A jet of water at immense pressure shot from her jaws, easily crushing the countless weaklings who dared to oppose her.
Even so, each time she killed one, however easily, it hurt.
She felt as if slightly deep cuts were marking her flesh, even with her scales, but there was no physical wound there.
Such deep cuts without having done anything, without having been attacked, made her even angrier.
She lashed out with her tail, crushing a vermin that declared itself a 'Hero of Her Majesty,' killing it instantly.
However, it suddenly exploded with a massive concentration of power and charged at her with incredible speed and force.
She was Kih'Monyrte Alabaryoh, better known as the Goddess of the Depths, Queen of the Seas, Supreme Leviathan, Lady of the Water, Abyssal Empress, Mother Hydra, though she wasn't a Hydra, or simply as the Dragon Lord of the Ocean, since most of the other aquatic Dragon Lords were foolish enough to dare to land against the Kings of Greed, and the rest were hunted by other predators or defeated by Kih in her conquest of the seas.
Regardless of the background of her absolute rule over the world's oceans, what mattered was that the Dragon Lord narrowly dodged the massive sword strike of pure demonic energy, manifested by the creature that had suddenly surged in power and opened its jaws at her.
"[Oceanic Punishment] GRAHHHH!" She roared after unleashing one of her abilities, greatly enhancing the power of her own breath, or rather, her water powers, and by extension, her breath at extremely high pressure, obliterating the Demon in a torrent of seawater, which later proved that, indeed, the Demon vanished.
The ancient Dragon, ruler of all the seas, hissed in fury. These unpleasant things…
Outraging her own kingdom, decimating all her worshippers, destroying her own temple… And even after doing so, they still bothered her.
Her mission to gain followers through the land dwellers on the coasts certainly wasn't going entirely well.
Mainly because they were weak and annoying humans, who believed they had the right to 'freedom' or something like that.
In the past, these lands were plagued by Demi-Humans, easy to dominate and control through force and intimidation.
But now, humans, who had once arrived and built castles and such, felt entitled to oppose her simply because they possessed pieces of wood that fired metal balls.
At least she could boast about how amusing it was to see their faces as those metal balls bounced uselessly off her powerful scales.
Certainly, as far as humanity was concerned, Kih'Monyrte had nothing to worry about.
She would simply crush those who resisted and enslave the rest, enough to replace the losses caused by that nasty piece of trash that had blown up her home, with her asleep inside.
But when it came to those creatures, more savage, stronger, and armored, they were worse than either Beastmen or humans.
The Demi-Humans at least submitted to superior force, while the humans were weak and terrified when they realized they had no chance, but they fled like cockroaches. On the other hand, these armored insects charged at her with blind fury. Fearless of death.
Even when she shattered them with a single breath, they charged without hesitating a single step, raising their swords and shields, raining fire and darkness upon her scales, even if it was all for naught.
They attacked with ferocity and brutality. It was more as if… They were doing it on purpose.
That was to say, every time she finished off a certain type of Demon, something hurt her for some reason. And others were surprisingly resilient enough to withstand more than she expected.
Even with everything they did, they didn't really do anything to her, other than inflict wounds she didn't understand how she got from hitting them.
She almost considered ignoring them, since they couldn't do anything to her, and if she struck them, she strangely received damage.
But considering that the unknown warriors could easily wipe out the humans she planned to enslave, and these creatures didn't seem particularly easy to control, then the best thing to do was simply to eliminate them.
Even if she suffered a little, at the end of the day, they couldn't defeat her in any way. She was a Dragon Lord after all!
So it didn't matter if hundreds of armored knights rushed towards her in bloody fury, or flew at her.
Even so, she hissed slightly as she felt something impact her scales on her back. A fireball that, surprisingly, burned her a little. Not from heat, but from something else, like some kind of energy…
She looked behind her, then saw a huge, brutal-looking Dragon… More like a Demon than a Dragon…
"Who are you, young one? Are you the fool who dares to turn this armies against me?" She growled, sniffing the air.
The Demon Dragon roared violently and aggressively in response, without uttering a word.
That, combined with the smell… Gave Kih the explanation. It was a fake Dragon. And more importantly, it wasn't that intelligent. "Hm. Fine. Then die along with the rest of these insects." She growled, swirling like a snake or an eel, preparing to strike the beast.
Even so, another explosion hit her, this time colder, like ice.
She clicked her tongue, watching a white Dragon circle above her.
Something black approached at high speed, firing a plasma beam at her, and Kih dodged it, now aware of these fake, rebellious children who thought they had the right to fight her.
Another explosion, an electrical bolt. A jet of acid. A concentrated gale.
As the seconds ticked by, Kih found herself, suddenly and surprisingly, surrounded by… Fake Dragons. Aggressive, firing everything at her in a strange coordination that gave her no respite.
She could finish them all off.
In less than a minute if she wanted. Unless they had something to surprise her.
But this… It was certainly unexpected, and it left the Ocean Dragon Lord pondering for a few moments, as she crushed Demon after Demon with her heavy body while dodging breaths, explosions, and lightning.
"Tch. Fine. If you all want to die so badly, then line up." She hissed, slithering across the dry ground.
It felt unpleasant.
The moisture on her scales had evaporated from all the fire and electricity, and it was unpleasant. Not harmful, of course. While she wasn't something like a… What were they called? Wyrms? She still had a serpentine shape. Although, having been born an Ocean Dragon, and raised in the ocean, with scales naturally made for swimming rather than crawling on the ground like a worm, the sensation of slithering was thoroughly unpleasant.
However, unless she wanted to dive deep beneath the ocean and hope to rebuild what that thing destroyed, or simply move to another sea, or wait for these things to be stupid enough to enter her domain again, then this was her only option. But what he could do was both lessen the unpleasant dryness and gain an advantage.
"DIE, INSECTS! [Call of the High Waters]!" She shouted.
And the sky began to darken.
…
Dont observed the camp silently, with a touch of boredom.
It was simple, suitable for survivors who had escaped into the forest with whatever they could carry.
It wasn't as if Dont was an expert on campsites, but she at least had to admit it was impressive how these people managed to survive and hide from the Archarchaeologist's army.
Paladins, priests, a group of novice Rangers who looked like they'd been trained by Baraja's father, who was being tended to for the wounds he'd sustained against those Infernal Assassins and Rogue Imps.
They certainly weren't the most impressive summons… They barely reached level 30, as far as she could remember… Normally she would know, but first, she didn't have that kind of creature among her summons, and second, they were so irrelevant that there was no point in having them. Her Imp, capable of revealing the map, was useful enough even at high levels. But a level 30 assassin?
Regardless, considering the power level of this world, she truly had to commend Pabel Baraja for being able to withstand, and in fact almost win, a fight against several enemies at once.
As far as she could recall, she hadn't planned any attack on this place…
Perhaps Bachelory ordered it?
Who knows. Considering the NPCs might well think they already knew everything, it was the safest bet…
But it was certainly a coincidence that they just happened to enter the forest and encounter Pabel in time to prevent his death.
Without him, a rather capable Ranger within the parameters of the New World, this camp wouldn't have been able to survive much longer.
In fact, it seemed that the Demons had been tormenting the forest for a few days, as Pabel explained that, while she had set some traps, they were mostly in the trees. Nothing that could prevent other survivors from passing through the forest.
In other words, the traps on the ground were set by the Demons.
Certainly, Dont had to commend such low-level summons for such a job.
Along the way, she detected many traps, and Neia detected even more.
She talked a lot about how the summons worked. It was already evident how incredibly intelligent Elder Liches or Infernal Archaeologists were, and how they could serve as officials or economists without any problems, even newly summoned.
She watched out of the corner of her eye, sitting on a log and surrounded by Black Abyss's elite guards, as other guards seemed to be helping paladins train.
Her gaze swept over various parts of the camp, taking in quite a bit of it.
However, when she sighed, she looked to her side and opened her eyes.
"Hello." A woman, an unknown stranger, greeted her, sitting curiously beside her, dressed in simple clothes, with bandages on her head. They were clean, so either they were new, or they simply weren't entirely necessary and were there just in case.
"Um… Greetings." The Demon Queen replied, observing the guards.
They seemed to look at each other, as if debating whether it was wrong to let the woman sit next to Dont, who seemed happy to interact with the locals.
The Shooter dismissed the idea and looked at the brown-haired woman…
"This is my log." The girl murmured, making Dont blink again.
"Huh? Your… Log?" The Demon frowned slightly. Not out of annoyance, just… confusion.
"Yes. I usually sit there… To eat. Not that you can't sit there too. But, I was just… Saying." Stepping back slightly, the woman seemed a little embarrassed by what she was saying, looking down, a piece of bread in her hand.
"Oh, I apologize then. I wasn't aware of it. I just sat down in a spot where I could get a good view of the camp…" Dont admitted, unsure how to respond to this woman.
"Yes. It's quite beautiful to see." The woman nodded, taking a bite of her bread.
"Um… May I ask your name?"
"… I was told my name is Remedios." She said somewhat hesitantly… They told her?
Dont frowned slightly. The name sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it.
"Um… I'm Nyx~" She smiled slightly, extending a hand in greeting.
Remedios stared at Nyx's hand for several seconds, then tore off a piece of her bread, and after turning Dont's hand a little, placed the piece in her palm. The Demon Queen blinked at this, eyeing the piece of bread.
She had to raise a hand because of how the Fairies seemed to view such behavior as offensive to the Demon Queen.
"Um… Leave us alone." She ordered. It would be troublesome to talk to those two, who could interpret anything as an offense.
The knights seemed to want to argue, but Dont gave them an intense look, and they fell silent, only bowing and walking away.
"They're strange. They look like the ones we have, but they shine brighter," Remedios murmured, watching the knights leave.
"Ah, well… Yours are paladins of the Holy Kingdom… They are Royal Knights of Deorum Regnum." Dont explained.
"Deorum Regnum? Ah, the place they went to for help." The girl seemed to conclude, taking another bite.
"Umu. Indeed. We managed to find them, and we plan to take them all to a safer place."
"Oh. That's good. I heard there are monsters roaming the forest lately." The woman trembled slightly.
"Demons, yes. They seem to be looking for them. I must commend Mr. Baraja for keeping so many Demons at bay for so long all by himself. They are certainly elusive."
"I've never seen one of those. What do they look like?" The girl asked, making Dont blink…
Never seen a Demon? That… Normally that would be the most normal statement. But this country was ravaged by demonic forces. And this entire camp was made up of survivors of such an attack.
Certainly, the girl herself seemed somewhat lost, as if she were trying to remember something… Perhaps she suffered from amnesia?
She couldn't say it, and asking would be impolite or overly sensitive…
"They're… Well, there are many types. But they're usually large, inhuman. With enormous teeth, horns, and claws. Covered in a reddish or dark aura while burning with chaos and evil within." Dont summarized somewhat theatrically.
She didn't much like generalizing about Demons like that, mainly because she herself was one. But nothing she said was a lie. All the Demons of Yggdrasil tended to fall into that category. In one way or another.
It was simply the truth.
There were few 'good' Demons. And most were 'Ascended Demons,' a rather strange racial path that was the equivalent of Fallen Angels to Angels, but inverted for Demons.
"Sounds terrifying." The girl murmured.
"Yes, they're quite intimidating." The Shooter agreed.
"And you came to fight them?"
"Indeed. We deployed a large army to repel the Demons' forces." She nodded again.
"Wow. They must be brave." Remedios hummed with a smile.
"Fu~ Yes~ Our men are brave, strong, and loyal~ And under Titania's command, they will not back down~ And they will fight to their last breath to combat the evil in the world~" The busty woman laughed, amused by the girl's excitement for Titania's forces.
"Titania? She… That name sounds familiar… What's she like? Do you know her?" Remedios asked, curious about the name.
"Mm? Ah, yes. She's the Champion of Deorum Regnum~ A beautiful and powerful paladin~ With hair as pure white as dove wings~ Golden eyes as bright as the sun~ Always bathed in elegant white and silver robes to highlight her pale and pristine beauty~ And… You didn't hear it from me~" Dont leaned close to Remedios' ear, as if she were telling her a secret. "But her rear end~ It's enormous~ More than worthy of praise~" The Demon laughed, mostly amused by the girl's reaction, and by having teased Black Abyss a little. Although more than anything, it was to emphasize what she already knew~
"You… You sound like someone in love." Remedios blurted out, glancing at her with a faint, almost undetectable blush.
Dont's smile waned slightly.
"Mm? Do I?" The duchess asked. "How could you tell?"
"Um… Well, I don't know…" She blushed slightly. "It just seems… Like when you feel someone watching you without having seen them…" She said shyly.
Dont said nothing, staring ahead in silence.
"Hm… I understand." She murmured finally. "Perhaps… You're right." She blurted out, getting up from the log.
Remedios watched her wordlessly, with Dont looking over her shoulder.
"But don't tell anyone~ Okay~?" She smiled playfully, winking at her.
"Uh. Yes~ I didn't hear anything~" The human blurted out, raising her hands.
"Fufu~ Good, good~ I think I should start exchanging a few words with dear Mr. Baraja. It's necessary to deal with the traps in the forest in order to relocate the survivors." She murmured, for it was true that this had to be done.
She couldn't just blindly march forward and hope the survivors would emerge, or position Black Abyss soldiers ahead like mine detectors to trigger every single one.
It was true they would survive, but it would be a huge overreaction.
"Sure~ Good luck~" Remedios smiled, taking another bite of her bread.
Dont gave her a slight nod and started walking, with the Fairy Knights from before approaching to escort her once more.
Then, the Demon noticed she had something in her hand.
She looked at it, noticing the piece of bread Remedios had given her.
She stared at it for a few seconds, then smiled slightly, popping it into her mouth. "What a nice girl~"
…
Kelart, along with the paladins and knights who survived the strategic retreat, ran.
They mounted their horses, and when the horses tired, they climbed onto the backs of angels to reach their destination as quickly as possible.
She certainly did everything she could.
Unfortunately, she had no spells or blessings capable of enhancing speed, so she could only rely on the advantage of flying on an angel's back, avoiding minor obstacles, such as a small hill to skirt around.
Be that as it may, Kelart felt terror, duty, and ultimately, a way to prove herself.
Previously, she hadn't had such a desire. She was the High Priestess.
But with the overwhelming superiority of Deorum Regnum… She felt inadequate.
The Demons that were a nightmare for her to fight were easy prey for the forces of Deorum Regnum.
Naturally, she felt inferior.
Her entire life meant nothing to a single foot soldier of Deorum Regnum.
Titania basically handled everything in an instant. Without breaking a sweat. She even went to the trouble of handing over top-quality magical items as if it were nothing.
It was incredibly frustrating and humiliating…
She could understand that Titania was doing it out of good intentions. But… Even then, she felt like she was worthless.
But now… With Titania unable to act, for a very important reason, Kelart was the only one capable of doing anything about it.
Finally, she felt… Useful.
And in the name of the late Holy Queen, for her sister's sake, for the sake of the innocent… She wouldn't fail.
She wouldn't fail herself. She wouldn't fail her sister. She wouldn't fail the Holy Queen.
And considering that Lady Nyx was at the camp, and if something were to happen to her, things could turn out extremely badly, she wouldn't fail Titania, the Paladin who was currently giving her all for the good of the Holy Kingdom, even if she was alone.
…
"Uh." Black Abyss gasped, watching the blow travel toward her face almost in slow motion for a moment, taking the punch, and then flying backward using her flight abilities.
After all, because she wore her divine armor, she was immune to physical CC, no matter how strong the blow, it wouldn't move her unless magic was involved.
Thus, she spun in the sky and raised a hand toward the Infernal Hero, it glowing intensely.
"[Divine Beam]" Black Abyss exclaimed, a powerful light shooting from her palm like a laser, striking the Demon and following its trajectory for another hundred meters, until the divine attack ended, leaving the Demon emitting golden smoke.
The Infernal Hero instantly recovered, attacking Titania, flying at tremendous speed toward her, preparing to strike with his sword.
The Paladin spun her halberd with one hand, gripping it with both and pointing its three edges forward, forcing the Demon to stop before the weapon's blades could make contact.
Titania began to unleash powerful thrusts, each one releasing sonic booms and causing the air itself to slice through with the pressure of the attacks. The Infernal Hero struck with his sword to deflect them, he wasn't going to block them, he couldn't, the difference in strength was too great for that.
And with a slash from the halberd's axe-like edge, Titania sent the Infernal Hero flying to the right, like a bullet to the ground, exploding on impact.
That entire encounter lasted barely 5 seconds, despite how much happened in that brief span.
And from the ground, a gigantic fireball shot towards Black Abyss, who raised her hand, bracing for the fire attack head-on, letting the [Fireball] strike her palm and explode violently in the air.
A large cloud of fire turned into smoke, which rose rapidly due to the heat of the gases, revealing Titania once again.
"You call that a fire attack?" She asked, a bead of sweat forming on her forehead. She was immune to fire, and she didn't want to humiliate him, truly, but she had been hoping he would use much stronger fire attacks to make the fight more intense… "This is a fire attack." She stated seriously, clasping her fingers together, her flat hand pointing towards the Infernal Hero. "[Big Bang]" She exclaimed, with an intense release of fire shooting towards the summoning like a fiery breath, sounding like a very loud gunshot upon release.
The Demon clasped his arms together, a red energy instantly enveloping him just as the attack struck, exploding brutally and leaving a cloud of fire up to 10 times larger than the previous [Fireball].
The shockwave was clearly visible and palpable, traveling so far as to shake the trees in the distance.
"Ais… I hope he activated his attack immunity in time…" She muttered, a little worried. Perhaps she'd overdone it with a level 9 fire spell… She wasn't a mage or a sorceress, but she was a Urielle, so her fire was still quite powerful…
"WAHH! JUST AS EXPECTED OF TITANIA!" The hoarse roar, with a hint of… Heroism? Though it was more like simple bravery, echoed as a burst of fire erupted to one side, the Infernal Hero appearing.
Even so, he had a gaping, burning gash across his chest, his armor having melted.
He was a Demon, yes, a high-level one, too, well, sort of, but still not strong enough to be completely immune to fire, as Dont was. He was incredibly resilient, but not immune.
Titania raised her halberd to the side, it becoming engulfed in flames, the fire intensifying on the three edges of her weapon.
"YOU WON'T LEAVE HERE ALIVE! BECAUSE I AM THE STRONGEST SAINT! AND IT IS MY DUTY TO FINISH YOU!" She shouted with such intensity that it echoed far and wide, just as the Demon did.
"WE'LL SEE ABOUT THAT! WAHHHHHH!" Letting out a roar, the Infernal Hero, though uttering a rather generic phrase, roared bravely, coating his sword in demonic energy as he charged like a missile.
Black Abyss, however, after easily dodging the blow, looked around.
"Hmm… I think they're gone now." She murmured.
At this, the Demon suddenly calmed down, deactivating the demonic power in his weapon, and floating peacefully on his wings.
The Angel then took a couple of cans from her inventory, tossing one to the Demon, who caught it curiously.
"Try it~ It's a new product we're testing for Deorum Regnum~" The Angel said with a smile, opening the can and drinking the soda.
"Of course." In a deep, brave tone, certainly full of courage, the Demon nodded obediently, observing Black Abyss's movements and carefully imitating them.
Slowly, after lifting his helmet, he brought the can to his mouth and poured the liquid between his rough, sharp, lipless teeth.
In the process, Black Abyss slashed to the side, the fire from her halberd hurtling downwards, striking the ground and erupting into a long, intense line of flames that wouldn't go out.
"What do you say~? Be honest~" The Paladin blurted out, taking another swig from the can. Even though causing such destruction looked terrible, Deorum Regnun would help restore and improve the city, so there wouldn't be any problems~
"It's sweet. It feels like someone's trying to massage your mouth. Strange. It doesn't do anything. I think it's as good as any other drink." The Demon replied with complete honesty… Hm… Certainly, for high-level beings, the tingle of soda wouldn't really be felt… It would take something like… mid-level acid to make them feel something remotely similar?
"I see… It's still a ways off from achieving a result like that old drink… Coconut Cola or something like that… It didn't exist in my time, but it was known as the most delicious in history. And I will manage to create it~" She said proudly, tapping the can lightly against her chest.
"Your time…? Hm… It's not particularly delicious in my opinion, my lady. My apologies." The Demon muttered.
"Alright~ It's just a prototype~ Besides, to each their own~ Nothing to apologize for~" She exclaimed, putting the can away. "Now~ Go and recover~ You did a good job today, Infernal Hero~" Titania said, her halberd charging with fire again, but more intensely than before.
"It was an honor to serve the will of the Supreme Ladies." He nodded at the summoning with a slight bow. "[Blaze Instant Movement]" He chanted, the creature disappearing in flames.
Black Abyss smiled, closing her eyes as her body was rapidly engulfed in flames.
In the distance, a tiny orange light could be seen before the sky turned the same color, with a massive explosion erupting above the city… A mushroom cloud formed from the blast site, fire rising into the clouds and extinguishing after the violent release of energy that had nearly leveled half the city.
Black Abyss didn't possess such high destructive power. Well, it did, but it was generally more concentrated in a specific area. Even so, one had to admit that seeing such a devastated area in person was certainly impressive. Even though it was just a release of energy, anyone could easily have thought it was the effect of a decisive blow. And so it defeated the High-Level Demon from Komodo's army. Or at least that's what they would think. In any case, she would stay and relax for a while as other Demons caused chaos with spells cast into the air, making it seem as if the Paladin was still fighting in Kalinsha.
In other words, she had some free time.
.
.
.