Skriiiiiiik. Skriiiiiiiik.

“Wait, do you hear that?”

Skriiiiiiik. Skriiiiik. Skriiiik.

“…”

“I hear it.”

The sound was similar to the sound of a sharp object scraping a hard surface.

“Be careful; this one might be one of the demon lord’s strong generals. Or even the demon lord himself.”

“…” Ryuuji glared at Hal. He thought that the man was speaking way too much.

The three entered the ballroom.

“!”

The first thing the three men noticed was the naked woman sitting against the railings of the lavish, royal staircase. Her eyes were open, but lifeless. Although no chains held her back, the woman seemed to have lost the will to run away.

“Kyoko—!”

Ryuuji who was the only one who was intimately familiar with the girl immediately recognized her.

He ran to her side, forgetting about the fact that the enemy might be lurking somewhere.

“Kyoko, are you alright?!” The Hero shook the Priestess gently. Without wasting time, he swept her into his arm, into a princess carry.

“I’ve got you, now. You’re safe!”

Suddenly—

Boom!

A demon fell from above their heads, its claws aiming for them.

Skriiik!

Ryouta, who was the closest to the demon, hurriedly evaded. The claw scratched against the hard marble flooring, creating an aggravating sound much like nails scratching against a chalkboard.

It was a trap, he thought. Umebara Kyoko had been used to lure them there, where a demon was ready to ambush them.

“Grrrr!” The demon growled, seeing that its attack did not reach its intended targets. It roared loudly, then pointed its arms towards the four targets.

Seeing the frenzied demon start shooting out its razor-sharp claws, everybody ran off, searching for a place to hide.

Ryouta began shooting his skills towards the giant demon. Although it worked in hurting the thing, it also caused it to become even more infuriated.

“RaaaaHHHH!!”

Seeing as Ryuuji had his hands full with carrying the Priestess, only Ryouta and Hal could face off against the demon.

The demon was perhaps the strongest one that any of them had ever faced against.

Its skin was too tough that even Hal’s sword could not penetrate through. The only way to defeat it was perhaps to bombard magic spells and skills towards it.

At this point in the battle, the ballroom had ended up in ruins. The once luxurious place had turned into a place full of destruction that left the Hero Party nowhere to hide.

The three could only last for so long.

Sure enough, their stamina began to dwindle. The countless amount of battling that they had been doing up until that point had finally caught up to them.

Hffff… hffff… hffff… skrieeeeeek.

Fortunately for them, the demon was also down to its last strands of life. If there was an HP bar being displayed, then there would probably be less than 10% health left for the monstrous demon.

Suddenly—

The demon’s eyes changed colour.

The demon was quite fast for one so big. It carried a little bit of intelligence as it began to aim its talons at Ryuuji who was in full defensive mode. He was carrying Kyoko, so there was not much that he could do other than evade and run away.

The demon had easily targeted them as the weakest opponents. In a last ditch effort, it aimed towards them, hoping to take out the weaker ones.

This is bad, Ryuuji thought. There was no more place to hide. He didn’t want to abandon Kyoko, who was, quite frankly, a burden at this point.

Ryuuji gritted his teeth. He needed to think of a solution quickly. His eyes darted around as he continued to dodge the demon’s attacks.

And then—

The demon had finally found a weak point! It prepared its claw-shooting attack, aiming at Ryuuji.

Ryuuji’s pupils dilated. He knew that if he didn’t do something, fast, then his life would be extinguished.

His eyes fell upon the girl in his arms. Emotionless, despairing eyes stared into empty air. Even while he was jumping around and lugging the girl she had showed no reaction. Not fear and not even pain.

That moment, he knew what to do.