Snowy Mountain and Shadia glared at each other. 'Something's off,' Chi-Woo thought as he looked at both of them. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he had a feeling that he was missing something. Shadia seemed on edge, and even the usually silent Snowy Mountain was in a very agitated state.
"Stop it, you two!" Nangnang then intervened. "How could you let the demon convince you, alchemist! Can you even call yourself a hero!?"
"Why are you only blaming me!" Shadia yelled without backing down. The rooftop soon became noisy.
"…How pathetic." Even Hawa seemed annoyed watching the three.
'How did things get to this point?' Chi-Woo wondered as he stayed at the back.
—The Marquess of Discord.
Philip piped up suddenly, breaking Chi-Woo out of his reverie. He then pointed forward with his chin and continued his explanation.
—That's his nickname.
Chi-Woo turned around and narrowed his eyes. Andras was smiling and watching the scene in front of him with interest, clearly enjoying himself. His mouth was stretched so eerily wide that it almost reached his ears.
—Always dissatisfied, this demon tries to destroy things. For example, he will try to ruin strong relationships by creating a divide.
Chi-Woo's mouth gaped open as he thought back to the strange feeling he had gotten before.
—That's right. You guys have been pulled into his trap the moment you began a conversation with him.
Philip licked his lips and continued.
—'The only conversation you should have with a demon is about iron and blood.' It's a line that a famous judge from the Iron and Blood denomination said in my time.
After blowing away the dust between his thumb and index finger, Philip glanced down at Chi-Woo.
—What are you going to do now?
The recruits were still fighting.
"Ah, is this how it goes? Since you both are from the second recruits, you're ganging up on me, aren't you?"
"What nonsense are you spewing?"
"Stop playing the victim. It's making me regret shielding you with my body before."
"What? I should be the one regretting using my precious mandragora to heal you."
Chi-Woo hurriedly got up to them. If this fight was really created by the demon's spell, things weren't completely irreversible.
"It was wrong for us to listen to that bastard's story in the first place—"
Chi-Woo stomped toward Shadia and clutched her shoulders.
"What are you up to again…!"
Chi-Woo poured a bit of his exorcism mana into her, and Shadia stopped moving, her agitated eyes widening. He quickly did the same for his other teammates. They all fell silent and blinked blankly at one another, like they had finally regained their senses after being bewitched.
"Huh… Uh? What did I just say…?" Shadia quickly covered her mouth with both hands. Nangnang gasped in realization and looked behind him. Snowy Mountain quickly returned to the magic circle, and Hawa glared menacingly at Andras.
"…Hm…" Andras's piercing gaze snapped to Chi-Woo, and all the laugh had faded from his face. For some reason, Philip clicked his tongue.
—Tch.
"Even though I've lost most of my powers, I didn't expect you to break my binding so easily… You possess quite the fearful power, boy.
Andras fixed his posture and arched his neck sideways. "I found an opponent I hadn't expected at all." As a species, demons lived and died for battles. They were an extremely belligerent group, and most of them enjoyed battling with the strong.
"Okay, let's stop our self-introductions here," Andras said in a delighted tone and arched his back.
"I am going first." Swish! There was the sound of air slicing. Without another word, Andras shot up to Chi-Woo at a frightening speed. The battle started as soon as the expedition team awakened from their enchantment, and although their faces still appeared blank, they responded immediately.
"Nangnang!" As Andras shortened the distance between them, Nangnang jumped. They seemed to clash when—
Splaash! A fountain of blood scattered out from Nangnang's body. Chi-Woo's eyes widened. He had failed to even see the attack. Surprised by the sudden opening in the formation, Snowy Mountain stepped forward.
"Hmph!" Matching the timing the devil came at him, he flung his fists down with all his might. Thump! There was a heavy thud, and Andras stopped advancing.
"Kurgh…!" Snowy Mountain trembled all over. He was pressing both his hands down so hard that his eyes were turning bloodshot, but Andras simply lifted one forearm and flung himself free. There wasn't a hint of struggle in his movements.
"You're agile for your size and weight." Andras smirked while looking at Snowy Mountain struggle. "But you lack attention to detail." With a thrust of his arm, he tipped Snowy Mountain to the side and lifted him, hurling him onto a pile of corpses.
"Hm." Unimpressed, Andras turned to the mage standing in the center of the rooftop. Shadia was murmuring incantations while stepping back and keeping her eyes on Andras. She seemed to be preparing a strong spell considering the time she was taking. Mages were always beings to be wary of no matter the occasion, so Andras had planned to get rid of her first.
"Oh." But then he heard a presence quickly approaching from behind. Shadia also saw Chi-Woo as he returned to the team formation and aimed for Andras with a club. Chi-Woo was about to swing his club when—
"I'm feeling dizzy." Whoosh—! The club sliced the air. Andras had arched his back perpendicularly. "It gives off such a dangerous energy that it makes me dizzy just by feeling it—"
"Kurgh!" Chi-Woo gasped, and a scream escaped his mouth.
"But that's all. It won't be a problem if I just don't get hit," Andras said.
Chi-Woo felt an excruciating pain in the center of his abdomen.
"Moreover, you aren't even a hassle to deal with," Andras said while arching his back and raising his feet high into the air. Chi-Woo's vision blurred before returning to normal. When he regained his senses, he was already flying in the air. He still felt a piercing pain in his stomach, and he realized he had lost consciousness momentarily from getting hit just once. Chi-Woo rolled on the ground roughly before trying to quickly get up, but his head felt dizzy, and his vision swirled. Saliva dripped down from his mouth. It was a fearsome pain he hadn't felt in a while.
But, but…!
Chi-Woo managed to stand up while staggering and flinching. Alarm blared in his mind, telling him to watch his left, but it was too late for him to evade now. Chi-Woo groaned and swung his club. He simply sliced the air again. 'What?' Chi-Woo didn't understand. That was surely where his synesthesia had pointed him to.
"I really don't understand." From his right rather than his left, Chi-Woo heard a voice. "How does a guy who fights like a nobody from a back alley possess powers like these?"
Chi-Woo swung his club desperately and missed again.
"I was nervous for no reason." This time, Chi-Woo heard Andras' voice from behind. Chi-Woo' blanched. His synesthesia was triggered everywhere: front, back, left, and right. Even though there was only one Andras, Chi-Woo felt his presence from all directions.
'What do I…do in such situations?' Chi-Woo thought and was struck again. Hit by a strong blow, Chi-Woo's head arched downwards. "Ah—" Chi-Woo collapsed and lost his grip over his club. Andras kicked the club that had been bothering him far away and sighed in relief, but he also looked down at Chi-Woo in disappointment.
"How very deceptive of you; you betrayed my expectations…but you are more than enough for a sacrifice. I might only need you, in fact. Considering that, I will let you have a rather painless death."
While he talked, Andras twisted his head to the side, and a sword brushed past his temple. He quickly lifted a foot at the same time because Hawa had targeted his ankle with great speed.
"Fuck off…" Andras kicked Hawa away and immediately turned around.
Kuooooh! Snowy Mountain threw his body towards him with a loud roar.
"This bloody rock-head!" Andras blocked Snowy Mountain's tackle with both hands and was about to rip him apart, but stopped when a shadow lunged at him from behind Snowy Mountain's back.
"Nang!" Nangnang, who had blood gushing from his stomach, poured out liquid from the bottle he was holding in his mouth. Thick green liquid sprayed all over Andras. At the same time, Shadia shouted out a spell. Andras quickly pushed Snowy Mountain away and scanned his body.
Crack! Crackkle! Tough tree branches quickly grew from the green fluid. It wrapped around his arms and legs and tried to tie him down.
"This is…" The tree branches were tough and cumbersome to get rid of. When Andras grabbed onto them and ripped them apart, they regenerated again and again. "…It's the complete opposite of you." Andras clicked his tongue with slight annoyance. "It's not very dangerous, but…"
Crunch! He ripped apart the branches trying to restrict his body. "Annoying." He glared at Snowy Mountain as he moved to cover Chi-Woo. In the end, Andras turned away, putting Chi-Woo aside for now to deal with the four heroes surrounding him on all sides.
Chi-Woo was still on the ground. Even though he wanted to get up, he couldn't feel his body. His neck seemed to have gotten hit wrong, and he couldn't muster any strength.
—Tch tch tch…
Philip crouched down next to Chi-Woo.
—You made the wrong move from the very start. You should have made a solid hit while he was distracted and use that to your advantage to destroy him completely. That would have at least given you a higher possibility of winning.
—How can you show your power even before you get a hit just to get rid of a spell? Well, I'm not blaming you, but if I had been you, I would have never done that. I'm not saying that your method is wrong.
Philip laughed as he spoke. Chi-Woo gritted his teeth. How could Philip laugh in this situation?
—Why? You mad?
Philip asked while narrowing one eye.
—You defeated a god before. Are you angry and frustrated because you can't even catch one devil?
The laughter in Philip's voice completely disappeared.
—You really shouldn't have such a mindset. You need to understand the facts. To be honest, you didn't even fight back then. You survived by luck. The god wanted to die, and you simply helped them out. Am I wrong?
Chi-Woo tightly shut his mouth and glared at Philip.
—It looked easy to you, right? Since you defeated even a god, you thought you could easily defeat a demon, didn't you? Actually, you're right. It's possible to do that, but not for you, but your power. What can you do though? It's not like that power of yours kills your opponent for you.
Chi-Woo tightly clenched his teeth. He could understand what Philip was trying to tell him.
—In the first place, what do you think demons are? And he's not just an ordinary demon, but one of the 66 demons.
The 66 demons were powerful figures leading the Demon Empire. Each and every one of them was strong enough to lead tens of armies and possessed formidable strength. Moreover, only 66 demons could reach this position among the demons who were naturally obsessed with battle. Even though Andras was 63rd among the 66 demons, there was no doubt that he was strong.
—What are you going to do? If things continue at this rate, all of you will simply become sacrifices together.
Chi-Woo scowled. When he tried with all his might, his body twitched by a very small fraction.
—…Oh.
Chi-Woo didn't stop. He squeezed out every last bit of his strength to move his arm.
—You punk. At least you have tenacity.
Philip smirked and suddenly leaned forward.
—That…
Chi-Woo opened his bag with trembling hands, rummaging around to retrieve a sheet of paper and a bottle of holy water.
—Are you going to use that?
Chi-Woo's hand faltered before he could open the bottle.
—Yeah, if you use the energy in that talisman, you'll be able to extinguish that guy without a trace. But isn't it a bit of a waste? You told me that there's only one of that special talisman left. Are you planning to waste such a precious talisman for something this trivial?
Chi-Woo stopped moving. He was wavering intensely while trying to gasp for breath.
—Well…it's not like I can't understand your feelings.
Philip smacked his lips.
—You were dropped here without proper preparation in the first place. Who knew that there would be a demon? You're left with no option given the reality. As the demon had said himself, though, he has lost most of his powers, and you have enough power to make even him afraid.
Chi-Woo barely managed to raise his head and look up at Philip, as if to say, 'so what the heck should I do?'
—Isn't it obvious?
Philip smirked and raised his chin.
—Pass the baton to me, you punk. I wasn't planning to intervene in a real fight, but I'll give you a pass this time because your opponent is a demon.
Pass the baton over? 'Are you gonna possess me?'
—Well, it's going to be pretty similar. Don't worry. I'll finish that guy off and return your body to you. However, I can't guarantee that it'll be in perfect condition.
Before, Chi-Woo would have refused immediately, but now…he wasn't so sure. He turned around. Their current situation was not good—no, worse than that, Andras was toying with them. Moreover, their desperate attempt at retaliation was almost coming to an end.
—Ah, I'm telling you to pass it over quickly. What are you dilly-dallying for? If you wait any longer, all of you will really die. Ahhhh! No! The cool silver-haired beauty is about to—!
Chi-Woo clenched his teeth. 'Will you be able to beat him?'
—What? Ha!
Philip clicked his tongue as if Chi-Woo just said something ridiculous.
—Hey. Even though I'm like this…no, I'm not even going to bother. Do you know why I was called a hero? You think it was because I founded Salem? No. I did that after I became a hero. I became a hero because I fuck~ing beat the hell out of a crazy number of those demon fuckers.
Demons existed in every age. They always greedily eyed the middle world and regularly came and invaded humans.
—Do you know what my nickname was back then? Demon hunter. I was called a demon who wore the mask of a human and hunted demons. For your information, I know Andras over there personally. His mom and younger sister slaved away for me before they died. Hah!
Chi-Woo had no idea what Philip was talking about, but he was sure of one thing—he definitely lacked the experience and skills to face a demon. Even though he was worried, he was in no place to hesitate. Hawa had just retreated after losing an enormous amount of blood. If he waited any longer… Chi-Woo closed his eyes.
—You gave me permission, right? Okay? Good. Then.
Philip's spirit immediately changed into bright smoke and flowed into the top of Chi-Woo's head.
—This is my first lesson as your master. You won't be able to feel it, but watch carefully.
Chi-Woo's body twitched as if he was being electrified. Then, after a while…
"…Pwehhh." Chi-Woo let out a deep sigh and quietly got up from the ground.