"The enemies are slowly breaching the defense line in districts two and four."

Lumilia frowned while listening to the reports of her subordinate. She looked at the map with a serious expression.

District one became a fierce battlefield of people above A-rank. Sending lower rank people there was simply asking them to massacre the reinforcement. So Lumilia wouldn't focus her attention on that district.

Their group should focus on fighting those low-level enemies instead of thinking about high-level enemies. The district two and four became the battlefield for them. The enemies were trying to massacre everyone in that city but Lumilia sent Yujin and Alice along with other adventurers to help the people out there.

Dark Oculus Legion was too weak compared to the group of enemies. Their numbers were too small. That's why Lumilia and Lynn contacted the powers of this city to help them, the nobles. Not just them, she also contacted Jimmy and the big company in this city.

With their combined forces, she was sure that they could hold for another one hour.

"So... what would you do?" Jimmy was silently staring at the map asked with a gloomy look. Beside him were the other owners of big companies like Lanny Corp.

Lumilia didn't have the power to call them here. She was just the vice-commander of the legion. Although, they were quite famous she still didn't have enough influence to move these big companies. That's why she asked the Lanny Corp, the partner of their legion, to call these big groups.

The nobles were a different story. Jimmy called them but they didn't come here. It means that they have no plan to cooperate in their group.

Those prideful nobles really were giving them a problem even at a time like this. They only said that they will help the city in their own ways. They will not get in their way.

"We'll clean district three first," Lumilia said as she looked at the people beside Jimmy.

"What about our forces in district two and four? Are you saying that we'll leave them there?" Yaso, the owner of the biggest weapon company in this city, said with an angry tone.

"I'm not saying that we should abandon them. I'm saying that we should prioritize clearing district three over the other district. We should establish a base of operations and this district filled all the requirements." Lumilia paused for a while as she pointed at the map before she continued, "There's a few enemies inside this city and that's the most important thing. If we don't have a base of operations then we would have a hard time against them. No, our doom would come earlier."

"Yeah, she's right. It's easier to clean this district more than the other districts. Also, we need to set up defenses so that we could last until the reinforcement arrives." Jimmy said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"But..." Yaso tightly clenched his fist. His company was in district two so he wanted to retake that district more than anyone.

"Don't think about anything else. We're going to fight for our survival. Your wealth is nothing to our enemies." Lumilia said in a grave tone. She wanted them to understand the severity of their situation.

It's not that she didn't want to help district two and four. In fact, she really wanted to send people there to help Yujin and Alice but that would make clearing district three harder.

"Group yourself and start helping the city guards who were fighting the enemies in this district. Every five minutes send a report. If we don't receive a report we will consider your group as gone." Lumilia said to them. She was acting as the strategist of their alliance. Well, Jimmy was the one who nominated her for this position.

"Mila, the ones who are fighting strong opponents are Teacher Jess and Teacher Sabrina," Lynn said as she looked up.

"I know. We would avoid getting caught up in their battle." Lumilia said with a serious expression.

Teacher Jess and Sabrina along with the high-rank officer of city forces were fighting the seven-circle officers of the Seven Deadly Sins in this district. They could only rely on them to push back the strongest enemies.

...

In the bas.e.m.e.nt of the arena...

A man with short smooth blonde hair was walking down the stairs. He was wearing a black jacket and pants. His jacket had a Seven Deadly Sins symbol.

"This is the right place...? I'm sure that the sensing talisman was pointing at this place." He muttered as he continued to walk leisurely. He then looked up and said, "Still, they were going all out... and here I am finding the bloodstones."

Hmm...?

He felt something covered the entire bas.e.m.e.nt.

What?

He raised his hand and placed his palm on the wall.

"A barrier...? Really, they are too late for that. Maybe, they want to imprison me in this bas.e.m.e.nt."

He felt a high-level barrier in this bas.e.m.e.nt. He had no way out of this place.

"Well... should I go all out."

A smile formed on his face and his energy started to spread out in his surroundings.

...

"Go away, Bryan. Take Cl.u.s.ter away and go to the legion!" Brando shouted at Bryan while raising his shield in front of him.

"But..." Bryan looked at Brando.

"Leave this to me. We need help." Brando said while looking at the two people in front of him. They took down the other people but these two were different from the rest. They were strong.

"Okay. I'll be back to help you." Bryan said before he turned around and carried Cl.u.s.ter in his arms. He then left after glancing at Brando one more time. "Be careful, Brando! Don't push yourself too hard!"

The two people have large physiques. They were two meters tall and their bodies were oozing dense energy.

"I think I could buy them a time until they reach the legion," Brando muttered to himself as he controlled his mana and covered his shield. "I need to protect them... cause I'm a shielder!"

The two people wearing red robes looked at each other.

"Who wants to go first?"

"I'll pass, Kan. I wouldn't be able to contain myself once I start fighting. I'm a berserker, after all."

"Fine. Leave this to me. You just go there and capture that little girl, Kin."

One of the two stepped forward and looked at Brando with mocking eyes. "I'm your opponent this time. Well, that's from your perspective but from my perspective, I don't consider your power level as my opponent."

"You won't know it until you try," Brando said sharply. These people were different from the people that were attacking the city. He didn't know why they wanted to capture Cl.u.s.ter.

The other one turned around and said, "I'll go now and capture that little girl, Kan."

"No, you don't!" Brando roared as he charged towards the man named Kin.

Swoosh!

"Keke, I'm your opponent." Kan moved in front of Brando to intercept him. He then threw a punch aiming at Brando's head.

Brando quickly raised his shield and blocked the punch.

Bang!

...

"I really want to fight a genius like you, Souta," Randolf said as he raised the barrier device and added, "If I give this to you, will you fight me?"

"No, I will not fight you. Also, I will not call myself a genius." Souta replied to him.

"I see... It's unfortunate. So, come and get it to me if you have the power!" Randolf smiled as his energy burst out of his body. It quickly spread around the entire area.

Boom!

Souta's expression changed as he felt his aura. The strength of this aura was five times higher than Wesler who he fought before.

Randolf was filled with an intent to fight. He was sure that even if he got that barrier device, Randolf wouldn't let him go easily.

Suddenly, the energy around Randolf compressed before it exploded. Like a water, it flooded Souta and everything around him.

'This... A liquefied mana...?' Souta opened his eyes widely as he felt the mana around him trying to crush him into a meat paste. It was suffocating. If he didn't have [High Energy Resistance] then he would be having a hard time moving under this pressure.

This man deeply hid his power. To think that he was much stronger than the top students of this institute. Just what did he want in this institute? He wouldn't learn anything in this place to begin with. It seems that there's more story behind this quest.

Randolf looked at Souta and said in a cold tone. "Heightened your senses. Don't get distracted for a single moment."

Swoosh!

'Souta!' Saya's voice echoed in his head.

Souta's eyes constricted as Randolf appeared in front of him in an instant.

A large concentration of mana formed around Randolf's hand. The mana moved and it turned into a blade.

BOOM!!