The Inquisitor bowed her head in guilt as she watched the retreating figure of the one who left without hesitation. It was the guilt of sending him off to the most dangerous place alone when she couldn't even help him.

Perhaps it was the feeling of having pushed him into the jaws of death, knowing full well that he did not take care of his own body. Or perhaps it was due to her senses, which were expressing an unusual amount of anxiety.

"Focus."

SLASH!

However, in the midst of that, the slacker who had been alternating between using his spear and bow spoke up. It seemed she was visibly failing to concentrate on the fight.

"... Understood."

"And this time couldn't be helped. So don't take it to heart too much."

"...!"

'Is that guy really reading my mind? Or am I just that easy to read?'

The Inquisitor released her divine power, feeling uncertain. The ones clinging to the wall were shoved far back.

Seeing as the enemy approaching from afar looked incredibly fierce, she shouldn't overdo it... but she couldn't just sit around and do nothing, either.

"Do you really think so?"

Nevertheless, doubts crept in, so she asked to gain reassurance.

Deathbringer responded to the question with a dry expression.

"That's just reality. It's not like the enemy only appeared in that one spot, and it's not like you run fast, either."

"The Demon Knight rode a horse this time too..."

"More than anything, the Demon Knight isn't suited for this position."

Right. It wasn't that the Demon Knight absolutely had to go there this time, but rather that the Inquisitor had to remain here, leaving the Demon Knight as the one who went.

Unlike her, who gulped nervously as he continued speaking, Deathbringer concluded truly indifferently.

"Why...?"

"If you had to pick someone advantageous for covering a wide area, that's you. The person whose combat power doesn't drop on a battlefield where you have to fight alongside countless others is also you."

The one with superior combat endurance, the one with fewer restrictions regardless of the battlefield, and furthermore, the one who can significantly reduce casualties by reinforcing and healing others is the Inquisitor.

"I don't know the identity of the demon that appeared in the back, but the casualties prevented by you fighting here will be far greater than the casualties reduced by you going there. Well, if a situation arises where we have to kill that massive thing, that's a different story... Who knows, maybe it's something we won't have to kill. Though the chances of that are remarkably low, of course."

The Inquisitor's face welled up with emotion. Of course, regardless of the reality that she had no other choice, her guilt still lingered.

"I see..."

"And he's the kind of guy who would've gone even if you hadn't recommended it. Just let it go."

"Even so... it deeply saddens me that the best I could do for him was send him off to the battlefield."

She formed a massive golden barrier and struck down hard on the sea in front of the castle wall. The demons leaping upwards were forcefully sunken beneath the sea, and quite a few died in the process. They were either skewered on spikes or baked to a crisp by magic striking down without interference.

"I feel the same way about that."

Even so, the waves grew increasingly violent. As if they were about to surge over the castle wall.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

"...!"

"Would you forget your own head if it weren't attached to your neck and shoulders? Leaving the weapon I painstakingly provided for you neglected without even doing maintenance on it?"

And then, a sound much louder than any magic item used so far rang out. WHIRRR! The metallic sound of something spinning was incredibly bizarre. It was a noise coming from a hunk of iron with an elongated cylindrical body.

"What are you doing? Is this your first time seeing physical magic?"

Furthermore, the person picking a fight as naturally as pouring water while standing on top of it was none other than her.

CLICK. The person who threw something round after removing something from it with their teeth swept their hair back. FLICK. What was raised next was their middle finger.

SSSSS!

"Drop dead, you fish bastards."

The Merman struck by the round object melted away just like that.

"..."

"..."

... Wasn't that the item which, as far as they knew, was used rarely and very carefully by officer-level soldiers? They would throw it with extreme caution because the contents would melt skin if it touched the body. They definitely never used it so roughly.

An awkward silence fell between the Inquisitor and Deathbringer at the unimaginable sight.

* * *

CRASH!

Surging Blue Coral's guard's eyes widened roundly at the entity that had suddenly intervened.

"You are...!"

Unlike his mouth that reflexively asked for the opponent's identity, his hands hurriedly tended to the fallen Surging Blue Coral. Surging Blue Coral, who was only slightly tall but skinny like a stick, was lifted up in his two arms.

"Go."

Meanwhile, the one who had intervened jingled her single earring. Her messily untied hair was the color of lusterless gold.

"Since I have no intention of fighting while protecting someone."

"... I don't know who you are, but a demon is performing a ritual inside. It must be stopped without fail. I beg of you."

"Right."

She took a deep breath and let it out. She tightened the bandages wrapped around her hands and arms once again, either to prevent unnecessary injuries or to keep from slipping.

"Those clothes do not tear or burn! Please keep that in mind as well...!"

The information added in the midst of this helped in determining her fighting method going forward.

She raised an eyebrow, thinking that was quite a bizarre outfit. She figured it must be a fascinating item roughly like the clothes the Demon Knight wore.

CRASH!

"What are you now?"

In the meantime, the secretary pushed aside the debris of the collapsed building and returned to her position.

Just how far she had been pushed back by that single blow, there were several more holes in the space visible behind the secretary. The stone fragments tumbled down toward the side she was pushed from.

"A barbarian from the North?"

Mm. She hadn't worn them until now because she hated hearing that... but she cracked her neck side to side, wondering how she managed to hear those exact words the moment she put them on.

Not that it mattered much.

"For now, being the hunter who will kill you should be enough."

"Will you really? Having nothing but a long tongue won't get you anywhere in this land."

Her feet dragged across the ground and took their position. The thick fabric fluttered, and then she vanished with a BOOM!

BANG-BANG-BANG.

Then, as new signal flares embroidered the sky several times over, she disappeared with a booming sound.

SWOOSH! Then, she suddenly appeared right in the middle of the path leading to the secretary. The edges of the thick fabric draped over her body fluttered.

As if she wasn't completely unable to react, the secretary swung her hand, albeit a quarter-beat late. The sight of her massive hand heavily cleaving the air as it crashed down was truly marvelous.

TAP.

But it meant nothing if it didn't hit.

Kicking off the ground with perfect timing, she vaulted over the hand, then stepped on the secretary's shoulder with her foot. She then struck the back of the secretary's neck with her heel.

They had said the clothes wouldn't tear or burn, but she needed to know whether or not they were at a level that could block all physical impact as well.

"Ugh!"

The secretary urgently stretched her other hand back to guard.

However, even if not a single mark was left on the clothes, she confirmed that the secretary stumbled forward the moment she was struck.

'So pushing and pulling forces still go through, huh.'

She organized the attack methods she should take from here on. Since she was bare-handed anyway, it would be best to focus on strikes and joint locks instead of slashing or tearing attacks.

After jumping down to the other side, she turned around without even a moment to catch her breath and dug into the secretary's inner guard.

It was a move aimed at the fact that such massive hands would find it difficult to react at a distance where their skin was touching.

The secretary's sharp, hawk-like eyes contorted as she swung her arm as if to shake her off. Flattening herself unbefitting of her size, she leapt up like she was taking flight the moment the arm passed over her.

THWACK!

Her knee planted perfectly into the opponent's solar plexus.

Sure enough, it worked. Even if the reaction was lesser than a normal person's, it was definitely a face that felt pain.

Having gained confidence, she moved her fist next. It was a fist formed with her index finger slightly protruding to deliver a sharp, piercing impact.

However, as her hand struck the space between the collarbones, the windpipe, and the nose, something else registered instead of a heavy sense of impact.

It was because a protective barrier had instantaneously formed over her face.

Of course, there seemed to be a condition, as one of the jewels on the secretary's ear cuff-style earring shattered.

CRASH!

The stumbling figure shrank her swollen arm and inflated her leg, slamming it into the ground. The edge of the waterway collapsed, releasing demonic energy into the front.

'This was a tactic the Demon Knight often used.' She stepped back, leaving thin cuts etched across the surface of her skin.

'Separately, what are the activation conditions for that protective barrier? The duration? The limit to what it can block? The connection to the jewel on her earring shattering?'

SHRRK.

The secretary's foot returned to normal. Only realizing it after touching the earring hanging on her ear with her fingers, the woman violently contorted her face.

"A race that does nothing but fucking fight...!"

Saying that was nothing more or less than a compliment.

She moved her body flexibly to avoid the massive hand and kicked up a stone from the ground with the tip of her foot.

As the stone flew perfectly aimed at her face, the secretary slid back and swatted it away with her hand.

"You...!"

However, it would be disappointing to only do it once.

After launching stones five or six more times, she placed her hand on the building right behind her. In the building that had collapsed from the earlier fight, there happened to be a weapon suitable for her use.

"...!"

SMASH!

The wood that used to serve as a pillar, now jutting out alone amidst the pile of rubble from the collapse, was swung like a weapon.

As if she hadn't anticipated this, the secretary scrunched up her eyes and blocked it. CRUNCH! The wooden pillar snapped at once, and the remaining piece of the pillar flew, aiming for the secretary's head.

"You little!"

The secretary blocked that as well. It was the action of an ordinary person, reflexively trying to block attacks aimed at the head even when wearing protective gear.

That made things easy. While the secretary blocked her own line of sight with her hands, she quickly closed in and delivered a roundhouse kick. Her heel struck the secretary's temple.

SHATTER.

Another jewel on the ear cuff shattered.

'It seems the jewels bear the burden instead of her for impacts applied specifically to her head, and they shatter when the limit they can bear is exceeded... Anyway, there are four left combined between the left and right.'

"...!"

Impacts being nullified rather than dispersed brings about a significantly different dynamic in a fight.

Knowing that, she stepped back without any lingering attachment.

The opponent realized the jewel had shattered and contorted her expression once again. Not that she cared.

Like a hunter who had found her hunting method, she tenaciously aimed for her opponent's head. It didn't matter even if the opponent noticed.

"Aaaaagh!"

Aiming for it was just because it was the easiest way to kill; there were truly many ways to torment a person without killing them.

"Did you think protecting your weak point was all it took?"

Such as breaking the opponent's fingers, using their joints to snap their arms, or smashing their ankles with a stone until the bone showed.

Since she had targeted the head a bit, the opponent blatantly defended only that spot, allowing her to neutralize other body parts in an instant. It didn't matter even if the opponent swelled her body with demonic energy.

From what she observed, the opponent could only strengthen one body part at a time, and with just that condition, she was more than capable of breaking a person's limbs.

SHATTER!

The final jewel shattered.

"I... I..."

THWACK!

Her patience broke as well. She knocked the opponent down in one go and raised her foot to crush her head.

CRASH!

That would have been the case, had the red water—what they called 'Flowing Fire' in her hometown—not burst forth and tried to swallow her.

Instead of confirming the kill, she chose to protect herself for the next battle.

[No, that won't do.]

In the meantime, the bursting red water coiled around the secretary's body. "No...!" Along with a brief scream, the sound of burning could be heard. The woman's scream made her ears ring.

[To think you can't even play the role of a gatekeeper properly. You always do nothing but disappoint me. Well, it doesn't matter.]

"I-I'm sorr..."

[More importantly, can I kill you? I can, right?]

"N-No...!"

[It doesn't matter even if you disagree. Now that I've been granted my original power, the penalty of the contract is no issue at all.]

The red water completely swallowed the secretary's body, melting it away just like that.

[Above all, there's no way I would've just sat and watched you siphon off Moby Dick's pearls. You should covet what you're actually allowed to covet.]

Meanwhile, flames billowed up from a certain building where several corpses were messily scattered. It was a blaze that engulfed the entire building.

Furthermore, a dense, dark red mass that looked like it would harden into black at any moment seeped out from the entrance. She figured that's exactly what the red water would look like if it solidified.

[We meet again.]

SPLASH.

As if it weren't even hot, a Shaggy of a form she had never seen before in her life walked over it. No. Was it really a Shaggy? Could something with hems of clothing, ears, and a tail made of the same material as yellow-hot molten iron truly be considered a Shaggy?

Wasn't it rather a demon?

[Are you going to fight a revenge match or something?]

Her lips twitched. Yes, even if its appearance had changed, she could immediately recall its identity with just a single thought.

That thing was that demon from last time. The one she failed to stop, and couldn't stop.

"No."

In her heart, she wanted to agree to the word 'revenge match'.

However, she was still standing on the borderline. Between the two yokes of Berserker and Weapon Master.

Still.

"But I will fight."

Therefore, this could not be a revenge match. Because a revenge match would only be possible when she threw off the two yokes and left behind solely her rightful name.

"Even if it's not a revenge match, it's still a fight where victory and defeat can be decided."

Even so, she wouldn't back down powerlessly in this fight either.

[You certainly have changed from last time... But you're still lacking. You're going to die, you know?]

"Don't worry. Because I won't die."

Even without it being revenge, there was a way for her to win.

"Since my role is to stall for time."

Right. If the others—who couldn't possibly have failed to notice the demon's presence—just arrived, it would inevitably be her victory.