Chapter 41 Crisis Rising

"Now..." The huge mantis demon started talking in a rough, hoarse voice all of a sudden. "Let's see if you can still catch up with my attacks."

"Are you challenging me?" Rin asked, showing a strained smile at the demon.

Even with the tension suddenly growing in her heart, she endured herself to not be intimidated by the opponent's sudden outburst of oppressive aura.

'So this is what anime protagonists experience whenever they face such a powerful-looking dude, huh? How menacing,' Rin grinned at herself.

She never expected that her childhood dream of being able to fight against a 'hella-strong baddie guy' would come true at an inopportune time. At that point she thought, life must have been doting too much on her.

Yeah, if it's that then there's no need for me to worry, she said to herself.

Seeing the girl in front of her look seemingly excited by the sudden turn of events, the mantis demon grew irritated.

"You...what's funny...?!"

Rin sneered at his reaction. "Ah, nothing. For a while I just thought that you looked more imposing when you started to transform."

The demon got taken aback with her words. Is that a statement of provocation? Are those words just a part of her sarcastic attitude?

"Lass...it's useless even if you try to provoke me..." The demon spoke in a cold, harsh tone.

"You should be grateful that you're being praised by a girl like me, but instead you're taking that as a negative? Really, everyone's being more and more unappreciative nowadays..."

Now, would those kinds of banter work on him? Rin carefully examined the demon's reaction. Depending on whether the demon ignore the words she said or not, words alone would not defeat someone who was bent on killing her. Only when she defeats the demon would be the time her words matter.

"I'll cut that sharp tongue of yours!" The demon roared as he leaped towards her.

"Ha! Try if you can!" Rin replied daringly.

Sparks light up the place as their blades met once more. Striking from every direction at an even faster pace than before, the two sides' techniques would leave anyone who could see them shudder in awe.

"Modified Demon Hunter Style, [Witchbroom Sweep]!"

Kicking the ground beneath her, Rin unleashed a rain of sword strikes arranged in a wide arc against the demon.

"H-Huh?!"

However, halfway through, she noticed that the aura of the demon changed, causing her to stop.

"W-What was that..." Rin said as she took a distance away from the demon.

For some reason, her instincts are telling her to stop attacking the enemy at that moment.

"Uh...why is he not moving?"

Strange, really strange.

While using her sword technique, she noticed that the demon didn't do anything as it just blocked her attacks with his four bladed arms. Now that it's already a few seconds since she stopped attacking, she got baffled because the demon still won't move an inch.

As if becoming a statue all of a sudden...

Feeling irritated after waiting for some time, Rin spoke. "Geez! If you really want to stop moving, I shall grant it upon you then!"

Jumping high in the air to make a powerful downward slash, Rin aimed her attack at the demon's head where it's not protected at that angle.

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Then suddenly--

BAAAAAAMMMMM!!!!!

"Haa?!--Ghaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!"

An invisible shock wave coming from the demon hits through Rin's body, causing her to be blown several meters away until she crashed into the wall.

Coughing up a mouthful of blood, Rin hissed. "Damn...I got careless! I never expected something like that coming from that guy!"

When she was hit by the shockwave, the pain she felt was as if her organs are being shifted by its immense force. Adding the damage caused by her crashing into the wall, she would be fortunate if she only received a broken rib after all of that.

Wiping the blood from the side of her mouth, she smiled. "You're really annoying, Mantis Guy. Can't you see that I'm a girl? How about show some chivalry even for a moment, will you?"

The demon snorted as he started moving once again. "Nonsense...in the eyes of a demon, such thing is irrelevant! Today...whether you're a man or a woman...you will die by my blades!"

While saying that, the demon suddenly appeared just about a meter away from Rin, causing her to be greatly startled.

"B-Blink--?!"

Panic-stricken, she ducked just before she gets decapitated by one of the demon's blades. Seeing that she still managed to evade by a narrow margin, the demon then used his knees to land a kick towards her body and face.

"Puuuuuuuhhhhhh!!!!!"

Receiving a sharp kick from her side, her body flew once more in an arc before crashing against the cabinet filled with utensils and exquisite porcelain. With her body covered in blood and dust, she groaned while she's struggling to stand up.

"Guhh...with my opponent being an advocate for gender equality...the situation became even more troublesome!" She cursed to herself.

In this world, age and gender doesn't matter in the eyes of a warrior. The only parameter that would matter to them--was their strength. As long as one is formidable enough, he or she will gain respect from people around him or her, including one's own enemies.

Even a demon, whose only purpose is to kill humans, also believed in such principle.

As much as she expected beforehand that it won't be much of an effect, in the end she decided to try it anyway.

Setting all of that aside, Rin gritted her teeth as she charged headlong towards the enemy.

"Looks like I really have to stick to the usual plan. Today, I'll have you feel the true sharpness of my blade!"

-----

Everywhere he looked, there was only destruction in sight on the other side of the city.

'Too late!', he cursed to himself.

Mixed feelings of grief, anger and regret suffused inside his brain as countless buildings and monuments are already destroyed even before he reached the city. More than the ruins of once splendid structures, painful cries of people began reaching his ears, making his heart ache even further.

"You..."

He turned his attention to the ones responsible for the tragedy. Now that he confirmed the extent of damage made by them, his blade suddenly glowed brightly as he looked at them with righteous fury.

"As the one who is chosen as the [Hero], I won't forgive all of you!!!"

Whooosh! Leaping up high in the air, he began slashing through every demon that he sees. Although their numbers are enough to face an entire army, it was still meaningless against the holy blade of an Otherworlder like Kai.

"""""KHAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!"""""

Within half an hour, about half of the more than one thousand demons who attacked are burned by the holy light imbued on his essence, which gives him inhuman strength and power. However, this feat put a large amount of burden on his body, as long as he keeps on using mana.

"Not enough...I need to destroy them all!"

Pouring more of his mana into his sword, he created a dazzling light flash that cut through a group of demons trying to attack him from different directions. He then made a follow up with another skill, creating numerous light spears that dropped from the sky.

After a few minutes, he began feeling the effects of having his mana reaching its low because of his attacks.

With the exception of Rin and a few others who depends on stamina in order to use their abilities, Kai and most of the class uses mana instead for their own spells and weapons. Mana, when compared to stamina, needs more than just physical training to increase one's capacity. Other than the physical aspect, a person needs to nourish his mind and spirit to make sure that proper mana flow from within the body is achieved.

While being a Hero, Kai's man's capacity surpassed everyone in his class but even so, he still struggled dealing with the current situation he's facing.

"Tsk. Endure, Kai, endure! If you keep on skimping on using your power, more and more people will get killed by these creatures!"

While he doesn't have any means to ascertain how many casualties the demons caused, in his mind having one casualty is no different from having a thousand of them. As long as there are people who are hurt, he won't forgive anyone foolish enough to cause such incident.

While being surrounded by hundreds of demons, he shouted: "O holy light, grant me strength!"

At that instant, his body illuminated with a blinding glow. All the demons around him cowered in fear as their instincts signal them to escape as soon as possible. However, their bodies got instantly cleaved into two before they could even move a step away.

[Sacred Realis: Infinitum].

Channeling all the remaining mana in one's body to his sword and vice-versa at a very rapid pace, the resulting effect was a temporary increase in strength and agility to its user by tens of times. While this effect could only last for a few minutes, the aftereffect in his body would be even more serious.

Considering the dangers of using such skill which is considered to be at the apex of the Sacred Realis holy spell family, Kai initially thought of using it only during life-threatening situations. However, after what the demons have done to the city, he decided to finish them all in one fell swoop.

BOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!

Suddenly, he heard a loud explosion coming from afar that created a massive shockwave with a force that tossed down several buildings and trees in its wake. As the ground shook violently in resonance with the explosion, a fearsome figure emerged from the epicenter.

"I...Impossible..."

Behemoth?! He couldn't believe what he's seeing right now.

Compared to the one he faced before, the behemoth right now was even bigger, about four times as large as he could remember. Additionally, he gasped his breath by the sheer amount of stingers the current one is having.

"Damn, I never expected them having an even more powerful monster right now. Compared to last time, this one has sixteen stingers..."

The behemoth's size alone was enough to block the sun, causing a third of the city to be covered by its shadow.

Everyone who are still at the surface of the city knelt into the ground as fear overwhelmed their senses.

"Save us! Save us!!!"

"Help meeeee!!!!!"

"Run! I don't want to dieeeeee!!!!!"

As the people cried in despair by the strange sight in front of them, the remaining demons rejoiced at the same time.

ROOOOOAAAARRRRRR!!!! The behemoth began crushing the remaining buildings in its path. Under the control of a three-horned demon riding on the top of its head, each of its stingers released a spray of liquid poison into the air, melting anything it touches as it rained down towards the ground. Many of those unfortunate enough to be in contact with the poison got killed instantly, only leaving behind skeletons. Even the demons who are supposed to be rejoicing are also killed by the indiscriminate attack.

Hearing the victims' pitiful cries, Kai hatefully glared at the behemoth. "You...I'll make you pay!!!"

Kai leaped up in the air using his [Lightning Leap] as he concentrated his mana into his holy sword, covering it with several layers of golden-colored magic circles. The three-horned demon, startled when he saw Kai rushing at him recklessly, ordered the huge monster to attack him using its poisonous stingers. Against the deadly wave of attacks coming from the enemy, Kai still managed to excellently maneuver his way up thanks to his other movement spell, [Air Walk].

Once he reached the forehead of the behemoth, Kai unleashed his spell.

"[Sacre Realis: Judgment Flash]!!!"

DOOOGGGGUUUUNNNN!!! Fierce white lightning cleaved the body of the three-horned demon into two halves, as Kai covered the distance between them in just a fraction of a second.

Standing on top of the behemoth who just lost its master, Kai prepared his blade for a second attack.

"Now that the one controlling this monster is gone, I still have enough time to finish off this--woooahhhhh?!!"

The behemoth, after taking a few seconds to realize that its restrictions have been lifted, began bellowing out a loud, terrifying roar that reached even to the nearby cities. Kai, who is still standing on top of the monster's head, almost fainted because of the extremely dark aura that it emits immensely.

"N-No good...I have to stay away here!"

Just as when he's about to jump down, the behemoth started acting on a rampage around the city, lashing its stingers against the already collapsed buildings and city walls, leaving behind huge crevasses on the ground with each strike.

"I...have to stop the behemoth from destroying the city even further...!!!"

Holding on to his sword that he stabbed onto the monster's thick skin, he channeled mana into the buried blade as he tried to unleash the strongest skill that he could currently use.

"S-Sacre...Realis...--Guuhh!!!"

Blood suddenly filled his mouth, forcing him to stop using his most powerful spell.

"No way...not at this time!!!"

Five minutes. That's the maximum time he could only use his [Infinitum] skill.

Adding to the fact that the skill's duration has run out, Kai unexpectedly depleted 100 percent of his total mana capacity for the first time ever since he arrived in this world. Having the two conditions combined, the aftereffects instantly surpassed lethal limits.

"M-My body...--Ahhh!!!!"

From his scalp to all of his internal organs up to the tips of his toes, Kai felt that his body was about to burst.

ROOOOOOAARRRRRR!!!!!!

"KKKAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

Both Kai and the behemoth, roared at the same time.

After vomiting up so much blood than he could imagine, his consciousness began to waver as he fall down from the head of the still rampaging monster.

"Not yet...I must...defeat this monster first..."

Even if he wanted to, having completely depleted his mana already deprived him the ability to lift even one finger to his opponent.

"No way...for me to die like this..."

As he fall down, he looked around at his surroundings. Even now that his vision starts to fade, he still could clearly see the image of a broken city in front of him. Countless ruins, countless corpses lying around.

Even a [Hero] like him can't protect the city from the ones who, until the day he came into this world, only knew through stories.

Truly unfortunate, he muttered before completely losing his consciousness.

From the height in which he fell, he expected that he would die as soon as he reaches the ground, but--

"[Light Cushion]!"

A gentle-sounding voice resounded on the desolate field.

At that moment, several feathers made of light particles covered Kai's falling body, making his descent slow down, until he reached the ground with no further injury on his body.

Rushing to where his body fell, the person then used recovery magic to restore some of his lost mana.

After a few seconds, Kai slowly regained his consciousness.

"Ka...ren..."

A beautiful girl wearing her white and blue robe, gently treating his injuries as she looked at him with her ever comforting gaze.

Just as when he was about to die, an angel in the form of his classmate came to save him.

Kai tried to speak. "Karen...you..."

"Sorry for being late," she stopped his words.

Hearing those words unexpectedly, he feebly shook his head as he still laid down on the ground. "No...it's alright..."

As he was about to get up, Karen stopped him again. "You shouldn't. Your condition is still not good."

"But I..."

"At your current state, you would really die if you insist on fighting the behemoth once again."

When she said that, his eyes widened in shock. As he looked at her in disbelief, he noticed something peculiar hanging on her waist.

"Don't tell me you..."

Noticing the direction in which Kai is looking at, Karen smiled. "Nn, your guess is right."

As she turned her gaze towards the huge monster, she unsheathed her own sword as she poured mana into it.

"This time, it's my turn to become the [Hero]!"