I was the leader of a team I could barely understand most of the time.

Agon was sleepy despite having slept as much as he needed, and Bets got tired faster than someone his age should. The latter was a fit young man, but maybe all those muscles were the problem?

We were deep in enemy territory, surrounded by demons, so we couldn't afford to be anything less than our best selves.

I already had enough to worry about with Uwabami following us. Was she an enemy? A friend? Neutral?

Part of me wanted to use her misunderstanding about Agon to convince her to work with us. It could make this whole ordeal a lot easier, but it could also go terribly wrong. The main problem was that she was so powerful that none of us could defeat her, except maybe Sei, who hadn't yet discovered all of his powers and how he was related to Tamae No Mae. Agon was more of a double-edged sword, and then there was me, the leader of this rag-tag group.

Was I regretting coming on this mission? Yes, kind of. One mistake and we would be done, or at best one of us would die. We couldn't afford to make any mistakes, and I had to keep these guys under control.

Just as my mind was swirling with worries, Carpy added one more to the list. "Master, someone is following us. It seems to be some kind of firefly demon."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of this," Agon exclaimed. He turned around, gathered Ord on his fist, and pushed it outward, creating a sphere of energy just in front of him. He then gathered Ord on his fist once more and punched the sphere, sending a devastating attack toward the firefly demon in the distance.

{Impact Cannon}

The poor low-class demon couldn't even react before a large explosion rang out, pushing the clouds away from its epicenter and definitely revealing our position to any demon within a ten-mile radius.

It seemed like Agon being sleepy somehow lowered his IQ even further. I didn't think that was possible, since he was a shounen protagonist, but his IQ might have just entered negative numbers.

"Why the hell did you do that!?" I demanded.

"What? I have a long-range ability now, so I used it. Do you want the enemy to keep spying on us?" Agon tried to make his point.

I pointed with my thumb at Anika behind me. "Then what about her? You know, the once-in-a-generation Blaster who could have killed the demon without notifying everything within a five-mile radius?"

Agon's eyes widened at that. "Ah, sorry, that's my bad."

I rubbed my eyes. I couldn't stay mad at him after he admitted his mistake and apologized. That would just make me the asshole who wasted time on useless things. "Whatever, let's just move on. Staying around will just make things worse."

But as I was about to order the retreat, I remembered something from the manga. In the original story, when Agon used this long range ability, he would have been tired and even have passed out much later on. Yet here he was, standing tall and not even breathing heavily.

I turned toward Carpy and asked him to come closer, whispering, "How much Ord does Agon have?"

"A lot, and he seems to be almost full," Carpy answered without hesitation.

How was this possible? Had I changed things so much that Agon had reached this level?

In the original manga, he only reached this level after battling Yamata No Orochi in his mindscape and stealing a part of its power. But this new development was too fast for Agon to have had a chance to grow to that level. The only reason he was able to do so in the original manga was by tricking the ultimate class demon and entering its mouth while using the Kusanagi Sword to seal its power.

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Wait, had Yamata No Orochi somehow taken over Agon's body? Actually, that would make a lot of sense. But I was dubious since Agon was the main character. Yet at the same time, things worked differently in this world, and that was-...

I stopped thinking about it as Carpy nudged me and pointed his tail toward the sky, where dozens of flying demons were surveying the area.

"Well, it seems like his friends are already here. This is our cue to leave," I said. From Carpy's signal, the flying demons were middle-class, with a high-class demon leading them.

My team nodded in agreement, except for Uwabami, who seemed indifferent. She picked up a handful of stones and hurled them towards the flying demons. The attack broke the sound barrier, and each stone thundered as it flew. One by one, the demons fell, and even the high-class demon was pulverized by a stone the size of my thumb.

This served as a stark reminder of the vast difference between high-class and ultimate-class demons. Shuten Doji's territory was filled with high-class demons everywhere, yet Uwabami made them look like nothing.

With Uwabami sniping any demon that dared to get close, we were able to escape without much difficulty. I never thought of her as a long-range fighter, as her power was clearly meant for short-range combat. However, when it came to battling lower-level demons, she was more than capable.

After running for a full day, we decided to rest in a cave. Agon immediately went to sleep, but the rest of us decided to play a game of poker. Uwabami joined in too and picked up the rules quickly. Sei, on the other hand, was clearly unhappy about having a demon on our team and being so "friendly" with her. But he knew we were in no position to refuse her help.

To everyone's surprise, Bets turned out to be an excellent gambler. He won almost every hand, and when he did lose, he would fold before his losses could get too big.

"Heh, you might have the stamina of a middle-aged man, but you have the poker face of a pro," Gem joked.

Bets smiled and added, "If I wanted to hide something, I could easily do so. Although, I don't think anyone would have a hard time hiding something from you, Gem."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Gem, as always, was easily provoked.

...

Over the next couple of days, we traveled, and Uwabami easily disposed of any demons that came close. Our plan was going much smoother than we had thought, as Uwabami had eliminated so many demons just walking around than we ever could otherwise, especially high-class demons. She had killed several dozens of them already.

It was another day of rest, and Bets was taking all our money by gambling. The guy never went easy. Agon was the first to lose all the money he had taken with him, which was unsurprising. It was between him and Gem, but Gem was from a rich family and had a lot of pocket money.

"Control your Ord!" Anika yelled at Agon as he tried to keep a sphere of Ord in front of him. "Good, imbue more Ord in the sphere and then shoot it."

With Agon's new surprising amount of Ord, he had more than enough to train his special abilities. He followed Anika's instructions and punched the Ord ball. The attack moved through the air like a tactical missile and landed atop a mountain peak, exploding with such fervor that it destroyed the mountain peak.

This was the beauty of Agon's simplistic special abilities. As long as he had enough Ord and could charge up the attack, he could easily kill opponents above his level.

"Remember, if you need a piercing attack, add some spinning to the Ord sphere. That usually works for highly defensive opponents," Anika said. She was a surprisingly good teacher.

Turning around, she met my eyes and quickly looked away. "A-anyways, continue your TRAINING!"

"Why are you suddenly screaming at me!?" Agon was confused, which earned him a slap on the back of the head by Anika.

It was the usual shounen trope of the heroine beating up the main character.

…

After a week of slaughtering demons, we finally arrived at what could only be called the edge of Shuten Doji's territory. An imposing line of dense mountains stretched before us, their peaks looming high into the sky. Beyond them, an endless ocean churned restlessly. Every now and then, mysterious water demons surfaced, peering curiously at us before disappearing once again into the depths.

But it was the tallest mountain peak that drew our attention, crowned by a foreboding Japanese-style castle shrouded in dark clouds. As we approached, I noticed tiny skulls wriggling and writhing along the castle walls as if attempting to escape their eerie confinement of the white walls.

As we gazed up at the towering structure, a sense of dread washed over us, sending shivers down our spines. The building loomed over us menacingly, its sleek facade glistening in the pale light.

Suddenly, a deafening roar erupted from the castle behind us. It was unlike anything we had ever experienced before, a raw, primal power that seemed to shake the very earth beneath our feet. The sound waves reverberated through the air, causing the mountains and sea to stand still. For a moment, time seemed to freeze as everyone within earshot was held in place by the sheer force of Ord's release.

It was like a tsunami made of concrete, crashing down upon us with a force that threatened to crush us all. A deep sense of dread washed over me, as if the very fabric of reality had been torn apart by the sheer magnitude.