The crewmember shot the flare that was received from Laurent into the air.

Peeew- Boom!

A baptism of fireworks embroidered the sky red.

After killing all of the enemies that charged towards him, Paulean’s gaze slightly turned to the air.

“Hmm… It does seem like the Baron is a little late…”

It had been about 10 minutes since Ian had entered the inside while riding Pin.

Despite it being past the time that some sort of result should have come out, as no word came from within, Paulean wore a slightly worried expression.

“Don’t worry, Sir Paulean. The Lord is probably doing well.”

At the words of Celia, who was diligently supporting from the back, Paulean smirked and replied.

“Well, I do hope that’s the case…”

His gaze turned towards the inside of the prison.

‘Either way, since the flare has been shot, the reinforcements will be here.’

If the reinforcements come, a conclusion will be made no matter what.

‘We’ll need to rescue as many prisoners as we can before then…’

While looking at the group of soldiers that charged towards him again, Paulean quickly swung his lance.

* * *

“What… the hell are you?”

“What the hell are you to be like that?”

At the mystery man’s question, Ian replied with a curt tone.

Because, for an NPC, he was too arrogant, Ian became bitter.

To be honest, rather than his arrogance being the problem, the expression that he didn’t like that the opponent was raining down on his parade was more fitting.

However, the moment he heard the mystery man’s next words, Ian couldn’t help but be a little taken back.

“How entertaining. Based off my observations so far, it seems that you’re a user that’s affiliated with Luspel Empire, but to have come all the way to Pascal Islands. Did you receive an Empire Quest from them?”

Firstly, the word user.

And the word quest.

If you were an NPC, these were two words that you never used.

For that reason, it meant that his opponent was a user.

‘Damn it, what the hell is this? Is it possible to get this complicated…?’

On top of that, it was obvious that he was user of the enemy empire, Kaimon Empire.

If the user from the opponent camp was planning on completely interfering, it would become a serious pain in the neck.

Firstly, in order to get a feeling of his opponent, Ian opened his mouth again.

“Then, you there, it seems that you’re a user affiliated with the Kaimon Empire… Is this an Empire Quest for you, too?”

One corner of the mystery man’s mouth curled upwards.

“And if so?”

Ian continued his words again carefully.

Firstly, it was most important that he safely completed the quest.

“Then, how about we go with a way that will be good for both sides? Even if we don’t fight, if we can just complete our quests, isn’t that good enough?”

Even while he spoke, Ian was nervous.

Since it was strongly possible that the opponent’s quest would be that he needed to end up blocking him.

However, the mystery man’s response was outside of Ian’s expectations.

“Well. To be honest, even if I just pass by right now, it won’t affect my quest at all…”

The long great sword that he was holding in his hands pointed toward the middle of Ian’s forehead.

“But for some reason, I don’t want to do that.”

And a swear word automatically popped out of Ian’s mouth.

“Damn it, I’m telling you let’s go for a bit of a win-win situation.”

It seemed like they wouldn’t be able to avoid fighting now.

Ian got into a fighting stance and checked his opponent’s information.

However, it seemed that he put all of his information on private just like himself, he couldn’t even check his level or his name.

“It’s been a while, shall we have some fun?”

After he finished speaking, he charged towards Ian.

And Ian attacked him with Halli as well.

This was because his pride would be hurt for some reason to just run away immediately with Space Distortion.

‘It’s possible that he’s a weaker guy than I expected.’

However, Ian was well aware that the possibility of that was close to zero.

Clang- Cla-clang-!

As Ian’s staff and the opponent’s sword clashed with each other, a metallic sound rang out.

• You have been attacked by a user from Kaimon Empire (Unknown) and have received damage.

• Your Vitality has been reduced by 12,985.

And Ian, who succeeded in blocking one of the opponent’s attacks, quickly got on Halli’s back.

‘As expected, he’s a powerful enemy. By roughly looking, it seems he’s a Warrior-class… If that’s the case, the only way is to overpower him with Agility.’

“Halli, Guardian of the Wind!”

At Ian’s command, Halli cried out loudly.

Roar-.

• Familiar ‘Halli’ has used skill ‘Guardian of the Wind’.

• Familiar ‘Halli’s Agility will increase as much as the total value of the rest of his combat stats.

• For 2 minutes, Familiar ‘Halli’s Agility will increase by 5725.

Thanks to having raised his level quite a bit, after using Guardian of the Wind, Halli’s Agility was close to almost 8 thousand.

The eyes of the opponent shone once he saw the white energy of the wind that wrapped around all four of Halli’s legs.

“Oh-ho, a Hallikan, huh. For there to be a Summoner that handles a Hallikan as their Familiar.”

As of now, the officially known level of a wild Hallikan was 150.

It was not unreasonable for him to be surprised.

This was because the current, officially known, highest-level user was at the edge of lv 140.

However, whether his opponent was surprised or not, Ian gave no attention at all.

“Current Proliferation!”

Ian began to fire Current Proliferation and Magic Spheres towards the mystery man.

Pung- Pu-pung-!

However, the mystery man easily avoided Ian’s attacks.

‘What the hell? It seems that even for a Warrior-class, his Agility stat is quite high…’

The opponent, who avoided the attacks, quickly rushed towards Ian.

“Hwanleenchamgyuk!”

The great sword of the mystery man shone red.

Ian instinctively felt that he shouldn’t get directly hit by it.

“Halli, dodge it!”

And Halli, who had fraudulent-like reflex abilities, was fortunately able to avoid that attack easily.

Baang-!

The red swords that rose from the mystery man’s great sword were sprayed into the air in streams, and passed by while finely slicing the stone wall.

Jjuh-juh-juk-!

Ian, who saw the stone wall crumble to the ground in pieces as if they were pieces of tofu, was appalled.

‘Even if Breath or Crush exploded, it probably wouldn’t have a destructive power like that…’

The duration that Halli’s Guardian of the Wind lasted was 2 minutes.

Ian, who decided he needed to win within then no matter what, jumped down from Halli’s back and immediately lunged towards the mystery man.

And Halli, who figured out Ian’s intentions, quickly turned around towards the backside of the mystery man and swung his front paws.

Ian and Halli attacked quickly and cleanly on opposite sides of the man.

Pu-ung-!

• Familiar ‘Halli’ has dealt critical damage to ‘Ghost of Emptiness’.

• ‘Ghost of Emptiness’s Vitality has been reduced by 9685.

Although it was only for a short duration, the mystery man was unable to avoid the attack of Halli, who obtained an incredibly high reflex stat to the point it almost didn’t make sense, and from that one attack, he couldn’t help but be thrown towards the wall.

And Ian wore a slightly confused expression.

‘What the hell, Ghost of Emptiness? Why is the target subject’s name coming up as something like that? Was he not a user?’

If he was a user, then a name, or if his information is put on private, then the words ‘Unknown’ would normally pop up, but as a strange name called Ghost of Emptiness popped up, he was taken aback.

And the fact that he was unexpectedly thrown towards a wall weakly at Halli’s attack was a little questionable as well.

‘If he was that strong of a master that he could apply that much Offensive Power earlier as a Warrior-class, then their physique shouldn’t be this weak…’

The form of the mystery man, who was lodged into the wall after being thrown into it just now by Halli’s attack, felt like the physique of a Black Magician, an Archer, or an Assassin.

Just when Ian was about to try to attack again, the mystery man, who dusted himself off and stood up, grinned as he mumbled.

“You’re better than what I expected, I’ll say. Even though it wasn’t my main body, it has been a really long time since I was attacked this helplessly.”

However, Ian didn’t have any time to respond to his words.

This was because he needed to deal as much damage as he could before Halli’s Inherent Ability, ‘Guardian of the Wind’, was up.

“Acting composed, my ass!”

Projectiles shot out from Ian’s staff again.

And that was an attack that was done after thoroughly calculating the mystery man’s movement route.

Ta-tat-!

The mystery man, who moved his body to dodge the projectiles that flew towards him, had no choice but to bump into Halli head-on again.

Roar-!

Halli roared loudly as he struck with his front paws.

However, this time, the mystery man didn’t get hit so easily either.

Chwaaak-!

Because Halli’s Agility was so high, he wasn’t able to completely avoid it, but it ended off with it just grazing his side.

On top of that, instead, the guy’s weapon lodged into Halli’s shoulder joint.

• Familiar ‘Halli’ was attacked by ‘Ghost of Emptiness’ and his Vitality has been reduced by 8982.

• Familiar ‘Halli’ has fallen into ‘Bleeding State’.

• Familiar ‘Halli’s Vitality has been reduced by 2196.

The guy’s counterattack continued like flowing water.

Ian, who checked that form, wore a greatly surprised expression.

‘His skills… are the real deal.’

He wasn’t surprised at the damage that Halli received.

Since an Offensive Power of about 9 thousand wasn’t that amazing in a sense.

However, the guy’s movements just now were truly like art.

He avoided the front paws of Halli, whose reflexes were close to 8 thousand, with the least amount of movements, and even succeeded in counterattacking.

‘However, unless his stats are at an overwhelming level, it’s definitely worth trying…!’

In Kailan, the strength of a user was decided with two elements.

One was obviously the huge amount of stats and special skills that was gained through an outrageous level and items with good performance.

And the other was the user’s fighting ability.

Ian was guessing that his opponent was a Warrior-class user that was a similar level as him, and invested a lot into his Offensive Power in comparison to his Health and Defensive Power.

‘If it’s control abilities, then I’m also confident enough to not fall behind.’

Rather, if it was a late-lv 130 user that placed as a two-figure number in the rankings, it would have been hard to face them even for Ian.

Since there was a limit to the stat difference that could be overcome by control.

However, after clashing with him once, Ian instead developed confidence.

“So annoying, because of you my quest is being delayed!”

Ian filled himself up with genuine rage(?) and charged towards his opponent again with Halli.

And seeing Ian’s movements that were filled with confidence in comparison to just earlier where he was a little passive, the guy smirked as he firmly grasped his sword.

“You’re not thinking that I’ve shown you everything just now, right?”

The mouth of the guy opened again.

“Chain Attack…!”

For an instant, Ian felt an illusion as if the image of the guy, who was right in front of his nose, stretched out on either side of him.

‘What, what the hell?’

And his sword attack continued.

Bang- Ba-ba-bang-!

As expected of a skill named Chain Attack, his attack didn’t deal a large amount of damage at once, but like Pin’s Crush skill, it came in as a DoT[1].

System messages began to roll in at an incredible speed.

• You have received critical damage from (Unknown).

• Your Vitality has been reduced by 1892.

• Your Vitality has been reduced by 1827.

• Your Vitality has been reduced by 2191.

Ian, who saw an outrageous amount of close to 20-30 thousand Vitality drop down in an instant, became flustered.

‘Whew, did I look down on him?’

However, it wasn’t like his movements froze just because he became flustered.

The control sense ingrained into his body, which was similar to his instincts, automatically controlled Halli and Ian.

Pung- Pu-pung-!

In return for allowing a skill to hit properly, Ian’s skills and Halli’s attacks hit the target perfectly as well.

• Familiar ‘Halli’s Inherent Ability, ‘Smash’, has been invoked.

• ‘Ghost of Emptiness’ has fallen into a ‘stunned’ state for 1 second.

And fortunately, Halli’s Inherent Ability, Smash, had been invoked.

And it wasn’t like Ian to lose this chance.

[1] DoT = Damage over Time