Baiting the Trap
A short distance north of Junk Town, a man in a suit and a goat-headed figure crouched on the dirt road, conversing in hushed tones.
"One of the puppets has been destroyed. I can no longer sense its presence."
"Which direction did you send it?"
"South, toward the human village. The settlement where the vagrants gather."
The goat-headed demon tilted his head. "Could a Holy Knight be hiding among those vagrants?"
"It is highly likely. Even if it was just a puppet, it was still a demon. It is not an opponent a pack of beggars could hope to defeat." The man shrugged.
The goat-headed demon snorted violently, hot air blasting from his nostrils as if his temper had flared. "How tedious. Let us simply march in and slaughter every last one of them."
"Calm down. The moment they destroyed the puppet, they would have realized we are nearby."
Unlike his rugged, monstrous appearance, the goat-headed demon was simple-minded and prone to violence. The man in the suit, by contrast, was far calmer and possessed a deeper intellect.
"Hmm. You make a fair point. After all, was that skeleton fellow not also vanquished by a Holy Knight?" Fortunately, the goat-headed demon's anger subsided quickly. Though simple, he was capable of listening to reason.
"Still, I have no intention of sitting idly by." The man in the suit was also harboring a deep, simmering rage. Unlike the goat-headed demon, he simply did not show it openly. He had been utterly furious lately because nothing seemed to be going his way.
"Indeed. If we return empty-handed, we will surely become the laughingstock of the others. We must deal with this decisively."
The two demons exchanged wicked grins. Yes. If they crawled back to headquarters now, the other demons of Pandemonium would never let them live it down. Whether their foe was a hero from the Empire or a Holy Knight from the Holy Kingdom, they would hunt them down and inflict a torment far worse than death.
"So, what is our next move?"
"For now, I have ordered all the other puppets to return. Since we have confirmed the enemy's presence in the village, further reconnaissance is pointless."
The goat-headed demon scratched the crown of his head. "Then does it not ultimately come down to what I said? We are still going to raid the village."
"It is different. We will recall the puppets, devour them to bolster our strength, and then we will strike."
"Ah, I understand. That is indeed a far superior method."
The man's 'puppets' were low-level devils he had forcibly subjugated. He had kept them alive because they were useful for scouting, but now that the enemy's location was pinpointed, it was far more beneficial to consume them and increase his own power.
"Excellent. Summon them at once. And make sure I get to eat the larger share."
Having concluded their discussion, the two demons waited in silence for the puppets scattered across the wilderness to return. They sat quietly, letting the minutes tick by.
"Wait a moment."
The man in the suit, who had been sitting idly, suddenly bolted upright. His face was pale with sudden consternation.
"What is it?" Sensing the shift in the air, the goat-headed demon asked in a tense voice.
"One of my puppets was just attacked. No... wait. Two of them were destroyed in the blink of an eye?"
Locating the low-level devils outside the village proved to be surprisingly simple. The demonic energy they radiated was so intense that it could be felt from a considerable distance.
Boom!
In the middle of the barren wasteland, where dry, cracked earth stretched out in every direction, a brilliant flash of light was followed by a thunderous explosion.
"Yeah, now we're talking!" Yohan shouted, his voice laced with pure excitement as he unleashed a relentless barrage of punches upon the low-level devil before him.
Crack!
Every time his fist, imbued with the Apostle's Authority, struck home, the devil's flesh instantly dissolved into burning ash, scattering into the wind.
—That is enough. It has already drawn its last breath.
The Goddess was right. The devil—standing as tall as a pure-blood troll and twice as wide—had died long ago. Having its body battered by divine power, the absolute antithesis of demonic energy, there was no way a mere low-level devil could endure it.
Yet, Yohan did not stop. His relentless assault was fueled by a mixture of rage—because these bastards had overcomplicated his life by showing up at the village—and the sheer frustration of having to suppress his Apostle's Authority earlier due to all the watching eyes.
—Well, I must admit, watching you pummel it to a pulp is rather therapeutic.
In truth, the Goddess had no real intention of stopping him. She was, after all, the type of deity who would casually suggest slicing open an enemy's belly for 'righteous vengeance,' so this level of violence was hardly surprising.
"Whew." Yohan finally stopped his fists when more than half of the devil's corpse had crumbled into ash. "Man, that felt good. Much better."
—Seeing how you deliberately held back your strength to prolong the beating, you must have been thoroughly vexed.
"Heh. You noticed?" Just as she said, the sheer volume of headaches—dealing with Agnes, demons invading the village—had left him incredibly irritated. Though she was currently in her spiritual form, Yohan was certain she was nodding with a smirk.
"We're done on this end too."
Turning his head, Yohan saw Falco and Billy approaching, having successfully dispatched another low-level devil.
"Still, the Apostle's Authority is truly remarkable," Billy remarked. "To think we could face such a demon and remain completely unfazed."
Yohan had spent some time pondering how to ensure his companions could fight alongside him. His thoughts had eventually drifted to the rosary Agnes had given him. Just as a priest of the Holy Kingdom could bless a rosary to ward off evil, Yohan had bestowed a 'blessing' of his own upon the two, shielding them from the corrupting influence of demonic energy.
"Well, I might have set the stage, but..."
Setting aside the fact that they no longer froze in terror, the act of beating a demon to death with bare hands was purely a testament to Billy's own monstrous strength.
"You really are ridiculously strong, aren't you?"
"Haha..." Billy offered a sheepish chuckle at Yohan's blunt praise. Yohan grinned back.
As the two shared a moment of manly camaraderie, Falco suddenly wedged herself between them.
"Yohan. Billy didn't do it alone. It was my dagger that delivered the killing blow."
The look in her eyes was burning with a strange intensity. It was obvious to anyone that she, too, was practically begging for praise.
"R-Right. Good job."
Was she always this kind of character? Yohan was momentarily taken aback by her unexpected behavior. He offered his praise in a slightly dazed voice, then turned his gaze to examine the corpse she claimed to have finished off.
"Yikes."
The devil's corpse, stabbed by Falco and bludgeoned by Billy, was in a truly horrific state. At least the one Yohan fought had turned to clean ash, leaving nothing behind. The one subjected to their joint assault, however, had clearly departed this world in absolute agony.
Wait, could the 'blessing' have done more than just protect their minds? Did it also boost their physical capabilities, much like the Apostle's Authority?
It wasn't an implausible theory. But in any case, they had defeated the demons without sustaining so much as a scratch, so it was a resounding success.
"Alright. Let's find the main body and wipe them all out before our dear Inquisitor gets back."
Just as Yohan was about to take a step forward, a flash of light heralded the physical manifestation of the Goddess, who stood between the three of them. Her choosing to materialize meant she had something to say to everyone.
"I admire your vigor, but are you truly prepared for this?"
"Prepared for what?"
"If Agnes's words hold true, the entity controlling these low-level devils is a high-level devil—an entity of the same rank as the one we encountered in Balifield."
Ah, so that's what she's worried about. Yohan shrugged casually. "We can handle it. Besides, I'm way stronger now than I was back then."
Yohan gave her a confident thumbs-up. Falco and Billy nodded in agreement.
Ever since they had acquired a substantial number of believers, the Goddess's divine power had grown exponentially. And Yohan, who channeled her power, reaped the direct benefits. Bestowing the 'blessing' upon Falco and Billy was proof of that.
He silently resolved not to repeat his past mistakes. He wouldn't get a hole blown through his stomach due to a sheer gap in power like in Balifield. And he certainly wouldn't let his guard down and allow a companion to get hurt like in the Troll Village.
"Very well... then how do you propose we proceed? If you so desire, I can locate the remaining low-level devils so you may purge them all."
"Yeah, we could do that," Yohan agreed. The Goddess was right. At his current level, he could send dozens of these low-level devils back to hell without breaking a sweat. But they hadn't come all this way just to hunt small fry. Their target was the high-level devil pulling the strings. "But here's the thing. No matter how I look at it, searching this massive wasteland on foot is going to be a massive pain in the ass."
"Do you have another proposal?"
"Yep. I do."
For the past few days, Yohan had been practicing how to suppress his divine aura. While he hadn't perfected it yet, he was now capable of controlling the energy radiating from his body to some extent.
"You know how in those martial arts novels, the grandmasters hide their inner energy to pass themselves off as ordinary folks?"
"I know not of these 'novels,' but I grasp your meaning."
With a soft flash, the Goddess returned to her spiritual form.
Suppressing his divine energy was a matter of control. Conversely, this meant he could also unleash a massive, concentrated burst of it at will. There was no need to walk until his feet bled. He would simply eliminate one more lackey to alert them of his presence, and then explode his aura to paint a giant target on his back.
"Whew."
Yohan took a deep breath. The dust and pebbles around his boots began to vibrate and rise.
"Come... and... get... me!"
Boom!
Yohan roared toward the sky. Simultaneously, a heavy shockwave erupted from his body, sweeping across the desolate landscape.
"Perfect."
With everything set, Yohan crossed his arms and closed his eyes. He didn't actually need to close them for any practical reason; he just thought it made him look cooler.
Watching this, Falco and Billy let out exasperated sighs, then promptly sat down on the dirt to rest.
—They are taking the bait quickly.
After a brief wait, the Goddess's voice echoed in his mind, breaking the silence.
"Of course they are."
Demons were, without exception, incredibly selfish and arrogant creatures. Naturally, their pride would be immense. The demon in the Balifield Undercity had been no different, flying into a blind rage the moment Yohan provoked it.
—They are drawing closer. Wait... it is not just one.
"Huh?"
Not just one? Yohan's eyes snapped open. Two high-level devils acting together was entirely outside his calculations.
Well, this complicates things.
Yohan immediately sharpened his gaze, scanning the horizon. "Ah, dammit. Just my luck."
Whoosh—
Perhaps triggered by the shockwave Yohan had unleashed, a sudden gust of wind kicked up a thick sandstorm, severely reducing visibility. While sensing a demon's presence didn't rely solely on sight, the sudden loss of clear vision was still incredibly annoying.
Step—
Soon, a figure emerged from the swirling curtain of dust. It was a man dressed in a sharp black suit, walking toward Yohan with an incredibly relaxed stride.
The man's appearance was perfectly normal, but the foul, ominous energy radiating from his entire being left no doubt that he was the demon Yohan had been looking for. In fact, his neat, human-like appearance only made him more repulsive—an instinctive disgust triggered by a monster mimicking humanity.
Of course, Yohan had no intention of showing his discomfort.
"Welcome to Pandemonium," Yohan greeted him with a bright, sarcastic smile.