Hi, all!

I have nothing to say this time. See you again in the afterword.


[X][X][X]


Lower Fire Month (9th Month), 4th Day, 21:05

Elder walked through the hallway of the mansion, his mind being quite excited. There were two strong intruders and one of them was much stronger than Elder at his current state. There was no way to win, yet he looked very confident. The main reason because he believed he could escape by teleporting away if he lost, and he might be able to absorb some energy and get stronger again.

Elder descended the mansion's staircase to the first floor, and as he had expected, one of the intruders was there staring at him. This one was the stronger one, whom Elder had no hope to beat. The other one seemed to be behind one of the doors near this intruder, judging from the energy readings he felt.

For Elder, this intruder's looks was more or less normal. He had seen a lot of ARKS wearing even more out-of-ordinary outfits. The intruder's short skirts was irrelevant to determine their gender because Elder had seen a lot of male ARKS wearing girl outfits, so he wouldn't be surprised if this intruder was a boy. Also, the long ears reminded him of Newman, a race within ARKS people who commonly was more gifted in photon techs than physical photon arts.

In short, this intruder could walk around ARKS ship and nobody would bat an eye. But Elder knew that this intruder was from this planet. Their energy was different.

"A-are you the most important person in this place? I-it can't be, right? They say that it is a woman"

The intruder asked timidly, but Elder didn't lower his guard.

"The woman you're looking for isn't here anymore. She is now far away from here"

"W-what? Oh no, what should I do?"

The intruder seemed to panic hearing Elder's reply. Elder still didn't lower his guard because he knew that this intruder could handily beat him down in an instant.

One door behind the intruder opened, and the other intruder came into Elder's vision. This other intruder looked somewhat more bizzare than the first, but again, Elder was unfazed on that.

"You should report the situation to the higher ups"

"Oh. R-right..."

Suddenly, the first intruder disappeared from sight, leaving only the second, who was the weaker of the two. Elder estimated that he was still a little weaker than this one, while his Hunar form would beat them easily.

"Now, what are you to this place?"

This intruder asked while chewing what seemed like a severed arm, torn from whoever the poor human had been. Their expression didn't change at all, and the mouth-like lines on their face didn't seem to move while speaking. In fact, they seemed to be shoving the severed arm through the underside of their jaw.

"I am someone who owed something to that woman. But now I owe nothing so I no longer have anything to do with this place"

"I see. Then can we just pretend that we didn't see each other and go our own ways?"

"No. I want to fight you"

The intruder stopped chewing the moment they heard Elder's words.

"Fight me? Why? What would be the benefit for you?"

"I simply want good battles"

"Oh, a death seeker... I see..."

The intruder resumed chewing.

"Unfortunately, I am on a mission which I have to accomplish. But then again, you seem to be quite a bothersome, suicidal fellow. How about this?"

The intruder raised their hands straight to Elder, showing all ten fingers.

"Ten minutes. That is the time I need to give orders to my demon vassals. That is also the time I give you to consider your options. If you are still here by then, I will fight you, and then I will eat you. Otherwise, I will pretend to have never seen you"

"...Deal. I will be right out the front door. But if you dishonor this by fleeing yourself, I will find you, and I will kill you"

"Yeah, yeah"

The intruder then turned around and disappeared into the darkness of the room behind the door. Elder turned to the front door and went out to the spacious area in front.

Ten minutes later, as agreed upon, the expressionless intruder came out from the front door. Elder stood still at a visible distance with his arms folded, his sight was fixated on the intruder.

"So you're still here. Your bravery, or stupidity, is commendable"

"Let's just cut to the chase"

Right after saying it, Elder went into battle stance. The intruder didn't move much. They just looked at Elder with their expressionless face. They then spoke as they walked away from the door.

"Before we begin, would you allow us to know each other's name?"

"Elder"

"Entoma"

Without any further words, Entoma threw something at Elder, seemingly a sheet of paper.


[X][X][X]


[Lightning Bird Talisman]

The paper turned into a lightning bolt with the shape of a bird. Elder sidestepped to dodge at the last moment, making it miss completely. He then charged towards Entoma and launched a straight punch, which Entoma swiftly blocked with a shield she had summoned out of nowhere.

[Hard Armor Bug]

[Blade Bug]

Entoma's other arm suddenly wielded a broadsword, which she swiftly used to slash at Elder. Elder dodged by jumping back, though he got grazed a little at his left arm.

Entoma looked at her shield, then back at Elder.

"You're stronger than I thought. I never thought that you could make a dent on my shield"

Elder didn't say anything. He maintained his battle stance, ignoring the small flesh wound on his left arm.

"Too bad it is not enough"

Entoma put her other hand over her shield. The hand emitted green light, and then the shield was back to its prime condition. Elder just smirked seeing that.

"Interesting"

Elder then charged at Entoma again and threw a flurry of punches. All of them were either blocked, parried, or avoided. She then did a counter slash, which Elder narrowly avoided by jumping back.

"You're interesting. I can't wait for the moment I eat you... You sure will taste good..."

"Heh, too bad. It won't happen"

"I beg to differ"

Entoma then threw more sheets of paper.

[Lightning Bird Swarm Talisman]

The sheets of paper turned into numerous same, but smaller than before, lightning bolts shaped like birds. Elder, avoided the first ones by jumping aside, and the rest by jumping up. However, while he was still in the air...

[Bullet Bug]

Entoma shot a swarm of bullet-like projectiles at Elder. Being still airborne, Elder was unable to evade, so he braced himself with his arms and aura. The damage he sustained from this attack was not much, but not small enough to be ignored.

"Hahahaha! This is a good fight indeed!"

Elder just laughed, despite him being the one seemingly losing.

"Death seeker indeed. I wonder... how long until I can wipe that laugh off your face"

The fight between the two continued without either side showing any signs of imminent defeat. Elder didn't slow down despite sustaining injuries at parts of his body. In fact, he seemed to get faster and more fierce as the fight went on. Entoma herself was no longer undamaged. Her shield was dented and her broadsword had gotten chipped.

WHAM!

Elder got a clean hit with his straight punch to Entoma's chest, launching her away. She landed on her two feet, but quite staggered on what had just happened.

"Enough!"

[Thousand Lash Bug]

Entoma summoned a giant centipede which then latched to her right arm, replacing the broadsword. This centipede took shape of a giant long whip, effectively increasing her melee attack range and changing her fighting style.

"Tch!"

Elder couldn't get close to Entoma. The centipede whip was strong, yet quick. With each downward strike, the stone floor was crushed, creating a hole. With each attempt from Elder to get close, the whip retracted and formed a barricade. Elder couldn't just jump and attack from above either, since he would be a sitting duck against that agile whip while airborne.

"Now, if you kneel down and beg, I will make sure you die a painless death"

"In your dream"

"Then I will devour your limbs one by one while keeping you alive to watch"

The centipede whip then curled into a big ball while still leaving a length of its body functioning as link, effectively changing Entoma's weapon from a whip to a giant flail. Entoma then did a downward strike, which Elder evaded. But the resulting tremor from the strike made Elder lose balance, distracting him for a bit. Entoma didn't miss this chance. Her flail turned back into a whip and quickly moved to wrap around Elder.

"I got you now. Too bad"

The tower of circling centipede obstructed Entoma from seeing Elder. Inside her mind, she smiled over her victory. However...

"Hahaha! Interesting!"

"I see you have gone mad from your defeat. Too bad. I really wanted to see your face of despair when I devour you"

Suddenly, the centipede tower bloated and exploded, ripping it off all over its body. Some severed parts twitched after falling to the ground, and then they became motionless. The centipede had been slain.

Entoma was shocked by the sudden occurence. She looked at the spot where the centipede tower had used to be, and in its place there was a four meters tall humanoid creature.

"W-what?"

[Bullet Bug]

[Explosive Talisman]

[Sharp Cutting Talisman]

Entoma threw all attacks she could into the creature. All of them hit, but didn't do any damage. The creature just stood there unfazed. At this point, her instincts screamed at her to get out of there.

However, escaping would mean aborting her mission, and it would be a disgrace to Nazarick. Therefore, she decided to stay and fight, even if she would get killed in the end. At least, she intended to buy time for the demon vassals to finish their job of plundering the mansion.

"Once again, I found an opponent worthy to use my Falz Hunar form against! I commend you for that!"

Hunar immediately jumped straight up and did a diving kick straight to Entoma. The kick was too fast for her to evade, so she raised her shield bug to block.

CRASH!

The impact made a shockwave all around and created a circular dent on the ground below Entoma. The shield bug let out a painful screech before getting shattered into pieces. Like the centipede, it was slain. But it had done its job, seeing that Entoma herself didn't take significant damage from the attack.

Entoma quickly jumped back as Hunar did a downward punch, narrowly avoiding it. As Hunar's fist made contact with the ground, red pillars of energy emerged and homed in on Entoma. She couldn't evade in time and took a direct hit.

"Aargh!"

The damage she took from the pillars was significant. Her face bug and lip bug disintegrated, revealing her grotesque true face and real voice.

"HoW... hOw dArE YoU...!"

Entoma then unleashed her extra appendages which she had been hiding from behind her back. The appendages were large and acted like the legs of an arachnid, putting her human-like body in suspended position.

Hunar still stood unfazed. In fact, he made a mocking hand gesture, telling Entoma to come at him.

[Spider Web]

Entoma spit white threads at Hunar, who was not impressed. He quickly grabbed the large curved object he had behind his back, which turned out to be a large sword, and slashed the spider webs away with it.

[Slashing Spider Web]

Entoma spit threads once again, and this time the threads were solid sharp ones which could cut hard materials to pieces. However, once again Hunar slashed them off.

[Breath of Fly]

Entoma summoned numerous insects which could pierce the opponent and lay eggs, and the eggs would then hatch and the offsprings would eat the target from the inside. They swarmed all over Hunar, enveloping him wholly. However, none of them could pierce his body.

"Woooaaaargh!"

Hunar charged up his power, emitting red blazing aura. He then raised his fist and punched the ground he was standing on. The impact made an explosion and shot out numerous red energy pillars traveling outwards in spiral motion around Hunar. The shockwave stunned the bugs and Entoma, and the pillars eradicated all the bugs. Entoma herself also took a hit from one of the pillars. She took significant damage, and her body started to bleed all over.

"wHaT... iS... HaPpEnInG...? WhY... Am... I... bLeEdInG?"

Without giving any words, Hunar quickly charged towards Entoma, closing the distance within an instant.

SHHHUNT!

Without mercy, Hunar impaled Entoma with his large curved sword.

"N-No... tHis cAn't bE... hAppEniNg..."

"Oh yes, it is happening. I thank you for giving me quite a fight"

"L-LoRd AiNz... pLeAsE FoRgIve mE..."

And so, Entoma has been slain.

After her last words, Entoma's body hung motionless on Hunar's sword. A few seconds later, her lifeless body turned into particles of light which dispersed away. A number of items were left behind right in front of Hunar's feet.


[X][X][X]


CLICK!

Hunar put his curved sword back into his back, once again forming what looked like a huge mohawk hair. A red vortex of energy then enveloped him, and soon Elder in his human form came out in place of his Hunar form. Elder then moved his body around, trying to feel if he had become stronger again.

"Not much"

Indeed Elder had become stronger after winning the battle, but the increase in his overall strength was not much compared to the amount he had gained before.

"Whatever. A gain is still a gain"

Elder took a glance at the things left behind by Entoma, and he turned away because they didn't draw his interest at all.

"It will be bad for me if that other intruder returns bringing reinforcements"

With that in mind, Elder teleported away using his red portal. He ended up right on the rooftop of the castle in the city, which was a nice vantage point. He had a hunch that those intruders would spark an interesting event soon, and he intended to wait and see what would happen next.


[X][X][X]


Lower Fire Month (9th Month), 4th Day, 21:13

Mare had teleported to a rendezvous point agreed upon. Demiurge was also there, giving instructions to his Evil Lords.

"D-Demiurge-sama...!"

Demiurge looked at Mare, his sinister smile was there as always.

"I believe we are of the same standing, so there's no need to address each other formally. Nevertheless, is there something, Mare?"

"W-well, the thing is..."

Mare then told Demiurge about the raid on the mansion not going exactly as planned because the target he was supposed to capture was not there, and also about the strange man who stood unfazed in front of their presence.

"Have you confirmed the man's statement?"

"Y-yes, of course. I teleported to the roof and used detection magic. Nobody other than that man was left"

"I see. Too bad then. We still have one person we can use anyway, thanks to Sebas"

"Oh, R-right"

"Now, what about that man? Did you see anything strange?"

"R-right! I felt that he was a lot stronger than any other humans, but Entoma is still stronger than him"

"Entoma will probably devour him then. Anyway, your job there is done. Now proceed to the next part as planned"

"O-okay!"

Over one hour later, the demon vassals assigned with Entoma arrived at the rendezvous point. Demiurge smiled looking at the results of the raid. However, Entoma herself was not among them.

"I wonder..."

Demiurge then decided to go to the mansion to see what was happening. Just in case, he donned a sinister-looking blue mask in order to hide his face from any human that would happen to meet him.

[Greater Teleportation]

The teleportation spell brought Demiurge to the rooftop of the mansion. He looked around to see if Entoma was still around. This was the point where he noticed something at the front yard of the mansion.

There were three human figures, and they were examining something which seemed like a pile of items. Demiurge's keen eyes noticed familiar objects among the items, and one of them was Entoma's battle maid outfit.

A feeling of rage began building up inside Demiurge's mind.

Entoma had somehow been slain.

For Demiurge, it was a great failure on his part. He had miscalculated something in his plans, and Entoma had to pay the price of his mistake with her life.

It was simply...

Unforgivable.


[X][X][X]


Lower Fire Month (9th Month), 4th Day, 22:24

The front gate of Hilma's mansion was quiet. There was nobody guarding it, which was highly unusual. Normally, the amount of private guards stationed here would rival the amount guarding the front gate of royal castle, but tonight this was the total opposite.

CRASH!

The front gate opened violently with one strike. The one who had struck the gate was Gagaran, the huge warrior of Blue Rose adventurer team. She walked in, full of confidence in her abilities to complete her mission of raiding this mansion, which belonged to the Drug Trade Division of Eight Fingers.

However, her confidence turned into a feeling of wary as she noticed the unusual condition of the front yard. The yard was, to be short, in ruins. There were cracks and holes scattered over the paved ground, accompanied by remains of what seemed to be insect monsters.

"What's going on here?"

As Gagaran spoke the question out, another person came out from the shadows. This person was Tia, another member of Blue Rose. She had been hiding in case something which would require stealth came into play, but she decided to put that aside for now.

"There has been a battle here, and just recently"

"You think so, Tia? Not that I disagree, though"

"Thing is, between who?"

Before Gagaran could say anything, someone else answered from above.

"One thing for sure, they were stronger than you two"

Gagaran looked above. Her face expression was quite cheerful.

"Yo, Evileye!"

Tia, on the other hand, was not as cheerful. She asked a question as Evileye landed in front of her.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Well, the amount of destruction around here speaks volumes. Like that crater over there. I don't think Gagaran here can make a crater that large with one strike. Or can you?"

"Well I can, though I might tear a muscle or two doing that"

"Also, the remains of these insect monsters means that at least one of them is either a summoner specializing in vermin type, or a greater insect monster themselves with these ones under their command"

"Hoo, so what should we do now?"

Evileye looked at the mansion at the distance.

"The mansion is devoid of life. Either they have escaped, or killed by whoever fought here. The latter seems more likely"

"Woah, what about this fight? Was this an infighting, or did someone manage to put up a fight against the attacker?"

"I don't have the slightest idea for that matter. By the way... you have been silent. Is there something in your mind, Tia?"

Evileye looked at Tia, who indeed had not been saying anything.

"Ah, nothing. I'm just a little interested in that pile over there"

"You too, huh? Indeed, I feel some kind of magic energy from there. Let's take a look, but keep your guards up"

The three of them approached the suspicious pile of things lying on the ground. Upon closer look, they saw that all of the items in the pile were magic items. Evileye reached her hand into one of the items and examined it.

"I'm just telling from the magic energy I feel, but just this one could be worth at least fifty platinum"

Both Gagaran and Tia were a little surprised. Fifty platinum was not a small amount, though for Adamantite Rank adventurers like them it was not really a big deal either. However, if each of the items piled in front of them was at least worth that much, whoever owned all these items would be very powerful.

"Why are these items here on the ground?"

Without taking her eyes off the items, Evileye responded to Gagaran's question.

"I have no idea. The only explanation I can think of is that either the owner fled and dropped all these to lighten weight or... they have been slain and their body disintegrated, and these are their items left behind"

"I want to bet on the latter"

Tia said that as she looked at one particular item. A quite tidy maid clothes of strange design.

"Nobody in the right mind would bring maid clothes for no reason, so I assume the owner was wearing this"

Gagaran couldn't hide her confusion hearing Tia's words.

"What? This maid clothes?"

Evileye reached her hand to the maid clothes, and then she spoke.

"You shouldn't judge anything by looks alone. This clothes possesses higher protection power than your plate armor"

"What? Seriously?"

"Yes. Let's retreat for now. I'll explain on the wa-"

Suddenly, a masked man descended down from the sky and landed in front of them. All three of them knew that this man was definitely not human because he had a tail.

Evileye stepped back, closer to her two friends. Then she spoke to them in low voice, hoping that the man wouldn't hear her and find her words offensive.

"Look, whatever you do, don't say anything that will displease him. Let me do all the talking"

Gagaran and Tia didn't say any words, but they immediately understood. The man in front of them was leagues stronger and he could kill them instantly if he wanted to. Right now, it was still not confirmed if he was hostile, so if there was a chance to make it out alive by talking, however slim, they would take it.

"My poor, poor child..."

The man said it as he approached the pile of items. He then kneeled with one knee near the items and suddenly all the items disappeared into some kind of small portal. He then stood up again and looked at the three adventurers.

"Are you the ones responsible, for the demise of my child?"

"No, we just got here"

"I see... Do you have any idea about the one actually responsible?"

"Not in the slightest, unfortunately"

There was a silence for a few seconds, and the man looked angry beneath the mask as he spoke again.

"Then I will find out at all cost, even if I have to burn down the entire city"

Hearing the man's words, Gagaran suddenly spoke to object.

"Hold on a second! I can't agree to that!"

"Idiot!"

Evileye screamed that word inside her mind. Gagaran was her friend and teammate. They had been through thick and thin together. But there was no denying that the decision she had just made was far from the smartest.

"Nothing will stop me until I find the one responsible. I will eliminate anyone getting in my way. Starting from you three"

Then again, nobody would know the logic running inside this man's mind. Maybe all three of them had been doomed from the start.


[X][X][X]


Lower Fire Month (9th Month), 4th Day, 22:40

Two magic casters descended down from the sky to a place they had been ordered to drop their passengers, whom they had been transporting using the combination of Fly and Floating Board spells. All the passengers were high-ranked adventurers whom Marquis Raeven had decided to hire to bolster the security of his residence.

At least that was the official description.

In truth, Marquis Raeven had hired them to help as additional powers in an important operation to raid various bases of Eight Fingers, in case the raid would be resisted by a significant force like Six Arms. The involved adventurers had been informed of the true intention on the way during the flight, and for now they had agreed.

However, things had gone off the rails.

Some circumstances had slowed them down, making them arrive a lot later than the planned time of raid operation. At worst case, they would be here for nothing and there was no confirmation whether they would still be paid or not in that case.

Also, two of the adventurers had jumped off the Floating Board midway.

Momon of Team Darkness and his partner Nabe had noticed a fighting at a place which was supposed to be one of the targets of the operation, so they had decided to join the fray. Before jumping off, the remaining three had been asked by Momon to stay with the transporter until they reach the destination, and they had complied to do so, but these ones were of lower rank than Darkness.

These three were Team Ignite Maximus, consisting of a seemingly foreign magic caster Ryu Seika, a cute-looking but really strong warrior girl Lily Vangraf, and another magic caster they had recently recruited into the team; Alice Vegelshaft.

"So, what are we supposed to do now?"

The magic casters, being Marquis Raeven's aides, had no idea how to answer Ryu's question which he asked as they got off the Floating Board. They arrived too late and as the result there was nobody else around.

But before anyone could say anything further, suddenly one aide noticed something at the corner of his vision: The night sky stained with blazing red color. The area they were at was surrounded by walls, so there was no clear view of what the cause could be. But anyone with common sense would guess a huge fire was there.

The three adventurers looked at the same direction after noticing the aide's strange behaviour. All three of them then floated high, trying to get a good look over the walls. Both aides were surprised on the fact that the warrior girl could also use Fly, but they knew they had to put that aside.

"Go inform the marquis. I will accompany them and stand by"

One aide said it, and the other aide nodded and immediately rushed away. As magic casters themselves, they could feel that the flame was the work of magic, one which was definitely beyond their capabilities. An emergency situation was imminent.


[X][X][X]


Lower Fire Month (9th Month), 4th Day, 22:38

Elder, who was still on top of the roof of the castle, felt a little excited. His hunch was right.

One hour after his recent battle, he could sense a powerful being coming to the battleground. It was probably not the same as the one he had met, since the energy was different. Soon after, another powerful being came into play, and that ARKS person also came into the vicinity of this city.

"Multiple great powers gathering here. Interesting"

Elder pondered on which ones he should challenge into a fight first. While a losing battle would be a great excitement, repeated loss would eventually weaken him. A bad decision would become a setback in his quest for regaining power, and he would prefer not to have that.

"Hmm..."

Elder pondered for a few minutes, but suddenly something big happened in front of his eyes. A section of the city was encircled by a wall of fire. What was strange for him was the fact that the houses standing directly within the touch of the flames were not burning.

"Hoo..."

Elder waited a bit more, seeing if something more would happen. The wall of flames unfortunately disturbed his energy reading sense, but he still could make out the fact that numerous strange creatures appeared at the area within the circle of flames.

"If that one is relying on lesser creatures, then I will gladly do the same to join the fray!"

Elder raised his right hand and charged his dark energy. He then fisted the hand, creating a small explosion of energy. Soon, numerous blood-red portals of various sizes appeared throughout the area within the circle of flames.

Elder had summoned his Darker minions to wreak havoc indiscriminately.

"Hmph!"

Elder also transformed into his Hunar form, and he jumped off from the castle rooftop into the flaming area.

"This will be interesting!"


[X][X][X]


Afterword:

And finally, Flame of Gehenna has been unleashed, this time with a third party joining the fray. One thing I feel the need to say that the initial battle between Jaldabaoth!Demiurge and Momon!Ainz, and also the dialogue afterwards still happened more or less the same way as canon, so I have put it 'offscreen'. Also yes, Tia and Gagaran still got killed here.

Elder is now level 55, and Hunar is level 70

See you again later.