The knights Trash brought numbered seven in total.
Although the difference in numbers was significant, numbers didn’t matter much in such a confined space.
No matter how spacious the area might seem, unless they were perfectly in sync, seven people couldn’t charge in at once.
If they weren’t careful, their paths would overlap, or worse, they might accidentally attack their allies.
The same applied to the mage supporting from behind.
No matter how optimal the timing for an attack might be, they couldn’t cast magic towards the center where their allies were clustered…
KABOOM!
“Graaah!!”
Wow, this crazy guy actually fired.
I managed to dodge it, so I was fine, but the knight right beside me couldn’t avoid taking a direct hit.
It seemed Trash had at least adjusted his power out of some minimal sense of conscience, as the hit wasn’t fatal despite being direct.
Still, continuing the fight seemed difficult for that knight, so I glanced at the reactions of the other knights…
They all seemed flustered by their fallen comrade and were subtly looking at me for cues.
This wasn’t even my fault, but it felt awkward.
“…Take him away.”
“…Thank you.”
I couldn’t just leave the unfairly downed knight there, so I stepped back slightly and said that. The knights carefully dragged their fallen comrade to the rear.
“You fools!! What are you doing!! You should be attacking while they’re off guard!!”
The dumbest one here was Trash himself, who had attacked his own team with magic. Did he seriously not realize that?
I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the knights under his command.
After a brief lull, we returned to a standoff.
I kept a wary eye on Trash in case he tried the same thing again, but it seemed like he had realized one attempt was enough to prove its ineffectiveness.
Then again, who knows if he’ll fire again when he sees another opening.
Well, for now, it looked like he had given up, so I focused on dealing with the knights in front of me.
Seven knights… no, thanks to Tras’s team kill, it was now six knights charging at me again.
I felt that losing momentum here would make things difficult, so this time, I decided to strike first.
I pulled a sword from my inventory and lunged at the closest knight.
“You’ll have to try harder!”
The knight, anticipating my attack, raised his sword to block it.
As expected of a skilled knight, his stance felt unyielding, and my swordsmanship alone wouldn’t break through.
But that was fine. Direct combat wasn’t my specialty, to begin with.
The moment I noticed the knight taking a defensive stance, I switched my equipment from a sword to a shield.
Then, I swung directly at his raised sword.
CRACK!
An uneasy sound echoed from the knight’s sword.
At the same time, the impact seemed to push his arm inward, unable to withstand the force.
“Urgh?!”
It was a guard-breaking technique—a move that shatters an opponent’s defense using a shield.
This technique was broken, capable of destroying low-grade equipment and even affecting armor…
[Guard Break Cooldown – 40 seconds]
[Defense Reduction -80%]
[Stance Stagger]
But it had significant drawbacks: a long cooldown, severe defense reduction on the shield during that cooldown, and forced stagger on the user’s stance.
These made it nearly impossible to use unless you were a tank.
That’s why I had never bothered using it properly until now…
‘But things are different now.’
With my inventory open, I could exploit it freely.
By canceling the delay, I could completely ignore both the defense reduction and the stance stagger.
The method was simple: the moment Guard Break triggered, I had to put the shield into my inventory and take it out again.
But just putting it away wasn’t enough. That would only cancel the defense reduction while still leaving me staggered—a recipe for disaster.
Unfortunately, Guard Break was a system skill, so its cooldown couldn’t be canceled. But it didn’t matter since this wasn’t my only trick.
“You little—!”
In the meantime, I noticed another knight charging from the side to assist and drew a sword into my empty left hand to block the attack.
The fact that I chose to block rather than dodge meant it was an attack pattern I could parry.
Clang!
With a sharp sound, the knight’s sword was deflected, and I immediately threw my shield at him.
It was just a training shield I had swiped from the training grounds anyway. I had brought it intending to use it as a disposable item, so I had no regrets.
Thud!
The knights were skilled enough to handle my clumsy throwing technique with ease, but in that brief moment, I was already holding a training dagger in my hand.
Did you think I only grabbed a shield from the training grounds? I had swept up anything remotely useful long ago.
It even caused a minor incident known as the ‘Missing Training Equipment Case.’ But since few people in the advanced class used training gear, it was quickly forgotten.
Of course, Seria eventually found out and scolded me… Anyway, didn’t I mention it before?
Quick-swapping using the inventory was my specialty.
When veterans claim something as their specialty, it’s not just empty bravado.
“What the…?”
I swiftly bypassed the two knights in front and hurled a dagger at another knight standing further back.
Throwing just one would be as ineffective as the shield earlier, so I threw as many as I could in quick succession.
In just two steps forward, I had thrown six daggers.
Even if they weren’t particularly sharp, the knight couldn’t simply ignore the incoming projectiles. He was forced to respond to them, and in that brief moment, I slipped past him.
In an instant, I had bypassed three knights. Of course, I didn’t defeat them; I had merely passed by, creating an illusion that I was surrounded.
But it wasn’t particularly dangerous.
This positioning was intentional from the beginning—it was all to draw Trash into action.
“Don’t let him escape! I’ll handle this myself.”
Thinking my escape route was blocked, Trash immediately stepped in and issued that command.
Of course, I could have escaped if I wanted to, and the knights seemed to realize they couldn’t effectively block me anymore. They looked visibly troubled by Trash’s orders.
But don’t worry—I had no intention of running away.
What was my goal here again? To reach the underground forbidden book archive.
But my attempt to reach it through the hidden trapdoor had failed. I had been discovered, after all.
That meant I had to find another way… and fortunately, the situation had turned in my favor.
If I stood directly above the underground archive, with an enraged Trash in front of me…
Perhaps he would kindly carve out a shortcut for me with his magic.
BOOOOM!
My prediction was spot on.
Blinded by rage and focused solely on attacking me, Trash unleashed powerful magic without caring about the building collapsing around us.
His spell blasted a massive hole beneath where I stood, creating a direct path to the underground level.
Naturally, I dodged the magic with ease and dropped down into the underground area unharmed.
“…Did he intentionally move to that spot from the start?”
“Hah. What an unbelievable monster.”
“Wait, was there always an underground level here?”
“What are you all gawking at?! Chase—no, wait… No. Everyone, fall back. I’ll handle the rest myself.”
“Will you be alright?”
“Get lost, it’s fine!”
Through the hole, I heard that conversation.
No matter how much they were his knights, he couldn’t possibly show them the place where the forbidden books were kept.
The knights, though confused, followed his command and left. Soon, I heard someone jump down through the hole.
“To think you knew the exact location and led me into attacking. I expected it, but you’re no ordinary commoner. Who sent you as a spy? Tell me.”
“…?”
“Right. You wouldn’t tell me.”
His sudden change in attitude was jarring.
Just a moment ago, he had dismissed me so easily, but what caused this change in demeanor?
“Please, just put down that book you’re holding.”
Ah, so it was because of the forbidden book I was holding.
As soon as I landed, I found and grabbed the forbidden book containing mind-control content. That had been my goal all along.
Trash’s sudden petty attitude now made sense.
Other forbidden books were of course deadly, but this one, if exposed to the outside world, would be completely damning. His desperate desire to prevent its leakage was clear.
Even as he tried to make himself seem less petty by labeling me a spy and making up his own delusions… well, delusions are free to have.
As I simply stared at him without speaking, Trash grew even more anxious and tried to persuade me.
“How much? Yes, how much would it take? I’ll personally give you three times what you received. Please…”
He even made an incredibly generous offer, but unfortunately, the amount I received was 0, so multiplying that by three still resulted in 0… not an offer that enticed me at all.
So as I pondered how to respond, a familiar voice came from the hole above.
“Are you really going to give three times the amount? Trash Jibchack?”
Looking up at the voice, I saw Seria and Alkine, who had arrived and were now looking down at the scene.
“Sorry, Rudion. We’re a bit late.”
“No, you arrived at the perfect time.”
It was a bit awkward to answer, given Trash’s massive misunderstanding, but this timing was perfect.
Trash looked more surprised than ever upon seeing Seria appear out of nowhere.
“P-Princess…!”
“What should we do? Should I come down, or would you prefer to go up?”
“…I’ll go up right away.”
Ah, the power of royalty. While I had caused such a ruckus just to get here, the princess could simply give a command and change the situation with one word.
“Rudion. What are you doing? Hurry up and come out. Is there anything else you need to see inside?”
“No, nothing.”
Well, actually, there were quite a few things, but given the situation, I decided to just grab all the forbidden books I could and stash them in my inventory.
That was the end of the situation.