Rin’s shout made his people act immediately, and a barrier appeared in front of everyone. Seconds later, a beam of fire collided with the barrier, making the air vibrate with the impact.

’Darn it! The system did not tell me this could happen? How could it leave out such a detail?’

Rin questioned as he watched a transparent barrier holding against the demon king’s attack. But it was only a matter of time before the barrier broke.

Thankfully, the beam was linear and easy to dodge.

"Everyone, run either left or right. Get out of the beam’s way. Pick up those who are deploying the shield and get them out of the way as well."

Rin yelled and everyone sprang into action. Due to the buffed stats, everyone was able to get out of the way before the barrier collapsed.

The beam from the demon king crashed into buildings, reducing them to rubble but no human life had been lost in the process. (as far as Rin knew)

The smoke around the demon king slowly faded, revealing an injured but still-living demon king.

"No way! That thing is still alive?"

"What are we going to do?"

Morale was dropping quickly. Things would get dangerous at this rate and Rin knew he had to act.

Albus and Shelly were attacking the demon lord, but because it kept moving, they were unable to land a hit on its weak point. So the damage was slow and superficial.

’It would take too long for these wounds to accumulate and take the demon king down. We need to do something else. How do we stop him to make sure our hit lands?’

Rin racked his brain before he had an idea. He immediately opened his system interface to check what potions he could make.

The first thing he noticed was the healing potion and that was all Rin had been making until now.

But healing potions weren’t the only things on his list. There were also buffing potions and paralyzing potions he had overlooked until now.

’Should I try to make them? Would they even work?’

Rin questioned, but his hands were moving before his brain could catch up and he started to create as many potions as he could.

The only downside of potion creation was that Rin tended to lose sight of himself when he was working with the potions. So when he finished with his batch, he noticed that everyone had gone quiet.

People were looking at him with a wide-eyed, helpless look that made Rin anxious.

"What’s wrong-"

Rin questioned, only to see a terrifying presence approaching from behind. He looked back and noticed how close the demon king had gotten to him.

"Rin, run! I will try to hold the demon king off-"

Shelly yelled as she ran toward him, but it would take her too long to reach the demon king. Rin would be crushed before she could reach him, so he needed to do something else.

Rin’s mind felt blank and his legs froze. It made him wonder if this was the end for him.

[Rookie, if you are going to die, then can I have your potions? This system promises to put them to good use.]

The system’s voice snapped Rin back and he let out a gasp before pulling himself back. He turned around to find the person he needed.

"Teressa, use your powers on the demon king. Try to hold him back as much as you can."

The succubus nodded and used her powers. The demon king slowed down and Rin used that moment to hurl his paralyzing potions at the demon king.

"Shelly, don’t come after me. Attack the demon king with all you have."

Rin yelled at the pink-haired girl but she ignored him and headed toward him.

Fortunately, Albus took his words seriously and attacked the demon king, bringing it down. With the combined effect of the paralyzing potion and Teressa’s powers, the demon king was a sitting duck and Albus’s sword cleaved through its neck.

[Task 3 is complete. Humanity has overcome the terror of the demon king. Congratulations on surviving.]

[Task rewards: All stats have doubled.]

Rin let out a sigh of relief at that message. Finally, this was over—he could finally relax

His legs lost all strength from the potions he had crafted and Shelly made her way toward him to help him up.

"Rin, are you alright? Did you get hurt?"

Shelly asked in a worried voice as she helped him up. She immediately started to check on him but Rin assured her that he was fine.

"I am not hurt. I’m just exhausted because I overused my abilities over the past few days. A potion would make me feel better-"

"How about you don’t abuse these potions and rest instead?"

[Rookie, listen to the doctor. You are on the verge of developing potion resistance. Do you want to become unable to benefit from normal potions?]

[Ah, this system has seen too many Rookies like you. They take one potion and slowly it becomes two and then three until they can’t feel anything and end up seeking a stronger potion.]

[What will this senior do if the junior becomes addicted to the potions? It would be a tragedy for this system]

Reina grabbed the potion bottle from Rin’s hand and pulled it away. She kept the bottle in her inventory and Rin watched her with a bitter look.

’Darn it! A single potion won’t make me addicted-’

[That’s what you said about the coffee as well. And now you drink once a day to keep your energy levels up.]

The system countered, and Rin had no defense against those words even though he knew he was addicted to the rum-coffee the system had introduced him to.

"I will take Rin back to his room-"

"Shelly, get checked first. I can make it back to my room alone-"

Rin’s body swayed as soon as he pulled away from Shelly’s arms. The unamused look he got from the people around him told him exactly what they thought about his decision.

"I don’t trust you to go back to your room alone. Should I choose someone—"

"I can take him back. I already already got checked by Amelia, so I am free to take you back."

Alex volunteered and everyone fell silent at the offer.

Despite training together, the gap between GBF and Rin’s settlement hadn’t closed and they did not trust each other. For Alex to volunteer at such a time could only mean he wanted to show he wasn’t a threat.