Chapter 88: Chapter 88

Esty’s POV
   Suddenly, Esty remembered a conversation she had with the Hero when the two of them met for the first time. Or more precisely, after Esty looked all over for him. The reason was simple. It was a normal day until Sulgran came back to the Demon Castle full of wounds. Esty was absolutely surprised and horrified by that as it was the first time she saw the marquis with this many wounds, or any wounds at all. She pestered her on what had happened, and all she said was, “the human Hero did this to me.”

   Esty continued to pester Sulgran on how the Devil did a regular human even managed to deal so much damage to one of the Four Demon Marquis, but Sulgran’s mouth was tightly-sealed.

   “Come on, just tell me!” Esty pled. “You were always going on and on about using my head to fight. I might get some clues from this.”

   “Absolutely not.” Sulgran refused. “His method was quite suicidal, to say the least. I can’t have you learn from it.”

   That interested Esty. Sulgran’s training sessions were not as torturing as father’s, but they were still torturing. In fact, Esty had a few moments where she thought that she was going to die. If Sulgran, who could come up with such insane menus, thought that the Hero’s method was insane, it must be absolute bonkers. Since Sulgran refused to tell her, she has decided that she’ll just ask the Hero himself.

   It took Esty three days to find him. Ifezan was huge, and it was pretty much impossible to find a human that she has never seen before. Luck was on her side, however. She heard that a group of demons that were sent to attack a human town were completely annihilated by the Hero. She wasted no time in heading to the said town. And there he was. She could tell that it was him without being told, from the way other humans are avoiding him, and the way he walks around without having a care in the world.

   Esty’s first impression of him was that he’s a dull human. He probably spent most of his time doing pointless things. Not that it mattered. She appeared right in front of him.

   “Are you the Hero?” she asked him.

   “Who’s asking?”

   “I’m glad that you asked! Feast your eyes on the presence of Estyshana Von Mantus, the daughter of Volrik Von Mantus the Demon Lord!” she told him proudly.

   All the other humans near them started to panic and ran away right after she introduced herself. The Hero, on the other hand, didn’t even look impressed.

   “I see.”

   …That’s it? No shocked expression, no kneeling on the floor, no cowering in fear?

   “You could at least act like you care!”

   “Well, I don’t, so I won’t.”

   Esty gritted her teeth. This is why she hates talking to humans.

   “Ah, whatever. I’m here to ask you some questions. You better answer me if you know what’s good for you.”

   He shrugged.

   “I’ll answer it if I can.”

   “You definitely can. How did you manage to defeat Sulgran?”

   He stared at her blankly.

   “...Who?”

   “You know, the female demon you defeated a few days ago?” she reminded him.

   Finally, he looked like he knew who she was talking about.

   “Ah. Yes, I do remember her.”

   “And?”

   Another blank look.

   “And what?”

   Esty gritted her teeth again. He was getting on her nerves so much.

   “How. Did. You. Defeat. Sulgran?” Esty asked as calmly as possible.

   “It wasn’t a big deal. I just cast huge spells after huge spells. You know, Level 8, Level 9.”

   Esty wasn’t sure that she heard him right.

   “Are you sure? Didn’t your spells got bounced back to you?”

   Sulgran’s Spatial Misdirection is nothing close to bouncing back spells, not that Esty is going to tell him that. After all, he’s the enemy.

   “Would it matter if the spell affected the entire area?”

   Esty took some time to process what he just said.

   “So, let me get this straight. To prevent her from bouncing back your spell, you made sure to use one with range so wide it even reached you from the get-go?”

   “That’s what I just said.”

   Wow. No wonder Sulgran said his plan was suicidal. She sure wasn’t kidding.

   “How did you even prevent your own Spells from hitting you too? And how did you managed to get her? I’m pretty sure that she just teleported away.”

   “First of all, I used Spells that allow me to partially change their direction, like Hell’s Gate. As to how I got her, I anticipated where she will teleport to and made my way through there while my Spell is still active.”

   The more Esty listened, the more dumbfounded she got.

   “How do you even anticipate things like where she would go?”

   “...You don’t use your brain often, do you?”

   Esty felt her face burning.

   “Just tell me!” she screeched.

   “Alright, alright. It’s pretty simple, actually. You start by leaving multiple safe areas on purpose. If you had those she’s bound to go to one of those places. All you have to do next is wait for her to head there.”

   That’s a pretty good plan. There’s just one problem.

   “I can’t use really high-level Spells. Level 7 is the best I could do.” she confessed sheepishly.

   “No one’s asking you to. If you can’t use a Spell that covers lots of areas, then just use one that deals decent damage the moment she lets her guard down. Act like you’re helpless while secretly you’re preparing something big, and then let it rip.”

   Another decent advice. This human is more useful than Esty thought initially. Still, there was something that she didn’t understand.

   “Why are you telling me all this? Aren’t you afraid that I might use it against you?”

   “Not one bit. You’re much weaker than me, anyway.”

   Esty was never insulted this much.

   “Take up your weapon! We’re dueling!” she challenged him in the spur of a moment.

   He showed a bored look.

   “Do we have to?”

   “I’m not giving you any choice here!”

   He sighed loudly.

   “Fine. Just don’t regret it.”

   Naturally, she was thrashed pretty badly. It was her first defeat out of the twelve times they fought at Ifezan (thirteen times if she also counts their most recent fight). As if to rub salt on her wound, he didn’t even bother to finish her off. It was all she could do to stop herself from crying out of frustration. More importantly, it’s time to test out the advice he gave back then.

   Esty charges towards Sulgran who was content on not making a move. She throws a right punch. Unlike her usual ones, this punch is way stronger and faster. The Hero’s boost definitely helped out a lot. Sulgran tried to block it with both her hands, but she was blown away instead.

   “Nice job, Esty! You managed to overpower me for the first time, even if the strength wasn’t your own!” Sulgran laughs.

   Esty ignored the jibe. What Sulgran said was true, anyway. And Esty doesn’t care. She would sell her soul to the Devil if it would mean she can make Sulgran rest in peace.

   …Wait. That idiom doesn’t really fit here since Esty herself is a demon. Ah, whatever.

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   Esty is relentless in her attacks. She doesn’t give Sulgran time to think and throws barrages after barrages of kicks, punches and other attacks. Still, besides the first punch, none of Esty’s attacks are hitting Sulgran. All of them are either being swatted away or being dodged altogether. No matter. They serve nothing further than distractions, to fool Sulgran into thinking that Esty isn’t planning something.

   Unlike the Hero, Esty can’t cast a high Level Spell without chanting. If she starts mumbling under her breath, Sulgran will figure out her plan for sure. There’s only one other method to do this: she’s going to cast one by writing down the spell formula. And that’s what she had been doing all this while. As she’s attacking Sulgran, her knuckles are being used to write down the spell formula she requires. It took quite a while, even if she was using both her hands. She wasn’t really used to writing down spell formulas, and to top it all off she had to be subtle. Still, the spell is almost ready. Two more strokes, and it can be cast.

   “Come now, Esty. I’ve taught you better than this. Punching and kicking isn’t going to help you if your opponent is much stronger.” Sulgran chides.

   Oh, she has no idea.

   Esty acts like she’s getting frustrated for not being able to hit Sulgran even after attacking for so long. And out of “sheer impatience”, she launched a headbutt.

   “Really, Esty?” she hears Sulgran asks with a disappointed tone. “I was expecting so much from you since we haven’t spar for so long.”

   And that’s when Esty chose to write the remaining two strokes of the spell formula. Howling Banewolves, the Level 9 Spell Esty has painstakingly learned. She has managed to do it after countless hours after hours of non-stop practice, just so that she could defeat Sulgran one day.

   Ten wolves with black, shadowy form appears while howling and charge straight towards Sulgran. At this distance, there’s no way she can escape-

   In the blink of an eye, Sulgran is at a place several hundred feet away from the shadow wolves.

   …And escape she did. Of course. That Bloodline Magic of hers is really irritating. No matter.

   The wolves fly towards Sulgran with blinding speed. This time, she didn’t teleport away. Instead, she’s concentrating on beating up the wolves and blasting them with spells.

   The reason she’s not using her Spatial Redirection is simple. All of those wolves have a will of their own. Even if they got bounced back to Esty, they’ll just evade her and go back to attack Sulgran again.

   As for Esty herself, she’s catching her breath while her wolves are doing her bidding. Casting a Level 9 Spell took a huge toll on her, and she needs as much rest as she can get if she wants to finish off Sulgran. She sneaks a glance towards the Hero. He’s just standing there while crossing his arms. She can’t see his expression since he’s wearing his helmet, but he’s probably looking on with an impassive look on his face. Suddenly, Esty feels more motivated. She can’t mess this up in front of him, of all people.

   Deep breath in, deep breath out. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Okay, she’s ready once more. She stares intensely at Sulgran, ready to move in and join the wolves in attacking her once she shows an opening. That said, she doesn’t even have any to begin with. Sure, the wolves are fast and can become immaterial forms, thus making them difficult to get rid. Still, Sulgran is made of much tougher stuff to be fazed by a pack of wolves.

   There’s only one method Esty can rely on now, even though she doesn’t fancy the chance. The first one was a lucky shot, as proven by the subsequent failures-

   “Well done, Estyshana.”

   Esty swore that she has never blinked. Even so, all the wolves that appeared from Esty’s Spell were gone.

   “To think that you managed to cast a Level 9 Spell. You’ve come a really long way. The most compliment-worthy thing, though, is that you pulled it off by pretending that you weren’t planning something. Even I was completely fooled.”

   Speaking of gone, the usual cheerful demeanor of Sulgran has completely disappeared as well. Her mouth was giving out compliments, but the tone was frosty. Her eyes are cold and piercing, like she’s seeing Esty as a prey worthy of being hunted down. Suddenly, Esty has difficulty in breathing. She feels suffocated even though her throat is not being blocked. Her body is trembling in fear.

   Esty has completely forgotten about this, but the real Sulgran was cold, ruthless and fear-inducing. Right now, Esty is looking at Sulgran En Gannon, the demon truly befitting of the title Marquis, a position second only to the Demon Lord himself. Is it possible for her to beat someone like Sulgran?

   Esty shakes her head. This is no time to be pessimistic. She has to do this. She must. And she really has to do something about her trembling. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

   Suddenly, a hand covered in metallic gauntlet pats her head.

   “Calm down. It’s going to be okay.” a familiar voice tells Esty.

   …Strange. All the Hero did was patting her head and told her to calm down. That’s all he did. And yet, Esty is calming down for real. Her breathing has become normal, and her trembling has stopped. She feels like she can take on anyone, and she means anyone. Still, she’s not going to be honest about it.

   “Get your hand off my head.” she demands.

   He did as he was told obediently.

   Esty cracks her knuckles and takes a deep breath.

   “Do you have any plan?” the Hero asks.

   “...No. Well, not anymore, anyway.” Esty confesses.

   “So the Howling Banewolves was your one and only plan. Out of all the times you had to come up with backup ones.”

   “Cut me some slack, will you? I took me forever to come up with it just to deal with that annoying Bloodline Magic of hers.”

   She looks at him.

   “What about you, then? Let’s hear your great plan!” she demands.

   “I have nothing either.”

   Esty scoffs mockingly.

   “So much for trying to be as cautious as possible.”

   “Guilty as charged. Well, it was the same for me when I sparred against all of you back at Koikana Shrine.”

   “Ah well. What happens, happens.”

   “True.”

   Once again, Sulgran was waiting patiently until the two of them wrap up their strategic meeting. Once she saw that they’re done, however, she immediately begins her attack.

   Naga’s Bolt. Bush Blaze. Sylphid’s Breath. Three Level 8 Spells were cast simultaneously. Naturally, all of them appeared from unexpected angles. It was all Esty could do to dodge them all.

   “You really have a long way to go if you’re struggling against mere Level 8 Spells.”

   Until a certain Hero who refused to mind his own business stepped in and neutralized the Spells, that is.

   “Well, sorry for holding you back!” Esty snaps.

   She notices something coming from the corner of her left eye.

   “Look out!” she cautions.

   Without even looking, he swatted away the incoming blast of dark energy. Esty could be wrong, but that looked a lot like Eternal Nightmare, a Level 9 Spell.

   “Look out for what?” he asks innocently.

   “...Never mind.”

   Without a warning, he pushes her away lightly with his right hand. One second later, the ground she was standing on was frozen stiff.

   “Don’t expect me to thank you for that.”

   “You’re welcome.”

   Another Spell was about to hit her. This time, it’s coming from above. This one, she managed to dodge by herself.

   Not yet.

   While busy dodging the Spells, Esty charges towards Sulgran. The marquis narrows her eyes, probably thinking that Esty is plotting something again. And she would be right.

   Another Spell almost hits Esty. Ah, this is much harder than she thought. The Hero sure had it easy when HE had to do it.

   Esty looks at him. He stares back, and they had a brief silent conversation. In it, she told him to stay out of it, since he looked like he was going to do it for her. He shrugs to show that he’s agreeing to back off. Again, he swatted off an incoming Spell without looking.

   “On your left.”

   That made Esty dodge. She barely saved herself from being skewered by sharp rocks. She really wish she could sense incoming Spells as much as he does. If she can do that, this is going to be a cakewalk. No, strike that. That’s just solving one of the lots of problems she has.

   Esty looks towards a little to her right. Somehow, she could tell that something is coming from there. It’s definitely not because the Hero is looking towards there as well. And here it is, one second later. It’s another Eternal Nightmare, a ball of pure darkness designed to put its target to sleep and cause bad dreams so horrific the victim will usually commit suicide just to escape its effect.

   Perfect.

   Esty only has a single second to do this, so she dodged the Spell and sprinted towards the direction where it came from. She activates her Eye of Truth. Good, it’s still there. She reaches out her hands and tears open the special portal that Sulgran opened whenever she uses Spatial Redirection. On the other side of the portal stands the marquis herself.

   Sulgran looks towards Esty with an astonished look on her face. She tries to react, but it was too late. Esty steps forward and stabs her abdomen with her right hand.

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