"Yes sir!"

♦ ♦ ♦

Lower Fire Month (9th Month), 5th Day, 04:03

"Kuh!"

Evileye grunted as she took a hit to the belly. Although she was largely insensitive to pain, her sense of touch from her days as a human being was not completely gone yet. If she was attacked, she would definitely feel it.

In the brief window when her concentration was broken, Evileye ate another hit from Alpha.

The explosive force of the blow knocked the air out of Evileye, and sent her flying.

Evileye's objective was to draw the battle out. As such, she could not use the strategy of converting physical damage to mana damage. Without mana, Evileye would be unable to fight. This meant she would have to expend her HP and mana evenly.

Her mud-stained body was dragged back up into the air by the ‘Flight’ spell.

At this moment, Evileye saw Nabe, who had been knocked flying by her own opponents.

She looked like she had been beaten up pretty badly too. Evileye flew over to her. The enemy did not follow— were they waiting for us to join up before killing us together?

"Oh, it's you."

Evileye had been planning to help up the fallen Nabe, but she stood back up immediately and spoke coldly.

Although her injury-covered body looked like she had been in the fight of her life, something felt wrong about her. There was no fear of death, or rather, she believed that Momon could defeat Jaldabaoth before she died.

Goes for me too, Evileye thought.

"Can you still fight?"

"Of course. No problem."

That had been a stupid question.

Speaking of which... this woman has exceeded humanity as well. Could she be a God-kin too?

She had suffered assorted injuries and her clothes were stained by blood, but none of the wounds were lethal. For all she knew, Evileye might have been more badly hurt.

Compared to Evileye who had only two opponents, being able to perform this well against three opponents... though Evileye was loath to admit it, she had to admit that Nabe was better than her.

"You look like a mess."

"Not exactly."

Evileye laughed at the reply, which was so much like Nabe.

Although the mask covered Evileye’s expression, Nabe could still feel that the air had changed, and surprise showed on her face.

"No, I was thinking that that reply was just like you."

"...Was it now. So, what will we do now?"

"What can we do? How can we draw this battle out?"

Evileye turned a sharp look at the five enemies. Apart from the insect maid whose killing intent stabbed at her like a lance, the others didn't radiate any hostility at all, though from their attitudes they seemed pretty confident of killing them both easily.

"Your enemies are there too."

"Looks like we’re out of options. If the numbers were even we might have a chance to win. But if they're on the same level as us and there's more of them, then we'll lose for sure."

"How about running? If you turned around and fled, they might not pursue."

"If you want to do that, I'll cover you from the rear."

Dissatisfaction twisted Nabe’s otherwise prim face. Although even if she made a sinister expression, it would not detract from her beauty in the slightest, Evileye thought in with a rather out-of-place sense of appreciation for a rival.

Suddenly, a person was blown through the air as a building collapsed. He bounced several times on the floor, tumbling head over heels before grinding to a halt.

Evileye did not need to breathe, but she still held her breath.

For a moment, she thought it might be Momon who was sent flying, but that was not the case. It was Jaldabaoth.

Seeing Jaldabaoth unsteady on his feet, Evileye got excited. It was obvious who had wounded him so badly and knocked him back so far.

Evileye's vision spotted the warrior standing where the body had come flying from.

The jet-black armor was heavily damaged, making it clear just how intense their duel had been. Even so, the man standing there did not waver in the slightest, showing Momon's clear superiority in comparison to Jaldabaoth, who was getting to his feet.

Evileye's body was filled with joy, and she tightly clenched her fists.

Momon slowly lowered his swords, and spoke to the rising Jaldabaoth.

"Well, that was fun. How shall I put it... it felt real. I could feel myself really battling with you. So this is what it feels like to be the vanguard... in the past, I used to overpower all my opponents in melee combat, so I didn't feel anything, but now I feel like a berserker. So, bringing out your full power shouldn't be a problem for you, no?"

Telling one's opponent to use their full strength was a grave insult. Thinking about this, Evileye shook her head. Perhaps this was Momon's true desire.

A strong man like Momon rarely had the opportunity to go all-out. Most of the time his opponents would be slaughtered before he could get serious. A man like him would be overjoyed if he got the chance to face an opponent that required his full strength.

"Then, please allow me to do so."

Jaldabaoth had probably understood it as an insult, and so he repaid it with exaggerated, sarcastic politeness.

As she watched him, Evileye was filled with the pride of knowing that she understood Momon better than Jaldabaoth.

"Then, I shall come at you seriously."

"Bring it, Jaldabaoth."

With those words as the signal, the two of them clashed in the middle of the plaza.

Their exchange was like a replay of the time Evileye had first met Momon. His high-speed, consecutive attacks were deflected by extended claws. Since they could parry his greatswords, the hardness of those claws must be beyond human understanding.

Momon leapt back in a grand, soaring arc. His jumping strength made her think that he might have been using the ‘Flight’ spell. In the moment where her view of Momon was blocked by his spinning swords, she saw him produce a spear from nothing, from the corner of her eye.