Where the hell did this damn demon hide?

People affiliated with the Temple, those who came and went from the Temple, and so on. We combed through them like we were picking out lice for three whole days, but no information came out.

Even with the additional physical features the Deathbringer provided making it not such a common appearance, not a single eyewitness account came up.

"Like a rat..."

The more annoying part was that we couldn't tell if the bastard was hiding and we just couldn't find him, or if we couldn't find him because he had fled to another city.

In fact, he wouldn't even need to go to another city; just leaving this city would place him outside our search radius.

Was that why? The thought that we had just been wasting our time wouldn't go away.

Even if I wasn't exploding with rage like my concept, I felt a mild annoyance at the thought of having come up empty-handed.

"Those abominable demons... Their skill at hiding from the light is truly excellent."

My concept wasn't the only thing that was pissed off. The Inquisitor was also fiercely riled up. He had scattered divine power all over the entire city this morning, so no further explanation was needed.

"Did you find anything out?"

"Nope."

However, we were the only ones losing our tempers. The Berserker and DeB had returned from today's hunt and were currently polishing off the food.

"Young hunter, eat this."

More than that, the two of them had gotten much closer. I observed the Berserker pushing food—especially dishes containing fruit—toward DeB.

It was a heartwarming sight, but seeing DeB turning deathly pale with his smiling face frozen in place, it wasn't exactly that either.

"T-Thank you."

He couldn't bring himself to reject the goodwill, but his stomach was full. It was blatantly obvious he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Honestly, it was kind of funny.

"Really, nothing at all?"

"Even if you ask me that, what would someone like me know? I only smelled the stench of beasts."

Still, it was only funny to an onlooker; from DeB's perspective, it must have been incredibly awkward. His tone, which had grown sharper out of exasperation, made that clear.

"If you're really that curious, you should come along."

DeB grumbled and shoved the fruit into his mouth. The salad the Berserker had pushed over was still left, but it seemed he had decisively given up on it.

"Hmm..."

However, those words themselves had a point.

I drank my portion of soup and pondered whether to continue searching for the demon tomorrow, or to go out beast hunting as DeB suggested.

No matter how much I thought about it, the latter seemed better.

I wasn't a tracking expert, but I had still invested three whole days, hadn't I?

Considering nothing had come up even after all this, giving up might be the right choice. Instead, I could look for the cause of the beast incidents.

Wiping out the carnivores like this could be a solution, but it was too short-sighted of a method.

"Mmph! Mmm-mmph!"

At that moment, the Berserker, having packed meat heartily into her mouth, made a noise. Since her cheeks were bulging with food, she couldn't speak immediately.

"... Berserker, please swallow your food before speaking."

"Kaha!"

It was quite amazing how all that food washed down with a single glass of alcohol, though.

"Berserker thinks she saw something strange in the forest!"

"What?"

"It's not that I saw it with my own two eyes... Hmmmm."

She crossed her arms and tilted her head, then soon popped an exclamation mark. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

"It felt like some annoying bastard was watching me and the young hunter."

"An annoying bastard...?"

"Could it be a demon?!"

"I don't know! It's a gut feeling!"

"Ah, a gut feeling."

At the Berserker's shout, the Inquisitor's expression became subtle. It seemed the word 'feeling' had lost his trust.

On the other hand, rather than losing interest at the word 'feeling,' DeB had a look that said, 'Why didn't I notice?' Since a gaze is inherently abstract, he seemed to have decided to believe her.

For the record, I felt similarly to DeB. After all, it was a universal tradition that the intuition of characters like the Berserker was as accurate as actual foresight.

Whether it was the demon or the cause of the beast incidents, it was clear that something was in the forest.

"Are you certain?"

"Demon Knight?"

"Berserker does not speak lies!"

Right, that settled it.

I firmly gripped the two-hander I had leaned against the dining table. The sky was still in the middle of sunset, so we had plenty of time.

"Even if I have to search every inch of the forest, I will catch its tail."

Well, even if we didn't have plenty of time, it didn't matter.

The concept absolutely does not hold back.

"..."

"Ahaha! The night forest really does have a nice mood!"

"I feel like that nice mood is being completely ruined because of you, though..."

"There really aren't many adventurers in the night forest."

"Why would there be? Normal adventurers aren't strong enough to catch and kill wild beasts barehanded in the dark like you guys, you know?"

It was a natural progression, but when I left, the Berserker abandoned the alcohol and meat she loved so much and followed me.

When the Berserker stepped up, the Inquisitor also followed with a resolute face, declaring, "I, too, shall not overlook the possibility of a demon being present."

In DeB's case, when even the Inquisitor tagged along, he fiercely tore at his own hair and shouted that he was joining too.

Of course, I figured his true intention wasn't that he actually wanted to come, but rather that he simply couldn't let the runaway trio go off on their own. Especially since the Archmage, who would normally stop us, wasn't around.

"Hah. Why am I..."

It was the Meat Dumpling, suffering as always.

"Could we really not have informed the Mage Boss before coming...?"

Right. But isn't it the Archmage's fault for leaving his seat, knowing that the three of us are a combination with no brakes?

Or maybe he trusted that you'd squeeze in between us to act as the voice of reason, and thus left his seat?

"I left a note."

"Who doesn't know that?"

"Then what's the problem?"

"Phew..."

Either way, it was only going to cause DeB stress, so I silently expressed my sympathies to him and pressed the Berserker.

"Where did you feel the gaze from?"

No matter how fiercely determined I was, I didn't want to just comb through the forest without any clues. Especially a forest blanketed in thick fog.

"From further in than here? Or right from the start?"

Oh... that's quite... a vague statement.

From the start, or from deep inside. Was it watching from within? Was that why the gaze felt stronger the closer she got?

Hmm. Should we go further in then? But this forest is connected to the Great Forest, so it's incredibly vast.

"Direction."

"Hmm. I don't really know. It felt like the gaze was following me no matter which direction I looked."

"And now."

"It's not there."

Hmmmmm.

Do I really have to tear through everything without even knowing the direction? That can't be right. There has to be at least one clue.

"If you're unhappy, go back."

"Are you crazy? Leave you guys behind? And we've come too far to turn back now, anyway!"

Suddenly, I recalled DeB's testimony about feeling like there was a whale floating in the sky.

He had made excuses just in case, saying he might have mistaken it for a cloud... but well. From my perspective, it definitely didn't seem like a mistake.

Moreover, the feeling of a gaze following you no matter which direction you look is usually...

"That gaze. Was it from above?"

'It is from above, right? No matter how you look at it, it's the sky, isn't it?'

At my question, the Berserker blinked. And shortly after, her eyes, shining platinum in the moonlight, curved into crescents.

"Right. It was above."

My gaze naturally scanned the sky. With not a single cloud in sight, it was a sky filled with stars and the moon.

My blade pointed upwards.

CRASH!

["That crazy bastard."]

Leviathan watched as a darkness even deeper than the night was shot into the heavens above.

It was such a horrifying sight that Pandemonium, who was beside him, also gaped blankly.

["... Say that again. Are you sure he really isn't Wrath? Putting aside that aggressive temper of his, a mere human who became a vessel is wielding Wrath's power to that extent without any issue?"]

["T-The vessel was definitely holding the initiative, though..."]

If Wrath had regained the initiative, it was a massive problem, and if it was the human vessel holding the initiative and still producing that level of power, that was a massive problem in its own right.

Pandemonium and Leviathan were gripped by conflict.

["No. That's definitely the vessel. If it were him, he wouldn't waste his power like that; he would have burned this entire area to the ground."]

["Hah. Well, that's great news."]

["... At most, it's just a reckless barrage of demonic energy."]

["Right. Put simply, yes. The problem is that a human is pulling off something that's only possible for us when we enter the King's domain."]

["..."]

["Gretchen really is something else. Since he's not in his main body and not in the King's domain, his power should be reduced to a quarter. On top of that, since the vessel is wielding it, he shouldn't even be able to draw out all of that remaining power, yet he can still do something like that? Even if his origins are like that, there's a reason he was chosen as the second Wrath."]

At Pandemonium's words, Leviathan bit his lip. The familiar snake flicked its tongue, hissing to soothe his mood, but this dreadful feeling didn't fade in the slightest.

Behind his pale complexion, the relief of 'Thank goodness I moved my main body from the sky' and the inferiority complex of 'Why am I harboring fear toward someone who can't even defeat a mere vessel?' were boiling fiercely.

["For now, let's leave this place. I don't want to clash head-on with that crazy vessel, especially when he's dragging the Hero around. I also don't want to draw suspicion from the landlord with whom I barely reached a compromise for our stay."]

["... The fields."]

["Huh?"]

["... I'll borrow the fields. I'll also leave it to you to buy a fragment of a nightmare from Sloth."]

["... Oh my. Are you saying that knowing what the price for that is?"]

["Hah. I know there's nothing stupider than making a deal with you."]

["And you're going to do it anyway?"]

["... Yeah."]

Leviathan did not bother to deeply weigh whether this choice was right or not.

["If I can screw him over, something like this isn't a waste at all."]

Jealousy and Envy were truly the emotions furthest from wisdom.

CRASH!

I lowered my sword after delivering a final strike, having scraped up and poured my mana into it to the absolute limit.

Unsurprisingly, nothing was caught in the attacks I had shot out in all directions. I didn't know if there was truly nothing in the sky, or if my skill's range was just lacking.

"If you're lacking mana, shall I take over and try?"

"... Don't you join in on that crazy bullshit too, you damn nerd."

"Why is this crazy bullshit! You're the one who shouldn't insult the Demon Knight's actions!"

"Then is it normal to just blindly fire th-th-that thing into the sky!"

"I-If there is an enemy in the sky, he might just do that!"

No, why are you two fighting over what I did?

I let out a short, heavy sigh as I watched the two dumplings bickering.

Then I surveyed the trees that had been obliterated by my previous actions, and the surrounding area that had subsequently turned into a five-pyeong clearing.

Even the fog had been entirely pushed away by the wind pressure, leaving the field of vision wide open.

Good grief. Since I was using the skill anyway, I tried to double it as practice for narrowing the area of effect and extending the range, but it still ended up like this?

It seemed mastering the skill was still a long way off.

"Ooh! I saw it last time too, but it's still amazing. How do you condense your mana like that?"

On the other hand, the Berserker actually marveled at my brutish actions.

"I want to use it too! I want to try!"

Given her simple nature, it seemed she really liked the attack from just now, which was straightforward yet possessed immense destructive power.

"Hmm, like this? Like this?"

But still, wouldn't it make me feel pathetic if she managed to copy it on the first try?

I watched the Berserker as she somehow tried to condense her mana. With a light the size of a rat dropping forming in her hand, her face looked like she was dragging out every last ounce of strength she had.

POP!

"Pha!"

However, no matter how hard she tried, the impossible remained impossible. I could tell instinctively. The Berserker could not use this skill.

"The mana won't work..."

She didn't just lack mana; she lacked it entirely. To the point where she couldn't even meet the minimum requirement.

"Uuuh."

Even though the incomplete sphere of mana exploded, the Berserker acted as if she hadn't taken any damage.

In reality, there wasn't a single scratch on her pale palm. I didn't know if her hide was just that thick or if her mana was just that weak, though.

"How can I get a lot of mana like you?"

Who knows. For me, mana and stamina steadily increase whenever I level up.

I didn't know of any ways to increase it through training either. If there were, I'd want to do it too, you know? I can't pass up on free stat boosts.

"I heard that your mana capacity is entirely innate, though..."

"Ehh. Is that so?"

"Yes. They say it can accumulate if you train, but I understand there are no meaningful changes."

... Is that how it works?

Then what's the reason my mana nearly doubles when I take off my seal?

It wasn't that I didn't have any inkling... Hmm. Since I'm hoping that's not the case if possible, I guess I'll just pretend it doesn't exist for now.

I'll just assume this character was born with a lot.

"That's a shame."

Meanwhile, the Berserker sulked at the explanation that it was determined innately.

I wondered if she might throw a fit, but fortunately, it seemed she accepted the impossible as impossible too.

"Then what are you going to do now? It doesn't seem like it's in the sky..."

On the other hand, never mind mana or whatever, DeB was worried about what lay ahead. It was certainly an important issue.

I had fired it off based on the clues, thinking it might be in the sky, but the conclusion was that it ultimately wasn't there—at the very least, nothing had been hit by my attack.

If so, there were now two options left.

"How about we head ba—"

Either admit it didn't work and head back.

"I will not leave the demon behind."

Or throw that admission to the dogs and keep searching the forest.

For the record, my concept is unconditionally the latter. At this point, it felt like the demon bastard was whispering 'You scared?' so I absolutely couldn't back down.

"Wahahaha! Let's go!"

"Yes! Let us continue the search!"

"Uwaaagh."

Ahahaha. Let's gooooo.