We got a little too far from the Seimei and Luo Camps as we were running away from Noir, so it took us a good few seconds to reach the border. As soon as we approached, swarms of lower-level demons gathered and attacked mercilessly.
"Move!"
I roared as I slashed the sword in my right hand around. Although the path my sword took seemed random, every single demon that got too close had their heads severed in one clean swing.
Fina, behind them, was unable to kill the demons off, but the pink fog she released managed to hypnotize a large group of demons, manipulating them to fight the other demons nearby.
When chaos ensued, it became easier to squeeze through the enemy lines and reach the four girls. Ember, the one closest to the border, was the first one we reunited with.
"Master! The swarm of 9th-stage demons became fiercer after you told us to clear them. Did something happen?!"
Ember, while sitting on her flying throne as it shot powerful blasts one after another, asked with trepidation. I looked ahead, counting the remaining demons around me.
"Long story short, Noir showed up and tried to snatch the gun. A space element demon appeared and sent it to an unknown location. We need to search for it ASAP!"
Ember's eyes opened wide upon hearing my words.
"Noir? So the Demon Tamers have something to do with this stampede of 9th-stage demons?!"
I nodded my head as I sheathed the sword in my hand. Then I pointed toward the intense battle ahead and pondered.
"You think we can clear everything within 5 minutes without relying on my forbidden skills?"
Ember frowned and stayed quiet for a few seconds before smiling confidently.
"Yes, we can, Master! Please leave it to us!"
Ember touched the slime headpiece she had equipped near her ear. Then she gave commands to the three fighting at the very front.
"Fang, Igni, retreat for a moment. We'll redo our formation with Master!"
The two, who had a small clone of ember clinging somewhere on their bodies, quickly did as told and left the frontlines. Namia, the Succubus Lord, who was left alone, became the focus of the demons, making her roar in anger at the rest of us.
"Hey, you stupid slime! Aren't you forgetting something?!"
However, Ember acted as if she didn't hear her and rearranged our battle formation.
As the main force, there's me at the center, with Fang and Igni at my sides, slightly behind. Ember was at the center, providing support fire, while Fina was at the back, covering for everyone. It was a simple wedge formation done with only five members.
As soon as we were done with our formation, I pulled out my sword and charged forward. To maintain our position, we didn't rush at full speed but matched the speed of the slowest one, Ember.
We approached the swarming demons, who gathered around Namia without hesitation. I filled the edge of my sword with energy and slashed.
*Ting!*
However, as expected, a simple sword swing wouldn't be enough. I repeated the slash but used Blinker at the same time. As I flashed past, three demons had their bodies bisected before scattering into smaller cubes. Their blood splattered all over, coloring the nearby demons blue and green.
"Fire!"
At the same time, Ember armed all twelve cannons lined up around her throne. With the boost of the two railguns right at her feet, the lower-level demons couldn't even approach us to interfere anymore.
Unfortunately, Ember's shots lacked the punch to pierce the 9th stage's thick defenses. Even the softer ones could calmly receive her volleys without getting any significant damage at all. But the flashes and smoke each shot gave off were enough to give the rest of us time to complete the deed.
"Kahahahaha! Die!"
Fang was fighting with a wide smile on her face for some reason. However, the scene she left in her wake wasn't something to laugh about. Behind her was the very depiction of a massacre. The demons had random parts cut off and their bodies maimed or shredded to pieces. Fang was prioritizing the ones that Ember shot at, making it easier for her to send them off.
Igni, on the other hand, was fighting in a different manner than Fang. She completely ignored the ones that Ember injured and instead faced multiple demons at the same time. Ignoring the randomness of the body size of the enemies, she slashed at them with her flaming sword, bisecting them and burning them to ashes in the same instant.
"Woah!"
I can't help but let out a voice of admiration. Although Igni was the last one to learn about chaining skills and parallel casting, she is even better than the other two now. She had [Flame Clad: Battle Mode] over her body with the [Flame Edge] as her armament.
Then, to add to that, she applied [Keen Edge], [Temperature Control], and [Swift Slash] simultaneously with each swing, repeated endlessly in a seamless cycle. Not only was she on a higher stage, but her control was at its peak among the girls. Not a single strand of her energy was wasted!
"I can't lose to them!"
I, too, am now more powerful compared to before. As proof, I could kill 9th-stage demons at the same pace as the two girls. Although I relied on tricks rather than skills, it's still a part of the ability I honed with sincere effort for apparently an extremely long time.
I kept on using Blinker without rest, but my body barely felt the strain of using it. Rather, the more I used it, the more I felt accustomed to using it. If I pushed myself, I could chain-kill a dozen demons with one sword slash.
In just a few moments, we cleared all the demons around Namia. As soon as we did that, we kept on charging onward, heading deeper into the enemy lines. The number of lower-level demons dwindled as the number of those equal to or above the 8th stage increased.
Only a minute passed, but we already left a mountain of corpses behind us. With our pace, we should safely reach the target of clearing everything in five minutes!
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