The ones dealing with demons

"...!"

At that point, the bandit leader was about to lose his mind in fear. He almost backed off so much that he hit the gate-like metal arch with his back, but he ended up tripping and falling before that…

"...you…"

"!!!"

The woman transformed into an unnaturally tall humanoid, stood up, and pointed her long, thin finger at him, making the man shiver in disgust as the appendages on her back waved over her shoulder more like tentacles than small wings.

"Breaking the seal will take a bit of time, even for me. Hold back the intruder."

The monstrosity spoke up, moving towards the bandit, only to pass him as she approached the metal arc and ran her fingers along its surface.

"Wh-what…?! No! Wait…! Don't you get it?! That brat kicked my shit in the last time we fought! You deal with him!"

The bandit leader called out with his common sense blocked by fear.

"Y-you're a demon, right? Your kind can easily kill some human brat!"

"..."

He added with increased confidence, but the monstrosity merely turned her head slightly towards him as if sending him an annoyed glare.

"A tool shouldn't question the one who uses it."

She sighed at him before one of her appendages snapped towards the bandit like a whip, tearing off and sending one bloodied nail straight into his stomach.

"GUH…! Wh-what the fuck…?!"

The struck man groaned and clenched his stomach, staring at the expanding bloody stain on his shirt.

"You fucking demon…! What did you… ghugh… yhuouhh…!"

The bandit leader cursed in anger, but the monstrosity was already too busy with the metal arch to spare him any more time, and the next moment, he threw out some yellowish bile that burnt his throat.

"...whaf the hfuafhf…?"

The man groaned incoherently as he felt something disgusting crawling under his skin.

In the next moment, his back straightened regardless of his will, and his head lifted.

His torso and arms didn't change, but his head began to bleed as rows after rows of sharp claw-like fingernails began growing out in the shape of a crown on top of his skull.

To make things even more repugnant, the bandit's eyeballs popped out of their sockets as the optic nerves turned into fleshy appendages, giving the man the appearance of some unholy combination of a human and a naked snail.

Adding to the disturbance, the eyes remained completely functional and even gained more field of vision as they moved around without being blocked by the skull.

"Hold back the intruder. Five minutes should be enough… maybe even three."

"Yfheefhh."

The monstrosity repeated herself, and the bandit-turned-monster nodded while even more yellowish bile spilled out of his mouth.

The snail-ish humanoid moved towards the door, from which the echo of someone's hastened steps was getting louder, and drew its weapon - a rusted bastard sword.

"..."

"Gbugh…!"

Within the next twenty seconds, the green-haired young man appeared at the door, smashing one end of his staff in the middle of the monster's face, sending it a few steps back.

"Huh? Oh, what in the world?!"

Only when the creature didn't fall back or sway in concussion did Ace take a good look at its visage and gasp in disbelief mixed with disgust…

"You can't be serious…!"

Ace called out as he spotted the monstrosity messing around the metal arch…

"...!"

And then he jumped back, out of the way of the stab that the snail-like monster threw at him.

"Pfhue, pfhue, phfhuhe…! No conchushion or slheep whork on mhe nhow…! Yhou're dhone…!"

"..."

The monster chuckled, spatting yellowish bile everywhere, which made Ace glare at him and his crown of claws with a grim expression.

"Iths ovher…!"

"Charge hemorrhage."

The monster laughed once again, taking a proper stance for a change, but in response, Ace changed the grip on his weapon—which transformed into a spear—and infused it with another spell.

"!!!"

The monster trembled, and its eyes retracted a bit. Unbeknownst to him, the amaranth crystal embedded in the metal arch became covered with a cobweb of cracks because of the monstrosity's action.

"Wh-where did your rule about not killing humans go?!"

The bandit-turned-monster howled, spitting out the rest of the bile and regaining the ability to speak as he threw himself at the green-haired youth while swinging his sword.

"If you want to still call yourself human after receiving demonic energy…!"

Ace roared back, smacking away the blade of the rusted bastard sword with the blunt end of his spear before backing off a bit and stabbing the business end of it at the monster's head.

"Then you better help me kill the demon that crowned you!"

"FUGHAAAGH!"

Ace finished his call, continued the attack, and managed to pierce the fleshy optic nerve and sever one of the monster's eyeballs.

The monster dropped his weapon, clenching both hands to his eyesocket that was gushing out a terrifying amount of blood as the status effect was properly applied.

"Yhou…! YOUUUUUUU!"

"...!"

The monster roared, and an orb of darkness condensed in front of him and launched at Ace, with the green-haired man barely dodging it at such a close distance.

"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!"

The monster started squealing like a butchered pig, and the dark orbs began shooting out one after the other.

Before he knew it, Ace was already frantically dodging all over the place. Wherever the orbs launched by the demonized bandit touched, they would absorb the matter of its exact volume and disappear - causing the floor and the walls to be riddled with dozens of holes within seconds.

If even one of them grazed the green-haired youth, it would shave off more than just a pound of flesh…

"He…! HUEHUEHUE! I got magic now! Proper magic!"

The monster burst out into creepy laughter, continuing to shoot out the black orbs but also reaching one hand to the side, just for it to disappear into a small portal of condensed darkness…!

"...!"

"Got you~!"

The moment Ace felt something grabbing his ankle, he didn't even need the snail-like monster to cheer out and know what must have happened.

"HMPH!"

Without even lowering his gaze, Ace clenched one hand on his weapon, changing it into a downward-aiming sword, and stabbed down while he crouched.