The houses flanking the alley were shut along with the brick walls that spanned along the periphery to form the compound. People glanced at the commotion from within the safety of their houses with windows partially open. Blood had tainted the flourishing part of the capital, and the beast that the soldiers were struggling to suppress ravaged many shops. Married bodies lined the streets leading to the deserted alley jam-packed with shield encampment as soldiers engaged in a bloody battle with a haughty growling hound.

“Now, hurl your fire at it!” the commander, who had managed to keep himself clean, yelled.

Amateur mages got to work, each one casting [Blast] right above the hound, the soldiers naturally scuttling behind the shields. The hound stared at the glowing ball of fire that wiped the stench of darkness in the western part of the city and took the hit head-on. The shockwave of the spell forced the shield to recoil, but no one moved away from the ranks.

“Gwar!” the hound screamed in agony, but the spell was rendered useless in front of the sentinel demon. The glow in its eyes became sharper, a shimmering ball of fire materialized, and the hound hurled it at the imprisoning shields. The force of the explosion sent the buffers stumbling to the ground, forcing the guards to the ground. The hound was on the soldiers soon, crushing their bodies underneath their covers, and I realized it was using [Weightless] spell. That was one clever hellhound, despite its arrogance.

I leaned against the chimney and pulled my cowl closer as chilly winds brushed against my cheeks. The commotion should have reached the palace by now, and royal mages would be on their way soon. The heroine closely followed the soldiers, and a couple of colorful men had joined her now, standing before her protectively. Was this one of the predestined events? Maybe even if I hadn’t helped the hound out, it would come out naturally. That made me feel bad because my hand in the commotion accounted to nil.

Then I’ll just protect the hound until it taints the streets with more blood. I grinned, following the mutt as it jumped over the encampment and rushed to the commander who was hurling orders at his men.

“K-Keep that beast away!” the man decked in gleaming silver armor of the knights fell on his butt and swiped the sword before him helplessly, only to see his ranks running away, abandoning their post. They hadn’t seen actual war, so it was well within my expectation. The knight confined the hound within rods of frozen ice, but a more potent [Heat Storm] burned it instantly. That was my spell, and I hid away quickly before the soldiers could ascertain its direction.

If this event was bound to happen, then I would make it more flashy.

“Gwar!” the hound yelled in rage, and I knew it was asking me not to interfere. Call it instincts, but I didn’t really like the way the hound was treating me as its minion.

The mutt charged through the pavement in the soft light of the mana lamps and jumped over a few soldiers who had stayed behind to help their commander. It earned a spear to its stomach and a few arrows as royal guards arrived at the vicinity. A strong streak of lighting followed, immobilizing it instantly, and more arrowheads pierced it amidst the wailings.

Progressive mages had joined the ranks, and I saw lady Mylan within the carriage in the distance. She had affixed the distance precisely and hurled [Bolt] at the hound, but the latter was hellhound for a reason. The injuries of the hound started filing up almost instantly, the arrowheads dislodged, and the blood of the hound turned to sharp sickles that slit the throats of soldiers around the locale. More screams followed, and I saw a white horse stop beside the carriage, along with many black ones trailing behind.

“Gwar!” the hound yelled, gobbling the head of the commander in a single sweep, and soldiers cleared way almost immediately, as more blood started spurting of the body devoid of the head. The hound churned the head for a while, and I saw him spit out an eye and a few teeth that it didn’t find appetizing.

I sent my [Devil eye] to the carriage of the Cognoscente mage, obviously to eavesdrop. I wasn’t interested in helping out either the hound or the mortals, but if the situation demanded it, then the former held priority for entertaining this bored undead.

Don’t bother spreading hatred of my name because I doubt any mortal would be interested in helping out moths.

“…that wouldn’t do, lady Mylan!” the crown prince said, louder than he intended to.

“Crover is out on a mission,” lady Mylan said. “And Buflat is protecting the majesty along with Parolov and Kylat. Even I was asked to stay behind at the palace, but people need me more.”

“Spells are futile against a demon, lady Mylan,” the crown prince said the obvious. “Their natural regeneration capabilities are abnormal. If we can find the summoner, we can cut off the mana source and kill the demon once and for all. Harming it would only lead to more casualties.”

“And how will you find that mage, honorable prince?” lady Mylan opened the embroidered curtain and stepped out. “What if the hound is a high-level demon? One attempt at Essence Gourge, and we are doomed for eternity. Further, what if the demon is already free? We’ll be wasting our time, and every second, that beast is feasting on more citizens. Your duty is to protect your people first, honorable prince, and stopping the demon should come later.”

Her purple gown fluttered in the winds of the chilly night, and I wondered how she managed to fight with so many decors on her hair and body. The crown prince was adamant about accepting her insightful words, but he didn’t refuse a cognoscente mage openly.

The hound ate more heads and started hurling fireballs at the nearby residences. The bricks didn’t go up in flames immediately, but the barrage brought more people to the streets, who succumbed to the drools of the beast, and some even to the arrowheads that hadn’t stopped assaulting the hound. A few edifices collapsed as the ground began to rumble, and I watched the hound in amusement as it cast [Quake]. The earthquake forced a few more soldiers to abandon their ranks, and many were crushed under the crumbling bricks of the houses. More blood splattered around the streets, the arrogant growls of the hound filling up the shouts devoid of cheers.

Multiple streaks of lightning descended on the hound, [Thiage] immobilizing it again, but the hound cast [Strengthen] and erupted a boulder underneath before covering itself with dirt. That was indeed an innovative way to use [Slop], and even [Thiage], despite being the most potent lightning spell, couldn’t help much. No matter how strong the spell, its inherent nature would never change, and even Apprentice spells like [Slop] could be used to combat the highest-level spells of a lightning attribute mage.

“It’s useless, lady Mylan,” the prince said. “That demon can use Earth Attribute spells.”

Lady Mylan bit her finger and drew a circle on the ground with her own blood. Concentric triangles followed soon until they disappeared to a point in the center, followed by incantations that spread around the interior of the circles, disrupting the already drawn triangles. The summoning circle glowed as lady Mylan channelized her mana and materialized it over the entire periphery. Three bats made of lightning fluttered out, sparks revolving around them, which brightened the mana lamps in the neighborhood instantly.

The prince stood to guard the cognoscente mage, who was busy sustaining her summons as they flew over erratically to the hound dripping with human blood. Three bats hurled lightning at it, but the hound was covered with dirt that made it resistant to electricity. The bats combined and changed shape to resemble a long streak of lightning and pierced into the hound’s ears, making use of its momentary distraction as more arrowheads impaled its rump.

That strike sizzled its brain instantly, probably, and the hound collapsed without even a growl to express its rage. I smiled at the triumphant expression on lady Mylan’s face and watched the hound healing at an abnormal pace, for all the life force it had garnered after killing many mortals was too strong. It rose back to its feet, but another shockwave from the bats inside its head sent it back down, this time with a deep angered growl that forced the soldiers to back down.

“Trap it or tie it! That bastard had already killed enough of our comrades!” A knight yelled, already rushing to the hound with a metal chain he had fished out of nowhere. Or maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention to see where he had found it. The hound got up again and popped the head of another soldier before another strike forced it to the ground instantly. Lady Mylan would lose the prolonged fight, I knew, but they might trap it before it ended.

“Honorable mage,” the heroine stumbled through the crowd, sweat dripping from her forehead like a stream of water and blood decorating most of her red noblewoman’s frock that glittered in the mana lamps. The crown prince’s face softened promptly, and he draped his own robe around her. That quite surprised me because I acted the same way around my lady. Love indeed made you blind, for the mightiest man in the realm was no different from a bored butler. I shook my head at his plight and glanced at the hound who was back on his feet.

“Grr.”

It stared at me for a while, and I shrugged as another sizzle fried its brain. I didn’t enjoy abusing weak animals, but sentinel creatures were a different issue.

“I can stop the dog,” Gladiata finished her words after stabilizing her breathing, and I couldn’t suppress the smile on my face. “Or rather, I can seal it using my holy magic.” She was showing her consideration to the hellhound even after witnessing the bloodshed by calling it a dog. Quality befitting true heroine, I suppose.

“What?!” Mylan and the crown prince said in unison and stared at each other, aghast.

“I need some time,” Gladiata continued with a resolute expression as two other men joined the commotion. Allen and Elert, if they didn’t have doppelgangers. “If you can hold it within my incantation circle for a while, then I can seal it. I only know [Sanctify], so I am not sure if it would work on a demon of that size.”

[Santify] was the antithesis of the demon summoning ritual. I was surprised to see a maiden of her age that knew the spell.

Mylan stared at the heroine with a smile and said, “You don’t have to be modest, Gladiata. I saw your fight and watched you supplement your holy attribute with water. As promised, I’ll take you in as my apprentice whether you manage to stop the beast or not, so give your best shot.”

“Thank you, honorable mage,” Gladiata curtsied.

The hound was about to be butchered, and it was going to be an amusing battle. The heroine might be able to seal the undead too, but it was not like we would stand idle admiring her beauty and do nothing. Defeating overpowered mages was an impossible task unless you became one, so sealing was out of the question.