The Inquisitor instinctively turned her head at the strange sensation felt from behind. The Priests who were offering prayers around her were the first things she saw.

What she saw next was a blade swinging down toward those Priests.

She tried to pick up the shield she had set down on the ground. 'It will be too late if I try to lift this.' The judgment she had developed through numerous real-combat experiences pierced through the reality of the situation.

Then what should she do?

"Halt!"

Trusting the armor she wore, the Inquisitor blocked the path in front of the Priest. The surprisingly light armor made that possible.

CLANG!

The forearm she raised as a substitute for her shield clashed with the axe blade. It didn't break, but the recoil pushed her forearm back slightly.

"This...!"

Still, she blocked it. Wouldn't that be enough?

The Inquisitor lowered the hand that wasn't in contact with the axe blade. She intended to draw the mace hanging from her waist and smash that spy's head in.

"Shh."

In that split second, something that seemed to spring from the shadows seized the hulking man.

Stepping on the back of his knee to match his height, grabbing his jaw to fix his face in place, and slitting his throat with a blade—all these actions happened simultaneously. Blood poured out.

"Ghk, guhk."

The carotid artery was severed precisely. The Inquisitor affirmed this by the sheer volume of blood spraying out.

Next, she identified the one who committed this act. A dark green cloak that looked black in the shadows, and perked-up ears. It was the slacker.

"What just...!"

"What do you mean, what just happened? The bastards we suspected finally showed their true colors. I don't know yet if they joined hands with demons or not, but seeing them target an unrelated Priest boss, it's probably true—"

"Demonic energy!"

Her face hardened at the black dust scattering the moment the attacker's life ended, along with the wisp of demonic energy that burst forth.

Until now, she had only felt a slight sense of disparity; she couldn't fathom why she was suddenly sensing demonic energy from him now.

"An intruder?!"

"H-How..."

"Are you alright?!"

Even the surrounding soldiers only noticed the attacker's presence right after the demonic energy spread into the air. It was as if the demonic energy had been concealing the attacker as well.

"Get them right now...!"

That was dangerous. The Inquisitor tried to move to leave the area. It was to dispose of all those she felt were bothersome presences.

RUMBLE.

But of all times, the sound of a section of the castle wall collapsing rang out just then. At this exact timing when a portion of the blessing had been cut off because she stopped her prayer.

"...!"

It could be a coincidence, but it was more likely not. That fact caught her ankle. The Inquisitor lightly bit her lip.

"It's a sand tiger!! Two sand tigers are coming!!"

To make matters worse, a sound that shook the earth began to resonate. Sand tigers. They were demons reaching twenty meters in length, known for traveling by digging through the ground.

Meaning, they were the greatest natural enemies of the castle wall standing upon the ground.

"I'll go take care of it, so you just stay here and pray."

"...! How can you..."

"I'm much better at killing people than you are, you know?"

"...!"

She unwittingly glared wide-eyed at the slacker's words. It was because the one belonging to the shadows looked incredibly threatening for a moment.

"The Knight Boss went up on the castle wall, so please pay more attention to that side. Oh, and hand over a holy relic, too. If they ask why I killed him, I have to make up an excuse that it was an order."

And that probably wasn't just her imagination.

The Inquisitor clenched and unclenched her fist at the person standing before her, then finally took something out and threw it.

CATCH.

"Thanks."

Afterward, she returned to her spot. A blessing even more intense than before fiercely wrapped around the castle wall.

Deathbringer retraced his steps while recalling the locations of the people in his head.

And he grabbed Kankan, who had been fighting even harder in his stead after he left.

"What?!"

"Let's go beat up some traitors."

"The sand tigers are coming, what?"

Being so preoccupied with what was right in front of him, it seemed he had no idea what was happening elsewhere.

He forcefully grabbed Kankan and dragged him out.

The Demon Knight was making a stellar showing, but it was also true that the battle was getting more intense by the minute. It was rare for anyone to notice their departure.

Even those who did notice had no energy to stop them due to the demons attacking right away, or they kept their mouths shut upon seeing the holy relic he held up.

"What do you mean, traitors?"

"Those guys. The Martial King and his lot."

"...!"

"Not only did they attack the Priests, but demonic energy was detected from them. We can't put this off just because we're fighting demons anymore."

Kankan was a skilled fighter, sure, but in a place like this, unless you were someone like the Demon Knight, one person missing wouldn't be very noticeable.

On the other hand, a strong fighter held high value in the task of hunting down and killing traitors. Killing them in one fell swoop caused less damage and allowed them to move quickly.

"Your job is simple. Point out the ones I haven't recognized yet. And handle the frontal assaults."

Furthermore, Deathbringer wasn't confident in frontal assaults. He needed at least one person to cover that area.

"Understood."

With that much explanation, Redmane accepted it immediately. It was nice that they could communicate so easily.

"Then let's go right away. We have to kill all those bastards inside the castle walls, and we have to aim for the Martial King, too."

"...!"

The hunt was just beginning.

'Wow. There are too many demons. In all honesty, there are seriously way too many.'

I swung my sword while thinking that. Having spammed Bombard quite a bit, my mana was nearing rock bottom, so I didn't coat my sword in skills.

I only felt a slight resistance on my wrist anyway, and it still sliced well like this, so it didn't matter.

SLASH!

After tearing apart another harpy, I wiped a part of my face. Because I had killed so many, the blood that splattered here and there was covering my entire face.

The blood pushed onto the back of my hand and fingers gathered in drops before flying off with a single flick of my hand.

SCREECH!

"Tsk."

In the meantime, another one came flying at me. The guy charging at me like a cannonball looked ready to not just shove me away, but to crush the castle wall entirely.

But I wasn't about to give up my life just to save a little mana.

I cleaved the incoming bastard in half. Its vertically bifurcated body split wide open and plummeted down to both sides of me.

The wall imbued with blessing was incredibly sturdy, so it didn't collapse just because a bisected corpse fell onto it. I wasn't sure about the ground behind the castle wall, but corpses must have piled up there as much as they could already, so it probably didn't matter.

SCREECH!

Another one landed on the castle wall and opened its mouth, which was overflowing with flames. It seemed it wanted to shoot out flames the moment it roughly touched down.

But this castle wall wasn't just sturdy.

Indeed, if my HP was getting drained by -1 every 3 seconds, how bad would it be for the demons?

SIZZLE!

The moment it touched the skin, steam rose and it began to burn. It wasn't a powerful enough attack to melt them instantly, but it was perfect for making the demons sting.

The guy trying to spew fire lost its posture and launched its attack a half-beat late. It was enough time for me to pull my body back and sever its head.

THWHACK!

The severed head fell over the castle wall.

"Phew."

'But really, how long do I have to keep fighting? I feel like I've killed quite a lot...'

I glanced around to check the situation.

Because I had been moving back and forth along the castle wall, prioritizing the demons capable of destroying the wall, I didn't see any large ones for now. As for the flying-type demons, I only killed the ones that attacked me or came within reach, so there were still many left.

On the ground outside the castle wall... Wow, did someone drop candy down there! I had left the ones on the ground alone since I couldn't reach them, and now they were absolutely swarming.

Some were even climbing up by digging their claws into the castle wall. Especially tenaciously targeting the few sections that had just crumbled.

CRASH!

Still, the castle wall remained sturdy, and the Mages were steadily disposing of the bastards. So, it would just take some time; if things kept going like this, it would turn out somewhat fine.

"It's a sand tiger!! Two sand tigers are coming!!"

'If an entity worthy of being called a mid-boss or a boss didn't intervene, that is.'

"I thought we were having it easy."

Talk about speaking things into existence; as soon as I thought we could clear it stably if a boss didn't appear, two boss-class monsters made their grand entrance. I don't need this kind of voice recognition—no, thought recognition.

RUUUUMBLE.

To make matters worse, these bosses had the trait of traveling underground. I clicked my tongue as I watched the ground heave and form slight mounds.

'I can't kill them from here. It would drain too much mana to shoot slashes from here to all the way over there. And Bombard's mana consumption is insane in its own right.'

'On the other hand, a mana spear... I don't know how much damage a skill will deal after piercing through the dirt to reach them. I haven't seen their appearance yet, but if they can traverse underground, their skin must be incredibly tough.'

'In my opinion, it's highly likely to be meaningless. It's better not to do it.'

'Going down to kill them is... a bit too much, even putting aside the Archmage's request. There isn't just one, but two of them, plus there are a lot of mobs around, and crucially, I don't have any mana left.'

'I could kill most things even without mana, but an annoying guy like that is probably impossible.'

RUUUMBLE.

Even in that moment, the sand tigers continued to approach. Their movements, rough enough to send demons flying and erase magic traces on the ground, led directly toward the castle gate.

I didn't know how their intelligence worked, but it was an obvious calculated move.

'Ah, this is making me want to release the seal. If I just take off the seal, I wouldn't have to use skills so sparingly!'

Like the saying goes—if you stand, you want to sit; if you sit, you want to lie down—thoughts of amplifying my mana kept popping into my head. The fact that it had been modified so I couldn't take it off myself was becoming a lifelong regret.

CRASH!!!

However, reality flowed differently from my feelings.

In the end, I had to watch the castle gate get smashed without even being able to lay a finger on them. The only consolation was that this city treated the destruction of its gates as a baseline expectation.

"Kill them!"

"Don't let them reach the shelter!"

The reason why expecting the gates to break is a consolation is because, thanks to anticipating this situation, their subsequent response was incredibly swift.

I'm talking about things like the Mages filling the breached spot with an earthen wall, or the manpower stationed throughout the city fighting against the sand tigers.

It's just that the property damage would increase immensely every time those massive things rampaged.

'Hmm, should I go down after all?' I pondered for a moment after ripping the mouth of a gargoyle that lunged at me and tossing it at a wyvern.

'It would be one thing if they were outside the castle walls, but since they've entered the city, I wouldn't be breaking my promise, and I've already taken care of almost all the demons that could destroy the castle wall.'

'All that's left are the mobs outside the wall... Other people can kill the mobs. The damage they'd cause wouldn't compare to what the sand tigers would deal anyway.'

'Most of all, rather than me handling the mobs while all those people handle the bosses, it would be much more efficient for just me to handle the bosses while all those people take care of the mobs.'

"Phew."

'Alright. Let's go help. It's not just one, but two.'

'They even split up perfectly, so even if I lack a little mana, my life won't be in danger. I can handle at least one somehow.'

Thinking like that, I coated my legs with the non-existent mana I had left to jump down.

["You look to be in high spirits. I guess you really are suppressing it properly? I thought you would at least synchronize with a portion of the emotions."]

"...!"

If I had known from the start that I had no choices, I wouldn't have wasted it like that.

["I deliberately picked the moment you'd be the most furious to present this gift, so it's a shame."]

"You're..."

I swung my hand while facing a beauty you would expect to see in Hollywood. Another demon who failed to read the mood was torn apart by my hand.

However, the opponent showed no reaction whatsoever.

It was obvious. If it was someone who would react to every little thing in this sight, they wouldn't be standing up here wearing just a scrap of Greek-style cloth.

No, clothes aside, coming up onto this castle wall itself was the problem. No human would stand here unless they were exceptionally confident in their skills.

["You don't even recognize me... It seems Gretchen is slowly becoming a washed-up has-been."]

The bigger problem was the fact that I hadn't noticed her approach.

There was no notification, and I couldn't even catch her presence. This was dangerous. A cold sweat dripped down my back.

At least it was a relief that the opponent spoke first. If not, I might have only noticed after getting a knife in the back.

CREAK.

'Kill her. Right now.'

I let the slight metallic sound ringing in my ears go in one ear and out the other as I continued my thoughts.

'More importantly, didn't she just say I don't "recognize" her? Even talking as if looking down on Gretchen.'

'It's unlikely that the 72 Knights, who rank lower than a Great Demon, would speak like that...'

"Are you Sloth?"

["Ah, I guess it's not to that extent?"]

'Wow. Archmage, are you watching? Your summoning spell was a success. A Great Demon actually made her appearance.'

CREEEAK.

'Kill her right now.'

I abandoned everything else and focused on the opponent. Martial King or whatever, what stood before me was a rank right below the final boss. I couldn't afford to be careless against that.

'Of course, they probably applied a balance patch to match the story's progression. Of course they did!'

'According to the lore, she's someone who ranks in the top eight among all demons at the very least, so I can't help but be tense.'

'Normally, even when these named entities appear according to the story, they come out slightly stronger than the bosses appearing in the same period.'

["Well, honestly, whatever. Considering I had to make a move because of you, I have no intention of ending this easily. You obviously can't exert your full strength in a suppressed state anyway. Works out well for me."]

'... Still, I hope she goes easy on me. My only fault is being trapped in a game and unable to leave, so couldn't you please go easy on me?'

["Let's go, into your nightmare."]

GYAAAAK.