Ryan was braced with his knee on the ground.
That technique had wiped out 80% of his mana.
The sudden reaction left him completely exhausted.
Meanwhile, the demon approached him with the confidence of having won the fight.
"The other idiots focused on the mage, when they should have finished off the support first," the demon spat out the words while holding a dagger cloaked in a fiery aura in his right hand.
"Inspect," Ryan muttered.
[ CHARACTER STATUS ]
Race: [Demon]
Threat Level: Principality
Elemental Manifestation: Fire
Titles: None.
Strength: 991 | Magic: 600 | Agility: 1900 | Psyche: 600 | Stamina: 1100 | Luck: 0 |
"Twins Fire!" the mage chanted. The demon leaped forward, dodging the swords of fire, and with that same momentum, he lunged at Ryan.
'Fire Wall.'
The wall rose, stopping the demon's dagger dead in its tracks.
"Tsk, I can't believe you still have mana left," the demon added. In an instant, he used his stealth skill, vanishing from Ryan's sight.
"Twins Fire!" the mage shouted.
The swords appeared.
"Agh..."
The demon's silhouette reappeared; his right thigh was pinned down by one of the fire swords from the mage's technique.
"Fool, you used stealth, but you went straight into that boy's blind spot. You are so predictable," the mage said mockingly, a smile on her face.
"Damn you! I'll finish you off first!"
'Shit, I feel completely exhausted, but...'
"Fire Aura..." Ryan stood up.
The demon was still pinned to the sword.
He tried to turn around when he felt the pressure of the bloodlust coming from behind him.
"You bastard, you can still move? You shouldn't have any mana left!"
Before the demon could say anything else, Ryan's fist, ignited in flames, slammed directly into his face.
The demon fell a few meters away from him.
He tried to get up, but Ryan was already standing right in front of him.
One, two, three consecutive punches straight to the demon's chest made him cough up blood.
"You should have used stealth to run away. You're quite arrogant, though I guess that's normal for a demon, isn't it?"
"Damn you, shut up...!"
Bang.
One more punch.
Ryan's fist pierced through his chest and heart.
The demon's life extinguished almost immediately.
[Bonus acquired: +62,000 XP]
[Level increased]
[Level bonus: +20 Points]
[Stats increased: +10 to all stats]
'That was close this time.'
Ryan sat on the ground in front of the demon's corpse.
He gasped.
Having used more of his skills after being under the demon's technique that made him lose so much mana.
The exhaustion was highly noticeable.
The girl approached him.
"Hey, you practically took down all the demons by yourself. Are you an S-rank hiding your power?"
He gasped.
"No, I'm a B-rank. But that doesn't matter right now, I feel completely drained..."
"B-rank? Hmm, you resisted the Mana Burn well and could still fight. No B-rank possesses that much mana; that should have knocked you unconscious."
'And I feel like I'm actually passing out.'
Ryan stood up. He tried to restore his mana with Recovery, but that skill only activates when his mana is above 40%.
Because of how exhausted he was from the lack of mana, he couldn't help but remember Irina, the forest elf they had helped.
"Can you seriously walk?"
"Yeah, let's move. It would be a problem if more demons showed up right now."
'I was too careless.'
They began to walk, although they had no idea where they actually were or where they were going.
They passed through a field that was full of craters everywhere.
An environment that made it clear a major battle had been fought there.
For a moment, Ryan stopped, observing the entire place.
In the distance.
He managed to spot some houses, almost destroyed.
When he turned his gaze to the left.
The reflection of the sunlight hit his eyes, but high up in the sky, he could observe a silhouette.
"A dragon?" he muttered.
"A dragon? Where?" The girl looked around in desperation, searching.
Her gaze locked onto the silhouette Ryan was watching.
"It's... a scarlet dragon, it can't be..."
"Scarlet...?"
Ryan didn't finish his sentence before he was pulled by the girl into one of the craters in the field. She fell beneath Ryan, hugging him tightly with one hand while covering his mouth with the other.
"Don't move... don't breathe... don't do anything..."
'What's happening now? Of course, in this state I don't want to face a dragon, but it shouldn't be that big of a deal, right?'
Shortly after, the dragon landed in the field.
"If that dragon is here, it must be with its master, Solaris. He is the demon king's son," she whispered.
'The demon king's son?' Ryan still had the girl's hand over his mouth.
Her hand was trembling.
From what he had seen of this girl so far, she was very impulsive and boastful. The fact that she was trembling made him understand that this demon was no weakling.
"I'm tired of flying so much, master. Let's go home."
"Irnina, I didn't give you permission to undo your dragon form!"
"I'm sorry, dear master, but I am completely exhausted."
The mage girl was motionless. Ryan looked at her and she had no expression, completely paralyzed.
It almost seemed like she wasn't breathing.
Ryan slipped out of her grip, and she did nothing.
'She's terrified, huh... I'll just take a peek.'
He gasped.
Ryan was still exhausted, having recovered almost none of his mana, but he peeked out a bit, lifting his face while still hidden by the crater.
What he could observe.
A pink-haired girl with a horn on her forehead, and another boy in a very elegant male suit.
'That must be the demon king's son.'
His hairstyle was strange; he had what looked like two daggers tied by braids at the back of his head.
'Are those braids his hair?'
"Hmm?"
Ryan quickly lowered his head.
"What's wrong, dear master?"
"Nothing. I thought I felt the presence of someone watching me over there."
'Shit'
"But I don't feel or smell anything."
"You're not just saying that because you want to leave, are you?"
"Of course not! But aren't you interested in meeting your new brother? He's supposed to arrive today."
"Tsk, don't say that thing is my brother. I have no interest in seeing a hornless demon."
They began to walk in the direction where Ryan and the girl were.
But suddenly, the mage girl hugged Ryan from behind and whispered to him.
"I barely have any mana left, so I'll use yours to hide us. Don't move..."
Ryan began to feel his remaining energy being drained, but at the same time, he noticed his body and hers becoming translucent.
And that same light spread until it formed a circle covering them.
Ryan's eyes closed.
His mana was drained until he lost consciousness.
Everything went black.
◇◇◇
When Ryan opened his eyes, he was no longer in that crater, which was the last thing he remembered.
His vision showed the ceiling of a house with a massive hole in it.
It felt like being in a bed.
A chill ran through his entire body.
A soft pressure and a wet warmth came from his crotch.
'It's a very pleasant sensation.'
Ryan lowered his gaze and observed long blue hair draped over his torso.
Looking closer, he noticed the up-and-down movement of the girl's head.
"What are you...!"
Realizing he had woken up, she looked up, her tongue extended, touching the tip of Ryan's member.
"You're finally awake..."