Chapter 302: Ninsei and Tomokatzu

"Ohoh! Look, Tomokatzu! Look at that dude! He has an iron club! We should be careful, or he might..." 

*boom* - Before finishing his sentence, the warrior in light armor placed both hands under the stall and lifted it forcefully. The large wooden table that held the merchants' rare goods was toppled over, and all the items fell ruinously onto the square floor. 

"Oh, no! No, no, no!" the merchant shouted, dropping the iron club from his hands and throwing himself on the ground, picking up all the objects he could. The devilish laughter of the Demon Hunter in light armor rumbled in the ears of Yoichi, whose fists were clenched in rage.

Out of the corner of his eye, the Goldhaven tamer scanned his next enemies, focusing on the one who had just knocked over the stall table. He was a slender warrior and wore full leather armor with two daggers tucked into his belt.

During that chaos, the merchant's son and wife backed fearfully toward the carriage. As was suspected, none of the citizens of Oakenfair came to the aid of the stall owners. Almost everyone present stood on either side of the square and watched the show. 

"Hey," Yoichi thundered. His gaze pointed downward. The Demon Hunter continued to chuckle out loud, waving his arms and continuing to threaten the merchant. "Hey!" - Intent on making his voice heard amongst all the hubbub, Yoichi shouted.

Suddenly, silence fell in the square. Karasu, Takuma's scarecrow demon, got off his horse creaking and its tamer psychologically prepared to fight.

"Uh? Did you say something, little princess?" the tamer in light armor asked with a bully tone. Turning to Yoichi, he shifted his attention to the two unknown adventurers.

"Don't you think you've gone too far, hothead? Stealing is wrong, I'm sure you don't lack the money to pay for that relic. Apologize immediately for what you did" - Yoichi's hands continued to clench his fists. Inwardly, the young tamer knew that at any moment that he would have to summon Kenji. 

"What?" the enemy warrior exclaimed, bowing his head and looking at Yoichi with psychopathic eyes. Trying to intimidate his interlocutor, the warrior in light armor approached Yoichi, stopping inches away from him until he could feel his breath. "Why don't you crawl out of the hole you came from? Or better, why don't you pay for the relic? I see you have quite a nest egg, little boy." 

The enemy warrior placed his index finger on Yoichi's chest and pushed him backwards. The young tamer took a step back and looked up at him. 

"Friends, I advise you to lay off," Takuma spoke from behind. The Grimbrook warrior flanked his teammate, talking to the enemy instead. "You don't know who you're dealing with. You and your friend should just apologize and be ashamed of yourselves for trying to steal from such a young and honest merchant," he continued, looking at the junior merchant out of the corner of his eye and putting a smile on his face.

"Ninsei" - The baritone voice of the man in plate armor broke the silence. "These two gnats have pissed me off. We should squash them, take their money and go eat something. I'm kind of peckish," Tomokatzu added.

"I more than agree, man. Somebody's got to have a good beer in this dump," Ninsei replied, the slimmer of the two. "I'm sorry, kid. Today doesn't seem to be your lucky day." Ninsei's evil smile appeared on his face as he looked at Yoichi. 

After those words, tired of losing his breath with the two of them, Yoichi uttered the only valid word in those circumstances. "Ildriss." 

In a spiral of flaming air, the Goldhaven warrior's Oracle emanated its draconic aura, gradually taking shape in the center of the square. As its black horns and long reptilian tail took shape, even its tamer noticed that its appearance was slightly different. 

Behind the small dragon's feline paws, small black spikes were pointing upward. Those draconic details gave Kenji a more threatening air. As a result of the upgrade, its sharp teeth had also become even longer, and the forward ones were slightly curved inward. 

What the hell happened to Kenji? Why does it look bigger than before? Yoichi thought to himself. I've never seen those black spikes before, and its whole body looks much heavier than what I remembered! 

"Screek!" - Suddenly, after hearing his Oracle's cry, Yoichi realized what had happened. Focusing on that scene, he involuntarily questioned the Demon Pet System. 

Writings appeared on the rocky floor of the Oakenfair square, showing the most up-to-date data about the little dragon demon. 

[Kenji: 0/11 pts - level 10] 

[Level up bonus: +1 all stats].

After his last fight, when it received two XP points, Kenji had leveled up! Yoichi had been forced to hurriedly flee from the hill where the Demon Hunter archer's killing had taken place and had not given the Demon Pet System time to show the report of the fight. 

However, due to the circumstances, Yoichi could not share the excitement of that moment with Takuma: the two enemies in front of them were ready to summon their demons and would fight without scruples.

"Sernoch!" - "Gorkog!" 

Almost simultaneously, Ninsei and Tomokatzu uttered the names of their demon pets, starting the summoning phase.

Two grayish air streams started from their feet. They slithered between the floor tiles like two ethereal snakes, giving birth to their demons: thin red laces appeared from nowhere, starting to intertwine and form muscle fibers. 

Human-like bones then surrounded those elongated muscles. Two long arms took shape on one side, two legs on the other side. The two arms were in front of Ninsei, the warrior in light armor.

Between them, when even the shoulders were complete with bone and muscle, a terrifying skull head was generated from the same substance. The scary demon's jaw was hanging downward and malformed. The teeth and chin pieces were held together by a few strands of muscle.