Do or Die!

'Calm down, calm down. Fear doesn't make anything better. It only reduces my chance of success.'

Ary tried to calm himself. However, his body didn't seem to obey him. His body was shivering due to the uninvited fear that came over him after seeing the appearance of the demon lord.

<Try to calm down, host. Your fear would make you lose more early than you expected. However, if you hold yourself together, then you can be able to win without much struggle.>

Almita assured him.

"I know."

Ary replied then, glanced at the demon lord, Lord Wolfra.

"Ah…so, they sent a human again, huh?"

Lord Wolfra commented as he stepped toward Ary.

A sinister smile shaped his face since he was confident that he would smash Ary without much effort.

"Yeah, so what?"

Ary replied as he glared at Lord Wolfra, saying,

"I can still defeat you."

After hearing Ary's testimony, Lord Wolfra burst out laughing, saying,

"Defeat me, really? Well, well,"

Then, he made a claw of his right hand, saying,

"We'll see, human."

Ary knew that if Wolfra attacked him first, then it might be hard to handle. That's why he twisted his right body slightly backward and flashed at Lord Wolfra while screaming.

"Dark Scar of Death!!"

As Ary arrived just a few footsteps away from Lord Wolfra, he swung his blade, and launched the black shockwave attack at him.

"Heh!"

However, for Lord Wolfra, it was just as good as nothing. He waved his right hand and the black shockwave vanished.

"Haaaaa!!!"

Sneakily, Ary jumped from behind and swung his blade at Lord Wolfra.

Clink!

"Huh?!"

Ary was left startled as his blade vaulted back after hitting Wolfra's body.

He jumped back, mumbling,

"What the hell was that? Why didn't my blade hurt him?"

"Ding!"

<An ability of Demon Lord is found.>

Almita reported, adding,

<Iron body is a newly discovered ability that the demon lord possesses. The beast's body only feels weak when it gets hit by his weakness, or else his body behaves like iron>

"Are you trying to kill me, Almita? The demon lord has no weakness. Don't you say that?!"

Ary raved in a slightly panicked as well as angry voice.

<No, host. Why would I try to kill you in the first place? Also, you have unlocked a new ability.>

<New ability:- Ice blade.>

Almita reported.

"Ice blade, huh?"

Ary repeated as he tightened the grip of his blade, pondering,

'Let me try this attack.'

"RAAWRRR!!"

But before Ary could think any further, Wolfra had already arrived in front of him and launched a punch at him.

"Ngh!!"

Ary responded as he jumped backward but his right leg got injured since the punch was so rapid to even dodge.

"Grrr!!"

Ary clenched his teeth while trying to stand but it seemed as if the muscle in his right leg had ruptured.

"Damn….it hurts…"

Ary gritted his teeth.

Luckily, for some reason, Ary managed to stand.

He glanced at Almita, at his right arm.

It was shining. He realised that it was because of Almita that he was able to stand.

"So weak, human."

Lord Wolfra commented as he broke his knuckles, asking,

"Do you still think that you can kill me?"

"Grrr!!"

Ary clenched his teeth and tightened the grip of his blade, saying,

"Of course, I can!!"

Then, he flashed toward Lord Wolfra.

"What a stubborn one!"

Lord Wolfra snickered as he flashed back at Ary.

"Ice Blade!!!"

Ary raved as he swung his blade.

With the same sinister look, Lord Wolfra used his left hand to defend himself.

"What the—?!"

Unexpectedly, Lord Wolfra was left shocked as his left hand got frozen.

'Now, my chance!'

Ary said inwardly as he swung his blade in front of Lord Wolfra, raving,

"Dark Scar of Death!!"

BOOOOOOOOOM!

A massive explosion happened and luckily, Ary managed to jump back.

Gasp! Gasp! Gasp!

"Is that…over yet?"

While gasping, Ary asked himself as he stood his blade against the ground and tried to stand straight.

"Good grief. Finally, I saw someone who managed to land a successful attack on me."

"He's alive?!"

Ary fretted as he heard Lord Wolfra's voice. The smoke vanished and Lord Wolfra was seen, standing slightly stooped and smiling maniacally.

His left eye was bleeding with a large scar around his left temporal reason.

'It looks like the attempt wasn't futile.'

Ary said inwardly as he stood on alert and while seizing the opportunity, he darted at Wolfra to land a finishing blow.

"Nightmare Assault!!"

'It's over now, Demon Lord!'

Clink!

"Wha—?!"

Nonetheless, his expectation broke into pieces as Wolfra grabbed Ary's blade, saying,

"How brave of you to think that the attack of my minion would hurt me."

"How did you—UWAKH?!"

Unexpectedly, before Ary could even react, a hard punch landed on his belly and a bowl of blood spurted out of his mouth.

Swish!!

Due to the force of the punch, Ary flew backward and ended up hitting the lower area of the volcano.

BOOOOOM!!!

He hit the lower area and again coughed some blood as his backbone got hurt by the pebble.

'Damn…it…'

Ary clicked his tongue and started coughing.

Thud!

"Hmm?"

Ary reacted as something fell beside him.

He shifted his gaze to the left.

"Ah?!"

His face turned pale in dismay as he saw a skull docked beside him.

"Wh-What…?"

It was a human skull.

"Oh, so you noticed it now."

With a booming noise, Wolfra landed some footsteps away from Ary and smirked, adding,

"It's one of you. Look above you. There are more."

While shivering, Ary glanced toward the top and his eyes were left bursting open. He noticed more than five hundred corpses hanging in the middle of the volcano.

Ary had no words to say. His mouth was wide open in shock after glimpsing so many corpses of humans.

"These are the Warriors that were sent to kill me. And look at what they ended up being."

While smirking, Lord Wolfra commented, adding:

"Rest assured, kid. You'll be one of them soon."

"You…killed them…"

Ary called out in a stupefied voice.

"Why…?"

Ary called out.

"Why, you ask? Isn't it obvious? For self protection. If I don't kill them, they'll try to kill me. Also…"

Suddenly, a sinister smile shaped Wolfra's face. He added,

"It was fun, you know? Killing the weakling. Ah…it is so pleasurable."

"Grrr!!"

While Ary gritted his teeth after hearing this, adding,

"Fun, you said? What's so entertaining about it? You have taken so many lives. What's so funny about it?"

Then, Ary raised his gaze and with his purple gaze filled with anger, Ary glared at Wolfra, asking,

"Who gave you the right to take life when you don't have the power to return it?"

"...?!"

Suddenly, Wolfra felt a chilling sensation

down his spine after heeding those words.

His red eyes get dilated as a terrifying glimpse was seen in front of his eyes.

Ary, with the support of his blade, finally, stood up, and asked,

"You'll pay…you'll definitely pay for this!!"

"You…"

In a slightly shivering voice, Wolfra called out as he pointed his right index finger at Ary, asking,

"W-Who are you…?"

"I'm…"

Ary called out as he fixed his gaze on Wolfra, adding:

"Ary Inochi."

"...I-Inochi…"

For some reason, Lord Wolfra was left terrified after hearing Ary's surname.

He placed his right palm over his right eye as he came to realise that both Ary and 'that man' were somehow connected.

"Inochi...Grr...You're an Inochi!"

Out of wrath and frustration, Lord Wolfra yelled and exclaimed,

"I'll make every Inochi disappear from existence!!"

"Ding! Danger!"

"What?!"

Ary responded after hearing "Danger" from Almita, as his eyes shifted to Almita.

<The Wrath of the Demon Lord has burst out for some unknown reason, causing his limit to break>

Almita reported.

"Limit what?"

Ary repeated but before he could ask any further,

BOOOOOOOM!!

Suddenly, the remaining inactive volcanoes burst into action, and an enormous flow of lava burst out where Lord Wolfra was standing, but instead of harming him, the lava surrounded him like an aura, and some yellowish marks appeared on his chest and arms. They had some strange letters written on them, and the size of his body started to become triple from before.

"Wha...?!"

Ary reacted after seeing Lord Wolfra get transformed into a truly monstrous beast.

"Inochi! Inochi!"

Lord Wolfra yelled in resentment, and the more he yelled, the more volcanoes burst out behind him.

"Ding! Last resort"

Ary reacted as his attention shifted to the book of Almita on his right arm.

<The only way to win now is to do or die>

Almita reported.

"Grr!!"

Ary gritted his teeth, then held tight to his blade and commented,

"Do you really expect me to give up that early?"

Then, his gaze shifted to Wolfra, he added:

"I won't give up, no matter what!"