The force of the blast was overwhelming, sending us reeling backwards despite our attempts to dig our feet into the ground. The very earth itself shook beneath us, and the once-sturdy trees were ripped from their roots as screams of terror filled the air. Despite the urgent commands being shouted by higher-ranked exorcists, the deafening roar of the explosion drowned out any hope of anyone understanding them.

"Gem!" I shouted to my teammate, and a tendril of shadow enveloped me, taking the form of a slender wolf's limb. Carpy swooped down from above and quickly created a protective water barrier around us.

"What in fucks name is that?!" exclaimed Gem, pointing shakily towards one of the distant mountains.

My heart raced with fear, and a sense of unease crept over me. The sheer size and power of the creature were beyond anything I had ever encountered, its massive body coiled around the mountain in a deadly embrace. The serpent's scales glistened in the sunlight like a thousand shards of obsidian, and I couldn't help but feel a sense of overwhelming dread wash over me.

The monster’s eyes flickered with malevolent cunning, its colossal maw stretching wide to expose glistening fangs. The resulting roar reverberated through the earth, sending tremors quaking through my very being. The atmosphere was suffused with an oppressive presence that seemed to wrap around my neck like a noose, a promise of inevitable danger and destruction.

Every instinct in my body screamed at me to run, to hide, to do anything to escape the looming peril.

Uwabami, the Ultimate Class Demon, was a fierce subordinate of Yamata No Orochi, renowned for his unparalleled strength and ferocity. Some even dubbed him the 'mad dog' of Yamata No Orochi, a fitting title for a beast so wild and untamed.

"Master Orochi! How could you leave me behind like this?" Uwabami cried, tears as large as ponds spilling from its eyes. Each word that escaped its mouth seemed to cause the air around us to shudder as if the very fabric of reality couldn’t handle the strength of its emotions.

“Everyone! Group together! This is an Ultimate Class Demon!” The headmaster's urgent call cut through the chaos like a knife, and I could see the panic on the faces of many of the exorcists around me. But amidst the fear and confusion, there were still those who kept their cool, who had faced danger before and knew how to respond to it. They quickly rallied around the headmaster's command, forming a tight circle as they prepared to face the Ultimate Class Demon.

I refrained from grouping together with the other exorcists because I knew that if Uwabami decided to attack, it would go for the biggest cluster of humans. I wasn't about to make myself a convenient target.

However, the pungent aroma of alcohol mixed with the nauseating stench of decay permeated the area as Uwabami exhaled. It was evident that the gargantuan serpent had indulged in its infamous predilection for alcohol, much like its master, Yamata No Orochi, and his other snake subordinates.

"I'll buy you guys some time! Figure something out!" The newly arrived Sun Exorcist leaped towards the mountain where Uwabami was coiled, using a fireball as a foothold to launch himself into the air.

As he clenched his fists, the Ord within intensified to an astonishing level. He sacrificed his lifespan to amplify the power of his fire Ord, causing his punches to create blazing meteors that soared toward Uwabami.

A series of thunderous explosions rocked the battlefield, the intense heat of which could be felt even from this distance. The mountain that Uwabami had coiled around was melting into pools of lava, resembling the aftermath of a volcano that had just erupted. But despite the scorching heat, the Ultimate Class demon remained unfazed, still drunk and crying as if in mourning. Strangely, the serpent's tears seemed to quell the raging volcano, calming it down until it was no more than a mere bubbling hill of lava.

"Hic, Master Orochi. How could you have lost to these weaklings? They must have cheated! Did you use some kind of dirty trick on Master Orochi?" Uwabami's drunken ramblings echoed across the battlefield, causing the Sun Exorcist to clutch his bleeding ears in agony. Despite the pain and ringing in his ears, the Sun Exorcist remained steadfast, his determination unshaken.

He raised his arms like Goku about to summon a spirit bomb. But instead of that, the Sun Exorcist conjured a blazing meteor that expanded in size until it reached the height of a ten-story building.

Ahhh! It's hot! Hot!" Some of the exorcists screamed as the intense heat caused their skin to scorch, and they quickly sought cover behind various barriers.

The Sun Exorcist, with his white hair and wrinkled face, took a deep breath and gritted his teeth as he threw the massive meteor toward Uwabami. "Take that, you damned snake!"

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He hurled the meteor directly at Uwabami's gaping maw and forced the Ultimate Class Demon's jaws wide open with a resounding impact. But what happened next caught even me off guard. The alcohol in Uwabami's mouth caught fire, and the flames quickly traveled down its throat to its stomach.

BOOOM!... The ensuing explosion was big enough to engulf the mountain, and the blast radius spread toward our camp. Without hesitation, a tall, nerdy-looking man stepped forward, his hands clasped together as he focused his energy. With a burst of power, he created a massive barrier that shielded us.

The man who stood before the blast was none other than The Moon Exorcist, a renowned figure among the exorcists who had died in a certain part of the Manga. Despite his nerdy appearance, his skill in creating barriers was unmatched, and he was ranked as the 18th strongest exorcist. Many of the clans relied on his expertise to create powerful barriers around their compounds. And now, as the blast threatened to engulf our camp, he stepped up to protect us all.

The Moon Exorcist gritted his teeth as he struggled to maintain his barrier against the explosive force of the blast. Beads of sweat trickled down his forehead as he poured all of his Ord into reinforcing the shield.

Carpy wrapped himself around me, and without saying a word, we both understood what needed to be done next. Our flesh melted together, and our energies fused as we turned into neither human nor demon but something in between.

{Perfect Me: Metamorphosis!}

With Carpy's sensing powers, I was able to grasp the true magnitude of the power gap between us and that monstrous creature. It was almost laughable how an Ultimate Class demon like Uwabami was considered to be on the lower end of power compared to its peers of similar class.

Taking a deep breath, I focused all my concentration on gathering as much Ord as possible into my lungs, and I felt them filling up with a dense, liquid energy. My fish-like physiology made it possible for me to hold this much water without being drowned by it.

I waited until the tsunami of fire was close enough and spewed out a torrent of water that clashed with it. The barrier the Moon Exorcist had put up had taken on a red hue, and it was the specific kind made to stop the fire. But my water passed right through it.

Water and fire clashed, creating a dense mist and causing small explosions.

A bead of sweat rolled down my cheek, and I felt my Ord reserves depleting rapidly. Conjuring so much water out of nothing required a tremendous amount of Ord. If only I were near a sea, lake, or some significant water source, it would have been much easier.

However, I had no time to search for one; my priority was locating the new Sun Exorcist. To my dismay, I couldn't sense his presence anywhere. It appeared that the last attack had taken his life.

That was a bit sad, I hadn't known him for a long time, but the guy seemed nice, unlike the last bastard who held that post. Now all that was left was to somehow get rid… No, at best, we could only survive against a monster like that.

As the smoke cleared up, the giant serpent coughed a couple of times as it lay on the destroyed mountain. The snake's skin was charred black in a couple of spots, but it was hard to tell if he was hurt or if that was just residue from the mountain.

"Cough, that one stung a bit," the snake complained. The demon looked up and sighed once it saw that it was midday. "Did he have to burn the alcohol inside of me too? I don't like being sober at this time of the day."

"So, any plan on how to deal with this?" Gem asked, his voice trembling.

I responded with a rhetorical question of my own. "Does it look like any strategy or scheme would work against a monster of that size?"

If I knew schemes would work against Ultimate Class Demons, I would have put some effort into becoming a politician in this world.

Suddenly the mist around us started twisting. No, it wasn't mist but smoke. It formed into a cloud above the camp, casting shadows over the valley.

The headmaster had a serious look on his face as he stared at the Ultimate Class demon. His gaze sharpened. "Today, we will avenge our comrades!"

After he said that, the cloud moved and surrounded the mountain the serpent was lying on. Uwabami coughed a couple of times before blowing out a breath and scattering all of the smoke. "Humans and their special abilities, they never change. Though the exorcists nowadays sure have gotten weaker, two thousand years ago, they actually posed a threat."

I quickly separated from Carpy, and Perfect Me canceled prematurely as it couldn't see a possibility where I could win this battle.

"Carpy, take us out of here." I turned toward Gem. "Where is Bets?"

"In another patrol team… before you came here, we were all separated into different squads," he explained.

Shit, that wasn't good. Bets' special ability was good and had a lot of potential, but it wasn't something combat-centered. Still, there was something more important at hand; I had to deal with Uwabami who had come out of nowhere.

As far as I knew, the creature had no weakness physically. There were no vulnerable points on its body. No one on the field could help us do anything, either.

The closest one was Temperance, one of the special exorcists here, who had the power to stop someone from using their supernatural energy by touching them, but Uwabami could easily slap her away with a swing of its tail.

The environment was in ruins and flames, and there was some mist around but no big water source I could take advantage of. I could think of no plan of attack to defeat a monster like that.

But, despite everything failing, I still had a plan in mind. A strategy that was perfect for situations like these.