Chapter 123: Preparation (2)

"It's like what I have mentioned. Most demons are violent, but not everyone. Some of them even have standards that we humans would follow. We don't have to fight every one of them. As long as that's a demon we could negotiate with, we talk to them without starting a fight.," I answered.

Other demons did not want to fight players. Since they could easily defeat them, they grew tired of bullying the weak. And when they found someone strong, they did not want to risk their lives dying in the hands of overpowered players.

The game developers designed the demons to have superior intellect than other NPCs. Thanks to their upgrades, those demons had a variety of personalities befitting for their characters. It only meant that some of them would have a pessimistic mind that would not harm others, regardless of the situation.

But among the thousands of demons living in this world, only a handful of them had that trait. I could only hope this demon we would face had that kind personality instead of those wild ones craving to kill.

"Moving on…. Meliodas, you would act as our support. You would mimic what you've done when we fought against the demonic remnant before. Use your ability to control our movements if necessary. That spell you have there would play a vital role for us to dodge the demon's magic. If you notice an attack that could injure any of us, use your harp to manipulate our bodies. As soon as you evade that attack, deactivate your spell and remain vigilant at the battlefield," I said, and added some more. "Your harp could also give us a temporary boost in our status power. Just like the one I briefed you about, the statistical power was our gauge of strength. It measures our capabilities as an individual and a player."

Meliodas raised his concerns and asked, "I could do all of those, Arthur. But I have a dozen questions, if you do not mind. First is about avoiding the enemies' attacks. What if the enemy attacks at the same time one of you initiated an attack? Second, why can't I use my harp against the demon? Wouldn't it be better if I use my harp to control the demon and let it lose?"

I shook my head and answered all of Meliodas' queries, "You're right about the first one, Meliodas. When the demon and one of us attack at the same time, your priority would evade the demon's attack. Our safety comes first. The answer to your latter question would be a big no. And I doubt you could control the demon using your harp. Your musical instrument is a powerful weapon that could manipulate both enemies and allies. However, that overpowered weapon still has some limits. Because if it didn't, all the people inside this world would use harps as their weapons."

Those were the answers Meliodas needed to hear from me before attacking the demon. After hearing my words, Meliodas nodded his head and agreed to my statement.

I also haven't told Meliodas that this world he knew belonged to a game I knew. And there was no opportunity for me to disclose this information to him, especially if we were up against the demon. It would be so out of place if I would just bravely tell Meliodas about everything.

I let that pass, for now, hoping I could find a chance to tell Meliodas that soon. But for now, focusing on our fight against the demon must come first! If we cannot defeat this monster, it will be the end of our team.

After understanding everything Meliodas needed to know, I turned my face to everyone and asked, "Are you guys ready? We will face a demon above our calibre. Hopefully, we can beat the shit out of our enemy. But for now, we need to convince that demon to our side. Remember, we only fight for a reason. We just don't go willy-nilly and do things with no explanation. We have been through a lot. So I hope this fight will be memorable to everyone…. And I hope we win."

"I will be the acting leader of this team, since I know about fighting against demons. But I can't rely on that knowledge alone, since I was an overpowered character before. But now, I'm just a knight with a stick and a shield, which I received as a gift from Fisher."

As soon as my party gazed at Aegis, everyone studied my shield. Among the members of my team, Merleen was the only one who had sparkling eyes. She looked at my shield and marvelled at its designs. It was as if she wanted one made of light. I did not know if it was because of the weapon or a metaphor of Merleen.

Merleen was a person who would protect everyone at our party. She always used her light magic to create barriers and deflect those magical projectiles. That magical girl refused to use her spells to kill someone.

But that would change right now.

And upon hearing my speech, Fenrir averted her gaze from me. I could only guess that it was something from what I said, especially about becoming her leader.

Fenrir had lived for thousands of years as an alpha wolf. An Alpha hound was the one who governed the little dogs in their pack. Alpha wolves were born leaders, which would explain the bitter expression of Fenrir.

But despite that sour face, Fenrir agreed to follow my orders. She had seen me fight, and we had been through a lot of problematic times.

Upon voicing my speech, Fenrir, Merleen, and Meliodas nodded their heads and prepared to take off from our cave. As luck would have it, the sun had also shined from the east, indicating a new journey. But before we could experience that, we had to go through this trial first.

Our team also prepared some magic circles surrounding us. It included some light barriers and enhancement from Meliodas' harp. These spells would help us go through tough battles since we were up against someone as strong as the top players.

It was better to have these simple spells. These abilities could protect us instead of going in there, stark naked.

As we headed onwards, all our systems violently warned us about an overpowering presence. The arcane and status power of this enemy had reached over the roof. It was also the reason it sent shivers down to our spines. And upon gazing at our maps, a red dot greeted our eyes.

Our system marked the enemy close to the field, which was the awaited enemy…. the demon.

"Get down," I instructed, and motioned my fingers at our team. "The demon's just right ahead!"

Even though everyone could see that on their maps, I still initiated a command to our team. We would never know our enemy. So we needed to move with precaution. Our team had yet witnessed the demon with our eyes. But we all knew that there was someone out there.

However, there was something strange about this demon. From what I remembered, most demons would start the fight saying nothing. Demons would have also noticed our presence from miles away.

But this particular demon refused to bless our presence and remained still on the field. It was as if that demon waited for us to appear in front of it.

"That demon looks like a statue. What do you say, Arthur? What's our plan?" Fenrir asked, while stretching her fingers.

Judging from the looks of her eyes, Fenrir had an eager expression to fight. She did not care if we were up against a demon. As long as Fenrir had this feral instinct, she would fight anyone obstructing her way.

I stared at my map and answered, "Keep your weapons inside their containers. Don't pull something off until I say so."

"Isn't that suicide? What if that demon hits us without even expecting it?" Fenrir continued, while gritting her teeth.

"Like I've said before. We need to save our strength until necessary. And besides, we still do not know if this demon is…. demonic. I don't know what term I could describe that, but yeah," I answered.

Fenrir had a reluctant look on her face but accepted my thoughts, regardless. She placed her trust in me, hoping that was the right decision. I would take the risk and involve all the members of this team. Nevertheless, it was a chance that I was willing to take.

Fighting a demon would indeed be a suicide mission. So we had to avoid that as soon as possible.

After prepping our weapons back to their inventories, I told everyone to march forward. These three members of mine needed to stay behind me. We needed to avoid any rude engagements with the demon if we wanted a convenient talk with it.

Within a few seconds, the demon came into our view. That demonic figure raised both of her eyes and met my gaze.

"We finally met, Arthur."