"Seriously? A Grand Mage with brute strength skills?"
Eiji silently complained to himself.
He had seen Airi's character card—her class was indeed Grand Mage, with advanced skills like high-tier magic and teleportation magic clearly displayed, proving she'd mastered them long ago.
Yet here she was disguised as a monk, sending a griffin flying with a single punch?
Impressive purity!
Theoretically, the Grand Mage class shouldn't have brute strength skills—in fact, no class had such a skill. At most, classes like swordsman, swordmaster, or monk might have minor muscle-enhancing abilities.
"This must be a racial skill, and probably a high-tier one costing ten skill points!"
Eiji made this deduction.
Just like how Beldia had the overpowered racial skill "Death Proclamation," as a physically gifted demon race, oni must possess incredibly powerful physical enhancement racial skills.
"Boom!"
Deafening crashes echoed as Airi's battle with the griffin reached a stalemate.
After activating her brute strength, Airi's seemingly delicate fists unleashed enough force to send the griffin flying. But the griffin wasn't pushover either—its massive frame allowed it to easily overpower her.
Whenever the fight turned unfavorable, it would immediately take to the skies, preventing Airi from dealing any substantial damage.
"Using fists is too straightforward."
Eiji shook his head disapprovingly.
Though their methods differed, the principles of power application were universal.
Airi's punches were direct and unrefined, with no subtlety—likely just basic fist techniques without further training.
If it were Eiji, even with less strength, a single vibration force penetrating the griffin's body to destroy its organs would instantly kill it.
Still, as someone pursuing both magic and martial arts simultaneously, her current strength was decent—at least better than the old Demon King's.
"Why are those people coming here?"
As Airi and the griffin battled fiercely—sometimes with Airi being sent flying, other times with the griffin being swung around by its talons—the small hill became a wreckage-strewn mess.
Suddenly, Eiji noticed a large group of adventurers approaching from Axel's direction. Amid the colorful crowd were occasional specks of green, all radiating high morale.
Had his identity as the Demon King been exposed?
Surely not this quickly?
Would it be better to flee now?
Eiji grew uncertain, hesitation creeping in.
"Hahaha! Your lord and master, the Manticore, has arrived!"
Just then, a foul gust of wind swept through.
A massive shadow flew in from the horizon, stirring violent winds before crashing thunderously onto the ground.
The quest description mentioned finishing them off when both were weakened, but it seemed they'd united against external threats instead!
They'd probably made a pact—neither wanted to be finished off by small fry when weakened.
"What a sanity-draining monster!"
Eiji exclaimed.
Although griffins are also fusion-type monsters, they look incredibly majestic in appearance.
But what about this monster?
It had the body of a lion, the tail of a scorpion, and the wings of a bat—clearly another fusion-type creature. Yet, it actually had a human head!
That human head was embedded on the massive monster's neck, grinning wildly with a maniacal laugh that sent shivers down Eiji's spine!
"Damn it, stay the hell away! Or I'll beat you up!"
The self-proclaimed "Manticore," a sanity-draining monster, landed and immediately fixed its drooling gaze on Eiji.
Eiji tightened his grip on his magic wand and growled a warning.
"The great Manticore has high resistance to magic! That wand of yours is just a useless stick! I ain't listening to ya! Now bend over and let this big, thick, hard, black thing of mine wreck your ass!"
The Manticore cackled madly as it raised its enormous scorpion tail.
"Grit!"
Eiji nearly ground his teeth to dust.
His face twitched violently, veins bulging on the hand clutching his wand.
Son of a bitch!
This Manticore really knew how to push people's buttons!
"Then let me show you just how 'useless' this stick is!"
Eiji raised his wand high, his expression twisted with fury.
At the same time, the Manticore swung its barrel-thick tail straight at his head!
"Not a chance!"
A booming shout suddenly echoed from the sky.
In a flash, a figure descended from above, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"BOOM!"
With a deafening crash, her legs sank knee-deep into the ground, yet her crossed arms stood firm like unshakable pillars, blocking the tail overhead.
"Damn, tough woman!"
The Manticore recoiled in shock, retracting its tail and eyeing her warily.
"Y-you okay?"
Only then did she relax, offering a strained smile as she turned to Eiji.
"What the hell are you interfering for?!"
But what greeted her was Eiji's furious snarl.
"Mmm~!"
The golden-haired girl clad in full-body armor suddenly let out a soft moan, hugging herself with flushed cheeks.
"Even though I saved your life, not only do you ignore my kindness, but you call it interference... That's not bad—no, it's actually great! Yeah, great!"
"You're insane!"
Eiji cursed again.
With a body like that, can't you just scram and let me deal with you later?!
"Enough already! Darkness saved you, and instead of thanking her, you're yelling at her?!"
A girl with long, aqua-blue hair strode over, hands on her hips, glaring at him.
"And who the hell are you?"
Eiji's face darkened like a storm cloud.
Can't you all just stop butting in?!
"Eh? Me? You're finally asking about me? Heh, listen well! I am none other than Aqua, the goddess worshipped by millions of Axis Cult followers across the nation!"
The self-proclaimed goddess puffed out her chest, radiating arrogance.
"Now that you know, hurry up and praise me! Tell me I'm the most beautiful, charming goddess in heaven, a hundred times more captivating than Eris! If you want to join the Axis Cult and worship me up close, I might just give you a chance!"
"Moron."
Eiji scoffed.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"
Aqua shrieked as if struck where it hurt most.
"I am a bona fide goddess! If you dare insult me, I'll curse you with the divine punishment of having all your tea inexplicably turn into plain water! If you don't want to suffer this fate, apologize to me right now! Apologize immediately!"
"What a lame divine punishment."
"Don't you dare call my divine punishment lame!"
"Enough! Stop ignoring me, the mighty Manticore!"
The long-forgotten Manticore in the distance finally erupted in fury.