Published: July 4, 2025
Far to the west of the City of Run.
A straight distance of over four thousand kilometers.
There, a party of seven waited fully armed for something to happen.
“Here it comes!”
At the mage's words, everyone readied their weapons.
In front of the seven, an area approximately fifty meters away was painted black in a rectangular shape.
Five meters tall and four meters wide.
If members of the academic research group from the Royal Central University of the Naitorei Kingdom were present, they might have pointed out that it resembled something called 'the Gate' which was named by their leader, Clive.
From that 'Gate' emerged a beautiful woman.
A stunning beauty standing at one hundred seventy-five centimeters tall… but upon closer inspection, she had small horns.
And a long, thin black tail.
It was Demon Leonor.
“Hm… I thought I sensed something unusual, so I came closer… it was an artificial 'altar' after all.”
Saying this, Leonor began to walk toward the 'altar'.
As if the people there didn't even catch her eye.
“Wait, demon king. You will die here.”
The one who shouted this was a swordsman among the seven.
Probably the youngest in the party… he seemed to be around nineteen years old.
However, in some sense, that swordsman was also the leader.
“Hmm? Demon king?”
Though she intended to ignore it, Leonor heard a term that she could not overlook.
“Did you just call me demon king?”
It was then that Leonor turned to face the seven.
“The 'altar' created with many sacrifices. It is well known that lighting a fire there will summon the demon king!”
Shouting this was a middle-aged man who seemed to be a clergyman.
“So… who are you that went to the trouble of summoning this demon king?”
In response to that question, the young swordsman from earlier answered.
“I am Hero Roman. The one who will subjugate the demon king!”
“Hero? Oh, a hero!”
Leonor laughed upon hearing this.
A laugh that perfectly fit the word thrilling.
“If you are a hero, you must be strong, right? Entertain me. Come on, let us battle!”
Thus, in a land far to the west, a battle began between Demon Leonor and the Hero Party, born from several misunderstandings and coincidences.
“[Holy Armor]”
“[Enchanted Weapon]”
“[Wind's Protection]”
“[Evil Resist Up]”
“[Body Strengthening]”
…
One after another, spells were chanted, strengthening Hero Roman.
Leonor watched with a faint smile.
“I have heard that humans are all about long-range magical combat; how boring… but are you all betting everything on that hero?”
“The only one who can defeat the demon king is the hero! Roman will defeat you!”
A scout who was not involved in the magical enhancements answered Leonor's question.
“I see, I see. So it is indeed more enjoyable to clash blades with each other.”
In Leonor's mind, the battle with the mage she fought long ago in the sealed corridor resurfaced.
(Ryo, was it… that was enjoyable. I never thought I would be shredded apart. Now, how strong is this hero?)
As Leonor thought this, it seemed the hero's preparations were complete.
Seeing this, Leonor pulled out a sword from seemingly nowhere.
“Well then, hero, are you ready? I am prepared. You may strike at any time.”
With that, she held the sword in her right hand and provocatively curled her fingers with her left.
“Don't underestimate me, demon king!”
With youthful vigor, Hero Roman closed the distance in an instant and thrust forward.
However, Leonor easily dodged that desperate thrust.
After that, she avoided all of Roman's wildly swinging sword strikes.
Without receiving any with her own sword, she dodged them all.
“Ugh.”
For Roman, it was his first experience of swinging his sword without landing a single hit.
“Hm…”
Demon Leonor muttered quietly and then, for the first time, blocked Roman's right horizontal slash with her sword, deflecting it.
“Ugh!”
Though Roman was thrown off balance, he managed to evade Leonor's follow-up horizontal slash by shifting his body and took a large backward step to create distance.