Chapter 172: The Demon King is Really Weak
"You think you're going to do a Kamehameha or something?"
Looking at Inoue Yasutaka striking that familiar pose, Hachiman Hikigaya muttered in his mind. However, his face clearly showed vigilance. After all, joking aside, a Demon King charging up a big move was not something to take lightly.
Elite-class and special-class spirits kept attacking him from all sides, but for the current Hachiman, dealing with them was only a matter of some effort. Thus, he didn't pay too much attention to the incoming attacks. After applying a layer of the "Guard" spell on himself, he activated his breathing technique and charged toward Inoue Yasutaka.
The distance between them was only a few meters, reachable in just a few breaths. Inoue Yasutaka clearly understood that his useless underlings alone could not stop Hachiman. Without hesitation, he kicked Miura Yumiko, who was next to him, toward Hachiman.
"Miura?"
Hachiman caught the flying Miura Yumiko and froze for a moment.
How did she end up here? And she was grabbed by this Demon King in front of him… But the spirits surrounding them gave him no time to think. Gripping Miura Yumiko's slender but incredibly resilient waist, he retreated from Room 1806, placed her safely in the corridor, and returned to the room.
The moment he stepped back inside, a deadly sense of crisis forced him to immediately lower his head. Almost simultaneously, a black shockwave brushed past his hair, flying out through the doorframe. The array sealing the room was instantly broken, and Inoue Yasutaka, without hesitation, fled with his remaining subordinates.
"They're leaving?"
Standing up from the ground and brushing off the dust, Hachiman exhaled in relief. The higher the spirit's rank, the more cautious they seemed to be. If you gave them an opening, they would immediately flee, giving no chance to react. That wounded Demon Emperor in the alley before acted this way, and so did this Demon King now.
Fortunately, Hachiman had already marked all a dozen or so spirits. As long as they came close enough, the system would automatically alert him.
After checking the room and finding no relevant clues, Hachiman turned to check on Miura Yumiko. To his surprise, despite being surrounded by spirits earlier, she was completely unharmed—only fainted.
"Hey, Miura!"
Shaking her shoulders gently, Hachiman tried to wake her. Since she appeared here, she should have some useful information, right?
"You know, treating a girl like that isn't very nice~"
A cheerful, soothing voice came from behind Hachiman.
"Who?!"
The Demon-Slaying sword instantly appeared in his hand, but Hachiman did not immediately turn around.
"Relax, I told you I'd be coming tonight secretly. I mean no harm to you."
As the voice fell, Hachiman was surprised to see his Demon-Slaying sword mysteriously sheathed. Filled with confusion, shock, and curiosity, he turned around.
A man in casual clothes, looking only slightly older than him, stood quietly in the corridor.
"Good evening!"
Seeing Hachiman turn around, the man waved.
"Good evening…"
Hachiman hesitated slightly but nodded in response.
"This isn't a place to chat. Take her and come with me to the rooftop."
Before Hachiman could react, the man waved his hand. The previously damaged Room 1806 instantly restored itself. In the next moment, Hachiman was astonished to find that he and Miura Yumiko, who should have been in the corridor, were now on the rooftop.
"It's just a simple spatial transfer. You'll be able to do it in the future," the man explained, seemingly reading Hachiman's thoughts.
"Why are you helping me?"
Hachiman asked the question that was most pressing in his mind.
"Why help you? Good question!"
The man clapped his hands in applause for Hachiman's question, then used his spiritual power to conjure three chairs on the rooftop, inviting Hachiman to sit.
"Strictly speaking, Japan only needs three exorcists." "Because, right now, the only dangerous spirits are those three great demons God."
"So your power is about the same as those three demons?" Hachiman interjected. If the three demons the man mentioned were the same as the ones he saw in the otherworldly space, the power difference seemed absurd. Compared to the moves the man had shown before, the three demons god Hachiman had seen in the otherworldly space seemed relatively weak.
"About the same? No way."
The man first froze, then laughed, rejecting Hachiman's assumption. "The three demons are indeed strong. Three against one might be tricky, but still not troublesome. I was talking about gods above their level." "Of course, in name they're all called demons, just like we all call ourselves exorcists, yet our powers differ."
"Then why haven't they appeared?"
Hachiman asked, looking up at the man. From his words, it was clear that there were many high-level spirits like the ones in the otherworldly space. So why hadn't Hachiman heard of these kinds in reality?
"Because of us."
The man stroked his chin proudly. "The five of us fought countless battles with the highest-ranking spirits and forced them to sign an agreement: no Demon Emperor-level spirits appear freely in the real world. So the strongest spirits you can meet now are only Demon Kings."
"But except for you, dealing with a Demon King must still be extremely difficult, right?"
Hachiman frowned. Even Chiba's strongest spiritualist, Takeda Mitsue, probably only reached a high rank at her peak, while the strongest spirit in Chiba was a Demon King. It seemed unfair.
"That standard wasn't set by me alone. Maybe the other four think Demon Kings are already weak enough."
The man shrugged, showing he had no power over this matter.
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