Chapter 136: Getting Closer

Chapter 136: Getting Closer

I was the leader of a team I could barely understand most of the time.

Agon was sleepy despite having slept as much as he needed, and Bets got tired faster than someone his age should. The latter was a fit young man, but maybe all those muscles were the problem?

We were deep in enemy territory, surrounded by demons, so we couldn't afford to be anything less than our best selves.

I already had enough to worry about with Uwabami following us. Was she an enemy? A friend? Neutral?

Part of me wanted to use her misunderstanding about Agon to convince her to work with us. It could make this whole ordeal a lot easier, but it could also go terribly wrong. The main problem was that she was so powerful that none of us could defeat her, except maybe Sei, who hadn't yet discovered all of his powers and how he was related to Tamae No Mae. Agon was more of a double-edged sword, and then there was me, the leader of this rag-tag group.

Was I regretting coming on this mission? Yes, kind of. One mistake and we would be done, or at best one of us would die. We couldn't afford to make any mistakes, and I had to keep these guys under control.

Just as my mind was swirling with worries, Carpy added one more to the list. "Master, someone is following us. It seems to be some kind of firefly demon."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of this," Agon exclaimed. He turned around, gathered Ord on his fist, and pushed it outward, creating a sphere of energy just in front of him. He then gathered Ord on his fist once more and punched the sphere, sending a devastating attack toward the firefly demon in the distance.

{Impact Cannon}

The poor low-class demon couldn't even react before a large explosion rang out, pushing the clouds away from its epicenter and definitely revealing our position to any demon within a ten-mile radius.

It seemed like Agon being sleepy somehow lowered his IQ even further. I didn't think that was possible, since he was a shounen protagonist, but his IQ might have just entered negative numbers.

"Why the hell did you do that!?" I demanded.

"What? I have a long-range ability now, so I used it. Do you want the enemy to keep spying on us?" Agon tried to make his point.

I pointed with my thumb at Anika behind me. "Then what about her? You know, the once-in-a-generation Blaster who could have killed the demon without notifying everything within a five-mile radius?"

Agon's eyes widened at that. "Ah, sorry, that's my bad."

I rubbed my eyes. I couldn't stay mad at him after he admitted his mistake and apologized. That would just make me the asshole who wasted time on useless things. "Whatever, let's just move on. Staying around will just make things worse."

...

Over the next couple of days, we traveled, and Uwabami easily disposed of any demons that came close. Our plan was going much smoother than we had thought, as Uwabami had eliminated so many demons just walking around than we ever could otherwise, especially high-class demons. She had killed several dozens of them already.

It was another day of rest, and Bets was taking all our money by gambling. The guy never went easy. Agon was the first to lose all the money he had taken with him, which was unsurprising. It was between him and Gem, but Gem was from a rich family and had a lot of pocket money.

"Control your Ord!" Anika yelled at Agon as he tried to keep a sphere of Ord in front of him. "Good, imbue more Ord in the sphere and then shoot it."

With Agon's new surprising amount of Ord, he had more than enough to train his special abilities. He followed Anika's instructions and punched the Ord ball. The attack moved through the air like a tactical missile and landed atop a mountain peak, exploding with such fervor that it destroyed the mountain peak.

This was the beauty of Agon's simplistic special abilities. As long as he had enough Ord and could charge up the attack, he could easily kill opponents above his level.

"Remember, if you need a piercing attack, add some spinning to the Ord sphere. That usually works for highly defensive opponents," Anika said. She was a surprisingly good teacher.

Turning around, she met my eyes and quickly looked away. "A-anyways, continue your TRAINING!"

"Why are you suddenly screaming at me!?" Agon was confused, which earned him a slap on the back of the head by Anika.

It was the usual shounen trope of the heroine beating up the main character.

After a week of slaughtering demons, we finally arrived at what could only be called the edge of Shuten Doji's territory. An imposing line of dense mountains stretched before us, their peaks looming high into the sky. Beyond them, an endless ocean churned restlessly. Every now and then, mysterious water demons surfaced, peering curiously at us before disappearing once again into the depths.

But it was the tallest mountain peak that drew our attention, crowned by a foreboding Japanese-style castle shrouded in dark clouds. As we approached, I noticed tiny skulls wriggling and writhing along the castle walls as if attempting to escape their eerie confinement of the white walls.

As we gazed up at the towering structure, a sense of dread washed over us, sending shivers down our spines. The building loomed over us menacingly, its sleek facade glistening in the pale light.

Suddenly, a deafening roar erupted from the castle behind us. It was unlike anything we had ever experienced before, a raw, primal power that seemed to shake the very earth beneath our feet. The sound waves reverberated through the air, causing the mountains and sea to stand still. For a moment, time seemed to freeze as everyone within earshot was held in place by the sheer force of Ord's release.

It was like a tsunami made of concrete, crashing down upon us with a force that threatened to crush us all. A deep sense of dread washed over me, as if the very fabric of reality had been torn apart by the sheer magnitude.