Ryan couldn't retort Femradiel's words, but in the end, as long as he fights, as usual, the chances of things taking a wrong turn somewhere would be pretty small.

In any case, Ryan had to choose his targets carefully. By the look of things, the hostages would be forced to join the monsters' side. Ryan didn't know of the details, but since the demons could capture humans as well and turn them into monsters, Ryan assumed that the ritual with the monsters in the area was less shady since the humans didn't change all that much.

"Who should I kill first?" Ryan asked himself while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "The boss or the humans… the boss will take a while to take down, so the humans might take the hostages and use them like shields. Not like that will be a problem, the problem is if one of them gets nervous and kills someone."

While Byakko could also decide to kill the hostages, Ryan could prevent the monster with a barrage of attacks. The Thunder Lord Crossbow certainly could stop Byakko… or maybe not, since Ryan created that weapon by using the soul of the same boss.

"Well, it can't hurt to try," Ryan said and then shrugged.

That crossbow was one of his two most powerful weapons, after all. Before equipping that weapon, Ryan equipped the pestilence crossbow. In a matter of a few seconds, he activated Perfect Aim and then fired twenty points and made them fly toward the hearts of armed survivors. While they were wearing armor, the bolts still pierced their hearts due to the power of Ryan's stealth skills and several other passive bonuses. The hostages opened their eyes widely in shock when their kidnappers began to fall dead one after the other, and soon, they began to run when Byakko began to tremble soon after some explosions happened.

Much to Ryan's surprise, Thunder Lord Crossbow was working. However, only for half of the period was it supposed to work. Still, that was more than Ryan actually needed.

While Byakko was suffering from the shock effects, Ryan fired his pestilence crossbow's bolts on the monster's eyes. The creature tried to resist, but in the end, his relentless attacks made the monster lose its eyes. Not that had been necessary since the beast could only endure so much of Ryan's attacks in that defenseless position.

Ryan couldn't help but frown, considering that such a monster was supposed to be stronger than ordinary dragons, and yet, Ryan killed it with ease… well, not quite. Ryan used the soul of the monster to increase the power of his crossbow.

Instead of celebrating that his most powerful weapon became ten percent more powerful, Ryan raised his guard because he noticed a third party's approach thanks to Radar.

He immediately pointed the crossbow in that direction, but he didn't pull the trigger since the approaching people were walking normally and didn't even try to hide their presence. After a while, some of them stayed behind, but a single dark-haired woman wearing purple armor and carrying a glaive in her right hand showed. She raised her arms toward the sky to show that she means no harm, and then she said something, but Ryan shook his head since he didn't understand a single thing.

"I can't speak Japanese," Ryan said.

"English?" The dark-haired woman frowned. "Are you Australian?"

"American," Ryan replied.

The frown on the woman's face got a little more severe, but then she relaxed when she noticed that Ryan only killed the kidnappers. As for Ryan, he didn't relax at all. That woman and others had been tailing the hostages, but they didn't do anything, after all.

Haruna

Class: Swordsman Lv 35 / Samurai Lv 28 / Guard Lv 22 (--)

Race: --/--/--

Rank: 7.654th

Health: 1145/1145

Mana: 742/742

Stamina: 950/950

Strength: 550 (+ 150)

Dexterity: 460 (+ 50)

Speed: 500 (+ 150)

Intelligence: 250 (+ 50)

Endurance: 600 (+ 100)

Control: 320 (+ 70)

Mentality: 600 (+ 100)

Luck: 100

Recovery: 400 (+ 150)

Willpower: 600 (+ 100)

Coins: --

Status: 00

Skill List

Offensive Physical Skills: Concentrated Strike Lv 55, War Cry Lv 30, Dash Lv 25,

Passive Physical Skills: Swordsmanship Lv 45, Shield Mastery Lv 35

Spells: Fireball Lv 50, Frost Arrow Lv 45, Earth Arrow Lv 42

Support Skills: Fire Resistance Lv 45, Cold Resistance Lv 41, Electric Lv 36

Ryan frowned when she saw that woman's status. Considering her caution to rescue her fellow countrymen, she was a lot stronger than Ryan imagined.

"I thank you for your help," Haruna said and then bowed. "My name is Haruna, may I ask who you are? I never heard of you and I believe someone with your level of strength would be pretty well-known in these parts."

"The name is Ryan and I just arrived in your country," Ryan replied. "Anyway, you were following the hostages, right? Why didn't you act sooner?"

"… We were waiting for the right moment to strike," Haruna hesitated. "We lost a battle against that group a few hours ago and our strength decreased. Another direct confrontation wouldn't change anything, so we hoped that another boss would show up and start a fight. The idea was to rescue them during the confusion."

"Did you watch that boy losing his arm in silence?" Ryan asked while pointing to the boy he saw before approaching alongside the other hostages.

"… I did," Haruna closed her eyes and lowered her head. "Despite everything, I decided not to act."

"That is all that I needed to know," Ryan said and then approached the boy before healing his arm. "I believe I helped you guys quite a bit now, so I am going to ask a few questions and then move on since I don't want to waste my time with you. What is going on with your country?"

"Do you mind if we talk while we walk back to our hideout?" Haruna asked. "This is a long story and we are exposed here. Besides, it is getting late."

"Lead the way." Ryan replied.