Miracle Summoner

"You...!"

When the Salamander leader clearly saw the figure slowly walking out from the maze area's entrance, he instinctively took a step back.

And it wasn't just the Salamander leader—every other player was equally stunned.

"Gu!"

"Gu!"

Accompanied by melodious calls, two stunningly beautiful rainbow butterflies fluttered their wings as they hovered above the figure slowly stepping out of the maze, scattering phosphorescence upon him and creating a breathtakingly enchanting scene.

Rozen, with the hem of his mage-like long coat swaying, one hand resting on the hilt of a golden longsword at his waist, strode forward like a wandering swordsman, entering everyone's view.

"Yo, I've been waiting for you guys for quite a while now. What took you so long to get here?" Rozen spoke with a faint smile on his face.

The Salamander leader, looking at Rozen, no longer had the smugness he displayed moments ago. His face was now full of fear.

"Wh...why are you here...!?" The Salamander leader's voice trembled.

His demeanor now was a stark contrast to the arrogance he had shown just moments earlier.

But it couldn't be helped.

Even though the Salamander leader had been so full of himself earlier, in truth, this was the first time they had faced Rozen directly.

During the maze area raids, the Salamander leader's guild alliance had tried multiple times to trip up Crimson Wing, even clashing with them at times. However, that was only because Rozen wasn't present.

As the Guild Leader of Crimson Wing, Rozen rarely participated in the guild's floor-clearing activities personally unless it was a boss fight. This was true in both SAO and ALO.

This absence gave others the courage to sabotage Crimson Wing.

But when it came to facing Rozen directly, this was the Salamander leader's guild alliance's first encounter.

In other words, their previous bravado was nothing but a facade.

Now that they were faced with ALO's most powerful player, the Salamander leader was terrified.

On the other hand, Rozen remained calm and collected, even as he faced a combined force of forty-nine players.

"Did you guys really think I wouldn't know you were targeting the Sleeping Knights?" Rozen's gaze swept over the players opposite him as he smirked.

"The shameless competition between your guild alliances over boss fight rights is well-known. Do I really need to remind you?"

This single statement turned the Salamander leader's face unspeakably ugly.

And therein lay the problem.

The Salamander leader's guild alliance had indeed shown a disgraceful side. As the Guild Leader of Crimson Wing, Rozen naturally wouldn't be ignorant of it. Now that the Sleeping Knights were aiming to challenge the floor boss, how could Rozen not seize the opportunity to discipline these shameless and self-righteous guilds?

Moreover, the Salamander leader had already mentioned that his people had spotted Rozen in the maze yesterday. Rozen had made no attempt to conceal his actions, so how could he not know that his bold moves would attract attention?

In other words, everything was within Rozen's calculations.

Rozen was well aware that this guild alliance would keep an eye on his and the Sleeping Knights' actions. That's why he departed immediately after Asuna left, arriving here to confront these disgraceful guilds.

The Salamander leader wasn't stupid. A little thought was all it took for him to understand.

Thus, the Salamander leader became enraged out of humiliation.

"Don't get too cocky!" The Salamander leader shouted angrily.

"No matter how strong you are, you're just one person! Do you think you can stop all of us?"

The Salamander leader's outburst seemed to rally the allied forces, as every player drew their weapons and raised their staffs, their faces twisted with aggression.

But their postures were more bark than bite.

Rozen couldn't help but laugh.

"Can I stop all of you?" Rozen spoke leisurely as he unsheathed the holy sword at his waist.

"Why don't you try?"

As soon as the words fell...

"Boom!"

Rozen suddenly stomped the ground, shooting forward like a rocket toward the Salamander leader.

"What...!?" The Salamander leader's expression changed dramatically.

He had never imagined that Rozen, standing alone against forty-nine elite players, would dare to attack first.

But how could the Salamander leader know that back in the old ALO days, Rozen had faced off against Eugene—hailed as the strongest player in the old ALO—and his sixty-eight elite Salamanders. Alone, Rozen charged forward and left them in complete disarray. In the colossal dome-shaped temple at the roots of the World Tree, teeming with Guardian Knights, Rozen singlehandedly held the line, slaying countless enemies and eventually reaching the top of the World Tree.

Even against the floor 24 boss, whom no one could defeat even with combined forces, Rozen had slain it singlehandedly.

Under these circumstances, how could a mere forty-nine so-called elite guild alliance players be worthy of his attention?

Thus, the Salamander leader only had time for his expression to change before a burst of starlight descended upon him.

"Dubhe."

The golden holy sword unleashed a burst of starlight, forming two intersecting sword strikes like twin galaxies crossing paths, dazzling in their brilliance.

"Slash!"

Amid two simultaneous cutting sounds, the intersecting starlight strikes sliced through the Salamander leader's body, leaving a massive cross-shaped wound that sprayed blood.

"Ah...!"

The Salamander leader screamed in horror.

His HP bar trembled violently, dropping at an alarming rate to the yellow zone, then to the red zone, leaving only a sliver of health.

"Impossible!"

The Salamander leader couldn't believe his eyes.

Never mind Rozen's speed—the sheer damage he dealt defied logic.

"That was just a two-hit sword skill... How can the damage be so high...!?"

The Salamander leader was horrified.

He was no mage but a frontline player specialized in two-handed sword techniques, clad in the highest-grade armor available. Even with stat bonuses, not even Eugene's Volcanic Eruption OSS could take more than half his HP in one go. Yet Rozen's two-hit sword skill nearly killed him, even if it were an original skill. Such damage was absurd.

But the Salamander leader was making assumptions.

"My Excalibur possesses a Steel-Severing attribute. It doesn't just destroy weapons—any equipment or items struck by it suffer massive durability loss. Your high-grade armor is no exception. Combine that with the fact that my holy sword is a legendary weapon, far sharper than Eugene's Gram, and my original two-hit sword skill. What makes you think you could withstand even a few strikes?"

Rozen's calm explanation made the Salamander leader's face turn pale.