CRASH!

Deathbringer succeeded in killing several of them while moving with Kankan.

He wondered if the one guy who attacked the Priests was the only exception, but that wasn't the case at all.

The guys the Inquisitor had pointed out as bothersome were all causing trouble. Things like killing the strongest person nearby, or stabbing a commander.

"These bastards are weird."

"I think so too."

There was even this kind of bizarre phenomenon.

First of all, it wasn't strange at all for Deathbringer himself to spot them first. He was used to this sort of thing.

However, even after he spotted them and pointed out where they were, Kankan's failure to properly recognize the targets was definitely a bizarre phenomenon. Especially since it happened every time, not just once or twice.

"Damn it. It's even more absurd that stabbing them with a sword results in them not getting stabbed."

Furthermore, the enemies even ignored some of the attacks. Even when Kankan somehow managed to perceive an opponent and attack, they either received no wounds or only minor ones.

Despite the fact that Kankan clearly landed solid hits.

"You can attack them just fine, so why can't I...!"

"I don't know. Maybe you have to attack while the opponent is unaware."

Or maybe it had to do with the presence of a holy relic. Deathbringer briefly handed the holy relic over to Kankan. Unfortunately, nothing changed.

"Is this not it?"

If it wasn't the holy relic, what on earth was causing this difference? It was too random to chalk it up to their physical constitution, and too strange to call it a coincidence... Ah, could it be?

Deathbringer suddenly stroked the blade of the sword in his hand.

The unpurified sword, which the Archmage had even coated to prevent it from being purified, clearly harbored unholy power. To the point where even he, who didn't know much about energy, sometimes wondered, 'Is it really okay to use this?'

Since it was such a sword, wouldn't it have the ability to interfere with this phenomenon?

"... Hold onto this for a second."

"Why the sword... This smells really awful, though? The sword is clean, so what did you put on it?"

"What are you talking about."

Deathbringer then looked back at the guy he had found. He couldn't see him well. The guy was definitely there, but his presence had blurred so much that it felt like he would lose track of him if he paid even slightly less attention...

"What? I can see him just fine?"

So this was the cause. Deathbringer snatched the dagger back. Just as expected, he started seeing the enemy clearly again.

"What the hell is that sword?"

"I don't know. Me neither."

He already knew that it was made of dragon scales, making it hard yet light, and that it was endlessly sharp and its edge never dulled. He had heard and seen all the explanations from the sidelines.

But he never imagined it would even have an effect like this.

Did the Mage Boss who coated it know about this? What about the Demon Knight who gave him the sword?

The Archmage was the type of person who would have told him if he knew, so he probably hadn't known. However, the Demon Knight... Circumstantially, it seemed like he had given it without knowing and just got lucky, but it wouldn't be strange if he had known when he gave it. That man had too many secrets.

STAB!

"Anyway, as far as I remember, this guy is the last one."

Deathbringer stabbed the last target's back as smoothly as flowing water. Since he precisely pierced the spot where the lungs were, the opponent couldn't even scream.

In that state, he precisely slit the guy's throat as well. Since he didn't know what tricks they were hiding, it was best to make sure of the kill.

"Y-You!"

The soldiers who had been confronting the target went wide-eyed.

"The Priest stated that there were hidden traitors and ordered me to dispose of them."

Seeing this reaction for the umpteenth time was just boring. He nonchalantly pulled out and showed the holy relic before hurrying his steps.

Since it was an emergency and they had actually been clashing with the opponent, no one questioned the authenticity of the holy relic.

"Is this all of them?"

"Inside the castle walls, yes."

Deathbringer said that and pointed outside. There were still targets remaining at the defensive line toward the city center.

CRASH!

"... Could they really be out there too, wait, no. They must be. Several guys I know were never even assigned to the castle wall in the first place."

"Well, yeah. But are you confident you can survive if we go out there?"

The Mages had erected a dirt wall to replace the broken gate, but there was no telling when it would be breached.

Also, the city center was already swarming with demons that had successfully infiltrated—bypassing the gate and entering via the underground or the sky.

Judging by the lack of signal flares, it seemed the final defensive line hadn't been breached yet, but that in itself was of little help. They weren't moving to a safe zone right now; they had to wade through the demons to hunt down the traitors.

"Honestly, no."

Moreover, the biggest problem was the two sand tigers that had entered the city first.

He was confident he could at least retreat from the other demons, but it really didn't seem possible with those things.

"But I still have to go."

"... Speaking like a hero."

"A Norda warrior never yields to fear."

"That's the perfect mindset for dying."

However, they didn't really have any other options.

Deathbringer plunged into the city alongside Kankan. Beneath the ground were intestine worms waiting for prey, and above the rooftops were flying-type demons trying to snatch humans, but there was no choice.

"Martial King, why...!"

And they arrived right on time, just as the Martial King joined the defensive line and raised his blade of betrayal.

It was a truly tremendous coincidence, and for one person, it was the perfect opportunity.

"Hey, you bastard!!"

Kankan, having gained a chance for vindication, stood before the Martial King. Right next to them, one of the sand tigers was bringing down a building while resisting the city's forces.

"I will stop you this time for sure!"

However, that was only Kankan's story. Deathbringer, who had run there with Kankan, was frozen stiff because he discovered something else.

"B-Boss, what on earth are you fighting...!"

Far away, a single person standing on the roof of the castle wall was facing off against a massive black air current.

["What, why is the nightmare...?"]

Hearing the word 'nightmare', I instinctively cowered a bit. But besides some pitch-black fog? Or clumps of powder? softly rising, nothing else happened.

Instead, the flying-type demons and other mobs just got scared and backed off.

This seemed to be an unexpected turn of events even for the Great Demon of Sloth, Duke, as he also looked slightly flustered.

["I feel the nightmare. The fears that will lead to deep despair and resignation. But why..."]

Duke snapped his fingers. Even that attempt didn't work properly, as the black air current tried to take the shape of something before crumbling away with a hiss.

["How come...?"]

I don't know what's going on, but it looks like an opportunity.

I scraped together the mana that had replenished during our brief exchange. The pitch-black Two-hander lunged toward Duke.

"Die."

My sword cleaved through Duke's body. However, instead of bleeding, his flesh instantly turned into powder and scattered.

Made up of black grains like a sandstorm, it then took on the shape of a bear. The black air current pounced on me.

CRASH!

Setting aside the fact that my attack didn't work, I probably wouldn't end up in a good state if I allowed that to hit me.

So I roughly pushed it away with Ground Crash. The roof of the castle wall heaved tremendously, but thanks to my decent strength control, the ceiling didn't cave in or anything.

I achieved my intended goal, too.

["Show your nightmare."]

However, Duke was persistent.

At his gesture, some of the fog that had retreated began to take shape.

Like dry ice laying over a stage, what had been calmly settling over the roof of the castle wall soon spread horizontally even into the empty air where no roof existed.

If the idea was to make it impossible to tell where the roof started and ended, it was quite an extraordinary move.

["Yes, it should be like this."]

Though it didn't seem like that was what Duke was truly aiming for.

『Brother.』

"...!"

A single figure that surged up through the smoke parted in the air took on color and a more elaborate form, finally parting its lips.

My body, which had been about to attack one more time, screeched to a halt.

『Son.』

There wasn't just one figure forming, either.

Following the little girl who looked about six or seven years old, a middle-aged man appeared, and then a woman of a similar age. After that, a young man and woman who looked to be around DeB or the Inquisitor's age manifested.

『Why... why only you...』

But... um, who the hell are you?

I sweated profusely on the inside as I looked at these people, whose eye sockets, including their eyes, were pitch-black and who had blood streaming out of their mouths.

I wouldn't have known who they were even normally, so how was I supposed to recognize them when they had special effects like that dumped all over them? They didn't even have familiar faces; it felt like meeting complete strangers.

["How does it feel to be the only one who survived, leaving your family behind?"]

What? Family?

『Why only you...?』

『Brother, it's so cold here...』

『Why, why did you leave us behind...』

They were family?!

『We wanted to live, too.』

『Why did only you survive.』

... Ah, right. It's been a while so my memory is a bit fuzzy, but they do look similar to those people who appeared in the opening video.

Ugh, I definitely didn't curse out anyone's parents, so why do I feel a pang of guilt like I just accidentally insulted someone's dead relatives?

I firmly hardened my face as I watched the false figures approaching me. Duke seemed to think I was in shock from seeing that, but...

'That's not it. It's not.'

『Son.』

'No, I really never imagined he'd drag out my in-game family. Of course, if he had brought out my real parents, I would have been freaked out in a different way. Anyway.'

"F-Father."

Even if my inner thoughts were like this, I couldn't show it on the outside. I put so much force into my eyes that they almost became bloodshot and finally burst my lips open.

Since my concept was someone who held self-disgust over surviving alone while leaving his family behind, it was only natural.

『Brother...』

"Irena..."

'Was the youngest sister's name Irena? Ssst. I think I made a mistake. Please let Duke not notice.'

With those thoughts in mind, I covered my face with my empty hand and cried out as if wailing.

"I-I'm sorry."

'Normally, this would be the time to fall to my knees and despair a bit, but since there's absolutely no one coming to help me, should I skip a little?'

'No, depending on the interpretation, I could see this as insulting my family, so taking the route of anger instead of despair wouldn't break my character.'

"I'm sorry..."

'Alright, the direction is set.'

I slowly straightened my hunched back while dragging my fingernails down my face. I'm confident my eyes must be flashing with a vicious glint right now.

'Since my face is already covered in blood, I'm not so sure about the tears, though.'

"... Even though I swore not to stop until I had offered the heads of all demons to your graves, to think I let those devilish bastards disgrace you."

["...!"]

I raised my sword with the corners of my mouth curled up in an ear-splitting grin.

"Do not worry. Do not worry, Father, Mother, my siblings..."

SLASH.

Immediately after, a pitch-black sword strike cleaved through the illusions and even sliced through Duke, who had stepped back. Naturally, that was also an illusion.

["Ah, killing your family a second time?"]

"Until the moment this life ends, I am an eternal avenger."

["Such poor, pitiful beings... To be abandoned twice by the flesh and blood you trusted..."]

No matter what Duke said, I grinned as if crying and replenished the mana in the sword I had just swung.

"Death to all demons upon this land."

DRIP. Some unknown liquid ran down my cheek and fell from my chin.

["How truly strange."]

Duke, gradually realizing that his tactics weren't working, retrieved the black powder. The fact that he didn't even have a look of regret made it seem like he just thought it would be nice if it worked, and whatever if it didn't. That was a bit annoying.

["You should be angry at this point. But it doesn't seem like Gretchen has been stimulated, either..."]

'On top of that, I have no idea what he's talking about. Was he trying to provoke me to anger rather than despair? To stimulate Gretchen, the demon that's supposedly inside me?'

'Is it stimulated when I get angry because it's 'Wrath'...? I'm already forced to hold back my anger because of the Rage skill, and now it looks like I won't be able to get angry even more in the future. Though, what would there even be to get angry about in this place to begin with.'

["You."]

At that moment, the thing suddenly thrust its head toward me. The sword I reflexively swung cleaved its body, but as expected, it was just an illusion.

["What kind of contract did you make with Gretchen?"]

'... Having a face shoved so close is burdensome enough, but from now on, I think I could just swap out Duke's role as the 'Sloth' representative for the bullshit representative.'

'How am I supposed to make a contract with a demon that only exists in my backstory setting?'

"Die."

["Hmm."]

Regardless, there was no reason to listen to that nonsense. I swung my sword again, and it passed right through this time as well.

'This is getting a bit annoying.'

'No seriously, even so, this is too much. How do I hit him? Whether I coat my sword in mana and slash or try to tear him apart with my bare hands, he just scatters into powder??'

'I can't even catch him when I try. I even steeled myself and fired off a Bombard, but only the demons flying around nearby ended up becoming the victims instead.'

'Could it be that he can only be damaged by divine power? Or is he a mob that's programmed to be unkillable right now??'

I tried using all sorts of skills to touch Duke. However, they all just pierced right through him, and nothing worked.

The fact that Duke's attacks also fell apart with just a couple waves of my hand was my only consolation, if you could even call it that.

["Not this one, and not this one either."]

But the headache was that Duke didn't just stick to attacking. Rather than attacking directly, this bastard showed me various illusions made of powder.

Things like someone with goat horns kneeling before a black silhouette, or a few scenes that seemed related to the character's past.

Did that torment me? Of course it didn't.

'You have to actually know something to receive a mental blow. I only know the Demon Knight character's past history through a few sentences, don't I?'

'Aside from his family getting massacred, I don't even know what other events he went through.'

'Furthermore, Duke didn't even bring the entirety of the incident, just a few cut-out scenes. There's no way I could derive any emotion from that, be it grief, despair, or anger.'

If there was any part where I suffered out of ignorance, it was the acting part.

'I thought my brain was going to catch on fire trying to deduce this and that so I wouldn't break character in a situation I didn't even understand. Later on, I just said screw the acting and attacked indiscriminately like I had lost my mind to anger, though.'

["It's strange."]

'What do you mean strange. Can't you see that I'm the one suffering here, unable to deal any damage and forced to play along with your weird theatrical plays?'

["I know your type very well. You easily fall into emotions like reckless anger, self-loathing, and frustration. Even if you overcome a nightmare, you tend to create an even worse nightmare for yourself."]

'At this point, shouldn't the Archmage or the Inquisitor feel that something is wrong and come up here?'

'Please kill this mob. Save me.'

["However, your nightmare is based on your past, yet shows absolutely no changes."]

'Please.'

["Almost as if it isn't your nightmare."]

'Aaargh. Nightmares or whatever, I don't care. Being held captive by an unkillable mob for several dozen minutes straight is a nightmare! What else is a nightmare?!'

["Even if your personality was split into two, it wouldn't be like this."]

'My nightmare is you, you bastard!!'