I must say, my tracking skills are quite good, so much so that the man on the dragon carriage hasn't noticed me yet.

Presumably to conduct some kind of transaction, the dragon carriage finally stopped in front of a villa. Upon arrival, one of the men jumped off the dragon carriage and went into the villa.

The villa was located between the working-class and aristocratic areas. It didn't look particularly luxurious, just a bit more upscale than a bungalow. There was a small yard in front with many flowers and plants, but they had long since withered.

This area is relatively quiet in the working-class neighborhood, as it is far from the streets and commercial districts. Occasionally, you can hear a few shouts, but they sound weak and feeble.

I hid in a pile of junk not far away. To be honest, this was the best time to rescue these children, but I didn't dare to make any rash moves. After all, I didn't know if these people had any companions. If I rushed up recklessly, I might get caught red-handed.

Therefore, I could only hide behind the box and scout out the general situation.

This location isn't too far from the dragon carriage, and peeking out half a head or body would definitely get me spotted, so I used magic to drill two small holes in the wooden box, just big enough to accommodate the dragon carriage and the yard in front of the villa.

Not long after, the man who had entered the villa came out, followed by another man who appeared to be the buyer in this transaction.

He was wearing a suit of armor and had a giant sword on his back. His appearance was not very clear, but the features of this man perfectly matched someone I remembered.

—Nighogd!

Yes, I didn't misread it, it's him!

"I never expected... another bastard in human form!"

He's a highly regarded adventurer in the guild, but behind the scenes he's a despicable child trafficker.

To be honest, I really want to stand up and expose his ugly face, but reason tells me that I can't act impulsively at this time and I have to calm down.

After all, that guy is stronger than me, and if I make a move rashly, I could really get myself killed.

"Hmm... this batch of goods is quite good."

Nighold lifted the curtain and peered into the carriage with an extremely lewd smile on his face. I had never seen such an expression before, and it was utterly disgusting.

"Sir! It took me a lot of effort to get my hands on these guys... Look..."

The man standing next to him, however, was extremely respectful, rubbing his hands together as he asked Nighold for money.

"Yes, I'm very satisfied."

After seeing Nighold throw a full bag of things to the man, I knew that the deal was coming to an end. If I didn't step in to help now, these children would be sent to the villa.

I don't know what these children were subjected to after being sent to the villa, but it must have been inhuman slave training.

"Hmm... the magic power is still very weak, is it because I'm a swordsman?"

First, I used the Mystic Eyes to examine Nighold. Although it wasn't very effective, I wanted to see what the effect would be if I used the Mystic Eyes in actual combat.

However, I was somewhat disappointed with this result. I had thought that the Demon Eye would have other abilities at this time, but it seems that without reaching the Emperor level, it is just a very useless ability to detect other people's magic power.

"Never mind... I'm going to go for it..."

Judging from Nighold's previous performance in the battle against the desert dragon, his strength should be above the master level, but not at the sword king level. He is someone that I can deal with by launching a surprise attack.

I plan to activate the swamp first, then Rashomon, to separate the dragon chariot and Nighold, otherwise the subsequent magical attacks will affect these children. Finally, I will activate the Heavenly Thunder to finish them off while he is trapped.

Hmm... a perfect strategy. The battle was over before Nighold even had a chance to react.

"I truly live up to my title as a King-level mage; only I could have come up with such a surprise attack strategy."

Once Nighold falls, the remaining two are merely struggling in their death throes, since they possess no magic and are just ordinary people.

Wait a minute... Could Nighold be hiding his true strength while fighting the desert dragon, or perhaps he possesses the strength of a Sword King?

No, no, no... In such a critical moment, there shouldn't be any question of hiding one's strength.

In that case, as long as we defeat him, the kidnapped child can be rescued.

"Here we go, Leon! Let's go all out!"

"Hey! You over there hiding in that box! How long are you going to stay hidden?!"

—This is bad!

Was it discovered long ago that I was procrastinating?

That's when I realized that Nighold had been staring in this direction the whole time, his gaze extremely gloomy and filled with murderous intent.

"Damn it! When was that? Just now when I used the Mystic Eyes?"

After all, using the Mystic Eye requires injecting magical power, which generates magical fluctuations. Is that why it was discovered?

"Damn it! I really am a complete idiot!"

There was no way to change the plan; the surprise attack strategy seemed to be unusable.

"mud."

First, they created a large swamp to restrict the movement of the three people.

"Fourfold: Rashomon"

It was clear that Nighold was somewhat taken aback when I used the Mud Swamp skill, as he had no idea that the person hiding behind the box was me.

"What...what is this?"

"Damn it..."

Compared to Nighold, the other two men were utterly shocked, struggling so much that the swamp had already submerged their upper bodies.

Finally, there is "Heavenly Thunder".

Pfft~

But just as I was gathering heavenly lightning, the earthen walls surrounding Nighold suddenly slid to one side in a strange way and crashed heavily to the ground.

"Incredibly... he cleaved Rashomon in two with a single strike!"

You should know that even Agatha Christie, at the Sword King level, couldn't break through the upgraded Rashomon after I continuously compressed it.

"Leon! Stop hiding, I know it's you!"

Nighold, holding his greatsword horizontally in front of him, roared in my direction with a violent tone, sending a shiver down my spine.

"No... we can't give him that chance! Heavenly Thunder!"

I know full well that the strength to sever my Rashomon with a single strike is definitely at the Sword King level, or even above. If I fail to launch a surprise attack, then once he gets close, I will have absolutely no chance of winning.

Boom!

As magic continued to flow in, a visible bolt of lightning plummeted downwards, slamming into Nighold's body.

However, just when I thought victory was assured, Nighold swung his greatsword and cleaved the lightning in two, splitting it in two and striking the ground on either side, sending up clouds of dust and debris.

"This...this is..."

——Higami-ryu!

I didn't realize that concentrating all the body's strength into one strike, although it was a monotonous attack method, was the most powerful strike.

"This is bad..."

I am fully aware of the situation we are facing right now. There is absolutely no chance of winning against Nighold, who is of such strength!

—We must escape!

Let alone saving these children, they might even lose their own lives here.

Thinking of this, I immediately turned and ran away, running as fast as I could. As long as I reached the street, Nighold would surely stop to maintain his image.

"Leon! Do you think you can leave here alive?!"

As soon as I finished speaking, I heard the sound of something heavy cutting through the air. This is the most common attack method used by swordsmen, the so-called throwing attack!

Just as I dodged, Nighold rushed up to me and punched me hard in the stomach.

Pfft...

Intense pain spread throughout my body, even causing me to bend over and vomit.

But Nighold's attack didn't stop; he kicked her hard in the abdomen again.

"Air blast."

After using wind and fire magic to create a huge shockwave explosion, Nighold and I were both blasted away.

However, he was only pulled away by distance. Due to the intense pain in my stomach, I was unable to get out of the airburst range in time and was slammed hard into the building behind me by the blast wave.

My internal organs felt like they were churning, and I almost fainted.

Damn it!

In contrast, Nighold simply covered his ears with his hands, seemingly indicating that the shockwave had only caused him temporary hearing loss.

Um... cough cough...

"Now's the time..."

Just as I was about to get up and run for my life, I was hit hard in the abdomen again. When I looked in the direction of the gaze, I found that it was not Nighold in front of me.

“Yuna…”

Why her?!

Our relationship is not...

I stared at her in disbelief; Yuna was actually Nighold's accomplice.

The next moment, his consciousness finally blurred, and he completely fainted.