First, Sophie attacked Ryu with her wooden sword.

Sophie was from a royal lineage where a high percentage of individuals could use powerful magic. Naturally, Sophie could use powerful magic too. However, she was skilled in healing and support magic, not combat magic.

But she had some confidence in her swordsmanship. Sophie was the type who enjoyed physical activity more than mental work. She received a well-rounded education as royalty, but she preferred practicing swordsmanship to using magic or intellect. Her swordsmanship had improved significantly since her childhood, and she was now at a level where she could defeat even a Royal Guard.

But Ryu dodged all of her attacks, never even getting grazed.

Several of Sophie's attacks missed their mark, and then Alice joined in.

Alice was a skilled fighter, even recognized by Marie and Betty, but she wasn't the type of knight or swordsman. That's because she had the 'Assassin' class. She had skills to hide her presence, was good with daggers and knives, and was skilled with throwing weapons (small weapons that can be hidden), but she also had powerful offensive magic.

Unlike the orthodox knights and swordsmen, Alice's swordsmanship was different. She would attack between Sophie's attacks, striking from blind spots and taking advantage of openings. Her attacks would come from angles and timing that caught Ryu off guard after he dodged Sophie's attacks. It was quite tricky.

But it didn't work on Ryu either.

In the fight against Marie and Betty, Ryu hadn't used Speed Accelerator, but this time, it was two-on-one, and he wasn't sure of their abilities (he especially didn't know much about Alice), so he had decided to be cautious and deactivated the Speed Accelerator limit from the start.

They were attacking him simultaneously, and one of them was using a flanking maneuver. It would have been quite a difficult situation for anyone else, but Ryu, with his mind reading and precognitive abilities, plus the Speed Accelerator, was able to effortlessly dodge the continuous sharp attacks from both of them.

— — — — — —

But suddenly, an ice spear shot up from the ground, right under Ryu's feet, as he was dodging their attacks. It was Alice's magic attack.

It was an attack from below, coordinated with the attacks from above, by Sophie and Alice.

It was the same surprise attack tactic as Betty's, pretending to use only a sword, and then launching a magic attack. It was a crude tactic, but it was deadly because it exploited the moment Ryu was distracted by the two-pronged attack from above. It would have been impossible for a normal adventurer to dodge it.

But Ryu, who had read their minds completely, dodged it.

Actually, Ryu had used his Divine Eye to examine them both before the fight. He wouldn't have done that if it had been one-on-one, but now that it was two-on-one, he had decided to be cautious.

Therefore, he knew all of their strengths beforehand: that Sophie couldn't use offensive magic, and that Alice was an Assassin class with skills, and was also proficient in magic attacks.

Alice had a skill to hide her killing intent as an assassin.

If Alice had fought alone from the beginning, Ryu might not have used his Divine Eye and gone into the fight without analyzing her. If that were the case, Ryu, who had only seen her surface killing intent without using his Divine Eye to its full potential, might have been caught off guard.

Of course, there's a possibility that he could have avoided the surprise attack even without reading her mind with his precognitive ability, but this was a cunning and deadly surprise attack, aimed at getting him distracted by attacking him from multiple directions at the same time, and it posed a significant danger.

But because he was fighting two opponents simultaneously, Ryu had used his Divine Eye to its full potential from the start, rendering the clever surprise attack completely useless.

— — — — — —

Alice: "Sophie-sama, please step back!"

After her surprise attack failed, Alice made Sophie step back so she could unleash a more powerful magic attack.

As soon as Sophie moved away, she unleashed a wide-range magical attack. Alice seemed to be good with earth, water, and ice magic.

Ryu's golden eyes seemed to see that Alice was going to attack him from all sides, with ice lances simultaneously, at 360 degrees. It was a formidable attack. But Ryu decided to choose a slightly mischievous way to dodge.

He quickly closed the distance and rushed towards Sophie, who had backed away.

He knew why Alice had made her step back, to avoid hitting Sophie. So, if he approached Sophie, she wouldn't be able to attack from all directions, he reasoned.

Ryu was right, and Alice was forced to stop her attack from all directions. Instead, she began to launch attacks, being careful not to hit Sophie.

Of course, Ryu dodged them effortlessly.

But Alice wasn't an easy opponent to deal with.

Perhaps she was relaxed because she knew that Ryu wouldn't attack back. But Alice's attacks were cunningly calculated.

As he continued to dodge Alice's attacks, he realized that he was unknowingly being led to the center of the training ground.

If he had been reading her mind, Ryu would have noticed her intention, but he was too busy using his precognitive ability to read and dodge the continuous attacks from multiple directions, and he hadn't had time to notice it.

In the next instant, ice spears rained down on Ryu from all directions—not just horizontally, but from above and below, from all around him.

There was nowhere to escape.

The countless ice lances, all concentrated on him, exploded. Ryu looked as if he was unable to move.

After the countless shattered ice spears dissipated, Ryu was nowhere to be seen. Had he been cut to pieces by hundreds of ice lances?!

'Alice! You've gone too far!'

Sophie shouted involuntarily.

Ryu: "Oh, that was a little close."

But Ryu was standing behind Alice.

— — — — — —

Catherine and Reynard, who knew about Ryu's teleportation magic, understood what happened, but the others didn't.

Alice, panicked because she hadn't noticed him at all and he was behind her, instantly turned around and unleashed a volley of ice lances at Ryu. She was desperately trying to shake off the enemy who had gotten behind her… but…

Alice saw Sophie behind Ryu.

If Ryu dodged, Sophie would be hit. Panicking, Alice tried to stop her attack, but it was too late. The sharp pieces of ice she had launched were unstoppable.

But the countless sharp icicles didn't strike Sophie. Ryu, who had considered the danger to Sophie if he dodged, didn't dodge, but instead deployed a magic barrier.

Dimensional Barrier. It creates an impenetrable wall by interposing a different dimensional space. Only those with the ability to cross dimensions can pass through it. The wall shattered all the ice lances into dust.

Ryu regretted that he hadn't used storage instead of a barrier. It would have simply blocked the attack, but if he had stored it in subspace, he could have retrieved it later. The fire magic Betty had cast was still stored in the subspace Ryu had created. He could retrieve and use it later. Ryu wanted to "store" as much magic as possible.

Alice: "A… S-Sophie-sama, are you alright…?"

Alice was relieved to see that Sophie was safe. And then, Catherine declared the spar over because time was up.

— — — — — — — — — —

To be continued

Marie finally kneels down!

Don't miss the next episode!