Stella took a deep breath while staying still with her sword stance, Enkyoku no Kamae.

Although this stance could tire her quickly, it is the best form that she could do right now.

​​

The shinai was a bit heavy and sustaining this stance would require not only her arm strength but also her stamina.

Rooaarr!

The armored bear did something unexpected… The beast actually jumped to pounce on her! It seems that its weight wasn't a problem at all!

"Hmph!"

Stella doesn't have any plans of catching this beast in a frontal assault so she easily used her footwork to avoid the bear and positioned herself for an Ouji Waza…

"Haaa!"

Stella used her dominant right arm holding a shinai to hit the bear's body…

Bam!

"Aaaarrrghh!"

The bear seems to be hurt after getting hit by that strike. Stella used her concentrated Spiritual Energy in that single shot so it was to be expected…

However, her Waza hasn't ended yet… Stella used a swift foot technique as she circled the beast and continuously attacked exploiting its blindspot…

Finally, as she felt that her stamina was about to drain, she gathered every bit of her remaining Spiritual Energy at the tip of her shinai for the last sword thrust…

The bear tried to defend and counterattack but her sword was faster.

Pssak!

The armored bear's eye was penetrated by Stella's sword.

Blood splattered after she pulled out the shinai.

"Eeww..." Stella suddenly returned to herself as she still feels a bit uncomfortable seeing such a scene.

She looked at the sword and smiled wryly at it.

It was no longer surprising that the sword was untainted again… It seems that her master was truly unable to get dirty.

She observed the battles happening around her and decided to help…

The three-eyed vipers were not that hard to deal with as long as you have an effective weapon that can penetrate their scales.

About its venom, the Hunters were not afraid of it as they have a cure for it.

"Urgghhh… It's getting too hot in here… We have to quickly kill all the Inferno Wolves…"

Stella decided on her next target.

There were still three active wolves that were emitting heat with just their mere presence. If they use fire breath or any fire-related skills, the heat will only get worse as everyone would start getting uncomfortable...

Stella realized that sooner or later, their heat resistance may no longer be as effective if she left them to do as they please.

'Tsk... I can't handle too much heat... We have to quickly kill them.'

She immediately acted after making a decision.

Soon, everyone including Lord Castillo saw Stella's amazing and unique swordsmanship.

This nobleman can actually deal with the armored bear easily but decided to hold back to surprise their enemies if necessary.

After all, it was normal to hide your true strength in these types of battles.

The lesser the enemy knows about your abilities, the higher of chances you have of winning.

However, it seems that there are really no other enemies hiding in this cave…

'Mhmm... These tamers aren't that meticulous as I've expected.

As soon as he decided to quickly finish off the bear he's fighting, he suddenly heard the other one wailing in pain…

He noticed that it was Stella's doing.

'Ho~ So, she's really capable… No wonder she has that many Magic Items…'

As he observes her battle, the noble Arcanists frowned a bit.

'What sword style is this? There are only a few sword arts that require two swords but this one is different.'

There were no excessive or unnecessary movements in her sword strikes. Her sword strikes were precise and her footwork or movement were swift...

"Mhmmm…"

The sword art was clearly not similar to the one that he had seen before. He had seen people practicing dual swords but it was only used for performance or sword dance.

Using a dual sword in a real combat situation was harder than one can imagine.

However, Stella's sword art felt like it was meant to kill… It was a genuine sword art made to eliminate their targets in a swift manner…

"But why is she using a bamboo sword? Is she trying to hold back?"

"Ahh! Help us here!"

As he mused about Stella's uniqueness, he heard the cries of his fellow Arcanists…

Unfortunately, one of the three-eyed vipers was almost immune to any Arcane Magic so they have to kill it using physical attacks. However, it was obvious that the Arcanists were not good with that.

"Interesting…"

The noble 3rd-Class Arcanist muttered before he went in their direction. Having an immunity with Arcane Magic wasn't that unusual for some particular beasts and it happens to quite a few beasts that grew up in a special environment…

This environment needs to have a Mythril Ore for that to happen!

***

Hendrick leads the Knights to fight the Elite Tamers…

Their opponents don't seem to be afraid even if their controlled beasts were unable to help them.

'Is it because they have other beasts that they could control?'

He thought of it for a moment but he couldn't sense any other beasts hiding around.

'Hmph! There's no point thinking about this now…'

"Charge!"

The Chaos Knights moved in unison as they started their attack…

After getting closer to the Tamers, they didn't immediately clash with their physical attacks and started throwing Arcane Magic...

As expected, almost every one of them possesses Magic Items…

However, only Ulysses and Hendrick, the two Arcanists in this unit, can cast a large-scale Arcane Magic… All the others can only cast a single targeted one…

"Shadow Bind!"

"Lesser Petrification!"

Both of these skills were one of their Arcana's abilities…

The shadow bind can restrict their movements but a stronger physique and spiritual energy can easily remove this, however, it would still buy some time for the Chaos Knights to take this chance…

They have already done this before so their movements were swift with their coordination.

The lesser petrification that Hendrick cast, on the other hand, can mostly be ignored by a prepared Spiritual Energy Practitioner…

As long as they have magic items to defend against low-level Arcane Magic, there wouldn't be a problem taking it head-on.

However, Hendrick has a different plan in casting this…

He mumbled something while he's approaching the tamers and as soon as he finished, the color of his eyes suddenly change into purple…

He observed them for a moment before exclaiming in delight.

"Found it! Destroy those bracelets on their right arms."

Hendrick instructed the knights…

The tamers were visibly shaken after hearing this…

"Tsk… Kill them quickly!"

The leader said as they no longer hesitated and showed their full strength. Their blades started to glow as they activated their Arcane Magic.

"Bring it on!"

Hendrick and the others obliged as they've drawn their weapons and clash against them.

A while ago, they had experienced the power of Spiritual Pressure weighing down on them before they managed to arrive at this passage.

However, they haven't found its source or the reason why the pressure existed…

The Knight-Captain could not believe that the tamers were unaffected by it.

He even suspected that the tamers had control over that Spiritual Pressure. But it wouldn't make sense since it wasn't something that can be easily controlled by humans.

If that was the case, the tamers would be unstoppable and they could just destroy everyone in their path…

The last viable explanation was that they possess an item that would help them ignore the Spiritual Pressure...

Apparently, Hendrick was right.

The lesser petrification that he cast had properties similar to the Spiritual Pressure… As soon as he cast this, he activated another detection magic called Discerning Eyes and noticed that the Tamer's bracelets automatically emitted unusual energy to disrupt the arcane's effects.

If they can destroy or block the bracelet's power, then they could cast their Chaotic Heart and finish these people easily.

***

'Stella… Help the Knights…'

'Eh? They seem to be doing well…'

Although she doesn't have plans to disobey her master, she couldn't help but be surprised. Anyway, she still moved her feet and went in their direction after helping the Hunters around.

'They are all using swords and blades, it's a good opportunity to test your skills…'

'I see… That makes sense…'

Unlike Frank who uses a spear as his main weapon, these tamers have swords and blades.

It was indeed a good opportunity to try her skills against fellow swordsmen.

'Very well…'

Stella quickly picked one from the tamers and decided to join in their battle… The Knights were surprised by the sudden help but since the beasts were starting to lose, Stella's aid was only expected.

This also lessened their burden since these tamers were all skillful. Getting some help from the swordmaster wasn't a bad feeling at all.

However, Reiji had something in his mind for a while now as he observes all the tamers around…

He's looking at their weapons and accessories carefully.

'Hmmm… I wonder who has an Arcana among them…'

He just wanted to rank-up already!