Chapter 278: Battle Against A Devil

The figure that appeared under the mantle was bizarre, as if someone replaced a human’s upper half with that of an octopus.

It was clearly not a human, and neither had I ever seen a monster like it anywhere in this world. I wasn’t very bright in that department, but I could still understand that this enemy was simply too deviated from the norm.

Receiving the hysterical man’s order, it faced towards me and took a step. There was still ten meters between us, so why did it stop—

“Woah!?”

It then raised its tentacle and thrust it as if to stab me with it. Contrary to the softness you’d expect from an octopus tentacle, it had a claw at its top and the blade was releasing a dangerous light.

I immediately dodged it, but it caught the mantle that I was wearing and almost dragged me along with it. I hurriedly unfastened my mantle and escaped the danger.

Its attack didn’t stop at that, however.

It successively pushed out its tentacles, all of them furnished with similar claws. It ripped my mantle to get rid of the disturbance, scattering its rags on the floor.

It was proof that those tentacles had enough strength to reduce the study traveling mantle to pieces like paper. And so were those claws sharp.

“I sure encounter a lot of abnormal enemies these days!”

Be it the Floating Wakame or this, there were a lot of tentacle monsters. It couldn’t be helped that I ended up complaining about it out loud.

While dodging its eight tentacles left and right, I directed my sight towards the children. Maxwell had just finished rescuing one of the children behind the man.

“Gh! Where did you come from! Wait, that appearance… Could it be Maxwell!” “I came together with her. Maybe you have a problem with your eyesight? Antidote.” “Damn you, to think you could sniff out our movements… I have to praise you for having such a good nose!”

The man set up his staff to prepare for combat despite his ridicules. Maxwell, on the other hand, cast Antidote towards the child. The child flinched in reaction to the spell, and then lose consciousness and fainted on the spot.

“It appears… That they have been treated quite unreasonably. How inhuman of you.” “Who cares, they were destined to be sacrificed either way. Making them climb a mountain is no problem.” “It definitely is a problem.”

Maxwell lifted the child and rushed towards another. But the man inside the circle threw a spell at him to restrain him.

“As if I’d let you! Crimson eight, Ultramarine one, Jade nine—Fire Javelin!” “Oh please. Crimson three, Ultramarine one, Gold one—Earth Wall!”

The spell the man released was an upper-ranked offensive spell of the Fire system. It had a range of about two meters, but the power behind it could easily reduce a person to charcoal.

Maxwell, however, guarded against it with a wall.

The man was ranting like a madman all this time, but his skill with Magic turned out to be first-class. Maxwell seemed to be having a hard time facing him while carrying a child.

That said, I was in no state to observe them so calmly. I was also in the middle of fighting this Octo-freak, and I couldn’t look away from it so carelessly.

While dodging its tentacle spears, I was waiting for the opportunity to close the distance. But then, Maxwell suddenly warned me before I could.

“Nicole, that thing eats magic power from the surroundings. Do not approach it!” “What!?” “The reason why this man did not let it inside the magic circle was due to that ability.” “If you know what it is, then tell me in detail already!” “Devil ZellKarn… It is a Devil that devours flesh and magic power in avarice. It is called the vanguard of the otherworld.”

Maxwell explained to me while skilfully avoiding the enemy’s spells. He couldn’t cast Antidote during that time, but it couldn’t be helped. I was learning about the dangers of fighting unknown enemies even in the academy.

Sucking magic power meant that it was the worst enemy for me. After all, I was making up for most of my physical abilities with Enchant. I could of course use threads to strengthen myself too, but if I did that, it would mean that my means of attacking would also decrease.

Its abilities were lower compared to the twin-bladed Devil that I fought before. But it made up for that by the incredible number of attacks it was sending my way.

I could see why it was called a vanguard. These Devils excelled at battles against many.

If it approached me, it would devour my magic power and forcibly dispel my Enchant. If I stayed away, it would overwhelm me with incessant attacks.

That said, I couldn’t make myself withdraw from this place. If I did, those kids would most definitely be sacrificed, and a new Devil would be summoned.

In the first place, abandoning children was not something I, who was aiming to be a hero, could ever consider.

Maxwell had decided to postpone saving the children and shifted to restraining the man. He probably judged that it was faster to neutralize the summoner compared to saving the remaining four children.

He seemed to have judged that I would need his help and changed his approach.

“In that case, I will keep you company until Maxwell arrives!”

I flashed it a daring smile while dodging the incessant rain of tentacle attacks.