Iria slowly moved her steps.
Though the academy’s scenery was like hell, it didn’t feel that way to her.
Because the monsters didn’t attack Iria. Thus, she walked leisurely towards the academy’s inner buildings.
By the time Iria arrived, the inner building was covered in a black barrier. It looked impossible to enter or exit.
“Hmm.”
Realizing she couldn’t enter with ordinary methods, Iria clenched her fist.
Normally, one would either give up and turn back or think of a way to get inside, but not Iria.
When she smashed her fist against the barrier, there was a crash, and a huge hole appeared.
If your body is good, your head won’t have a hard time.
Iria stepped into the building.
*
A woman resembling a human was blocking Rena’s path.
But instinctively, she knew that this wasn’t a human.
A pair of horns protruding from her forehead, sharp fangs, and the dark magic radiating all around her.
The demon smiled wickedly and adjusted her grip on the sword in her hand. Fallen humans were scattered around her.
Students and even professors.
“St-stand back…”
A tense Rena said, looking back.
Even if everyone present combined their strength, they were no match for her. The demon over there had taken down a professor without a scratch, effortlessly.
The academy’s elite combat force boasted by the empire had fallen. This was no opponent a mere student could handle.
If they couldn’t win, avoiding the fight was the best bet. Rena gulped nervously and slowly stepped back.
The other students sensed the danger and began to retreat as well, assessing the situation to flee.
However, they couldn’t move back any further than a certain distance.
“Wait.”
That was because a murderous aura washed over them, paralyzing their nerves.
It was the influence of Seir, a commander of the Demon King’s army. The heavy magic bound their feet and choked their necks.
From the dark corridor, Seir’s red eyes glowed.
The principle behind this was a simple threat. She had merely released a bit of her magic and glared at them slowly.
Even though it was just that, Rena and the students couldn’t take a step forward.
The difference in power was painfully evident, binding their feet over something so trivial. It was accurate to say that the scale of strength was completely different.
“If you take one more step back, I’ll kill you all.”
This wasn’t just bravado.
The weight behind her words came from the fact that she could actually do it.
Seeing the students frozen in place, Seir smiled. A grin suitable for a villain who had killed hundreds of humans.
Counting the terrified students one by one with her fingers, she slowly walked toward them.
“There are seven of you. After I’m done killing you today, that makes twenty… I guess I’ll need to kill about a hundred before I’m done.”
The brutal content contrasted with her relaxed voice, plunging the students deeper into fear.
And then.
“I-I never intended to spare you from the start!!”
“W-wait a second!”
One of the students behind Rena charged out, sword in hand. Overcome with extreme fear, he was losing his mind.
Rena reached out to grab him, but it was too late.
The male student swung his sword at Seir.
And then.
Slash!
The man’s body was torn to shreds. Once a human, he became minced meat.
It happened in the blink of an eye. Blood splattered everywhere.
“Aaaah!!”
Now, it was a scream from someone unknown.
The number had gone from seven to six. So it must have been a scream of one of the six humans.
The one who swung the sword, Seir, remained calm. As she cleaned the bloodied sword, she stepped even closer.
“Seriously, what’s with all this weakness? This is why inferior races like you can’t thrive.”
“…”
Despair etched on the faces of the remaining six.
Despair is felt more realistically when hope is on the horizon and then plunges into darkness.
If only they could get past that demon, the exit was right there. It was the final exit they reached after defeating all the monsters.
But a massive wall blocked their way. Faced with this last hurdle, the students couldn’t help but feel defeated.
It was an insurmountable wall.
Rena steeled herself for death and shut her eyes tightly. Seir grabbed her neck while she had her eyes closed.
Gah!
An immense force was applied to her throat. With such an overwhelming difference in strength, resistance was impossible.
If Seir applied just a bit more force here, she could snap Rena’s neck. To her, the six remaining students were nothing but toys she could kill anytime.
Seir slowly surveyed the remaining humans, her gaze stopping at Rena. It was a look of a predator that found an interesting prey.
“You’ve got a good vessel, huh? How have you survived until now? You must be the type the monsters would go crazy for.”
“Huh, ugh…”
“Hey, do something. You made it this far with that body, so surely you have something up your sleeve.”
Seir shook Rena by the neck. To her, Rena seemed a talented individual. It felt almost a shame to kill her so easily.
Rena clutched Seir’s arm, her face contorted with pain. She couldn’t breathe. Feeling like she would really die, she slowly began to release her mana.
Iria and Rena’s training had significantly increased her mana.
This mana flowed out through an incantation. It wasn’t intentional; it was done unconsciously.
Seir watched the scene with interest. Rena’s golden mana rose in the form of flames.
Flame Burst!
Rena’s body ignited. It was a hot flame. She had raised the temperature in advance by releasing the mana beforehand.
However, there wasn’t a single wound on Rena’s body. When casting magic, the caster has high resistance to that magic.
But Seir did not. With the flames’ firepower increased, she had no choice but to release Rena’s neck.
Cough, cough!
“Hooh.”
So it was this human who took care of the low-grade monsters.
While Rena struggled, holding her neck, Seir regenerated the burned arm.
The flames around Rena were still swirling.
“You, let’s fight. I was just bored anyway.”
“…”
“If you manage to give me even a tiny scratch, I’ll let the other humans go. What do you say?”
She actually intended to let them go.
Not because she wanted to save the humans, but because outside, there was no paradise waiting for them.
They thought they would be safe outside, but who knows? It might be even more dangerous out there.
Because outside was swarming with seeds of the Demon King.
“…”
Of course, Rena had no way of knowing that.
Lying face down, utterly frightened, she thought about what Iria would do in this situation.
How would she, so brave and strong, have faced this?
She would probably fight back, no matter who the opponent was.
“…Bloom.”
In response, Rena ignited the flames even higher. It was a massive flame she had shown during her duel with Wendy.
She never anticipated she would have to use it indoors like this.
It was similar in firepower to before, but she didn’t suffer severe injuries this time. She had grown.
Her total mana had increased, and her ability to control the flames had improved.
She stood before the demon with a massive flame enveloping her.
Seir laughed.
“Yeah, that’s the spirit.”
The students behind Rena fled.
Seir didn’t bother to chase them. Right now, all her attention was focused solely on Rena.
Rena was the first to unleash her flames.
The remaining students successfully escaped.
So she decided to stay and hold the demon back.
The flames illuminated the dark corridor. The high-powered flame could instantly turn even a low-grade monster to ashes.
But Seir charged at Rena, cutting through the flames. After all, flames are meaningless if they aren’t hit.
Generally, demons have superior reflexes compared to humans, so Rena’s flames missed Seir.
With agile movements, she swiftly closed the distance to Rena.
“That’s it?”
Seir swung her sword at Rena.
Skin ripped, and blood gushed. She intentionally inflicted shallow wounds to torment her opponent.
“Gah!”
Rena, cut from close range, moaned. It was too much pain for someone with almost no real combat experience to endure.
The merciless Seir continued to cut Rena’s skin. Occasionally, the flames would explode, but still, it wasn’t enough to leave a mark on Seir.
The battle concluded far quicker than expected. Before Rena could cast her next spell, Seir had already pressed her sword against Rena’s neck.
“Gah, ugh.”
“Well, while you were lacking, it was fun while it lasted.”
She found interest in this talented human, but that was all.
Seir had expected a moment’s entertainment, but once again, humans proved to be utterly weak.
She lifted her sword to finish the job.
“Farewell.”
And just as she swung her sword.
Clang!
With a sharp metallic clash, something had parried the sword Seir swung.
“Ugh?!”
It was an event so sudden that even Rena and Seir couldn’t react in time.
Staggered by the heavy impact conveyed to her fingertips, Seir stepped back.
The strands of hair of whatever had blocked her sword swayed. A striking silver hair that stood out against the dark backdrop.
But that wasn’t all.
The chillingly calm red eyes gazed down at Seir.
Before the woman, holding a dagger, Seir trembled.
It was fear ingrained in her very genes.
For she sensed a trace of the Demon King’s aura from the girl before her.
