"Run!!"
In the next instant, the panicked girls of the Eternal Bliss Cult fled through the doorway into the depths of the Infinity Castle. At the same moment, Kairo Retsu launched himself forward with his Insect Glaive's vault, appearing before Doma in the blink of an eye—
blocking his line of sight.
Though Kairo lacked a Nichirin Blade and couldn't inflict fatal damage, Doma remained cautious. He conjured an ice sculpture to block Kairo, and though Kairo shattered half of it instantly, it still stalled his advance.
"If those girls are just running around inside the Infinity Castle, they'll likely be picked off by the demons lurking here," Doma said while slashing his tessen toward Kairo's neck. "Such hypocrisy—forcing them to keep living in suffering, and then pushing them into this hellscape…"
"What a joke! You think you're qualified to talk about that, you man-eating demon?!"
Kairo parried the fan with his Insect Glaive and closed in. "You're the one using some phony name like the Eternal Bliss Cult to deceive people! You're the true scum here!"
"I just want them to live! What did I do wrong?!" Kairo roared, utterly righteous. "Leave them here to be eyed by trash like you?!"
"How about worrying about yourself first!" Kairo growled, spinning his glaive like a windmill, smashing through the forming ice crystals in his path.
Meanwhile, the others didn't just sit back—they quickly began moving, attempting to surround Doma from multiple angles.
Inosuke charged forward with loud cries.
Giyu Tomioka readied Water Breathing in silence.
Since Shinobu lacked the strength to sever a demon's neck, she used Giyu's taller frame as cover, preparing for a stealth attack.
Kanao, eyes wide open, struck down ice crystals forming in the air to protect her comrades.
Noticing this, Doma blocked Kairo's glaive with one fan while conjuring several massive ice statues around himself to defend against attacks from other directions.
Yet—Doma could feel it.
A deep, gnawing threat.
It wasn't any of the people attacking him now.
It was Kazuma Satou, who had vanished since the start of the battle.
He couldn't sense Kazuma's presence at all.
From the moment Kazuma left the room carrying Tamayo's head, it was like he'd vanished from the battlefield entirely.
But considering how close Inosuke and Kanao had come to beheading him earlier, Doma had grown deeply wary of this unimpressive-looking man.
"That one is the greatest threat in this fight," Doma assessed calmly in his mind.
"He can hide his presence… and seems to have special abilities… I must remain vigilant for a sneak attack."
With his mind made up, Doma now had to dedicate part of his attention just to monitoring for signs of Kazuma—
But as it turned out, Kazuma…
wasn't even in the room anymore.
Just moments ago, Kazuma had activated [Sneak] and slipped out of the room alongside the fleeing girls, leaving even Tamayo stunned.
She had never met someone quite like Kazuma Satou.
Shortly after escaping the room, Kazuma emerged from stealth a little ways down the corridor, cleared his throat, and addressed the anxious cult girls:
"Ladies, don't worry. We won't abandon you like this."
Flipping his hair with faux flair, he struck what he imagined was a dashing pose in front of the panic-stricken girls.
"Relax, I, the great Kazuma Satou, will protect… you… all~!"
"..."
Despite being on the verge of panic from the looming threat of death, the girls somehow paused in confusion at Kazuma's declaration.
Though their logic still told them not to trust such a strange man, they instinctively chose to stay close to him.
"Now this is what a proper isekai experience should be like!"
Kazuma beamed with delight, surrounded by beautiful girls, reflecting on the miserable life he'd led until now.
But the next moment, from farther down the corridor, a demon caught the strong scent of a large human group—
"ROOOAAARRRR!!!!"
The demon charged toward them with a roar, prompting terrified screams from the girls.
"Kazuma, you're their only protection now," Tamayo said.
"It's time for the great Kazuma Satou to take action!" he replied with full confidence.
He drew his weapon—a bow—but didn't fire immediately.
"Kazuma, hurry! It's almost on us!!" Tamayo called out in urgency.
But at that moment, Kazuma pulled something from behind his waist:
a small white sphere.
He smashed it to the ground.
"Smoke Bomb!!"
Thick white smoke instantly began pouring out at his feet.
While Tamayo worried this might have been pointless, the demon—previously charging directly at them—suddenly halted.
Though it was less than ten meters away, the demon looked utterly lost, turning in place, sniffing the air in confusion.
"Smoke Bomb! A combat-use stealth tool that forces area-wide concealment!" Kazuma explained smugly.
"Our item pouches seem to have no carry limits, so I just brought a whole bunch of them!"
He spoke in a totally normal voice.
Yet even with the demon so close—
it couldn't detect anything.
"Unbelievable…" Tamayo widened her eyes.
The effect reminded her of Yushiro's talismans—an item achieving similar results.
She stopped trying to understand how it worked.
Seeing the demon stall, the girls exhaled in relief, though the proximity still made them tense.
"Time to strike from hiding, then…"
Kazuma crouched within the smoke, aimed his bow at the confused demon, and activated one of his signature skills with flair.
"Snipe~!"
The arrow flew cleanly through the air—
and exploded the demon's head.
"Wait… Kazuma, your weapons shouldn't be lethal to demons, right?" Tamayo suddenly remembered.
But Kazuma just grinned and pulled out a few small vials.
"Actually, while we were in the room, I swiped a bit of Shinobu's blood off the floor. You know—that poison that kills demons…"
The next moment, the demon tried to regenerate its head—
but instead, it howled in agony, writhed from the toxins… and disintegrated into ash.
"Shinobu's poison blood! It's absolutely PERFECT!!!"