Erebus was currently sitting on top of a very large gorilla that was missing its head.

Since there was no one around, Erebus didn’t need to hold back. So all the monsters that attacked were dispatched with a swing of his mighty fist.

Vyne and Tear were currently setting up a camp not too far off. They had been in the forest for a day now, they had found the way out of the forest but decided to explore that area after they sat down and rested for a little.

Well, Erebus was still bursting with energy. Tear and Vyne were a little exhausted, though. This was mostly due to Erebus sprinting off to somewhere and they had to follow.

He climbed off of the gorilla and headed over to the small camp that the duo had created. Vyne was reading a book that Yvick had leant him and Tear was brushing her hair.

Erebus sat down and laid his head on Tear’s lap to take a nap, much to her excitement.

He did this because her lap was very soft, unlike Vyne’s. Of course, he let her think whatever of it.

By the way, the book Vyne was reading was on the subject of humans and magic circles. It would turn out that Yvick had done research on what happens to their bodies when magic circles were placed on directly.

According to Yvick, the magic circle would be burned onto the skin where it was placed. For example, when he placed a magic circle for Common class magic on Subject 12’s stomach, the circle burned into her skin. When he had a servant use healing magic on it, the burn would not heal. The human the circle was placed on, however, would experience excruciating pain.

A few even died from it.

The survival rate was about 1% if they didn’t die from the shock. The mana that was poured into the magic circle would ultimately kill them.

It goes on and on... it was a rather thick book.

When Erebus awoke from his short nap, the trio started moving once again. The area that they were looking for was hidden behind the waterfall. It was a set of oaken doors that gave off a yellowish glow.

“Suspicious. This place is suspicious,” Vyne muttered. No matter how he looked at it, something they didn’t want to deal with would be lurking beyond the doors.

Erebus, as always, was not concerned.

He pushed open the heavy doors with barely any effort and entered the room, Tear and Vyne followed him.

They entered a room that was colossal in size. Everything was completely white. Large pillars at least fifty meters in height stretched up to the ceiling.

“Ugh,” Vyne groaned.

“No, no, that looks really dangerous,” Tear complained.

“Oo...”

What they were referring to would be the magic circle three meters in diameter drawn out in blood on the white tile.

The circle began to glow brightly and Vyne let out another groan. Why couldn’t they just explore this place without an annoying obstacle?

A large figure began to rise out of the ground. It was a set of armor about nine meters in size. The armor it was was completely black with dark red veins throughout it. The helmet was clearly empty except for two glowing fires that resembled eyes. In the hands of the empty armor was a broadsword that had a similar design to the rest of the armor. Completely black with red crackling.

“Interesting. Vyne, Tear, deal with it.” Erebus sat down on the ground, resting his elbow on his thighs as he propped his head up on his palm.

“Uu...” Tear’s bow and arrow appeared. “This won’t be easy...”

Vyne’s sword materialized in his hand. “Tear, support me.”

“Tch. Be lucky if I don’t hit you in the back.”

He glared at her but didn’t say anything more. Vyne flapped his wings and began to fly at towards the armor with speed that made Erebus raise his eyebrows a little.

So he’s gotten faster, huh? Erebus thought as he watched this.

Vyne swung his sword and the armor reacted to him with agility that it shouldn’t have. A large thing like that shouldn’t be able to move that fast.

That’s just cheating.

The armor skillfully countered Vyne and sent the demon flying back. If Vyne didn’t have his wings, he would’ve been sent flying through the pillars.

Tear released the arrow she had been building up before the armor had the chance to attack Vyne.

Again, with blinding speed, the armor blocked the powerful mana arrow with its sword. But, the impact caused it to slid back a little.

Vyne came at the armor again and swung his sword vertically, this time adding a little magic to it. It was a skill Vyne had acquired a few centuries ago.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

A blade of sheer pressurized air slashed at the armor. It caused a small scratch to appear straight down the middle, but that was about it.

Tear fired off another arrow before the armor had time to recuperate. It was a solid hit like Vyne’s, but it only made a tiny dent.

“What the hell is that armor made out of?” the two said at the same time.

Erebus watched this expression of knowing. The armor was similar to Yvick’s plates.

Tear continued to fire off powerful arrows with rapid speed and Vyne sent multiple pressurized blades of air at the armor.

The armor wasn’t able to counter the hit but what did hit it didn’t cause an immense damage.

Tear and Vyne weren’t stupid. They focused on a specific area of the armor to break, and that was its left shoulder.

The armor was only using one hand to swing its sword and that was its left hand. Its strength could rival Erebus’ seeing as the broadsword was incredibly heavy. When Vyne would get hit by it, even with blocking the brunt of the blow with his sword, he coughed up a little blood.

“Hmm.” Erebus watched as they successfully removed its shoulder. “This is great training for those two, they’re not used to opponents stronger than them.”

The armor stood there for a moment before bending down to pick up its sword with its right hand.

Tear and Vyne let out a simultaneous groan.

Cheating. That’s cheating.

Erebus laughed a little at this, it was actually kind of entertaining to watch them struggle. They had grown a tad arrogant.

The armor must be at Demon Emperor rank, a truly amazing foe. Even Erebus would have some difficulty destroying it, well, if he wasn’t using his magic.

Tear looked tired from shooting off so many arrows. She hadn’t filled them with a small amount of mana like she normally did, this time she had poured large amounts of mana into the arrows. Each arrow had about the same amount of mana King class magic would require.

No, she couldn’t give up. Her master was watching her!

Tear raised her arrow again with eyes full of determination and began to shoot off the arrows again.

Vyne, too, was a little tired of using so much magic within a short amount of time. He readied his sword for another swing, anyway.

They continued to fight the armor until they were completely exhausted. For some reason, they just couldn’t get any more of its limbs to fall off.

Erebus, seeing that their battle had reached a stagnant, stood up. He cracked his neck and stretched his muscles.

“Good job, you two. I will deal with the rest.”

“But Lord Erebus--”

“Stand back, Vyne,” Erebus said.

Vyne bowed his head. “Understood.”

He and Tear both retreated and fell to the ground in exhaustion, breathing heavily.

“Hello~ you seem to have caused my subordinates a little more trouble than I was expecting,” Erebus greeted the armor.

Its fiery eyes simply stared down at Erebus.

“I’ll be destroying you now.” Erebus’ signature vicious grin spread across his face and he began to walk towards the armor.

As the shortened the distance, Erebus began to move faster and faster. When he reached a good speed, Erebus bent his knees and pushed off the ground.

When he did so, a semi-deep depression was formed in the tile. Erebus shot like a bullet through the air.

Erebus reached the maximum of his jump and began to drop. As he descended, Erebus drop-kicked the armor directly on the top of its head.

The armor was not destroyed but it still started to fall forward. Erebus then swung his other leg into the side of its head and sent the armor flying through the pillars.

The armor began to stand up slowly and began to run towards Erebus who was now standing on the ground. Every time its feet touched the ground, a large clap filled the air.

Erebus grinned and met the armor half way. He put his full strength into his punch this time. The force blew the helmet off of the rest of the armor and it fell to the ground.

When he landed on top of it, Erebus let out a little laugh.

That was pretty fun. It had been such a long time since he was able to put his full force into a blow.

Just as Erebus stood up, he felt a sharp pain in his head.

Oh boy, had that much time passed already?

A deep resounding voice said:

You worthless runt. What do you think you’re doing making all of us wait for your arrival?