Kiriel’s eyes went wide as she stammered.“Loen? H-how are you here?”I adjusted my gloves and spoke evenly.“That isn’t what matters right now.”Clatter-.I fired off spare chains and reeled Silpiet and Rina Lun, who were lying on the ground, over to my side.Fortunately, neither seemed to have major injuries, but both had lost consciousness under that crushing grip.“Take them and run. If you use spirits, it shouldn’t be hard.”Transporting two unconscious people is difficult, but Kiriel has the power of spirits; this much shouldn’t be a problem.When I told her to escape with the two, Kiriel lowered her head.“Sorry…… I’m out of mana right now.”At her words, I silently looked down at her blood-smeared mouth.It looked like a spirit had been forcibly dismissed and she’d taken internal damage.If she was out of mana too, then she wouldn’t have the strength to reconnect to the spirit realm and resummon a spirit.At this rate, she’d be unable to go anywhere and get swept into the fight with her friends.“You’re a lot of work. Take this.”I pulled out a mid-grade stamina potion and a mana replenishment stone I’d prepared in advance and handed them to Kiriel.“This is…….”“If you use these, your stamina and mana will recover. The moment you recover, run. I’ll buy time.”“……W-what about you?”Kiriel asked me in a trembling voice.Though she always picked fights and made a racket, at least in this situation she seemed worried about me.I deliberately answered coldly.“Don’t worry about it. You lot make it harder to fight. Drink up and get lost.”“…….”Without a word, Kiriel used the consumables I had given her.While she used them, I lifted my gaze and glared at the hulking one bound by mana chains and the zombie-looking one beside him.“…….”Two demonkin radiating an unusual air. I faintly knit my brows.'They look stronger than I expected.'It looked like a hair-trigger situation, so I’d made a bold entrance, but even at a glance, the lineup wasn’t trivial.'Their base isn’t ordinary humans but [Vampires].'They weren’t like Demer, a normal human demonized through a Dark Magic Stone.These were beings that had originally been vampires and evolved further through magic stones.In short, both of them were a tier stronger than Demer, whom I had faced before.I rolled my eyes, analyzing each one’s traits.'One vassal who received Carmilla’s blood and maintains clear reason. One who has abandoned everything and pushed only physical capability to the extreme.'With my current power, subduing them would be difficult.I’d gained a bit physically lately and bought new items, but facing them head-on would be hard.As when I fought Demer, I’d have to borrow the bloodline power Loen possesses.And for that, it’s better to have no witnesses.I slid my gaze over to Kiriel.“I-I’ll fight too. I’ll recover quickly with this and……”Kiriel, now restored by the mana stone and potion.“I can fight now.”She sprang to her feet as if strength had returned.The courage to add even a pair of tiny hands to fight beside me was admirable, but right now she would only get in the way.Words wouldn’t sway her, and I didn’t have the leisure to try.Without a word, I reached into my coat, took out a potion bottle, and handed it to her.“Here, drink this too. It’ll restore the blood you lost.”“R-really? Thanks.”Having already felt the effect of the stamina potion and mana stone I’d given her, Kiriel gulped down the potion I handed over without any caution.And then—“Uh…… this medicine feels a little weird……”Thud-.She resisted the drug for a moment, then toppled limply to the ground and fell into a deep sleep.I’d brought a sedative just in case, and it came in handy.Sssssslide-.I manipulated the last memorized mana chain in my gloves and dragged the three who had collapsed on the ground far off to one side.It wasn’t exactly safe, but that should be far enough to avoid the aftershocks of battle.The scrawny demonkin in a shabby suit watched in silence, then spoke to me.“Are you finished?”“Yes. Thanks for waiting.”I nodded at the demonkin.Unlike demonkin with no reason at all, the fact that we could talk at all meant there was at least a sliver of room to negotiate.I first asked what they wanted.“What do you want? What did you come after, invading the Union?”“Hmph, I have no particular desire now that I’ve become Lady Carmilla’s vassal. I merely obey her orders.”“What order did she give?”At this, the demonkin bared his teeth in a thin smile.“She told me to go enjoy myself. And to test your ‘qualification’ as well.”When the zombie-like demonkin smiled, the hulking demonkin beside him immediately let out a shriek and tore off the mana chains wrapped around his arms.Crack-rip-.The chains of mana came off pitifully under the giant’s strength.With that, all the mana chains memorized in Milia’s Mana Gloves were spent.“Uoooh!”Hearing his bellow roll thunderous through the forest, I nodded.“Talking’s pointless.”I fiddled with the Ring of Derode on my left hand for a moment, then pulled my hand away.[Sensitivity] had been raised as high as possible when I cleared the Spooky Dungeon in the past.Just taking off the ring and facing the demonkin before me would let me crank sensitivity up to 100 percent.However—'If I take off the ring here and accept demonic energy to fight, I can’t guarantee what happens after.'At first, I’d planned to overwhelm them and end it, but I quickly changed my mind.'The enemy has already hollered and given away their position.'Soon enough, Union reinforcements would come at this sound.In such a situation, taking off the ring and accepting demonic energy carried tremendous risk.If anyone saw me accept demonic energy, I’d be for the chopping block that very day, and if I spread demonic energy around theatrically, it’d be troublesome to erase the traces afterward.Therefore, instead of forcing a suppression, it would be better to stall slowly within my current capability.Letting out a small sigh, I activated a trait.- Trait [Overload] will be activated. Please select the desired stat.“Intelligence.”Anyway, raising physical ability a little wouldn’t change anything before those overwhelming monsters.Right now I needed a sure shot.I raised the Intelligence stat, which reduces mana consumption and increases a spell’s destructive power.Intelligence stat greatly increases. Duration: 300 seconds.As a side effect of the trait [Alchemy], the power of all offensive magic slightly increases.After [Overload] duration ends, all stats are reduced for 24 hours.'Five minutes.'Clench-.I tugged my gloves tight and made a fist.That should be enough to try.Ever since I detected demonic energy, I’d done all the doping I could.'After yesterday’s encounter with Carmilla, I’d been moving since morning to prepare for a demonkin raid.'The paralysis crystal I used during the three-legged race, and the sedative I just fed to Kiriel, were both part of that prep.……They both ended up used a little oddly, but in the end they proved useful.As I took a fighting stance, the zombie-type demonkin asked,“Are you ready?”“……Come.”I beckoned him in, and the giant stomped forward to charge me.“Kuoooh!”Ssshaak-.I threw a magic scroll from my coat at the charging brute to cloud his vision.Boom-.With the scroll’s explosion, dense black smoke spread all around.It was one of the magic scrolls I’d bought on the black market in preparation for combat.With my current Agility, reacting to his attacks would be hard; better to lay smoke and lower his hit rate.“Uoooh!”With his vision blurred, the brute bellowed and charged wildly.I hurled myself aside with all my strength and dodged his rush.Kra-boom-!His body rammed straight into the tree where I’d been standing.The massive tree snapped and toppled as if it had been hit by a truck.“Croooh!”Crack—.He crushed the tree with a body slam, then turned and came straight at me again.Flash-.Even though the smoke should have obscured his view, his accuracy was considerable.He was probably using smell, mana, or hearing to estimate my position.'In that case.'If I couldn’t dodge, I’d take it head-on.Trusting the Aegis Shield whose durability I’d restored to maximum, I thrust out my gloved hand toward him.Crash-shatter-!In one go, he shattered the Aegis Shield and barreled at me.“Uoooh!”But his charge halted there without inflicting any damage on me.The brute froze like a statue on the spot.'An added effect of [Milia’s Mana Gloves].'It was the effect that temporarily stuns a target upon contact.Blocking his fist with my gloved hand, I flashed my eyes.'In Mir Elin Saga, stun effects cancel all of an opponent’s dash skills.'Ssssshaaah-.Right after that, an enormous amount of demonic energy began to pour into me like a wave from the brute’s fist that had touched me.Tremble—.The veins in my right arm burned black, and tendons and muscles writhed beneath the skin.I could clearly feel the powerful strength he possessed flowing into my body.“Kh.”A volume of demonic energy on a different level than during the Dark Rat incident.The Ring of Derode controlled the demonic energy radiating outward while itself quivered, giving off a dusky sheen.After absorbing an appropriate amount of his power for a few seconds, I pulled my hand away.Pop-.“Grrr……”Having had a significant amount of demonic energy stolen by me, the brute sagged in place as if he couldn’t hold himself up.“Hff, hff.”Panting raggedly, he looked as if even bearing his own weight was hard.'Of course.'What had been sustaining that giant body until now was not bones and flesh of a living creature, but demonic energy itself.Having had a considerable portion of that stolen, he would find it hard to maintain a huge, heavy body.It was no different from an elephant having a few leg bones taken out.Ssssshaaah-.Demonic energy that hadn’t been fully absorbed into me drifted around my body.I decided to cast a spell using this surplus demonic energy I had taken from him.Although the conversion efficiency of my internal mana is low, making typical magic hard to use, if I used demonic energy stolen from the opponent temporarily—'……It’s possible.'Wrapping up the thought quickly, I aimed my hand at the brute’s head.“Fire Bolt.”With help from system correction, explosive mana gathered in my hand in an instant.Keeeeen-!With a dazzling light, the demonic energy that had not yet been fully absorbed turned into the form of flame.Then that blazing fire shot furiously at the brute, who couldn’t hold himself up.Thwump-!With an explosive burst of flame from my hand, the fiend’s head went flying clean off.“U, ugh.”The thing, its neck twitching without a head, soon collapsed limply to the ground.Thud-.The fire that vaporized the brute’s head shot up to the sky, then dissipated into motes of mana.“…….”A destructive power unbelievable even to have fired with my own hand.For a mere 1st-circle spell like Fire Bolt to have this much power.The zombie-like demonkin slowly applauded as if impressed.Clap-. Clap-.“Oh? Surprising indeed. To think you would subdue Demper so easily.”Giving a perfunctory clap, he cocked his head slightly.Only after his companion died did the zombie-like demonkin begin to move his body slowly.He looked at my gloves and said,“It seems that artifact has a function that absorbs the mana of whomever it touches. I shall have to be careful.”With that, he drew three long «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» swords from his coat and slipped them between his fingers.Chik-king-.Three long swords flashed in the dark.“…….”Unlike the big one just now, this was a nimble swordsman type—exactly the kind a mage like me hates to face.Moreover, he had already sized up all the cards in my hand; taking him down as is would be difficult.“Now then, shall we have a bit of fun?”Just as his eyes gleamed to start round two—Rustle-.“……?”A rustle came from the brush behind him, and a guard suddenly appeared.The fiend frowned in distaste at the guard who had popped up behind him.“……What are you?”He seemed deeply offended that he’d failed to sense a civilian approaching until now.Whirr-.He swung his sword as if to cut the guard down in one stroke, but—Halt-.His blade stopped without touching the guard.“……?”The fiend’s arm trembled.“Kh.”He tried to swing with all his strength, but his hand went no farther, as if held by something.Eyes wide, he glared at the guard.“You…… just who……”The guard slowly removed the helmet he was wearing.A gleaming bald head with cloud-white hair at the sides appeared.An old man with a warm bun-face smile said,“There’s no need to know.”At the same time—Thwump-.An incorporeal force crushed the fiend and annihilated him on the spot.As if divine punishment had descended, the very space warped, and the fiend vanished without leaving a single mote.Clang-.The only proof he had ever existed in this world was the shard of a Dark Magic Stone that fell to the ground.After subduing the demonkin without lifting a finger, the old man spoke to me.“Heh heh, I’m a little late. Are you unharmed, Mr. Loen?”“…….”The Academy Union’s Chairman. Hengarde Ubellon.No—the heir to one of the continent’s only two archmages and to the Great Sage.It was the appearance of Ain Soph Fingard.

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