Damn it.
While talking with Mei to hammer out a plan, I realized something unpleasant-she didn't actually know much. Aside from the fact that the curse here was targeting young men, she was basically operating blind.
Great.
At least we'd confirmed one thing: the vision-blocking spell only seemed to affect guys. That explained why she could see and I couldn't. Still, the fact she hadn't bothered to learn what kind of demon she'd be facing before walking into its den? I hoped that wasn't standard protocol for Devil Summoners.
I glanced at my COMP and pulled up her parameters. I needed to know what I was working with.
---------------------------------------------
Name: Mei
Race: Summoner
MP: 700/700
Resistances: [Electricity]
Weakness: None
Strength: E
Endurance: E
Magic: E+
Agility: E+
Luck: E+
Skills: [Zio][Dream Needle][Poisma][Dia][Patra][Tarunda]
---------------------------------------------
Most of her stats were lower than mine-even after she said she'd improved them just before entering the Vortex World.
Well, at least she had a decent support skill spread. Healing, status recovery, a debuff, and some basic offense. If we ran into something like an Oni again, I'd just have to pray her magic could keep up.
I clenched my fist involuntarily at the memory. That loss still stung.
Still... judging by the curse, this demon leaned into magic, not brute strength. So we probably weren't dealing with something that could smash a town with a punch.
Probably.
But magic could destroy just as easily-if not more so.
As for the plan... we didn't get very far. We agreed on our combat roles-she'd stay back and provide magical support, and I'd handle close-range when necessary. But beyond that? Nothing. Hard to plan when we didn't even know what we were up against.
That said, I had learned something useful.
Turns out I was luckier than I thought.
According to Mei, most Summoners-especially newer ones like her-start with almost everything at E-, and maybe a single E grade stat. She said she'd been a Summoner for a year now, and she was apparently progressing faster than most of her peers.
Some rare cases-like direct descendants of the legendary Kuzunoha clan-start with all stats at peak E+. Basically, the upper limit before real growth begins.
And yet, I'd been summoned in with C- chance ranking. Mei had a mini meltdown over it, claiming it was "unfair" or "cheating" or something. I didn't really listen to the rest of her tantrum. Not that I blamed her.
But that raised the question-why?
Why did I start with such high potential?
Was it dumb luck? Or something else entirely?
I didn't have time to ponder it.
A sound echoed through the tunnel-a shuffle, a scrape, the unmistakable wet drag of something not quite human approaching.
Mei let out a small laugh. "Hoo boy, we got a zombie on our hands. Guess it peeped you and thought you were family."
...Really?
Even without my sight, I could pinpoint the zombie's location just from the sound it made. Its steps were slow, dragging-pathetically predictable.
No need to waste time.
I launched forward and slammed a lateral kick into its head with all the precision of a trained machine. A wet crack echoed through the tunnel, followed by a heavier thud as its decapitated skull embedded itself into the rocky wall.
All of it-over in less than half a second.
I was already turning when I heard them. Fifteen distinct sets of footsteps. Shamblers again, from the sound of it.
Seriously?
Still sending in small fry? Throw something stronger at me already.
Whatever. I needed to end this quickly-but not recklessly. No Magatsuhi this time. I had to save it for the real threat. That meant no Sukukaja, even if I was dying to test if I could break the sound barrier with it.
One after another, the zombies fell. In less than a second, I'd reduced them to twitching piles of meat and bone. I barely even needed to try.
I turned, ready to head back toward Mei when the cave suddenly lit up in a flicker of unnatural blue. A sharp crack tore through the air like lightning.
Zio.
Damn it. The zombies were a diversion-a way to split us up. I didn't know if it was Mei or the enemy casting it, but-
A sharp shift in the air. My instincts flared.
I stopped a jagged black lance inches from my face.
It pulsed with Magatsuhi, trembling with unstable power. I crushed it between my fingers and felt the residual magic burn against my skin.
That wasn't weak. The Magatsuhi content... at least early E+ tier.
Even a restrained cast from a demon with that level of magic would've been enough to collapse the entire tunnel if it hit. If I hadn't destroyed it-
I didn't let the thought finish.
I muttered the spell under my breath. "Sukukaja."
Power surged through my body, speeding my nerves, quickening my limbs. The world slowed to a crawl as I pushed off the ground with everything I had.
I ignored the demon behind me.
I had to reach Mei.
I shifted my weight and drove my strength into my legs. The air bent around me, compressed against my skin-then-
CRACK
The sound barrier shattered behind me like glass, leaving nothing but a pulse, like the shockwave of a silent explosion.
I grinned. I'd done it.
One step closer to becoming a shadow in legends.
And then, just as the wind of my sprint caught up to me, I burst into the chamber ahead-
-and collided full-force into a silhouette.
BOOM!
I rose from the rubble and swirling dust cloud I'd created, brushing broken stone and dirt off my shoulders. I'd hit the figure so hard we'd both smashed into the far wall, embedding deep. A faint surge pulsed through me as threads of Magatsuhi flowed into my body.
She was dead. Whoever-or whatever-she was.
"Are you okay?" I called out, still scanning the space around me, pulse steady, instincts on high alert.
"Yeah, no problémo," Mei's voice came with a chuckle, raspy and casual as ever. "And thanks for that. Dunno if anyone's told you, but damn, you're fast as hell."
"Thanks, but do you-" I began.
But the words cut short.
Behind me, I felt it-a flicker, a wrongness in the air. Magatsuhi, gathering like a storm cloud behind my back.
So the one I'd ignored earlier decided to get clever.
Too bad for them... I'm naturally attuned to Dark. If they'd used another element, maybe they could've bought themselves a second or two. But this?
One breath.
I spun and extended my arm without hesitation.
"Bufu."
A lance of pure ice shot forward. It wasn't flashy-just ruthlessly fast. A blur, then a boom, the kind that echoed through bone. The cavern trembled beneath my feet.
Strange... I'd expected more resistance.
So it was E+ tier magic like I thought. But that made me think-Kurogane had E in Magic according to the mission, and our spells clashed evenly. Maybe he'd powered up just before our fight. Or maybe Fire has an edge over Ice, and that threw off the balance.
Still doesn't explain why Dark got overwhelmed this easily.
No time to overthink. Not now.
I heard footsteps beside me-Mei rushing in, probably toward the demon. I launched forward, overtaking her in a blur. I stopped just a meter from the target.
Now that I was closer, I could finally see her.
The demon was pinned to the wall, a lance of ice piercing her abdomen, Magatsuhi leaking from the wound like black steam. She wasn't dead-yet-but her body trembled in pain.
She was stunning in a way that made your guard drop.
A slender, graceful figure cloaked in a flowing beige robe, skin a deep green that seemed to shimmer faintly in the low light. A hood veiled part of her face, lending an aura of mystery to the scene. Her pale eyes still held a faint, hypnotic glow even as the life flickered within them. A small red gem on her forehead pulsed weakly.
But then there were her feet.
Twisted backward.
No human walked like that.
It shattered the illusion of elegance, a reminder: this wasn't a woman. It was a demon.
And it had tried to kill us.
"Hey, Mei, did you analyze it?" I asked, still watching the twitching corpse of the demon embedded in the wall.
"Yeah, just finished. Sending it your way now!" she called out, voice casual as always, like we weren't standing in the middle of cursed ground surrounded by demon corpses.
My COMP pinged with a sharp chime-data received.
Before I even bothered to look, I stepped forward and finished the job. One clean side kick, just like with the first zombie. The Churel's head snapped sideways with a crack, embedding into the wall beside her like a grotesque trophy. Magatsuhi flooded into me again-warm, numbing, energizing.
Then I checked my COMP.
---------------------------------------------
Name: Churel
Race: Haunt
MP: 350/350
Resistances: [Dark]
Weakness: [Light]
Strength: E-
Endurance: E-
Magic: E+
Agility: E
Luck: E+
Skills: [Marin Karin][Eiha][Mudo] [Rakunda]
---------------------------------------------
Weaker than I expected. But Marin Karin-charm-based? That could've ended very differently if she'd cast it while I was distracted. I'd have ended up her pet. Unacceptable.
As that thought trailed off, I noticed something else.
My vision. It was clearing up. Bit by bit.
"Mei, I think these demons are linked to the perception-blocking spell in the cave. After killing two, I can see more clearly now-about ten meters."
"Nice," she answered, voice echoing faintly through the haze. "That'll help when we run into the Big Boss. And if it's only taken two to boost your sight, there probably aren't that many left-like, maybe eight?"
Big Boss. Right. She had a point.
The demons we've fought so far were too weak to sustain such a powerful area-wide curse alone. So if they're just feeding into it... then the one maintaining it must be stronger. Much stronger. Strong enough to manage their own magic and counterbalance what we're dismantling.
If even these small fry can fuel a spell that bends perception, what kind of monster are we dealing with?
Is it as powerful as the Oni?
God, I hope not.
Then, just as suddenly as the clarity had come, it started slipping away again. Not fully-but noticeable.
"Damn it-my vision's dropping again. Back down to five meters."
Two possibilities.
Either the spell's automated-it reacts whenever Magatsuhi's lost, and replenishes itself using more. Or... worse. It's targeted. The boss now knows our exact location and is reacting to the loss of its minions.
I turned to head back toward Mei when everything fell apart-literally.
A massive boom echoed through the cave. Then a tremor. And the ground beneath our feet collapsed.
"Shit!!" we both shouted in unison, the sync almost comical-if we weren't falling to our deaths.
I slammed my hand into the wall, fingers digging into cracks and uneven stone, breaking my descent. Not far from me, I heard Mei doing the same, her nails screeching slightly as they clawed for grip.
Eventually, we slowed. A few meters from each other now.
"Yo, Minoru!" her voice called out, tone breezy despite everything. "We're like 50 meters from the bottom. That's a survivable jump."
I nodded in the direction of her voice, even though I couldn't really see her anymore, and leapt.
I landed first-clean, light, focused. Mei followed right after, just as smooth.
I turned to speak, but something interrupted.
An impact. A shockwave.
Dust exploded around us, swallowing the space in golden haze. An instant later, it was blown away by a single, deliberate motion.
Five figures stood before us.
Four were more Churels-identical to the ones before. But the one at the center?
He was on another level.
This demon radiated menace. A towering humanoid with pale blue skin, but much of it replaced-reinforced-with mechanical parts that hummed and clicked with hidden force. His head was entirely encased in a rusted iron helm, no mouth, no face, just thin eye slits glowing faint blue. A blacksmith's apron-stained, burned, marked with a white "X"-covered his torso. His arms were a grotesque fusion of metal and muscle. One ended in a massive forging hammer, the other gripped a blackened set of tongs, sharp enough to tear steel. Below, he stood on a single, powerful leg, the other side bare save for a thick, worn boot, its sole reinforced with metal.
Bolts and gears ran across his frame, he looked like something forged in a hellish factory built for one purpose: destruction.
The blue glow in his single visible eye flared, and his voice rang out-metallic, cold, mechanical.
"You are the insolent ones who have entered my mistress's territory. And for this affront, I, Ippon-Datara will eliminate you."
Here we go.