“Ah, a demon……”

Faced with an unexpected situation, I unconsciously let the words slip out.

‘Wasn’t the demon supposed to appear much later in the original story?’

Come to think of it, in the original story, the first visit here was much later than now.

It was when Ludovica, who later learned of the demon’s existence, came looking for eleinsho.

It seemed that demons were gathering here and plotting something during a time not shown in the original story.

“Oh my. It’s the first time I’ve seen a human who knows our true nature.”

The middle one of the five heads spoke softly with a strange smile.

But I could tell instinctively. That gentle attitude was false.

“What should we do? What should we do? We’ll surely be punished by the King. To have our identity discovered!”

“Let’s kill them! We can just kill them right now!”

The other heads beside it chimed in with creepy voices.

While they were absorbed in their own conversation, Dietrich whispered quietly in my ear.

“Do you know what those things are?”

“They’re demons. Similar to monsters, but much more dangerous. They have intelligence. Moreover, that tattoo on the back of their hand……”

The demons serving the King had tattoos on the back of their hands according to their rank.

It was hard to see clearly from afar, but it looked like a star shape formed by overlapping triangles and inverted triangles.

I wanted to deny reality.

If I wasn’t mistaken, that demon was…

‘A high-ranking demon!’

The high-ranking class, consisting of the King’s direct subordinates, was described as having very strong powers in the original story.

I clearly remembered that Ludovica’s battle with a high-ranking demon took up an entire chapter.

As I was about to explain the danger in detail to Dietrich, suddenly a roar similar to a bird’s cry was heard from behind.

‘That cry…!’

I hurriedly checked behind. As expected, the owner of the roar was the monster that had been chasing us until just now.

‘Ah, we’re doomed. The situation is not good. A strong high-ranking demon in front, and that monster behind.’

We had to solve this somehow. I tried to recall the content of the original story as much as possible to find a way to overcome this situation.

‘Did that demon appear in the original? Ah… What should I do. I can’t remember.’

Given that I couldn’t remember, there was a possibility it was a demon that didn’t appear in the original story.

‘That’s a bit troublesome….’

Each demon had its own unique skill, and it would be reckless to fight without knowing what that skill was.

Then escape? Could we escape? But having our identity discovered, there’s no way they’d let us go quietly…

Perhaps due to the fear of facing a demon, my mind wasn’t working well.

“Miss Vivian, no need to think deeply. I’ll handle the demon, so you deal with that monster. If you can’t defeat it, just hold out while I fight that demon or whatever it is.”

Dietrich, who had been silently watching me think hard, took out the sword from my arms and placed it in my hand.

‘That’s a kind offer, but it’s not a problem that can be talked about so simply.’

Among demons, isn’t that a high-ranking one!

Like monsters, demons also become stronger in this black forest filled with demonic energy.

Though not as much as in the demon realm, the demonic energy was quite dense here too, making it a very dangerous situation.

But unable to think of a proper solution, I couldn’t stop him either.

Perhaps seeing the anxiety on my face, he smiled reassuringly.

“Don’t worry, I’m stronger. I’ll leave the rear to you, Miss Vivian.”

He announced that and immediately threw himself towards the demon.

In his hand was a black magic sword filled with an ominous aura.

‘Right, let’s trust Dietrich.’

This was the best method for now.

Then what I need to do now is… prevent this monster that keeps chasing us from interfering with his battle.

The monster that had been far away somehow approached right in front of us. I immediately activated my ability.

Baphula, the high-ranking demon, looked with a scornful gaze at the human approaching him.

He had quite a lot of experience dealing with humans so far.

After all, his job was to kidnap humans from civilian villages and offer them as sacrifices to maintain the portal.

Only the souls of living humans could be used as sacrifices.

So he always had to bring humans in a state where they were still breathing, and there were occasionally some who resisted at this time.

However, this was the first time he had encountered such a situation since coming to the human world.

‘Such a dignified attitude.’

Humans are weak to unknown fears.

They fear the unknown world even more than the world they know.

‘That’s why they create non-existent beings like ghosts and tremble in fear.’

It was a way of thinking incomprehensible to a demon. Nevertheless, Baphula found it quite interesting.

Thus, he considered the moment when the captured humans saw him and trembled in fear as the greatest pleasure since arriving in the human world.

That was why he deliberately kept his five heads attached, even though he could detach them like avatars.

After all, a creature with multiple heads is an unfamiliar concept to humans.

But what was with this man now approaching him?

If he were human, he should naturally be frightened by his appearance, yet he only wore a relaxed smile.

Baphula felt extremely displeased. If he’s human, he should fear him like a proper human!

It seemed his brothers felt just as displeased.

“That human, he’s annoying.”

“He’s pretty, just my type? But he’d be prettier if we split him in half.”

The heads on both sides nodded in unison. As expected, his brothers were of one mind with him.

Although it was his principle not to kill humans directly because they needed to be used as sacrifices, today he decided to make an exception.

‘I’ll kill him in extreme agony, then offer the corpse to the King.’

The demon’s hands transformed into blade-like appendages.

Poison dripped from their tips. It was a deadly poison that would make humans writhe in agony and die from just a graze.

Judging by his attitude, he seemed quite strong in the human world, but that didn’t matter. All humans are equal before poison.

Soon after, the human male leaped towards the demon, swinging his longsword.

Baphula quickly bent his waist backwards to avoid the attack. He thought he had dodged completely, but it seemed to have grazed his stomach slightly.

Where the sword had passed, a biting cold remained, like the winter wind. The demon realized something was amiss.

He had kidnapped many knights and mages before.

After all, the stronger the physical strength or the better the use of magic power, the higher the value as a sacrifice.

Whether knights or mages, they were certainly stronger than ordinary humans, but far too weak to compete with him.

It was natural. Even though his power had weakened from crossing into the human world, he was still one of Lord Belial’s proud high-ranking demons.

‘But what on earth is that sword….’

The area where the sword had touched ached terribly for a long time.

Although the wound healed after a while, there was no doubt that this was no ordinary sword.

‘Right, it was suspicious from the start that the sword suddenly appeared. There’s no way a lowly human could use summoning magic.’

Suddenly, he recalled a warning the King had given him in the past.

Although he hadn’t heard exactly what magic swordsmanship was, being in this situation now, he could automatically understand.

That man was a ‘magic swordsman’.

Suddenly, his pride was shattered.

To think there was an opponent he, a proud high-ranking demon, couldn’t overcome. It was impossible for such a being to exist in this lowly human world.

He could see the man, who had moved far away after his attack, closing the distance again.

The jet-black magic sword scattered magical energy around with a terrifying force.

Baphula concentrated all his senses on the man.

The ten eyeballs attached to the five heads each followed the man’s movements.

The magic sword was aiming for him.

He avoided the sword’s movements with agile body movements, but each time, the sword chased after him again without giving him a moment to breathe.

Certainly a speed and strength that couldn’t be considered human.

He could understand why the King had told him to avoid magic swordsmen, but still, the advantage should be his.

It’s natural that when focusing on attack, defense becomes vulnerable.

If he could just poison him by aiming for an opening, victory would be his.

The demon constantly looked for openings in the human while avoiding attacks. After the man swung his sword five times, he finally found an opening.

Baphula quickly tried to stab the man’s side with his hand transformed into a blade. Or rather, he tried to.

If only the human hadn’t grabbed his wrist.

In that moment, the human pulled him in with strong force. All of his eyeballs turned towards the man’s face at once.

A sardonic smile was etched on his face.

And then…

Thud.

Something fell to the floor with a thump and rolled. Baphula looked down.

What had touched his feet was none other than the head of his youngest brother.

“You, mere human!”

Baphula let out a high-pitched scream that seemed like it would tear his eardrums.

Faced with that threatening aura, Dietrich quickly distanced himself and assumed a defensive stance.

“Is the youngest dead?”

“Kill the human! Kill the human!”

“Quiet! All of you be quiet!”

The one who mediated the collective monologue of Baphula’s multiple heads was the head in the middle.

“Human, you will regret what you’ve done now.”

Bloody tears flowed down from beneath the white pupils and black sclera.

At the same time, disgusting oily bubbles began to form on Baphula’s body.

Six additional arms and legs started to grow from the single body.

Eventually, the body split into four, and the demon’s avatars spread out.

In an instant, Dietrich found himself surrounded by four demons.