The Author's POV

—Spurt!

Retrieving my sword back from the corpse of a demon, I icily looked towards the distance.

About half a day had passed since the start of the second wave and as of now, the situation was under control.

Although the first line of defense had been breached multiple times, I, alongside Hein, Ava, and Leopold, had done an excellent job at keeping the demons from breaching the second line.

Of course, we weren't the only ones standing in the second line of defense, but judging from the body count alone, we were some of the few individuals that had made the most contributions. This was mainly due to the fact that the powerful individuals had not made a move yet.

Spi Sli—!

Slashing the sword down to get rid of the blood coating it, I turned to face the others.

"You guys doing alright?"

—Clang!

Blocking an incoming attack, Hein let out a muffled groan before finally stabilizing his footing. Turning his head, he forced a smile.

"Khh...Yeah, though I'm a bit tired."

Raising my hand, I pointed towards my wrist, or more specifically, towards my bracelet.

"Drink a potion then. It'll help out."

"...Right, I almost forgot about that."

"You what?"

His answer made me shake my head.

Perhaps it was because he was too excited, but it seemed as though Hein completely forgot about the fact that potions existed.

"Tell the others to cover for you while you drink a potion."

"Oka—Huk!"

But just before Hein could take out a potion, a demon shot explosively towards him, and a whistling sound arose. Soon the demon violently clashed against Hein's shield.

—Bang!

Fortunately, Hein was quick to react. Even though he had been distracted the moment the demon attacked, angling his shield right in front of his shoulder, he nudged it slightly and cushioned the attack of the demon. Sparks flew, and Hein proudly remained standing on the same spot as before.

Unmoving.

"..."

Silently staring at Hein from behind, I was impressed by his performance. Not only him but Ava and Leopold's performances deeply impressed me. In fact, they were doing so well that all together, they had accumulated quite a substantial amount of kills.

Quite a few more than me who was a whole rank higher than them.

Well, this was to be expected. After all, I wasn't fighting at my fullest abilities. My body count would've been way higher if I had been using the Keiki style.

On another note, I was also improving as the fight continued. The more I got used to this new fighting style, the faster I started killing the demons. If before it took me a minute to get rid of a ranked demon, it only took half of the time now.

Slowly but surely, everyone was improving.

"Hm?"

Sensing something, I looked towards my right.

Sure enough, a demon was quickly headed in my direction. Before long, it appeared a couple of meters away from me.

"Hieeek!"

Sinisterly opening its mouth, the demon let out a screech and viciously slashed in my direction.

WIIIIIING!

Staring at the incoming attack, I was completely unfazed. Raising my sword and thrusting it forward, the green hue enveloping my sword expanded and contracted rapidly.

Shuop—!

What came as a result of this was a subtle suction force that altered the direction of the demon's attack. An instant later, gently tapping on the ground with my foot, the ground cracked apart with a 'bang,' and I appeared only a few centimeters away from the demon.

not react in time. Raising my sword, I slashed upwards, cleanly

Spurt—!

of the demon quietly rolled in front of me.

"That's another one down."

as my

VUAAAAM—!

that a grim pressure suddenly enveloped

air with its wings wide open. The moment the humanoid figure appeared, I instantly knew that things were about

the moon shone brightly, enveloping the humanoid figure and enhancing its

soon came at a standstill and everyone

—Splurt!

head of the demon I killed before, unprecedented seriousness

the second wave finally showed

***

humanoid figure

"What do you think?"

at the battle ensuing outside of the walls from a small room. One

arms crossed. He was none other than Waylan Roshfield, Emma's father. Similarly, staring at the battle from the small room, Waylan leaned his body

zoomed, and a couple of figures appeared on the screen. More precisely, they were the images of two youths and an adult who supported them from behind. The adult would take out a weird gun-like object and shoot it at the demons

abilities as he perfectly told the two youths what to do. The way the three of them coordinated with each other

"They're good."

and looked at Douglas, who was wordlessly staring at the same screen. The pensive look on his face reminded

Waylan started making

seems very experienced. Judging from how he can make

observed them long enough, Waylan could tell that the man helping the two

the timing

the video soon focused on

two youths seem to

Waylan's brows furrowed tightly.

controlling four beasts…that's almost unheard

only

the common

care of, and most of the time, they weren't a

could control more than one animal. If they could control more than two

perhaps the

he noticed

her mouth onto it, the beasts would move. It was almost as though they were

on his face as he focused his whole

To think that there was something

hunch for now, but the more he observed, the more he found his conjecture

wasn't quite sure just yet. The flute could very well be an artifact that enhanced her mental

head and looking at

you think,

screen, Waylan

on a particular youth on the screen. He was neither the girl nor boy that Waylan was looking at but someone else. He was another

from them, he skilfully dealt with the demons that were

"?"

was looking, Waylan had a sudden look of

see, so you're

beard, Douglas

"You know him?"

"I've met him before."

with a

"Oh?"

brow raised, and his interest was

face

you tell

Waylan leaned back and

was at the t…keumm…I mean when I was walking down the streets. He was a human, so pretty easy

the middle and corrected himself, but judging from how indifferent Douglas was Waylan knew that he had not fooled

allowed to go anywhere near that tavern since he wasn't allowed to get

had slipped up, Waylan

you

head, Douglas's brows knit for

beard,

"...He seems familiar."

"Familiar?"

time it was Waylan's turn to be

also met him before? …or have you not realized that this is the youth from