Marius floats in a white world.
This is the second time he has experienced this.
As expected, there was no warning, so this doesn’t seem to be an attack.
It’s strange that Zofi and the others don’t notice anything.
He thought it might be an attack from a Demon Lord, but it still felt odd.
“…Thank…”
“Hmm?”
He hears a voice.
“…you…thank…”
It seems he is being thanked.
The last time he experienced this was after defeating Zagan.
Considering that, this must be thanks for defeating a Demon Lord.
Then, who could it be?
And why didn’t they appear immediately after he defeated Decarabia, but only now?
Marius found himself waking up.
He stretched as he got out of bed.
He was careful not to wake the five beauties sleeping beside him.
Last night, the six of them had spent a passionate night together.
“Am I… okay…?”
He yawned, feeling a moment of doubt about his current direction.
As he left the room, Emma appeared at the perfectly timed moment, bowing her head.
“Good morning. What would you like for breakfast today?”
“Something light. Today’s going to be… a tough battle.”
Emma, though she seemed to understand the implication, maintained her usual cool expression and left with another bow.
He yawned again and stretched widely, and Lovisa woke up.
“Good morning.”
“Good morning. You’ve gotten quite used to it in one night, haven’t you?”
As Marius spoke, Lovisa’s ears turned red.
“At least… say that in private.”
“Sorry, sorry.”
He was clearly teasing her, judging by his smirk.
As expected, Lovisa noticed and pouted petulantly.
“Oh, you’re so mean.”
“Haha. Sorry.”
Marius let Lovisa playfully hit his chest with her balled-up fist.
Marius’s address to her varied between “Marius” and “you,” but he enjoyed the sweet feeling of it without pointing it out.
“Hmph, flirting first thing in the morning, Lovisa, you’re surprisingly shameless.”
Barra, having woken up, spoke with a mix of mild dissatisfaction and envy.
Lovisa blushed again, but retorted.
“Well, you were quite something yesterday too!”
“Hmph.”
And then the two of them turned red together.
Marius thought to himself, in a detached manner, that weak verbal attacks were just as self-destructive.
The other three hadn’t woken up yet.
Being Succubi, they weren’t exactly early risers, but more importantly, they were exhausted from assisting the two new wives last night.
Although, Zofi had pointed out that the after-reward part, after the two of them had passed out, was the most demanding.
“To handle five people and still be fine, what a monster,” the wives had said.
(I’m human, you know.)
Marius had recently started to lose a little confidence.
After breakfast and while enjoying his post-meal tea, Marius asked everyone.
“Are there any uninhabited islands around?”
He was anticipating a battle with Auraniess.
Emma and El immediately understood, while the others followed a moment later.
There was no way they could fight a Demon Lord, said to have once erased a continent, near any inhabited areas.
“There are none.”
Emma, who had only answered that, also looked troubled.
Ironically, the reconstruction work on Berganda’s land was going very smoothly.
If not for that, they could have fought there.
“How about Barshark, Misra, or Vester? But, I believe there were survivors.”
Emma nodded to this as well.
“Yes. Misra only suffered partial damage, but the other two were completely destroyed, and survivors have become refugees.”
Demonfolk are truly useless.
Everyone sighed.
“What’s wrong, sighing together?”
A voice suddenly called out, drawing everyone’s gaze.
There, a black-haired beauty with purple eyes looked puzzled.
“Auraniess.”
As Marius muttered, Zofi burst into the room.
“I’m sorry, I’m late.”
She apologized to Marius and glared at Auraniess.
Auraniess was impressed by this, and after assessing Zofi, she smiled.
“Oh, quite a reaction. A mid-level Demon of the Lilim, perhaps?”
At that remark, the frozen time began to flow again.
Lovisa and Barra hurried to Marius’s side as Zofi and Emma stood protectively in front of him.
Then Al and El rushed over.
“First of all, how did you get in?”
Marius’s retort was met with Auraniess’s unapologetic reply.
“Through the opening I found?”
Her movement speed was apparently so fast that no one had noticed her.
This was a problem that could not be ignored from a security standpoint, but Auraniess, on the other hand,
“It’s always like this?”
She said it so casually.
Marius felt a sense of resignation, but others could not afford to do so, and tension filled their bodies.
“Lady Auraniess.”
Iris and Sophia entered as if it were perfectly normal, opening the door.
Seeing Marius’s and Zofi’s reactions, it was recognized that these two were also extraordinary beings.
“Oh, you two. Why were you late?”
Sophia replied to her master’s question with exasperation.
“Of course, it’s faster to come through the roof or windows. When visiting someone, you should properly go through the gate and the door.”
At first glance, it sounded like a reasonable statement, but no notification of a visitor had been received.
This meant that they hadn’t come through the usual channels either.
Marius had given up on trying to make sense of it.
“So, did you come to fight? How did you find my location?”
He asked out of mere curiosity, but
“Hmm? Just a hunch.”
“That’s a bit too precise.”
He felt even more exhausted.
He understood that her “hunch” was like finding a dropped yen coin in the desert in an instant.
“A hin… hunch…? I don’t really get it, but was I praised?”
As Auraniess tilted her head, Sophia interjected.
“So? What do you intend to do?”
At that one word, Auraniess remembered her purpose for coming.
“Of course, I’m going to fight. Marius seems to be in good condition today too.”
She smiled, saying it was worth the wait for today.
She was so beautiful that Lovisa almost lost herself in her gaze, but Marius was not impressed.
“I don’t want to fight here, is that okay?”
“That’s fine. That Melinda woman was also complaining about the country, the castle, and whatnot.”
It felt like she said something terrifying so casually, but he didn’t have the presence of mind to worry about it now.
“So, where will we fight?”
“That’s the thing. It’s hard to find a suitable place.”
Marius held a faint hope, thinking it would be nice if they could wait until one was found.
“What, in that case, I have a good idea.”
His hope was crushed in an instant, but as he had expected it, he wasn’t disappointed.
“Let’s fight inside my barrier. It didn’t break during my fight with Melinda, so I can guarantee its sturdiness.”
(Wait, then why was the continent erased…?)
Marius, and everyone else, thought something similar, but no one voiced it.
Reason advised them that some things are better left unasked.
“Just in case, I’d like to at least move to the training ground.”
“Do as you like. I don’t care where we fight.”
And so, they decided to move the stage, but only Zofi, Iris, and Sophia accompanied him.
Barra and the others wanted to follow, but Zofi stopped them.
“Don’t.”
Zofi’s unusually stern expression stopped Barra’s protest in her throat.
“Auraniess is so strong that even our master might not be able to win. And those two women with her… they’re probably stronger than Rubens, too.”
The meaning of the word despair was presented to Barra and Lovisa.
Al and El, who had vaguely sensed it, nodded in surprise.
“If it comes to it, we’ll have to make sure you two escape.”
“If there’s enough distance, even we have a chance.”
Al and El, who stated this matter-of-factly, and Zofi’s expression, were familiar sights to Lovisa and Barra.
It was the determined look of soldiers bidding farewell to their families and heading to the battlefield.
“B-but, isn’t Auraniess completely different from the legends…?”
Barra couldn’t help but exclaim.
She couldn’t understand her own emotions.
Zofi, trying to soothe her mistress’s wife, said,
“That’s why she’s terrifying.”
Zofi’s view was that those who harbor malice towards the world and destroy countries or sink continents are not that scary.
However, if it was merely a result, without any ill will towards the world, then it was supremely terrifying.
Barra reluctantly nodded, giving up.
She wasn’t unreasonable, either.
“B-but, Marius might win too.”
Lovisa’s voice, though strained, brightened the atmosphere slightly.
She finally remembered Marius saying “There’s a chance.”
Such was the immense pressure that Auraniess exuded.
“That’s right. I believe so too. This is just in case, of course.”
Zofi said that and headed towards the training ground.
At the training ground, soldiers were already diligently practicing early in the morning, the air filled with heat and the loud cheers of exertion.
“Oh, you’re working hard this morning.”
Auraniess praised them with a pleased expression.
To her, anyone who trained with a desire to improve was worthy of evaluation.
“But I don’t see anyone strong.”
She muttered, seemingly not too disappointed, as if she hadn’t expected much, and turned back to Marius, who was walking behind her.
“It’s fine here, right? Let’s fight.”
Her proposal, with her eyes shining, was like a child begging for candy.
Of course, he knew full well that she was no cute being.
“Alright. So, who first? Or is it three against one?”
When Marius asked, Auraniess pouted petulantly.
“Naturally, it’s one-on-one with me. These guys couldn’t possibly beat you. And if they interfere… I’ll kill them.”
Her smile disappeared for a moment, and a killing intent leaked out.
The killing intent, so strong that Marius inwardly braced himself, sent shivers through the soldiers at the training ground, and their continuous cheers fell silent.
Iris and Sophia just gave wry smiles and said, “We won’t interfere,” remaining unperturbed.
(Are these two also Demon Lord class…?)
While thinking that they might even be stronger than Decarabia, Marius looked at Auraniess.
“Shall we begin?”
“O-oh.”
Auraniess nodded and used the skill “Gae Bolg.”
A black membrane-like substance appeared and enveloped Auraniess and Marius.
It then seeped into the ground and spread outwards.
Eventually, it stopped spreading when it was large enough to play soccer on.
Marius was not surprised by this.
This was, in fact, a skill from the game, and Auraniess always used it first when engaging in combat.
It was a barrier that could not be broken unless Auraniess was defeated, and it became popular among players with the saying, “You can’t escape from Auraniess.”
(If her behavior patterns are the same as in the game, maybe I can manage?)
That was Marius’s hope.
However, if her strength was also the same as in the game, Marius had no chance of winning.
No one had ever defeated Auraniess in a one-on-one battle.
“Defeating Auraniess one-on-one” was considered one of the ultimate challenges.
And Marius’s win-loss record against the game’s Auraniess was one win and four losses, putting him at a disadvantage.
Auraniess, who had driven many hardcore gamers to despair, was ranked first in the “Strongest Boss Character Rankings.”
Bringing his thoughts back to reality, Marius found it strange that Auraniess maintained a distance from him.
“Is it okay to keep that much distance?”
It was only natural for him to ask, given the range that any mage would consider optimal for unleashing their power.
Auraniess smiled leisurely at his question.
“Are you telling me to punch a weak mage? We’ll settle this with a long-range battle.”
If others heard that, they would have interpreted it as confidence and been indignant.
However, Marius didn’t interpret it so simply.
Because he knew that Auraniess had no disadvantageous range.
On the other hand, he also considered, “If she’s just a battle enthusiast, perhaps I can talk her into something using words.”
“【Exharatio】.”
This was the familiar fire magic that had annihilated Demonfolk with a single blow.
White flames enveloped Auraniess’s entire body, and a torrent of enormous magical power erupted, instantly extinguishing the white flames.
“Is this a probing match first? An attack like this can’t do anything to me.”
Auraniess licked her lips with an excited expression.
Combined with her inherent beauty, she was even seductive, but what emanated from her was not charm, but a ferocious, overwhelming pressure.
