"Ottar."
Ottar's appearance—and the fact that he had blocked their path—greatly surprised Finn and the others. After glancing at the battle ahead, Finn seemed to understand something and did not continue forward. But at that moment, something unexpected happened. Ais struck, thrusting her sword straight at Ottar.
"Hmm."
Ottar blocked Ais's attack with the greatsword in his hand, then looked at her in surprise. Her strike had forced him back a step.
"You leveled up. No, you've become much stronger."
As Orario's sole Level 7, Ottar's strength was beyond question. Precisely because of that, even though Ais had only delivered one strike, he had already sensed the change in her power. It was not as simple as leveling up. It was not as though Ottar had never faced Level 6 opponents before. Leaving aside his sparring matches with Finn and Gareth, internal conflicts within Freyja Familia were extremely frequent.
Yet the power behind Ais's attack had already surpassed theirs. This was not strength a newly advanced Level 6 could possess. Thinking this, Ottar swung his greatsword at Ais.
The blade of Ais's rapier suddenly turned pitch-black as she blocked Otto's greatsword. This rapier was not the Sword of Despair, but a replacement—one worth tens of millions. Ais did not want to damage it. She had never really had much concept of money, but the Familia had suffered such heavy losses this time that even she had begun to be careful.
Clang.
The clash of weapons echoed through the entire passage. Neither Ais nor Ottar moved an inch, but the shockwave from their collision caused the walls beside them to start cracking.
"This is..." Ottar had naturally noticed the change in Ais's rapier. He immediately exerted force through his blade, trying to knock her back, but to his surprise, Ais had