Neither Rem nor Ragna had any real intention of fighting. If they had, Enkrid would’ve stopped them first.

“Air of the Demon Realm, huh.”

Rem muttered while looking at Ragna. He had a history of rummaging through the western Demon Realm even as a child. This much didn’t faze him in the slightest.

Especially since spell power was well-suited to endure such hostile environments and pressure.

All of this was essentially a kind of curse.

He circulated spell power throughout his entire body and spread it outward. As long as he kept doing that, he could dye the surroundings with his own energy. It was a simple but difficult method. Or perhaps, a difficult but simple one.

To put it plainly, he was exuding spell power to transform the tainted air around him into a more familiar form. It was the kind of trick that couldn’t be pulled off with Will alone.

With this, he could function almost the same whether he was inside or outside the Demon Realm.

It did mean constantly bleeding off a portion of his spell power, so casting a major spell would be restricted—but that was a fair enough penalty.

“Hmph.”

Ragna, though different from Rem, was doing something similar. The sword in his hand, Sunrise, was both an engraved weapon and a magical one.

The Will inherited by Sunrise communicated with Ragna’s own Will and pushed away the corrupted air surrounding him.

It wasn’t enough to purify the entire area, but it let him move without issue at least.

But really, even that was hardly necessary. Ragna was adapting in real time by adjusting his senses.

Of course, the same applied to Rem.

Between the two of them, a large figure passed by with a quietness unfitting its massive size. The sound of its steps tapping the ground was light.

“If you're going to keep fighting, then this humble servant of the Lord shall go ahead.”

Audin was considered the continent’s foremost authority when it came to divine power. Overcoming the Demon Realm’s air wasn’t even a task for him.

His whole body shimmered with white light as he stepped forward. He had simplified his Holy Light Armor.

A creature that could’ve been called a wooden giant rather than a wooden monster swung a branch as Audin approached.

The way the branch flew through the air seemed almost reflexive. Audin saw it and extended his hand in a knifehand shape.

Immediately, a white light formed at the edge of his hand, manifesting in a sharp vertical line.

The light along his hand resembled a blade—not just in appearance, as it would soon prove.

Shhk!

The sound and feel weren’t like slicing something solid, but rather like cutting tofu. The living, pulsating, dark brown branch was sliced cleanly along the blade of light.

Sap splattered in all directions from the severed limb.

A few droplets even struck Audin’s cheek, but the white light enveloping him hissed and vaporized them into smoke.

“This consumes quite a bit of divine power.”

It was a smaller-scale reproduction of the blade of Will Ragna had shown earlier. And even that was only just barely maintained at the moment of impact.

Even if the blade was short and small in scale, it was an incredible feat. Doing that with just a hand and not a sword?

Audin smiled, lowered his knifehand, and clenched his fist.

“I prefer this way, brothers.”

With that, he raised his fist, holding it in front of his face as he stepped forward with light footing toward the wooden torso. His approach was as composed and restrained as before.

He was fast and agile. As he ducked down and kicked off the ground, he quickly closed the distance between him and the hostile tree. Then, spreading his right leg outward, he swung his left hand horizontally—an inward hook from outside to inside.

In that left hand was a round mass of white light, shaped like a mace.

His steps were like a butterfly, and his punch like a bee’s sting.

Though the impact was far beyond any mere bee sting.

The punch, infused with condensed power, struck the bark.

Boom!

It didn’t just splinter the surface—the trunk ruptured. The whole body bent unnaturally as black sap burst from the shattered section. The dark fluid splattered outward in every direction.

Some of it even reached Enkrid’s feet.

Just how hard do you have to hit something for that to happen?

Only Audin would know the answer to that.

“Lord Father! I send to you a servant to tend your side!”

His shout rang out. With it, the light bursting from his body grew brighter. Simultaneously, his movements became even lighter.

Light trailed like afterimages between the trees.

Boom! Crack!

And with each strike, another wooden monster collapsed, spraying black sap in a radial pattern.

One blow per soul—each neatly sent to the Lord’s side in a proper act of spiritual guidance. Whether the monsters could grasp the deeper meaning in those punches was another matter.

Then again, getting hit like that meant they’d be reflecting up in heaven anyway.

Would they even have time to feel the pain? Or would they just be relocated skyward in a single instant?

Thwack!

Just then, another arrow flew in—and both Rem and Ragna smacked it down at the same time. Even before the arrow had fully approached, both turned their heads sharply toward it. Their instincts were phenomenal.

The arrow had flown as if to pierce both of them through at once.

Not long ago, they’d been glaring daggers at each other—but now, their axe and sword split the arrow’s front and back in unison.

Crash!

With a tremendous noise, the steel arrow snapped in half and scattered to the sides.

“I’ll see you after this, you crazy directionless bastard.”

“We can settle this now.”

Neither willing to concede a word, they scattered left and right. Soon came sounds—crack, crunch—echoing as they went all out slicing and smashing the wooden monsters.

“You actually manage to keep that kind of unit under a knight order, huh.”

Lua Gharne couldn’t help but admire them. It was amazing how such unruly types had gathered in one place.

“I was sent in as the squad leader to a unit that couldn’t be controlled from the start.”

Enkrid replied. That was simply the truth.

Though if it hadn’t been him, they likely would’ve scattered and gone their own way.

More than that, they probably wouldn’t have been alive like this now.

Rem might’ve been wandering around smashing noble skulls.

Ragna might’ve lost his way and ended up serving as a knight for Azpen or the Empire.

Or maybe been hired in the South.

With skills like his, anyone would’ve wanted him.

Audin might still have been sealing away his divine power and living haunted by illusions of blame.

But they were all here now. In this moment. In this place.

And at the center of all those experiences and changes was a single madman.

“Let’s clean this up.”

That madman said, looking ahead. A madman with black hair and striking blue eyes.

“Yes. Also, if more arrows come, you can just ignore them. I can handle that much, all right?”

Pell grumbled with something close to a complaint as he trudged forward, while Rophod dipped his head and moved in the opposite direction.

Shrrrk.

Watching them, Lua Gharne pulled out her whip.

“Looks like I’ll get to have some fun too.”

While not on par with the giant, Frokk also possessed considerable combat strength. He lacked no fighting spirit.

But even more than that, he was driven by curiosity.

Lua Gharne, for the first time in a while, lit her whip aflame.

Fwoosh—the blazing whip was something she’d learned by watching a fragment of Balrog fight, supposedly.

Meanwhile, Enkrid stepped in front of Shinar with a thought in mind.

“Are you all right?”

Shinar looked worse than ever. She had drawn her Leaf Blade, but there was no real need for her to expend energy here.

“You can rest.”

Enkrid said. Shinar let out a few shallow, quiet breaths. Then she raised her head and looked past the wooden monsters, toward the still-thick forest like a barrier.

“So considerate.”

“...Pardon?”

“I might just fall for that kindness all over again.”

Honestly, Enkrid wanted to admit defeat.

“Can we stop with that joke already?”

The demon who tried to seize the fairy city was dead. Or rather, the one who had nearly become a demon.

So Shinar no longer bore a burden. She had no obligations.

There was no longer anyone proposing marriage to her, and yet Shinar still didn’t stop making that old, hardened joke.

“Does it sound like a joke to you?”

Shinar asked, more serious than ever before. She turned her head and looked Enkrid straight in the eyes with those green irises.

“...Let’s just say it doesn’t. Anyway, you just watch.”

Enkrid gave up. He’d just tease this old fairy a little himself when the time came.

He spoke and stepped forward, raising his unscathed blade in front of him.

Baaang!

Occasionally, arrows still flew in. They were as powerful as ever, but none of them ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) hit anyone.

It was probably because of what Rem had shouted earlier.

“Whoever gets hit by an arrow—loses!”

And so everyone fought harder. The Mad Order of Knights dodged the sporadic arrows and continued fighting just fine.

Off to one side, Teresa was charging forward with sword and shield, screaming like a beast.

“AAAAAAHHHHH!”

Her half-giant blood was boiling just enough. The number of wooden monsters dropped sharply. There was no need for Enkrid to even step in.

Come to think of it, it was only natural. This group could be seen as the equivalent of an entire nation’s military might.

A single knight was already a disaster on their own—but this force had nine of them.

Not even counting me, Shinar, or Jaxon.

That still left six.

And with those six, they could topple a country with power to spare.

Bang, boom! Clang!

The only thing scattering through the strange sounds was black sap.

Not a drop of red blood from anyone. Well—except for one.

Pell, worked up in a frenzy, had charged between three wooden monsters. While trying to dodge an arrow that flew in at the same time, he ended up getting grazed on the arm by a branch shaped like a blade.

Thankfully, he had a bracer covering his forearm, so he wasn’t seriously wounded. Just a bit unlucky.

The bracer itself wasn’t pierced. It was made from triple-layered harpy and troll leather, with a thin sheet of Noir Mountain wrought iron tucked between.

But the joint section had to be made thinner, sacrificing some toughness—and that exact spot got scraped, drawing a drop or two of blood. Still, it was barely a scratch.

“Pell, you lost.”

Rophod said, dashing over while dodging a wooden root that shot up like a spike.

He reacted faster than a starving face-hound.

He even evaded the wooden monster’s follow-up attack with a stunt-like maneuver.

At this point, “madman” suited Rophod all too well.

If someone from the Red Cloak Order saw him now, they’d wonder if it was really the same Rophod.

He risked danger just for the chance to mock someone.

There was no longer any sign of the safety-conscious squire Rophod.

“That wasn’t an arrow hit, so it doesn’t count.”

“Doesn’t count? You got sliced deep enough to be carried to the rear.”

It was just a scratch that didn’t even bleed after the initial spatter.

Sure, he could squeeze out a few more drops, but if that warranted being sent to the rear, then even a twisted ankle would be considered a near-fatal injury.

“Did you get some monster sap in your eye or what?”

Pell snapped back.

“Hmph.”

Rophod just chuckled and stepped away again.

“Idiot.”

Rem scolded Pell.

“Everyone faces failure at some point.”

Ragna consoled him. Which somehow felt even more annoying.

Pell decided he needed serious training in absolute defense.

That was his thought as he went on to help wipe out another group of wooden monsters. Then, just as a black bolt crashed down, Jaxon—who had vanished—popped out again at the front edge of the forest wall.

Black sap coated the ground, and even the Demon Realm forest looked like the sunlight filtering through it had turned gray. It was a dull and oppressive light. But no one seemed bothered.

Some still struggled with the air of the Demon Realm, but they’d get used to it eventually.

In any case, everyone had sap splattered on them to some degree. Jaxon was the only one who looked untouched.

Rem was about to make a remark, but Jaxon spoke first.

“I cleared a path over here. Also... there's something ‘interesting’ up ahead.”

Rem and Jaxon had similar ways of saying things.

Which meant: something dangerous was up ahead. And if they called it “interesting,” it meant it was very dangerous.

“Let’s go.”

Enkrid didn’t wait for everyone to finish adjusting to the Demon Realm air.

Because that’s what the enemy would want—and there was no reason to move according to their wishes. Even the arrows had paused for the moment.

“You can’t keep firing arrows imbued with Will using teleportation in the hundreds.”

Rem said, taking the lead. He knew how to use similar methods. To launch arrows with that kind of power took a fair amount of preparation.

The group advanced with Jaxon at the front, cutting their way through.

They didn’t have to walk far. The wooden wall was thin.

And beyond it, they saw the real barrier blocking their path.

Gwoooohhh.

It was a wall carved with human faces, with irregular bundles of thorns sprouting around each one. Or rather—a fortress wall.

This was a Demon Realm outpost known as the Thornbush Fortress.

“I get the whole black bolt thing, but what the hell are those?”

Rem scratched his head with the handle of his axe. At the same time, he looked up.

There—on top of the Thornbush Fortress wall and even higher atop a tree shaped like a jagged spire—stood a figure with a bow.

It had pointed ears, dull gray hair that reached past the waist, and deep navy skin.

Its sharp eyes and high-bridged nose made its race unmistakable.

“A fairy?”

Rophod said—not really a question, more out of surprise.

“Incorrect. That is something more like a rotted sprout from a putrid potato. A corrupted elemental—its form now twisted beyond recognition.”

The reply came from Shinar. Her eyes were darker than usual, glinting with an uncharacteristic killing intent.

The fairy, with purple pupils tainted by demonic energy, blinked slowly a few times.

The wall was high, and the outpost even higher. Not close enough to speak face-to-face, but Enkrid’s pupils narrowed as he locked onto its eyes precisely.

The fairy stared back at him.

“Not a bad-looking one.”

The creature muttered.

Enkrid silently measured the distance, then pulled a rod slanted at his waist and shook it in the air.

Thunk.

The rod extended, a spearhead popping out from the tip.

As he drew and shook the rod with his right hand to release the spearhead, he planted Dawnforged into the ground with his left foot to use as a pivot.

Then he pulled the grip of his sword with his left hand, rotated his entire body with Will, and hurled the javelin in his right hand.

It was a thrown variant of the Vortex, a mid-sword technique. Technically a javelin—but the principle was the same.

Who could’ve predicted that he’d do something like that the moment they met?

Enkrid’s entire movement had taken place in the blink of an eye.

It shattered everyone’s expectations.

Boom! CRASH!

The javelin tore through the air like a bolt of light and struck the tall wooden outpost above.

It didn’t kill the fairy—Enkrid hadn’t expected it to.

It did knock it off balance, though, making it stumble sideways in shock.

What had blocked the javelin was the armored lump standing next to the fairy.

It wore a helmet with a fully closed visor and was clad in heavy iron plate armor.

In its hand was a morning star, the surface of which was already smoldering with black soot-like energy.

It was clearly a magical weapon, even at a glance.

The creature had a weapon in its right hand and a shield in its left—and it had blocked the javelin with that shield.

A tremendous sound rang out, but the weapon didn’t strike its mark. The spear deflected and fell with a thunk about halfway between the Thornbush Fortress and the group.

“Too bad.”

Enkrid said. He had poured all his strength into that throw—his right foot was still lifted mid-motion. He reset his stance.

GROOOAAHHH.

The trapped souls that made up the Thornbush Fortress walls let out a scream—sounding, strangely, like they were startled.

What the hell? Why’d he throw something right away? These people are scary. Aren’t you scared?

That’s probably what they were thinking—if they could think or express anything at all.

“When you receive a gift, it's only proper to return the favor.”

Enkrid said in a flat tone.

How many arrows had his group blocked up to this point?

“Not wrong.”

Ragna agreed. And the others didn’t react much differently.