Published: January 24, 2026
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―Tsutolairu: Near the Seeker's Guild―
“Come on, come on! If you want to entertain me, fight back with more desperation!”
In a place stained red-black by a massive amount of bloodstains, the war demon Demon was turning the Central Army soldiers gathered there one after another into corpses.
“We’re deploying strategic-grade magical weapons! Don’t think of that thing as human! Evacuations of the local residents have been completed! Proceed with the intent to leave not a single scrap of flesh behind!”
The Central Army commander stationed in Tsutolairu raised his voice.
Upon hearing this order, the soldiers of the Central Army produced short staffs embedded with magic stones.
As magic circles materialized near the tips of those staffs, similar magic circles enveloped Demon.
“...Huh.”
Demon let out a voice of admiration as he looked at the magic circles that had appeared around him.
His expression still showed an air of composure.
“Crush the monster to pieces!”
At the commander’s command, the soldiers activated their short staffs, which were magical weapons.
Immediately, a massive explosion far exceeding the power of the top-tier magic super explosion (explode) struck Demon.
The shockwave blew away the remaining buildings and rubble around.
The soldiers protected by the staffs’ magical fields were unharmed, but the site where the Seeker’s Guild had stood was gouged out like a crater, and parts of the ground's surface melted from the extreme heat.
“This should be...!”
As the commander felt a definite sense of achievement,
“Hahaha... Ahahaha!”
Demon’s laughter echoed from the center of the still-rising smoke.
“Impossible...”
Hearing that laughter, the commander’s expression slipped into despair.
“Too bad for you! No matter what fools like you do, it’s impossible to even scratch me!”
With a sadistic smile, Demon emerged from the smoke.
Surviving that bombing itself was already unthinkable.
Moreover, the space right after the explosion was an inferno.
Exposing your skin would cause severe burns, and just breathing the air would scorch your lungs.
While the soldiers were protected by the staffs’ magical fields, Demon had no such protection.
And yet, he was completely unchanged from just before the bombing.
“What the hell is this? There’s no way we can win against a monster like this.”
Seeing Demon, one of the soldiers murmured, losing his will to fight.
That thought spread among all the soldiers, and the Central Army lost its function.
“Hey, hey, you guys are humans risking your lives to protect the city and its inhabitants, aren’t you!? Then come at me with everything you’ve got! Entertain me more and more!”
“No, no... I don’t want to die for nothing...!”
Hearing the soldiers’ cries, Demon’s expression vanished.
“...Haah. How boring. Everyone, just die.”
In a voice dripping with utter boredom, Demon muttered.
Then, the soldiers who had lost their fighting spirit exploded their blood inside their bodies like bursting water balloons, scattering it around, and all of them died instantly.
“I’m bored. The Sword Princess hasn’t shown up, so maybe I’ll go kill the Rakshasa. That guy might satisfy my hunger a bit more.”
Without even glancing at the dead soldiers, Demon decided his next move and started moving.
—At the next moment, a magic circle appeared above his head.
“Huh?”
As Demon looked up at the magic circle, a massive thunderbolt poured down from it.
However, even this lightning did not cause damage.
Without paying any mind to the lightning, Demon turned his face toward the caster who had activated the heavenly thunder hammer (mjölnir).
As if timed perfectly, Wilkes of the silver rabbits of the night sky appeared behind Demon.
He swung his double-edged sword at Demon.
It was a surprise attack from a complete blind spot.
Despite that, Demon naturally used his greatsword as a shield and blocked the double-edged blade.
Wilkes grimaced bitterly and kept his distance from Demon.