“It’s that demonkin!” Tatsuya and Kyouya cried out at the only person standing inside the chamber, instantly realizing who it was just like me.

Inside this decrepit room wasn’t only my just-recently-fought enemy but also multiple bodies of men and women, human and beastmen. Some laid lifelessly, others were still jerking a bit, but all of them were either covered in blood or had puddles of it forming next to them. Burn marks were obvious to see, but those same arrow wounds on the previous corpses were on these bodies as well.

It was clear Vifi’Yok, a Warbringer of the demonkins, was responsible for this. A level 150 soldier I could not beat alone back in Elyonda—the first time she didn’t even really fight, as our encounter was caused by a misunderstanding, while the second time I had to gang up on her with Tasianna, Neill, and Renee.

We defeated her back then in the end, but could I repeat that feat with my current teammates? No. Tatsuya and Kyouya still needed practice with their unique skills, and Rajah couldn’t perform the same utility role as Saori or Tasianna. His main points of powers were his ability to use both dark and holy spells in conjunction, while also possessing powerful venoms.

Nevertheless … why was she here? Was Inkoran-Tazul in danger? Did the demonkins find out about the summit? I knew the vampires knew about it, but they also told us they wanted to stay neutral in this conflict. Then, there were also these black mercs. Why did Vifi’Yok eliminate them?

Not to mention, why does she look like that?

I might exaggerate how stinky the boys and I were, since we haven’t taken any showers and had to take our toilet break inside the dungeon, but I could smell Vifi’Yok’s stench even from here. It didn’t look like she had cleaned herself in days with how greasy her hair was and how dirt stuck to her face and hands like stains.

Not to mention, the trousers and coat she was wearing looked like some amateur had sewed them. There was even mismatched patchwork on the two, clearly either Vifi’Yok or somebody else had just given it a quick fix up. This wasn’t even including how rancid her gamebesom appeared, or how her chainmail was starting to rust. Even the crossbow in that self-made holster looked like it was about to break apart.

This wasn’t the Vifi’Yok I knew. The one I had to fight in Elyonda looked and appeared like a general or elite soldier. Her armor and clothes exuded authority and respect, clear to anybody she was a top dog. However, right now? She looked like a beggar at worst, and a vagrant at best.

“Shit!” Vifi’Yok threw away the body of the guy she was holding up, and turned around. Red lightning began to focus around her feet.

Stop! Warp Point: Exit! Entry!

Pointing my left hand forward, a grey magic circle formed behind the demonkin girl, while another was next to me. I couldn’t get there in time with my rocket boosters with how fast her red lightning made her, so the only way to stop her was to disrupt their effect. High mana concentration could stop the magnetic effect of her super speed.

Sadly, the spell didn’t materialize soon enough. Just as the portal formed, Vifi’Yok flew out of the room, through the entrance on the opposite side. Clicking my tongue, the boys and I ran through the portal as it closed, before I mounted Rajah again and had the former two get on [Unheiliger Engel].

Sadly, my parallel minds did a sweep through the room and all the people were already dead. The few who were jerking around were probably just twitching from the remaining electricity running through their nerves. I couldn’t help them, so I had to focus on the demonkin.

She’s still so fast!

The red lightning trails were the only things I could see, and were the only reasons I didn’t lose her. Just like our fight, she was just bloody fast. The worst part about this was that she could avoid the golems since they couldn’t register her. Even with my rocket boosters, these random monsters were like roadblocks.

“There she is!”

Suddenly, though, I managed to hear somebody’s echoing voice resounding through the ruin halls. Following it we noticed a small party of people rushing into a room, where I saw them immediately attack Vifi’Yok as she was taking a breather.

Without any hesitation, she pulled out her crossbow, loading it with a bolt to shoot one of the mercs in the head. All in a single, seamless movement. She might not look like it, but she still had the skill of a Warbringer!

The shot man fell onto the ground, groaning before he threw his helmet away. He grimaced in pain but was still alive, only to stand up again and grab his spear. Along with his four buddies, he used [Gale Steps] and charged right at Vifi’Yok, forcing her to engage the lot of them with her rapier.

Even with one arm, the demonkin evaded hits with minimal effort while striking back. Sadly, that weapon of hers was shorter than I thought, making me think it lost its tip. Still, she fought on, not even relying on her red lightning or lightning spells to retaliate. Even with this, though, the merc still couldn’t keep up despite having clearly superior equipment.

Jeez, she’s good.

“Hestia-san!” Tatsuya called me out, breaking my trance. “Orders! What do you want us to do? Help?”

We didn’t have any information here. Were these people black mercs or normal adventurers? Why were they fighting Vifi’Yok, and why wasn’t she giving it her all to kill them. She should have no problems. All of these questions made it hard for me to choose the correct decision here. Vifi’Yok was clearly an enemy … but there was that talk I had with her in Elyonda.

No choice.

“We’re trapping her in the Obsidian Orchestra. Boys, get those people away from us.”

“Understood, Hestia-san!” both roared, with Kyouya donning his entire shadow armor, prompting me to heal him.

[Humanize (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

I then transformed into my minor form, not only to hide my identity from the men but also to gain some much needed stats. Rajah went back into my shadow while I cast [Terra Wall] underneath myself, launching me forward before I activated my rocket boosters.

With a [Dragoon Dive], I smashed my glaive right into the ground in between the Vifi’Yok and her adversaries. While the latter were blown away and pushed even further by Kyouya and Tatsuya, I confronted the grimacing demonkin with a white glowing weapon—my newest unique skill, [Drakonian Sunlight Edge], active.

Panzer. Halo of Consecration.

Violet armor clad my body and my new chest armor, while a halo of white flames floated above me. I eyed Vifi’Yok, and she reciprocated. Weirdly, I couldn’t feel any hostility coming from her eyes, or really aggression. She looked … exhausted, tired; as if she hadn’t had a good sleep in days. I didn’t even think she was treating me like an enemy right now, more like a nuisance.

[“We haven’t finished talking,”] I stated, lowering my glowing glaive. I had to change my plans. [“I am still offering you to come with us; the same choice before Ghorush rescued you.”]

“…” However, she stayed silent. Instead, my attention was directed to my left as I saw her eyes moving.

“Kill her!” somebody shouted without my [Foresight] activating.

Before I could turn my head around, Tatsuya landed a [Dragoon Dive] right in front of the charging man, dust and rubble scattering everywhere, before kicking the merc into the ground. Kyouya, in the meantime, rammed right into the bulkiest-looking dude, before raising his shield and sword in a defensive manner. The three other randoms cowered back at their two members being pushed back, prompting Rajah to wrap them up in [Dark Tendrils] and mana threads.

However, my attention instantly shifted back to Vifi’Yok when I noticed her getting ready to flee. I reached out to grab her arm, only to remember she didn’t have a left arm anymore. I grabbed for the wrong one! So, instead, I ended up catching hold of her cloak, pulling on it to stop her from disappearing again.

[“Vifi’Yok, please, can we talk! Why are you even here?!”]

“Let me go!”

[Foresight] activated, warning me of a kick, forcing me to dodge it. Her head darted around, now fully irritated as I saw her fangs grow in size, a sign one of her [Excited], [Anger], or [Fear] stats grew. Probably [Anger], given how irritated she looked. Demonkins of Wrath were easy to read like that.

She continued trying to kick me away, but I kept my distance, forcing her to take out her rapier to attack me, only for me to snap the blade off its handle. The girl, undeterred, threw the broken weapon at me, blocking my sight. Regardless, I had my other senses and I could hear her taking out her crossbow, so I readied myself to dodge the bolt.

However, instead of targeting me, she shot the ground, causing an electric shock to explode on the ground. It didn’t deal any damage to me, but the resulting dust cloud caused me to cough a bit, creating an opportunity for her to rip her clock off. Sadly for her, I wasn’t some third-grade fighter.

Blowing the smokescreen away with [Aerokinesis], I swung my glaive, shooting out a fire bullet at Vifi’Yok’s feet, stopping her red lightning before using [Drakonian Sunlight Edge]’s [Continental Drake Stride] to run faster as I activate [Gale Steps].

[“Don’t try to trick me here; why aren’t you attacking me? Why are you fleeing? Why do you look like that?!”] This time, I got into a combat pose, showing Vifi’Yok I couldn’t allow her to run away from me. [“You know exactly why I can’t let you go. You know what you did in Elyonda! Who are the people you just killed? If you really think I would just let you go, then you really must believe I am some dumb bimbo!”]

“I owe ya for Hee’Rlak’s and my life, but ya don’t get to order me around!” She aimed her crossbow at me. “I’ve given up too much to ‘talk’ with ya, and ya know for yaself I ain’t helping with ya plans! I’m already a deserter, but I can’t risk you killing my peo—Bastard!”

“Shit!” Tatsuya shouted as he suddenly lunged forward with his spear, missing Vifi’Yok’s leg before she wrapped her leg around his neck. “Kragh!”

Twisting her body, she jumped up and would have body slammed him right into the ground if I hadn’t caught him with my scales. Using this distraction, she shot a crossbolt at me, nearly zapping me with it, before using her red lightning to dash out. However, just as this happened, Kyouya managed to shed his shadow armor, morphing it to create a giant door at the entrance, causing Vifi’Yok to crash through it, falling onto the ground.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Nice one, Kyouya-kun!” I praised him as we ignored the randoms and followed after the stumbling demonkin.

Since I wasn’t committing [Battle Frenzy] or [Symphonie des Feuergottes] to the battle right now, I was just a bit slower than her. Thankfully, Kyouya’s little action allowed me to track the demonkin a bit better, as I could hear the thuds of her feet and her reappearing on every corner, before dashing away. It seemed like her super speed ability was less useful in a crammed, hallway filled area.

In our chase, we found the stairs to the next floor and confirmed once we were down that it wasn’t floor 15, due to a lack of environmental change. In addition, we also found even more random adventurers there, but just like the previous set of randoms, these people all aimed their hatred at Vifi’Yok the moment they noticed her. In fact, they got so angry, they even attacked us.

“This damn urchin got herself more support! Didn’t we just lose those church fuckers?!”

“Damn, more brats! We aren’t getting out of here with those knights around so just take one of them hostage!”

Church? Knights? What exactly did Vifi’Yok get herself into?!

If we came into this without any intel, we would have been confused at this misunderstanding, but we knew exactly how the last of Saori’s students had entered this dungeon with some knights and a Saintess. Meaning, they were actually here! Right on this floor, or maybe further ahead? It was confirmation that they fell through the large hole with Vifi’Yok.

Wait, Vifi’Yok might know them? Hold on, hold on, the demonkins are controlling them through the church of Vifi’Yok! Is this why she’s trying to flee, is she luring us away from them?!

When I brought this up to Tatsuya and Kyouya, both immediately agreed with me. The demonkins were supposed to work from the shadows, so maybe Vifi’Yok was assigned to guard them after her failed job in Elyonda. She might have taken these black mercs down to protect them, ‘cause they were important to the demonkin’s schemes! It all made sense!

“Those mercs will know about it. Leave this to us, Hestia-san!” Tatsuya declared, causing me to flinch. He sounded too confident going up against … 14 mercs. “Kyouya and I know how to fight, and if you leave Rajah with us, he can heal and act as our rogue. We won’t die or get caught, trust us on this! We’re a liability to you if you’re fighting the damn bitch!”

[“Master, I will keep them safe!”] Rajah assured me. [“Belzac beasts won’t shy from weaklings!”]

They understood it. Sadly, they wasn’t incorrect. As such, I left them here to stop the mercenaries from following me, hoping they could gain some intel from them. Now alone, I followed after that demonkin and relied on the “party member search” function of our party bracelets for them to find me afterwards.

Bypassing some golems, it only made me more worried for the boys since the golems could attack them. Regardless, all I could do was trust in them. Vifi’Yok was a far larger issue if our assumptions were correct. Why wouldn’t they be, right?

The Empire demonized me through the newspaper created by one of Saori’s students, dragonslayers were sent after me, and now the students were in this city. After what I did in Elyonda, it wouldn’t be a surprise for the Prince of Envy posing as the pope to want me dead. The vampire princess even confirmed he went crazy or something after the siege.

“Argh!”

Eventually, I managed to catch up to the demonkin, thanks to the fact she finally was out of fuel. As I entered the room, I froze in place as I saw how grand and majestic it looked. I gaze about, noticing how it was probably as large as Mom’s lair in my subspace.

Vifi’Yok had fallen onto her knees in the middle of this platform. Walking closer to her, I noticed how there was another entrance to the right and a set of stairs leading down a steep cliff with an exit at the end of it—the entrance to the next floor, I presumed, considering how auspicious everything looked. I could probably fight in my dragon form and fly around, if this led to a fight.

Refocusing on the demonkin, from what I could see, her skin was turning blue, a sign she was suffering from arcane corruption. Good to know demonkins had a problem with mana like everybody else … not like that was a hard thing to assume. Unless you had a body made from pure mana, arcane corruption would hold back anybody.

Although, her general lack of stamina was a bit concerning, honestly. Had she been fighting those random mercs for so long that she would be affected by arcane corruption? No way. She used far more mana when she fought me during the siege. As if those random mercs would even hold a candle against her.

What exactly is going on with her?

[“… Can you please just give up and let me speak?”] I said as I approached her. [“You called yourself a deserter. Why? Also, where are the transmigrators you brought here?”]

“Wha-wait, you know about—Right, ya’re a bloody princess. I forgot that. Probably got ya information from the dwarves.” She struggled back onto her feet, looking wobbly and breathing heavily. When she turned around, her eyes looked dull, looking like someone completely out of energy or sugar crashing. “Ya heard it right there. A deserter. I’m nothing more than that.”

I squinted my eyes, confused and flabbergasted at what she was saying. [“Hold on, you’re telling me you aren’t—”]

“Enemy. Yes. If you thought I came here to kill ya, forget it. Those damn brats? I didn’t come here for them, or to help them. In fact, I wished I could have never met them. Urgh!” She straightened her back, having had enough time to recover. “So, leave me alone. I can’t and I won’t help you. Your plan is all nice and dreamy, but it’s naive. You don’t know anything about us demonkins and why we are even fighting all of this.”

[“Then teach me!”] I shouted. [“Teach me! Tell me! Do you think ignorance about another race can just magically stop if neither side wishes to talk? There is no spell for that! That’s why I am here trying to talk with you, but you keep running away.”]

“There! That’s the crap that annoys me, keeping me wondering if all of this could work! It won’t! Ya don’t understand anything, ya are a stupid giant lizard, thinking you can make a change between the humans and demonkins. Ya a damn interloper, trying to solve a problem you never were a part of!” Rage filled her eyes, giving her the energy to argue back. “In fact, you know what? You are probably causing problems for your home and parents considering ya are here. Doing all in your power to intervene! People want ya dead; I read that newspaper!”

[“How is that my fault?!”]

She slapped her forehead, looking like she was speaking to an idiot. “Propaganda! Lies! Rage baiting! I was in the Empire for a while, hiding there from everybody to try to make a new life for myself. I heard people speaking about you, people who don’t even know you. Speaking how dangerous dragons were and how the Dragon Empire is supporting the grimgarians? Why? ‘Cause ya’re all monsters to them! A dragon and a goblin? The only difference is ya sizes!”

My head unwillingly shook, exasperated by what she said. [“That’s … Uh?”]

“Stupid? I get it, but that’s just part of a war. The humans think of us demonkins like beasts, horrors creeping from some hell … But not all of us are like that. We can be sweet, happy, angry; all the crap humans can be too. The world is a damn cesspool, if ya ask me, but at least I know that. You, though? Living in a fantasy world where everything will work out if you preach Aurena’s spit … Tell me, can you assure the Empire will not declare war against the demonkins in the near future if you somehow manage to mend things?”

[“I will try!”] I responded without hesitation, knowing full well I could not assure it. [“And I will continue trying, because I do not believe in this damn war for genocide. How old are you exactly, huh? Why are you speaking like some geezer at the end of her life? If nobody tries to change things, then how is anybody supposed to evolve? This cycle will just continue if everybody’s a cynic like you!”]

I tore off the [Panzer] on my head, revealing my dragonewt face to the demonkin. I then slammed the blunt end of my glaive on the ground, before pointing it at her. [“This is why I am asking you to teach me about the demonkins. Without any filters. Without Aurena, her priests, her followers, or whoever not related to you people giving me second hand and biased point-of-views. Verdammt, are you trying to make me bring up that stupid debt I had with you, or is—Huh?!”]

[Foresight] and [Danger Perception] activated, warning me of a sudden projectile from my right. I managed to narrowly dodge it, drawing my eyes towards it as I noticed it was blindingly white. I snapped my head around, reading my spear at the sudden trespasser.

“… You should run.” I heard Vifi’Yok whisper to me.

From the darkness of the hallway, I saw a man in sparkly white and golden armor strut into the room, showing off two sets of bulky gauntlets. He smiled, showing an air of superiority and confidence as he shook his arms. “I see you aren’t one of those foot soldiers,” he said as a blade of light suddenly grew from the slot of his right gauntlet.

“Meaning, you are one of the leaders of that merry band of rogues. A role fitting for a filthy lizard. Maybe I should have you captured and send you to the Lycerepth to have you ‘educated.’ Would be a waste to put the head of a strong beast on a spike, if you can better serve as a slave.”

… What did this guy just say to me?

“Valeria!” Some girl’s voice resounded from behind the man, calling for somebody I didn’t know. As she finally appeared, revealing herself to be an Aurena priestess, she was quickly stopped by the knight in front of her. “Sir Lautrex! You found Valeria!”

Who?

The man, presumably Lautrex, shook his head and pointed at me. “I did, but we also found the band of brigands trying to kill your friend, Lady Aiko. The young lady over there … Hmm, as a gentleman, I really should correct things and kill that lizard. Stand back, my lady, I shall—”

Wait, did he just say Aiko?!

[“Wait, are you Aiko Hasebe?! Hasebe Aiko!”] I shouted the moment I recognized that name and created a telepathic link with her, however, instead of reacting warmly to it, she flinched and shrieked.

“Hyaaa!”

“Filth!” This caused the knight next to her to shoot out a bolt of light from his left gauntlet, forcing me to block it with my glaive this time. “Wh-what? You blocked my sacred projectiles with your weapon? Impossible! Who are you?!”

What is impossible!? Why did you attack me?! Who the fuck is this Valeria?! What-what-what is going on here?!

“Lady Aiko! What happened?!” Holding his hand in front of the shocked girl, the knight was guarding her while directing one of his blades at me, all while exuding his aura.

This guy isn’t a joke! I need to apprai—

“I-I heard a voice! A woman’s voice in my head. T-they somehow knew my full name!” Aiko answered.

Only, that just agitated the knight in even. “Blackguard! Assassin! Now I know why they wanted to capture Valeria! They saw her with us on the train, and they wanted to capture her to lure you and the other heroes in to assassinate you! These scum!”

“Wh-what?! Valeria, noo!”

WHAT IS GOING ON?!

I wanted to clear things up with them, but before I could, I was once again interrupted. This time, even more people rushed into the room. From simply counting them, I ended up with a total of 13 people. That was about half of the people we came to help with, and amongst them, only ten of them looked young enough to be a student.

“Aiko-chan, what happened?!” A young man with glistening armor adorned with runes and gems asked the priestess girl, before snapping his head towards Vifi’Yok and me. “Sir Lautrex, is that our enemy?”

“Yes, Master Takuma. Lady Yuuko, that lizard is using [Telepathy] or something similar, we need you to disrupt the mana around us with your skill!”

“On it!” A fashionable girl with a heavily modified mage robe nodded her head before she snapped her fingers, creating what looked like a white magic circle on the ground. Strangely, something like a barrier formed around all of the students and knights, making them seem fuzzy.

Even more alarming, I also noticed my telepathic link with Aiko just got cut. I couldn’t form another one with any of the people inside that barrier.

“Hey, didn’t you hear me?! Run!” I jerked my head back to Viif’Yok as she shouted at me, but at the same time, this exclamation caused the students and the knights to react to it, too.

“Valeria, we came to rescue you! We won’t abandon you!” Aiko shouted, followed by the boy named Takuma, then the girl called Yuuko.

Hold on, Valeria is Vifi’Yok? Is that her pseudonym?

“That’s right!” The knight named Lautrex exclaimed. “A Hand of Heaven shall not flee when somebody is in need. Prepare yourself, blackguard!”

Hand of Heaven? This really is a big misunderstanding! Shit, I can’t talk to them. I need to transform back before this gets out of hand.

Only …

“Move aside! This is exactly what your Emperor paid us for!”

My nose caught onto a smell, an intense one I had never smelled before. Instead of sweet and calming, it was bitter and made me anxious, to the point a chill ran down my spine. If I had human skin, my hair would probably stand up, giving me goosebumps.

Five people walked through the entrance—a leonid, a katzune, a heavily-armored person, and two humans. The leonid grinned widely, licking her lips as she burst into laughter, all while a blindfolded katzune archer readied an arrow at me and the human mage his staff. The armored person moved forward, bringing up his tower shield and lance, protecting his comrades.

The leonid woman with the giant, boulder-sized hammer and the human with a set of blades walked next to the shielded lancer, taking in deep breaths.

W-why am I shivering? W-why am I feeling scared of them?

“Oooooh, we found it, Galg! Also, mhmm, smells like a female. And a strong one at that! Hmm, not too sure if it’s just a dragonewt or a dragon, though. Never easy to tell between them,” the leonid woman smiled, looking at me like her prey.

Arck! I flinched, feeling an indescribable, almost primal fear welling up from the depths of my body. I couldn’t control my shivering, nor my breathing. I-I couldn’t keep myself from fearing these five.

Almost as if she saw a moment of weakness, the leonid woman’s grin widened to the point of being creepy. “Heyie, scalekin! We are dragonslayers, are you a dragonewt who wants to kill us?”

D-dragonslayers! Wait … Galg? Galg? Where have I heard that name before? Didn’t Pradreo and Skardrvo mention a rank S dragonslayer na—Oh no. OH NO!

“She shivered,” the katzune mumbled.

“SHE SHIVERED!” the leonid and shielded lancer shouted in unison.

“RUN, YOU IDIOT!” Vifi’Yok pushed me away from them as my body suddenly froze up.

“Ahhhhhhhhh …” The human man unsheathed his dual blades. A small smile broke his stoic expression. “Hunting time.”