"...so that's the monster..."

"Belion..."

When the man in the orange robe mutters that, the guildmaster looks at him angrily.

"Oh, excuse me...

Even if I should have expected it...it was still surprising."

The guildmaster sighs and looks over to me apologetically.

"Please excuse his rudeness."

"...it's fine."

"Well, let me introduce you then."

The three people stand up and line up next to each other.

"These three are the representatives sent from the main branch to evaluate you...

They are all S ranked adventurers."

The woman in the middle makes a step forward and bows down while slightly lifting her dress.

"Nice to meet you.

My name is Trestadonia Lerentnin.

However I'm better known by my nickname 'Blizzard'.

I'm currently ranked on the top among all S ranked adventurers.

I was sent here as the main representative to give greetings to you."

She steps back and lines up with the other two again.

Top among all S ranked adventurers?

So she is as strong as you can get without becoming a 'monster'?

It's true that she possesses a decent amount of mana compared to other humans.

But if I started comparing her to some of the monsters in the dungeon, she would be no different from the others.

However, she seems really composed.

A permanent smile on her face and she does a great job of hiding her fear.

Next up the armored man steps forward and introduces himself.

"Hi!

My name is Bob.

People also call me the Rolling boulder.

I'm lady Blizzard's escort and her right hand man!

Nice to meet you!"

He steps back again.

The fear in his expression is now accompanied by...excitement.

I'm not sure why he is so excited.

Also why is his nickname 'Rolling boulder'?

Lastly the man in the orange robe steps up.

"Greetings.

I apologize for my prior rudeness.

My name is Belion and I don't have any nicknames.

I currently work as the court magician and I have been sent here by the king along with these two."

When he finishes, he lines up with the others again.

This old man has been eyeing me up ever since I entered the room.

Out of the three, he seems to be showing his fear the most.

But he is probably just surprised at my mana reserves.

"I'm Reiza.

...they call me...sea splitting razor..."

...

Why did I mention that nickname?

I guess they were all saying their nicknames, I thought I would say mine as well.

But I still don't know what to think of that nickname...

"So? What is your conclusion?"

"Approved."

"Approved!"

"Approved..."

Huh?

"I see...so you decided after just seeing her."

"That is...of course.

Her presence is at even a higher level than that hydra..."

The orange robed man says that as he falls into thought.

He seems to have recalled something.

"I approve...but I would still like to see the extent of her power."

The woman looks at me and smiles.

Next to her, the man in armor keeps smiling and nodding.

"Umm...that is..."

The guildmaster looks at me.

"Would you be willing to show them what you can do?"

"...sure"

The expression of the man in armor lights up and the woman also smiles at me.

The robed man however looks a little troubled instead.

|= A short walk later =|

We exited the guild together and headed to the docks.

Along the way, I found out these three are considerably famous.

Especially the woman who calls herself 'blizzard'.

The guild was packed because the news of her arrival has spread.

And thus all of her fans gathered.

As we walked, I noticed that every single passer-by was gazing at us.

Everyone was looking but nobody dared to get closer than four meters from us.

I kind of got used to this, but the others were a little surprised at first.

"I wish this city had some sort of arena or a training hall.

Well, it can't be helped I guess."

The woman sighs as she looks at the sea.

"I suppose we should show off our abilities first right?"

She smirks and starts to gather mana.

The air around her gets colder.

This is...ice and air magic?

A few seconds later a spinning wind wave is shot out from her hand at the sea.

The water below the magic starts splashing around and freezing over as soon as it does.

This eventually creates a strange 'road' of icy spikes along the seabed.

Ice magic...?

Air magic...?

No...that was a combination magic of those two?

Interesting...

"I suppose I'm next."

The robed man steps forward and extends his palm toward the ice spikes.

He starts gathering mana but...it can't be seen at all.

It's a considerable amount, why can't I see it?

Not long after that, the mana is shot forward still invisible to my eyes.

After if flies for a while, the mana finally appears.

In the form of an explosion.

Huh...

Is this also some combination magic?

I look at the armored man with expectations.

"Oh sorry, I'm mainly a swordsman and can only use expert level earth magic.

I wouldn't really be as flashy as them."

Hey, that's disappointing.

"So...I could show you my skill with the sword in a mock battle?"

"Stop saying nonsense, there isn't enough space for that."

The woman rebukes him and he sulks a bit.

Hmm, he seems quite confident in his skill and looks like he really wants to show off.

But it's true there isn't much space around here.

We can't just fight in the middle of the city.

"Oh well, maybe next time then I guess."

A smile returns to the armored guy's face as he locks his eyes onto me.

Is it my turn then?

"Go on then! Show us your strongest move!"

What?

Armageddon?

Do you hate this city?

Do you want to see it disappear?

"N-no wait!

Please DON'T use your strongest move!"

The guildmaster starts to panic.

I guess he doesn't want this city to be gone.

But as far as I know, I didn't show him armageddon...

"...I don't have enough mana for it anyway...

...and I don't want to destroy this city..."

"I-it's fine...just show us the thing you used against the mammoth squid."

"...sure."

I draw my sword and start gathering mana.

The robed man seems to grow even more nervous as I do this.

I finally turn toward the sea and raise my sword up high.

[Phantom annihilation]

The icy road of spikes is split into two as a line of empty air appears in the sea.

The water splashes outward on both sides but soon after that, it pours back into the hole.

I look back behind me and...

All three of them have sweat drops all over their faces.

Even the armored man's smile is gone now.

Hmm...

Oh wait, I haven't actually defeated the squid with that, did I?

I cut my finger and draw a line on my sword while gathering more mana.

After a while, I slash at the sea as I release it.

[Hell serenade]

The dark red flames gush out and cover my entire view.

Since there was no target, they disperse pretty quickly and don't burn anything.

When I turn around, I see the armored man with gaping mouth.

The robed one is visibly nervous as he grips his staff tightly.

And the woman...is still trying her hardest to smile.

Well, if the things that you showed me was your strongest moves, then I guess I can understand your surprise...

But what's with this awkward mood now?

I did what you told me to do...

|= An awkwardly silent walk back to the guild later =|

"There you go..."

I'm handed back my adventurer's card.

It's black instead of white now.

Apparently the color of this card indicates my rank.

Rank X cards are pitch black with white text.

"Congratulations, you are the third rank X adventurer in the history and also the only one right now."

The only one?

Didn't you say something about two others?

Are they not alive anymore?

"...thanks."

I put the card in my interdimensional space.

"Even an item box..."

"You should really stop being surprised..."

The robed man sighs and the woman refutes him while shrugging.

Then she turns to me and smiles again.

"Miss Reiza, would you like to come back with us to the royal capital?

I'm sure the king would like to see you personally."

"...can't..."

"I see...that's too bad.

May I hear the reason?"

No, you can't...

If I say anything, I will fail.

"...no."

"I see...

Well, when you are done with your business here, feel free to visit the royal capital at any time."

"...sure."

It seems those three really came here just to test me.

I heard it took multiple days to arrive here, but they are already preparing to go back.

They weren't here even for one day.

Well, not that it has anything to do with me.

|= A few hours later =|

I get why everyone fears me to this extent now.

The difference between A rank and S rank adventurers is like the difference between G rank and A rank.

It's a big jump.

However...

The difference between S rank and X rank is like the difference between S rank...and a five year old kid.

That's why for normal people, S rank is the top.

X rank is only for some really special cases.

And they recognized me to be at this level almost instantly.

It seems that my norms have been warped when I was stuck in that dungeon.

Well, at least that's what I've been told.

It's weird to be told that my common sense is wrong...

I came to say farewell the trio near the city gates.

But then suddenly...

A strange feeling jolts through my body.

I grasp my chest and start hyperventilating.

"W-what's wrong?!"

"H-her mana is...?!"

This feeling...

No...

That can't be...

Why...?

"...it...broke..."

"What broke?!

What's happening to you?!"

...

The blood contract has just been forcefully broken.

Bonus:

I wanted to talk about the other ancient monsters humanity knows about.

But let's talk about one in particular.

The one that humanity discovered the most recently.

Species: Shadow wolfman

Nickname: Sea splitting razor

Level: 4621

Yes...

Our main protagonist.

For now let's list all the magic she is capable of.

The basic elements:

Expert level fire magic - Expert level spells include supernova and infernal lance.

Expert level dark magic - Expert level spells include night's fury and dark world.

Advanced level light magic - She can however only use support spells. Available spells include heal and cleanse impurities.

Intermediate level air magic - The best she can do right now is a simple air blast or wind cutter.

Early beginner level ice magic - all she is capable of is creating small ice crystals.

The higher tier elements:

Advanced level illusion magic - At this level, she is able to produce visual, audio as well as smell illusions.

Advanced level blood magic - She can easily do blood contracts, which would normally require multiple people.

The combination elements:

Early expert phantom magic - While phantom annihilation is at just advanced level, her phantom mimic clone is at early stages of expert level due to its complexity.

Advanced hell magic - Hell serenade is at beginner level, hell glare is intermediate and armageddon is advanced.

With that said, she has NOT reached master level in fire or dark magic.

It's mainly because she was focusing on getting better at the combination elements instead of the basic ones.

"Whaaa?

She hasn't mastered dark or fire?

That would totally nag at my completionist heart if it was me!"