Ch.153153. Invasion (4)

After the sudden intrusion of the ‘white thing’ that kicked away the high-ranking demon, sending it flying into the distance.

‘Th-that is….’

The facility manager, who had collapsed powerlessly, was finally able to take in the ‘white thing’ that had kicked the high-ranking demon.

The ‘white thing’ reflected in the manager’s eyes appeared to be a wolf beastman with an impressively massive build at first glance.

Between the roughly sprawling silver-gray hair, pointed wolf ears protruded sharply, and his two eyes glowed with a clear blue light as if containing frost within them.

His enormous frame was completely covered in muscles, and draped over this body was a mystical blue-tinged wolf fur cloak.

A fluffy wolf fur cloak worn over leather clothing primarily composed of silver-gray and black colors. Combined with his sharp gaze and pointed fangs that gave him a feral impression.

While the manager was momentarily captivated by this appearance that seemed to perfectly embody the ‘ideal wolf beastman’…

-Glance.

As he turned his eyes to look this way, the manager quickly regained his senses and began using rudimentary healing magic to recover from his wounds while gathering his subordinates…

[—You!!!]

After a magnificent roar that seemed to twist and shake the earth, followed by thundering footsteps. The high-ranking demon who had been kicked in the face and returned had fury born of humiliation etched on its face.

[Kill, kill! Kill! Kill! I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you—!!]

The voice erupting from the mouth of the demon who had reached (or was born in) the high rank contained pure rage.

More fundamental and primal, filled with pure anger untainted by any other emotion.

And as if responding to this rage, intense flames with a strong sulfuric smell began to ignite on the surface of the iron ball chain and double-bladed axe held in the high-ranking demon’s hands…

—KWAAANG!!!

Immediately after, the two high-rankers faced each other, brandishing their weapons with eyes only for one another.

-KWAANG! KWANG! KWAAANG!! KWAANG!! KWAAAANG!!!

Pure white light and something red collided, creating explosive sounds that burst in all directions.

The consecutive attacks they unleashed at each other with killing intent already looked like the embodiment of destruction itself.

The moisture in the air froze from the cold, only to dissipate from the heat moments later.

Due to the overwhelmingly fast and chaotic battle situation making it impossible to understand what was happening, the facility manager was falling into confusion.

Only when the two high-rankers briefly distanced themselves from the recoil of their collision could he directly observe their current forms.

“…Oh.”

The high-ranking demon, wearing brass armor that fit tightly to its body—transformed from the brass bull it had been riding—was now engulfed in sulfuric flames.

Not only were its armor and weapons glowing red from the heat of the flames, but its entire body was radiating like magma.

Meanwhile, the wolf beastman was somehow emitting freezing cold white light from his entire body, topped off with blue ice formations like glaciers protruding from various parts of his body.

Three pairs of differently sized ice spikes jutted from each shoulder, while ice gauntlets shaped like beast claws encased his forearms below the elbows.

The two high-rankers, who had been briefly observing each other as if adjusting their conditions, became flashes of light again after about three seconds—

—KWANG! BOOM! KWANG! BOOM!

And resumed their fierce exchange of attacks at an even faster tempo than before.

※ ※ ※

‘Hoo, hah!’

-BOOM! KWANG! BOOM! BOOM!

Fighting back and forth with the high-ranking demon that was presumably the root cause of this incident, I frowned as I suddenly felt my body creaking slightly.

Currently, I was in a state of soul resonance with Robo, or more precisely, with his past form that he had returned to through primitive regression. In this situation, the mismatch in our ranks was somewhat cumbersome, but…

‘Of all places, why can’t I summon here?!!’

Due to the critical problem of the situation, I had no choice but to opt for fighting through this soul resonance method.

‘Bacchus’s Garden’ had sealed all means of summoning inside as a security measure, and the problem was that this ‘summoning’ naturally included recalling animal friends from a distance and calling them forth again.

Yet despite this, demons still managed to bypass this seal by jumping directly through gates, while alien vanguards were born using humans as vessels.

‘…This is!!’

-KWAAAANG!!!

Therefore, I chose to resolve this situation by resonating my soul with Robo, which had recently become possible due to our sufficiently built intimacy.

That demon was an Arch Demon, a high-ranking demon of Satan, the ‘Demon King of Wrath.’

As the standard model for all high-ranking demons, its existence and information were relatively well-known in this material world.

While the Arch Demon is a typical warrior-type demon that could be called the standard model of high-ranking demons, knowing its information well doesn’t mean one can easily deal with it.

Of course, befitting a high-ranking demon, it possesses basic demonic magic and special abilities, but the core is ultimately its robust physical body and skills.

Its abnormally robust body provides overwhelming physical abilities and durability, and furthermore grants magic resistance at the level of a special ability that nullifies most ordinary magic against it.

Especially its physical abilities, which go beyond simply being high to truly transcendent, prove why it is the ‘standard’ despite its incongruously fast movements for such a massive frame.

The skill residing in the Arch Demon’s body was built up through slaughtering countless mortals and demons.

Whatever it holds in its hands transforms into a vicious weapon, and of course, it can easily handle armies even with bare hands.

Being the type that confronts opponents head-on with straightforward methods rather than relying on specific abilities, it has no particular weaknesses to exploit against lower-ranked opponents, making it simply strong in the most direct sense.

Ah, if there was anything that could be called a weakness, it would be physical attacks using weapons imbued with aura or magical power…

But the Arch Demon before my eyes had compensated for even this sole weakness with that brass armor.

Given its extremely high magic resistance making it impossible to deal with using magic, and considering that even if I resonated with Corin to shoot lightning, it wouldn’t be very effective, my choice was Robo…

—KWAAAANG!!

As a result, my choice doesn’t seem to have been wrong.

If I had tried to fight as a magic user, I would have been cut to pieces as soon as the distance closed, and I cleanly gave up on animal transformation since I had no experience transforming into a high-ranking magical beast yet, considering the variables.

Instead, by resonating my soul with Robo through the mental connection network.

I could handle Robo’s physical abilities assuming he had reached high rank, combat techniques engraved in his instincts, and Robo’s power to control cold.

In particular, by separately using the ‘Primitive Regression’ magic in this state to maximize that power, I was able to fight on equal terms with the high-ranking demon despite this being my first experience and the situation being somewhat awkward.

-KWANG! CHAENG! CHANG! KWAAANG!!

My weapon of choice was none other than ice gauntlets.

Using these weapons with ice blades like claws at the fingertips, I skillfully parried the attacks launched by the high-ranking demon.

When a double-bladed axe larger than an ordinary person came flying, I deflected it with my claws, and when an iron ball at the end of a chain approached, I targeted the chain part to easily block it.

The demon’s attacks, while having excellent offensive-defensive balance, generally felt mediocre, so someone like me who specialized in close-quarters speed combat could handle it relatively easily.

The dizzying heat originating from hellfire was neutralized by the cold, turning it into steam. Thanks to the ice gauntlets protecting my hands, which served as both armor and weapon, there wasn’t much damage even when touching the sulfuric flames, but…

‘…What to do about this.’

Perhaps because of that, the situation had long since reached a stalemate.

The Arch Demon had enough firepower to kill me but couldn’t land many effective hits, while I could land effective hits but lacked the firepower, so the situation wasn’t progressing much.

[—You’re trembling like a coward!]

As if noticing my condition, when the demon taunted me like that, I was about to receive the childish provocation nonchalantly and prepare a counterattack, but…

[—■■■■■■!!]

Just then, an unpredictable variable that neither of us had anticipated—a beast from another world that emitted an indescribably blasphemous sound—revealed itself with a roar and intruded into the battlefield from the side.