A High-Class Stary.

Freed and Camilla walked for an hour before reaching the indicated building. Freed stood behind that building for a while because some barricades barred the front door, so they busted through a glass window behind the back.

He sensed Raynare's presence on the top floor of the building, so he decided to take the stairs up there. The structure wasn't particularly tall; it was a residential apartment building with somewhere around six levels.

'Raynare must have landed directly on the roof,' Freed thought as he climbed the stairs. He would be lying to say that he wasn't envious of the ability to fly. Even if it may appear normal in a world like DxD, flying itself is a huge superpower. Humans can't fly, unlike most supernatural beings. Though they do have some spells, they can't use them for lengthy periods because such spells burn a significant amount of mana.

"It took you significantly longer than I had anticipated. Hoh! You've got company; I know you can't keep your dick in your pants, but this is taking things a little bit too far."

Raynare's voice took on an unpleasant tone when she spotted Freed, but after she saw a girl there with Freed, her attitude shifted, and she appeared to be slightly aggravated.

"You can assume anything you want; I don't care. She goes by the name Camilla and is a user of Sacred Gear."

Freed was not much of a verbose guy and usually liked to keep introductions quick and straightforward.

"A sacred gear, you say? Which one is it?" Raynare inquired as her violet eyes stared intently at the younger girl in question.

The girl trembled slightly at Raynare because she was a little afraid of this new lady. She glanced at Freed for assistance, but all he did was give a little shrug followed by a nod. Camilla raised her hand, indicating that she understood the meaning behind it, and then called forth her luminous blue bow.

"Ooh! A Staring Blue. Not bad; well, then perhaps we can put you to good use, shall we?" Raynare gave the girl a malicious grin as she glanced at her, causing her to shudder and take a few steps backward.

Freed glanced at this scene with a hint of amusement. It is perfectly normal for Camilla to be scared of Raynare. Raynare's figure is much more prominent; her body is much more womanly; her curves are very acute, mixed with her chilly face, giving her a strict, mature lady charm; and paired with her sadistic aura, she sends chills to even an adult man, much less a high school girl.

"So how exactly are we going to proceed?"

Freed asked while he was looking at a big shed that was located a few hundred meters away from where they were currently standing. He was able to sense a huge amount of demonic energy coming from that direction. It was so enormous that it even exceeded the standard for a high-class devil.

"The stray is currently lurking in that shed with its prisoner or food supply—whatever you want to call it—and from what I can see, it has undoubtedly already devoured more than a hundred people and absorbed their life essence. As a result, its power has greatly increased. At this stage, it is easily categorized as a high-class monster. It also has the unusual capacity to influence and possess humans, turning them into mindless puppets covered in black demonic muck. But don't worry, those minions aren't particularly powerful, but on the plus side, the stray most likely should have lost all rational thinking, making it far more predictable and providing us an opportunity to fight back."

Raynare continued her explanation, detailing all the information she had gathered thus far. Raynare's ability to gather intelligence on her enemies was undeniably impressive, as Freed was forced to admit.

"Now the question is, what should we do? I have two ideas: we fight it head-on, or we sneak up on it and you two act as bait until I charge a massive light spear and we finish it in one shot," Raynare continued.

Freed's face went dark; he understood she was driving him into a more risky position, as she had never intended to take the first option, which is a trap and a dumb move. Fighting a creature that is many times stronger than you and its minions is a death wish.

The second option, though, isn't any better. It's harsher, but it does boost their chances of winning. But the catch is that his chances of dying increase substantially, while Raynare's chances of dying reduce significantly because even if he dies, she will have gained enough time to flee this area.

If it had been the former Freed, he would have accepted this offer immediately because he was a psychopath who enjoyed killing devils, but now he will not accept it because he can see Raynare's plan from a mile away and will never allow it to happen.

"No. Both are impractical; instead, I believe we should focus on the stray together while Camilla deals with the minions; this is the best way to ensure our victory."

While thinking, Freed stated that this was the best-case scenario; in his previous world, he was an ordinary human, and while he does have some assassination skills, they would be almost useless in a world like this, so Freed is mostly reliant on his predecessor memories, the best of which is killing a mid-class stray devil during his time in church.

And it was his first encounter with a high-class monster, so he wouldn't take any chances, and Camilla was assigned to deal with those minions because of her sacred gear.

However, just because he put her in this position does not imply that he trusts her; he just believes that her sacred gear is more than sufficient to deal with those minions, and he is confident in his skills to deal with them even if the girl fails to do her task.

Before nodding to Freed, Raynare gave him a strange look. However, a look of surprise could be seen in her eyes as she looked towards Freed, who was detailing Camillia's task in more depth.

'He's behaving strangely; what happened?'

Raynare thought to herself, She knows Freed rather well at this point. They have been working together for more than 3 months now.

Typically, anytime a stray priest joins Grigori, they are put under a strict monitoring period for a month. Of course, the organization won't inform those priests about it. As to fallen angels, stray priests are very dangerous, and there may be a possibility of them being spies for the church, especially for a genius like Freed.

Though Freed has undergone the monitoring period and is now an official member of Grigori, he is partnered with her because, as is customary, members with higher potential are normally partnered with mid-rank fallen angels, Raynare is still very young, and Freed is her first human companion. Raynare wasn't thrilled to be matched with a lunatic like Freed at first, but she became accustomed to him with time.

But these new adjustments are a little too abrupt; it's as if Freed is a completely different person. Everything about him changed, from his looks to his personality. His initial white hair turned grayish, which appeared more natural than pure white hair, and the color of his eyes changed to a darker shade of red.

Maybe she's becoming a little delusional; after all, everyone fears death, right?

Therefore, he must have been cautious; perhaps it was just her and her overthinking. Raynare shook her head and leaned against the railing with her gaze fixed on the distant sky.

*****

Swish!

Swish!

Swish!

A blue arrow entered the minion's chest as it fell to the ground and turned to ash, followed by multiple arrows that continued to rain down on them. The creatures failed to recognize the death of their comrade, and within minutes, they killed over a hundred minions and covered the entire area in ash.

Camilla was a few hundred feet away from the shed's door.

And she was the one who used her sacred gear to snipe those mindless minions. Her accuracy was impressive, considering she had never touched a bow in her life. It appears that the sacred gear did provide some additional benefit.

Freed and Raynare slipped inside the shed cautiously, followed by their younger teammate, who stood a little apart from them and watched out for them from behind. The trio crept further and further into the shed together.

They didn't get very far before they caught a glimpse of what appeared to be an altar made of the same dark substance, perched atop some machinery that had been placed in the shape of a platform for the altar.

As soon as he stepped inside, Freed noticed that the circular altar had a column standing in its exact middle.

Next to the body, which measured three meters in height, was a suit of armor. Unexpectedly, all of the armor's parts, including the fingers and other components, were present. If the eyes were illuminating, then this might as well have been Iron Man's armor.

The column's height was one meter, and its diameter was half a meter. A strange fish with a bulky head and slender tail carved its surface, while a fist-sized crystal perched at the very top of the column.

The crystal had a reddish tinge, and its surface featured a few cracks. A crimson vapor emanated from the fissures in the crystal, slowly made its way upward, and eventually vanished into the shed's uppermost level.

But what surprised him was the sheer amount of demonic energy it released. It was so much that Freed began to feel a little suffocated, and his blood began to boil as if it were reacting to that energy.

It surely exceeded an average high-class devil.

"So much demonic energy!! We have-"

Raynare attempted to say something.

Boom!

The platform vibrated unexpectedly, alerting the three people. The armor's eyes gradually began to glow red next to the column, unnoticed by everyone.

"Intruders, die!" The armor made a roar.

The armor had a somewhat monotonous sound and appeared to be rather rigid. The abrupt voice took Freed aback, and as he glanced at the armor, he noticed its 'eyes' blazing a blood-red color almost immediately.

"What is this?" Camilla was astonished as she gazed at the armor. The armor began to quake in the presence of all of these watching eyes, and one of its arms started to slowly move in the direction of the 'crystal.'

Crack, crack, crack!

The armor let forth a creaking and cracking sound; its large arm grabbed the "crystal," and then the visor of the armor opened up as if it wanted to consume the "crystal."

"Don't do that!"

Raynare cried as she charged forward, holding a large light bolt in her hand to impale the armor's head. Camilla, who was firing light arrows from a distance, followed Raynare and fired after her. Freed was waiting for her at the same location. Freed remained still because he had an innate understanding that the armor posed a significant threat to him.

It had an even more unsettling effect on him. The opening in the steel palm of the armor allowed the 'crystal' to insert itself into the face. The armor's visor closed, and the metallic armor remained in the same position, with a rigid stance.

Raynare ran forward, placing herself directly in front of the armor. She clutched two light spears in each hand. The edges of the spears glowed brightly, and the tips were exceedingly pointed.

Raynare dove headfirst for the armor, grabbing its head with one hand as she landed.

Screech!

The spear slashed across the armor, making a sound similar to that of a blade slicing through the glass. Despite Raynare's forceful flight, the armor's headpiece remained unharmed. After the armor had landed, it rolled a few times, and then it appeared to have returned to its previous state as a lifeless object.

Fizzle!

As soon as something that looked like a crimson mist arrived to form the armor, it stood up with its red flashing eyes, began moving toward Raynare to kill her, and let out a roar.

Raynare, who was standing right in front of the armor's line of sight.

Freed finally made the decision to take charge as he brought out his light sword, instantly shot towards the armor with his immense agility, and aimed the tip of the sword at the gap of the armor between its head and neck.

Freed was able to gather knowledge about the armor by employing the observation skill.

Name: Rastrud the Stray.

Mana: 120341

Skill 1: Mutated Devil grants a passive bonus of +10 to Strength and +7 to Agility.

Skill 2: Life Essence 'Crystal' (Passive): This skill increases the amount of recoverable health by 100%.

Skill 3: Demonic Madness (passive): immunity to spiritual control skills, no fatal weaknesses (except light and holy power)

Skill 4: Evil Piece: Bishop (passive) The effects are disabled.

Skill 5: Absorption (active): Consuming flesh can restore HP and mana.

Skill 6: Shock Wave (active): brutally slams down on the ground to generate a high-strength shock wave, causing the opponent to get dizzy and oscillate.

Skill 7: ?

Threat Level: A

When Freed saw that Rasturd had a threat level of A, he let out a shivering sigh.

What kind of bullsh*t is this?

This thing could puncture him to death if he is not careful, and he sighed to himself as he looked at Raynare and saw that she had somewhat recovered.

As for Camilla, even though she was whimpering, she was doing better than what he had expected, even though she was still in a critical situation.

"That armor is made of human bones, the bones of thousands of humans compressed as armor, and it is incredibly dense, and the 'crystal' that it ate was the life force of all those humans, so that leads us to one conclusion: it has already killed all those individuals it abducted and used to enhance its power."

Freed finally said this as he observed as the stray stood up and recovered from his previous attack.

Freed decided that it would be stupid to go head-on, so he quickly made his way to the backside of the enemy and channeled a huge amount of mana into his light sword, causing it to glow in much higher intensity as the power of the sword skyrocketed many times.

Raynare nodded in understanding, and she immediately went head-on with two light swords in her hand. During this time, Freed watched Raynare's attack and decided that it would be stupid to go further, so he halted a bit until Raynare attacked first.

Rasturd, who was in the middle of the two, showed no signs of fear. He kicked the stone platform with one of his legs and stomped on it.

Boom!

The entire stone platform shook.

A shock wave hit the surrounding area and extended outward.

Freed, who was experiencing vertigo, gripped his sword and attempted to attack the enemy, but enormous white dots appeared in his field of view.

This may be what other people meant when they said they were "seeing stars."

Not only Freed, but also Raynare had her aim thrown off, causing her to miss the target. The Stray took advantage of this moment and immediately punched Raynare in the chest, right at her heart. Raynare was completely defenseless and was thrown against the wall; however, fortunately, she did not sustain serious injuries as her breast reduced most of the impact, although she did end up coughing up blood.

The stray didn't waste time and planned to finish Raynare with a stomp. Raynare was like a chicken at this point, weak and defenseless. A white sword light shone into Raynare's eyes just as her head was going to pop.

Raynare swore she had never been more happy to see a sword than she was at this moment. 

Because Freed had a higher intelligence characteristic than others, he experienced dizziness for a shorter period of time. He jumped silently behind Rasturd, his sword in both hands, slashing at the back of Rasturd's neck.

Rasturd's neck had a gap in the rear, which the thin blade could pierce. The blade cut through the outer armor and came to a halt approximately 10 centimeters in. The sword felt as though it had penetrated gelatin, with each piercing becoming increasingly challenging.

Rasturd groaned and let go of Raynare, his two hands gripping the back of his neck. When he saw the approaching hands, Freed became fearful.

Raynare was a defenseless chicken in Rasturd's hands; if he was caught, he was doomed. Freed jumped high on Rasturd's back; his body sailed through the air, and he landed smoothly a distance away from Rasturd.

Rasturd became enraged after failing to apprehend Freed, and the red flames on his body intensified, and the flame was flung in Freed's direction.

After narrowly avoiding Rasturd's strike, Freed's eyes opened when he saw this sight. Freed attempted to flee, but it was too late.

Boom.

The hit launched Freed into the stone wall behind him. When Freed realized his entire body was on the verge of collapsing, he used his arms to cover himself, but they were horribly burned from the flame's contact. Despite being dazed by the impact, Freed sprang up and adjusted his position.

His back was sore.

He tasted blood in his mouth and felt dizzy. Freed felt a sense of relief when Rasturd refrained from rushing at him. Rasturd was far too powerful. They would have little chance of prevailing if there were no gaps in the armor for him to use. Raynare went closer as well; defeating the monster in front of them would be impossible on their own.

"Hey!"

Freed exclaimed, drawing Rasturd's attention. The other three were taken aback. 'This guy's insane,' Raynare thought.

Stray stared intently at Freed, then began to snarl angrily. Freed immediately began to charge towards Rasturd at full speed, and it did the same. Rasturd opened his mouth at Freed, as if he intended to swallow Freed whole.

As his strategy succeeded, Freed grinned and swiftly summoned a ball-like thing that was pulsing white light and hurled it into the stray's mouth, which confused the stray for a second, which was enough for Freed to kick Rasturd with his entire might and send it flying far away.

Boom.

A powerful shock wave struck Rasturd in the face; heavy smoke ascended, and a surge of hot air blew, forcing Freed to hide his eyes with his arm as he attempted to gaze ahead.

It was a Light Grenade, a one-of-a-kind weapon that exploded with light energy as it exploded. This bomb would kill even a peak mid-class devil at this close range, but Rasturd might still be alive.

Freed did not receive a prompt about killing an enemy because this guy's physical strength was simply far too great.

Rasturd appeared in the midst of the explosion as the smoke dissipated. Rasrturd's arm was blown up, exposing his entire guts and destroying a major portion of his armor.

Some armor links were broken, and a section of the armor's skull was dented, which looked funny.

"GRRRRR!!! …"

Rasturd glared angrily at Freed, as if he wanted to curse him. It rushed at haste in Anger, but it was clear that its speed had been significantly reduced since it was now slower than Raynare.

"Let's attack together. Otherwise, we shall all die."

Both Raynare and Camilla immediately understood Freed and immediately fired light spears and arrows at the exposed flesh, causing the stray to growl in pain as it was stunned on the spot.

Light energy is extremely lethal even for a pure high-class devil, let alone a low-class devil who had used external means to increase its strength, so as the barrage contained more and more of its flesh, it continued to burn.

Freed smirked as his plan worked flawlessly; his strategy was very simple. Weaken the opponent, strengthen oneself, and launch an all-out attack on the enemy.

This was Freed's strategy. Simple, basic, but effective.

If this strike failed to kill or badly injure the enemy, Freed would have no choice but to die or return immediately. But the cost of returning right away was too high for him. The blade formed a faint arc as it cut through the air.

Swing!

As the blade slashed through, Rasturd's head flew upward.

He completed the task!

Rasturd's head was severed.

Raynare and Camilla were on the lookout. When they saw Stray's head cut off, they felt a sense of relief.

The three of them started to calm down, but Freed was not at ease.

Rasturd was still alive, or at least he hadn't been told to kill an enemy. Freed changed his grip from a standard hold to a backhanded one.

Freed's right arm was injured. Despite the pain, he pushed his sword through Rasturd's chest.

The stray had become weaker, allowing Freed's sword to easily cut through Rasturd's body. Rasturd's shoulder was stepped on, and Freed used the sword to mix up the strange liquid inside Rasturd. The headless stray's body twitched randomly, as if it had had a seizure.

"Is this guy insane?"

Raynare gazed at Freed, who was stirring the enemy's organs with his sword. She took two steps back, unconsciously. She was terrified that Freed would attack her next. At the time, Freed appeared insane and vicious.

You have killed a high-class devil rasturd.

You have gained a treasure chest (blue).

Your skill [Harvest] is triggered, adding 5 points to Mana; now you have 906 Mana points.

You have received 7 attribute points

For a brief moment, Freed ignored the warning and continued to tear at the Stray's body, as if searching for something. He tore apart the creature's organs and threw them aside like discarded vegetables.

Camilla was so horrified that she vomited, her face as pale as paper.

Raynare was also repulsed but couldn't find the words to express it. Eventually, Freed's face lit up with a cold smile as he found what he was looking for.

He made a disgusting noise as he immersed his hands in the stray's flesh.

Yet, Freed remained perfectly calm.

After a short while, Freed withdrew his hand from the creature. It was covered in blood and gore. Instead, he picked up something else. At first glance, it seemed to be a small, red-tinted glass shard.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a bishop chess piece.

You have gained an evil piece: Bishop (mutated)