The seventh fiend was extraordinary. Even its slightest movement shook the ground, and not only its body fluids but also its exhaled breath were laced with toxins.

At a glance, it was clearly a level above the previous six fiends.

“Kieeeeeeeek―!”

With an ear-splitting screech, the fiend contorted its body. Soon after, its deep purple body became lumpy as if bubbles were forming.

Then those lump-like things separated from the fiend, becoming small fiends about the size of forearms.

They wriggled at a frenzied pace and attacked the subjugation team. Seeing the horde of fiends rushing towards them, the subjugation team was greatly shaken.

“Aaargh!”

“Everyone, dodge!”

In an instant, screams erupted from all directions and the formation crumbled.

They frantically struck down the fiends that were pouring in like waves. As a result, people got mixed up, and the situation became even more chaotic.

“Calm down! Don’t get excited, assess the situation calmly!”

Demian, who had leaped up and cut down a fiend without hesitation, raised his voice.

Then Arasila, who had regained her composure, shouted while forming a barrier.

“Focus on protecting the people around you! Prioritize defensive magic!”

The toxicity of the seventh fiend was far stronger than the other six.

The mages deployed powerful defensive magic to protect the knights, firmly supporting their backs.

“We’ll take care of the divided entities first! Absolutely do not recklessly approach the main body!”

Following Arasila’s words, Demian, who had quickly divided roles into attack and defense, ordered.

Thanks to the specific and clear instructions from the two, others also focused on their assigned roles in a much calmer state.

The knights eliminated the fiends, and the mages blocked the fiends’ attacks. Some mages also attacked fiends alongside the knights.

“My lady, I will escort you.”

Isaac stood beside Arasila, slicing a divided fiend with his sword. Arasila shook her head while launching an attack spell at the fiend next to him.

“I’m fine, so help the others.”

“But……”

“Sir, open your eyes wide and see who needs your help.”

Isaac alternately looked at the people struggling with the endlessly dividing fiends and Arasila, who was stably handling both attack and defense alone.

Although he was in charge of escorting Arasila, it was clear what should be prioritized in the current situation.

It’s a knight’s principle to help those in danger, after all.

“Please call me anytime you need help.”

“Alright.”

Isaac bowed his head lightly before leaving Arasila’s side. Soon after mixing with the crowd, he focused on slashing fiends and helping others.

As the main body relentlessly sent out small divided fiends, there seemed to be no end to them no matter how many were cut down with swords.

If one let their guard down even a little, the fiends would swarm in packs, clinging to and crawling up bodies.

Isaac gritted his teeth and stabbed a fiend that had latched onto his subordinate, shaking it off.

“Vi-Vice Captain! Thank you!”

“You’re welcome, be careful.”

As he turned around, Sally came into his view. Right behind her, a fiend was leaping up as if to pounce on her.

“Miss Sally, watch out behind you!”

Isaac hurried to save her. Hearing his cry, Sally turned her head with wide eyes.

Just before coming into contact with the fiend she had come face to face with, magical power shot out from the tip of Sally’s staff, attacking the fiend.

“Are you alright?”

Isaac, who had rushed over, cut down the fiend that had fallen to the ground whimpering, then checked on Sally.

“Ah, yes. Thank you for letting me know.”

“It’s nothing. Try to use defensive magic and stay back as much as possible. It’s dangerous.”

Isaac worriedly advised the small and delicate Sally. But she looked at Isaac for a moment, then pointed her staff at him.

A powerful magic bullet shot out from the magic stone at its tip, barely missing Isaac and accurately hitting a fiend that was about to pounce on him, killing it.

As Isaac turned around and looked at her with surprised eyes, Sally smiled brightly and said,

“Thanks for your concern, but I’m fine, Sir Wind. If you want to help, please take care of Rudy instead. He’s a bit of a weakling.”

Sally pointed at Rudy, who was busy casting defensive magic behind her.

Forming multiple barriers at once wasn’t as easy as one might think.

Even setting aside Arasila, who could create several large barriers at once as an exception, it was something only fairly skilled mages could do.

Rudy, who had skill but still lacked experience, kept dropping his own barrier while trying to pay attention to other areas.

Worried about this, Sally had been hovering around Rudy, and now it worked out well. She left Rudy to Isaac and swiftly departed to join the attack group.

Isaac scratched the back of his neck, feeling a bit dazed, and looked around.

The mages, who had seemed like mere weaklings, were surprisingly fighting well without showing signs of fatigue. They were not as frail as the knights had thought.

Isaac scratched his head and then approached Rudy to protect him as Sally had suggested.

“I’ll guard you, so focus on your defensive magic.”

“…Huh? Ah, yes. Thank you.”

Rudy nodded awkwardly at the unexpected offer, also feeling a bit flustered.

In fact, Rudy, who had visited the knighthood with Arasila during the Johnny Patterson incident, felt much more uncomfortable with the Red Hawk Knights than Sally did.

But now was not the time to dwell on such trivial feelings, so the two quietly coordinated, dividing tasks into attack and defense.

And the phenomenon of knights and mages forming combinations to counter the fiends began to occur in various places.

“Th-there, be careful!”

A knight would save a mage who had exposed a weakness while focusing on defense, or

“I’ll form a barrier for you, so charge forward.”

A mage would help a knight who was in trouble, surrounded by fiends. They put aside their previous animosity for a moment and efficiently worked together.

It was a positive effect that occurred as the groups that had been clearly separated became mixed together.

While the subordinates and juniors were busy eliminating the small fiends, Arasila and Demian gradually approached the main body.

Since the others would have difficulty fighting against the highest-grade fiend anyway, the two leaders of each group intended to eliminate the main body.

“My lady, please don’t get too close.”

“That’s what I should be saying. Why are you being so aggressive when you can’t even use defensive magic?”

Though they seemed to be bickering, they were actually paying attention to each other’s safety more than their own.

“Demian, do you see something shining inside the fiend’s mouth right now?”

At that moment, Arasila pointed to the fiend’s mouth with her chin. Recalling the strange glow from when they came out of the cave, Demian nodded.

“Yes, I see it. It seems to be the fiend’s core.”

“I think so too. If we destroy the core, it will die at once, so let’s aim for that together.”

“Let’s do it.”

Demian agreed to the proposal, gripping his sword firmly.

Attacking halfheartedly would only cause the fiend to endlessly divide without dying. They needed to aim for the core in one go to cut off its lifeline.

The toxicity in the breath became stronger as they got closer to the fiend. Arasila strengthened her barrier further.

The fiend was moving its maw but not opening it wide. It was undoubtedly to protect the core inside its mouth.

Arasila calmly thought about an effective way to remove the core.

‘I suppose it would be best if I provide backup and Demian takes the lead…’

Since Demian couldn’t use defensive magic like her, it was better in many ways for Arasila to support him.

However, she hesitated to assign him that role, as the one taking the lead would be in much more danger.

Then, as if sensing Arasila’s hesitation, Demian said,

“If you take care of the defense like during the hunting festival, I will remove the fiend’s core.”

“…Alright.”

Arasila nodded after some hesitation. The situation was not good for wasting time arguing back and forth.

The knights and mages dealing with the divided fiends also seemed to be running out of strength. They needed to take down the main body quickly.

“Then I’ll provoke the fiend to open its mouth, and you attack the core in that moment.”

“Understood.”

Arasila concentrated her attacks around the fiend’s maw. Magic bullets with a deep purple tinge rained down like meteors.

The fiend thrashed about, spewing body fluids in retaliation. Arasila blocked it with a triple-layered thick barrier and launched an even more powerful attack.

“Kihiik―!”

With a painful scream, the fiend writhed in agony.

The number of entities dividing from its body increased, but Arasila did not stop her attack. Rather, she only increased the intensity of her magic power.

“Kieeeeeeek!”

Finally, unable to withstand the continuous attacks, the fiend let out a long howl and opened its maw.

“Demian!”

When Arasila called him in an urgent voice, Demian was already leaping off the ground.

A bluish barrier firmly protected him from the body fluids pooled in the fiend’s maw. It was thanks to Arasila, who had poured all her magic power into the defensive spell after stopping her attack.

Demian thrust his raised sword blade straight into the fiend’s throat.

The moment the damp and squishy flesh was pierced, the fiend twisted its entire body.

This caused Demian to stagger for a moment, but soon he gritted his teeth and slid down through the flesh to the bright yellow core.

A sword aura imbued with his aura flowed along the blade. Without hesitation, Demian swung his sword towards the base of the core that was firmly rooted in the throat like a tree root.

“Kiyaaaaaaaak!”

The fiend let out a terrible scream and thrashed violently. Soon after, with a thud, it flipped over and collapsed to the ground, showing no movement.

Demian walked out steadily from between the limp jaws, holding the fiend’s core in his hand.

“Demian, are you alright?!”

Arasila rushed to him hurriedly. Fortunately, thanks to her barrier, Demian was unharmed, not even a hair out of place.

“I’m fine. How about you, my lady?”

“I’m fine too. Are you really not hurt anywhere?”

“Yes, so please calm down.”

Demian patted Arasila’s shoulder lightly as she anxiously examined him.

“Hah… I’m so glad you’re safe.”

She had been very worried that he might get hurt.

Demian, who had been staring at her as she sighed in relief, reached out and gently touched around a small scratch on her cheekbone.

“We should apply medicine to this as soon as we get back.”

“Huh? Ah, this is nothing, really…”

“It is something. Please get it treated right away.”

Arasila nodded, unable to resist Demian’s firm insistence.

The divided fiend entities naturally died off when the main body perished.

Afterwards, the subjugation team searched the surroundings to check if there were any remaining fiends. However, as if the seventh had been the last, no more fiends were found.

“Is, is this really the end of it…?”

“Whew, it’s finally over!”

The subjugation team hugged each other in joy. They shared warm embraces without distinguishing between mages and knights.

After rejoicing for a while, they tidied up and prepared to descend the mountain.

While the mages had taken the lead on the way up, the knights took the lead on the way down.

“Then I’ll guide Lord Vandermir by his side.”

Ken bowed his head politely and left towards Demian. Arasila sent him off without much thought and took care of her juniors.

The subjugation team slowly descended the mountain. Arasila thought as she trudged along.

‘Now that we’ve completely eliminated the fiends, Demian shouldn’t die, right?’

In her prophetic dream, Isaac had said that Demian died while on the mountain.

The beings that posed the greatest threat to Demian’s life on this mountain were the fiends, but now that they were gone, the possibility of his death had significantly decreased.

As she took a step with a much lighter heart, suddenly a question arose.

‘Why… how did Demian die? Who killed him?’

‘We’re still investigating the details.’

When Arasila had asked who killed him, Isaac had replied that they were investigating.

‘If he had died because of the fiends, there’s no way he would have answered like that?’