"I would like to see that..."
The words weren't spoken by Leo. They didn't come from the woman either. The voice came from right behind the red-haired man.
"You should stop while you're ahead," the voice said again.
"Oh? Do you have someone to back you up? Fine then!" The young man didn't think much about it. "Let's see who can stop me then!"
Even if someone was speaking up for Leo, what did it matter? It wasn't as if anyone was foolish enough to actually stop him beyond a few words. Who here didn't know about his father's protectiveness towards him?
The young man released Leo's wrist and clenched his fist. He tossed a punch straight for Leo's guts. Even if he wasn't going to kill him, he would at least cripple him to show what happened to those that didn't listen to him.
He was already looking forward to grabbing an unconscious Leo by his hair and showing his condition to the one who had spoken.
The man didn't think it was an outsider who had spoken. He simply believed the person was someone working in this lab who'd had a sudden spark of conscience.
"Sigh. I told you to stop while you're ahead. Why did you have to force my hand?" The unfamiliar voice spoke once again, this time much colder than before.
Meanwhile, the red-haired man's fist stopped merely a few inches from Leo's skin.
It wasn't that the man had suddenly decided to be a good person and stop himself. No one else had grabbed his fist to stop him either. His fist simply... stopped. No, it was more like his fist was frozen in place along with the rest of his body.
"Aaaa!" The red-haired man roared as a hand landed on his shoulder. The sudden pressure forced the young man to his knees with a thud.
A loud bang echoed in the room as his kneecaps slammed against the hard floor. The floor developed a few cracks, but the young man's knees were likely in a worse condition.
The woman, one of the three deputy lords of this floor, had been watching passively. However, she snapped out of her daze at the man's appearance.
She gulped, her throat suddenly dry. Her face had grown pale at the sight of the person who had appeared out of nowhere.
The man had a black overcoat draped over his shoulders, the empty sleeves hanging at his sides.
Even though the man had no insignia on his clothes, there was no one here who didn't know him. There was only one person who had such lush silver hair and wore an overcoat like that.
The man's eyes were hidden behind red-tinted sunglasses. His slender face was so charming that he could easily pretend to be a model.
He had an athletic build. At first glance, no one would associate him with a hero. However, the phrase "looks can be deceiving" seemed to be made just for him.
As for his name, there could only be a few people in this world who might not know it.
"L-Lancer..." the woman mumbled in disbelief.
Although Lancer wasn't ranked amongst the top-ten heroes of the Hero Tower, he wasn't far behind. In fact, many believed he was already strong enough to replace one of the top ten if he wanted.
Just what was this man doing here? It didn't make sense at all! Why was someone who rarely showed his face outside the Hero Council here?
"You! Who are you? How dare you attack me? Do you know who my father is?" The red-haired man screamed in pain, his face as red as blood.
"Am I supposed to remember every insignificant person? I do remember you saying he was a Floor Lord. Am I supposed to be scared now?"
Lancer asked lazily, as if he couldn't care less. There were close to a thousand floor lords in this Tower, after all. Why would he remember all of them?
"Just wait until my father finds out! It's too late to ask for forgiveness! You are dead, little fucker!"
The young man kept cursing at Lancer, even though he had yet to see the person who had 'sneakily' attacked him.
At the sight, the woman simply facepalmed. Was he really threatening Lancer with his father?
Even though Floor Lords were important in the Tower, how could they stand against a person comparable to the top-ten heroes in the Guild?
"Lord Lancer!" she called out.
Even though she was scared to intervene in a matter involving Lancer, she had no choice.
Everyone knew she was here. If Lancer killed the young man in his anger, his father would definitely not question Lancer. But he would definitely question her and blame her for this.
She had simply wanted to use Leo to get the red-haired man disciplined.
She thought that if he beat up Leo, someone who didn't work on this floor, the matter would definitely be out of the Floor Lord's hands.
That way, the man would have to teach his son a lesson or, at best, transfer him to another department.
In her plan to get him shifted to another department without getting any bad blood on herself, Leo was merely a pawn. She didn't expect this issue to become so big.
"Lord Lancer, I apologise for him. Please forgive this foolish child..." She quickly rushed to stop Lancer and ask for forgiveness.
"Who are you calling foolish?" the young man roared at the insult. It was only a few seconds later that his face dropped. "Wait a minute, did you say... Lord Lanc...er..."
Was he really threatening Lancer? He wanted to cry, but no tears came out. He even forgot all about the pain from his legs at that moment.
Now that he thought about it, he couldn't even question her words. If he hadn't been so angry, he would also have realized the identity of this person.
Only Lancer had the power to freeze time. He could restrict his ability's effect to a single person or an entire area. It all started making sense why his body froze in that moment.