"Ariel Bugaard?"

After his brief panic, Basaroka regained his composure, but his expression was still heavy.

"I’ve heard your name."

"Oh?"

Ariel’s smooth chin lifted slightly as she raised an eyebrow.

"Looks like during this time in the Abyss, I’ve managed to make quite a fearsome reputation. To think even a dignified Demon General would—"

"I heard you defeated that Muen Campbell."

Basaroka swept a cautious gaze over the human girl in front of him. Clearly, her realm was only at a level not much different from that human coward he’d casually beaten just now, but the pressure she gave him was on an entirely different level!

"Not long ago, that Muen Campbell defeated Demon General Chiheniro. I was still thinking how it was possible there was a human among his peers who could defeat him. It had to be the Empire deliberately exaggerating for propaganda... but I didn’t expect it. Seems I was ignorant. The Empire actually has someone like you."

"..."

Not expecting to hear that hateful name even in a place like the Abyss, Ariel curled the corner of her mouth into a smile that wasn’t a smile.

"Heh. The things you’re ignorant about are still many."

"Indeed."

Basaroka flicked a glance at Ariel’s chest. A trace of shock flashed through his eyes, and his attitude grew even more solemn.

"Looks like today I won’t be able to complete my task easily."

"Even now you still think you can complete your task? As expected, you demonfolk really aren’t very good at using your brains, one by one."

Ariel shook her head in mockery, then her attitude softened again as she looked at the girl in her arms.

"Are you okay?"

"Ah... ah!"

Still in shock and confusion, Roya snapped back to herself, and only then realized that at some point, she was being held in the arms of a prince who had descended from the sky... no, held in the arms of a hero.

Usually mature, she actually showed the fluster of a little girl at this moment.

"S-sorry."

Because being carried in a princess carry was too embarrassing, Roya reflexively covered her face with both hands, yet she still couldn’t help secretly parting her fingers to peek through the gaps.

Maybe it was because of that halo that had pulled her back from the edge of death, or because of those raging flames that weren’t actually scorching, flaring behind the hero like a cloak in such a dashing way—at this moment, Roya felt that female profile, which normally shouldn’t have caught her attention, was unexpectedly very pleasing to look at.

A-and...

Roya’s gaze secretly slid downward, and she couldn’t help being even more slightly shocked.

This hero’s chest... was so magnificent!

Roya herself was also that type, but she was still stunned by the hero’s towering grandeur.

And even though she was that magnificent, her waist was so slender it looked like it could almost be snapped easily. This combination of magnificence and slenderness would probably make countless girls who could only dream of it feel jealous beyond belief.

How did the hero manage to have such a perfect figure?

"Like this, I can’t fight."

Ariel slightly puffed out her chest, then, following the techniques recorded in that book How to Charm Ten Thousand Girls—Even a Monkey Can Learn Flirting Skills, she lightly flicked a few bangs aside and gave a wickedly charming smile.

"So, dear Princess, could you temporarily step back a bit, so I can help you defeat this filthy, stinking demonfolk trash?"

"O-of course."

Roya, red-faced, struggled to stand up. She even forgot to cast a floating spell—if Ariel hadn’t supported her again, she might have just fallen straight down.

And the strange sensation of Ariel’s small hand supporting her—she didn’t know why, but it made her heart pound even harder.

Roya stole another glance at Ariel.

Strange.

So strange.

What was that warmth flowing through her heart?

And what was it that was making her heartbeat speed up right now?

Even though she wasn’t...

Roya didn’t know what this emotion was. She could clearly sense Termir’s feelings, but at ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) this moment, she couldn’t grasp her own at all.

...

"Are you done talking?"

While Roya was leaving, Basaroka had actually behaved like a true gentleman and didn’t use the chance to attack her.

"Wasting time on the battlefield isn’t something an excellent warrior would do."

"Are you really demonfolk?"

Ariel was a little surprised at Basaroka’s elegant posture.

"I’ve dealt with quite a few demonmen, but those guys only know how to fight and kill. The only time they use their brains is mostly when they’re thinking up some despicable trick."

"Demonfolk aren’t made up of only crude brutes, just like you humans aren’t made up of only weaklings, aren’t you?"

Basaroka smiled faintly, as if his earlier panic had only been Ariel’s illusion.

No, it wasn’t an illusion, and it wasn’t exactly panic either. After slaughtering several human adventurers around third or fourth tier like catching chicks, a “battle chick” that could casually block your attack suddenly popping out—anyone would feel a sudden discomfort.

But that was only brief and sudden.

"I see. Your ‘gentlemanliness’ doesn’t come from your manners. It’s because you simply don’t care about weaklings."

Ariel’s gaze flickered, as if she saw straight through Basaroka.

"That isn’t elegance. It’s just indifference carved into your bones."

"Haha, perhaps. Staying in a hellhole like the Abyss for too long, anyone would become indifferent, but..."

The initial shock and unease had completely vanished. Cruelty and bloodlust finally began to seep out, bit by bit, from the depths of Basaroka’s crimson eyes.

"Only battle can make this blood of ours, already cold, boil again—am I wrong?"

"Is that so?"

Ariel asked flatly, and tightened her grip on the greatsword in her hands.

"That look you have—elegant in daily life, but insanely fanatical in battle—makes me think of that guy again."

"Someone you care about?"

"No. Someone I hate."

Flames surged. Ariel’s small face was lit so solemnly.

"I hate him so much!"

"Haha!"

Basaroka laughed loudly.

"Then treat me as that person and fight me properly."

Deep ghostlight rose, reflecting off the flames.

A terrifying pressure also surged up rapidly from Basaroka’s body.

He might be shocked by Ariel’s strength, but he wouldn’t lose the slightest bit of fighting spirit because of it.

Because he was a Demon General—a Demon General tempered in the Abyss’s harsh environment.

At the same time, he was a genuine fifth-tier powerhouse. In terms of realm, he might even be a step above Chiheniro.

Someone like him—how could he lose to a mere human woman?

Even if her chest was huge... that still wasn’t possible!

...

A few minutes later.

Held up by flames, Ariel wobbled as she landed on ground that had almost turned into bare red earth.

Watching Basaroka turn into ashes and return to this land he had ruined, Ariel let out a long breath of relief and muttered softly to herself.

"Worthy of a Demon General. I almost ate it."

Thankfully, in her earlier training in the Abyss, after slaughtering one kind of demonman and magical beast after another, her strength had climbed another level. Only then had she barely managed to bring Basaroka down.

"If the one I ran into this time had been a higher-ranked Demon General, I would’ve been in trouble."

Ariel crossed her arms over her chest... awkwardly hugging a position a little lower under her chest. In the corner of her eye, she saw the pretty girl rushing over with a face full of worry, and she couldn’t help tilting her head forty-five degrees up to look at the sky again. The corner of her mouth crooked, sketching a pleased arc.

"Sure enough, as long as I leave that hateful guy, my luck gets better..."