“Kheuk!”
In the tremendous force of wind that blew along with the explosion, Jake struggled not to fall off the horse.
Klad told him to hold on tight, but what should he do if he didn’t have the strength to hold tight? At least he could maintain his position because Klad was sitting behind him, but otherwise he would have been thrown off long ago.
Fragments of trees and stones shattered by the explosion flew at him but disappeared without reaching Jake.
Realizing Klad was protecting him, Jake released the strength from his arms that had stiffened with tension. Perhaps because he had been hanging in an uncomfortable position, his body was numb.
When he stretched his body and sat up straight, he ended up in a position with his back leaning against Klad’s chest. However, now was not the time to care about such trivial matters.
“Is it alright to just blow things up recklessly like this, Klad! Didn’t you say there would be a trap!”
“If the trap’s scale is large, it’s hard to protect the village too, so we moved locations. It’s fine here.”
Since they didn’t know what kind of trap it was, if the village got involved, resolving the situation would become difficult.
Protecting Jake held in his arms and protecting the entire village with unconscious villagers sprawled everywhere were matters of different dimensions.
“I see.”
Jake, who had been shouting loudly to make his words heard over the noisy explosions, realized his words were conveyed well even without doing so and answered quietly.
“Since it’s come to this, let’s shake out whatever cards the Duke has.”
Though it was a somewhat dangerous method, if they were lucky, they might be able to uncover the Duke’s power and the secret of the Black Sphere.
How does the Duke command demons? Is there a limit to their numbers? If they found out whether there were restrictions or special weaknesses, it would be a tremendous help in the next battle.
“Klad. It seems demonic energy is flowing out from the demons.”
When his fingers twitched, Jake judged it was reacting to demonic energy and pulled Klad’s arm.
“Aren’t they trying to stain this area with demonic energy using the demons, and put the blame on me by using the fact that I passed through here?”
“Originally when demons die, this much demonic energy flows out. Since there are many demons, it will have some effect on the mountain, but not enough to stain the land with demonic energy.”
That said, the dead demons didn’t explode to damage the village or mountain, nor was any special energy felt.
‘Did he just send them to gauge my power?’
If this wasn’t a trap, it was a sufficiently plausible hypothesis. House Duke West had a tendency to value the power of information above all else, and gauging an opponent’s limits was the basic preparatory stance of those who fought over information.
‘Then I can’t show everything.’
Klad, who was about to use the next magic, brought the hand he was extending toward the rushing demons to Jake’s back instead. Jake’s body reflexively flinched, remembering how the demons had fallen in droves from the flames that burst from that hand.
“Huk!”
Jake took a deep breath at the cool energy that seeped into his body through Klad’s hand.
“When demons come close, swing your sword.”
“But with my strength, I can’t even give them a small wound.”
“You can do it.”
“Kla… Klad!”
Without a proper explanation, Klad suddenly jumped off the horse. While Jake hesitated over whether to follow, Klad disappeared into the midst of the demons.
Suddenly, thick sand smoke rose around Jake.
Realizing it was Klad’s doing, Jake released the tension from his body. Even though the sand smoke also obscured his own vision, he somehow felt protected by it.
‘Does he expect me to lure the demons?’
But if so, he would have instructed him to run in a specific direction rather than telling him to swing his sword at the demons.
Sring-
Jake drew his sword with the conviction that Klad wouldn’t have said meaningless things to him.
Since he didn’t know when or where Klad would give instructions, he gripped the horse’s reins tightly with his left hand.
Thwack-!
Through the thick dust smoke, he saw the shape of a demon getting hit by something and flying away.
‘That’s Klad.’
He was clearly conserving magic use to prevent Father from gauging Klad’s abilities.
Raising the sand dust was partly to prevent the demons from immediately identifying Jake’s location, but also to hide that he wasn’t an ordinary mage.
One might think nothing would be visible even if magic was used since the sand dust obscured the view, but magical power leaves traces. Klad was smashing the demons with pure strength without the help of any physical enhancement magic, trying to minimize the information the Duke could obtain when he came.
If the Duke was watching this scene, he would have to rack his brains wondering whether the silhouette defeating demons in the dust was Klad, or perhaps a summoned creature Klad created or a third helper.
“Huu.”
Jake steadied his mind while gripping his sword tightly.
When Klad was stepping forward so actively, he couldn’t just let go and watch. Even if he couldn’t jump off the horse and rush at the demons, he had to clearly do his part.
‘I can do it.’
When demons approach, swing the sword. He could do at least that much.
Klad wouldn’t have told him to do something he couldn’t accomplish.
Neighhh-
“……!”
It was the horse, not Jake, that first noticed the demon’s approach. At the smart horse’s signal, Jake reflexively swung his sword.
Swoosh-
Jake’s sword slashed diagonally across the demon’s chest.
“Kuaaaaaak!”
The demon screamed and collapsed in pain.
Taking advantage of that gap, the horse kicked the demon rolling on the ground with its hoof, then moved deeper inside the sand dust while carrying Jake. It must have judged that place to be safer.
‘What just happened?’
Jake forgot to hold the horse’s reins and looked down at the hand that had just swung the sword.
His palm tingled and it felt like his wrist would break, but his previous self had definitely cut down a demon.
He had defeated an enemy with these very hands.
‘I didn’t kill it, but I inflicted a fatal wound. Amazing.’
When he swung the sword, he detected tremendous superhuman strength dwelling in his arm that he had never felt even when the Lord God gave him power.
He had already noticed it was due to Klad’s magic.
It was just that he had never felt magic other than fatigue recovery, stamina enhancement, or speed補完 magic before, so he was impressed.
‘To think such power could come from me…’
This superhuman strength was a gift Klad had briefly given him, but the speed of attacking the demons and the swordsmanship that effectively defended himself while inflicting fatal wounds on the opponent were the result of Jake’s repeated training.
It meant that without the training from past days, he would have just swung his sword clumsily without know-how and wouldn’t have been able to properly drive away even one demon.
Jake clenched his fist, moved that his efforts so far hadn’t been in vain.
‘I will definitely make this power my own.’
If he trained hard, he could see results.
If he built up his stamina and swung his sword, someday he could produce the same power as before even without Klad’s help.
Jake smiled while imagining such things.
“Shall we try a bit harder, horse?”
Neighh-!
The horse neighed loudly as if answering Jake, then trotted around cautiously in the sand dust. During that time, when a black silhouette approached through the sand dust, Jake swung his sword without hesitation.
Swoosh-
When superhuman strength was added to House Duke West’s swordsmanship, a tremendous effect appeared.
However, even though the power had become stronger, Jake’s body that had to handle that power remained in its previous state. Each time he swung the sword, the fatigue accumulating in his body was double the usual amount, and his right arm trembled uncontrollably.
‘About one more time from now on… Perhaps even that might be close.’
Jake decided to save the strength to swing his sword one last time for a truly urgent situation and lay flat on the horse.
Doing this would reduce the probability of being attacked if a demon suddenly pounced.
“Kuk…”
His chest suddenly stung. Did he overdo it?
His chest pounded and his head felt dizzy as if he had a high fever.
‘This is bad. If I collapse now, I’ll be a burden to Klad…’
Jake struggled not to collapse and gripped his sword with trembling arms.
In the meantime, whether Klad had finished organizing the demons, the sand dust was settling.
Beyond the still hazy vision, a familiar silhouette revealed itself. Jake smiled faintly as if welcoming him.
“Kla, d…”
Thump.
His heart beat loudly.
His heart… no, his whole body felt like it would burst.
‘This is… bad. Too… much…’
Jake closed his eyes as if fainting without finishing his thought. His body slowly tilted and collapsed as if sliding sideways.
“Jake!”
Klad, who witnessed that situation, rushed over urgently and caught Jake just before he fell from the horse.
Klad first checked whether he was breathing. Anticipating that Jake, excited by suddenly becoming stronger, would swing his sword recklessly, he had enhanced his strength only to the extent his body could handle. Even if Jake had dealt with all the remaining demons here, there wouldn’t have been any strain on his body.
Then why on earth…
“…What is this?”
Klad, who placed his hand on Jake’s chest to check his magical power state, detected a sense of incongruity near his heart.
From Jake’s heart, an energy that absolutely should not be there was felt.
“Why is there demonic energy…”
Klad couldn’t continue his words in bewilderment.
That couldn’t be. Even if it were the Lord God’s power, demonic energy that opposed Jake’s energy couldn’t have settled in his heart.
Just killing a few demons wouldn’t stain him with demonic energy.
Then why on earth? How?
‘…Don’t tell me the Duke’s trap was to demonize this guy.’
Guuuuung-
Without even giving him time to organize his thoughts, the ground suddenly shook greatly.
Was it the enemy?
Klad held Jake in his arms and stayed on guard around him.
Sand dust of a similar type to what had obscured vision earlier rose up.
And through it, a puppet walked out.
It was someone Klad knew well too.
“It’s been a while.”
The one who walked out beyond the sand dust was none other than Duke West.
