“SKREEEEEEE—!”

“Ugh.”

The old woman’s body, riddled with several large mercury slugs, let out a piercing, bestial shriek.

The sound was utterly foul. It vibrated through the air, generating a shockwave powerful enough to hurl Ikaku’s massive frame back more than ten meters.

Ikaku landed softly without losing his footing, crouching low to weather the impact. 

The gale-force pressure made it difficult to keep his eyes open, but he shielded his face with an arm to maintain a narrow field of vision.

The shrieking old woman’s body was rising from its collapsed state, moving from prone to upright as if pulled by invisible strings—a motion that defied the laws of nature.

Ikaku recognized it as a display of the supernatural power possessed by a high-ranking Demon.

I didn’t finish her. Her mana defense must have been active even before she dropped her disguise.

Her metamorphosis accelerated. The old woman’s body underwent a massive increase in mass and a grotesque transformation, her thin limbs elongating and developing.

In the process, Sakaki slammed the ritual bell in her hand against the ground again and again. With a discordant clang, the bell warped and reshaped itself into an ocher-colored pilgrim’s staff.

At last, the Demon’s disguise was completely shed.

Clad in the tattered rags of what was once a priestess’s robe, the malformed creature—now swollen to an immense size—retained only a faint trace of the old woman’s face.

It was the most inhuman thing Ikaku had ever encountered.

A Monstrosity-Type. Six meters tall. It’s crawling, though, so its head is low.The proportions of its torso and limbs are completely off. The limbs are long. Its arm reach alone must be over four meters. Its spine is warped, too.A normal spinal column has twenty-four vertebrae, but this thing has at least forty. And they’re sticking out like fish fins.Its face is massive. Long. Vertical. Like a herbivore’s. Its eyes are wide apart. It must have a broad field of vision…So this is a Category 5 Demon.

Ikaku was momentarily stunned by its terrifying majesty.

As if remembering himself, he moved, smoothly holstering the empty shotgun behind his back and reaching for his hatchet instead.

His hand trembled as he gripped it. He swallowed a lump in his throat. The immense pressure and sheer presence threatened to root his feet to the spot.

The Horse-Headed Demon crawled toward him on its long, thin limbs, its gaze licking over him. Its mouth, large enough to crush a human head, opened with a wet squelch.

“Purifying flames, manifest—!”

Spewing enough yellow drool to fill a bathtub, the Horse-Headed Demon screamed and slammed its staff into the ground again and again. Flames ignited on the staff. 

It swung the flaming tip in a circle above its head, scattering fire everywhere. The flames that flew into the water didn’t lose their intensity upon impact.

So it can use magic. Damn.

Flames were scattered at the entrance to the underground cavern, bursting into an inferno on contact.

And she has no intention of letting me escape.

“Aaaargh! Brrruuullaaaaah!”

The Horse-Headed Demon closed the distance in an instant, propelled by its four-legged gait and enormous strides, and brought its flaming staff down on Ikaku.

He waited until the last possible second before leaping back.

The staff missed the shadow of his whirling coat and struck the surface of the water. A fountain of spray exploded into the air. The sound of the ground cracking resonated deep in his gut.

Taking three steps back and still retreating, Ikaku hurled the hatchet. The cursed weapon spun through the air.

The Horse-Headed Demon failed to react to the sudden projectile, and the hatchet sank into its torso.

The thick blade bit deep, trying to tear through skin and flesh.

Sliiice~

“Vugyaaaah?!”

The Horse-Headed Demon swatted at the hatchet dismissively, as if brushing off an insect, knocking it away.

The moment the hatchet fell to the ground with a plunk, the Demon began punching it repeatedly with its fist.

This axe! I can feel mana! That wretched Ikaku Akamuro!

As the furious fists rained down, the hatchet’s blade reflected the form of a little girl, tears streaming down her face as she hugged herself.

O-ow! Stop it! Ikaku, I’m being bullied…!

The hatchet fled back to Ikaku’s side. A small crack ran along its blade.

Sniffle. That hurt.

“Don’t cry. It’s nothing serious.”

The Horse-Headed Demon’s eyes narrowed.

That hatchet… it seems to possess magic that returns it to its owner’s hand.I see. So that is the secret to Ikaku Akamuro’s offensive power! Both the gun and this hatchet. I surmise he himself possesses no means of harming a Demon. He compensates with magical tools.For one so powerless, he is quite resourceful… a cleverness not just anyone could manage. Earning the loyalty of two magical tools must not have been easy.

The Horse-Headed Demon, though impressed, gripped its staff with both hands.

Meanwhile, Ikaku was also analyzing his enemy.

This is the pattern when a Mage falls to corruption. They’re built different from ordinary people. A perfect adaptation rate to Ichor means they always become powerful demons, and they’re more likely to keep their minds.From the looks of it, Teruno Sakaki has kept a good deal of her reason.She’s probably already figured out this hatchet’s abilities. She might not return to me next time.I can’t afford another careless throw.

Gripping the staff with both hands, the Horse-Headed Demon swung it wide to the left and right. “Burn away the impurity—!”

“Tch.”

Fist-sized fireballs rose from the flames it had scattered earlier. They ascended to a height of about four meters, then shot straight at Ikaku.

He leapt back, evading the attack.

The fireballs struck the water, creating small explosions and leaving clouds of hot steam in their wake.

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