CH 283

Episode 283 – Rematch With the Demon

Author’s Note: This chapter is from Ahmed’s POV.

After some light treatment, several minutes passed as we continued through the forest while searching for traces of its presence. All too easily, we found the demon from earlier standing under the shade of a tree.

I had imagined that he would be lying in wait with a huge swarm of monsters or fleeing deeper into the forest to save strength, so I was surprised and even disappointed to see him standing there, although I didn’t let that show on my face. The demon appeared to be sitting on some kind of dark object, but when I looked closer, I realized that it was actually that giant serpent.

…If I remember correctly, that serpent was also mentioned by the reporter. It smelled even more dangerous than the demon, but I didn’t have the option to turn back now.

“Bastard, how dare you run away?” (Ahmed)

I shouted at the demon, who hadn’t noticed us yet. It looked over at us with a genuine look of surprise upon its face. It seemed to be calmly resting, as if it hadn’t expected me to be able to break through its monster forces.

“You actually managed to break through those monsters?” (Demon)

“Well, that’s the only way I could be standing here now, right?! You bastard, did you forget that you used such an underhanded trick on me?” (Ahmed)

“I see… In that case, I must’ve misjudged your strength. During the light exchange we had earlier, I suppose I misread you… So that’s it. Looks like you’re a bit different from the other humans who have challenged me. You seem to be quite a somewhat strong human.” (Demon)

“Even though you ran away with your tail between your legs, you seem to be pretty laid back. I don’t see any buddies by your side to save you, you know?” (Ahmed)

“…Ran away? It’s unthinkable for me to run from the likes of you. Unlike you, I’m not so free.” (Demon)

Just like when I provoked it when it ran away earlier, I could tell that the demon didn’t seem to have a high tolerance for smack talk. I was also someone who got irritated easily, but seeing it from an onlooker’s point of view, it was almost comical to see how easy it was to get him worked up.

“Well even though you said you aren’t that free, you’ve been resting there until now, haven’t you? You don’t have to hide it. It wouldn’t be your first time running away from me.” (Ahmed)

“…..Alright. If you really want to die so badly, I’ll kill you as you wished. Besides… you said I don’t have any companions near me, but don’t you see Yuharaham here?” (Demon)

The demon said, lightly patting the giant serpent that he was leaning on.

While letting out a high-pitched warning screech, the giant serpent slowly slithered along the ground as it moved forward to block my path. It was so large that it could even swallow someone of my height in one bite.

The intimidating air that it gave off was incomparable to that of the demon. The giant serpent was giving off a far more unpleasant aura.

“Hah, I noticed it but I thought it was just your pet. I never would have thought that you would send your pet out to fight for you just so you can run away.” (Ahmed)

“Yuharaham, a pet? If you really think that way, you must have a pretty useless head on your shoulders.” (Demon)

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I wanted to shout, ‘there’s no way that doesn’t look like your pet!’, but there was no need to go out of my way to tell my opponent my true thoughts.

“Whatever, hurry up and come at me. I’m already pissed off because you ran away from me once. No matter if it’s your pet that comes first or you… or maybe if you’re scared, how about you both come at once?” (Ahmed)

“……This time, I’ll deal with you. I’ll make you regret not running away.” (Demon)

“Heheh. Like I said, you were the one that ran away, not me!” (Ahmed)

Seeing that the giant serpent with the dangerous aura was backing off, I went in on the demon at once.

The demon’s expression and atmosphere were completely different from before. It seemed like this time, he intended to stay here and duke it out with me.

I tried to suppress the excitement rising within me, but my body showed no signs of stopping. I gave myself to my instincts and raised my greatsword overhead― then swung it down at the demon’s head with mighty force.

“Certainly… It’s quite a heavy blow for a human. But if this is all you got, it won’t even be enough to stall for time against me, you know?” (Demon)

The demon easily caught my heavy swing with a black blade that it summoned out of magic power. My sword was a greatsword, while the demon’s was a one-handed sword, although it was in a somewhat warped form. Despite being the one with the overwhelming advantage, it was able to easily stop the blow. I couldn’t help but grin at the demon’s unexpected level of strength.

“What are you grinning about? If you’ve finally noticed the difference in strength, hurry up and die.” (Demon)

The demon pushed back my sword which he caught earlier and immediately slashed back. I thrust my greatsword into the ground and managed to block it, but its power and speed were tremendous.

I pulled my greatsword back out of the ground, but my hand was tingling from the impact despite the force being distributed into the earth.

Its physique wasn’t big, but I could feel that it had a level of might on par with the dragon mummy that I fought in the Dungeon. It wasn’t just pure strength either― as soon as the demon saw me create a bit of distance, it transformed its warped black sword into an orb and launched it after me.

Close range, long range, swordsmanship and magic… without a doubt, this was the strongest opponent I had ever faced.

I tried to clad my sword in magic power to counter the oncoming magic, but magic power manipulation wasn’t one of my fortes. When I was forced to learn magic as a child, I remembered being told that I had a natural talent for magic, but I quickly ended up abandoning it because it was horrifically incompatible with my personality.

When I received the mass of black magic power with my greatsword, I slightly regretted not taking magic instruction a little more seriously, but I did what I did best. I used all of my strength and overpowered it, tearing through the orb.

….Phew.

It wouldn’t have been strange for me to take a fatal wound from any of those attacks in that series, but I managed to get through it unscathed. I received them all with my greatsword, so it was probably already at a level of durability where it could break at any time.

Of course the demon wouldn’t care about my situation, and it immediately moved on to the next attack. I’ll stick to dodging so my sword doesn’t break.

The moment that thought passed through my mind―

“Eliza! If you don’t take this seriously, we’re going to die!” (Smash)

“This isn’t an opponent you can afford to take it easy against!” (Dion)

The shouts of the two who had been lying in wait in the rear reached my ears.

…Taking into account the present situation and the strength of the demon, I certainly didn’t have the leisure to engage in a long back and forth exchange.

It wasn’t intentional, but every time I fought against a strong opponent, I always wanted to see everything they had first. I would continue to keep up with them as I gauged them, and this habit had become firmly ingrained in my body.

This time was no different. I wanted to draw out everything the demon had before defeating it, but the demon hadn’t been serious from the get-go.

Before moving into my next attack, I closed my eyes and meditated for a brief moment.

My consciousness submerged into an even deeper place in my mind than before, and my powers of concentration once again shot up to their utmost limits.