Ka-Boom! A huge explosion burst next to the demon's face, causing a surge of hope for all those injured by him on the battlefield.
However, the same uncomfortable dark matter that covered his entire body protected him at the very moment of the explosion.
Similar in appearance to goo or slime, the dark matter formed a kind of armor around Jean's body, so that only a few parts of his everyday clothing were exposed.
As the slime receded onto the man's back, once again Jean's droopy eyes appeared. He had a bored expression, and the prosaic gleam that Luke had seen that day in his eyes was not there.
At that critical moment in the battle, the half-wolf put his arm in front of Alexis, interrupting her from starting another gale of blows against the monster. This gesture also caused all the supporting adventurers to stop their actions.
Then Luke stewed his chest and questioned the demon: "You're not him, are you?"
Finally, a different expression appeared on the monster's face. This one looked a little less bored.
"The definition of 'he' is very ambiguous, but if you are talking about my identity, you are correct. I am not 'he'."
Normal people might think Luke was talking about the demon not being Jean Pollo, however, he was talking about the being he made the deal with.
Just the fact that the demon was able to understand the half-wolf's sudden question already confirmed one thing: the Chaos Followers and the demons were indeed interconnected somehow.
Since Alexis had already clarified that there was no such thing as someone called Chaos, Luke's only doubt was who the thing he made the deal with was.
"Do you know who he is?"
"Do humans still need a name to go by? I believe an idea is a reason enough."
As Luke and the demon talked, many whispers spread throughout the destroyed place. Some discussed strategy, others praised the man's courage, and there were even those who misjudged him for dialogue.
Soon after hearing the monster's response, Luke tightened his grip on the spear handle and vociferated:
"If you don't want to tell me, that's fine... I'll make you tell me when you start spitting blood on the ground."
The half-wolf brandished the spear forward and advanced once more. Although he had been hit a few times by punches and kicks from the monster, all the blows hit only grazed him, for that reason he was not as badly hurt as others.
Striking from above, Luke had his spear stopped by the right forearm of the demon, who tried to counter with a left-hand punch. Luke did a little hopping and, before the punch hit his rib cage once more, he kicked the monster in the chest, repelling him backward.
"Back off!" An archer shouted at Luke. Then a wave of arrows cuts across the hall, heading toward the demon.
Jean raised his right arm and, from his fingertips, the dark matter that protected his body dropped off it, stretched, and swallowed all the arrows at once.
This was the first coordinated attack by the support team, and they certainly didn't expect the demon to react like this.
The dark matter did not return to the man's body, it bubbled up and shot all the arrows back towards the archers on the second floor.
The hissing of the dozens of arrows took everyone by surprise and the speed was so high that there was no time to get into a cover.
Shackk! Shackk! Shack! The sound of the arrows piercing the men and women made the demon smile for the first time.
As the people screamed in agony, the monster spoke:
"That is the true melody of the universe... Their vocal cords almost burst as they screamed and the sound of flesh tearing apart... I could listen to that forever."
With an expression of disgust, Alexis managed to seize the moment to strike the demon. The half-dragon's light gauntlets hit his bare face and hurled him out of the ruined castle.
"Puftt!" Alexis spat, as she walked toward the man's bloodied body. Her face was frowning and slowly her horns began to appear again.
In the outdoor garden, which was already quite messy from the first explosion, the demon found himself propped up among some plants.
This garden was circular and from a distance could remind some people of the mouth of a chalice, while for others it could resemble an invocation battle arena.
When he saw the half-dragon approaching, the demon quickly ordered the black slime to return to armor mode, but this time he felt a slight sluggishness.
'What is it? What's wrong with you people?' he thought, watching the dark matter spread more slowly between his limbs. 'That damn thing is not normal...'
The demon stood up, snapped his bones without moving a muscle, and prepared an incantation. From the palm of his left hand, a magic circle with erased runes appeared.
Since Alexis was not willing to see what kind of blow the monster would unleash, she quickly used the rare ability <Morning Sense> and teleported to the demon's back, which did not allow him to continue with the incantation.
"EVIL!" He shouted, elbowing the woman in the face.
With her cheeks crumpled from the blow, Alexis resisted the intense force of the demon while smiling. In a frightening exchange of forces, the slime on the demon's elbow began to crack, and that scared him enough to back away.
Taking two leaps backward, the demon stepped back and for the first time seemed to show some semblance of fear.
The half-dragon didn't want to give the monster time to recover from the jolt, so she quickly charged at it again. Through her absurd speed, she managed to grab his neck and immediately pressed him against the ground.
This combination of movements caused such an atmospheric expression that everyone inside the castle could hear several loud bangs.
With the black armor cracked on his chest, even while pressed, the demon dared to inquire:
"Wretch! What are you!?"
Alexis smiled, but still kept an angry expression on her face. "I'm a Class-S, disgusting creature!"
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