Evan D. Sherden, Running. (4)

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

“Ack-aah!

“Mo-monster! The sky!”

“Backflow! It’s a backflow!”

The whole city of Pellati was dazed. From the sky, the sea, and even inland and city walls; the city was a complete disaster. Every possible mishap came about.

“What the hell is wrong!? There shouldn’t be any backflow at this time!”

As she ran down the hill along with Evan, Arisha exclaimed her bewilderment. At the end of her sword, the stone wind shot hard, shooting down some aerial monsters circling the dark sky.

“This is not a backflow. This is something entirely different. This is…”

Evan was too baffled to continue. He had seen this scene in the game. To be exact, it was triggered whenever a player transferred the most important events in Yo-Ma Great War 3’s and 4’s main episodes to CG.

That was why it was strange. This wasn’t supposed to happen so early. However, Evan, who had been anticipating something unusual even before he left for this trip, also had a strange intuition of some evil foreboding.

He never really expected it to happen in Pellati, though. He thought it would’ve been in Sherden.

“Demons.”

“…Demons?”

“Yes, only the Demon clan is capable of controlling so many monsters at once. They have finally revealed their teeth.”

Arisha’s voice shook in response to Evan’s words. However, Evan was resolute.

“How… What do we do…?”

“We’ll catch them and kill them. If I can do it, then you can do it too.”

Evan equipped his artifacts while making his way to the center of the incident. There were only two things, the Black Clouds Gloves and the Rose Vine Ring. The moment he wore those two, he felt immense power surge through him.

“I’m going to face Demons?”

However, Arisha, listening to Evan, was still in disbelief. It was a reasonable reaction. The Demons were different from ordinary monsters—the source of all evil and the antithesis of humanity, the followers of the Demon King.

Humans were instinctively afraid of the Demon clan. It didn’t matter how brave you were or how many heroic feats you had achieved; this fear was deeply rooted in the instincts of mankind.

“You don’t think you can?”

However, for Evan, the Demon clan was just another monster-type with higher-grade loot.

Evan, of course, knew there were countless deaths caused by the Demons in the game, but he’d have to be afraid of slime if he wanted to be scared of the Demons.

“…I can do it if Evan says so.”

“Okay, that’s all I need.”

At last, Arisha gained courage after seeing Evan’s calmness. The timing was perfect. Soon after, a Demon appeared in front of the two through the rubble of a nearby obliterated building.

[Discovered a target. You don’t know how to tell the difference between bravery and ignorance, do you?]

It was a relatively common type of Demon with a goat’s head and a large human body. Of course, he was a terrible monster who turned the whole area upside down when only one appeared in the human world, but it was also tiring to face in the middle and late part of the Yo-Ma Great War Series.

“You can do it, Arisha.”

“Even if I can’t, I’ll try my best…”

[Hahahahahaha!]

Arisha rushed in without letting Evan continue. The goat-headed Demon advanced towards Arisha’s seemingly reckless charge, exploding a mine.

The light from the small magic pearl that rises above disappeared just before it touched Arisha’s body. The shield of the wind around her body cleared the light.

[Bam!]

The Demon did not know that the attack would be blocked, blatantly faltering and revealing his weakness. That was their pattern.

Their weakness lied in the fact that they were too proud of being more naturally powerful than other races. This made them arrogant and careless in battle.

“But it’s worth it.”

[Gasp!]

At the very moment when Arisha’s sword was filled with strong wind, the Magic Circle made by the magic of the Demon was scattered. Then her sword penetrated the wrists of the Demon.

The attempt was successful. She managed to attack a relatively weak spot.

[Argh!]

“Its defense…. is not that high!”

With that attack, Arisha had established her dominance in the battle.

The Demon was busy avoiding Arisha’s attack when they were unable to produce a proper magic force, but unfortunately for him, Arisha’s movements were already far superior to his level.

[This must be…!]

As a result of her training, she competed with Shine and demonstrated the power of the wind in her body, making her move as if she were a weightless fairy. And that was the grandeur of real wind magic.

No, at this point, it seemed like it was already better than the animated movements of the game; after all, the Elf Illoin had trained her in this world!

The sword cut off all the Demon’s escape routes and repeatedly thrusted its body until it became ragged. It took less than a few seconds.

[Huh!]

“Whoa, whoo…!”

It didn’t take long for Arisha’s rapier, one that was wrapped in a stone wind, to pierce the Demon’s neck.

Initially, many Demons did not die even if they were decapitated, but these were the lowest-class Demons. The Demon’s body quickly turned to ashes and flew away, and all that remained was black jewelry. Evan picked it up for Arisha.

“It has a weak curse. So I’ll take it.”

“I see.”

“Anyway, how’re you doing?”

“I can handle them. But if there were too many at once…”

Arisha’s face was filled with worry, as there was no time to be immersed in the lingering feeling of victory. Evan shook his head firmly.

“If these Demons were able to enter the human realm, and outside the dungeon, the numbers won’t be that big. The question is, exactly what kind of Demons came out?”

Since this was done in line with Pellati’s Dungeon Festival, it wouldn’t just end with the low-ranking Demons.

More worryingly, the Demon had mentioned: “discovered a target” when he saw the two of them. Evan wondered if that meant him or Arisha, and whether they were being hunted by the Demons.

“Let’s join my family as soon as possible.”

“Yes.”

Evan and Arisha started running as fast as they could. Fortunately, it didn’t take long to get there. Giant flames shot up suddenly in the dark night sky.

Not only did all the flying monsters that filled the sky disappear in unison, but it was also possible to clearly identify the location of the person using the magic.

“Lua!”

“How strong is that kid…!?”

“I’ll carry you for a second.”

“Oh my God!”

Evan picked Arisha up and ran fast. He used Heaven’s Step to make his body light and the space around them heavy! All the monsters in his way were smashed.

There was a Demon who tried to stop them in the middle, but it died in a flash without having a chance to do anything. Arisha couldn’t even see their bodies due to having her closed eyes. It was fortunate that she didn’t see it because it would have been very gruesome if she did.

“Master!”

“Sir!”

“Brother!”

“Evan!”

Indeed, fortunately, the Marquis, as well as the Count, were both gathered in Belois’ presence. No, not just that. All ordinary people who could not fight were coming this way in search of a way to survive.

“I’m glad you’re safe! Really…!”

“I’m glad, Evan…!”

“Arisha, you were with Evan. Oh, my God, what a relief!”

When Evan found out that all the targets had gathered here, he looked dizzy as he looked around the Demon tribe rushing after receiving orders. And the people rushing to this place were unaware that this was the most dangerous place to be in.

“What about the Dungeon Knights?”

“Of course, we are moving desperately, but there are too many enemies! Moreover, unlike the usual backflows, they are coming from everywhere. For God’s sake… our soldiers will have no choice but to sacrifice themselves…”

Count Melto clenched his teeth. Even though sufficient troops were prepared for emergencies, they could not correctly cope with the attack. The result was the current situation.

Among them, the family’s elite sorcerer group was primarily neutralized in the early parts of the attack. They had a thorough grasp of Pellati beforehand, literally determined to attack the city.

“What do we do, Master?”

“We have no choice but to fight back. If possible, we’ll have to find the leader and kill it.”

Now that more people than usual flocked to the city due to the festival, it was difficult for monsters to dig in between them and distinguish them.

That was why Belois was not able to perform large magic, and Evan could not use large-scale skills such as Heaven’s Throw.

“What do you think of this, Evan?”

“They’re Demons. Did you happen to see him?”

“I see. I haven’t seen them yet. Did they come for you?”

“Perhaps. If we’re all here, they’ll show up. The target is probably all of us, so…”

Evan looked at his mother. Redine shook her head with a sorrowful expression.

It was strange that Redine had never shown any strength throughout Yo-Ma Great War 3. He went on naturally as if there had been no eye contact with Redine.

“We have no choice but to stop them ourselves. If possible, we’d better evacuate the public separately and attract the Demons towards us. If we somehow destroy the leader, the vast monsters will be calmed down to some extent, and we will be able to drive them away with the power of the Dungeon Knights and the soldiers.”

“Berserk, yeah. The monsters seemed to be in a weird state. I thought perhaps that the Demon King was resurrected, but if that’s the power of the Demons…”

At Evan’s words, Count Melto widened his eyes. Somewhere, a terrible explosion occurred.

Did someone set all the fireworks to explode? It would have been better if it had been, but it wasn’t. It was the Pellati Castle that exploded. Evan looked back at the castle and sounded surprisingly calm.

“…What’s in that castle?”

“Everything that matters is here. It’s okay,” Melto answered Evan’s question urgently. He looked relieved again, confirming his wife, son, and daughter were with him.

“There’s a gate.”

Suddenly, Crow spoke. He was also clenching his teeth, holding his trident.

“A gate that leads to the capital of this country… and other Dungeon cities.”

Evan’s heart seemed to freeze as soon as he heard it. Now he knew the enemy’s true purpose.