Anna Mori was a typical elven beauty. However, what made her stand out from the others was her ferocious talent and deep gray eyes that could pierce even souls themselves. Her long silky blonde hair was usually hidden in a hood but when she let it down, she quite literally glowed and became ethereal. Even within Falanir, she was widely regarded as the "wonder of the forests." But her beauty wasn't the only thing that made her stand out.

Her magic was no joke either. As a member of the high elves, one of the "ancient" races of the world, her magic level was on par with the very top commanders of the demon lord's army. So it was inevitable she would encounter the hero.

Anna was hunting a rumor of a congregation of demons south of her home forests at the bequest of her father, the king of the high elves. That's right, Anna was a princess. However, growing up, she had been more focused on swords and magic rather than royal duties. After besting one of the royal knights in a duel her parents reluctantly relented and let her become an adventurer. With her talent in magic and hunger for knowledge, she quickly rose through the ranks and became the highest-class adventurer there was in record time.

Now accepting a formal request by her father, she was chasing away demons from her homelands. Apparently, they were raising a stink on the outskirts, burning down their sacred trees and scaring all the beasts away. Gliding through the trees by manipulating the branches to create barely usable paths, she quickly made her way through the thicket.

By the time she arrived at the accursed demon dwelling, she nearly yelped in shock.

This was no mere gathering! It was a full-on invasion!

Instead of the dozen or so demons, she had been expecting, there was an entire host. They had somehow created a makeshift fortress overnight and a constant flow of troops and supplies was entering. She could hear their grim laughter and the sounds of the beasts crying out. They were even hunting down the beasts around them! Anna gritted her teeth and contemplated what she'd do.

Though her magic was extremely strong and long-winded, even she would have a hard time facing this many foes. Just when she was about to head back to first report this to her father, something rustled in the trees behind her.

A disgusting voice entered her pure ears, making her shiver from disgust. She had seen her share of gore and monsters, but this putrid voice and aura were enough to nearly make her vomit. Especially as an elf who was extremely sensitive to magic, she could sense the way the aura trying to encroach upon her like invisible tentacles grabbing at her in every way possible.

She turned around to see a hideous face grinning at her, black drool dripping onto the floor in a poisonous acidic puddle. It hissed out at her.

"Well, well. Master advised me to take careful care of the surroundings but I didn't expect to see you so soon...Princess."

It cackled while its identity became revealed.

This was Algazoth, the closest aide to the demon lord.

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The legend of the demon lord and hero went back to the very beginning of this world. Long ago, the first hero slayed the first demon lord in a mighty battle that shook the heavens. And then the hero lived a long life fathering many children and passing down his duties as a hero to his generations. Right? Well in actuality, the demon lord cursed the hero with a final hateful curse. He gave him the curse had been plaguing him all this time. The curse of power. 

For years the hero tried to live a quiet life and maintain the increasingly unstable magic within his body. He even married the princess of his home kingdom and had a daughter coming along the way. But the curse of the demon lord only came closer upon him. He could feel the unease of his magic and the corruption the curse was causing. He had asked countless magic experts for help but no one seemed willing to help. He did his best to suppress it, but on the day his daughter was supposed to be born, his magic suddenly exploded in power. After a burst of light, what remained was no longer a hero. It was a demon. That day, his own wife was slaughtered brutally by him unconsciously and his newborn daughter had vanished. Branded a traitor and a demon by the kingdom and the other races, he was forced into exile and cast out of the civilizations of the world. He slowly made his way to the mountains where he sat quietly hoping to die. 

Unfortunately, the death he sought never came. Only a level of holy magic on par with the hero could vanquish his corrupted heart. As the years passed, his solitude only further damaged his brain. Eventually, he became insane, a ghost of the mountains. For years past, travelers would caution against traversing the ranges at the mentions of a man-eating monster whose hideous figure could scare even the demon lord himself. 

The first hero ended up becoming the Algazoth of the current demon lord's faction. The demon lord had heard of the haunting of the Elegare Mountains and had personally gone to try and recruit the monster into its army. He didn't know of the former's identity as the first hero. 

When the demon lord first entered its hunting grounds, he found an utterly insane creature. It was clearly intelligent but had deteriorated so badly that it looked more like a shell than a living being. The second he had introduced himself as the demon lord, the creature let out an unearthly shriek and slammed its wretched fists against the ground. It howled at the demon lord causing the nearby trees to uproot from the sheer force. 

The demon lord was surprised at the existence of such a powerful creature and his lust for its power only grew. Thankfully no magic was strong enough to harm him other than the hero's magic. Though this creature's magic was oddly similar to a hero's, it had long been corrupted. So after some struggle, he easily overpowered the creature and forced it into submission.

And so the demon lord gained its most cruel and powerful subordinate; the first hero, or Algazoth as he was now named, who had never forgotten his grudges against the world. 

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Anna was captured by Algazoth after a battle that couldn't even be called a battle. It was more of a one-sided struggle as the monster kept toying with her. She was now trussed up in the midst of the camp on a wooden log that had been carved straight from the forest. She was glaring at the monster who was regarding her with a sinister glint in its eyes.

"Hopefully master will let me play with you after the interrogation. I've long thirsted for elvish blood and you'll be the source!"

Anna was quietly praying to the gods or anyone to come and save her. She had seen first-hand how useless her magic had been on him. It was like an invisible armor protected him from every attack. Even her strongest spell didn't even warrant a grunt!

Just when she was about to give up, there was a loud scream and someone crashed down into the ground smack in the middle of the camp.

She heard a hoarse voice scream out. "Oi idiot! Who just dumps their master a thousand meters in the air!"

A booming voice called out with laughter, "It was an aaaaaccident!"

The voice in question appeared from the smoke billowing. It was a young man with black hair and a scar on his cheek. His bright eyes glanced around the camp finally settling on Anna who was staring in shock. The man gave her a dumb smile and took out his sword. 

She was dumbfounded to see the Holy Sword in this man's possession. There was only one explanation. This man...was the hero?

She expected some hulking mass of muscle not this ordinary-looking man. Sure he looked rugged and was by no means a stick, but he was more like a village-boy than a hero!

The man, nay boy, frowned at her. "Hey I can tell you're thinking something rude. I can assure you, I'm the hero!"

He pointedly ignored the arrogant-looking creature, Algazoth, who was about to make an entrance. "Hah! Hero? So you came...kukuku. Just as the demon lord expected!"

The boy gave the monster a deadpan. "Huh? Who are you?"

Algazoth snarled. "Boy! You dare to be impudent? I'm the strongest servant of the demon lord, the mighty Algazoth the bringer of a thousand deaths and the lord of undeath!"

The boy yawned. "Oh okay. So you gonna come at me or what?"

Anna was incredulous at the boy's ignorance. Was he stupid? He might be the hero but she had been so easily beaten! How could he take the monster so lightly?

Algazoth snorted and immediately cast a magic spell that could easily bring down a country or two. The boy's eyes widened and he muttered something before the spell hit him full-force. For some reason, the land was protected and the only damage was a crater where the hero once stood on. Anna feared the worst but heard the boy's voice trailing out of the smoke. 

"Weren't you supposed to announce your attack or something? Jeez I almost didn't cast that barrier in time! You almost destroyed the whole forest!"

The boy appeared once again, without a scratch on him! Anna was dumbfounded. He had taken the hit face-on! Judging from the destructive energy, no barrier could have protected him that well!

"Oh don't you know? Heroes have immunity from all magic attacks that aren't cast by the demon lord. Though," he looked at Algazoth, "you're close, but you're still not a demon lord. Simple as that!"

Both Algazoth and Anna sweatdropped. 

Before anyone could say anything, the boy continued cheerfully. "So this makes it my turn!" 

A massive magic circle suddenly appeared, encompassing the whole encampment. The other demons, who had been watching this spectacle with amusement, suddenly panicked seeing the hero charge up his spell. 

"Heaven's Fury"

The ground erupted as spears of white light rained down from the heavens, each finding a body to pierce. The air was filled with the sounds of screeching demons and Algazoth could only watch in astonishment at the utter destruction the spell caused. It sparked a memory of his former life in him, a life where he was the one using these spells. 

One of the spears lodged itself into the monster's abdomen and he didn't even cry out. Instead, he closed his eyes thinking of his wife's corpse in his hand and the daughter he had never found. More rage filled him and he slowly lost the control relinquished over his mind.

Anna and the hero watched on as the monster began to mutate. It grew several meters in size until it towered well over the trees. It's face had morphed into an even more grotesque version of itself and its bloated body began to writhe. It let out a roar and began attacking. 

"Interesting! So he really was a corrupted human! Well that makes it a little bit easier."

Another massive magic circle appeared. 

"Face your demons on your own! Divine Grace!"

This time a ray made purely of what appeared to be light blasted the monster. It shrieked in pain as the holy element made quick work of its defiled body. It's attacks grew in fervor as it felt its strength slowly being sapped. 

The hero kept firing holy-element attacks, one after the other, slowly vanquishing both the body and the spirit of the monster. As his final attacks began taking a visible toll on the monster, it slowly shifted form yet again. This time, it was in the form of a naked man who looked remarkably familiar for some reason. The man's eyes were closed and his body somehow looked healthy despite all the damage he had surely received. Still on guard, the hero watched as the man opened his cracked mouth and spoke in a quivering voice.

"Thank you for saving me from this fate."

His eyes opened as tears began streaming from them.

His body slowly dissolved, this time for good, "I'll finally be able to reunite with my daughter and wife again."

The body finally disappeared and the particles rose into the air. 

The hero didn't look too fazed but picked up the ring the man had left behind. He quickly made a little altar using pebbles and buried the ring. While doing this, he looked back at Anna who was still shaking in her restraints. He quickyly got up and released her. "Oh my bad, I completely forgot about you! I didn't even introduce myself!" He reached a hand out while helping her to her feet. "Takahashi. Yuki Takahashi, hero. Nice to meet ya."

For some reason, she took his hand, though she was perfectly capable of getting up on her own. "Anna Mori. Likewise."

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After her fateful meeting with the hero, Anna joined him as a member of his party, meeting the other members already in it. Namely a dragon and a knight. A camaraderie was quickly formed between the women, who spent their nights discussing the hero behind his back or peeping at his cute face while he snored in bliss.

As she followed him around while vanquishing strong foes, she came to realize her own feelings, seeing the pure and kind heart he had under his dense façade. Though she didn't need saving after that time, she sure as hell didn't mind the way he always had her stay behind his back during fights.

Unfortunately, she had a fierce competition with the other party members. Some, like the dragon, had been with him since nearly the very beginning. She had bitterly revealed how Yuki had never done anything or accepted her feelings. 

With some encouragement, they all reached a consensus. Surely Yuki couldn't hold their advances forever! After going through several life-or-death situations, the girls became close enough to make an agreement to share him amongst them. Though it was made clear that the girl to first take his cherry would be the head wife. 

While they furiously discussed the future, Yuki was busy eating some street food in one of the markets near the inn they were staying at. He sneezed multiple times while shivering. He looked around for a bit then smiled to himself. 

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A.N. Next two chapters will be similar to this one.