When Ryan jumped back, a pillar of fire became visible before him.

But the attack didn’t stop there; immediately following it, twelve pillars of fire erupted from beneath the snow.

He dodged them one after another with ease.

"Tsk, that bastard is more skilled than I thought," the demon with the bracers commented.

"Didn’t you say you’d handle it? How stupid. We need to finish this guy off quickly, then we’ll go after the girl," the larger one growled.

’Which girl?’

"Hey, ogre, which girl are you talking about? Is she a demon?"

"Who are you calling an ogre, you miserable human?"

Then the scythe archdemon stepped forward.

"Don’t let him provoke you. It’s clear this isn’t just some ordinary guy. He’s strong."

’So they’re not going to answer? Whatever, I’ve already wasted enough time on this.’

Then, Ryan pulled a short sword from his inventory—the very one he had previously taken from one of the S-rank holy knights who had attacked them in the forest.

’I haven’t had a chance to test this weapon yet, and I think now will be a good time.’

He gripped the short sword in his left hand.

And he kept his Chimera in his right.

’Though it looks more like a dagger than a sword.’

"What, are you going to say the typical words holy knights say before they die now?" The one with the bracers said in a mocking tone and added, "Now I’ll really fight ser—"

But he didn’t finish the sentence.

Not only were his words cut short.

Ryan was now behind all of them.

And the left arm of the demon wearing the bracers was now on the ground.

And he was screaming in pain desperately.

"When did he get here?" the largest of them said in a raspy voice, adjusting his shield into a defensive stance.

The scythe guy jumped back to distance himself and threw his scythe with force toward Ryan’s position, though Ryan dodged it with a calculated movement and brought his sword down on the chain, severing the link between the scythe and the demon.

"Blazing Blade"

The attack went straight for the guy with the bracers, but the big one stepped in between, trying to block it with his shield.

"Damn it. Who is this guy!" the shield user complained while trying to withstand Ryan’s attack.

The impact lasted only a few seconds, but he managed to resist the attack.

The only problem was that Ryan was now behind the two of them.

"Get away from there!" the scythe guy shouted.

But before either of them could react, Ryan cut off the head of the guy with the bracers.

The big guy turned toward Ryan, stunned by what had just happened.

"Now, tell me, which girl were you saying you were chasing?"

"Shut up, you bastard, I don’t have to talk to yo—"

Slash!

The archdemon carrying the shield fell to the ground.

"Agh!!" He screamed in pain while crawling.

His legs had now been cut off.

Ryan glanced sideways at the scythe guy while standing right next to the larger one, and he placed his foot on his head, stomping him and burying him in the snow.

But he didn’t dare approach; his face showed clear confusion, as if it were the first time he had faced someone he couldn’t defeat.

"You’d better stop acting brave. Tell me, which demon were you chasing? And where did she go?"

The demon didn’t answer.

Ryan, with the short sword, unleashed a thrust and cut off one of that demon’s horns, then kicked him while he was in the air.

"Damn you... how dare you..." the demon said as he pulled his face out of the snow.

Then Ryan sighed.

"There’s no point in trying to talk with you people, and to think I was being kind by not killing you immediately."

"Hey, wait..." The voice sounded soft; the scythe demon hesitated as he spoke.

"If I tell you what you want to know, will you let us go?"

Ryan turned toward him.

He took only two steps forward.

And the larger demon remained behind him, getting back up while panting.

But before answering the scythe demon’s question, Ryan swung his sword backward without even looking, cutting off that archdemon’s head.

"But... weren’t you the one saying you wanted to talk? Why did you kill him? I told you I’d tell you what you wanted to know." He gripped the scythe chain tightly with both hands.

"If you’re going to talk, say it already. Were you chasing a demon girl?"

Before responding, the guy hesitated for a second. As if trying to understand why there was so much interest in knowing about a demon girl.

But then, his eyes widened.

"Of course, I understand now. You’re that guy—the one who saved a demon and is now being hunted by the holy knights, right?"

Then, the scythe demon dropped the chains and walked with an erratic step, hands up, toward Ryan while continuing to speak.

"It’s you, isn’t it? I think your name was Ryan... You know? My lord Rigal has spoken of you. He said if he ever found you, he’d ask you to join them. After all, if you protected a demon, it means you have nothing against us, right?"

It seemed the rumors about what Ryan did had already spread to every corner of the nations, though of course, that was something he had already imagined.

Still, there was no point in continuing to listen to this guy. There was only one thing Ryan wanted to know.

"Hey, shut up already. Just tell me who the hell you were looking for. None of that interests me," he replied with a tone of clear annoyance while pointing at him with the sword.

Then the demon stopped.

"I’m sorry, I’ll tell you right now. I only wanted to mention what my lord Rigal said about you. You know, with my help, you could have an audience with the demon king right now."

"Don’t believe a word he says..."

"Eh?" The demon turned at the whisper.

But his body was quickly wrapped in threads, as fine and strong as the hardest metal.

"What... what is this?" The demon questioned himself, trying to look around, but before he got his answer, his body was split into many pieces under the pressure of those threads.

Footprints on the snow began to approach Ryan.

It wasn’t necessary to use Reveal Hidden.

She simply appeared in front of him.

"Ryan, did you come to look for me?"