Chapter 19

The battle scene took a long time.

The signal to start was a high-pitched metallic sound.

The great sword and the staff clashed violently, scattering sparks.

“Tch!”

The leader, who had bitten his tongue, rapidly retreated from the point of contact. He stared in shock at his own weapon and Kena's weapon.

“What the hell, can't even be destroyed by the Wolf's Sword...”

“Too bad. The special effect of the Wolf's Sword is to destroy weapons, but rare and EX items are not within its scope. You need to study more, don't you?”

“Tch, are you a player!?”

“You're too slow, are you using your head?”

The leader, who had infused his Wolf's Sword with magic, began to rotate, drawing a blue trajectory around him as he swung his sword. Kena, who could see the attack coming from the preparatory movements, timed her own move and infused her staff with magic.

【Combat Skill: Great Sword Specialization: Storm of Annihilation!】

A gust of wind mixed with blue light enveloped the leader, creating a tornado that spread out to the sides. The wind, sharp as a blade, tore through the air and scraped the ground as it approached Kena.

【Combat Skill: Iron Arm's Hammer!】

Kena, upon seeing this, plunged her staff, which glowed with a yellowish-brown light, vertically into the ground. Instantly, the ground beneath the leader, who was at the center of the calm, caved in, and the leader, along with the storm, fell into the cracked ground.

“Uwaah! Tatta, towattebu!”

“Pfft”

A pitiful scream and the sound of something being hit were heard, and Kena burst out laughing. She quickly switched her focus and delivered a horizontal blow to the leader, who was trying to crawl out of the hole.

—Clang!

A blue head, or rather a blue helmet, flew through the air with a metallic sound. The blue armor, now covered in mud, revealed dark skin and twisted horns growing from the temples, indicating that the leader was a demon, a balance breaker race in the game. This race, which had enhanced stats compared to the all-rounder human race, was initially popular but became increasingly unpopular due to its difficulty to use, eventually becoming one of the least popular characters after high elves.

The demon's strengths were in their stats, but their weaknesses were that they could only belong to the Black Country and that NPCs in other countries treated them poorly, often refusing to sell to them or even attacking them.

Even at the same level, the demon was the worst opponent for Kena, a high elf, but even with a 430 plus 50 level boost, the demon was still inferior. However, Kena kept her distance, wary of any mistakes.

The leader, who had a bad attitude, might have joined after Kena's death, as rumors about such behavior would have spread.

“Damn it! I've never heard of such a skill. And you! You've been hiding your stats, that's totally unfair!”

(Oh...)

Kena, still in a defensive stance, was taken aback.

The leader, a demon, slammed his sword into the ground, revealing his anger.

“People who skip the tutorial all say the same thing. You can't see the detailed stats of someone with a higher level than you.”

“What! There's no way you're at a higher level than me!”

While complaining, the leader swung his sword, which Kena deflected with her staff, and simultaneously cast a lower-level lightning spell with one hand. The lightning, which Kena had released horizontally, strangely deflected and disappeared just before hitting the armor. The demon, seeing this, sneered with a look of utmost certainty.

“Ha! The Tyrant's Armor nullifies magic, got it, you bastard!”

“I know that! It doesn't work in the game, but in real life, it's different.”

Kena pointed the tip of her staff at the demon and activated its special ability. “Extend!” The staff, following its owner's command, instantly lengthened, piercing the demon's chest and throwing him backward.

“What!? Ahhh!?”

Kena twirled the staff, which had returned to its original length, and confirmed that the demon had fallen back into the hole.

【Magic Skill: Piercing Torrent】

She cast a water strike spell at the hole. In the game, water would form a large sphere above the caster's head, but here, with a lake nearby, a water column rose and arched, pouring down onto the demon trapped in the hole. A drowning-like scream was heard, probably saying, “Why does magic work if it's supposed to be ineffective?” Ignoring the demon's plight, Kena rapidly cast more spells.

【Magic Skill: Summon Lightning】

A bolt of lightning, like a spear, fell from the clear sky, piercing the water and causing the demon, who was about to drown, to convulse violently. Steam hissed as the demon, now grilled, was in the red zone, and one more hit would likely finish him off. Kena carefully froze half of his body with the water and then struck his forehead with the staff.

With a croaking sound, the demon regained consciousness, looked at his situation, and his eyes widened in shock.

“Damn it! What are you doing, it hurts, you know!”

“Does it hurt? Why can't you understand that this is real pain?”

In the game, pain was limited to a prickling sensation on the skin. Most players wouldn't think to remove the pain limiter and experience full pain. The demon player, who had nearly drowned and was now convulsing from electric shock, turned blue from the cold and frostbite.

Shaken and trembling, the demon player, who couldn't see Kena's expression in the backlight, started to stammer.

“No, it's a lie. ...This is a game... If you die, you can... reset, right...”

“Death is final. There's no continue, no extra lives, and no reset button. I'm sorry for your loss.”

“S-Such... H-Help me! I'm still a kid! If you kill a kid, the police will...!”

“There are no police. You must take responsibility for your actions. Do you realize how many people you've inconvenienced as the leader of a band of thieves?”

Kena felt a sense of emptiness in her cold, calm voice. The demon player started to cry.

“Sniff... Ugh, help me. Help me, uwaah... Uwaaaaaah!”

Kena raised her staff and whispered, “Goodbye.” The next moment, she jumped back, guided by her intuition, as an arrow flew between her and the demon player.

Turning around, Kena saw several mounted knights approaching. She thought they might be reinforcements for the bandits, but recognizing Keilina at the front, she became wary. The knights, perceiving Kena as a threat, remained in place while Keilina dismounted and knelt outside Kena's reach, apologizing.

“I'm sorry, ma'am. These are my colleagues. Please, will you lower your guard?”

“What do the knights want? I was just about to finish this one off...”

“Unfortunately, we want to judge this criminal according to the laws of Helshper.”

The response came not from Keilina but from a dignified human knight with a prominent beard, who was likely the leader of the knights, given the different emblem on his armor. Kena was taken aback by his statement.

“Are you serious? Do you think you can control this one? Even Keilina can't match him.”

The knights looked surprised at Keilina, and the leader glanced at her, asking if it was true.

“We haven't actually fought, so I can't be sure of his strength... But if you say so, ma'am, it must be true.”

Kena wondered why Keilina, who was so honest, was a squad leader, but she had no time for sympathy. The demon had a special skill for constant HP recovery, so she needed to act before he recovered and started moving. As Kena raised her staff, the knights drew their swords.

In the tense atmosphere, the demon's cries echoed. Kena, considering her priorities, decided there was no immediate need to confront the state and shrank her staff, returning it to her ear as an earring.

Keilina, relieved, knew that if Kena were serious, even elite knights would be as easy to handle as a baby. She melted the ice and pulled the leader out of the hole.

Kena, instead, took out a black ring and, ignoring the knights' warnings, approached the demon and firmly placed it around his neck. The Tyrant's Armor, which had been equipped, disappeared, likely returning to the item box.

The demon, now in black innerwear, looked down at his body in shock, checking his floating status screen. Seeing "Punishment Collar" in the neck slot, he realized his stats had been reduced by 10%.

“This, this collar, you have... O-Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh