The Devil of the Wasteland
A few days before Yohan and his party set out from Junk Town.
Stopping only to rest her exhausted horse, Agnes had ridden continuously, arriving in Balifield a mere three days after leaving Junk Town. Upon entering the city, she requested an audience with the Lord, and it wasn't long before his permission was granted.
"He is waiting for you in his office. Please follow me."
"Mm."
Guided by the guard, she headed straight to the Lord's office.
Click.
The firmly shut door swung open, revealing the Lord of Balifield on the other side.
"Pardon the intrusion during your busy hours."
"Not at all. When an Inquisitor pays a visit, one must make time, even if there is none to spare. Besides, I am no longer buried under a mountain of paperwork like last time."
Seeing him again after some time, the Lord of Balifield looked much healthier than before. Indeed, his office, which had once been overflowing with documents from all corners of the territory, had returned to its original, tidy state. It seemed he had finally recovered his peace of mind now that the overwhelming workload from the flood had subsided.
"Please, have a seat."
At his invitation, Agnes nodded and sat on the visitor's sofa. The Lord took his seat opposite her.
"Judging by your expression, it seems you have discovered something," the Lord said, studying her face.
Agnes nodded and parted her lips.
"I'll get straight to the point. A settlement called Junk Town is currently under attack by a demon."
The moment the words "Junk Town" left her mouth, the Lord, who had maintained a neutral expression, twitched an eyebrow.
"Junk Town... You mean that outlaw settlement in the nearby wasteland?"
"Yes."
The Lord crossed his arms and fell into a long silence. All the while, his eyes darted back and forth, indicating he was busy calculating his options.
"If it were just a single demon, surely an Inquisitor of your caliber could exorcise it alone," the Lord finally broke the silence.
"If it were only one, yes."
His point was valid, but he was missing a crucial piece of information.
"It's not just one. It's a demon belonging to Pandemonium, and it's controlling a horde of low-level devils like puppets."
At her words, the Lord swallowed hard. Even though he ruled a remote borderland, he was still a lord, and he knew well enough what Pandemonium represented.
"I understand perfectly," the Lord replied.
Agnes's expression brightened slightly. "Excellent. Then we must immediately—"
"However, I cannot deploy my precious soldiers to a place where wasteland outlaws gather."
But his follow-up sentence caused her face to twist in an instant.
At Yohan's greeting, the man looked momentarily surprised before his lips curled upward.
"To recognize me instantly... Are you indeed a Holy Knight of the Holy Kingdom?"
"Think of me as something like that."
The demon in the guise of a human male seemed to possess a cautious personality befitting his neat appearance.
"The aura you released earlier—I felt it clearly even from a distance. You must be exceptionally strong, even among the Holy Knights."
But the bastard had jumped to his own conclusions without Yohan even trying. The one he met in the Undercity of Balifield had done the exact same thing. Yohan wondered if overthinking things and tripping over their own feet was just a common trait among demons.
That aside, the Goddess had definitely said there were two demons, yet only one stood before him.
"Well, whatever. Where did your friend go—"
Yohan trailed off mid-sentence. As the dust storm settled, the second demon, which had been hidden behind the veil of sand, finally revealed itself.
"Whoa."
Yohan admired the second demon's appearance inwardly. It had a massive, muscular frame that dwarfed even the low-level devils, which were already significantly larger than average humans. Two hooved legs supported its colossal body. Atop its shoulders sat a goat's head with long, sharp horns capable of easily skewering a man. Its long arms, reaching past its knees, gripped a massive iron trident, and a crimson light flickered like fire within its hollow eye sockets.
It was the literal definition of a demonic visual. If it had a pair of bat wings on its back, it would have been absolutely perfect.
The problem was that he now had to fight for his life against a creature that practically screamed, "I am a demon!"
While Yohan was lost in thought, the goat-headed demon observed him closely.
"For a Holy Knight, you look rather shabby. You don't look very strong either. You look more like a back-alley thug than a knight."
"Why, you son of a—"
As the demon blurted out its brutally honest impression, Yohan barely managed to swallow the curse that reflexively surged up his throat.
"Do not let your guard down. He is the one who already disposed of the skeleton, and he has interfered with our work twice now."
"The same guy?"
Snort.
At the suit-wearing man's words, the goat-headed demon snorted hot air from its nostrils. It seemed this one was the type to let his fists do the talking, unlike his partner.
"The skeleton... Ah, you mean the guy who was living inside that gang boss?"
You guys provoked me first. It's only fair I pay you back in kind.
Yohan threw out a provocative remark to rile up the two demons.
"I knew it!"
As the goat demon snorted in fury, the man standing beside him held him back.
—An alliance where they cover each other's weaknesses. This won't be easy, the Goddess murmured in his mind.
Yohan agreed with her assessment. While keeping his guard up against the two demons, he briefly glanced back. Falco and Billy were visibly tense, but thanks to the blessing they had received beforehand, they didn't show any pathetic signs of fainting from terror even when facing demons of Pandemonium.
Two demons of Pandemonium. And the Apostle of the Goddess, whose power was fully bolstered by a growing flock of believers, along with his companions.
"Your words just confirmed it. You really are the same person. The one who caused a ruckus in the city's Undercity, and the one who destroyed the seed we planted in the trolls."
"Yeah. And I'm also the same guy who's about to cave your skulls in," Yohan replied, thrusting his middle finger high in the air.
As expected, they had been keeping tabs on his movements. This confrontation had been a matter of time. Of course, since they had graciously come to him, Yohan was actually grateful. It saved him the trouble of hunting them down.
Time to send you back to hell.
Yohan immediately channeled his divine power and summoned his Light Sword.
"You defeated the skeleton! You must be incredibly strong!" the goat-headed demon roared, leveling its trident at Yohan.
A brief silence fell over the wasteland, but it wasn't for conversation. They were merely deciding whether to attack or defend. Both sides knew further words were pointless.
"Bring it on, you goat-headed bastard!"
"Raaaaagh!"
They say the first strike decides the battle. Yohan bellowed at the goat-headed demon. At the same time, the two charged at each other.
Clang!
A deafening roar echoed the moment Yohan's sword clashed with the goat's trident.
"Ugh, this bastard—!"
Every demon Yohan had faced until now died or suffered severe damage just by touching the Light Sword. But the goat-headed demon was different. Not only did it block Yohan's swing, but it actively tried to lock him in a contest of pure strength.
"..."
Meanwhile, the suit-wearing man, being the more cautious of the two, didn't blindly rush Yohan. Instead, he stood his ground, keeping a wary eye on Falco and Billy behind him.
Falco drew the dagger she had concealed beneath her cloak and pointed the tip at the man.
"I-Is this going to be okay?" Billy asked Falco in a worried tone, feeling the demon's gaze on them.
Falco nodded with a calm, expressionless face.
"Yeah. It's fine. Actually, I was hoping for a situation like this."
"What?"
Hoping to fight a demon? Only now did Billy realize that Falco hid an immense bloodlust beneath her serene expression. It had been the same when they fought the man-eating trolls. This woman was the type who became colder and calmer the angrier she got.
"Well, you can stay back if you want." Falco said, tossing her cloak aside in one swift motion.
"W-What do you mean by that?"
"I'm enough on my own. You can just sit back and cheer, coward." She replied nonchalantly, her eyes never leaving the man.
"..."
Right, Falco was definitely the type who couldn't be stopped once her switch was flipped. Billy repeated this to himself. But... he wasn't one to back down when his own pride was on the line either.
"You're going to have to... take those words back," Billy growled.
With a sudden burst of strength, he ripped his shirt to shreds with his bare hands and threw it to the ground. At the same time, Billy's already muscular body swelled even further.
"I thought you were an Orc, but you have troll blood in you," the suit-wearing man remarked, surprised by the revelation.
"Everyone keeps calling me an Orc, but I'm actually a tr—whoa!"
Billy tried to snap back, but he couldn't finish his sentence. Like a bolt of lightning, Falco had already lunged forward, aiming her blade straight at the man's throat.
It was the very same blade that had left countless lacerations on the massive bodies of the low-level devils. Unfortunately, Falco's strike failed to connect. The demon's body dissolved into purple smoke, vanishing into thin air.
One is a brute-force fighter just like he looks, and the other is a trickster with a variety of skills. What a pain in the ass, Falco muttered, narrowing her eyes.
Flash!
In an instant, multiple magic circles emitting an ominous energy erupted across the dirt floor of the wasteland, summoning low-level devils into existence.
"This is—"
"It looks like he really is the one controlling the low-level devils," Billy said.
In the blink of an eye, more than ten low-level devils surrounded the three of them. Falco quickly fell back to Billy's side, scanning their surroundings.
"Yohan will take care of the goat head."
"Right. So we just need to make sure they don't get in his way..."
"Yeah."
The two exchanged brief words. Their goal was set. They had to eliminate every single low-level devil so they couldn't interfere with Yohan's fight.
"Raaaaagh!"
The summoned devils let out horrific screeches and lunged at them. When they had first encountered this type of devil in Junk Town, they had felt an overwhelming pressure even from a distance. But now, even with ten of them charging at point-blank range, they felt no fear.
Falco's blade and Billy's fist tore through the air simultaneously.
Slash!
Falco's sharp dagger cleanly severed a devil's neck.
Crunch!
Billy's heavy fist caved in another devil's face, crushing it instantly.
"Kill them all!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
Answering her venomous battle cry with high spirits, Billy swung his fist toward his next target.