Ch.108Chapter 108. Caught with a Hickey

Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom-!

Salermei’s black horse began to gallop, scraping the ground.

It was so powerful that even a single horse created vibrations that could be felt.

Blue magical energy rose from the spear gripped in her right hand.

“Bind!”

Tigria cast a spell, but before the net of magical energy could reach her, Salermei had already closed the distance.

The black horse that had been charging toward Lin suddenly changed direction and rushed at Luci in an instant.

“Huh?!”

Clang!

A thrust carrying the force of terrifying speed.

Luci barely managed to deflect Salermei’s attack with Abyss.

Then the spear spun around, and the opposite end was swung.

“Tch!”

Luci, who had been trying to follow up with another attack, quickly abandoned the idea and leaned back to dodge.

By the time she regained her stance, the black horse was already far away, turning around.

Boom boom boom boom boom-!

The gallop began again.

“Tigria, set up traps along her path!”

“I’m already on it!”

Tigria used her Scroll of Knowledge to place various magical orbs along the black horse’s path.

But once again, Salermei’s movements defied expectations.

“Neeeeeigh!”

The black horse leaped high, avoiding the magical orbs.

Naturally, the hero party’s gaze followed the horse upward.

But there was nothing on the saddle.

“How simple.”

The languid taunt came from among the magical orbs instead.

She had used the horse as a decoy to capture their attention while she herself had broken through between the magical orbs.

The spear, thrust with full force from a distance using its distinctive length, was aimed precisely at Tigria.

Of course, the mage wasn’t a fool and had created multiple layers of barriers at various distances, but the spear pierced through all of them without a moment’s delay.

[Advanced Skill: Shield Deflection (Lv.8)]

Lin threw himself in front of Tigria, using a defensive skill against the mercilessly flying spear.

The small shield generated from Cosmos shattered immediately, but it managed to barely stop the attack.

Though he succeeded in defending, Lin felt no satisfaction.

From the sensation he felt through the shield, Lin realized that Salermei had held back when she saw it was him.

“You know, Lin. I only have Denarua and Adora. With the Demon Lord gone, they’re the only family I have.”

Salermei was crying.

The transparent tears flowing down her blue skin contained desperate longing.

“The Demon God is too busy and won’t help restore Adora’s magical energy at all. No matter how much I beg, he just curses at me. That’s why I need you, Lin. If you come and say even one word of encouragement, Adora will surely get better. I believe that. I believe you’ll save us, just like before.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! If one of the Demon Warriors is critically ill as you say, do you think we’d help?!”

As Luci charged in, Salermei swatted away the nearby floating magical orbs.

The magical orbs collided and exploded, but the hero stubbornly shielded herself with her shoulder and broke through.

Thrusts came through the smoke of the explosion, but Luci deflected them all with Abyss before swinging again.

Clang clang clang!

The spear shaft and Abyss collided as they entered a contest of strength.

It had been the same pattern at the Holy Nation before, but Luci felt more strained than last time.

It wasn’t that she had grown weaker—Salermei had become stronger.

The emotion of grief was strengthening the spear wielder.

In the end, unable to determine a winner, the two created distance between themselves.

“Salermei! This is just going to be a war of attrition. Why don’t we both back down?”

“Adora kept looking for ways to fix Lin’s arm. So she could stop if Lin said it hurt too much. Denarua always worried about how Lin was feeling, and I’ve been holding back from seeing Lin all this time.”

The spear wielder wasn’t listening at all.

She was just saying what she wanted to say, dwelling on her resentment.

“When I was young, I was sold to a circus troupe by my family to reduce the number of mouths to feed.”

This mysteriously skilled spear technique that somehow intercepted Tigria’s magic was something she had learned then.

“All I wanted was to see my mother, but the ringmaster beat me every day and wouldn’t let me sleep, saying I wasn’t practicing enough. I loved falling asleep in my mother’s arms under the warm sunlight the most. But they beat me while telling me my mother was gone, forcing me to learn spear techniques.”

Even while speaking, the spear wielder was engaged in fierce combat with the hero.

She executed countless thrusts against Luci, who charged in with a battle cry, and narrowly dodged the countless slashes coming her way.

The intense battle continued with all sorts of irregular techniques, including kicks and punches interspersed throughout.

The mage and the porter couldn’t rashly intervene in this scene and were only preparing for emergencies.

“By the time I couldn’t remember when I’d last slept, after being beaten, practicing spear techniques, and performing—when my once childish body had become that of a woman—a wealthy man appeared with his entourage in a city where our circus was performing.”

Luci was panting heavily, but Salermei showed no signs of fatigue.

Lin was about to take action against the dazed, muttering woman, but the blue spear pointed directly at him, warning him not to approach.

“They told me to take everything off. In front of that rich man and his people. They told me to perform my spear techniques completely naked.”

Then suddenly, the spear wielder began to twirl her spear elegantly.

It was so graceful and precise that the entire hero party momentarily held their breath, finding it beautiful.

“I begged them to spare me from that, but the ringmaster kept kicking me in the stomach. It hurt so much, so much that I cried as I took off my clothes and showed them my spear techniques. I tried so hard, but the rich man said it was boring and threw something at me.”

It was an object that resembled a man’s, but it was extremely large and thick.

“They told me to put that inside my lower part and perform the spear techniques again. I begged. I begged them to spare me.”

‘I tried so hard! I didn’t sleep and worked so hard! I did it even though I hated it! Why are you making me do this? Please, Ringmaster, just this once, let me off. I’ll do anything else…’

‘How dare you, you orphaned bitch! When these people tell you to do something, you do it!’

‘Ahhh! Mother-! Motherrrr!’

At some point, Salermei realized that the kicks raining down on her had stopped.

When she came to her senses, she was naked, holding only a spear.

And she was the only person alive.

Her body was covered in blood, but something was strange.

Not red and flesh-colored, but red and blue.

Realizing her skin had changed, Salermei trembled in fear.

As she dropped her spear and cried alone, they appeared.

‘Look. Another Demon Warrior.’

‘Hmph, just one more pitiful creature added to the bunch.’

‘Better than being alone. Three is better than two, and four is better than three.’

The Demon Lord with long straight hair,

The dual swordsman with dark, wavy hair,

And the illusionist with short white hair.

‘Nowhere to go? Neither do we. Come with us.’

Salermei took the warmly smiling Demon Lord’s hand without hesitation.

And so, Salermei the Sloth, Demon Warrior and spear wielder, was reborn.

“Both the ringmaster and the Demon God only see us as tools! Without any affection! Only the Demon Lord, Denarua, and Adora were my family!”

The dazzling spear performance ended.

“But you killed the Demon Lord! Give me back Lin, whom the Demon Lord bestowed upon us!”

Boom boom boom boom boom boom-!

The sound of the galloping black horse could be heard.

Lin shouted urgently.

“No! Don’t let her mount it!”

Luci and Tigria chose the next best option.

They swung Abyss and cast spells at the approaching black horse, but the black horse, being no ordinary horse, dodged the sword and endured the magic with its body as it headed toward Salermei.

“You don’t know how precious Lin is! That’s why you acted that way! And yet… do you know how grateful it is to have someone who devotes themselves to you like that?!”

Salermei, who had finally mounted the black horse, brandished her spear and wailed.

Incredibly, neither the hero nor the mage had any words to counter the spear wielder’s accusations.

“You don’t deserve to have Lin!!!!”

Darkness gathered on the blue spear.

Within the darkness flowed the negative emotion of resentment.

Dark energy exploded around the black horse and Salermei.

“Give Lin to me!”

Think. Think hard.

Nothing will be resolved by just standing still.

His temples ached from squeezing his brain so hard.

Still,

A thread-thin gambit came to mind.

“You want to take me?”

Lin kicked off the ground and ran forward.

The large backpack that always weighed down his shoulders was gone.

Entrusting himself to this speed that made him feel like he could fly, Lin made a great leap toward Salermei.

“Try it!”

As he threw himself without using any skills, the spear wielder was flustered and instinctively extended her arms to catch him.

Seizing that opening, Luci initiated a charge.

“Lin is mine!!”

Lin flying through the air and Luci charging in.

The moment they would reach Salermei would be almost simultaneous.

No, being a hero, Luci would be slightly faster.

Having made her assessment, Salermei quickly transferred the spear from her right hand to her left, which had been reaching out for Lin.

Then she properly stabbed Luci in the shoulder.

Squelch

“Ugh!”

“Luci!”

Next, Salermei switched the spear to the opposite hand again and threw it at the mage who was about to unleash a barrage of shadowless spears.

Whoooosh!

Everything happened in an instant.

Luci allowing herself to be hit, the spear flying toward the mage.

And,

“Uwaaaaaaahhh!!!!”

Arsil, who had appeared from somewhere, striking the spear shaft with his fist.

“Don’t be mistaken, Lin is my man.”

Ravin, who emerged from the darkness, snatching Lin and slashing Salermei’s chest with a dagger.

Everything happened in an instant.

There was almost no damage, but the recoil caused Salermei to fall from her horse.

Even though she quickly performed a falling technique to minimize damage, Lin immediately used a binding skill, and she was caught in threads of magical energy.

“Surrender, Salermei.”

“Lin, if you hugged me directly instead of this, I think I’d be truly happy.”

“Surrender!”

“I can’t back down here!”

Ignoring Lin’s demand, Salermei tore apart the magical threads with brute force.

The black energy, her resentment, continued to flow from the spear wielder without stopping.

The spear that had been knocked away by Arsil transformed into black smoke and returned to Salermei’s hand.

“Damn… that’s really convenient.”

Arsil clicked his tongue, but no one could respond, and the standoff continued under a heavy silence.

Who should she take down first?

Perhaps the healer, the holy maiden?

As Salermei was choosing her prey, Denarua’s telepathic message reached her.

[Salermei! Retreat!]

[Lin is right in front of me. I absolutely won’t retreat!]

[It’s 5 against 1. Even for you, it’s dangerous.]

[Even if it’s dangerous, Lin is more important!]

Then Denarua exploded in anger, as if having a fit.

[What am I supposed to do if you get hurt too!!!]

[…..]

Salermei quietly withdrew her spear.

“I’m going back.”

“Think we’ll let you go? Heh, this time I’ll get revenge for last time!”

“Don’t be mistaken. I’m letting you go.”

As Salermei’s magical energy turned blue, crimson beast eyes and white teeth revealed themselves around the hero party.

There appeared to be nearly a hundred monsters surrounding the hero party.

‘Damn, even if they were concealed by the Demon Warrior’s magical energy…!’

While Arsil was blaming himself for not sensing the monsters’ presence, Salermei calmly mounted her black horse.

“Lin, our feelings for you are all sincere. Just know that.”

The Demon Warrior hurriedly left with the monsters.

As the sound of hoofbeats faded away, the hero party could finally relax.

“Lin, are you okay?”

“That was… really timely, Ravin.”

“Look at your sweat….”

It was quite embarrassing to be in a woman’s arms, but Lin expressed his gratitude honestly.

Ravin, with an endlessly worried expression, took out a soft cloth to wipe away his sweat.

Those careful and delicate hands stopped near Lin’s nape.

“…What’s this?”

“Hm? Ah….”

He hurriedly covered it, but it was already futile.

“No, this is nothing….”

“This is that thing, isn’t it? Huh? It’s that thing!”

Ravin suddenly began to rage.

It wasn’t just Lin who felt a chill down his spine at her behavior.

“Isn’t that a kiss mark?!”

Luci was completely drenched in cold sweat.