We Are the Demons of Flame and Ice!
"We are the demons of flame and ice itself!"
—Fifteen minutes before the North Face Family launches its raid on the pirate alliance. Somewhere in a warehouse inside the sea fortress Neptune.
Shwoooong—
"Phew~ Good. The Warp went off without a hitch."
"Huff!~ Huff... Haa... B-Boss... Sorry. I just burned through all my mana on that warp."
"Ugh... Can't... do more..."
"Huuuh~ I'm wiped!"
Thud!
"Shh!—You idiots. We're pulling off a sneak attack here, and you're yelling like that?"
"Mmph... But Boss, this really is too much. Even with the magic circle's help, warping the whole group drained every last drop of mana... Ahh..."
The ten family members, masked with the faces of mages, who had activated the magic circle alongside me. They'd successfully pulled off the group teleportation infiltration, but transporting all seventy of us had consumed their mana completely. They were gasping for breath, effectively out of commission for combat.
I'd taught them magic through crash-course injection training to raise them fast, but even I couldn't shortcut the core process that Magus Civitas's formal curriculum emphasized: expanding total mana capacity. That required long-term training from a young age—resonating with mana over years, building it up inside the body, depleting and refilling it repeatedly to widen the "vessel." It was a decade-long project at minimum.
I'd started teaching these kids magic after their coming-of-age at fifteen. In just five years of brute-force memorization and abbreviated courses, I couldn't expand their mana pools much. Unlike Magus Civitas, which scouted talents under ten—the so-called "purest phase"—and nurtured them meticulously, my students started late. I couldn't match their formal mages' level.
What I taught was all shortcuts. Jury-rigged stuff. I could never turn them into full-fledged, by-the-book Magus Civitas mages.
We're fighters from the start anyway. I trained them to be versatile—all magic, martial arts, swordplay.
"Boss. What's the plan from here?"
"First, we need a diversion team to draw the Pirate King's eyes—and the pirates'. Jean, Pablo—you two lead the rest and raise hell. Make it flashy."
"Got it, Boss!"
"Leave it to us, Boss!"
"Derek, can you unleash the kraken like last time?"
"*%$#@* If I soothe it real good, *%$#@* maybe?"
"Don't push it. Just ask the kraken inside you nicely, like before—smash the Pirate King's ships and wreck the fortress."
Nod!
"Boss. What about this big sis?"
"Rina sis, take Mira and Shera and find the prison somewhere in this pirate hideout. Smash it open. That's where the slaves are. Freeing them is the goal."
"Got it."
"Boss bro. We kill anyone who gets in the way, right?"
"Yeah... Yeah... But don't kill the prisoners."
"Yessir~♪"
The ogre trio grinned with chills-inducing menace, like they could murder someone right then. Probably the most aggressive, vicious personalities in our family. As chimeras infused with the blood and essence of ogres—the apex predators among monsters, the most brutal and powerful—it made sense. Destroying and killing everything in sight probably overrode any finer instincts.
Thrumming with anticipation, they shed their robes, baring massive muscles and flaunting their overwhelming physiques. Flexing their arms repeatedly, their biceps swelled and contracted; throbbing veins and tendons bulged under their skin. With every breath, their pecs and every muscle pulsed, pumping larger still.
While the others gawked, frozen by their terrifying builds, I turned to the petite blue-haired woman.
More precisely, the woman made entirely of blue slime, from hair to skin.
Ten years ago, one of the street urchins we took in from this city. Afflicted with leprosy, her skin rotting, oozing yellow pus as she withered away. I'd given her Pladeus's forbidden elixir—a chimera potion that turned humans into monsters. She'd become a slime.
Her body resembled translucent aquamarine, but unlike appearances, it was an amorphous monster that digested and absorbed anything, with hyper-acidic properties. Of course, she controlled digestion at will, so casual contact—like handshakes or hugs—did no harm.
Her black suit was our family uniform, but uniquely, she mimicked it with her slime form. Technically naked?
Without Earth's medical knowledge, I had no leprosy cure. I offered her the choice to save her life. Trusting the guy who'd saved a leper like her, she downed the monster potion without hesitation and became slime.
Freed from her agony, she'd lived peacefully with the others for a decade. Eventually, like the rest, she swore loyalty to me and joined the North Face Family ranks.
Oh, and she could use magic too, like the others!
"Prina. You're on prison recon. Your slime body can slip in undetected. Guide Rina's group there."
"Yes sir! Leave it to me, Boss! Mission accomplished!"
She's got spirit, huh? All the kids would die on my word if I asked.
Her lemon-yellow eyes sparkled as she clenched her cute little fist, brimming with zeal.
"But Boss. Saving slaves is fine, but why? Isn't fighting the Pirate King priority? Do we really need to split forces for a rescue?"
"Reason? It's from intel Big Daddy gave me at the last North Continent summit."
"Intel?"
"The Pirate King's been raiding port cities on other continents, grabbing slaves of other races from slave ships and markets."
!!!
"I'm rescuing them to rack up favors with the North Continent's non-humans. Those races hate humans—gnash their teeth at us. No trade, barely any talk. But if I free their kin and send them back?"
"Ah! Use that to get their help?"
"Exactly. Nothing's free. Non-humans don't forget debts like humans do. I'll leverage it for dwarf weapons, elf booze. Build support here in the North. Old powers like the Pirate King hate my guts—we can't take them alone. Need neutrals at least, or public backers like Big Daddy."
"Understood."
"Estelle sis. You're with me and Allen. Time to peel the faces off the captains under this fleet."
"Heehee~♥ If Boss needs this sis's help, gladly~♥"
"Hey! Boss, take me too. I can just smash 'em all—better than Estelle..."
"Oh? Rina, Boss picked me this time. So be a good girl and yield. Boss's orders~♪"
"Grrrh!"
"Boss bro! Us too!"
"Me too!"
Why are these two suddenly competing? And why Mira and Shera too?!
Rina sis and Estelle sis locked in a petty rivalry. The little ones clamored to tag along. Allen tsked quietly beside me; the others stared off into the distance like they were sightseeing...
What the hell?
"Enough! Chit-chat over! Jean, Pablo—lead the rest and trash the place! Got it?! Everyone else, follow my orders! That's a command from your Boss!"
"Yes sir!!—"
"Operation start!"
And so time passed... to the present.
... ... ...
Whoosh!
BOOM!
"You bastard!!—You dare torch my flagship?!"
"Hahaha! Burn bright!!—"
Whoosh!
Shwaaaaa!!—
CRASH!
"Tch! Damn sea nearby? It went out fast!"
"Your puny flames can't stop me!—Drown in the waves!—"
Shwaaaaa!!—
Pirate King Samuel doused Jean's massive inferno with towering waves. Intense enough to vaporize normal water in seconds—but right by the ocean, the blaze fizzled quick.
Damn! This old bastard's the real deal?! Most can't even block my flames!
"Brat! Think I haven't crushed flame-wielding demon contractors like you while I ruled these seas?! I'm the Pirate King who drowned every lowlife like that!!—"
Shwaaaa!!—
"How about freezing it? Ice Age."
Craaaack!!—
Shrrrrrr!!—
!!!
The massive tidal wave swallowing Jean froze solid into an iceberg under an arctic blast of freezing wind.
At the storm's heart stood a long-haired man with frost-rimed white hair, glaring at Pirate King Samuel with ice-cold eyes.
"Contractor of the demon of ice? North Face Family... More demon contractors than expected!"
"Jean. You good?"
"Phew~ Nearly died! This geezer's legit strong!"
"...Tried to kill my friend? I'll freeze you solid and shatter you!"
"Hey, Pablo—that old fart's mine to roast!"
"You cocky whelps! Think I'll lose to low-rank demon contractors like you?!"
"Demon contractors? Cut the crap. We didn't contract any demons."
"What?"
"We are the demons of flame and ice!—"
Whoosh!—
Shrrrr!—
At Jean and Pablo's roar, blizzard and blaze erupted as a storm, engulfing the Pirate King.
Through Dantalian's summoning rite combined with Pladeus's demon-fusion experiments, the two had successfully merged human and lesser demon. Their power now shone against the Pirate King.