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“Do you remember how you easily subdued Asmodeus at the Lord’s Meeting back then?”

“…Why are you bringing that up all of a sudden?”

Jeong Gyeoul, who felt a pang of regret seeing the expensive-looking swords mixed in, belatedly answered Lucifer’s question.

“My current transformation is inspired by you back then.”

Jeong Gyeoul, who had been pondering how to smoothly brush this off without making a fuss, was startled.

“What? How does that even make sense? I don’t look that evil!”

“Your magic power when you were beating up Asmodeus felt exactly like this.”

“…This is killing me. If you keep this up, my sister will scold you.”

“I don’t know why you’re reacting like this… Anyway, I wanted to say thank you. Thanks to you, I’ve been able to reach this level.”

“Don’t pin that on me!”

Lucifer, the epitome of ferocity and grotesqueness, kept thanking her, which naturally made her voice rise.

Seeing this, Lucifer chuckled and threw the sword he was holding.

“Now, let’s start round two.”

“Ugh, that jerk…”

After that, there was no more talking.

With a single step, Lucifer closed the distance to Jeong Gyeoul and clenched his fist.

Kwaaaaang—

Though his movement was smooth, the destructive power was anything but.

A single punch unleashed a crimson shockwave, shaking the ground.

The soldiers, still at a low level, couldn’t keep their balance on the trembling ground.

The side effects of that one punch were immense.

Jeong Gyeoul, who took the punch head-on, was sent flying high into the sky.

“Tsk.”

But Lucifer clicked his tongue, seemingly unsatisfied.

Jeong Gyeoul, who had become a mere dot in the sky, was now growing larger as gravity pulled her back down.

Only then did they realize why Lucifer had clicked his tongue.

She hadn’t taken any damage.

Kwaaaang—

Jeong Gyeoul landed lightly, as if she had just returned from a free space trip.

“Whew, almost got a free trip to space. Ugh… my arms hurt.”

Jeong Gyeoul, who had blocked Lucifer’s punch with both arms, shook her hands.

She glanced around, wondering if the expedition team was worried…

‘Where the hell is Heukgu? Did he ditch the captain and run?’

As she was dumbfounded by Heukgu’s absence, Lucifer’s new form rushed toward her.

Kwa kwa kwa kwang—

The noise was deafening, as if the entire space was being torn apart.

This wasn’t the time to feel betrayed by Heukgu’s disappearance.

Jeong Gyeoul kept dodging, deflecting, and blocking the endless attacks.

She hadn’t realized it when she was the one pressuring him, but this kind of pressure was incredibly frustrating.

She stepped back just as Lucifer’s foot came forward.

Maintaining the distance, she raised her hand toward the sky.

Crackle—

In an instant, she created an electric sphere and defended against Lucifer’s attack again.

Lucifer, noticing she was up to something, tried to move to destroy the sphere, but Jeong Gyeoul wasn’t about to let him.

The initiative had shifted to Jeong Gyeoul, and now it was Lucifer who had to dodge, block, and deflect her relentless attacks.

Even amidst this, Lucifer kept moving toward the electric sphere, clearly bothered by it.

The fight between Jeong Gyeoul trying to protect it and Lucifer trying to destroy it seemed slightly in Lucifer’s favor.

As the exchange continued, they gradually got closer to the sphere.

Finally, just as Lucifer was about to use his tail to destroy the sphere…

Jeong Gyeoul chuckled and jumped back.

At the same time, the sky flashed, and a bolt of lightning struck the electric sphere.

Crackle crackle crackle—

With a deafening roar, the lightning fused with the sphere, scorching Lucifer’s body.

“Grrrrk!”

Even in his transformed state, 1.3 billion volts weren’t easy to handle.

But the power couldn’t last forever.

If a spell could sustain that much power, it wouldn’t have been so easy to activate.

The sphere Jeong Gyeoul created didn’t last long, and soon Lucifer was freed from the lightning.

“Thrilling. Is that all?”

“No, now the real round two begins.”

While Lucifer was suffering under the lightning, Jeong Gyeoul hadn’t been idle.

She ran to Park Seol-hwa, drank a potion, and healed her wounds.

In that short time, she recovered some of her magic power.

She replenished what had been lost in the first round of combat.

Now fully recovered, Jeong Gyeoul smiled and signaled the start of round two.

***

How much time had passed?

She hadn’t dealt a fatal blow to Lucifer, only chipping away at his stamina and magic power.

“Whew… What do you think about giving up now?”

“Who are you to say that? For a human, you’re more tenacious than a demon.”

Lucifer’s speed had slowed considerably compared to right after his transformation.

But… my speed had slowed down too.

After pouring everything into every attack, my stamina and magic power couldn’t keep up.

This was probably the most intense battle I’d fought since being possessed by Jeong Gyeoul.

Of course, I’d been kidnapped and beaten to a pulp by the Fox Mask before, but that was more one-sided than a fierce battle, so this was definitely the most intense.

The fist techniques taught by Xiao Lin, the magic of Grand Mage Heinz, Jeong Ha-yul’s martial arts, Kim Yu-shin’s swordsmanship…

None of it seemed to work.

And that guy, who acted like he wouldn’t use his sword, ended up picking it back up.

I hadn’t realized it during long-range combat, but up close, I saw just how broken that sword was.

The blade did whatever it wanted, with no set reach.

There seemed to be a distance limit, but the attacks kept extending and retracting randomly, making it impossible to keep up.

Not to mention how durable it was—it shattered dozens of ice spears without a scratch.

And then there was his tail.

Most spells just bounced off it.

By now, it should’ve been damaged or at least lost some of its outer layer, but it was perfectly fine.

Not a single scratch.

I should’ve realized how tough it was when it broke hundreds of swords.

Once I started falling behind in equipment, I lost confidence in finishing this.

I even tried using Mammon’s sword, but that thing was trash.

It started cracking after just ten clashes.

It was probably expensive, given how it screamed when it broke.

Should’ve bought a sword that doesn’t break.

Useless piece of junk.

If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve brought a few artifacts from Earth.

Even a few swords would’ve kept me from falling behind in equipment.

The only saving grace was that Lucifer in his transformed state wasn’t overwhelmingly stronger than me.

Just as I couldn’t finish him, he couldn’t finish me either.

And so, more time passed.

At least an hour or two had gone by.

Now, my remaining magic power was almost nonexistent.

The magic power regenerating in real time was holding out, but the amount I was using was enormous.

Finally, it started to bottom out.

Once this magic power ran out, I’d have no choice but to rely on swordsmanship or martial arts.

‘…If I clash with that sword or tail, I’ll probably break.’

Martial arts were out.

But fighting with a weapon wasn’t an option either—ordinary weapons would shatter on impact.

I was trying to think of a groundbreaking solution when my magic power finally ran out.

The ice spear I was creating melted away.

“Ah, crap, I’m screwed!”

No choice. I couldn’t fight bare-handed, so I had to pick up the fallen swords and buy time until my magic power recovered…

Just as I was about to execute this half-baked plan…

“Captain!”

Heukgu had returned.

I cursed at him while keeping my eyes on Lucifer.

“You damn jerk… Did you abandon your captain?”

“A-abandon? No! Take this first!”

I was muttering about how he’d ditch even his parents if things got tough when Heukgu threw something.

“…?”

I caught it without thinking, not even knowing what it was, as it flew toward the back of my head.

I thought he’d finally turned traitor and was attacking me at this critical moment…

“Use it well!”

A cold metal touched my palm.

You magnificent bastard!

You’re the best among my subordinates!

The greatest merchant in the Demon Realm.

The number one bachelor for countless demon ladies.

The embodiment of trust and faith.

The dashing Heukgu had brought back a sword that looked like it meant business.

Clang—

When I flicked the blade, it produced a clear, resonant sound.

“Hmm, nice sound.”

I had no idea what I was talking about.

I held the sword up, aligning the hilt and tip horizontally.

“Hmm, good balance.”

Still clueless.

I nodded, pretending to know what I was doing.

It was a subtle taunt toward Lucifer, who had been hogging all the good equipment.

 

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