The master headed toward the monster's nest, and Rio was on his way back to the house when a few monsters suddenly attacked him.
There were three of them—small, but still monsters.
He drew his dagger and charged at them with confidence.
The first monster lunged at him, but he managed to dodge successfully and slashed its leg with the dagger.
The other two rushed him, and one of them bit his arm.
He sliced the face of the second monster, but the third one jumped and bit the hand he was holding the dagger with.
Rio punched it, but the dagger slipped from his grasp.
With both hands injured, he tried to retreat and get his dagger back.
Just as he got close to it, the monsters pounced on him and started biting—
—and then suddenly, a loud explosion echoed through the area.
The monsters froze for a few seconds.
Rio seized the moment, grabbed his dagger, and killed all three.
"Huff…
Huff…
I did it!
But…
Why did they stop moving for a moment?
Did Master do something?"
A few minutes earlier
The master had been walking toward the monster nest.
As he approached, more and more monsters began appearing.
The queen monster sensed an intruder and ordered her underlings to eliminate the threat.
But…
It was already too late.
The master had reached the mountain.
"Oh, so this is the place."
"I'll finish this quickly and go home."
He raised his hand slightly, and a small orb of energy formed above it.
The monsters were charging at him—
—but in the next moment, the entire mountain where their nest was located completely vanished, as if it had never existed.
All monsters inside were instantly wiped out, except for the queen and a few that had been outside.
(When the explosion happened, the queen's guardians surrounded her to protect her and died shielding her.)
"Oh? So you're the queen."
The queen had evolved enough to speak a little.
"Ke-ke-ke… you… cannot escape… from the Demon Duke…"
"We… will consume… this entire wor—"
She was trying to threaten him, but he cut her off with a simple:
"Okay."
Her head dropped to the ground.
With the queen dead, the other monsters lost their command for a moment and froze.
The master didn't waste the opportunity—he tore them all apart without even moving from his spot.
"Well then… time to check."
"Yihehehe."
He rushed into the center of the nest—which no longer existed—and searched for treasure.
He found nothing.
(The blast had destroyed all the gold.)
He searched thoroughly but managed to find only one gold coin.
"Huh? A gold coin? I've never seen coins in a monster nest. It's usually raw gold."
He pocketed the coin and walked back toward the town, disappointed.
On his way, he thought:
"Even if I lost the treasure… I still have the hundred gold coins they owe me."
"Haha…"
Half an hour later, the town was still in shock when one of the guards spotted the master approaching—
—with an extremely gloomy face.
He rushed to tell the commander.
The commander was deep in thought:
"What was that explosion?
It came from the monster nest…
Could that man have defeated them?
No, no, he probably failed and used some kind of spell to blow something up and escape…
But that explosion was huge…
If he actually won, how am I supposed to tell him about the gold…"
"Commander!!"
The commander jumped from the sudden shout.
"Ah! My heart—what is it!? Why yell like that!?"
The soldier replied,
"T-the man who went to kill the monsters—he's back!"
"He's back!?"
"Yeah, but he looks really upset… something must've happened."
"Hmmm…"
The commander thought:
Just as I suspected… he probably failed and used that explosion to escape.
"Let's go see him."
They approached the master, and the commander asked:
"Excuse me… what happened?
Were you unable to defeat the monsters?"
The master, still gloomy, answered:
"I defeated them… but my precious treasure…"
"Whaaat?? You actually defeated them!?"
"Yeah… but my beautiful treasure got blown to dust…"
Suddenly, the commander and all the soldiers bowed deeply to him.
"Thank you so much!! Thank you for saving us! You're the hero of our town!"
The master replied:
"Alright, alright. Now hand over those gold coins…"
The commander said,
"Um… they were… stolen."
"What!? Stolen!? By who!? How!?"
The commander explained,
"When you left, the monsters attacked and took all the food and the coins."
The master suddenly remembered the two monsters he'd seen earlier fleeing with a bag.
"Heh. Those monsters…
Didn't know what they were carrying, so I didn't bother chasing them…
Looks like they would've been destroyed soon anyway…"
He then remembered the single coin he'd found.
He pulled it out of his pocket.
The commander instantly recognized it.
"Yes! That's exactly the kind of coin we had!
Did you manage to recover this from the monsters?"
The master froze for a second and replied:
"…Yeah."
Far, far away
Castle of the Tenth Demon Duke
Inside one of the rooms, a humanoid monster was sitting.
Knock knock
"May I come in?"
"Enter."
"Greetings, Tenth Demon Duke.
I have bad news."
"The female monster you sent to destroy the small moon-side town…
Her vital signs have ceased. She appears to be dead."
"…Hmm.
Send a team immediately to investigate."
"Yes, sir!"
End of Chapter 21