Chapter 95

A mysterious word resonated, striking the ears of everyone present.

Everyone turned their gaze towards the source of the voice at once.

There was a single boy.

"This is a poem recited by a certain swordsman who made a living by exterminating demons."

He was seated on an unfamiliar-shaped magic circle floating in mid-air, looking down at them with a thin smile.

Why did no one notice him?

His sudden appearance was so abrupt that it was hard to believe he had been there all along.

The boy's mouth began to form words that were not in the strange language from before, but in a language they could understand.

"Be wary of visitors at dusk. A being in the form of a child might suddenly bare its fangs, enveloped in ghostly flames... That's the meaning. He was a cowardly man, but his words have some truth. At dusk, it's hard to distinguish between humans and non-humans. The twilight must have prevented you from noticing immediately, too. All the figures here are my familiars."

Zolmneum quietly drew his precious sword.

He was a formidable opponent. His warrior's instincts told him as much.

The boy's smile deepened, as if gauging Zolmneum's fighting spirit.

"You can tell right away when you look closely. Unlike beasts, humans are sensitive to the faces and mannerisms of other humans. Human familiars inevitably have a sense of wrongness. Skilled mages can create them well, but I'm not very good at it. Well, most importantly... as demons, you probably can't tell the difference in human faces, can you?"

The boy continued speaking with a somewhat playful tone.

"Ah, but that big one over there. The one you were fighting is real. He's strong, isn't he?"

How should he approach this?

With a sword, or with magic?

What are his weaknesses, and what hidden tricks does he have?

Information is crucial. Knowing your enemy gives you an advantage in any battle.

Zolmneum understood well how valuable it was to assess an opponent's status when facing them for the first time.

Zolmneum looked at the boy――――――.

"Hmm... I see. You seem to be a very solid one. More so than... the ordinary."

Muderev stepped forward, his face showing excitement at facing such a formidable opponent for the first time in his life as a warrior.

"There's no better opponent than this. Come, let's test our strength..."

His face flew off.

The stern head of the warrior, splattered with a bit of blood, rolled onto the stone pavement.

His face still bore the expression of joy.

A moment later, the giant red-copper body, now headless, slowly fell to the ground.

Everyone was frozen in shock at the sudden turn of events.

"Oh, he's dead."

Amidst this, the boy muttered, sounding somewhat disappointed.

Somewhere in his hand, a small knife and a human-shaped curse symbol appeared.

However, the curse symbol was missing its head.

Perhaps the paper that had fluttered to the ground just now was that part.

"His resistance to curses is too low. A thief leader I once faced, for example, bled from his neck while charging at me after taking this... Really, he wasn't well trained enough."

The boy looked down at the ogre's corpse with a gaze reserved for insignificant beings.

Muderev had died so easily.

The ogre, a renowned warrior, had not even raised his club before he was killed, without even knowing what had happened.

"Mnya... he's dead..."

Turning to the chilling presence, Pylislaria had opened her evil eye on her forehead.

Its color had changed to an unnervingly deep red, glowing brightly.

This was probably the first time she had shown her full power to her companions.

But――――it was no use.

Zolmneum couldn't help but speak out.

"Stop it..."

"Hmm."

The boy only murmured, seemingly finding it interesting.

His form did not turn to stone, nor did he show any signs of suffering.

"An evil eye, I see. That's a three-eyed form. It seems more powerful than a human's evil eye. Let's see how it fares against this."

A curse symbol floated in mid-air.

The scenery around it distorted, and suddenly, a massive white snake appeared, rivaling a worm in size.

Its eyes were gouged out, clearly not reflecting any light.

A strange summoning technique. Was this a contracted monster? But he had never heard of such a species.

The white giant snake directed its snout towards Pylislaria.

"Ah...! C...a...n...!"

Pylislaria, who was floating, suddenly began to suffer.

Her usually sleepy eyes were wide open, and her third eye kept spinning in an odd direction. Her hands pressed against her chest, and only raspy breaths escaped her mouth.

Eventually――――the gravity magic that kept her afloat disappeared, and Pylislaria fell to the ground.

The three-eyed sorceress, with her three eyes wide open, was already dead.

"How about that? A powerful evil eye that can even stop the heart."

The boy murmured with a thin smile.

He called it an evil eye.

It was impossible.

The giant snake clearly had its eyes gouged out.

"Did you know? Some snakes have a third eye. This one is a white snake, a transformation of an aged mamushi. It can see infrared near its nose. Understand? Infrared. The light that carries heat, beyond the red in the rainbow. It's just a direct translation from ancient Greek, though."

Zolmneum couldn't understand the boy's words.

Was he talking about natural history? But he had never heard of a mamushi or ancient Greece.

At that moment, the white giant snake pulled back its head.

In the next instant, a worm with a long body emerged from the ground, breaking the stone pavement. It was the mide used by Ro Ni.

The mide, having missed the giant snake's head, reversed its jaw in mid-air and attacked the boy's monster again.

But as soon as the giant snake directed its snout at it, the mide's body stiffened and it began to convulse on the ground.

However, the mide had achieved its purpose.

Hidden by the giant worm's body and the dust, Ro Ni had approached the white giant snake.

Ro Ni, with his innocent eyes, spoke kindly to the formidable monster.

"Let's be friends!"

Ro Ni always did this, calling out to monsters to make them obey.

Whether they were wild, aggressive monsters or already tamed by others.

It was not a skill but a natural talent, backed by the "Beast Tamer" skill.

But――――it was no use. It was no use.

Zolmneum whispered in a hoarse voice.

"Please stop..."

The white giant snake turned its head towards Ro Ni, looking somewhat curious.

And in the next moment.

It swallowed the rabbit boy whole with its wide-open jaw.

"What...!"

Nearby, Gal Ganius gasped.

The giant snake, after swallowing Ro Ni, began to kill the shadow wolves that emerged from the shadows. The pack of wolves, enraged by the loss of their master, fell one by one to the invisible evil eye.

"Well, what did you want to do...?"

The boy muttered, sounding confused.

"Oh... were you trying to tame it? Ha, that's impossible with a demon transformed by human resentment."

The boy said, as if laughing it off.

The natural tamer, the rabbit boy, died without being able to do anything.

He couldn't even reveal his terrifying talent to the enemy.

However――――how did that boy control a monster that even Ro Ni couldn't tame?

Everything was extraordinary.

Everything.

It was something he had known from the beginning.

Challenging him was a mistake.

Even the renowned ogre warrior, Muderev.

Even the deviant evil eye user, Pylislaria.

Even the naturally talented tamer, Ro Ni.

Thinking that they might have a chance, even a slight one, was a mistake.

Against that monster.

"Zol, I'll create an opening. In the meantime..."

"It's no use."

Zolmneum said.

He had to ensure the last survivor, Gal Ganius, made it out alive.

"Run. You must run."

"What... after coming all this way...!"

"You must survive. Live... and tell your kin."

"Zol..."

Gal Ganius cut off his words.

He might have realized.

The trembling of his sword.

From the beginning, Zolmneum had seen everything.

Everything about the boy.

【Name】Seika Lamproug (▜▓▚█▂▒▀) 【Lv】MAX

【Race】Human / Demon (Devil) 【Class】▞▒◢▓┇▅

【HP】6527/6527

【MP】843502364/843502705

【Strength】391 【Endurance】254 【Agility】347 【Magic】0

【Skills】

Swordsmanship Lv3, Cursing Lv MAX, Demon Exorcism Lv MAX, Barrier Lv MAX, Curse Power Enhancement Lv MAX, Curse Resistance Lv MAX, Spirit Vision Lv MAX, Dragon Vein Vision Lv MAX, ▞▒◢▓█▛ Lv MAX, ◤▅▒▒█▛ Lv MAX, ▟◤█▛ Lv MAX, █▓▀▓█░█▛ Lv MAX, ▒◢█▚▓▗▌▟ Lv MAX, ▙▚▗▄▓▒ Lv MAX, ┇┋◥◣▗▚▆▃ Lv MAX――――…………

No.

What exactly did he see?

Zolmneum couldn't understand.

How could he use magic despite having zero 【Magic】?

What was consuming the vast, slightly decreasing 【MP】?

What were the unreadable 【Class】 and numerous 【Skills】?

Zolmneum knew there were values he couldn't see with his current skill level.

But――――was this really something like that?

It was too abnormal. He had never seen such a "status" before.

But one thing was clear.

【Race】Human / Demon (Devil)

"That... is a devil."

"What... what are you saying...?"

"Tell them... you must tell them this..."

"I know. You came to defeat the hero, didn't you?"

The boy said with a thin smile.

"But it's too bad. I can't kill Amu."

It was a possibility he had anticipated.

Given that he was here, wearing the school uniform, and trying to defeat them, there was no other explanation.

But――――

"I'm protecting her."

That declaration was hopelessly despairing.

Zolmneum, with a trembling voice, desperately tried to convey his final words to Gal Ganius.

"The devil... has been born... and in the worst form..."

"What are you saying, Zol! Calm down!"

"Just listen. Run now. With your expertise in transfer magic, you might be able to escape... and bring this fact back to the demon territory."

"What fact...?"

"Listen carefully, Ganius... that boy is a devil."

Zolmneum continued.

A fact that was utterly unacceptable and despairing to all demons.

"――――The worst devil has sided with the humans."

"Are you... already done?"

The boy muttered, sounding bored.

While being looked down upon by his cold black eyes, Zolmneum, with trembling hands, tried to ready his sword.

"Go. I'll buy you time."

"...No. Zol, you too..."

"Two can't escape. Don't waste... everyone's resolve."

"..."

"Then――――are you ready to die?"

A curse symbol suddenly appeared right in front of them.

It was easy to imagine that it would produce a lethal spell for the two of them.

Zolmneum let out a final cry.

"Go, Ganius!!"

As he shouted, Zolmneum pointed the tip of his precious sword at the boy and cast a spell.

It was a high-heat light attribute magic, a supreme technique, woven in multiple layers.

He was so skilled in light magic that he could cast it without incantation.

A dazzling white light, the origin of the magic, appeared at the tip of the sword――――.

At that moment.

The entire field of vision was covered in scorching crimson, and Zolmneum's consciousness faded.