Chapter 34 – Demon

Perhaps it was because I unleashed High-Tier Magic barehanded from my circulation state.

A little blood is dripping from my left hand—but well, it shouldn’t be a problem.

More importantly.

I look up at the demon floating in the air, glaring down at me.

It seems to have rampaged quite freely, which is extremely displeasing. Though displeasing, that’s precisely why I should remain calm and finish it off decisively. When I spoke with Maurice, I nearly failed due to letting my emotions get the better of me.

Even if my opponent is the same type of demon as Mother’s enemy, it isn’t the actual one.

Five years ago. The King of Deathly Slumber who spread plague was defeated by Mother.

“…You’re laughing. Quite the—proud of being able to use powerful magic, aren’t you?”

The female-form demon continued floating in the air, looking at me with hatred, but eventually showed a gentle smile.

“Don’t tell me you actually think you can beat a demon-sama just because you can use strong magic? Kids these days.”

The demon remained floating in the air, playing with the black miasma rising from its entire body and circulating it around itself.

I understand what it’s trying to say. Being able to fly freely through the sky alone provides a powerful advantage. In contrast, the flight magic available to humans is Levitation.

This is magic that makes objects float, but it probably knows this is completely unsuitable for combat. It can’t even compare to a demon’s flight magic.

No matter how powerful the magic in your hand might be, it’s meaningless if you can’t hit with it. High-Tier Magic that’s easily telegraphed at the moment of activation isn’t frightening at all. That’s the idea.

If you ask about Intermediate or lower magic, then the miasma the demon wraps around itself becomes the problem. Its true nature could be called negative magical power. It weakens normal magic and corrodes living bodies upon contact.

To begin with, both physical toughness and physical abilities are beyond comparison with normal humans. It probably won’t falter from taking a few hits.

But—so what?

“I don’t need to hear about demons from the likes of you. Let’s get started.”

As I take a stance with my Magic Staff and say this, the demon frowns for a moment before baring its fangs with a mouth split open to its ears.

“You’ve got no manners, brat. I’ll gouge out your insides while you’re still alive and stuff them back through that mouth.”

As if those words were the signal, I leap largely to the right. In the blink of an eye, the cobblestones where I was just standing shatter. What the demon fired was a miasma bullet.

Since the miasma itself weakens magic, it has the characteristic of being exceptionally strong in exchanges of fire with normal magic.

As expected, it maintained a fixed distance from me while firing bullets. I leap right, left, roll on the ground. Continuously avoiding the endless stream of miasma bullets. It probably knows this is how to kill magicians.

I return fire with Fireballs through the gaps between bullets, but it doesn’t even try to dodge. It gets hit directly and bursts into flames, but I don’t think that will finish it. Magic flames don’t conduct heat very well. But it works as a distraction. I immediately close the distance.

The demon appears from beneath the blast, wearing a smug smile.

“That kinda magic doesn’t work on me! Keep crawling on the ground like the garbage insect you are!”

The demon scatters bullets in a fan shape from its left hand. Every single one possesses destructive power capable of killing a human.

Moreover, it’s deviation shooting. Though fired in sequence, each bullet has a different speed. They all impact the ground simultaneously.

I activate Levitation and leap into the air. The demon twists the corner of its lips, perhaps confident of victory. In its right hand, a mass of miasma is coiling.

If it swings down and releases—the miasma transforms into a massive blade, sweeping through where I had been. Perfectly. Completely. The timing and speed were impossible to avoid with Levitation.

“—Guh!?”

But I’m not there. I change trajectory mid-air and slip through. The demon has lost sight of me because it swung down the miasma as a giant blade.

That’s when my knee strike, refined with circulation state and concentrated magical power, pierces its temple.

The magical power from magical power circulation is different in quality from normal magical power. Being a mixture of magical power and life energy, even a demon’s miasma can’t completely weaken it, nor can it corrode my body.

“Wh, at!?”

The demon panics and tries to get away from me, but I kick off the air and pursue.

I use the Magic Shield deployed on my left hand to parry the fired miasma bullets to the rear, closing in without a moment’s hesitation. This is my range.

The demon’s eyes widen as it extends its claws to block the Magic Staff I’m wielding.

“Using the air—as footing!? What is this—!?”

To begin with. I never said I couldn’t fight in aerial combat.

Magic Circles are deployed on the soles of my feet and my back. From there, using delicate control formulas, I’m momentarily activating Elementary Magic like Magic Shield and Air Blast.

By combining these with Levitation to float my own body, I can use the shields as footing or use Air Blast to gain propulsion like boosters.

This method of gaining free mobility in the air and enabling three-dimensional aerial combat was characteristic of high-ranking BFO players.

The wonderful thing about BFO’s management was that instead of patching player-developed techniques, they prepared additional items and Combat Skills to make them available to non-magic classes as well—but judging by the demon’s reaction, it seems no humans are doing this.

“Unbelievable! Is a mere human controlling three spells simultaneously!?”

What’s the big deal about three or four low-level spells?

Its claws swing down.

I block the slash attack trying to reap my life with my staff.

Sharp claws pass right by my face. I slip through the attempt to slice my head by thrusting my staff into the closing gap.

I swing up the opposite end of my staff from below. By a hair’s breadth. It grazes the demon’s side as it barely twists its body away. I won’t let it create distance. I’ll push through like this.

Swinging, sweeping, blocking, parrying, thrusting. Clashing and being deflected, deflecting in turn.

In this blink-and-you-miss-it exchange of life and death—I was probably smiling.

I can’t help but be happy. That I have the power to fight a demon head-on like this, right here in my hands.

But it’s still not enough. Not nearly enough. Power, speed, technique.

More. More. More, more, more power—!

Every time its claws and my Magic Staff clash, a grating sound echoes. We cross in the air, engaging in numerous exchanges as if entangled. This staff probably won’t last much longer though—.

“Gah!”

Being a higher species, it probably never felt the need for training. Its close combat skills are underdeveloped. Right and left. The staff tip slips past the claws trying to block and strikes its head, then a fully magic-powered blow to the solar plexus sends the demon flying back. Unlike me, it can’t support itself in the air with flight magic.

An ant would have been shattered to pieces by now—but it’s not a finishing blow. A demon’s endurance is truly remarkable, I’d say.

But I expected this much. I won’t give it time to recover. I immediately kick off the air and pursue. From above to below.

With magical

(

power

)

I kick it down.

Slammed into the ground and sent rolling.

But surely—surely. I have no intention of holding back or showing mercy against a demon. Just as a magician can construct spell formulas as long as they have consciousness, a demon can control miasma as long as it lives. This isn’t an opponent to capture alive or extract information from.

My staff seems to have reached its limit, so I’ll

discard it

(

….

)

after this use. From the gripped portion to both ends, Magic Circles cover the Magic Staff.

“Monster—”

“Coming from you, that’s the end.”

Both it and I—were smiling.

“Pierce.”

With the staff as the central axis, a vortex of wind infused with magical power swirls into existence. The pressure of the spiral-shaped storm wind concentrates into a single point at the tip.

Rank 7 Wind Magic Vortex Lancer. From directly above the demon, I hurl the staff wreathed in a tornado.

It’s sucked in with pinpoint accuracy, aimed right at the center of the demon’s chest.

The storm wind exploding at a single point spreads out like a ring in the final instant, sweeping across the entire plaza. What remained was the demon’s form, lying with a massive hole torn through its chest along with the plaza’s ground.