Brianna, Jane, John, and Tim turned their head and looked at Souta as if they wanted to know if it's true.

Souta sighed and said, "I wonder about that... But who knows what will happen in the future."

He then patted Yuko's head and said, "I currently don't have someone like except for Yuko."

"That's too bad... I really thought that you have..." Tidor dropped his shoulders.

"Really, if you're already like this to a girl who's just your classmate, I wonder what can you do if you found someone that you like," Jane said to him.

"I don't know about that... But if I'll use Yuko as a reference then I'm prepared to annihilate the Adventurers Guild, so that those hunters wouldn't give Yuko some trouble." Souta said to them.

"You're really something. Not everyone can say the same words as you do." Brianna smiled wryly and said.

"It's easy to say, hard to do. I could even say that I could even kill those gods for Yuko." Souta said and he shook his head. "Well, let's prepare now. I've still got something to so wait Lumilia here."

He didn't even let the Gale Group question him as he already started running.

"Yuko! Stay here for a while!"

Souta left those words before he vanished into thin air.

Brianna, Tidor, Jane, and the rest of the Gale Group could only stare at the place where Souta disappeared.

...

Souta was hiding in the bushes. He tracked the footprint of the knights and it led him in the underground base of the Asvares mansion.

"Underground? I guess that all the noble's mansion has an underground base." Souta muttered as he rubbed his chin.

All the intruders that they caught were placed in the basement. They didn't hand it in the hands of the city guards at all.

"I only have one hour to leave this place, so I will take back that man quickly," Souta said. He then looked around and only saw two knights guarding the basement.

He took a deep breath and silently clenched his fists.

The two knights were talking to each other. They don't have any idea that Souta was going to attack them.

Suddenly, shadows burst out of the ground and strangled their bodies.

"What the-" The knights were about to shout when the shadows covered their mouths and eyes.

Souta did this so that they wouldn't know that he attacked them.

Swoosh!!

Souta jumped out of the bushes and he charged straight to the two knights. He gathered his mana in both of his fists and he swiftly knocked out the two knights.

Bang! Bang!

The shadows disappeared and the two knights fell down on the ground.

"Sleep well." Souta looked down at the two unconscious knights and said before he went down in the basement.

Souta walked downstairs until he found a corridor that has jails on each side. At the end of the corridor, he saw the knights were locking up the man inside a jail.

Souta bent his knees and charged towards the knights while casting [Shadow Bind] at the same time.

Swoosh!!

"Who the hell are you?!" One of the knights asked with an angry expression as Souta arrived in front of him.

Souta delivered a powerful blow on his stomach, directly knocking him on the wall.

Bang!

Souta then lifted up his feet and kicked the jaw of the other knight.

Bang!

The knight directly lost his consciousness when Souta kicked his jaw. He fell on the ground as his armor made a loud metallic sound.

"It's done..." Souta said and he looked at the unconscious man who was wearing a black cloak. He was about to carry him when he heard an ear-piercing sound coming from behind.

Shiiing!!

He quickly coated his body using his mana and went inside the jail.

A powerful gust of wind passed by in the corridor and crashed in the wall.

Boom!

It caused a small explosion as the wall got destroyed and the debris of rocks shot up.

"Ah~ this skill is really too loud."

Souta heard a voice echoed in the corridor. He checked the unconscious man and carried the man in one hand.

He then grabbed the handle of the [Vajra Sword Saya] before he pulled it out.

Tak!

As soon as he stepped out, the ground turned black and it spread immediately in the whole area. Several shadows that look like tentacles emerged from the ground.

"Go..." Souta muttered as he looked at the man who was wearing silver armor. This man was also a knight of the Asvares family but he was stronger than the level of the normal knights.

"This is cheating right. I don't have enough space to avoid those things." The knights smiled wryly while looking at the countless shadows around Souta. He then looked at Souta's face and said, "But still to think that you're the one behind this is out of my expectations."

"You know, I'm the one who caught this guy but why you knights are acting like you're the one who caught him," Souta said as he lifted the man in his hand. He showed it to the man and added, "Well, let's finish this."

The shadows around Souta stretched out and went straight towards the knight.

Swoosh!! Swoosh!!

The knight knew that he was at a disadvantage if he's going to fight Souta in the basement. So he decided to retreat towards the surface.

Swoosh!!

"Hmm? He..." Souta noticed that the knight went on the surface. That knight knew that there's nothing good that will happen if he fought Souta here in the basement.

Souta placed back the Vajra sword in its sheath. He then looked up in the ceiling before he lifted up his hand. He made a grabbing motion in the air as his mana flared up.

...

On the surface...

The knight noticed that something was wrong. He bent his knees and quickly jumped in the air.

After a few seconds, several shadow spikes burst out of the ground.

"If I didn't notice it, then that spikes are currently drilling inside my body." The knight said with a sigh while looking at the shadow spikes. "If I'm not wrong, he's just a D-rank Adventurer but the power he's showed could be compared to those who are at C-rank."

He landed on the ground and he tightened his grip on his sword. He looked at the path towards the basement and heard loud footsteps.

"He's here." The knight smiled wryly as he used several combat arts that could temporarily increase his strength.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes widely and once again jumped in the air as several shadow spikes burst out of the ground.

He then saw tentacles like shadows stretched out towards him with high speed.

Swoosh!! Swoosh!!

The knight waved the sword in his hand while using combat arts.

[Three Fold Slash]!

"What?!" The knight was shocked when he saw that he didn't manage to cut the shadows in half. He only managed to push it away from him.

'This guy really has the power of a C-rank Adventurer despite having his rank lower than that.' He thought.

D-rank Adventurers were already called veterans. Their powers were already decent enough to do some difficult quest.

C-rank was quite sought in the Adventurers Guild because of their power level. They could handle those monsters that were going to form their monster orb. In other words, they could fight the monsters that undergo first and second evolution.

B-rank was a powerful adventurer. Some of the B-rank Adventurers joined the elite group of Adventurers Guild called Hunters. They were powerful enough to match the monster that has a monster orb.

The knight carefully landed on the spikes while tightly gripping his sword, and then he saw a ball of shadow heading towards him.

Swoosh!!

He shifted his body to the side and the ball of shadow passed beside him.

Suddenly, a sword pierced through his body.

"Ugh!" He spat a mouthful of blood as he looked down at the sword on his chest. He then turned his head and saw Souta grinning behind him. "H-How?"

"Ah~ it's really good if your opponent didn't know the effect of your spell." Souta beamed a bright smile as he slowly pulled out the Vajra sword on the knight's chest. "Hmm... Don't worry, I won't kill you. I don't want Lumilia to hate me after all."

He then proceeded to smash the nape of the knight using the handle of the sword. It knocked down the man and Souta used [Light Heal] to stop the bleeding.

"Okay, let's go now," Souta said before he disappeared.