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.

could not react in time. Raising my sword, I slashed upwards, cleanly cutting the demon's

Spurt—!

black blood sprayed everywhere, the head of the demon quietly rolled

"That's another one down."

as my

VUAAAAM—!

then that a grim pressure

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

shone brightly, enveloping the humanoid figure and enhancing

whole battlefield soon came at a standstill and everyone turned their attention towards

—Splurt!

on the head of the demon I killed before, unprecedented seriousness clouded

commander of the second wave

***

the humanoid figure showed

"What do you think?"

a small room. One of them had his hands interlocked behind his back;

than Waylan Roshfield, Emma's father. Similarly, staring at the battle from the small room, Waylan leaned

hand, he pinched slightly. The video that was playing before them 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

told the two youths what to do. The way the three of them coordinated with each other deeply impressed Waylan as he couldn't

"They're good."

was wordlessly staring at the same screen. The pensive look on his face reminded Waylan of

at the screen, Waylan

guy who is leading them from the back seems very experienced. Judging from how he can make the right

long enough, Waylan could tell that the man

calls the ideal ones, but the timing at which he supported them was also

video soon focused

other hand, these two youths seem to be extremely talented,

Waylan's brows furrowed tightly.

controlling four

a beast tamer could only

the

they were extremely expensive to take care of, and most of the time, they weren't a class that people paid particular attention

one animal. If they could control more

it perhaps the

was then that he noticed the girl holding onto a

it, the beasts would

on his face as he

interesting. To think that there was

was just a 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

his head and looking at Douglas, Waylan

do you think,

at the screen, Waylan did not answer

the girl nor boy that Waylan was looking at but someone else. He

them, he skilfully dealt with the demons

"?"

and looking toward where Douglas was looking, Waylan had a sudden look of

see, so you're

beard, Douglas curiously

"You know him?"

"I've met him before."

replied with a

"Oh?"

raised, and his interest was

to face Waylan, he

you tell me

leaned back and nodded his

when I was walking down

the middle and corrected himself, but judging from how indifferent Douglas was Waylan knew

that he wasn't actually allowed to go anywhere near that tavern since he wasn't allowed to get drunk. After all, they couldn't allow themselves to let down their guards

he had slipped up,

what makes you so

Douglas's brows knit for

his beard, he

"...He seems familiar."

"Familiar?"

was Waylan's

before? …or have you not realized that this is the