I Was Nearly Killed by My Fellow A-Rank Party, but Now I Fed a Nine-Tailed Fox Deep in the Dungeon. ~ “My Master, I Shall Never Leave Your Side for All Eternity,” the Legendary Monsters Said While Doting on Me. Before I Knew It, I Had Become the World’s Strongest Lord of the Demon Realm~ - Chapter 7 & 8

Going Full Power Against the Guys Who Kicked Me Out

(Whoa, hold up… is Tamamo gonna be okay…? There’s three of them, and they’re seriously skilled adventurers, y’know…?)

I stayed hidden in the shadows, watching over Tamamo while she was disguised as me, Kuon.

Then a voice echoed inside my head.

〈Kuon, don’t worry. These guys? Even in this shapeshifted form, I can handle them easy.〉

〈We can do telepathy? Oh yeah, you used it back when I found the shrine too. The disguise is solid, but they really won’t notice?〉

〈Yep. I can copy your voice, your way of talking, everything perfectly. No way these idiots are gonna figure out who I really am.〉

〈You know so much about me ’cause you’ve got Fokko’s memories, right?〉

〈Exactly. Thanks to the little fox’s memories, I know it all. Everything they did to you, how they treated you…〉

While Tamamo—looking exactly like me—was flashing this fearless grin, the adventurers shouted even though fear was creeping into their voices.

“Kuon, how the hell are you still alive!?”

“Yeah… maybe I crawled back up from the bottom of hell just to get revenge on you guys.”

“Heh, even if a weakling like you came back, we ain’t scared one bit!”

Hearing that, Tamamo crossed her arms and a thick vein popped out on her forehead.

“Yeah, figures. You guys treated me like total trash and worked me to the bone. While I was busting my ass getting everything ready for dungeon runs, you three were just chilling in the tavern bragging about your ‘heroic’ stories. We were scraping by with barely enough cash to live, but without all the prep I did, who knows how many times you would’ve wiped out.”

“Hah!? We’d be totally fine without you around! I’ll kill you again right now! 【Magic Arrow】!”

Liliana fired five glowing magic arrows straight at her.

Tamamo didn’t even twitch an eyebrow—she just snatched every single one out of the air.

“Pretty sloppy archery. Here, have ’em back.”

She shaped youki into a bow in an instant and shot all five arrows right into both of Liliana’s legs.

“Kyaaaaah!”

“Liliana!”

Zex rushed over to Liliana, whose legs were now pierced clean through.

Right away, Laon started chanting a spell, and a magic circle lit up on the ground under him.

“I’ve been secretly drawing this magic circle while we were fighting! It was my trump card… Burn to death with max firepower! 【Prominence】!”

A massive fireball launched straight toward Tamamo.

“Kuahaha, nice. Let’s see who’s got the better firepower. Been a while since I used magic… 【Fireball】.”

“Hah! Thought it was something special, but it’s just basic magic! No way that weak crap can stop my advanced spell—”

Contrary to what Laon expected, right in front of Tamamo appeared a fireball several times bigger than his.

It swallowed Laon’s fireball whole like it was nothing and kept coming forward.

“—!? Shit—!”

Barely dodging for their lives, Laon and the others scrambled out of the way.

Still in my form, Tamamo cackled loudly.

“What’s wrong? Is that it already? I thought a weakling like me wasn’t scary at all, right?”

—

Dropping the Guys Who Kicked Me Out Into Total Despair

With Tamamo showing off her overwhelming power right in front of them, Zex yanked his holy sword out of its sheath.

“Liliana, just hang on. I’m gonna take him down and we’ll head back together.”

“Ugh… Zex. Please… I love you…”

“Yeah, me too. For our love—I’m gonna win—!”

He gently laid down Liliana, whose legs were messed up, then charged at Tamamo swinging his sword.

Tamamo just kept smiling as she lightly brushed the tip of the falling blade with her fingertips, nudging its path just enough to dodge it completely.

“Y’know, I’m actually impressed, Zex. Turns out you can do more than just stab weak opponents in the back.”

“I’m gonna cut you down and go back to the city with Liliana! Uooooh!”

Zex activated a bunch of skills while swinging his sword like crazy.

But Tamamo kept dodging every single one, occasionally letting out a bored yawn like she was barely paying attention.

“Even hopeless scum like you guys fall in love, huh. That’s exactly why, since ancient times, stupid humans just keep multiplying.”

“What the hell are you even talking about…! Our love’s power ain’t gonna lose to someone like you!”

“Oh? Wanna test that? Let’s see this so-called love of yours—”

While dodging Zex’s sword, Tamamo clapped her hands together.

Then she formed some kind of hand sign.

“—【Water Mirror Mirage】”

In that instant, magma suddenly burst up right behind Tamamo.

The temperature shot up fast, and Zex, Liliana, and Laon’s faces all went sheet-white.

The magma kept swelling bigger and bigger, rushing toward them like a tidal wave from behind Tamamo.

“No way, this ain’t funny! Run!”

Laon was the first one to bolt.

“—Dammit!”

Right after, Zex gave up fighting Tamamo too and started running.

He chucked his holy sword aside, his face twisted in desperate panic.

“Ahahaha, go go! C’mon, they’re gonna catch up~?”

Tamamo laughed while the huge magma wave swallowed everything.

Then Liliana grabbed onto Zex’s leg as he ran past.

“Zex! My legs hurt! Take me with you!”

But Zex just glanced back at the magma closing in, then stomped down hard right on Liliana’s face.

“If I drag you along we’re both dead!”

“—Huh? No… Zex… you said you ‘love me’…”

“Don’t grab me! Get off! You stupid bitch!”

Zex kicked Liliana’s face away full force.

Liliana’s face filled with total despair as the magma swallowed her up.

Zex definitely saw that moment with his own eyes, but he didn’t stop—just kept running like hell.

“—Kukuku…”

The two of them fled, and Tamamo’s laughter echoed through the whole floor.

“Ahahahaha! What happened to ‘I love you’! He just tossed her aside like nothing!”

Tamamo snapped her fingers with a loud “pop” and the magma vanished.

Liliana, who should’ve been swallowed, was now slumped on the floor looking completely dazed.

“Why… Zex… I believed in you…”

“To fall for this level of ‘illusion magic.’ Adventurers really got soft these days, huh.”

Since the fight was over, I stepped out and showed myself in front of Tamamo.

“Was it okay to let Zex and Laon get away?”

“Yep. I’m gonna make those two taste even worse hell from here on out. They hurt my adorable Kuon, so I’m gonna give them something way more awful than just dying. Hehehe, now the real fun starts…”

Still wearing my face, Tamamo flashed an evil grin.