chapter 38

The oni who attacked me glared right at me.

He looked at me mercilessly—almost as if I had hurt someone important to him.

Knowing that the situation was dangerous, I set the girl down.

The oni glared even more sharply.

“Don’t touch that kid, bastard!”

This time, he shouted.

He must have been very angry with me…

“I don’t know why you’re angry with me, but hear me out. My name is Asou Aruto. I’m an adventurer.”

“An adventurer…? Does that mean you’re in cahoots with the army too?”

The army?

Could it this be about the Demon Claw Army?

“No, we don’t associate with them. We came here to fulfill a commission.”

“A commission? What commission, exactly?”

The oni glared slightly at me and asked.

“We’re here to take someone who destroyed a village here out. They’re an oni.”

“…!”

Hearing the word “oni,” the man’s expression turned grim.

“…it’s you, isn’t it?”

“It’s true that the only oni around these parts is me. However, you don’t know the truth.”

The truth?

“Truth…? Alright, tell me.”

The truth interested me, but he dropped the topic and refused.

“As long as I don’t trust you, I won’t say anything.”

The oni put on gloves with crystals embedded in them, and held them up.

…seems like he was getting ready to go.

Making the girl step back, I unsheathed Enzetta and pointed it at the oni.

“Now that you’ve put your fists up… are you ready?”

“That’s my line!”

Meryl and Eim came to protect the confused girl.

“O-onii-chans, stop, both of you!”

The girl tried to get us to stop, but we had no intentions of stopping.

“Don’t worry, Elle. I’ll end this quick!”

“You don’t know who’s going to end this fight!”

The oni lunged at me, and I blocked a punch from him with the back of my blade. My blade and the crystal collided, and sparks flew.

I immediately kicked the oni away.

Lightly knocked back, the oni took a guarding position, and rushed me.

Continuing to block with Enzetta, I got hit lightly in the stomach, then got hit with a kick to the face.

I groaned and fell to the ground.

The oni leaped at me as if to chase me and tried to stomp me down, but I rolled, leaped, and avoided the attack.

Catching my breath, I readied Enzetta again.

“So you dodged that.”

“Hah… hah… jeez, if I didn’t dodge that, I would’ve died! That guy’s scary!”

The kick to my face caused a wound to form in my mouth, and I spat out blood.

“Isn’t it time for you to give up? If you don’t, you’ll die!”

“…I can’t do that!”

I use Slash, forming a blade of light heading towards the oni.

The oni crossed his arms to block the attack.

As the attack connected, an explosion formed and a cloud of smoke appeared.

Taking advantage of this, I rushed the oni…

He noticed, but his reactions were too slow, and I knocked him away with Power Punch.

When the smoke cleared, I could see the fallen oni.

But the oni slowly got up and readied his fists.

“Hm, not bad. This is getting heated up!”

Grinning, the oni charged up power.

Then, red sparks flew around his body.

Seeing the oni surrounded by crackling red electricity, not only I, but also Meryl and Eim were amazed.

“C-could that be…!?”

“Red lightning!”

Red lightning…

Just as the name said, there was electricity colored red.

In this world, electricity could be separated into yellow, which I used, blue, and red.

Yellow and blue were common, but red was particularly rare.

I raised my guard even more, seeing the oni effortlessly use it.

“…so you’re a red lightning user!”

“Ah… if you know of it, you must know its power too, right?”

The oni turned its right arm towards me and spread his palm out.

Then a mass of sparks formed in the center of his palm.

“Electrosmash!”

He fired a mass of electricity at me.

Unable to cope with the power and speed, I was blown away by it.

“Aruto-san!”

“Master!”

I could hear the worried voices of Meryl and the rest.

When the smoke cleared, I staggered lightly, still holding Enzetta.

“Even after getting hit by my red lightning, you’re still standing…”

The oni was surprised at how I was still standing.

…I guess I had no choice but to get serious!

I moved and sent out countless Light Waves.

The demon countered those light waves using his arms, clad in electricity.

Seeing this, I used Quick Jump to get closer to him immediately.

“So we’re both going to take a blow, huh!”

Seeing me, the oni tried to land a spinning kick, augmented by lightning.

However, I avoided it using Flash, and went behind him.

Then, with fire and lightning from my right and left arms respectively, I beat the oni up.

After a series of punches, I kicked him back forcefully.

The oni was blown back and fell to the ground.

But he immediately started to get back up slowly.

“You… who are you? Not only can you use light magic, you can also use fire and lightning!”

“Me? I… I’m classless.”

The oni was visibly confused.

“Classless…? Liar! Such power isn’t possible for someone who has no job!”

Well, you could say that…

I sighed and scratched my head.

“Is ‘classless’ a joke? Or are you calling it quits?”

“I’m not joking!”

The oni approached me with red lightning on both arms rapidly.

“You’re underestimating me!”

Reading his move, I kicked the oni up.

Then I leaped up and hit the oni with Spin Kick.

He crashed into the ground and was covered in dust.

As I landed on the ground, the oni jumped out of the dust and choked me.

“Gah…!?”

It was too painful for me to resist, but the oni kept choking.

He released red sparks from his body, then…

“Electroburst!”

He released a powerful electric shock, attacking me even as I was grabbed.

The special skill I had that nullified electricity didn’t work due to my enemy using red lightning.

I could only protect against yellow lightning… I’d still take damage from red lightning.

Being both shocked and choked, I screamed out.

This was bad…!

In a haze, I aimed at the oni’s chest and used Ice Needle.

I released Ice Needle from point-blank.

It pierced the oni, and he let go of me, falling back.

I was released from the shock, and I crumpled to the ground, but I managed to get up.

The oni pulled out an icicle that was stuck in his body, spitting blood from his mouth.

“(I can’t let my guard down around him!)”

This is what the oni thought.

He could still fight, but I held him back.

I thought the same.

I’d lose if my focus slipped even a bit.

Taking deep breaths, both of us looked right at each other.

“Wait!”

The girl from earlier interrupted us.

This surprised us.

“Oi, don’t come here!”

“What are you doing, Elle!? Stay back!”

Both of us screamed at her, but the girl didn’t listen and shook her head.

“Listen to what I have to say!”

In desperation, the oni and I looked at each other. The demon nodded to me, and I nodded back and sheathed Enzetta.

The girl told the oni that I had protected her from the wolves.

The oni, who had been listening quietly, suddenly bowed to me.

“A-apologies! That was rash of me. Thanks for helping Elle out.”

…he was quick to believe.

But I didn’t let my guard down.

This guy could be the oni that attacked my client’s village.

Then the girl spoke again.

“…the villages nearby haven’t been destroyed yet, right…?”

“Huh…?”

I pouted at the girl’s words.

What could they mean? I surveyed the girl and the oni over and over…