The Villainess Who Was Dumped Got Married into My Family, a Mob Noble from the Frontier, and Turns Out, She's an Amazing Capable Wife? - Chapter 35: Battle with the Demon

Chapter 35: Battle with the Demon

When I said I was going to kill him, the fiery demon, with a black face appearing on its flame-covered body, twisted into a wicked smile.

The demon’s magic power, radiating with an intense glow like it was covered in flames, seemed to be daring me to try something. 

“It’s like the sun.”

The heat dominated the area, making the towering pillars of the temple appear distorted.

Magic that affects the environment like this was not my forte. 

As I had explained earlier, it took a lot of magic power to block the generated heat with a barrier. 

An entity with such powerful magic was, as far as I knew, on the level of dragons or Fenrir, legendary monsters, or even—a demon.

In the latter half of the story, Alicia, when she played the villain, had sold her soul to such an entity for revenge.

Its feature was a grotesque human form. 

Demons from another realm, without a physical form, cannot manifest in this world without relying on humans. 

When they do manifest, they take on a form heavily influenced by the person who paid the price, resulting in the appearance of the demon in front of me. 

“Who is inside?”

“…”

I asked, though the fiery demon kept its sneering smile unchanged.

It made me wonder who had taken on the role of the demon Alicia becomes in the latter part of the story.

“Well, I guess it’s pointless to talk.”

Humans who make a pact with the demons amplify their desires greatly, leading them to madness, making it impossible to maintain their sanity. 

“Gyahahaha!”

I don’t know what kind of madness this is, but I definitely felt their intention to kill.

I don’t know how they got into this place, but they’ll have to take responsibility for triggering Alicia’s trauma.

I gripped my sword with both hands and got ready. 

The moment I did, the demon leaped forward, closing the distance quickly. 

―Roar!

Without a moment’s delay, the demon shot a huge fireball from its hand, but I split it in two with my sword.

I created a barrier on the cut surface, forced it open, stepped forward, and used the fireball as a distraction to behead the demon attacking me. 

“Gyaah!”

I definitely felt the impact, but the fiery demon caught its own head in mid-air and quickly reattached it. 

“No going to die from this, huh?” 

Just like the worm magician, if they could use magic without chanting, they could survive even a fatal blow.

If you can activate magic just in time, like how the worm magician healed his wounds with bugs, it’s possible to reattach severed limbs. 

Does that mean the worm magician was actually pretty strong?

I don’t remember well because it was too gross.

But, I’ve never encountered anyone who could catch their own head and reattach it after being beheaded. 

I’ve faced demon-possessed people in neighboring countries, painted with a level of madness that didn’t distinguish between friend or foe. 

Like defeating the mithril golem guarding the holy relic, this guy must know something crucial to the story and is acting with that purpose in mind.

Being able to perform such feats while drenched in madness proves they’re a formidable force. 

“Gyahahaha!”

Facing the sneering fiery demon, this time I casually held my sword ready.

“Well,” I muttered, “this isn’t a problem.”

I stepped down hard on a small, compressed barrier at my feet, enhancing my strength with magic.

―Boom!

The floor of the dungeon, which had never scorched even in intense heat, shattered. 

Using the barrier wrapped around me for impact control, I launched straight into the fiery demon.

“!?” 

The demon’s smirk vanished, facing a speed beyond human comprehension. 

It tried to dodge by twisting its body, thinking it was about to be sliced, but I stopped right in front of it, face to face.

Looking at its face, with only black eyes and a mouth, it seemed distorted as if it had seen something unbelievable. 

“Grr…”

“Where’s your confidence now?”

I taunted with a snort, thrusting my hand straight into the demon’s chest. 

“…Huh?”

I had thought that crushing it from the inside would be no issue, considering it once was human, but my hand found nothing inside. The demon’s body was made entirely of flames, completely hollow.

“No wonder it’s still bouncing back after being beheaded.” 

It must be a sophisticated puppet, with the real body somewhere else.

Knowing the type makes it easier.

I’ll find out whose magic power this originally was. 

Since barriers are good at sensing what they touch, due to their need to distinguish what to let through, I’m skilled at sensing everything I come into contact with.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Perhaps sensing what I was trying to do, the demon let out a piercing scream as its magic power swelled. 

It was going to self-destruct.

Based on the magic power, the self-destruction is going to be huge, big enough to fill up this whole place.

“Tch, wonder who’s behind this.”

It’d be no issue if it was just me, but the two behind me couldn’t possibly handle it.

Even Aqua Veil, which usually works well against fire, might just evaporate. 

“That jerk, laughing from somewhere safe. I’ve got the hang of it now, though. Next time, I’ll find the real one and definitely take them down.”

After saying this to the demon, which was so swollen it wasn’t even humanoid anymore, I let go and jumped back to the girls. 

I created a dome-shaped barrier that wrapped us up, so thick you couldn’t see through it, including the Aqua Veil. 

Was it going to be a quick explosion or continuous extreme heat? I couldn’t tell, so I made a barrier just strong enough to keep us safe from ongoing attacks. 

Right after, just as expected, flames engulfed everything in front of us. 

It was way too bright.

“Maybe next time we meet, I should fight wearing sunglasses…”