episode_0013

A narrow-eyed man suddenly appeared.

He was dressed in a neat suit.

Most of Bank’s syndicate members would probably be dressed like that.

Could it be that they didn’t manage to catch them all and one guy slipped out?

Krokk looked at the man and shouted coldly.

“Who are you?”

“Huh? Didn’t we already have an impressive meeting once?”

“I don’t know guys like you.”

“Ah, I missed this.”

The man pulled something out from his pocket.

A bizarre mask that covered his entire face.

Only then did Krokk realize who the man was.

The man who made him kneel at the conference.

It was that guy.

“You son of a bitch…!”

“Isn’t it a bit much when you look at me with such passionate eyes?”

A tone that was annoyingly picking at the opponent.

There was no need to confirm any further.

-CRASH!!

Krokk, whose body was much more massive than before, kicked off the ground and charged.

Was it because his body had gotten bigger?

The axe, as long as the height of an average adult man, looked like a one-handed axe for chopping firewood.

The same simple strike as last time.

The speed or power was not the same.

Black demonic energy was overflowing from the axe, which was swung mercilessly, tearing the air roughly.

-RUMBLE!!

Perhaps unable to control his strength yet, the attack missed.

But the ground where he brought the axe down was dented as if a crater had formed.

-CRASH! -BOOM!

With his immensely increased physical strength, which he couldn’t control, Krokk swung the axe wildly.

His original basic skills were gone, but fearsome physical strength was filling that void.

A power that truly surpassed Flamber’s physical strength.

The underground containment facility greatly vibrated, and stone dust fell from the ceiling.

It might collapse as it was if things went wrong, but Krokk didn’t care at all.

“Ugh…hahaha!!”

As he swung the axe, intoxicated by madness-

-SLASH!

The wildly swung axe tore a long gash in Owen’s right arm.

“……”

A long wound he received for the first time in years.

Owen’s sentiment was brief.

“……It hurts.”

“Well, of course it would.”

Amidst the fight, Guardlak’s voice quietly echoed from beyond the hole.

“How’s my masterpiece?”

“Masterpiece? Surely you’re not talking about that person?”

“Yes, he’s my magnum opus.”

“Wow~ You call that a masterpiece, when he looks like he’s been ground five times on the roadside. As expected, the devil’s perspective is different!”

“…What?”

Owen looked beyond the hole and revealed his honest feelings without pretense.

“I find myself reflecting on my shallow insight, which wondered what that kind of garbage-like appearance was.”

Criticism that was beyond harsh, bordering on bizarre.

Guardlak’s face, who had been watching the situation from beyond the hole, turned red.

He had just said one word, but never imagined he would talk like this.

But Owen didn’t care at all.

“In that sense, I was thinking of showcasing a masterpiece as well-”

-SWISH

Owen took out a banana from his pocket.

A banana he often carried because it was his favorite snack.

He then threw it on the ground and stomped on it with his foot.

Krokk and Guardlak’s faces showed a question: what kind of bizarre act was this?

But at Owen’s subsequent words, their expressions instantly flared up.

“The title of the work is ‘Trampled Banana’. It has similar aspects in that it’s crushed. Haha. Ha.”

“……You’re desperate to die.”

“It’s modern art. Respecting diversity is good manners.”

Krokk, judging that mixing words further would only make him feel worse, swung his axe without a word.

In that short moment, dozens of exchanges passed.

Krokk, who only carried out attacks, and Owen, who barely managed to avoid those attacks.

Annoyed by Owen’s continuous evasion, Krokk shouted loudly.

“Aren’t you going to use magic!!”

-WHIZZ!!

The attack was swung to accurately slice the body in two.

Owen quickly bent his back to avoid it.

-SNIP!

Fortunately, he didn’t allow the attack to hit, but the tie he was wearing was cut in half.

Even in such a tense and dangerous situation, Owen didn’t lose his smile.

From his right arm, where blood was gushing out, the pain was becoming clearer, but he was moving like someone who didn’t feel pain.

“This is expensive. Are you going to pay for the repairs? Haha.”

“Shut your mouth!!”

Owen, who was subtly provoking while dodging, appeared relaxed on the surface.

However, that was merely Owen’s unique personality, and the reality was different.

‘I have no mana.’

He tried to counter or evade using magic, but this place was already infested with demonic energy.

From Owen’s perspective, who used magic by drawing on mana spread evenly throughout the world, it was nothing short of a disaster.

-TAP -CLATTER

Dodging the attacks continuously with his not-so-exceptional physical abilities was now impossible.

His breath was getting shorter, constricting his lungs, and his joints were starting to creak.

However, it’s not that there’s no method.

The thick demonic energy spread here.

Since it’s demonic energy derived from Guardlak, he can’t accept and use it as is… but he can condense it.

-WHOOSH!

Owen, having created distance, reached out his hand and grabbed the air.

To Krokk’s eyes, it looked like he was just flailing his hand-

‘…What is that?’

Guardlak, who was watching Owen through the hole, expressed doubt.

“Condense. Compress.”

-WHOOSH

As he tore at the air, the surrounding currents changed.

Like water leaking through a collapsed dam, demonic energy was surging towards Owen through unseen cracks.

Gathering gradually, the demonic energy kept accumulating, and then-

-DING

It soon transformed into a black-colored orb.

A phenomenon impossible to understand with common sense.

Guardlak muttered without realizing it.

“…A human handling demonic energy?”

And well, that’s true; demonic energy is the polar opposite of humans.

Unless one has contracted with a demon, it should be impossible to even move the tiniest bit of demonic energy.

Guardlak raised his eyes and observed Owen carefully.

“……”

There was no trace of having contracted with a demon.

For Owen’s soul, visible through his eyes, shone brightly without being stained or corrupted by anyone.

It was an incomprehensible situation, but there would be no particular problem.

That human was using scraps of demonic energy derived from himself, while he was supplying infinite demonic energy from a passage connected to the Demon Realm.

However-

‘It’s strange.’

He couldn’t shake off the sense of incongruity.

He was clearly a human he had never seen before, but felt familiar.

That was by no means a familiarity in a positive sense.

Judging that the situation was turning strange, Guardlak shouted to Krokk.

“Kill that human immediately!!”

“Don’t order me around. I’ll handle it myself.”

But Krokk merely slowly approached Owen, holding his axe.

He was both excessively secreting adrenaline and not in a normal state due to being infested with demonic energy.

The immense power he felt for the first time in his life, and the pleasure derived from the sense of superiority that he was overwhelming an opponent who had miserably toyed with him.

Krokk thought he had already seized victory and was acting leisurely.

“Try to struggle once. You bug-like bastard.”

The leisure only the strong can possess.

He felt no sense of danger at all towards Owen, who was trying to do something with his arm cut.

Perhaps because of that, he harbored the arrogant thought that he could handle whatever Owen did.

“Haha.”

At the sight of Krokk like that, Owen smiled with satisfaction and opened his mouth.

“Shall we talk about the world for a moment?”

“What nonsense are you suddenly spouting?”

“It’s something resembling a final will.”

“Ha…! Madman. Fine, I’ll listen once.”

“……There’s something most people misunderstand.”

That demonic energy and mana are separate powers.

The Intermediate Realm is maintained and takes shape by mana.

Conversely, the Demon Realm is maintained and takes shape by demonic energy.

Although the colors and properties they emit are different, inherently, the two energies share a common denominator.

The fact that they are energies that compose each world, and-

“That they can also reverse each other.”

“So what about that?”

“You’ll see when you watch.”

-WHOOSH!

Given the situation, unexpectedness is necessary.

A method he thought was theoretically possible but had never used before.

“Purification. Transformation-”

The black orb in his hand was dyed blue from the edge.

Bright light spreading from the edge.

Soon the color of the orb began to change.

-HUM

The turbid energy of demonic energy gradually became lighter, and the energy of mana gradually became denser.

Guardlak, who was staring blankly at that sight, was aghast.

“It’s impossible.”

Handling demonic energy?

Even if it’s incomprehensible up to that point, he could let it pass.

But transforming demonic energy into mana.

None of the seven kings of the Demon Realm can do this… though he couldn’t assert that absolutely.

Because one of them is such an unpredictable anomaly.

But that and this are separate.

The strange phenomenon that human unleashed.

Transforming demonic energy into mana means… that the opposite might also be possible.

Having finished his thoughts, Guardlak shouted towards Krokk once again.

“Don’t kill that human, capture him alive!!”

A shout completely opposite to the one just moments ago.

Wondering what he was supposed to do, Krokk glared at the hole with annoyance.

“I told you not to interfere-”

“If you ignore me this time too, I’ll tear you to shreds and kill you first.”

“…What?”

Guardlak, who couldn’t hide his bewilderment at the bizarre phenomenon he was seeing for the first time, and Krokk, who was enraged by his words.

Amidst the sudden conflict that arose, Owen quietly gathered the mana within the orb.

And then-

-SHIMMER

The orb, carefully levitated into the air, burst gently, scattering the energy that had been trapped inside.

The dark underground instantly brightened as if a light had been turned on.

Pure mana, unstained by anything, began to dominate the space.

A moment later-

“Thank you for fighting like idiots and not paying attention.”

Behind Owen, who always maintained a relaxed attitude.

-WHOOSH

Hundreds of spears imbued with blue light were rotating.

***

“Accelerate. Rotate. Fire.”

Magic spears fired indiscriminately after a short incantation.

They seemed to not distinguish between friend and foe, but didn’t approach anywhere near the people who had collapsed in the prison.

They were only shot wildly towards Krokk.

-CLATTER! -CLANG!

Their positions were reversed, and the one-sided battle entered a new phase.

Owen merely stood in the same spot, chanting magic swiftly, but Krokk was having a terrible time.

There were over hundreds visible to the eye alone.

All of them, possessing form and power, surged towards Krokk.

-POW!

Unlike that time when they only caused shock, the magic now contained lethal power.

Bizarre magic that considered only lethality, without any flashiness or embellishment.

If he struggled to bat away a spear, another spear would fly in.

And then-

“Agh…aack!!”

That phenomenon showed no sign of ending and continued to unfold.

Owen, who was listening to Krokk’s painful groans, spoke to Krokk with the same expression and the same posture.

“Actually, the will was a lie. I reluctantly lied because I needed time. I sincerely apologize for that?”

“Cowardly bastard…!”

Only then did Krokk resent himself for acting leisurely even though he could have finished it.

He came to his senses from the intense pain felt throughout his body, but it was already too late.

“Fuck……Fuck!!”

“Do you only know how to swear? I haven’t heard that accepting demonic energy causes infantilization, you know.”

His tone was light, but his actions were not at all.

As Owen flicked his finger, hundreds of mana-formed spears surged towards Krokk once again.

One by one, wind-holes were appearing in his massive body.

It was an attack that would have instantly killed an ordinary person with plenty to spare, but Krokk’s life force was tenacious.

However-

-CLATTER!

That too, soon reached its limit.

‘Why. Why me.’

What on earth kind of grudge does he have against him to do this?

He could just ignore him and live, so why was he interfering and disrupting like this?

Krokk shouted towards Owen, filled with resentment.

“What the hell are you!! Why are you so desperate to torment me!!”

“Me?”

Owen paused for a moment, considering that question.

If he had heard that question at the time he was transmigrated, the answer would have been different.

Back then, he was desperate just to survive, and even defining himself was a luxury.

But the life and relationships he had built here.

As those became intertwined, Owen’s answer was decided.

“My name is Owen.”

The spears being fired started to gain acceleration.

Amidst the magical barrage pouring down like a shower, Owen smiled and replied.

“I am the Hero’s Teacher.”