One attack came after the other, and no matter how many the demon threw, I dodged them all.
Honestly, being stuck in a crowd control chain was the worst.
Because of that, I memorized 100 movements of that Gift.
But since every move cost a lot of energy, the demon had to stop after just 30 moves.
What are you?
I was told there would be four weak humans I had to kill today.
You're not weak, so what are you doing here?
Demons were usually a prideful race.
But when they met someone who was stronger than them, the demons' survival instincts kicked in.
The darkness dissipated, and in the direction I had stared, the demon reappeared.
"What's your name, human?" the demon asked.
"It doesn't matter."
The demon didn't seem very satisfied by my response.
"You have a very sharp tongue... but no matter. If you can predict my attacks, I will just have to overpower you the old fashioned way."
I hummed at the demon's words.
It was confident, and sure, it was much stronger than me... but so what?
The demon didn't even trigger an objective for me.
The system, or whoever was giving me these quests, knew that this was a piece of cake for me.
And since nearly 40 seconds were already up, I decided to end it here.
The demon's figure blurred as it moved much faster than my eyes could track.
But I didn't need to track it.
After all, its disgusting evil energy was so potent, I could see the demon with my eyes closed.
And so, despite its strength, all it took me was a single thought to freeze it in place.
But I knew that I couldn't hold it for long.
It was much stronger than me.
For that reason, I went with the easier option.
I focused all of my energy straight onto the demon's core.
It was momentarily surprised, and it tried to resist, creating yet another one of its shadow domains.
Attacks rained down on me from all sides, but again, I knew exactly where they were going to come from.
So as I continued to dodge the demon's attacks, it eventually grew tired.
The attacks stopped coming, and then, the domain vanished.
I saw the demon breathing heavily by one of those trees.
It was exhausted.
Because of that, my energy managed to overpower the demon's.
So now, with my Telekinesis wrapped around its demon core, it was helpless.
Cores to the demon race were their life.
If the core was destroyed, they would immediately die.
If the core was damaged, their Gifts would become weaker.
I would kill the demon.
But before that, I needed answers.
Approaching the demon, I leaned against a tree.
I coughed once, getting its attention.
"You mentioned that someone told you about us. Who was it?"
Even though I had my suspicions, I needed to make sure.
Unfortunately, the demon wasn't cooperative.
"Guh... just kill me! The others will get you anyway!"
Others?
What did it mean by others?
Just then, that same ominous energy washed over me, coming from the same direction where I tossed my group.
Not only that, the objective that hadn't triggered before... finally did.
[Ding!]
[You have triggered an emergency quest!]
[Objective: Survive against the 5 Demon Barons]
[Reward: +25 Free Stat Points]
[Additional Reward if you kill at least 1 Demon Baron: Demon Baron's Ability Core]
[Additional Reward if you kill all 5 Demon Barons: Blessed Armor Set]
[Current progress: 0/5 Demon Barons killed]
"..."
This really was a death game.
There was no time to rest.
No time to feel relaxed.
Because the moment the main story of the game began... shit finally kicked off.
I stopped hesitating.
If I wasted too much time against this demon, my group was going to die.
So I did what I had to do.
I crushed its core.
A groan escaped the demon's mouth.
It looked like it wanted to tell me something.
Sadly for it, its body began to slowly turn to ash.
Within five seconds, the only thing left of the demon was the pile of ash right beside the tree.
[Current progress: 0 → 1/5 Demon Barons killed]
It was dead.
And yet, I didn't feel even a little bit of satisfaction.
It was an easy fight.
Way too easy, especially since I knew exactly what was going to happen.
I put my satisfaction aside for the time being and decided I should go help out my group.
Kicking off the ground, I boosted myself with Telekinesis.
In just a few seconds, I felt Isabelle and the others in my range.
They were surrounded by the remaining four demon barons.
Clenching my fists in irritation, I picked up my pace.
Then, I dashed through the forest clearing and shot up into the sky.
Without a single bit of hesitation, I clapped my hands, propelling myself in my group's direction like a rocket.
It was the fastest I had ever moved.
But it also made it a teeny tiny bit difficult to control.
So as I hurtled at my group, I had no choice but to move them aside with my Telekinesis.
Right as I was about to slam headfirst into the ground, I caught myself.
A powerful shockwave spread out, knocking my group back slightly.
Even the demons were pushed back a few steps.
Each of the demons had a single crimson horn, and they all looked identical to the demon I just killed.
Though, that meant they were also just as powerful.
"Hmm...?"
"Who is this?"
"Didn't he come from Reed's direction...?"
While the demons bickered, I turned to my team, who were staring at me with conflicted looks.
It did look really bad.
I tossed them at demons.
In reality, I tried to protect them.
They were injured now.
The injuries weren't severe, but the fact remained that I misjudged the whole scenario.
Shaking my head, I glanced at my group.
"Any one of you up to fight with me?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
I sighed.
"Didn't think so."
Turning away from my group, I glanced at the four demon barons.
Fighting one or two was fine.
But fighting four at once...
I had only done something like that in the game.
Even then, my success rate wasn't the highest.
But I knew that I didn't have the luxury of being picky.
So I just had to kill them before they could kill me.
Yet just as I prepared to start the fight, someone from my group stood up and approached me, stopping right beside me.