The Demon Fire reignited the homeland of the man who served as its perch. Only the six closest soldiers were swallowed by the flames. The rest had deployed magic barriers and narrowly escaped being burned to death.

What a wonderful gift. To think there were those capable of enduring such a raging inferno. Dancing blue flames, the smell of burning flesh soaking into the nostrils, ash drifting upward through the air… All of it felt pleasant.

What colored the scene was the fury of men. The feast that could once only be tasted through the mask now coursed through the entire body. There was no introduction. It was rough and uncivilized, but there was no need to wait. After all, that was the nature of demons.

Like a child invited out to play, the demon leapt forward. In an instant it closed the distance with the opposing soldiers. Despite the shock etched across their faces, their blades flashed. It was a defensive reaction born from repeated training.

With a casually extended fist, the demon knocked the sword away, wrist and all. Then it embraced the soldier as though they were intimate lovers.

“Such a niiice smell~”

Baring its fangs, the demon whispered beside the man’s ear. The soldier, engulfed in scorching blue flames and terror, begged desperately.

“Stop, let g—!”

The demon opened its mouth wide in vulgar hunger and devoured the soldier from the shoulder. Blood spilled out, vaporizing as the blue flames seared it. Within the demon’s arms, the soldier trembled like an untouched maiden.

Fresh. Sweet. The rich aroma of blood passed through the demon’s nose. The sensation intoxicated it like a child tasting alcohol for the first time.

But it still wasn’t enough. The thirst that had dried for so long erupted violently. Driving its hand like a blade into the soldier’s twitching side, the demon searched within and grasped what it sought. It stuffed it into its mouth. The heart throbbed on the demon’s tongue before sliding down the throat and settling deep within her stomach.

“Tasty~”

The demon licked the blood from its lips with a long tongue. It had been so long since it had enjoyed such a feast that the words slipped out involuntarily, but there was no time to breathe.

Magic was launched toward her. The demon exhaled Demon Fire, stopping the attack. The mana collided and the two powers blended together. A satisfying sound echoed deep in its gut. Before the next volley could begin, the demon targeted nearby enemies.

“I-it’s coming!!”

A convenient group of three.

The demon charged forward, blue flames trailing behind it. A spear tip thrust into her path to block the advance, and the other two raised their weapons in support. If she exposed her side or halted her steps, both would strike.

The demon followed its battle instinct.

Before the spear could pierce the chest, she slipped beneath it in a posture nearly crawling along the ground. The spearman twisted his wrist, attempting to strike with the spear’s butt but the demon’s rising punch pierced straight through his chest armor.

An elbow burst through his back. The soldier’s cheeks bulged grotesquely before blood sprayed outward. His skin and hair drank in the blood like dry sand swallowing water.

The two remaining soldiers tried to strike down the demon along with their fallen comrade, but the demon simply swung the chunk of flesh in its hand with brute force.

“Ah… so you dodged.”

A dull thud echoed, like a water-filled leather sack being slammed against the stone pavement. Noticing that one sound was missing, the demon sighed.

“I’ve grown dull.”

Clutching its dislocated shoulder, it prepared to amuse itself by playing demon-and-prey with the soldier trying to retreat beyond her reach when it sensed the wind and pulled back.

“Howard, fall back!!”

A violent gust tore through the space between them.

A familiar attack.

Tilting its head aside, the demon spotted the former adventurer who wielded wind. She was the woman who had inflicted a fatal wound upon the mask’s previous owner.

Too much male blood alone lacked color. A thoughtful consideration.

“Thanks for the treat~”

The demon casually crushed a soldier who was about to be consumed by the blue flames in its path and snatched up a war hammer. Blades were fine, but blunt weapons solved problems with refreshing simplicity.

Testing it, the demon clashed with a swordsman. A mana-infused Strong Strike shattered the sword from its flat and burst the man’s head into a cloud of blood.

The demon swung the hammer once, twice, like a stick, testing the balance.

Not bad. Any lack of durability could be compensated by coating it with mana.

One strike broke metal. Another tore flesh. Each swing brought destruction to something.

The battlefield flickered like a bonfire shaped like a man, swaying along with its limbs. Corpses piled up, and the fallen were swallowed by flames and turned to ash. The remaining enemies could now be counted on two hands.

A pity that their numbers were limited.

The demon dodged a spear thrust from the side, then struck the soldier and gouged out his eye, burning it away. Deprived of sight and maddened by pain, the soldier wildly swung his spear in every direction. For the demon, it was practically assistance.

“You shouldn’t look away.”

Distracted by the disgrace of his comrade, another soldier hurriedly lowered his blade and braced himself. A soldier who lost flexibility was no different from a clam sealed in its shell.

After all, the demon had the tools to pry it open.

With the war hammer, she knocked away the soldier’s weapon, then grabbed his Adam’s apple with its bare hand and tore it out while burning the flesh away. It was no different from preparing shellfish.

Just as it burned the scraps of meat stuck to its palm, the Demon Fire flickered. Through the web of blue flames it had spread out, the demon sensed an attack approaching from a blind spot.

Catching the strike with the shaft of the hammer, she snapped her leg back and kicked behind.

“Ggh! Fuuugh!!”

“Lefty?!”

A girl screamed.

The breastplate struck by the kick caved inward into an oval shape. Even through the demon’s straw sandal, it felt several ribs shatter but it voiced its dissatisfaction.

“Don’t exaggerate. Get up already.”

The kick had been meant to crush his organs, but he had concentrated his magic barrier around his abdomen and leapt backward, dispersing the force.

The former adventurer called Lefty rolled across the ground and slid to a stop. Blood stained his lips, but he clenched his teeth and stood again.

“That face is better than the blank one. Come on, try harder or the girl dies.”

“Don’t mock me!!”

The spirit was admirable, but his sword could never reach the demon. His magic barrier was steadily being worn down by the Demon Fire.

Had he fought head-on from the start, Walm would likely have been offered as a sacrifice instead.

Sword and war hammer crossed. The magic barriers covering them peeled away, and the shrill sound of metal scraping metal rang out.

He thought he was holding on through sheer number of strikes, but to the demon it was a poor choice. His breathing grew heavy, and his mana and concentration drained away.

“Got you.”

Matching Lefty’s forward step, the demon brought her foot down. Her sandal crushed the girl’s half-boots, pinning her in place and sealing her movement.

Folding its arm through the gap, the demon brought the war hammer down.

Unable to retreat, the girl bent her left elbow and raised her round shield diagonally upward, supporting it with her right hand while still gripping her short sword.

It was a sharp reaction, but Strong Strike tore through it mercilessly.

The round shield shattered, its reinforced backing splintering apart. It flew from her hand as her arm bent limply like a broken twig.

A familiar sight.

Peering into the man’s memories, the demon pulled up the moment and mimicked the tone from back then.

“Broken again.”

The demon laughed innocently.

The girl’s expression twisted again and again, shifting through emotions in frantic succession.

“I’m not the same as I was back then!!”

Transparent bravado, but how delightful.

This girl even satisfied the demon’s sadistic urges. The demon had been troubled by a lingering sense of dissatisfaction, but now it found joy in wondering how many times that face would twist before it broke.

Carelessly swinging its weapon, the demon pressed her with simple blows from every direction. Her entire body was gradually carved apart.

Lefty and the remaining soldiers attempted interference, but it only delayed the inevitable.

Two more strikes… perhaps three.
Then it would be over.

The demon had been completely absorbed in the girl but suddenly a chill ran down its spine, snapping it back to its senses. The heat in its skin vanished, replaced by cold that raised goosebumps.

Among the fine sacrifices gathered here, there was one who stood out above the rest… someone who irresistibly drew the demon’s attention.

It knew the lineage well. A bloodline where men were born crossing the boundary between worlds. The man’s elder brother had also been loved by battle.

Believing he had killed his younger brother, the man had stood there blankly. Now resolve had returned to his face.

The freezing sharpness of his gaze filled the demon with joy.

“So the younger brother wields Demon Fire, and the elder Frostbind, eh? What a close pair you are.”

The world grew cold as if rejecting the Demon Fire.

Grass and trees that should have burned down instead seemed to freeze together with the flames.

Each step the soldier took produced sharp cracking sounds as ice formed and sang through the air.

A man born in the Highserk Empire, who in a short time had risen to become one of the greatest powers of the Libertoa Trade Federation… the symbol of martial strength among the Highserk exiles.

Hayes, the wielder of Frostbind that could freeze all things, stepped forward to challenge the Nation-Burning Great Demon.

Translator – Lyxxna