“Why are you hitting me! Why!”
Bang! Bang!
Sre seemed furious and was whacking the Grim Reaper with his front paw.
I had already healed the wounds on his paw, but the memory of being hit still lingered.
“Urrr…”
Besides, Sre had been kidnapped by the Grim Reaper before, so the grudge was bound to be immense.
[Sre is hitting more]
[Lol what’s up with the Grim Reaper?]
[Sre is so cute]
[Boy Sre]
[Frozen Punch!]
[This is ridiculous lol]
[Why’s the Grim Reaper acting tough after losing?]
“Well, he used to seem quite smart.”
Compared to other users, the Grim Reaper was somewhat strategic, so why did he suddenly act recklessly?
There was no way he thought he could win, especially with Sre along for the ride—he couldn’t possibly forget how badly he was taken down in Teshiniria…
‘Is it because of that stone?’
The Stone of Reversing made from the corpses of reverses.
There was a stone that grants immense power to the user but comes with various risks, including mental instability.
He must have swallowed something before delivering a final blow to Sre; that’s probably what happened.
“I’m angry!”
“Even if you try, it wouldn’t matter.”
I gently stroked Sre’s head as he huffed.
Splatter. The sound echoed in my ear, and I pulled my hand away.
My hand had somehow started to freeze a bit.
Feeling the chilling cold, I used my holy powers to gradually warm it back up.
“Are you over it now?”
“Urrr…”
“Here, eat this.”
“!”
Whoosh!
Sre began to eagerly gulp down the large piece of meat I pulled out of my space.
On Sre’s front paw was a fragment of one of the Six Seats of the Demon Race, the Fragment of the Demon King Tempere of Endless Winter.
It was a substance with a power more distant than anything existing in Deoen.
A material that could pierce through anything in the world; even I couldn’t defend against the fragment of endless winter.
‘Even if it’s just a fragment of a fragment.’
The concept of being trapped in eternal winter was not something that could be easily handled.
“Delicious!”
“Is it good?”
“Uu.”
[Lol so cute]
[Sre is amazing]
[Delicious? The memes! lol]
[This is serious]
[Are you eating again?]
Of course, Sre couldn’t actually use such a concept.
What Sre could do was just swing it around.
He couldn’t comprehend the profound logic contained within the fragment of the Demon King.
I can’t understand it.
It was just that by swinging it, the opponent couldn’t withstand it.
“Actually, I’m glad I don’t understand. If I did, I might have frozen already.”
“Wow?”
“No.”
I patted Sre again with my returning hand.
Perhaps feeling quite satisfied, this time my hand didn’t freeze.
‘In the past, it was just a rock… but these days, it’s overflowing little by little.’
The fact that Sre is a fragment or child of Sugarado, the Ice Dragon King, does mean it’s gradually accumulating more and more cold energy.
It’s also because of the enormous amount of energy consumed by the monster that eats an absurdly large amount of food.
Compared to the increasing amount of cold energy, my body is gradually unable to keep up.
‘Lasty is controlling it, but how it’ll be in the future…’
Magic or demon race fragments are not my specialty, so for now, I left it to Lasty.
Even without the Demon King’s will, one must always be cautious with such nuclear bomb-like items.
“More meat?”
“Yeah? Should I give you more?”
“Wow?”
The actual owner, Sre, doesn’t seem to have any particular thoughts about it.
After giving Sre a piece of meat nearly its own size, I entered the castle.
Was the Grim Reaper intending to take over? The battle had already progressed quite a bit.
As soon as the Grim Reaper was defeated, his subordinates had long fled, and the Medium and Small Alliance barely resisted but couldn’t stop me.
Bleep!
[■Elbrite -Lily Elbrite- ▶ □Medium and Small Alliance -Genene-]
[The Castle has been captured!]
“That should be enough… huh?”
[That was easy lol]
[?]
[Is the Black Sword not coming?]
[Next, let’s go go go go]
[Why?]
[???]
[Huh]
After leaving a fragment of Karabus at the castle, I was a little distance away.
In the distance, someone was walking.
Or more precisely, something was floating and coming as if pushed by something.
I instinctively pulled out the White Guardian and transformed it into a spear.
“I can feel magic.”
Are mages and holy beings now just carried around as a given?
Just like the girl Suessu I saw previously, magic is definitely not an easy force to handle.
It is one of the most toxic of poisons, known for destroying the owner’s mind and body, alongside holy power.
It seems the system that exists within the user is playing a more significant role than I thought.
Without the system, users wouldn’t have been able to handle even the powers of ordinary monsters, let alone holy beings and magic.
If the users couldn’t even handle basic monster powers, let alone divine magic, they’d be in serious trouble.
Gyaaaah!!!
Slowly, a figure that looked like a man was getting closer.
A man wrapped in some kind of dark red soul, or something similar.
His entire body was covered in cloth except for his eyes, making him look almost like an assassin.
I definitely didn’t recognize this user, but there was an odd sense of familiarity.
‘Something about his appearance…’
“Rest?!”
[?]
[Huh?]
[Wha?]
[Eh?]
[What the?!????]
[Who’s Rest?]
Kwa-ga-ga-ga!!!
“Do you remember the time we did the demon raid? There was a guy named Rest who participated with the Rookie Alliance.”
He was one of the Rookies that handled the red soul pretty well, a strong user.
I once saved the trio of Rookies, including Rest, while facing the demon race.
The only reason red souls are unsettling is that they’re just souls full of grudges; they’re definitely not magic.
‘I sent Deoen somewhere back then… has anything changed since then?’
At that time, I was in such a hurry, and with my mind spinning while fighting Black Lily, I didn’t get the full story afterward.
The only thing I heard was that the key members of the Rookie Alliance had left, and it fell apart after the raid.
Since the Medium and Small Alliance is basically the predecessor to the Rookie Alliance, it’s not too surprising that Rest is here.
I shot my spear.
Regardless of who my opponent was, they were clearly coming here with hostility.
Although Karabus’s doppelganger was in the castle, I needed to subdue this situation first…
“Graaah!!!”
“!”
Phew-waaaah!!!
The souls surrounding Rest scattered in all directions.
The red souls spread like a swarm of bugs, and while over half were obliterated by my spear, the rest flew straight towards the castle.
With that many, Karabus should be…
Biiip!
[■Medium and Small Alliance – Rest ▶ □Elbrite – Lily Elbrite]
[The castle has been occupied!]
The castle was seized.
“Oh ho…?”
[???]
[What’s happening?]
[Wha-wha-wha!]
[What’s Karabus doing?]
[Seriously, couldn’t he stop this?]
[Ew, gross!]
[They captured it right away, what’s this?]
“Well, this is unexpected.”
I never thought they’d breach Karabus and take the castle.
I immediately returned to the castle and smashed the core again.
For the record, Rest’s souls didn’t do anything to Karabus.
They ignored Karabus, who was focused on the castle entrance, and flew rapidly to only destroy the core.
Flying at speed, just breaking the core.
The restless spirits of Rest had seemingly achieved their purpose and disappeared somewhere.
The clone of Karabus, banished by the lord’s authority, had just arrived, fidgeting awkwardly with its claw.
“…That. Was a mistake.”
“You couldn’t even stop this much? That’s a bit disappointing…”
“Ah, no! I just let my guard down for a second! That chunk of magic…!”
“Does this mean I might have to eat a few more times…?”
“……”
[LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL]
[Sudun]
[Lily, let’s have some crab roast]
[But seriously, what was that just now?]
[Should we eat?]
[OMG OMG OMG]
[Crab is tasty, though]
“I’m joking.”
“…I’ll stop you.”
“I can’t think of you as just a regular user. You seem surprisingly adept at using magic.”
Even though it’s a clone of Karabus, it should at least be classified as a lower angel, below intermediate among the demon race.
It broke through Karabus and smashed the core in one go, then ran away?
That means it’s not just a simple magic-wielding being.
Its mind might seem unstable, but its ‘power’ is quite impressively controlled.
More than anything, the fact that its ‘goal’ is clear was a bit unsettling.
“The purpose must be conquest. Specifically, a conquest that avoids me.”
If the objective was to fight, it would have taken down Karabus even if it passed by me.
With the level of power Rest showed, dealing with a clone shouldn’t be too hard.
But it only broke the core and then escaped before I could arrive.
I activated the system that allows me to see the status of the siege war.
Beep! Beep! BEEP!
The rapidly changing map status of the continent.
The Medium and Small Alliance’s occupation markers, which had regained a significant part, were increasing again.
Not only the east but the south was also being reclaimed.
In fact, some had even recaptured the castle I had occupied.
Avoiding me thoroughly while continuing to occupy in three different directions…
“Hmm…”
I don’t think I’ll lose just by continuing this chicken game, but there was a simpler method.
[OMG OMG]
[That’s kinda fast, right?]
[What are you gonna do?]
“First, let’s catch one.”
Let’s find out what really happened by catching one.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
