*Doki*

"You're here again?" the man behind the counter asked in a rhetorical tone.

I, who was standing in the doorway, made my way to the same counter and sat on one of the many stools.

Shaking his head, he sighed deeply then asked me a question for real, "Regular?"

My eyes moved up to greet his, with his black hair concealing one of them behind a large spiked bang.

"Sure..." I muttered, returning the sigh.

He nodded, and, in an attempt of small talk, stated, "Seriously... Without you, I'd be able to close this damn shop hours earlier. Is your job really that dull?"

I looked at my surroundings, the familiar pattern of chairs and tables greeted me, with an overall theme of wood. Of course, all the tables were empty since the windows released the darkness of night upon the areas near them.

"It's not the 'job' I mind, it's the paperwork afterwards that's annoying... I've told you that before though," I bluntly replied.

"I know... But for real, how the hell do you keep escaping?"

"My 'group' actively ignore me until the paperwork starts..." I explained, getting rather dull of the silence myself.

"Of course they'd do that, you're a healer, no? You're supposed to be the support in the background... Oh well, not my place to belittle you for that. However... as a citizen, it is my duty to yell at you for leaving your post though. I mean, why the hell do you keep coming here out of every place you could!? You'll drag me down with you if anyone finds out..."

"Yeah, all the people here will find out..." I refuted, beckoning my surroundings as I did so. Deeply sighing, I added "I'm not even the only one who hates being forced to do guard duties in the wake of the real ones who went to the actual war-zone. I'm just the only one who gets forced to do the paperwork."

"Well, that doesn't excuse you being the only one going AWOL. I mean, this building is next to the south-east city gate," he replied, then pounded the table with his hands as he exclaimed, "You know, the one you should be patrolling for the sake of the city and country!"

Spitting out a sigh, I explained once more, attempting to make a valid reason for my laziness, "If anyone bothered to patrol this area, then I'd agree. Anyway, my defence for coming here is that this seems like a prime area for those wishing to attack and get into the town... 'city' with no resistance. Hell, there's even a forest over there which seems perfect for making and hiding a camp, it seems way too suspect no?"

Sweat coated the employee's forehead as he made a rushed counter-argument, "Yeah, but that's..."

I cut him off, rebuking what I assumed was his point, "I know the stories surrounding it too. Still, I highly doubt the people... 'Devils' trying to enslave us for their own greed will care about a little local myth. With how recent half of it is, I'd go as far to bet they're the ones who fabricated it."

The man sighed again. With an awkward silence indicating he gave up, he handed me a cup then a pot of tea he just brewed.

Yet again, both he and I seemed to get bored in sync, though, he was the one who restarted the conversation.

"Wait a second, aren't you a visitor? Ha ha ha, as a citizen, I know way more about my city and my world than you do. You really don't seem to know what's going on, so as a citizen who trusts in my own country's intelligence, allow me to accept that bet. Unless you've changed your mind by now that is."

"Fine, what's the prize?"

"If I win and the kingdom of Azril's scouts don't attack from here, you pay double of your tab from the days you've already been lurking here and the rest until that point. If you win and they do, I'll refund the same amount. By the way, it's currently at 3150 gold, Sound fair?"

Although I secretly that I was going to lose, I accepted it to keep up appearances, "Sure. It's a bet."

His hand forcefully grabbed mine, and we shook on it. The conversation between us died there, and I drank pot after pot of tea content with the knowledge that I could spend tonight lazily.

-

After the nth pot, sometime around midnight, a person entered the door. From the sounds of cloth fluttering in the wind, I turned around to briskly see a cloaked figure around the height of the bar-keeper. Said cloaked covered almost all of their face, but a random gust of wind uncovered a blood-red horn from beneath their silver hair.

'Crap...' was my only thought when I saw this, though I was confident that my poker-face was strong due to their reaction.

Their head darted from left to right off the bat, then I turned around once more, hearing the person's soft footsteps come near me.

"Is this seat free?" a deep mumbled voice asked, and no one answered.

Probably after seeing the barkeep, who didn't see or just ignored the horn from before, gesture to the absence of people, the figure sat down next to me and ordered some alcoholic drink. At the same time, my focus returned to my drink.

A while passed, and only the sounds of sipping could be heard, however, that was awkwardly interrupted by the hooded devil near me, who suddenly asked, "So, who are you?"

"What's this? Oh, me... I'm an insomniac," I faked momentary deafness then bluntly answered. Their table popped up as I met their red eyes, that barely peeked beneath their hood.

Name Claire De Pride Class Tank Level 57 Gender Female HP 3380/3380 Skills (You cannot see the skills of an intelligent race at your level.) Do you wish to view further details?

Yes or No.

Their volume raised when they repeated the question, a clear female voice in place of the mumbles, "Seriously. Who are you?"

Rolling my eyes, I made a 'playful' comment, "No. I mean, I could ask you the same question, though, the answer would be the opposite, wouldn't it, Ms Devil."

Both the other two froze due to my comment, so I used the time given to comment, "Hoods don't really work on windy days. Anyway, there's no reason to assume I'm your enemy. Only the Azril Kingdom are at war with fourth island, no? Unless your..."

"Thunder Smash!" Cutting me off, a metallic blur swung into my stool and smashed it to pixels. I dodged it only because of my reflexes and speed, as expected against a tank. My swords were drawn by the time she picked up her weapon.

The barkeeper, seeing the current scene, cried out, "Stop! What the hell is going on here!?"

"Die," she coldly stated, ignoring the previous outcry. "Fury Swing!"

She vertically swung her war-hammer at full force towards my direction. I ducked, slicing her shoulder with my previously unused swords. The drinks from earlier flew off the counter, cascading to the floor with a noise that competed with the hammer swings.

This moment was cut short by her consecutive swings. Each concurrent rotation increased in speed until even I couldn't hit her during them. Hence I remained duck, noticing my health was only passed 200 barely after seven hits.

Eventually, she stopped, opening herself up for a counter-attack from the dizziness caused by the attack.

"Have at me. Bolt," I muttered.

Familiar tentacles rose from the floorboards and engulfed the devil and a significant radius around her. I poked both my now glowing blades through one of the few openings in the bind, tripling my health with the single attack. From there, I did one more jab with both of my swords and leapt back, using my opponents verbal grunts as an indication that her tiredness wearing off. Taking a breath, I looked at my health, which was now about 900.

Without much delay, a snapping sound came from the binds. First, the tentacles surrounding her arms and legs got torn apart, swiftly pixelating with the rest of tentacles surrounding her. Her hood was shredded and the armour around her left arm was scarred critically.

Raising her weapon above her head, she cried "Thunder Hammer!" until the sparks and darkness shrouded the hammer's head. In the seconds this took, I lunged in for one more attack, bouncing back just as quickly once the damage had been done.

Once her movement came back, she immediate yelled "Earthquake!". A blur of her hammer battered the ground, releasing a wave of wood and other debris that destroyed the wall previously behind me in a single blow. With the span of carnage, I couldn't find any safe spots, so blocked as much debris as I could with my swords and crouched in the corner.

As the attack reached me, I could only watch to see how much health left me.

The dust lifted, revealing the fact that every table in the room, even the massive counter behind her, vanished. The roof above creaked and shook haphazardly.

The demon in her now battered armour loomed in the crater's epicentre. Grunting as she pulled her embedded weapon free, she searched surroundings with her thin, dark eyes.

"Where the hell is she!?" she bellowed, I heard this but didn't listen as I was slightly preoccupied with getting myself up.

Eventually, I stumbled to my feet, barely maintaining my footing with only 28 health remaining and deep breaths that immediately revealed my location. Additionally, my swords were glowing even brighter than they had before, allowing her to home in on my position the instant her eyes scanned the area.

When my eyes refocused, and I realised that I still had an opportunity to attack, then made a mad dash for her location. Both of my battered blades maintaining their shine as I did so.

As the last few inches of her weapon dislodged the wood burying them, I closed the distance between us.

Giving as powerful of a swing as I could, I struck her shoulder with one sword and hit her back with the other. I couldn't check how much health I gained since the devil's hammer slammed down on my position instantly after.

With good footwork and twisting my body, the hammer missed, thudding to the floor and became implanted beneath the fractured wooden floor.

"Have at me! Bind!" I yelled, unable to control how loudly I pushed out the words with my current level of fatigue.

Another set of tentacles wrapped around her, with a flurry of stabs complimenting it. I observed my health as the bombardment continued, and was surprised to see it now at over one and a half thousand.

This bind lasted longer than the previous one, and even with my ever more sloppy movements I easily surpassed the two thousand health boundary when she finally broke it.

Assuming the fight was near its end, I swapped my right-hand sword for my staff and yelled "Bind" once more. This time the tentacles swarming the devil's figure were thicker than previously.

Knowing my limits were nearing me, I spat out the words "power charge" and swung once more with my left-hand sword. I sliced her shattered between the human-thick tentacles, gaining a couple hundred more health in doing so.

I drew my sword to struck her one more time, however, my next strike only hit the pixels dissipating from her dead body.

Three pop-up screens stating I levelled up greeted me, as a begrudgingly escaped the crater that was now the leftovers of the cafe room. The faltering roof seemed barely stable enough to support itself, but I was way too tired to care at that point.

-

After leaving the remains of the building, I found a group of 'soldiers' outside. My hood was as good as gone, with my top joining it, so when the mob saw me scrabble out of the door.

The first voice I heard was a familiar sorcerer, the only one of my group I had actually added to my contact list, "What the hell happened here, you weren't right, were you!?"

I collapsed before I could reply.