Chunks of earth exploded upward like shrapnel as the war hammer slammed into the ground.
The impact rippled across the room. Soldiers several meters away staggered, shielding their faces as dust and pebbles blasted through the air.
But by then—
I was already inside his reach.
Closing the distance before he could lift the hammer again, I twisted my body and drove my dagger toward the narrow gap near his wrist.
A clean strike.
A perfect angle.
Or at least… it should have been.
—Clang!
The sound rang out like steel striking steel.
A dull shock ran up my arm.
"…Did I just hit metal?"
My blade had landed exactly where I aimed.
But instead of cutting flesh, it scraped uselessly across thick leather armor reinforced with metal plates.
My wrist throbbed from the recoil.
The demon in front of me glanced down lazily at the spot I'd struck.
"Huh?"
He flexed his wrist once, then twice.
"Did a mosquito bite me or something?"
He looked back at me and grinned.
Wide.
Ferocious.
