Chapter 25 – Stalling First Part

Every adventurer in town is gathered in the plaza near the guild ready to fend off monsters attacking the town. The town guards have also gathered to assist in the battle. With Guildmaster Vermer leading, the town has frequently fended off large aquatic monsters that beach within the vicinity. They are fully confident that they can fend off the monsters with minor damages.

“Listen up!” Vermer yells gathering everyone’s attention. “A large wave is approaching the town! D rank adventurers and below gather citizens and evacuate the town into the shelter. Everyone else needs to prepare yourself for battle!”

“OOOHHHH!!!” The higher ranked adventurers roar with determination. But the lower ranked adventurers are still visibly panicked.

“Guildmaster! What about Senna? She isn’t here?” Anahid yells out interrupting the speech.

Vermer waves the letter in his hand. “She’s the one that informed us of the threat. She is…”

The letter in Vermer’s hand started to shine. The effect of the spell Senna casted on the paper wore off revealing a hidden message written with normal ink. Vermer reads the new message.

Sorry. I lied.

If you’re seeing this message, I’m currently engaging the demons to stall for time. My condition is quite poor and I’m fighting them with everything I have.

I advise you move quickly to evacuate the town. I’m not confident in stalling for time. At the very least, I’ll try to destroy their chain of command.

I have no idea if you’ll really evacuate everyone, but I sincerely hope so. Also, don’t bother trying to back me up. I’m far enough out that it will be too late by the time you get here. At the very least, I hope you stall Anahid long enough that she won’t get caught in the crossfire.

Regards,

Senna

Vermer crumples the paper in his hand and lets out a long sigh. He turns his attention to Bernard ignoring the waiting stares. “Oi Bernard! Send a small group to investigate the coming wave. But have Anahid stay behind. I need her to relay information to the groups.”

“Yes sir.” Bernard replies.

“Alright. Disperse! You have your orders!” Vermer yells. The adventurers clear out, but Anahid and her parents stay behind.

“Guildmaster, where is Senna?” Anahid asks again.

“She is busy setting up defenses for the town and doesn’t want to be disturbed. Focus on the job at hand.” Vermer scolds.

“…Yes sir.” Anahid reluctantly replies. A feeling of despair courses through her stomach when she glances to the north, but she waves off the thought and gets to work. She is forced to shuttle paperwork and messages between the receptionists and Vermer. He keeps her within the guild the entire time and constantly adds to her work without rest. The feeling of dread continues to worsen overtime, but she receives no answers despite pestering Vermer extensively.

An hour later, a receptionist bursts into the Vermer’s office. “Guildmaster, there’s a large fire forming up north!” The feeling of dread finally connects as Anahid realizes who’s up north.

“…I sent the scouting group up there already. If it gets serious, they can handle it. We need to focus on defending the town.” Vermer replies grimly.

“Yes sir!” The receptionist leaves.

Anahid slams her hands on Vermer’s desk. “Guildmaster! Senna is up north isn’t she?! That’s why there’s a fire!”

“Probably. You have to stay here though.” Vermer answers.

“Like hell am I just going to stay here!” Anahid bursts out of the room and runs out of the guild. As she steps outside, Davor stands in her way. “Davor move! I have to go help Senna!”

“No. You’ll lose your Guild membership if you leave town now. You have your own work to do.” Davor grabs her to prevent her from escaping.

“I don’t care about that! Senna’s more important!” Anahid struggles to break free from Davor. When she almost breaks free, she receives a strong impact to her neck. Her body goes limp as she blacks out.

Davor picks up Anahid with a bitter look and glances at Bernard. Bernard retracts his hand after attacking Anahid. They carry her back into Vermer’s office and lay her down on a chair. “We did as you asked. But was it really necessary?” Davor asks.

“It was excessive, but it needed to be done.” Vermer answers.

“What about Senna?” Davor asks.

“If she’s lucky, then she will still be alive when the scouting group drags her back. That’s the best we can do. Until then, it would be best to follow her resolve and hold Anahid here until then.” Vermer answers.

Davor clicks his tongue and looks at Anahid. He brushes back some of her hair from her face. “She’s going to hate us after this.”

“It’s better this way. She’s too attached to Senna. Her performance has been dropping because of how distracted she is with Senna.” Bernard replies.

“Even so…” Davor groans. “There should have been a better way.”

***

“HALLLLTTTTT!!!” Senna yells out to the demons flying twenty meters above the ocean.

The squadron of demons pauses hearing her. They immediately burst into raucous laughter seeing her lone figure.

“HAHAHAHAHA!!! Human, who do you think you are giving us orders?” One soldier yells.

“We are noble soldiers under the employ of Viscount Mater. A lowly human like you does not even deserve to raise your head.” Another soldier yells.

“SHUT UP!!!” Senna yells at them interrupting their laughter. “I’m not here to talk to lowly soldiers! I’m here to take down your leader for the crime of slaughtering human settlements!!!”

The squadron of soldiers stops laughing and glare at Senna. Before any of them can rush out, a voice calls out. “Stop!” The soldiers stop and clear the way.

Senna stares at the leader wearing flaming red armor. He is one of the darker skinned demons among the group with crimson red hair to match his armor. Horns grown on either side of his head and extend forward similar to all the other demons in the group. But the soldiers are more difficult to identify because their helmets all have the same horn design. The question of whether it’s a necessity like their leader or purely for design runs through Senna’s mind. Black wings spreading out from his back reminds Senna of a bat. The leader glares down at her. “Human. You have a lot of nerve getting in my way.”

StatusNameMater RoLevel82RaceDemon ViscountAge86 years oldHP4620MP434Strength665Endurance561Agility401Dexterity375Intelligence153Wisdom97Luck79SkillsSpear Lv. 7

Null Magic Lv. 4

Magic Detection Lv. 3

Enemy Detection Lv. 4

Tactics Lv. 1

Berserk Lv. 4

Self-Recovery Lv. 6

Enhanced Strength Lv. 7

Enhanced Endurance Lv. 6DescriptionA Demon that has reached the rank of Viscount. He’s extremely power driven and relies on his strength to devastate his enemies. He desires to quickly obtain promotions and rule over his counterparts.

“Sire.” The demon aide dressed in a suit next to Viscount Mater whispers to him. He’s the only demon dressed in a butler’s suit rather than armor. His skin color is more of a pale gray strongly contrasting with Mater. “I think it’s a trap. No sane human would stop your soldiers by herself. The ice that human is standing on shows that there must be a mage hidden… In addition, I cannot see her [Status]…”

“Hmph. Trifling traps.” Mater snorts. “You! Get rid of her!” Mater points to random soldier.

“Sir! Yes sir!” The demon soldier salutes and turns to Senna. The soldier is wrapped in full heavy armor. Senna identifies him to be at level 45 making him one of the weakest demons amongst the squadron. He flaps his large wings and dive bombs Senna. “Die!”

Senna’s eyes widen as she lets out a quick gasp as she leaps to the side. The demon laughs as he turns following Senna without losing any of his speed. He closes the distance to ten meters as Senna floats in the air mid-jump. As Senna’s foot lightly touches the ground, she forces her body to move. Her foot slides against the ice platform, but finds no traction causing her to involuntarily…slip.

Senna’s leg swings behind her as her body is pitched forward. “Ah.” Senna glances at the demon with a look of fear while swinging her arms and legs trying to find her footing. The demon closes in on Senna and takes advantage of her defenseless position to swing his sword. Suddenly, Senna crashes to the floor unnaturally as if her weight multiplied several times over. Her body touches the ice and slides with her leftover momentum. The demon swings his sword at Senna barely missing her leg as her body skids out of the way.

Chunks of ice fly as his sword cuts into the ground. The demon’s thoughts come to a halt at Senna’s inexplicable dodge to his powerful attack. He is unable to react quickly enough as his sword cuts deeper into the floor before it ultimately snaps. Continuing to stare in shock, his body continues to fly forward. His helmet ends up touching the ground first, intensifying the accident. The horns on his helmet catch into the ice momentarily before breaking free. Unfortunately, that moment disrupts his forward momentum. His body flips 180 degrees as his helmet acts as the pivot point slamming him into the ground.

“Argh!!” The demon involuntarily cries out from the combined pain of hitting the ground and his helmet pulling on his horns. The demon continues to roll forward before slumping into the ground unconscious.

Senna had already pushed herself up as the demon touched the ground. She limits her speed as she runs off mimicking the speed of a normal person. She stands over the demon while he is still disoriented. Swinging her katana down, she cuts into the demons exposed throat and decapitates him. She cuts into an opening in the demon’s armor under his armpit accelerating his death. The second his life ends, Senna throws him into her [Storage] removing him from the battlefield. {That was lucky. I wonder how long I can keep up the reckless swordsman routine before I’m forced to use magic. I’m lucky the stunt of secretly pulling out the training weights let me hit the ground faster. Almost messed up and created a pit because of my weight though…}

The demon soldier’s body disappears in an instant without any signs of magic and simply looks like he disappeared to Mater’s group. Mater’s army blankly stares at the entire development with their jaw hanging. Mater’s face is particularly flushed with embarrassment. They sent a soldier to kill a lowly human. But not only did he fail… He completely embarrassed their entire group with his overconfident display.

Senna prepares to mock them, but closes her mouth choosing to stay silent. {Let’s rest while I can.} Senna silently stabilizes her breathing while she watches them stare blankly at her.

They stare blankly for a good three minutes before Mater roars in anger. “Who hired such a trashy demon?!”

“Sire. Let me handle this.” The aide next to him consoles his lord. “You! Make up for your partner’s failure.” He points to a soldier with a similar rank as the previous one. “Do not bring more shame onto the Mater household.”

“Yes sir!” The soldier salutes and flies down. He lands on the ice platform opting to avoid making the same flight mistake. The soldier brandishes his long sword and charges at Senna. Senna wields her katana in suit.

He swings diagonally cutting towards Senna’s left shoulder. Senna raises her blade above her body awkwardly receiving the attack. Sparks fly as their weapons clash. Using the curve of the katana, Senna forcefully diverts the soldier’s attack. The soldier’s longsword grinds against Senna’s katana chipping it in several places as it moves along the blade. The soldier backs off when he sees that his attack won’t connect.

The soldier steps in and performs a horizontal slash to Senna’s right. Senna ducks down crouching into a ball using her katana to parry again. She leaks out a groan at the force of the attack as her blade chips more visibly. The soldier sneers seeing Senna’s shoddy parry. He continues to strongly attack her wearing her and her weapon down.

The demons watch as the soldier attacks Senna. Her form and footwork are incredibly poor. She stands like a statue whenever she receives an attack, neither retreating nor advancing. Her face cringes with each attack as if she was afraid of getting hurt. They know it’s only a matter of time before her weapon snaps and they kill her.

However, Mater becomes more and more agitated as they exchange attacks. “Hurry up and finish her!!” He yells impatiently.

The soldier pauses and changes his attack. “Yes sir!” He rushes at Senna locking blades with her. Using his body weight, he shoves her down to the ground.

“Waa…” Senna gives a small cry as she lands on her bottom. The soldier grins holding his blade high into the air. As he starts to swing, a pool of water suddenly forms at his feet. His body weight starts to shift with his swing and one foot slides to the side. His sword and blade twists to the side. Senna immediately rolls to the opposite side. As she rolls, she swings her chipped katana upwards cutting into the soldier’s neck.

His eyes widen as he falls to the ground. Before he can even recover to treat his wound, Senna stomps on his back. She points her katana down and stabs the back of his neck. “Yah!” Lodging the blade deep into his neck, she pulls it down to the side cutting open his neck even further. With his vitals cut, he quickly bleeds to death especially with Senna stomping on his body agitating the bleeding even further. Senna stores the corpse, but leaves the sprayed blood splattered on the ground and her body. {That’s another win for my [Storage]. It’s good that [Storage] doesn’t use magic to pull anything out. They can’t even detect it when I released the water at him. Well it’s the benefits of being a packrat, everything is on hand.}

Senna faces the company of demons again waiting for them to make their move. The demons stare stock still at her extreme luck. Many of them stare with their mouths wide open. Before any orders are given, three demons charge at Senna.

“Damn it! How dare you kill them?!”

“DIE!!!”

“KILLL HERRR!!”

Two of the demon attack her with a great sword and spear. The third demon keeps his distance as he chants a spell. The great sword demon performs a strong horizontal swing kicking up a gale with his attack.

Senna backs up several steps escaping the range of his swing. She has to step back even further covering her face from the sharp wind. When Senna escapes the great sword wielder, the spear demon thrusts his weapon towards her. She swings her katana in front of her forcefully diverting the attack. A large crack finally forms in her katana revealing its limits.

The spear wielding demon grins wildly hearing the crack. He prepares to attack again smashing her weapon to bits. Senna jumps back in a panic. The spear demon doesn’t follow up with the assault and takes his distance too. Just as Senna is wondering why, a large fireball over three meters tall flies towards her.

“Shit!” Senna curses before jumping to the side. She reacts quickly enough that only the tips of her hair are singed. However, the other two demons cut off her escape with a pincer attack. Seeing the mage demon preparing another spell behind the spear wielder, Senna is forced to approach the great sword user instead. The great sword user swings down at Senna. The spear user sweeps his weapon aiming to knock Senna off her feet. Multiple fireballs attack from either side of Senna.

Senna takes a deep breath and swings her katana to divert the great sword users attack, but the blade reaches its limit and shatters in her hand. The demons grin seeing the troublesome mouse on its last legs. Senna stores the broken blade and hilt continuing to approach the great sword user. As the great sword approaches her head, Senna sidesteps and twists her body. Thrusting an open palm out, she slams one hand against the side of the blade changing its course. Before he can react, the broken katana blade reappears next to the great sword user’s neck. A burst of wind appears from her [Storage] propelling the broken blade. The blade pierces through his neck spraying a large amount of blood.

“Guh…” The great sword user grunts in pain. When he looks again at Senna, she has already closed the distance. Senna grabs the broken katana blade and swings back opening his neck even further. The other two demons intensify their attacks trying to kill her and save their comrade. The fireballs shoot towards Senna as the spear demon pierces at her chest.

Senna takes out a demon corpse and kicks it in the spear demon’s path. Then she grabs the great sword user’s arm and performs an overhead throw directly at the demon mage taking out the fireballs turning her way in the process. The spear demon pierces the unexpected obstacle as Senna appears from the side and stabs his neck with her dagger. She hits his helmet with her open palm disorienting him and worsening his wound. Dying, Senna stores both corpses away.

The mage dodged the flying corpse flying higher up, while the corpse lost momentum and crashed back down onto the ice platform. Senna picks up the newly dropped spear and aims at the mage demon. Sensing danger, she jumps back quickly. Various spells land at her previous location violently damaging the ice. A large ice crater is left in its wake.

“That’s enough! Fall back!” The aide yells. “I’m certain with that display that you’re not some random human.”

Senna looks up and sees the demons are far more wary of her now. She sighs heavily in response. {Looks like things are breaking down faster than I thought. I won’t be able to stall much longer if they all attack me at once. I’m at my limit for non-magical fighting styles anyways.} Senna uses her [Storage] to make a appear directly in her mouth. She swallows it discreetly letting things take effect.

“Well I’m not like some savage demons that wantonly slaughter people left and right for fun.” Senna condescendingly responds.

“Arrogant human! If I want to get rid of some pesky humans while I work, then I’m perfectly entitled to.” Mater responds in an equally arrogant tone.

“Hah! As expected of a scumbag.” Senna snorts.

“You bastard!” Mater grinds his teeth. If his aide wasn’t stopping him, he would charge out to kill her.

The aide flies out approaching Senna. She tenses up seeing the strongest demon heading her way. He stops near perimeter of their company of demons. Senna quietly makes the contents of a poison bottle spill all over her back letting it seep into the air. He narrows his eyes as he speaks. “Whether you try and stop us or not, we have our orders to investigate this area’s disturbance. What we choose to do along the way is our decision.”

“Hmmmmm…” Senna mutters. “And what would be so important that over 100 demons would take the time to travel from such a distant continent for?”

The two of them lock gazes staring each other down. “…To investigate what the Human Goddess is planning.”

Senna blinks in surprise. “Remilia?” The aide nods at her question. {What Remilia is planning? I don’t think she interferes that much with the world from what I’ve seen? I mean, other than bringing me here, I’ve heard absolutely no news about anything significant that would drag them here. Maybe something further out occurred that would attract them…Ah! Are they here because of me? Transporting a human from another world should take a lot of magic, so the chances it was flashy is really high. I wouldn’t be able to tell since I’m right in the middle of the spell. But if they are trying to investigate me then…… It’s my fault those people died…………..No, no, no… How can this be?}

The aide is surprised at Senna’s blank gaze as she goes into thought. He tried to bait her with information to figure out what they were even after. All they have to go on is a vague direction making their mission extremely difficult.

{…I can’t breakdown here. I have a job to do. If they’re really here for me, then I can only prod them to confirm it. The battle will become a lot worse, but it may be for the best. Even if they kill me, they’ll have finished their mission and go home. They won’t have a reason continue on to and raze it to the ground.} Senna takes a deep breath. {Let’s do it!} Senna starts projecting her voice so that every one of the demons can hear her. “Is that so? I didn’t expect you’re actually after me. Then listen up! My name is Senna! I was brought to this world by the Goddess Remilia! I have heard all about your indiscriminate slaughter and will punish you for your actions!”

Silence ensues as the demons stare at Senna. Their eyes dilate hearing her origin. Mater recovers first and starts cackling. “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!GET HER!!”

“OOOHHHHHHHHHH!!!” The troops loudly yell. The air vibrates with the intensity of their yell. The weapon wielding demons charge at Senna, while the mages start casting their spells.

“Try and capture her alive!” The aide yells.

Senna smiles confidently as they attack, but hides her actual feelings. {Ahhh!!! They were really after me!!!! DAMN IT ALL!!!! Now I’m responsible for the death of several thousand people!!! Urgh… I have to find a way to compensate them if I can survive.} As she mentally rants to herself, she takes two steps back wielding the great sword she recently picked up. Using the flat portion off the blade, she swings it horizontally like a fan. Senna continues to step back swinging the sword like a fan each time.

“Fall back!!” The aide catches her strange movement and yells to the soldiers. The fastest demons have already closed the distance and are unable to retreat quickly enough.

The demons charge through her original position unaffected and face her with a determined glare. A burning sensation starts to well up in their bodies, but they ignore it in the heat of the moment. An itch starts to pass through their bodies as the burning sensation intensifies. When they pause to investigate their bodies, one of the demons coughs up blood. One demon after another start to cough up blood. Their blood boils under the influence of Senna’s poison causing them excruciating pain. Parts of their bodies expand like a balloon in some parts, shrinking in others as their blood violently moves about. Their sense of touch weakens as their arms shake and drop their weapons. “GAHHHHH!!!” Screaming, blood starts to emerge from their eyes and nose. Many fall to the ground losing strength in their bodies.

“MAGES!! HEAL THEM!!” The aide yells out. Before any of them can start casting a healing spell, fifteen soldiers drop to the ground and suffer from a seizure. The seizure lasts a few seconds before they silently stop. “DAMN!! They’re dead!” The aide curses and looks at Senna. The other soldiers quickly back away from their fallen comrades. They look at Senna with a trace of fear.

The mages finish and release their spells at Senna. Fireballs, icicles, blades of wind and darkness fly at her aiming to reap her life. Senna stomps the ice platform finally using her magic. A dome of ice forms over her, protecting her from the spells. The spells bombard the dome destroying it easily. Mist and shards of ice fly into the air clouding the surroundings. One of the wind mages creates some winds to blow away the mist. The demons stop and find Senna missing. In her place is a large hole extending deep down into the ice.

“Find her!!!” Mater yells. In that instant, hundreds of icicles emerge from the depths of the forest nearby. The soldiers knock down the icicles with ease, while the mages retaliate with spells. “Burn the forest down!”

The mages comply and begin casting their spells. Fire and wind mix together causing a large conflagration. The coastal trees and grass burn spreading flames and ember high into the sky.

“Finally dead.” Mater mutters with a sigh of relief.

His aide flies towards the rear mages without responding to Mater. He charges directly at a mage unsheathing his sword. It crackles with lightning as he imbues it with his magic. The mage stares wide eyed as the aide charges at him. But his worry is unfounded when the aide flies right by him.

Slashing down, the aide intercepts a large whip sword made of water. The aide’s lightning sword clashed with the whip sword for a few scant moments. However, the electricity quickly broke down the water as it bubbled and disintegrated. The aide does not follow the source of the whip and immediately retreats. Large needles of ice and water immediately shoot through his previous position cutting through the empty air.

“I won’t let you win that easily! ” The aide points his sword down and releases a surging bolt of lightning from the blade. It speeds through the air and crashes down onto an empty area on the ice platform. A white fog bursts forward as ice shards fly into the air.

Senna bursts out from the fog leaving a thin cloud trail behind her. She lands on the ice platform and faces the aide. His butler’s suit has disappeared and been replaced with a silver armor that shines with a violet hue. His body overflows with magical power as he glares at Senna. His silver hair and yellow pupils add to his imposing presence. {Ugh... I really don’t want to fight him. He’s the most troublesome of the batch. Can’t I just fight the weaker boss instead of his servant?}

StatusNameGulver ZirLevel103RaceDemon SwordmasterAge97 years oldHP7580MP856Strength872Endurance762Agility803Dexterity564Intelligence538Wisdom350Luck103SkillsSword Lv. 8

Lightning Magic Lv. 6

Magic Spell Proficiency Lv. 4

Magic Power Lv. 6

Magic Manipulation Lv. 6

Magic Body Lv. 4

Presence Detection Lv. 5

Magic Detection Lv. 4

Danger Detection Lv. 5

Tactics Lv. 5

Retreat Lv. 5

Parry Lv. 8

Identification Lv. 6

Item Box Lv. 6

Poison Resistance Lv. 4

Reading Lv. 6

Persuasion Lv. 5

Poker Face Lv. 5

Etiquette Lv. 8

Enhanced Magic Lv. 4

Enhanced Endurance Lv. 4DescriptionA Demon serving as an aide to Viscount Mater Ro. Despite his strength, he chooses to hide his skill and serve his friend. Few know of his skill and mainly know of him purely as the Viscount’s right hand man. He is extremely competent and handles most of the logistics in Mater’s place. However, he continues to maintain his skill as a magic swordsman taking down his enemies in a flash.

Author's Note

Finally finished this chapter! I've been carefully writing this chapter and the next one considering how to handle the battles. The exchanges in the battle remind me how much I'm still lacking. I tried my best forming out this battle while Senna limits her skill. So I hope you enjoy it~

I'm going to go and play games to clear my head a bit. Take care until next week!