
The moment a stable mid-range distance was created for the first time.
"Hmph!"
Edgar's sword shone.
Mana Burn.
Initially, it was a name born from the mockery of mages.
Because ignorant knights couldn't arrange mana and burned it instead.
But as swordsmanship combined with the explosive propulsion of mana made remarkable progress, the mages' mockery disappeared.
Mana Burn had become the technique that had killed the most mages in the world.
Bang!
The moment Mana Burn erupted, Edgar's sword advanced with storm-like momentum.
A speed that couldn't be compared to manipulating it with the strength of the body.
Furthermore, speed wasn't everything.
Bang! Bang!
Two more explosions were added to the attack that seemed to be advancing linearly.
Extreme changes moving diagonally and anti-diagonally.
It was a technique that placed an enormous load on the wrist and arm, but Edgar's sword, flying in a trajectory close to Z, was ferocious.
"...!"
The members of the 8th Squad widened their eyes.
There were those in the Defense Army who could handle basic Mana Burn.
But they had never seen such an exquisite and fast sword.
Mana Burn was, as the name suggested, about detonating mana like gunpowder, so it was greatly influenced by the purity and total amount of mana.
And the purity of knights who had trained in mana cultivation their entire lives was beyond imagination.
Swaaaaaaaaaash!
A sound like a ballista being fired was heard, and at the end of it stood Dominic.
Some thought Edgar was being cowardly.
Forcibly twisting and connecting a close combat exchange that had ended.
Some thought it was a disaster caused by Dominic's carelessness.
He should have ended it in close combat.
He shouldn't have given the Royal Knight a chance to burn.
But both were wrong.
Dominic had deliberately given Edgar the opportunity for Mana Burn.
Just as Edgar's sword was about to touch Dominic's chest.
Fsssssss-
Dominic's sword weaved.
This time, mana erupted from Dominic's sword.
But this wasn't an act to gain explosive propulsion.
The moment the two attacks collided.
Mana erupted from Dominic's sword, shattering Edgar's brute Army.
Bang!
There was a saying that speed was more important than strength, and accuracy was more important than speed.
It was a saying that swordsmen who had spent their lives wielding their swords strongly and quickly didn't understand, but what Dominic showed was truly beautiful accuracy.
Perfect pinpoint strike.
"Keuk."
Edgar, whose desperate attack had failed, grabbed his arm and collapsed.
That was the end.
Everyone's faces were filled with bewilderment as the battle ended.
The Royal Knights couldn't believe that their captain, Edgar, had been overwhelmingly defeated.
The excuse that most of the battle had been within sword's reach was just pathetic.
If it wasn't mounted combat, knightly battles were usually decided in close combat.
And even the attack using Mana Burn had failed?
The 8th Squad was just as bewildered.
They knew their captain was strong, but they thought he was only at the Defense Army level, not enough to defeat a Royal Knight.
At that moment, Dominic's quiet voice echoed.
"Edgar. I have never been a wanted criminal."
"...That's a lie."
"I have never hidden my identity."
It was the truth.
It was true that he had gone abroad after Kedrell's death, but he hadn't been caught at the border.
There were no Tera soldiers who had formed a joint investigation and were chasing after him.
What this meant was clear.
"I don't know whose dagger was stuck in Kedrell's heart. But at least the royal family knew."
After Kedrell's death, the Dia family had collapsed, and for various reasons, their noble title had been revoked.
From the moment Kedrell was no longer a nobleman, there was no reason for Dominic to be wanted.
It was just a rich commoner who had died.
If not, they might have feared the successor chosen by Kedrell, an unprecedented monster.
To the point where they wanted to quietly end everything by not instilling Dominic with the grudge of revenge.
Whatever the case, Dominic was someone who had normally entered the Tera Defense Army.
Even he didn't know he would return to the Tera Kingdom.
"If we get out of here, have your position verified."
Dominic, having declared the end of the fight, headed towards the 8th Squad, then said to the knight who had gathered around Edgar.
"The plan is postponed for a day. Whether you feed him potions or the priestess gives him blessings, it's best to have him fully recovered."
* * *
Because the plan was postponed for a day, Dominic searched the outskirts of the forest a little more.
If he had previously checked the vicinity of the safe zone, this time he went deeper.
It was a dangerous act, but it wasn't to the point of risking his life since there was a safe zone to retreat to.
Of course, unavoidable battles broke out in the process.
Slash!
Fighting a single entity near the safe zone wasn't difficult.
"That's strange."
It was really strange.
It had only been four days since he had fought the shadow monsters on the plains.
Too short a time for something to change.
Then why had it become so much easier to kill the monsters?
At first, he thought it was a difference in individuals.
There were stronger and weaker shadow monsters.
But after intentionally fighting a few more, he realized that wasn't the case.
It wasn't that the monsters were weak, but that he had become stronger.
Had he become accustomed to fighting shadow monsters?
Or had his swordsmanship changed as he experienced death?
He couldn't know the answer.
As he finished his search and returned to the base camp, someone was waiting for him again.
However, it wasn't inside the camp, but outside.
"Are you also thinking of pointing a sword at me?"
"Huh? No! Of course not."
Hanshuya was startled.
He stared at her silently as if she had something to say, and Hanshuya readily opened her mouth.
"Commander Dominic, I hope you don't hate Sir Edgar too much. He's showing a different side than usual because he lost his subordinates in an instant, but he's not a bad person."
"I don't know."
Thinking of Edgar from his academy days, it was hard to agree with that.
"He probably started the fight to seize the initiative in the operation. He wants to protect the remaining subordinates safely."
He could agree with this.
"Is that what you were waiting to say?"
"No. That's closer to an introduction to show how kind I am."
From the way she had quickly proposed a trade, she felt a bit different from ordinary priestesses.
He was curious for the first time.
"What did you do in the Eastern Continent before becoming a priestess?"
"Well, I buried the memories before serving the goddess Elena in radiance. All I remember is that I was pretty back then too."
"It must be a past life."
Hanshuya, who had widened her eyes at Dominic's unexpected joke, burst into laughter.
A moment later, she lowered her laughter and opened her mouth.
"Actually, I was waiting to see if I could take a look at the commander's ring."
"Ring?"
It was something he hadn't expected at all, but Dominic readily held out his hand.
He had also been curious about this ring all along.
"It doesn't come off your finger. Where did you get it?"
"I found it before entering the forest, and it flew to me as if it had a will."
"That sounds like a magical tool that chooses its owner."
"It's an unknown matter. Do you know anything about the ring?"
Hanshuya, who had been staring silently at the ring, shook her head.
"I don't know anything in particular about the ring. But I've seen the pattern engraved on the ring."
"Pattern? Where?"
"Inside this ominous forest."