["Ah."]

‘Wouldn't it be better to just leave that demon behind and go somewhere else? If the Inquisitor isn't coming, shouldn't I just head over there first?’

Just as that thought crossed my mind, Duke turned his head. Duke's gaze was directed toward the city center, where a fight seemed to be breaking out.

["I guess I can't play with you anymore."]

‘Play? Plaaaay?’

‘Sure, from Duke's perspective, he was just watching me run wild, so it wouldn't be strange to call it playing, but he's so damn annoying. I'm annoyed to death.’

‘I can't get angry because I'm afraid 'Wrath' might trigger, but he's seriously so infuriating!’

"You insect...!"

["It seems the limit of the double dream allowed by the tribute has also been reached... Hah. I knew I shouldn't have stepped forward, nagging or not. What is this? I've just lost a whole bunch of demons I spent decades gathering."]

‘A double dream, gathered demons... some important clues just slipped by, but I flared up at something else instead.’

["It'd be too much of a loss for me to descend with my true body, wouldn't it? Yeah. I already have a bad matchup against the hero, and with Gretchen in this state, what's the point of descending? I'd rather just listen to the nagging."]

‘You, yooouuu. This time I couldn't deal a single point of damage and had to end it because of an event, but next time will be different.’

‘Whether you hid your true body or whatever, the moment your story-mandated invincibility buff wears off, yooouuu are seriously...!’

["No, maybe it's actually better now that our advance has been blocked? If the frontline expands, the number of places to worry about will only increase. Maintaining the status quo is the best option, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. It's not like the humans will stop their desperate struggles just because the frontline expands."]

I swung my sword once more. I had been continuously swinging it until now, but this particular strike was imbued with extra mana.

SCREECH.

With a faint metallic sound ringing in my ears, the sword strike flew forward.

["Alright, so please pass exactly what you just overheard onto your commander. Mm? I'm perfectly fine with the current situation, so let's just keep it this way. And while you're at it, neeeever let go of Gretchen, alright? That way I can save face."]

"You piece of trash—."

["I'm happy because I get to stay put here, and you're happy because you get to stop me. It's a win-win for both of us."]

SLASH!

As expected, it didn't work. I scrunched my face into a fierce scowl at the fog that was beginning to scatter.

It was the same even when the remnants of the demons that had been sliced apart by my venting slashes became visible through the fog.

["Got it? Make sure you pass it on."]

‘If it weren't for that bastard, think of how many demons I could have killed, how many people I could have saved...! Not to mention I couldn't even trigger an evade check, so I couldn't expose any weak points through an Evade Counterattack, seriously!’

SWOOSH!

I took another swing at the powder that was slowly melting into the air. Of course, it didn't work.

Eventually, the black powder fog entirely vanished from my sight.

SHATTER.

At the same time, there was the sound of something breaking.

"You insect...!"

‘Hmm, I did hear a somewhat serious sound, but my sword didn't break, so I can just check it later.’

With that thought, I looked around a bit more.

The result was the same. There was only the nearly finished life-or-death struggle on the castle wall, the still-fierce defensive battle within the city, and me with my mind in tatters.

‘Duke, that bastard. He really ran away...!’

"Dammit...!"

I viciously ground my teeth while slicing down a gargoyle that rushed at me the moment Duke disappeared.

‘What's even more annoying is that I don't even have the mana to run to the city center because I scraped up every last drop of it for that final attack. And also the fact that I can't even get properly angry for fear of triggering the Wrath skill!’

"Aaaaargh!"

"S-Save me!"

"Hold on!"

‘But still, even though I'm really angry.’

‘Being at the tail end doesn't mean it's truly over.’

‘Because there are still people left fighting the demons.’

I clenched my teeth tight and killed the demons clinging to the castle wall.

‘Not only do I lack the mana to go to the city center, but the two sand tigers that were the biggest problem are already dead. I don't know who killed them, but it seems I can focus on this side first.’

"Get out of the way!"

"...!"

The temporarily halted battle began anew.

It was only after the battle on the castle wall was cleaned up that I realized Kankan and DeB had completely disappeared, that the Inquisitor hadn't held back from coming to save me for no reason, and finally, that the thing that had broken was the seal on my forearm.

Meanwhile, while the Demon Knight was still battling the Great Demon, Deathbringer looked at the castle wall filled with black fog and tried to run toward it.

His joining wouldn't necessarily improve the Demon Knight's safety, but if he couldn't do it, he could simply call someone who could help, whether it was the Inquisitor or the Mage Boss.

However, just as he was about to leave, what was happening behind him halted his steps.

Setting aside the demons, which were entities he couldn't stand against, the fight between Kankan and the Martial King was flowing too one-sidedly. Just as it had in the arena.

"You can't do it!"

"Dammit."

Deathbringer looked at Kankan, who was already bleeding after exchanging just a few clashes.

If this continued, Kankan would definitely be killed before he could even reach the castle.

And the freed Martial King would massacre those who set out to hunt the sand tigers. Whatever method they used, the traitors, including the Martial King, were exempt from being targeted by the demons.

Furthermore, with those blocking its path gone, the sand tiger would head straight for the shelter... and if that happened, even if the frontline survived, the city would inevitably fall.

The ones standing on the frontline were soldiers, fighters, and adventurers, but the driving force that maintained the city was the citizens.

The traitors? At the point the frontline collapsed, they had fully played their parts. Whatever deal they made with the demons, they surely left an escape route open for themselves.

It meant they were going to ruin an entire city and shamelessly make it back alive.

That alone, he couldn't tolerate.

Deathbringer shoved his blade into the mouth of a bowel worm rushing at him and gritted his teeth hard.

He hated evildoers who survived without facing judgment more than anything else.

"Boss, you can hold on, right? I believe you'll be able to hold on."

The Demon Knight... would be fine. Through past events, he had realized that the man was also merely human, but there was no other option right now. He had to trust in his formidable strength.

Or trust in the possibility that the Inquisitor or the Archmage had noticed the anomaly and gone to help.

"I'll kill just one guy and then get going."

Therefore, he took out a bottle and a single sword. Simultaneously, he held his breath and hid his body in the shadows.

Even when Kankan got one of his arms cut off, even when the fighters who rushed in to replace Kankan were slaughtered by the Martial King, even when a demon sprang up in the space right next to him, and even the moment a sand tiger smashed the building two doors down from where he was.

And so, when his form melted into the surroundings and he ceased to exist as a person, becoming nothing but a mere shadow.

And the moment Kankan squeezed out his last ounce of strength to cross swords and enter a contest of power with the Martial King.

He stepped out of the shadows. The blade, devoid of even a gleam but coated with something, precisely stabbed into the Martial King's back.

"Huuup!"

Due to the height difference, it went up at an angle, but that was actually better. He maneuvered his hand as much as possible so the blade would pass the liver and reach the lungs.

The blade expertly bypassed the ribs, rummaged through flesh, and pulled out in a twisted state. It was a strike imbued with the tenacity to steal the opponent's life up to the very last moment.

"Hck, huuup."

Then, instead of words, only a groaning sound like deflating air came from above. It was proof of a clean stab.

"Dodge!"

"...!"

However, even after doing all this, it seemed he still had some energy left. While keeping his sword locked with Kankan's, the Martial King slightly twisted his pelvis and swung his hand backward.

He was trying to catch his attacker without even tending to his own body. Kankan had noticed that and shouted.

WHAM!

He tried to pull his body back, but it was too late. The Martial King's arm whipped around and struck his chest. The heavy impact sent his body tumbling.

"Keuk."

His body rolled two or three times across the ground filled with broken building rubble and sand before barely regaining its balance. He grabbed the area where he had been hit.

"... Fuck, is my rib cracked?"

He had prepared to pull out regardless of whether the attack succeeded or not, and had actually moved right after pulling out the sword, yet the man still managed to strike him. He didn't know if the Martial King's anger was incredible or his sheer spite was.

Seeing how painful it was even though it was a glancing blow, his martial prowess was at least definitely that of a monster's.

"Die!"

Fortunately, Kankan bought him the time to recover his body. He launched a fierce attack on the Martial King, whose major organs had been pierced.

The thought that there would be no more chances if he missed this opening seemed to have had quite an influence.

"I told you not to interfere!"

But the Martial King was the Martial King. Whatever method he used, he restored his breathing and clashed swords. He was an incredibly creepy bastard.

Or what, did he receive some related perk while making a deal with the demons? Otherwise, a human couldn't act that lively after having their internal organs stabbed.

"I will absolutely not fall until I stop you!"

Truthfully, the other side was just as creepy.

He was struggling this much from a single glancing blow, yet those humans were continuing their brawl even with severed arms and pierced organs.

Even if both were mana users, this was a bit too much. Were they of a different race?

"Just buy some time, Boss Redmane!"

Well, even if they really were different, it didn't matter much. As long as their inner flesh wasn't made of steel, the poison would work.

Instead of his unpurified blade, he grabbed and threw a few daggers.

Since he had already sneak-attacked once, the man wouldn't easily give up an opening. Rather than waiting for that, he intended to just keep pestering and interfering.

"You rat!"

As expected, the Martial King easily shook off Kankan and deflected all the daggers. He didn't care.

"Do you know that this rat's claws are coated in poison?"

The place he had applied the poison wasn't on those daggers, but on the sword he had used for the sneak attack.

"It's a poison obtained from the king lizard of the Great Chiria Forest, don't know if you're aware."

"...!"

There weren't many poisons that took effect all at once. Considering the opponent used mana, it might take a bit longer.

But even that would end eventually. It might not be the most expensive poison, but it was still a poison that guaranteed death a hundred times out of a hundred once used.

"In an hour, half your organs will melt, and in a day, they'll turn to mush. As your blood vessels melt, the bleeding will worsen, and your muscle tissue and flesh will slowly rot away."

"...!"

"In other words, you're fucked, you son of a bitch."

It meant the Martial King would definitely die; it was just a matter of when.

"You little sh— Cough!"

He threw a dagger as he watched the Martial King cough up blood. Deflecting the dagger and blocking Kankan, who had aimed for the opening, even at this moment—he was a man with truly exceptional sheer spite.

"Do you, do you think I will die like this?"

And what about those sturdy legs, even when his head should have been spinning from internal bleeding? He really had one thick lifeline. Even though he was a human who wasn't worth keeping alive.

"I will not die. I will never die!"

"The hell are you saying. Just die alrea—"

In an instant, Deathbringer's eyes widened. It was because he saw the Martial King swallow something.

"I didn't want to use it here, but...!"

Following that, something resembling the black currents seen above the castle walls began to flow out of the Martial King.

It didn't just flow out; it spread as if adhering to the ground.

"The likes of you cannot drag me down from this place!"

It even began to take on a certain shape.

"I, I will not lose...!"

An arena? No, that wasn't it. It took the format of an arena, but it was different from the arena in this city.

"This is..."

"...?"

"My hometown's...?"

Mixed with Kankan's words, the somewhat primitive form of the arena provided a decent clue. What mattered, however, was why and by what principle it had appeared here.

『Loser.』

"That's...!"

Including that silhouette standing in the center of the manifested stage, muttering those words.

"I will not lose—!"

The Martial King roared. At that, the silhouette shattered to pieces.

His face, which had been slowly dying from the poison, was also regaining its color, whatever trick he had pulled. It was a bizarre phenomenon.

"Kill them!"

SCREECH!

Furthermore, the bastard began to command the demons. The demons, which hadn't approached the area because of the Martial King's presence, began flying in, aiming for Deathbringer.

"He should have just died...!"

"Dodge!"

"You dodge. I don't have any methods left anymore!"

"I'll buy some time, so run away!"

Buying time, my ass. Wasn't that the time he couldn't buy even when both his arms were fine?

And even if he did buy time, it was a problem. Would there be any meaning in buying time when the demons were openly targeting only him? Could he really escape?

"Ah, shit!"

He didn't know. If the opponent was just the Martial King, there might have at least been a possibility.

CRASH!

Still, moving was better for his life than not moving. Deathbringer rolled his body to dodge the approaching gargoyle.

The pouring flames scorched the ground and burned the edge of his cloak and the tip of his tail sticking out from it, but at least he avoided being roasted alive.

CLICK CLICK.

SHRIEK!

... Though that didn't mean all the danger had disappeared.

"Aaaagh!"

He stepped on the broken building fragments and climbed atop the pile. It was because bowel worms could burrow through most dirt, but rock took a long time, and they couldn't pierce through iron at all.

Of course, doing this meant the flying-type demons would try to target them. But at least they could see them and dodge, right?

Even if it was a bit too much when three of them clung on and attacked at once.

"Hey, get out of the way!!"

"Crazy! Why are you dragging that over here!"

"So the Martial King gets crushed to death too!"

"Like he'd get crushed to death!!"

Even worse, one of the sand tigers that had gone off to the side came back this way, smashing through buildings.

The shouted words couldn't possibly be sincere; it seemed that while the people who had failed to hunt the sand tiger scattered in all directions, the tiger's attention was drawn to those fleeing this way.

"Dammit!"

He was just trying to help Kankan save his own life since the Martial King's death was guaranteed, yet such an unexpected variable occurred.

Anyway, these things called demons just didn't suit him. Not only were they too advantageous at creating variables, but they also completely shattered his final move like this.

Deathbringer clicked his tongue and searched for a method.

Interfering in that fight, slinging Kankan over his shoulder, and running away was rejected. It was completely impossible for him to carry that bulky guy and move swiftly. The Martial King wouldn't just let them go anyway.

Then take out the sand tiger? How? Even if he trusted his sword's performance and stabbed it, with that size, it'd probably feel like a splinter in its hand.

"I want to stop leaving my comrades to die now...!"

If so.

Should he stab the Martial King one more time after all?

"That's a good mindset."

In that instant, the head of the demon that had been closely chasing him shattered to pieces and scattered in all directions. The shadow cast on the main road was, as always, so large it was hard to believe she belonged to the Slender race.

"I came to have a little chat, but given the situation, that seems difficult. It looks too urgent over there for me to step in directly. So, anyway, would you mind killing that thing for me?"

"You're..."

Deathbringer parted his lips at the person standing in front of him.

It was because he felt a vague sense of déjà vu upon seeing the person soaked in blood as if she had already fought a fierce battle, along with a sand tiger corpse visible behind her.

"Instead, I'll make sure the demons can't interfere with you, and that human's attention is drawn elsewhere. Will that be possible?"

"... If someone spoon-feeds me all that and I still can't eat it, I should just go die, damn it."

But there was no time to figure out that sense of déjà vu. He spat out whether it was possible before fully grasping the situation.

The subject grinned. It was an elegant smile, like a magnolia greeting the spring.

"Great."

And soon, the nature of that smile changed.

As if starting a performance with a single beat, or announcing a stage transition with a single clap.

Her crescent-moon-like eyes snapped open fiercely, and her smoothly curved lips spread wide, shifting into a shape fit for a maniacal laugh.

"Then this Berserker will beat all those demon bastards to death!"

Her hand, the one not holding the halberd, snatched the jaw of a gargoyle that had just flown in and slammed it into the ground.

Along with crushed flesh, her voice that exploded into the surroundings reached the person who had eventually grabbed Kankan by the neck.

"So show that loser what you're made of! Tell him he's still a loser, and he will be a loser forever!"

"You...!"

The Martial King's eyes widened massively.

It was a moment where his attention was perfectly captured.