The Demon of Madness (Not Really)
“Hoo.” The muzzle of the gun barrel, dyed a deep red from the prolonged flame projection. He blew on it lightly to cool it down—of course, thanks to the damn Plague Doctor Mask, the breath simply fanned out from both sides of the beak, rendering the entire action meaningless—and gazed down at the ground with a satisfied expression.
Tap, tap, tap…. Except for the eastern bridge where his party members were providing support, the other three bridges had been burned clean. Charred frogmen floated blackly on the water. Quite a few of the creatures still remained on land, but none seemed brave enough to attempt crossing. The stone bridges, baked by the intense heat, still radiated warmth. And above all else, the quality fear hovering around their mouths told the story. They were clearly terrified after watching their kin roast in real time.
As expected, using the fear of fire was a solid call.
Fear of explosions or bladed weapons carried the risk of catching adventurers in the crossfire. Fear of pain only worked on single targets, making it useless in a chaotic melee like this. He did possess the very first fear he had acquired—fear of sound—but using that would simply turn him into the demon of rampage. And tearing them apart one by one with the Phantom Glove’s Invisible Hand would be a waste of time. Therefore, only one option remained to him.
Fire…!
Some might argue that involving adventurers in fire or explosions amounted to the same thing. But consider this. Though the scale was somewhat small, what was unfolding here in Grindel was unmistakably a war. And in war, on the battlefield, what mattered was not half-baked conscience. It was the resolve to sacrifice even your own allies if it meant seizing the advantage. The courage and will to pull the trigger even if the soldiers ahead might take the hit. It was a rather heavy truth. But it was the truth.
This was a golden opportunity to detonate and kill hundreds of infected. The so-called guardians of humanity who had cried “There are people over there!” and flaunted their pointless bravado had all perished in Terraforming. The fool who had wrung their necks and diligently pulled the trigger had survived. The conclusion was simple: to survive, sometimes you had to kill your own heart and make the hard choices.
That said, it didn’t mean he had gone full crazy demon and sacrificed his allies while subjugating monsters. He was a surprisingly gentle de?mon, and this was not a ruined world drowning in blood and death, but a soft, squishy fantasy world. He had focused his flames primarily on the enemy’s rear rather than the hot line where his allies were gathered. While a few adventurers had suffered minor burns, none had burned to death directly from his flames. Besides, his ability inherently lost power when harming humans indirectly. He had thought this through.
So he hoped they wouldn’t criticize him too harshly. Village chief.
“O Demon… using flame magic in such a manner, no—haa….”
Ronlay, the village chief of Grindel who had personally witnessed ‘Raven Flame Launch! Hehehit!’, could not easily continue. She had plenty she wanted to say, yet the visible results were better than expected, leaving her caught in a logical paradox.
Phew. Looks like I barely avoided permanent banishment.
Watching her tap the ominous book in her hand and let out a small sigh, he wiped away a cold sweat internally. He had worried she might explode in anger, but this level of damage seemed to fall within the safe zone. As expected, when it came to making the first move, he was even better than a spider. She could call him the demon of acrobatics if she liked.
“Haa… Really. This is exactly why demons are….”
Was it not? He cautiously studied the elf floating beside him, flapping hard as if using flight magic and sighing repeatedly. Somehow he felt like a Labrador retriever staring anxiously after ripping open a bag of kibble. Had the other party been an ordinary adventurer, he would have puffed out his chest like Kkachi after a successful hunt. But the light-green-haired elf beside him was the administrator of the 20th floor body of the Green Zone—the massive fortress built on the lakeside island. She was the village chief of the dungeon village Grindel.
According to Sion, she held the authority to permanently banish people from Grindel and carry out summary executions. In this place, she wielded absolute power no different from a king. She was a genuine authority figure, unlike quasi-civil servants such as senior Regina Gura or that appraiser old man.
What? Was he being too submissive just because she held a little power? Only someone who didn’t understand how vital a strategic point the 20th floor of the Green Zone was to adventurers would say that. This place, you see, was somewhere you could set a spawn save! If you registered your spawn at the goddess statue located somewhere here, you would be instantly transported to Grindel instead of randomly spawning in the White Zone! No more suffering through randomly generated stair transfer portals.
But. If he ended up permanently banished because of his dog-like antics….
…I don’t even want to imagine what Sion and the contractor would say.
And above all else.
“Fishing….”
“Yes?”
He—he really wanted to try fishing! It had been one of his bucket-list items for ages! According to Hans, the Green Zone was a famous fishing spot. He couldn’t possibly get banished without casting a single line in such a renowned location!
Just thinking about fishing made rage surge through him. He had planned to rest comfortably for a day in Grindel and go fishing right away. So why the hell were these damn frogs attacking today of all days?! Why?! The moment he set foot here, this once-peaceful place had descended into utter chaos! He just wanted to heal with his party members, you stupid frog bastards!
“Haa….”
Concentrated crimson fury leaked out between the filters of the Plague Doctor Mask. The elf village chief beside him flinched, but he was too focused on locating the enemy’s main force to notice.
War did not end by swinging swords. It ended by seizing the head that held the sword. In other words, to go fishing quickly, he needed to find the frog boss. The red dots he habitually kept active to harvest more fear darted across his rapidly moving pupils.
But.
They all look alike. How am I supposed to tell which one is the boss?
He couldn’t even distinguish male from female. Finding the leader among them was no easy task. Therefore, he made a decision. He would simply blow them all up.
“Filling.”
Ekrixiphobia: The fear of explosions or the sound of explosions.
Click. One shot for the frogs hiding in the forest performing some bizarre ritual.
Click. One shot for the frogs racing across land while clinging en masse to something resembling a giant earthworm.
Click. One shot even for the anomaly with more vivid patterns than ordinary frogs—the one that reminded him of a poison dart frog.
Every time the red dot acquired a target, explosions erupted in succession. Deepening fear, rising flames, and scattering corpses. He took in the terrifying authority and the resulting carnage with his greenish pupils.
“…Just what are you.”
Ronlay’s body trembled faintly. She had known from their first meeting that he was no ordinary demon. In fact, she hadn’t even thought he was a demon at all. His fearsome appearance had led her to assume Raven was an anomaly. Still, she never imagined it would be this bad.
Just what kind of emotion does he preside over?
What sort of demon, born from how dark an emotion, could wield such cruel and overwhelming power? Impulse? Sadism? Grudge? Obsession? Betrayal? Competition? Inferiority?
No. It wasn’t any of those simple feelings. That was….
Click.
—Kwaaaaaaaaang!!!
“Hmm. Dividing it into roughly a thousand magic power per shot isn’t bad at all.”
The mad demon who casually reaped lives with a mere gesture… was abnormal. Destructive. He was the one who ruled over the irrational emotions that drove impulsive, destructive behavior.
Madness.
Yes, without a doubt. He was clearly the Demon of Madness. Otherwise, there was no explaining the principle behind this demon’s insane actions.
While Raven was turning the entire 20th floor of the Green Zone into a blasted wasteland under the pretext of catching the boss frog, and while Ronlay watched him in utter horror, a thunderous cry rang out across all of Grindel.
“Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!!! Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!!! Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!!!”
“Hm?”
This sound….
A bullfrog?
“It seems even the demon has noticed.”
“…?”
The familiar sound he had heard as a child when visiting the countryside to see his elders. As Raven tilted his head at the noise, Ronlay began speaking with a meaningful look and an equally meaningful tone.
He nodded. Ronlay’s expression sank as she gazed toward the source of the cry and continued.
“I had hoped otherwise, but it appears a Road has emerged. So that’s why these creatures dared to crawl out so boldly.”
Road? The Road came out again?
He had caught one just recently. Did bosses appear this frequently? Even after recognizing the Road’s appearance, Raven felt no particular tension. His pupils followed Ronlay’s indifferent gaze.
A forest thick with lush trees. From the area where only tall trees had been visible, a powerful shockwave suddenly erupted with enough force to be seen from afar.
“Gwaaaak.”
Immediately after, a massive resonance loud enough to deafen the ears followed.
Boom—!
From the center of the impact, a gigantic something leaped high into the air and cast a shadow over the ground.
Looking down at the colossal figure from the sky, Raven thought:
That’s… definitely a bullfrog, right?
Its body was far larger than any frogman, with a mouth to match. Thick, dark-brown skin. Aside from the slightly humanoid lower body, it was unmistakably a bullfrog.
But… where is that thing headed?
Raven’s beak slowly turned to follow the Frog Road’s line of sight. It came to an abrupt halt at one particular spot.
Huh?
There, flapping black wings and diligently swinging a hammer at the frogmen, was a small child.
The legitimate contractor of the Demon of Madness (Not Really). Yuri was there. Kkachi too, as a bonus.
“Contract…or?”
“…Contractor? No… it can’t be?!”
At Raven’s low, savage, scratching voice, Ronlay’s previously calm eyes widened dramatically.
Sliiide. The Frog Road slithered its long tongue toward Yuri. Raven’s fist clenched unconsciously with overwhelming force. The grip was so intense that the Invisible Hand triggered automatically, twisting the surrounding space.
“Ugh….”
Watching the translucent space warp under the invisible power, Ronlay swallowed the groan threatening to escape. Her heart pounded. It’s dangerous.
A demon only presided over dark, viscous emotions. They were not beings who were controlled by those emotions or born with inherently evil hearts. However, there were cases where such pure beings transformed into something entirely different.
That happened when the one they had contracted with faced a threat to their life.
Exactly like now.
Who did it think it was trying to hunt?
Raven’s head, which had been tilted nearly ninety degrees, creaked like a breaking hinge as it snapped back into place. His eyes glowed with a thick, blood-like crimson light. Reflected within them was an insignificant creature that didn’t know its place.
—Flap.
A pair of large black wings beat powerfully, slicing through the wind, and a red line bisected the sky.