“Ahhh! What did you do to my buddy, you son of a bitch?!”
If I’d been thinking rationally, I would have known that there was no way Shii and I could beat a Cerberus, but I was so pissed off now that I couldn’t think straight. After seeing what happened to Shii, everything went red. I threw caution to the wind and let my rage take over, rushing straight toward the Cerberus and Sparta-kicking the everlovin’ stuffin’ out of it.
I drove my foot into its torso over and over, but the piece of shit mongrel didn’t even try to dodge my attacks. In fact, it didn’t react at all. And then, out of nowhere, its body exploded, pieces of flesh flying everywhere.
“What the hell...?”
The blood and guts painted the cave red. I was still pissed, so I had fully intended to keep attacking, but my anger faded and a little bit of my sanity came back when I finally noticed the unexpected outcome.
Whoa, it’s over? Seriously?
I looked at what was left of the nasty-ass carcass. I’d definitely sent that worthless dog to its next life because it was beyond dead. Not even a single twitch.
What had even happened? When I thought about it, I realized that even though I had heightened senses as a demon, they hadn’t given me any sort of advanced warning about the Cerberus. It had happened with Lefi too—I didn’t know either of them was there until they were basically on top of me.
Still, I thought it’d be way stronger than me given the 30-plus level gap. Although... I might have figured out why I’d managed to defeat it. At first, I’d guessed that the reason the Cerberus had hunkered down in that immovable stance was because it thought I was too weak to do any damage, but maybe it actually couldn’t move because it couldn’t keep up with the speed of my attack?
Up until now, I didn’t have anything else to compare my stats to. But seeing what had just happened, maybe they’d actually gone up a bunch? Hoping that they had, I pulled up my stats again.
Name: Yuki
Race: Archdemon
Class: Demon Lord
Level: 12
HP: 2,320 / 2,320
MP: 6,900 / 6,900
Strength: 672
Stamina: 701
Agility: 574
Magic: 915
Dexterity: 1,273
Luck: 70
Ability Points: 17
Special Abilities: Demon Eyes, Polyglot
Abilities: Inventory, Analysis 1, Unarmed Combat 1
Title: The Demon Lord from Another World
Dungeon Points (DP): 2,250
As a result of fighting an enemy at a way higher level than me, my stats did go up like crazy, just like I’d suspected. It had even earned me a new ability: Unarmed Combat. No change in my Luck, though, huh? Whatever. I’d ignore that for the time being. Instead, I needed to focus on how the rest of my stats might have actually been stronger than what the numbers said they were.
But, well, it’s all relative, as the saying goes. I knew there were still bigger fish to fry out there, other creatures with better stats than mine. I mean, I did have a legendary fish—okay, dragon—living with me, after all.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted to go out there and see if I could beat down more monsters like the Cerberus, but I also knew that it would be incredibly stupid to get a big head now. I sure didn’t want to end up like the morons who’d challenged Lefi and got turned to literal ash for being too cocky.
When someone’s ego blows up because they think they’ve got S-tier stats, that’s the first clue that they’re headed for the dark side. And once they start down that typical villain’s path, it always leads to the typical villain’s monologue, and then they die. I wasn’t about to throw away my second chance at life over something as stupid as that. Not a chance in hell.
Wait, dagnabbit! That definitely wasn’t what I needed to think about right now!
“Shii!”
I closed the stats menu in a panic and rushed to my adorable pet’s side. Crouching down, I saw that its HP wasn’t completely gone, which was a good sign. And thanks to its regenerative ability, Shii was slowly reforming its body.
“Man, what a relief...” I sighed, thankful that my friend was still kicking. With that thing as its first opponent, no duh it got its ass kicked. Sorry for making you do something so reckless, little bud...
Sensing my guilt and anxiety, Shii wiggled itself gently like it was trying to say, “It’s okay! I’m fine!” It still wanted to comfort me even though it only got hurt because of me. Jeez, what a loveable little thing. I knew that Shii’s shakes and jiggles every time it “responded” to me might not have seemed like real communication, but I honestly felt like it was, like I could actually understand it.
That’s how I came to the conclusion that Shii was better off being a pet. And pets weren’t meant to fight; they were meant to be loved. I’d do the fighting from here on out. Yeah, that was the right move.
Now that I was feeling calmer, I could think properly. I’d destroyed that damn dog on emotion alone, but there was no way I could do it again. If I tried, I’d probably end up getting caught off guard and bada bing bada boom, second life over.
What did the Brits used to say back on Earth? “Keep calm and carry on”? That’s exactly what I need to do from now on.
Still deciding on what to do next, I sat down and waited for Shii to complete its regeneration.