A Devil. A monster beyond reason.

The reason it was feared wasn't because of its power, but rather because humanity couldn't beat them. Physical attacks barely work, and magical attacks barely tickle it. Curses don't even work. Only holy weapons could deal damage to it.

"... No way!"

But even that damage was rapidly healed, closed in the blink of an eye.

Everyone felt shocked, seeing such overpowered regeneration. However, even that didn't make Arianne falter.

"So you can recover?! That's great!"

She growled as she swung her sword once again, slashing the thigh after jumping high.

"THEN FEEL MY ANGER FOR AS LONG AS YOU WANT!!!"

"Arianne, no...!"

Axel's words, of course, didn't reach Arianne, who was far off at the frontlines.

As she jumped, the Devil waved its arm and slapped her down from mid-air! As she was having tunnel vision after landing a successful hit, she didn't even see the attack coming!

"Shit...!"

Axel cursed, jumping down the wall instantly.

That hit—Arianne definitely received it fully. Although he was sure she was alive after that, whether she was able to keep her consciousness or not was up to the heavens to know.

"Everyone! Speed up! Don't let up your attacks and proceed as planned!" he commanded further as he drew his own sword.

"S-Sir Hexel?!"

But of course, Axel rushing off was not a part of the plan. In fact, he wasn't even wearing armor, as he wasn't considered a frontline troop. Still, he rushed forward bravely, slashing at the vulnerable monsters with their backs facing him.

"Faster! Clear them all up!" he urged further.

"UGH...!"

At that moment, Arianne's body flew toward the sky.

While she was left vulnerable, the Devil kicked her up, as if venting its anger on her—the anger of being injured, along with the disgrace it felt. Thankfully, she was still alive thanks to her armor, but for how long, nobody could be sure.

"Sir Hexel, you'll owe me for this...!"

Teruria quickly grabbed a different voodoo doll, one of better quality. She raised it and readied her staff forward, whispering a chant that wasn't like any other. It was short and filled with an ominous edge, raising goosebumps on those nearby her.

"Curse... of DEATH!"

And without holding back, she cast the worst curse she could at present.

She felt her vitality drop rapidly, causing her knees to buckle, but at the same time, a fog of black smoke covered the battlefield. The fog, when breathed by the other monsters, immediately caused them to fall, convulse, or foam at the mouth before painfully dying.

"...!"

Axel gasped in shock, worried for a moment that he'd get affected too before realizing that he was safe.

'Right, I have the Substitute Doll!' he recalled, smiling.

Although the curse inflicted severe damage to the doll, it was still barely 1% of its full capacity. It wasn't anything that would render it unusable instantly... though the fact that a single curse took a full 1% of a national-treasure-level Substitute Doll alone was scary enough.

The black fog helped everyone not only with clearing the mobs, but also with protecting Arianne.

With it, the Devil lost sight of her, unable to attack even if it wanted to. Adversely, everyone could still see the giant being, open to attack at any moment.

"Attack! Buy as much time as possible!"

Axel roared, rushing toward the last position he remembered Arianne falling toward. And soon enough, he found her. Despite getting slapped and kicked once, she still held her glowing sword, allowing him to find her even through the dark fog.

"Arianne!" Axel cried, rushing to her side.

Without delay, he popped open a potion before slapping the whole bottle into her mouth. Only after he heard her gulp ever so silently did he find the time to inspect her state.

The armor did its job well, protecting her from danger.

Although thanks to that, it now had crumpled parts here and there.

The side and the back in particular. Those parts were caved in and were pressing against her body like a vice grip locked in place.

"I'll borrow this for a moment."

Axel whispered before touching her armor and placing it in his inventory. Though after having been released by their repressors, her twin peaks jiggled greatly, almost distracting Axel entirely.

Through the system panel's repair function, he fixed the damage in a flash.

Cost was secondary at the moment, so he didn't pay much attention to it.

Then, he touched her chest once again, before...

"No, I can't return the armor." He shook his head.

Instantly equipping an item after withdrawing it from the inventory. He hadn't tested doing it before, but he was quite sure the consequences of failing were quite severe. If he were a millimeter off, then the armor could fuse with her body.

Or if it intersected parts of her that were poking out, like her chest, they could get cut off. Just imagining it was scary enough!

Instead, he just placed it beside her, waiting for Arianne to open her eyes.

"... Mmh."

After the potion's contents were emptied, the glass fell to the ground with a clank. Slowly, Arianne opened her eyes and was met with darkness.

"I... died?" she whispered in a serious tone.

"Almost," Axel quickly interjected, destroying her moment. "Anyway, quickly put your armor back on! The final phase of our strategy is far from over!"

"Sir... Axel..." Arianne whispered.

Then, she recalled what happened and showed a pained expression. "I... was way too overeager... I lowered my guard."

"Exactly." Axel nodded. "Since you know what you did wrong, can you do it again carefully this time?" he added, smiling thinly.

Arianne didn't say a word.

She simply stood up, using her sword as a crutch, donned her armor that fit her body instantly, and smiled. "Of course!"

Then, as if she wasn't on the brink of death moments earlier, she ran ahead, faster than Axel could call her name.

The entire time, the Devil was under fire from the crossbows and the two ballistas. Despite all that, any injuries it received were healed almost instantly. Just looking at their "progress" for this subjugation was despairing enough... but none of them looked like they had given up.

Their plan was far from over.

And...

"Although there's a bit of surprise, everything so far was still within expectations!"

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