“Phew…”

I inhaled deeply and once again faced off against Vanitas Roa.

The opponent’s strength is unknown.

Even so, I cannot afford to lose.

Absolutely not.

Looking around, I saw that most of the spectators had already begun evacuating.

Everyone was cheering for me.

“Don’t lose, do your best—” they urged.

I can’t betray this expectation.

On the other hand, some people did not run away from Vanitas Roa but instead offered to cooperate with me.

“Arios-san!”

“We’ll help too!”

Kaya, an A-rank adventurer.

Yuya, a B-rank adventurer.

An old man adventurer, who once hurled insults at me.

And then—Raymira Rii Arceus.

“Everyone…”

Ray tightly held both my hands, which were wide open.

“I won’t let only Arios bear the dangerous role! We’ll cooperate here and win together!”

“Ray…”

How many times have I been healed by the warmth of her hand?

“That’s right! I don’t want to always be the one who is saved!”

Kaya said with a wry smile while getting her sword ready.

She must have lost her sword in the Giant Orc battle, but it seems she has already obtained a new one.

“I’ll do everything I can too. I can’t let all the burden fall on you, Arios-kun.”

Yuya, a B-rank adventurer, said. It seems he came all this way just to support me in this duel.

“Arios-sama’s crisis is my crisis! If Arios-sama dies, I too shall die!!”

As usual, the old man adventurer was saying incomprehensible things. His name seems to be Lassen, as I’ve learned by now.

“Everyone… Thank you.”

Vanitas Roa is a dangerous opponent, but with its attack power reduced to half, there shouldn’t be a problem.

And then…

I quietly activated 《Cheat Code Manipulation》 and selected 《Target Attack Power Rewrite (Small)》.

This ability can lower the attack power of any target—but that’s not all.

It can also increase it.

I increased the attack power of Ray, Kaya, Yuya, and Lassen by four times.

“Wa-wait…?”

“My power…?”

“What is this…?”

My companions, each with a confused expression, were met with my serious face.

“I’ve raised all of your attack powers four times. With this, we should definitely be able to win.”

“F-four times…? Arios-san, were you a high-level mage?”

Kaya spoke with a voice of disbelief.

“Wonderful! As expected of my Arios-sama!!”

“You’re… truly out of the ordinary,” Lassen remarked.

Yuya and Lassen each shared their thoughts.

“Heh heh… This is Arios. He’s not some outlier skill holder… He’s a true Sword Saint.”

Ray said, smiling like an angel.

…I do feel like I’ve been overly praised, but now is not the time to dwell on it.

The unknown monster, Vanitas Roa.

Right now, I need to focus on the fight with him.

“Let’s go, everyone! We’ll definitely—defeat that monster!!”

““Yeah!””

My rallying cry was met with energetic responses from my companions.

Meanwhile…

The Sword Saint, Leon Macba, could not hide his exhaustion.

The sudden appearance of the mysterious giant creature.

It wasn’t a monster he had fought before, but as a Sword Saint, he had a gut feeling.

That it was strong.

Too strong.

Thus, he hesitated to engage in battle—but to his surprise, Arios and the adventurers had been holding their own in the fight.

Amazingly, each of their attacks was dealing great damage to the giant creature.

Every time someone attacked, the creature let out a huge scream.

Perhaps, it was a monster with low defense.

If that’s the case, Leon thought, maybe his own attacks would deal even greater damage.

Since Dudley had lost, the Macba family’s reputation had been completely tarnished. He needed to make up for that, even if just a little.

“Uooooooh!!”

Leon rushed toward the creature with his sword raised.

But…

“Gi…?”

“Huh?”

It wasn’t effective.

Not at all.

Why?

As Leon stood there, confused, the creature showed no mercy.

“Shaaaaaaaaa!!”

Its right arm, covered in pitch-black flames, swung toward Leon.

“Ughhhhhhhh!!”

Leon was easily sent flying.