The Return of the Limited-Time Sword Master

Chapter 45: Monster Wave (2)

‘Things have gotten complicated.’

Adel von Bitenfeld’s face was tense.

The monsters residing on the 34th floor, Venom Ogres and Bloody Lizardmen, had entirely different lifestyles.

The former acted alone, while the latter moved in groups.

Usually, the two species avoided each other, but the current Monster Wave had changed everything.

Monsters that usually fought among themselves shifted their focus the moment they saw humans, unleashing intense hostility.

These normally terrifying creatures had grown even more ferocious under the effects of the Monster Wave, and now they had joined forces.

It was nothing short of a disaster.

“Gwaaaarrr!”

Three Venom Ogres roared simultaneously.

Standing over 4 meters tall, with skin and muscles that resembled armor, their sheer presence was enough to overwhelm anyone watching.

But their most dangerous weapon wasn’t their physical appearance.

The Venom Ogres opened their massive mouths wide, aiming directly at Oliver von Bitenfeld and the other members of the Bitenfeld family.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Thick purple liquid shot toward them at high speed, reminiscent of a dragon’s breath attack.

“Everyone, scatter!” Oliver commanded urgently.

The purple liquid exploded where they had been standing moments before.

Sizzle!

The rocks melted instantly, creating a pool of purple liquid that covered the ground.

The acidic power contained in the liquid was terrifying.

And the danger didn’t stop there.

Purple fumes began rising from the pool, spreading quickly.

“Don’t let your guard down just because you have protection stones! Even inhaling a little of that smoke will kill you! Watch your breathing carefully!” Oliver shouted again.

Many monsters in dungeons possessed unique abilities like poison or curses.

To counter such dangers, magicians had developed protection stones that could block these abilities, and adventurers were required to carry them.

However, protection stones were not invincible.

Even the Venom Ogres’ poison was strong enough to shatter a protection stone in a single hit.

‘It’s not just their poison.’

Adel calmly observed the Venom Ogres.

While their most dangerous weapon was their poison, their physical strength was also formidable, comparable to that of regular ogres.

Focusing only on their poison would be fatal.

“Graaah!”

As expected, the Venom Ogres charged, their speed shockingly fast for their massive size.

One of them, leading the pack, rushed straight at Oliver, its rocky fist crashing down.

Boom!

However, its punch passed harmlessly through Oliver and struck the ground.

Oliver had used his Phantomization to let the attack pass through him.

He quickly moved to the left, escaping the path of the ogre’s fist, and swung his sword, which was wrapped in blue aura.

Slash!

The Venom Ogre’s Achilles tendon was severed, causing it to lose its balance.

At the same time, Bastian Friedrich, the commander of the Blue Dragon Knights, leaped high into the air.

He, too, wielded a blade surrounded by a pale blue aura and brought it down with all his might.

Shraaak!

His strike split the upper half of the Venom Ogre’s body in two.

It was a display of skill befitting one of the two 7th Circle masters of the Bitenfeld family.

However, no one in the group felt any relief.

The two remaining Venom Ogres launched relentless attacks on Oliver and Bastian.

But they couldn’t focus on just them.

“Keeek!”

“Kiiieee!”

More than thirty Bloody Lizardmen were charging toward them.

Each stood over 2 meters tall, with large, muscular builds, and they were armed with weapons made from the bones of their kin.

Oliver raised his voice once more.

“Othmar Brigel, lead the knights and hold off the Bloody Lizardmen!”

“At your command, my lord!”

“Adel von Bitenfeld, disrupt the enemy formation! Only you can do it!”

“I’ll carry out your orders, my lord.”

Both Othmar Brigel, the vice-commander of the Blue Dragon Knights, and Adel responded at once.

Othmar quickly turned to the knights and shouted to them.

All eight of them were of captain-level skill, so he usually respected their opinions.

But this was no time for pleasantries.

“Each Bloody Lizardman is as skilled as a regular knight! Don’t underestimate them just because they’re monsters! Maintain formation and intercept them carefully!”

While Othmar was giving orders, Adel charged toward the group of Bloody Lizardmen.

Her mission was to break their formation, as Oliver had commanded.

The leading Lizardmen hurled spears at her, but she remained unfazed.

She had already activated her Phantomization.

Thunk! Thunk!

The mana-infused spears passed harmlessly through Adel’s body, embedding themselves in the ground.

Having successfully closed the distance, she spun to the left like a top, her blade glowing with blue aura.

Clang!

One of the Bloody Lizardmen raised its bone sword to block her attack.

Or so it thought.

Shrrrak!

Adel’s sword cut through space itself, slicing both the Lizardman’s weapon and its body clean in half.

At that moment, the surrounding Lizardmen all swung their swords at her in unison.

Though they had lost their reason, they had still figured out that Adel returned to her normal form when she attacked.

But…

‘Too slow.’

Shwish!

Once again, their attacks passed harmlessly through Adel’s body.

This was the power of Phantomization.

Half-hearted attacks were meaningless against her.

“Everyone, attack!”

“Wipe them out in one go!”

With the Bloody Lizardmen focused on Adel, Othmar led the Blue Dragon Knights into a charge.

The Lizardmen didn’t remain idle either.

They grouped together in a tight formation, trying to block the knights’ charge as much as possible.

Weapons infused with knightly aura clashed violently with the monsters’ mana-infused weapons.

As the battle raged on,

“Kiiieek!”

“Keeeeeek!”

Cries from more Bloody Lizardmen echoed from the opposite side.

Understanding the meaning behind those cries, Adel bit her lip hard.

Without caring about the blood that flowed from her lip, she turned her head.

She saw nearly forty more Lizardmen charging toward the knights.

If they joined forces, her allies would be surrounded and trapped.

‘We need to retreat.’

The elite Blue Dragon Knights were still holding strong, and despite their fatigue, no one had been seriously injured yet.

Their strength was intact, so retreating now would be the best option.

The problem was, she had no authority to give such an order.

Desperate, she glanced toward Oliver.

“Haah!”

As expected of a 7th Circle master, Oliver was overwhelming the Venom Ogres.

Each time he swung his sword, the blue aura blade sliced cleanly through the tough skin and sturdy bones of the Venom Ogres.

It wasn’t just Oliver who was making an impact.

Bastian Friedrich, also a 7th Circle master, was fully showcasing his strength.

Thanks to their combined efforts, the bodies of Venom Ogres were starting to pile up.

But it didn’t seem to matter.

The Venom Ogres were constantly summoning more of their kin, making up for their losses.

It was starting to feel as if every Venom Ogre in the dungeon had gathered in one place.

Although the current battle seemed to be in their favor, Adel instinctively knew that this tide would soon turn against them.

“Head of the family, we need to retreat!” she urged.

“Damn it!” Oliver cursed.

He didn’t like the idea of showing his back to mere monsters.

But even he realized there was no point in letting his pride get in the way now.

“There’s no advantage in fighting just for pride.”

“Everyone, fall back to the entrance!” Oliver finally ordered.

Adel let out a sigh of relief.

But then—

Boom!

Suddenly, cracks appeared in the ceiling, and it collapsed. Out of the large gap, a Venom Ogre fell straight toward her, mouth wide open.

Shocked by the unexpected attack, Adel hurriedly tried to activate Phantomization.

But she couldn’t.

Swoosh!

“Aagh!”

A sharp scream escaped from her lips.

One of the Bloody Lizardmen had thrown a spear that grazed her left side.

The pain was intense, and she lost the timing to activate her ability.

Meanwhile, the Venom Ogre’s poison shot toward her.

Death was certain.

Adel’s instincts screamed a warning.

‘Damn it, this is all because of my father…’

She stared up at the incoming poison, resigned to her fate.

If she was going to die, she didn’t want to do it disgracefully.

It was then that she saw it.

A golden aura blade carving through the air.

Slash!

In an instant, the venom was dispersed, and the Venom Ogre’s body was torn apart by countless golden slashes.

“Ugh!”

Adel tried to use Phantomization again to protect herself from the falling pieces of the Ogre, but the pain in her side stopped her.

Whirrr.

The space in front of her distorted, and from within the tear, a young man emerged.

He swung his sword, sending a wave of golden energy that cleared away the scattered remains of the Venom Ogre.

Adel had barely survived.

She looked at the man who had saved her and called out his name.

“…Martin Adalbert.”

It was unbelievable.

The man she had taken an interest in had saved her life in such a dramatic way.

‘This is straight out of a fairy tale.’

Despite herself, she couldn’t stop her heart from pounding.

* * *

Of course, this wasn’t some romantic fairy tale.

Before his regression, Martin had learned something during his stay with the Igreet family.

Adel von Bitenfeld had lost her left arm in a dungeon.

Because of that, she had been stripped of her position as heir.

However, he didn’t know exactly when or where she had fallen into such danger.

So, Martin had done his best to move in sync with the Bitenfeld family.

Of course, since the situation had changed after his regression, there was always the possibility that things wouldn’t play out the same way.

‘Still, I couldn’t take the risk.’

He owed his life to Adel.

He wanted to ease that burden, and fortunately, he had succeeded.

“How are you even here…?” Adel began.

“Drink this,” Martin interrupted, handing her a high-grade potion he had taken from his subspace.

Still in shock, Adel accepted the potion.

Without giving her a second glance, Martin stepped forward.

He could see Oliver glaring at him with dissatisfaction, but he ignored him completely.

“Raaaargh!”

A Venom Ogre roared and slammed its massive, clasped fists down.

Instead of dodging or blocking, Martin simply moved his left index finger.

Boom! Boom!

Enhanced gravity pressed down on the creature’s massive body.

The Venom Ogre’s knees buckled, though it didn’t collapse entirely. It stared at Martin, struggling to resist.

‘It’s tough, I’ll give it that.’

He could finish it off himself, but he didn’t feel the need to.

After all, he wasn’t alone.

Whirrr.

Sien appeared in mid-air, spinning like a top before landing a powerful roundhouse kick.

Her aura-infused strike hit the Ogre squarely in the head, snapping its neck.

Unable to withstand the blow, the Venom Ogre staggered and lost its balance.

As soon as Sien landed, she leaped onto the Ogre’s right thigh, then swung her zweihander with full force.

Her aura-enhanced blade decapitated the Venom Ogre in a single strike.

“Kroooaar!”

“Kraaargh!”

But there was no time to relax.

More than 20 Venom Ogres still filled the cramped area.

Not to mention that the Bloody Lizardmen had already formed a tight encirclement around them.

Once the real battle began, their side would inevitably suffer casualties.

‘But why is he smiling?’

Adel glanced at Martin, confused.

They were clearly in a dire situation, so why did he look so calm?

Just then—

“I’m going in first!”

Lucas Hoffman, the commander of the White Dragon Knights, shouted as he charged forward, surrounded by crackling blue lightning.

He smashed into the Bloody Lizardmen, causing an explosion of sound.

The Lizardmen he hit, as well as those nearby, were crushed by the impact.

But that wasn’t the end.

Philip Alofs, the commander of the Gold Dragon Knights, swung his sword in rapid succession, unleashing a flurry of silver flashes that pierced through multiple Lizardmen.

Meanwhile, Oriana Flores, with just a flick of her finger, caused the necks of the Bloody Lizardmen to snap one by one.

It was her unique ability—Telekinesis—in action.

The combined might of the three 7th Circle masters easily tore apart the Lizardmen’s encirclement.

In fact, it was more than enough.

“Damn it!” Oliver cursed under his breath.

He hated the fact that they had been rescued by Martin.

But now wasn’t the time to dwell on that. He signaled to Bastian Friedrich.

“Don’t show them how weak we are!”

“Crush them all!”

With Bastian leading the charge, the Blue Dragon Knights launched an all-out assault on the Venom Ogres.

Othmar, too, shouted loudly as he rushed forward.

Motivated by their pride, the members of the Blue Dragon Knights fought with renewed vigor.

As a result, the monsters were swiftly dealt with.

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