[A demon is approaching]

[Mission: Defeat the demon.

Reward: 30 stat points]

I was surprised to get the system notification. When I learned that the merchant was selling a product that contained dark magic, I immediately thought it was the work of human heretics, who support the Goddess of Darkness. I never imagined that a demon itself would be responsible.

The white faction's frontier walls have good security that prevents demons from entering the territory. Because of this, the idea of ​​meeting a demon never crossed my mind.

"Let's hide. There's someone approaching." I told Arthur.

"Right."

Arthur and I jumped onto one of the branches of a tree. Despite being at night, the moonlight illuminated the environment, making us visible. Because of this, Arthur and I chose to hide at the top of a tree. After a few minutes, a figure emerged from the middle of the forest, wearing a black cloak that covered his entire body.

"Something's wrong. It's not the same person I bought the fertilizer from."

I don't know if Arthur's system informed him that this individual was a demon. But even if the system didn't warn you, anyone would find it suspicious to find a guy like that. The surrounding atmosphere is frighteningly dark.

"Come out, I know there are two people around."

The merchant said in a hoarse voice. Just as I imagined, he is no ordinary person. When Arthur and I climbed to the top of the tree, we hid as much of our magic power as possible, so we wouldn't be noticed. However, the man in the black cloak was able to feel our presence, demonstrating that he has great senses. When called, Arthur and I climbed down from the tree.

When we landed on the ground, we were facing the man, however, it was not possible to see his face due to the hood that covered it.

"Who are you two?"

"We came to buy the fertilizer. The man who usually comes here hasn't been feeling well lately, so we came in his place." I replied, lying.

"I do business with him. If he's not here, the sale won't happen."

"Wait." Arthur tried to say.

"I'm leaving."

The man turned his back and started walking, creating a perfect opportunity. Wasting no time, I took the sword I'd received from the village blacksmith from my storage ring and leapt towards the man, surprising Arthur, who stayed behind. My aim was to slam the sword into his head to make the man faint, however, to my surprise, he easily dodged it.

He not only dodged, but counterattacked. When dodging, the man turned his body and attacked me with a punch. Upon receiving the impact, my body was thrown a few meters and I crashed into a tree, causing blood to come out of my mouth. Both Arthur and I looked at the man with disbelieving eyes. I knew he was a demon, but I never imagined he would be strong.

"Who are you?" Arthur asked.

"Huhuhu. Now there's no turning back."

The demon took off his hood and revealed his appearance. At first glance, he looked like a normal man, with a very ordinary appearance, without any strong features. However, in a few seconds, his appearance began to change. The man's body began to grow, both sideways and upwards, revealing his true form.

His body muscles started to grow, boar tusks appeared in his mouth, his hair fell out and a pig nose appeared. In a short time, the man became a demon about two meters tall that has the appearance of a Boar. The demon has large muscles in its arms, a large belly, and hooves instead of standing.

The clothes he was wearing ripped due to the growth of his body, leaving him with only his underside covered. Faced with such a monster, I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time, anxiety. Even though I was at the beginning of S-rank, I had no guarantee that I would be able to defeat such a monster.

I looked at Arthur and saw him standing there, looking at the demon with a frightened face. Something understandable, anyone would be paralyzed in the face of such pressure exerted by the devil. Not just his pressure, but his appearance as well. Any individual would be scared if there was a giant monster in front of him, whose eyes glow red in the middle of the darkness, demonstrating a huge murderous intent.

To make matters worse, the demon suddenly opened its huge mouth and made an act of vomiting. From the inside of his mouth came a giant morning star. The Morning Star consists of a large metal ball adorned with a number of spikes or blades embedded in a solid shaft of wood or metal.

"oinc, I will kill you."

The demon grabbed the gun, covered in saliva, and came running towards me at relatively high speed. The ground began to shake due to the demon's heavy footsteps. Something that surprised me was his speed, he was very fast despite having a huge weight.

As the demon approached me, he swung his weapon horizontally, aiming to hit my head. If I got hit, my head would definitely be blown off, and I would die instantly. Faced with this fact, I dodged by rolling on the floor to the side. The blow of the weapon destroyed part of the tree trunk behind me, causing it to fall backwards.

Quickly, I moved my sword with the aim of piercing the demon. I reached out, aiming to pierce the demon like a spear. However, the sword's tip failed to penetrate the demon's skin, generating a lock on the tip. I was surprised to learn that his skin had so much resistance.

The demon, counterattacking, moved his weapon vertically, from top to bottom, and tried to hit me. However, again I rolled on the ground, dodging the blow. The demon's blow created a hole in the ground, kicking up dust. He sure is a high-ranking demon. Now, why is this guy selling fertilizer?

"Aaaaaah."

Suddenly, Arthur emerges on top of the screaming demon. In his hand was a white sword that emanated a divine aura. It was none other than the Excalibur, the holy sword that only heroes can wield. Arthur, who was in the air, swung his sword at the demon, who used his own weapon to block.

After having the blow blocked, Arthur landed on the ground and again tried to attack. However, the demon grabbed the tip of Arthur's sword, preventing him from moving it. He tried to break the Excalibur with his bare hands, but this is impossible to do. The sword, according to legends, was forged in the realm of the God of Light from divine materials.

The demon's hand began to heat up due to the material of the sword. Excalibur seems to have an ego that only accepts its owner's touch, reacting when someone different tries to touch it. Even with the sword reacting, the demon didn't care and continued to try to break the sword.

Seeing that he couldn't break the sword, the demon attacked Arthur with his weapon. Seeing the weapon coming towards him, Arthur dropped his sword and jumped back, dodging the attack. At the same time, I took advantage of the demon's distraction and moved to his back. Transferring my magic power to the sword, I moved it horizontally with the aim of cutting off one of the demon's heels.

However, before my sword hit him, something hit my arm, preventing the cut. Surprised, I saw that it was the demon's tail that hit my arm, parrying my attack. Wasting no time, I shifted my magic power to my leg and jumped into the air.

The demon threw the Excalibur away, leaving Arthur unarmed, and turned to me. As I started to fall, I headed towards the demon, who swung his weapon to hit me in the air. Seeing the attack approaching, I used [the hydra god's footsteps], which allowed me to move in the air, and dodged the attack, moving behind the demon.

The demon, surprised, turned his body towards me again. When he turned around, the first thing he saw was my sword moving vertically. When I jumped on his back, I immediately used my magic power to perform [break through the sky], one of my sword techniques.

The demon, realizing he was in danger, raised the arm that wasn't holding the weapon to block my attack. He was counting on his stamina to stop the attack, but it was useless. My sword sliced ​​through his arm, spilling blood everywhere.

It was a great attack, but it was frustrating. I thought my attack would do more damage to the opponent than that. However, my opponent was much stronger than I imagined. Once again, doubts arise in my head.

Upon seeing his severed arm, the demon's eyes glowed red, demonstrating its hatred for me. Then he let out a scream, releasing all his murderous intent. Faced with such pressure, Arthur, who was already doing nothing, fell on his butt on the floor, shaking. I jumped back, and jumped to one of the branches of the tree.

"Oink, congratulations human. Oink, you managed to piss me off. Now, I hope you can handle the consequences."

The demon was shaking with rage. Faced with this situation, I took the opportunity to try to get some information.

"And what are you going to do? Kill me?"

"Oinc, not just you, but the hero as well. Then I'm going to the village to kill all the men and make all the women our sex slaves."

"Our slaves? So there are more demons like you in human territory?"

"Oink, since you're about to die, I'll tell you. Oink, your kingdom will soon be destroyed by the night shadow group. We'll get everything ready for our demon king to destroy everything, huhuhu."

"Hahahahaha."

"Oinc, what are you laughing at?"

"Shadow of the night? Is that the name of your little group? Who was the uncreative idiot who suggested that name?"

"Oinc, don't you dare belittle us. We are much stronger than you can imagine, we are in most villages in the empire, and we will destroy all villages."

If what he said is true, there must be a spy from Angelica's village. This makes perfect sense if we stop to think about it. According to Arthur and the villager who gave me the information, they've been buying fertilizer from the same guy for years, and just today a demon appeared in the merchant's place.

Putting the dots together, someone in the village reported that Arthur and I were on our way to meet the merchant. They likely sent this demon to deal with Arthur, as he is the hero destined to deal with the Demon King. They intended to eliminate Arthur now that he is weak to avoid trouble in the future.

Now that I think about it, in my first life, many villages were destroyed by hordes of monsters over the years. One day, the empire received an alert warning that several villages would be attacked by monsters at the same time and if they were not stopped, the monsters would come towards the imperial capital, destroying everything. To avoid such a disaster, the empress moved the imperial army, weakening the empire's defense.

Taking advantage of this situation, an unknown group attacked the empire. At that moment, the star of heroes shone and defended the capital from the unknown group. With the information I received today, those responsible for the attacks on the villages and the attack on the imperial capital were the shadow of the night. They planned everything.

"Thanks, little pig, for the useful information. Now the empire can prevent what you are planning."

"Oinc, kid. You talk like you're going to get out of here alive."

"And who's going to kill me? You? I don't see that happening."

"Oinc, you're strong, I'll admit. I believe you still have some cards up your sleeve that could kill me. But, can you kill us all?"

"Hahaha, do you think I didn't realize that your scream was a call? Even if you call thousands of beasts, I can't see myself losing. Not for a moment."

After I cut off his arm, the demon let out a scream. At first, I thought it was a scream of rage. But after a few seconds, I realized it was a calling. His cry was like an order to the beasts that were close to the region, they immediately answered his call, as if they had been following orders from a leader.

"Luke." Arthur called me.

"Arthur, get up. The battle is just beginning."