Siola's Failed Ambush
Siola soon regretted her rash action. She should have snuck up quietly... But she had carelessly let words slip from her mouth, revealing her presence to the man standing before her. For her, though, it was unavoidable. The scene unfolding right in front of her eyes was far too shocking to allow for calm judgment.
The Demon King she respected, admired, and revered lay helplessly collapsed on the cold stone floor. And the man, presumed to have been summoned from another world, stood there without a single scratch. Siola couldn't help but grasp what that meant, even if she didn't want to.
This man... he's strong!
Even if that power wasn't at full strength, this was the Demon King—no one but a Hero could dare stand against her. Yet this man had subdued her so easily. To defeat someone like that, Siola should have at least struck from behind with a sneak attack. But the sight of the Demon King collapsed had delivered a massive shock to Siola, robbing her of any mental leeway.
The one silver lining for both Minwoo and Siola was that she had arrived only after he'd finished his deed. She hadn't witnessed any of the lewd acts Minwoo had inflicted on Ernate beforehand. If Siola had arrived just a little earlier, the shock she would have felt would have been incomparable to now.
No matter that the current Demon King was in a female body—even for Siola, the idea that her Demon King had been raped by a human was beyond imagination. She simply assumed Ernate's disheveled attire was from battle.
"Uh, um... that is... this is..."
Meanwhile, Minwoo seemed to think he'd been utterly caught red-handed. Under Siola's piercing glare, he fidgeted like a thief whose own feet had started aching. He'd been all "whatever happens, happens" just moments ago, but until yesterday, he was nothing more than an ordinary, single janitor in his mid-thirties from South Korea. The mindset shaped by modern society wouldn't change overnight.
"..."
But Siola, for her part, couldn't comprehend Minwoo's behavior either. He wasn't baring any killing intent or showing the leisure of a superior fighter. Why was this man so flustered? Still, the undeniable fact remained: Demon King Ernate lay unconscious on the floor. Siola couldn't let her guard down, suspecting this somehow lackluster man's actions might be a ploy to lure her into complacency.
In the end, Siola made her decision.
"-- --- --."
⟨ Death Ray ⟩
"Eh? Ehhh?"
Minwoo panicked completely at the sight of the girl suddenly extending both arms toward him while muttering incomprehensible words.
"N-No way...!"
Minwoo suddenly recalled Ernate doing something similar just moments ago. That explosion that turned a terrifying monster into a puddle of blood. She'd muttered unintelligible words back then too.
"U-Uwaaaah!"
Minwoo had been ready to die moments ago, but apparently, he didn't fancy exploding to bits. Instinctively, he snatched up the glow stick from the floor.
"--- ---- --!"
The moment Minwoo thrust the glow stick forward in desperation, Siola finished her chant. The manifested spell was Death Ray—a magic that fired a ray of death, one of the most powerful anti-personnel spells. Its greatest advantage was speed. Not only was the chant short, but it struck at light speed the instant it activated, making it impossible to dodge without predicting the trajectory in advance. It was her go-to spell against agile knights.
Though Siola still felt fatigue from the summoning ritual, she judged she could react even mid-chant if the man attacked. Of course, the idea of attacking the girl never even crossed Minwoo's mind.
With no action from him, Siola extended her chant for maximum power. The amplified death ray mercilessly lanced toward Minwoo's heart.
Ziiing!
"Eh?"
The bewildered voice belonged to Siola. Minwoo, eyes squeezed shut with the glow stick thrust out, had no idea what happened. But Siola had seen the whole thing from start to finish—and she couldn't believe it.
"My magic... nullified?"
No, "nullified" was too weak a word. It was sucked in. Like a black hole devouring light, Siola's spell vanished into the glow stick.
"..."
The silence dragged on long enough that Minwoo finally cracked his eyes open to survey the situation, half-doubting he was still alive.
...Huh?
Thankfully, nothing had changed since before he closed his eyes. At least he wasn't dead. Minwoo sighed in relief at not exploding. But since he hadn't seen what happened, he could only feel awkward under the girl's continued glare.
If he'd had more composure, he might have noticed the fear mixed into her eyes. But naturally, he didn't pick up on that.
"Uh, um..."
"...!"
The instant Minwoo opened his mouth, Siola involuntarily stepped back. The fact that her magic had been blocked so effortlessly had unconsciously filled her with terror. But Siola refused to admit her fear. She bit her lip until it bled, steeling her weakening resolve.
This is a man who neutralized even the Demon King with ease. There's no way I can win with my power alone.
Having felt the man's strength firsthand, Siola shifted her thinking.
I can't deal with him right now. My only thought should be rescuing the Demon King somehow.
Fortune smiled in that the man still hadn't made any real moves. The power that neutralized her magic in an instant was astonishing, but his physical movements didn't seem particularly threatening.
Mage type...? Then I still have the edge.
Of course, Siola was a mage type too—but unlike human mages, she was a vampire. Her baseline physical abilities were on another level. She couldn't abandon the Demon King to flee as a bat alone, but if the man's physical prowess wasn't knight-level, she figured she could reach Ernate and escape via teleportation magic.
"..."
Their thoughts differed, but the two faced off in tense silence. Just as Siola moved to act—
"Nngh..."
"D-Demon King! Are you conscious?"
Demon King Ernate regained consciousness.
...
"What in the world happened? Ngh...!"
Upon regaining awareness, Ernate immediately felt a splitting headache. An unfamiliar sensation. But she quickly realized the cause.
This is... mana depletion leading to loss of consciousness. But...
Ernate possessed the core—a repository of mana accumulated by generations of Demon Kings over thousands of years. It allowed near-infinite spellcasting. Of course, the core's mana had to be converted to her own first, so even a Demon King could suffer depletion from spamming spells. But that only happened in prolonged direct clashes with a Hero. To have her full mana drain in an instant and black out...?
It was unprecedented—not just for her, but for every Demon King before.
"Nngh?"
Once natural recovery restored some mana, Ernate noticed her disheveled attire.
"Ah... th-that's..."
Minwoo blurted out awkwardly, scrambling for an excuse, but there was none—he'd done it right out in the open.
"..."
"...Huh?"
Contrary to Minwoo's expectations, Demon King Ernate calmly straightened her clothes and stood without a hint of embarrassment. As if nothing had happened from the start.
Minwoo didn't know it, but Ernate had only recently revived and was the first female incarnation among past Demon Kings. Her sense of self was still more influenced by the collective male consciousness of her predecessors than her own femininity. In time, her true self would solidify, but for now, it leaned heavily masculine.
And past Demon Kings had all been macho types who valued raw power above all else. Things like sex held zero interest for them. The current Demon King Ernate was no different.
So it was only natural she couldn't even imagine the man in front of her had just toyed with her body. She regarded Minwoo impassively.
"Impressive... As one from the same world as the Hero, you must have something to rely on."
"Eh, ehh?"
"But for even I, the Demon King, to be subdued so helplessly... Well, if you weren't this capable, there'd be no point in summoning you. In a sense, this is a success."
The conversation barreled ahead on its own terms, but nothing properly registered for Minwoo.
"Stranger from another world. What is your name?"
"Ah, um... I'm Minwoo. Kang Minwoo."
A proper conversation finally began, but Minwoo spoke stiffly, tense as a job applicant before an interviewer. Gone was the boldness from moments ago when he'd ravaged Ernate's body.
"Kang... Minwoo? A strange name. No matter. I am Ernate, the Demon King who summoned you here—and ruler of demons and monsters."
"I-I see."
He'd heard it a few times already, but hearing it straight from her mouth made Minwoo truly feel he'd ended up somewhere bizarre. No sane person in the modern world would introduce themselves as the Demon King.
After her brief self-introduction, Ernate turned toward Siola.
Siola, still on guard, bowed her head to Minwoo with a tense expression.
"...Siola."
"Ah, yeah..."
Minwoo felt Siola's glare sting extra hard, like he was kowtowing while lying down.
Ernate spoke.
"This place isn't suited for long talks, so let's relocate. Siola, escort Minwoo to the reception hall."
"...Yes, Demon King."
Siola bowed politely, and Ernate vanished in a puff of black smoke. Before Minwoo could react, Siola approached and took his hand.
"Please stay still for a moment."
"Eh, ehh?"
Minwoo startled at Siola suddenly grabbing his hand and tried to pull back. But before his legs could move, Siola activated teleportation magic, and the two vanished from the tower.