"Hey Ryujeen! Come out here!"

That night, Shin stood before the apartment building where Ryu lived and yelled his name. Shin had been tailing Ryu with his subordinates. They followed Ryu and, with the guidance of those subordinates, they barged into Ryu's apartment building in a large group.

"What is it, Shin-chan? It's rude to yell like that in the middle of the night."

"I... I won't let you call me Shin-chan!"

"Your voice is so loud. Everyone's already asleep at this hour."

(Note: In this world, it's common for people to go to sleep at dusk and start their day at dawn. While there are candles, lamps, and magical stone lighting, there's no mass media like TV or radio, so there's not much to do after dark.)

"So, what do you want?"

"I need to talk to you, face to face. Even if you refuse, I'll take you by force."

"I feel like I've heard that line before... Where are we going? It's too far to the depths of the slums, I don't want to go."

"...Shut up. It doesn't matter if we do it here."

"I told you, it's noisy! Fine, I'll take you to a place where it's okay for me to make a fuss."

As Ryu said this, Shin and his men felt a momentary dizziness, and the surrounding scenery warped and twisted.

When they regained their senses, their surroundings had changed.

The apartment building and the other buildings that had been right in front of them were gone. Looking around, up, and down, there was only dirt. It felt like they were inside a cave, a large empty space, but the earthen walls and ceiling emitted a faint light, so it wasn't dark.

"...What? Where are we?"

"We're inside a dungeon. This is the square I made for our 'discussion'. There are no monsters inside, so we can have a relaxed conversation."

"W-What, what kind of... nonsense..."

Shin looked around repeatedly, hesitant for a while, but it seemed he eventually accepted the situation.

"W-Well, if there are no interruptions, that's convenient!"

"So, what do you want?"

"I'm going to prove you're a liar!"

"I told you, it's okay if you think I'm lying."

"Shut up, it won't satisfy my brother! If I beat you half to death and hang you up, even my brother will understand that you're a big liar!"

"Oh, for goodness sake... I told you to stay out of my business, but you insist on getting involved. Are you stupid?"

"...With all this confidence, how long do you think you'll be able to handle this many people? Take him down!"

Shin's men, a group of thirty thugs with malicious intent, charged at Ryu at Shin's command.

Even though they attacked simultaneously, thirty people couldn't attack one person at the same time. In the end, they ended up attacking one or two at a time, but Ryu dodged their punches and kicks with ease, countering with jabs.

The jabs were light, but Ryu's strength and the weight he increased with his gravity magic made them powerful enough to make an Ogre flinch. Against humans, a well-placed jab could be fatal.

One, two, three. The men Ryu hit flew back, or folded in half and became motionless.

Some attacked from behind, but Ryu sensed their attacks with his Danger Prediction ability and dodged them easily, counterattacking.

Four, five, six.

When the seventh man fell, Shin yelled.

"What are you doing! Stop him!"

At that command, a man charged towards Ryu with a tackle. Ryu purposely didn't dodge, but instead met him head-on. Ryu knew from his Divine Eye that the man was just a simple tackle without any hidden weapons.

The man slammed into Ryu's waist with all his might. However, Ryu remained unmoved. With his gravity magic, Ryu's weight had momentarily increased to five tons. The man felt a shock as if he'd slammed into a rock and his eyes widened in disbelief.

Another man approached from behind and grabbed Ryu in a bear hug, wrapping his arms around Ryu's neck and squeezing.

However, Ryu's neck was impervious to the pressure of a mere human.

Ryu felt only a sense of discomfort from being hugged from both sides, so he grabbed the arm around his neck and pulled it off.

Ryu's powerful grip crushed the bone in the man's arm, and with a scream, the arm was pulled away from Ryu's neck.

Ryu stretched out his other arm behind him, grabbed the man's collar, and lifted him up before throwing him over his head. The man was slammed into the ground like a suplex.

The dungeon walls and floor were incredibly sturdy, built to withstand the impact of Ryu's increased weight.

The man who was slammed into the ground couldn't brace himself and fell with a dull thud, becoming motionless.

Ryu had hit him pretty hard, but the man seemed to be alive. Ryu had been noticing this for a while, but the people in this world seem to be much tougher than humans on Earth.

This world had magic, which wasn't present on Earth, and using it could enhance one's body. The people in this world, to a greater or lesser degree, subconsciously used magic to enhance their bodies, making them significantly tougher than Earthlings.

Ryu had defeated eight men. A ninth man persisted and clung to Ryu's waist.

Ryu grabbed the man's arm near the shoulder, pulled him off, and kicked him away.

It wasn't so much a kick as a push, but with Ryu's leg strength, the man was flung across the room and slammed into the wall. The bone in his arm had probably shattered from the force of Ryu's grip.

The man, still flying through the air, collided with another standing man and they both crashed into the wall. That made ten.

Undeterred, the men continued to charge at Ryu from all sides, trying to take him down. Ryu jumped and dodged them. As he landed, Ryu grabbed the ankle of one of the men lying on the ground and started swinging him around.

The man was spun with such force as if he were weightless. Ryu used the man as a weapon, swinging him around and knocking out the men surrounding him. Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen.

Ryu released his grip on the man he was swinging. The man, thrown away, collided with two more men, sending them crashing into the wall. Fifteen, sixteen.

Ryu continued to charge forward, accelerating towards the remaining men. Ryu's concentration intensified, increasing his speed with the effects of his time-manipulating ability.

The sound of thuds echoed.

With each step Ryu took, the men around him were knocked unconscious by his super-fast punches, which were too fast to see with the naked eye.

Before they knew it, twenty-five men were down. Only Shin and five others who hadn't participated in the attack remained.

The five were the "Five Swords": Fugu, Rai, Boe, Beri, and Gou. They were all former adventurers and former knights, all skilled swordsmen, and they were well-known within the Five Black Stars.

"Damn it! Useless bunch!"

Shin drew his sword.

"You should've stayed quiet and gotten beaten up. I would've only beaten you half to death."

Seeing this, the Five Swords all drew their swords as well.

...

To be continued...

Fodder or strong opponents? What are the skills of the Five Swords and Shin?

Don't miss it!