Published: September 10, 2025
This is Satou. In horror or mystery stories, there are sometimes characters whose thoughts are impossible to read. Usually, their actions have some reason behind them, which is explained within the story.
But in reality, I think what’s truly frightening are those who act erratically without any clear reason.
◇
"—Where are you?"
Chasing after the goblin Demon King who had fled into the shadows, I jumped into an area without a map.
I relied on the direction of the light spot shown on the radar to track him.
Suddenly, that light spot disappeared.
Since the Demon King was marked, I had no worry of losing him.
The current location information from the marker displayed within my sight had changed to one of the Saga Empire’s regional cities.
He must have sensed my pursuit and escaped from the shadow space midway.
Thinking that, I emerged from the shadow space.
The expansive blue sky spread out above, and below me was the city sprawling out — I was now at the top of a spire near the city center.
"There you are."
It looked like he was in one of the buildings with broken windows.
I dashed through one of the windows using flashstride.
"So you’ve come already—"
The goblin Demon King, who was looting the room like a burglar, jumped out of a window on the opposite side.
His long hair fluttered behind him as he jumped.
—Dark purple?
I wasn’t sure if hair had grown back on the previously bald Demon King or if it was a wig—it all happened too fast.
The white cloak he wore was also something he hadn’t had on just moments ago.
My fleeting thoughts were interrupted by a red explosion outside the window and the screams of people coming from beyond.
I leapt outside the window.
The Demon King was flying from roof to roof, shooting low- and mid-level fire magic everywhere.
To stop his rampage, I fired a light magic laser beam at him.
Sacrificing one arm, the Demon King escaped from the rooftop into the gap between buildings.
He might be using a unique skill, something like an evasion or danger sense.
I used fire extinguishing magic on the buildings that caught fire from the sparks of the Demon King’s fire and my laser.
Although I reduced the laser’s power to avoid collateral damage, since it was mid-level magic, I couldn’t completely prevent secondary disasters.
After descending to the ground by flashstride, I chased the Demon King as he fled from shadow to shadow, using instant movement skill (earth shrinking).
He seemed to have that skill as well, making it hard to catch up.
Moreover, every time he entered the blind spots behind cover, he launched fire magic or explosion magic attacks.
It was nasty how he mixed in delayed activation attack magic.
After running around the city two or three times while preventing damage, the Demon King once again fled into the shadows.
—Did he just set fires?
Though doubting his actions, I jumped into the shadows.
Some small fires were left unextinguished, but I left those to the locals to handle.
◇
"—What does that Demon King want?"
The place I emerged in through the shadows was a different regional city.
Following the light spot on the radar, I found the Demon King laughing wildly as he destroyed a fountain.
To prevent another escape, I applied spatial magic to suppress shadow magic, so he couldn’t flee into shadow space.
Noticing me, he revealed himself and fled.
As I prepared to chase, something caught my attention — a piece of wood rolling among the fountain’s rubble.
—A barrel.
My mind flashed back to the vampire mosquito barrels that caused the vampire mosquito chaos that devastated the Tokisork Kingdom.
It was the same kind of barrel.
An explosion sounded in the distance.
The Demon King seemed to be conducting destruction elsewhere, too.
I isolated the area around the fountain using spatial magic, then burned it with fire magic to disinfect.
Burning like this should have turned the vampire mosquito eggs to ash.
It was a bit rough, but I prioritized saving time.
Following the explosion sounds, I pursued the Demon King.
Even when using spatial magic like teleport or pull, during the slight activation lag, he escaped behind buildings with instant movement skill.