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Vapula’s blazing blade, red like molten lava, struck Lanpeach head-on. Lanpeach was sliced clean in two and defeated —or should have been.

“Muh? What was that sensation?!” (Vapula)

Vapula, now speaking with a polished tone, widened its lion-like eyes in confusion. The sensation wasn’t hard; it was soft, almost like striking a sponge.

Lanpeach was blown away, rolling across the ground. Yet, his body was neither split apart nor injured.

“Surprised? A mere trick like that isn’t enough to take me down.” (Lanpeach)

Slowly rising to his feet, Lanpeach grabbed the fiery serpents coiling around him with raw force, attempting to tear them off. Vapula sneered mockingly.

“Those fiery serpents are pure flames. It’s impossible to grasp fire with bare hands.” (Vapula)

The serpents restraining Lanpeach were magical constructs. They could instantly melt rock, and touching them barehanded would reduce a human arm to ash in moments. Even if Lanpeach could endure the flames, his hands would grasp nothing but air, making any attempt to rip them off futile.

“Is that so? Let’s see about that! Hrrraaahhh!” (Lanpeach)

But Lanpeach did grab the serpents. With his face twisted in effort, he began to tear them apart.

“Impossible! Is this magic?” (Vapula)

“Heh, I learned a skill just in time for situations like this!” (Lanpeach)

Gripping the fiery serpents with both hands, Lanpeach poured in his strength, shattering them. Flames scattered as ice crystals sparkled in the air.

“Those arms…?” (Vapula)

“They’ve been imbued with an ice attribute. This way, I can counter fire magic and even grab it, no matter its form.” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach waved his frost-covered arms in front of the astonished Vapula. His new skill, Spirit Fist Master, allowed him to imbue his attacks with any attribute. Combined with Combat Beyond Reason, which could counter any attack, handling the fiery serpents was simple.

Though panting and drenched in sweat, Lanpeach claimed it was all part of his composure. In truth, he had been terrified. He thought he was done for.

“You’ve even managed to block my Blade Bomber. It seems you’re hiding powers beyond my understanding. But that only makes you worthy of facing Vapula!” (Vapula)

Regenerating a lost arm, Vapula spread both hands wide and charged forward. The ground melted beneath each heavy step, yet Vapula’s speed was blinding, almost impossible for the observing soldiers to follow.

Even in the accelerated perception of high-speed combat, Vapula’s movements were quick.

“Shall we test our strength first?” (Vapula)

“Idiot. Who’d want to grapple with such a hot arm?!” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach avoided a direct confrontation as Vapula aimed to grapple like in professional wrestling, instead launching a hand chop covered in ice at Vapula’s outstretched arm.

Lanpeach’s frosted hand chop, enhanced by the Spirit Gauntlets, struck Vapula’s flaming arm. Though the arm was designed to incinerate everything, the icy chop slipped through and severed it cleanly. Not only that, it was extinguished and the flames froze.

Vapula, who thought its fire arm filled with a massive amount of mana would be able to endure the ice chop, was startled and hesitated as Lanpeach, with a returning strike, severed the other arm. 

Lanpeach then closed in with a smirk, arms crossed.

[Cross Slash]

A cross-shaped trail of ice sliced through Vapula, dividing the demon into four parts. And thus, the flames dissipated, but Vapula’s mouth curled into a smile, showing no signs of concern.

“Do not think such an attack could defeat me! Surely, you’ve realized by now… I am amorphous!” (Vapula)

[Twisted flames engulf their foes.]

The four pieces of Vapula transformed into serpents and lunged at Lanpeach, coiling around his arms and legs to lift him into the air.

“What the—? You are a bag of tricks!” (Lanpeach)

“No need to flatter me, Hunter!” (Vapula)

The serpents fused back into Vapula’s original form at the back of Lanpeach, their limbs turning into four arms that locked Lanpeach’s joints. Try as he might, Lanpeach couldn’t break free.

Flying into the air with Lanpeach in tow, Vapula spun him around and aimed his body toward the ground.

“Gwahaha! This is the end for you, Hunter!” (Vapula)

[Quad Snake Driver]

Vapula slammed Lanpeach into the earth like a meteor crashing. The impact shattered the ground and sent violent tremors through the area.

“Gahh!” 

Lanpeach screamed in pain as the shock reverberated through his body. Vapula, savoring the sound like sweet music, sneered as he stomped on Lanpeach’s broken form and leapt skyward once more.

“Perish by the power of the Fortress Demon Vapula!” (Vapula)

[My body is fire, a flame that shatters even ramparts.]

Vapula’s body transformed as he spoke, taking the shape of a massive, flame-wreathed battering ram.

[Blazing Fortress Breaker]

Vapula sneered with a resounding thud, certain this time that the hunter had been defeated. However, his expression quickly twisted into a scowl.

“You insolent fool. You can still endure this?” (Vapula)

“Don’t think I’ll go down that easily! In this world, I consider myself the strongest!” (Lanpeach)

Standing there was Lanpeach, gripping the stake and his face flushed red. He had risen to his feet and intercepted the attack just before impact.

“You little brat!” (Vapula)

Lanpeach flung the flaming stake aside, slamming it into the ground. The stake transformed back into Vapula, standing tall once more, entirely unscathed.

“You are persistent, but my power doesn’t end here. I will burn you to ashes with fire and crush you with my strength. No attack can harm this viscous form, which possesses a hardness surpassing orichalcum. I am the mightiest demon, Vapula!” (Vapula)

Vapula declared arrogantly, a smug expression on his face.

“True, a viscous body is a real nuisance.” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach clicked his tongue, though his fighting spirit remained undiminished. He has heard countless ways to defeat such enemies after all.

[Libra, find its core for me. I’ll cut it and end this quickly!] (Lanpeach)

The weakness of a viscous enemy was simple: destroy the core, and it’s over. In a way, it was an easy mode challenge.

[Got it. Hmm, its core count is…1,056. They’re scattered throughout its body, and if one is destroyed, the others can immediately regenerate.] (Libra)

[…1,056? What the hell? Is that even fair? How am I supposed to beat something like that?] (Lanpeach)

He underestimated the difficulty. Grossly underestimated it. Lanpeach didn’t take the challenge seriously enough. This demon did seem invincible.

[And how does he even manage 1,056 cores? Are cores really that easy to make?] (Lanpeach)

[Hmm, those cores seem to use human souls. He probably extracted them from 1,056 people.] (Libra)

[What? Human souls?] (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach’s brow twitched in irritation at Libra’s casual explanation.

[I suspected this demon used humans as materials, but so many…?] (Lanpeach)

[It’s inhumane, sure, but there were apparently billions of deaths in the war back then, it’s kind of negligible, don’t you think?] (Libra)

[That’s one way to look at it. So that’s how this demon was created. Well, it makes sense since we are talking about the enemy that made a mess of the world, but…it pisses me off!] (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach faced Vapula again while feeling a quiet, volcanic anger deep in his heart. While the lives lost may have been a small fraction of the total casualties of war, it was still infuriating.

“Now, I’ll show you even more of my power!” (Vapula)

[Flame descend, and the world shall become one of fire. All shall turn to flames.]

The ground around Vapula began transforming into magma as he spoke words of power, not melting but as if it had always been magma to begin with.

“Changing concepts… Magic really is something else.” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach glanced at the soldiers rushing out of the room to avoid being caught up in the chaos. He slowly lifted his foot and tapped it lightly on the ground.

[Freezing Fist Step]

A wave of energy imbued with the ice attribute spread out from where he stepped, rippling like water. The ground turned white with frost, clashing against Vapula’s fiery domain.

The worlds of fire and ice collided, each trying to consume the other. Eventually…the ice overpowered the flames, cooling the magma into solid, frozen lava.

“My magic was overpowered by a hunter’s? Impossible. I am Vapula, the fortress demon!” (Vapula)

Vapula, a demon capable of housing tens of thousands of soldiers, producing infinite resources for weapons and ammunition, and boasting a body as hard and massive as a mountain, was overwhelmed.

Even with his vast energy reserves, unmatched by most demons even if put together, he found himself pushed back by a single human. This was a feeling Vapula, a mechanically designed Artificial Demon, was not supposed to experience.

Since awakening, however, he had absorbed vast amounts of information, developing a self-awareness akin to sentience. For just an instant…he faltered.

That hesitation was all the opening Lanpeach needed in this high speed battle.

“It doesn’t matter how many cores you have. Vapula, let me show you my attack!” (Lanpeach)

To Lanpeach, Vapula’s brief lapse was an opportunity to gather his strength. Psychic energy surged through his body as he raised his arm high.

“This is literally a finishing blow.” (Lanpeach)

[Ultra Libra Chop]

Energy flowed into his hand like a raging torrent, vibrating the very world as he struck Vapula’s head…

Slap.

The sound was faint, almost pathetic, just like the one Libra had made earlier.

“You scared me for a moment. Where’s the finishing blow you promised—” (Vapula)

Before Vapula could finish mocking the attack that didn’t deal the damage he thought it would have, his body began to swell like a balloon.

“W-What’s happening?! Hngh!” (Vapula)

Vapula panicked as his viscous body swelled uncontrollably. Lanpeach let out a faint smile.

“This technique sends shockwaves through the enemy’s interior. With your high-viscosity body, you can’t block it, can you? No matter how many cores you have, it’s irrelevant.” (Lanpeach)

“You… Such a technique—” (Vapula)

Lanpeach declared with a minor villain smile. 

But before Vapula could finish his sentence, his body, unable to withstand the internal pressure…cracked and burst apart.

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