“Hrrrrraaaaaaaaaggggghhhhhh!”
✦ ✦ ✦
He let go of me in a hurry, plunging his hand into his robe and writhing. I took the opportunity to put some space between us, but I also noticed I was missing something. Something very important that normally hung around my neck.
“What is this?” the Demon King demanded. “Some protective charm? Do you have a ward against curses?! Grrr… You play the lowest tricks…!”
There it was. He’d pulled it off my neck and thrown it disgustedly on the ground.
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It was the Crimson Magic Clan charm Megumin had given me long ago.
✦ ✦ ✦
It was just a simple amulet containing a hair from each of my friends, and yet…
“Hey, that’s a cherished possession! Don’t go throwing it on the ground!”
The Demon King huffed. “What the hell is it? My hand nearly got burned black! What in the world is in that thing?! Is that…a blue hair?” he asked, gazing down uneasily at the charm.
“That little thing is packed with goddess hairs,” I informed him.
“A f-f-fine thing to make me put my hand to! Hrk! That’s right—I don’t have time to be meddling around with you. I see I was wrong to take you for a mere small fry, but I don’t care! I have to get back before my minions are—!”
Geez, all that and the old bastard still didn’t want to stay and fight me? Well, I had a skill that I hoped would actually work on him in his weakened state.
Please, Lady Eris, grant me the fortune to take something good!
“Steal!”
“?!”
Ah, Steal. It was the very first skill I’d learned, and it had served me well all throughout my time here. I looked to see what I’d gotten, and…
“Aw, fail.”
“…………”
I was holding an embroidered handkerchief of what seemed to be handmade cloth. I tossed it aside, and the Demon King scrambled to grab it.
“Prized possession?” I asked.
“My daughter handmade it for me, and…er, ahem. It’s nothing.”
Feeling a pang of conscience to have inadvertently stolen something so personal, I pulled out my sword and brandished it at him. So much for Operation: Draw Him Into a Fight by Stealing His Most Prized Possession. It was time for a new strategy!
“First you launched a surprise attack on me, trying to get rid of me easily, and when you saw I was tougher to beat than you expected, you tried to run away. Are you really the Demon King? Man, I got this magic sword ready just to help me slay a real Demon King, and I have to waste it on you? This suuucks!”
The king glanced at the weapon I was holding. “I see it actually is enchanted. I grant it’s quite an impressive piece, but I don’t think it’s suited to attacking, exactly.”
“What do you mean? This thing’s a magical masterpiece. My villain of a friend found it when he was looting the body of a dead adventurer. No one knows who made it, but it’s got a real history. It should be more than enough to take care of some chicken-livered old— Yikes!”
Maybe all my needling had finally gotten to the king, or maybe he was still miffed about how I’d treated his daughter’s gift, because he shouted: “Very well! If you’re so eager to die, then let me send you to the next world with all haste!”
And then the Demon King attacked me!
✦ ✦ ✦
“Stop right there! After all those insults, now you run away? You coward! What was it you called me earlier? Chicken-livered? Now who’s the chicken?!”
I could hear the Demon King shouting from a distance, but he could say whatever he wanted. Using Ambush to hide among the dungeon’s gloomy shadows, I nocked an arrow in my bow…
“That was a dirty trick, blinding me with paltry magic like that! What happened to having a proper fight? Show yourself, boy!”
I saw him off in the distance, searching high and low for me…
✦ ✦ ✦
Deadeye!
✦ ✦ ✦
“Hrgh?!”
My arrow hit the Demon King square in the temple, causing it to whip to one side.
When he had attacked me, I’d used Create Earth to blind him and put some distance between us, but I guess I’d also pissed him off. First he’d lost his temper; then he caught an arrow in the temple, so you’d think that would have done the trick. But instead, he pressed a hand to his arrowed skull and ground his teeth, wobbling slightly. “S-so that’s where you are…! I suppose you won’t be satisfied until you’ve had your miserable fun with me…”
Gah! That arrow had barely scratched him! Was this one of those things where only magical weapons could hurt him?
I worked my way deeper into the maze-like dungeon, desperately trying to keep him from getting too close. If he got a hand on me again, there was a good chance I was done for. I seriously doubted I could bring down the Demon King with Drain Touch, and I wasn’t about to get close enough to find out. Hell, even if my arrow had hurt him a tiny bit, I would run out of ammo long before I did any serious damage to him.
“Don’t you feel pathetic? After all that big talk! At least the boy with the magic sword fought me face-to-face! And that Crusader! What are they to you?”
My Sense Foe skill alerted me that he was definitely getting closer. His aura felt big enough to crush a bug like me. I reached into my item pouch, pulled out a paper cylinder, and retrieved some lantern oil. As I backed away, I scattered the fuel on the floor like a fuse. And then I said two words: “Set Trap.”
“There you are!” the Demon King, catching my murmur, shouted. The hallway we were in branched out in several directions, but now he was coming straight for me.
I’d learned the Set Trap skill from a friendly Army Ranger. It increased the potency and effectiveness of traps set even by total amateurs—perfect for an underhanded schemer like me. As the Demon King rushed toward me, I stood up, no longer making any effort to hide.
“Draw your sword, boy! I’ll finish this in the blink of an eye!”
As discreetly as possible, I struck my lighter, then dropped it on the oil. As soon as I saw it catch flame, I took a big leap back.