080 Pseudo-Demon

Good people didn't become Pseudo-Demons. That was a fact everyone knew.

That was precisely why I felt no sympathy for them, and why I wouldn't hold back an inch in exterminating them. But despite my resolve, the suddenness of the event left everyone paralyzed.

Everyone except Cecil.

『Everyone, deploy defensive magic! I’ve confirmed it with Mana Sense—he needs to physically touch something to make it explode. In other words, as long as we don't let the monsters come into contact with him, his ability won't trigger.』

She instantly delivered a perfect, hundred-point answer that was calmer than anyone else’s, immediately putting our minds at ease. She must have been incredibly well-versed in the lore of Pseudo-Demons.

Seriously, I could never hold a candle to Cecil.

She had even expanded the range of her Telepathy to include the common soldiers. They seemed startled by the sudden voice broadcasting inside their heads, but they were soldiers through and through. They regained their composure almost instantly and moved to drive the monsters away from the Pseudo-Demon.

The Pseudo-Demon possessed a staggering amount of mana. Even so, with my current strength, killing him should have been easy. However, I felt a nagging sense of wrongness.

Allen bolted forward, intending to end the creature then and there—but I intercepted him, catching his blade as if I were shielding the monster.

"Wait, Allen!"

"!? Weiss, why are you stopping me—"

"Don't you think this is weird? Why would he just show up here, completely defenseless?"

The guy had appeared out of nowhere. Then, he had gone out of his way to make a monster explode in the most obvious way possible. It was as if he were hand-delivering us his own weakness. Sure, he likely had no ego left, but this felt a little too polite.

Most likely—

"If you cut him, there’s a good chance he’ll explode."

"...No way."

It was strictly speculation on my part, but in this world, you had to prepare for the worst-case scenario. The Demon Race was cunning, with hearts as black as pitch. Making you think you’d won just to drop you into a pit of despair was a classic Noblesse trope.

"Aga-agaga!"

The Pseudo-Demon apparently could use Explosion Magic on its own as well. It gathered mana from the air and sent the soldiers flying. Allen was vibrating with the urge to strike, but I held him back with a firm grip.

"For now, we just stop his movements. Allen, don't kill him, no matter what."

"—Understood."

"Cynthia, Lilith! Keep the other monsters away from us!"

"As you wish!"

"Yes, Master!"

Allen and I lunged forward. The Pseudo-Demon reacted to our movements, catching our swords with its hardened, mutated hands. But it was still wrong. It was protecting itself from being cut, yet it was practically begging us to find an opening.

If this guy is just a giant walking bomb, how the hell are we supposed to kill him?

The mana stored inside him was immense. I relayed my concerns to Cecil, but even she couldn't come up with a solution on the fly. For now, all we could do was seal his attacks and buy ourselves time to think.

Beryl’s stat growth was terrifying. Combined with the fact that he’d lost his mind as a Pseudo-Demon, the raw power behind his attacks was through the roof. Allen took several hits, unable to fully mitigate the damage, and blood began to soak his clothes.

"Agagagaga!"

"—Back off for a second, Allen!"

"...I’m fine. But what are we going to do?! If we’re stuck dealing with this guy, the other monsters will—"

Allen was right. Because the two of us were occupied here, the response to the larger monsters was falling behind. Everyone was fighting like hell, but the numbers were just too stacked against us.

—No, wait.

I poured more mana than usual into my Time Lapse to peer into the creature's body. It was constructed out of a magic circle that looked like a specialized Explosion Formula. I didn't know the exact yield, but anyone without high-tier defensive stats would be vaporized instantly. However, there was a second formula for the Pseudo-Demon transformation woven into it.

The answer was clear.

"Allen, can you use Time Lapse?"

"—...Yeah. But only for a few seconds."

Hah. You copycat bastard.

But that was all the news I needed.

『Fansent-kun, perhaps—』

『Yeah—』

Cecil and I realized it at the exact same moment. Hah, look at me. I’m actually growing, aren’t I?

To take this thing down, we had to destroy two different formulas. It was a massive pain in the ass, but we had to do it simultaneously.

"Allen, I’ll break his Explosion Formula. You cut the Pseudo-Demon formula. If our timing is off by even a fraction of a second, we're all going up in smoke. But it's the only way."

I made it sound simple, but we were gambling our lives here. If we failed, everyone nearby was dead.

"—I understand."

Allen didn't show a hint of fear. He answered me with eyes full of absolute resolve.

Yeah, you really are the ultimate protagonist, aren't you?

"Cecil, tell the others—"

I had Cecil relay the plan and then moved into position with Allen. Once the strategy had reached everyone, it was go-time. I was honestly shocked by how quickly they all agreed to it, knowing they might die. Perhaps they’d been watching us and actually trusted us?

Well, if that was the case, I wouldn't be much of a man if I didn't live up to the hype, right?

"Everyone! Give it everything you’ve got!" Boldic roared, bolstering the soldiers' morale once again.

Hah, what a pro.

"—Aga-agaga!"

The Pseudo-Demon must have realized this was the climax. It locked onto the two of us and unleashed its Explosion Magic. There was no way I was getting hit by something that telegraphed, but the monster was hiding a trump card. He waved his hand at empty air and—pulled a monster toward him.

The giant monster was sucked right into his hand like a magnet, and a switch flipped. The beast turned a violent shade of red, expanding as if it were about to pop. Then, the creature came charging at us.

It was a living suicide drone. We could have killed it easily, but the Pseudo-Demon—sensing its end—began chanting the spell to detonate itself.

Shit, we're out of time—!

"Magic Bandage!"

"Ice Bandage!"

At that exact moment, Shari and Cynthia simultaneously bound the bloated monster and froze it solid with enough force to drain every drop of their mana. A second later, it burst into pieces, but thanks to the ice and the bandages, the blast was contained. Both girls slumped to the ground, clearly exhausted from the reckless instant-casting.

But that was enough.

"Good job. We’ll handle the rest. —Allen!"

"—Yeah! Leave it to me!"

To stop the Pseudo-Demon’s chant, Allen and I cleaved off both its arms. At that moment, both the Explosion Magic and the Pseudo-Demon formula triggered, and its body began to glow with a blinding light.

"—Now!"

In that instant, Allen’s eyes and mine glowed with the radiance of light and shadow. Hah, copycat bastard...

""Time Lapse!""

The Dark Sword and the Light Sword plunged into the Pseudo-Demon's torso, shattering the magical formulas from the inside out. Flesh tore until we hit bone, and an indescribable sound of magic being unraveled echoed through the air.

"—See ya."

The Pseudo-Demon didn't explode. It simply fell apart into dust and collapsed to the ground.

"—Phew."

"Haa... haa..."

We looked at each other, panting—but our moment was short-lived.

"GUOOOOON!"

"Seriously? These guys never quit."

The rest of the monsters hadn't vanished. Without needing another word, we rushed back into the fray to finish the extermination.

---

"We... we won..."

"God, I'm... I'm so tired..."

"We did it... we actually did it!"

The long battle finally ended, and the soldiers collapsed where they stood. The ground was littered with mountains of giant monster corpses. Every soldier and member of Noblesse was drenched in blood spray. Some were slumped over, some were howling in victory, and others were scrambling to cast Recovery Magic.

But—we had won.

I expanded my Mana Sense, but I couldn't detect any powerful mana signatures nearby. That meant no genuine members of the Demon Race were lurking around. Carta descended from the sky, looking absolutely spent.

Despite the exhaustion, I felt a strange sense of exhilaration. Our training sessions, the way everyone had grown stronger—it had all paid off. Not a single day had been wasted. We were actually becoming strong enough to overcome the Calamity.

"Cynthia, sorry for always putting you through this."

"Fufufu. Since the day I met you, my life hasn't been boring for a single second."

I spoke to Cynthia, who looked stunning even while covered in blood. Even with the gore, she was more beautiful than anyone else here.

"Lord Weiss, Lady Cynthia, are you injured?"

"We’re fine. Thank you, Lilith."

Cynthia patted the head of Lilith, who had come rushing over. Lilith had been at the front lines the whole time, moving with a terrifying lack of regard for her own safety. Truly, she was the ultimate maid.

And—

"—Debi, get over here."

"De-Debi!"

I called Debi down from the air and gave its head a rub.

"Debibiii!?"

"Why do you look so shocked...?" Am I really that cold to him usually?

"I'm beat, nyaa," Nell groaned, flopping onto the ground.

Just when it seemed like the curtain had finally closed, a massive explosion echoed from the distant Kingdom of Bruno behind us. Everyone whipped their heads around in shock. Don't tell me there are more of them?!

"Cynthia, stay here!"

Allen seemed unable to move a muscle, likely a side effect of his skills. I left the group behind and sprinted toward the city.

At the city gates, I found piles of massive monster corpses. There weren't as many as we had fought, but the number was still significant. Looking through Time Lapse, I could feel the lingering traces of Concealment Magic.

A second wave they tried to sneak past us? Who would do that? More importantly, who took them all out?

In the center of the carnage, sitting at a table and daintily lifting a teacup as if she were in a garden, was the "Goddess who went too far."

"What exactly are you doing... Eva-senpai?"

"I’ve quite taken a liking to this country's tea. —Oh, and what are these monsters doing here, I wonder?"

An official bug cheat... Seriously, the Noblesse dev team went way too far with this one.