A New Partner

"Hmm, I guess I overestimated you if a love tap like that has you in this state," Raizel mocked Clementine, visibly struggling to stand straight after the impact.

Clementine gritted her teeth, suppressing the pain coursing through her spine. She shot Raizel a venomous glare, her eyes narrowing with fury.

"You regret looking down on the inhuman lady Clementine— one who's

left humanity behind and stepped into the realm of heroes!" she shouted before readying herself for another attack.

Raizel raised an eyebrow, unfazed by her threat. "Is that so?" he replied casually.

"Hooh~ Let's see what you can do, 'Inhuman Lady Clementine'," he remarked, his tone laced with mockery as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Flow Acceleration, Pace of Wind!" Clementine's martial arts surged into action once more, propelling her towards Raizel with an astonishing speed that surpassed her previous attempt.

Even Raizel was shocked for a few moments due to the absurdity of the movement. However, he was still able to dodge it, this time using magic.

<Teleportation >

Raizel used a 5th-tier spell to teleport away from Clementine.

"Hahahaha! Is this the extent of your power," Raizel mocked, standing far from her.

Clementine didn't waste time and changed her direction, again lunging toward Raizel. This continued for a few minutes; Clementine kept attacking Raizel while the latter kept dodging her.

"You think you can keep running?" Clementine spat, her breath ragged as she tried to land another blow. Constantly using her martial arts had taken a lot of toll on her.

Raizel, with a bored expression, spoke while dodging her attack.

"I'm not running; I'm just not taking you seriously."

Clementine, utterly exhausted, was drenched in sweat, her breathing ragged, and her legs wobbling. She glared at Raizel, eyes burning with hatred.

"Done already," Raizel mocked her as he moved near her.

"Now, it's my time to strike. Brack yourself," Raizel spoke as he pointed a finger toward her head, still slowly walking toward her.

"Huh," she sneered despite her fatigue. "You're only good at dodging, and you choose to attack when I cannot retaliate. Coward."

'I need to find a way to escape. I can't die here,' Clementine thought desperately as she searched for an escape route. During their skirmish, she had tried to flee several times but was always intercepted by Raizel.

"Think whatever you like; it doesn't matter to me," Raizel said, closing the distance between them before casting a 4th-tier spell.

< Sandman's Sleep>

A magic circle manifested before Raizel and vanished a second later. Clementine's eyes grew misty, and she collapsed to the ground, falling into a deep sleep from which she would only wake if she received damage.

'I should also get out of here before the guards show up; she was pretty loud,' Raizel mused as a dark-purplish portal opened near him and a Vampiric Knight stepped out.

The knight promptly bowed to him before moving toward Clementine, picking her up and re-entering the portal. After a few seconds, the portal closed, leaving Raizel alone in the intersection with the adventurers' corpses.

Raizel glanced around the intersection, noting the silent, lifeless bodies of the adventurers scattered about.

'Maybe I can use these to boost my rank as an adventurer,' Raizel contemplated, thinking about a plan to boost his rank.

'I could summon something powerful to wreak havoc in the town. Then I'd show up and defeat it. That should boost my rank,' he mused. 'But it might look suspicious—a new adventurer registers in the morning, and by night, a catastrophe hits the town, only to be resolved by the same adventurer.'

Raizel discarded the plan, realizing that even if most of the populace believed the story, someone observant might become suspicious of him.

"I need a solid plan, something that cannot be traced back to me," Raizel contemplated for a while before a wave of inspiration hit him.

"That's it! I can create a fabricated character. This character can serve as a means to boost my rank while also attracting attention from the hidden figures of this world. However, I can't outright kill this character, as it would spotlight me as capable of defeating someone powerful enough to destroy countries. I'll need to introduce this fabricated character gradually," Raizel mused, feeling a spark of excitement at the brilliance of his idea.

The fabricated character wouldn't make direct appearances; instead, his henchmen would. These henchmen would spread tales of the character's incredible power and exploits, creating a sense of mystery and fear around him.

"Well, let's get to work."

He brought a summoning scroll from his Item Box and threw it into the air, activating it. A magic circle manifested on the ground, and a moment later, a figure wearing a bikini appeared before the magic circle vanished.

The summoned monster was a succubus, a demon. She looked like a beautiful female human with paler skin, curved horns, and large black wings that sprouted from her back.

"Rise," Raizel commanded.

As the succubus stood up, Raizel heard the distant sound of guards running toward his position. He needed to act quickly.

'Better make this quick.'

~Scene Change~

A small squad of guards ran toward the inner parts of E-Rantel. The squad leader, Menendez, had just been promoted to this position.

'Tomorrow is my day off; I can't wait to spend it with Hilda,' Menendez thought as he ran toward the intersection where the residents had reported hearing screams and clashing.

As they approached the scene, Menendez signalled his squad to slow down and proceed with caution. The faint smell of blood was evident in the surroundings.

"Stay alert," Menendez whispered to his team, drawing his sword. When they reached the intersection, they found the lifeless bodies of several adventurers scattered about. Menendez's heart sank. He recognized a few of them.

That was not all; a woman wearing nothing but lingerie also stood in the middle of the intersection. Due to the full moon, Menendez saw the woman in great detail.

Blood was splattered all over her pale skin, and she had black wings sprouting from her back.

"Everybody in position! We have a monster on our hands!" Menendez shouted as he slowly approached the woman. Even though he wasn't an adventurer who was more skilled at dealing with monsters, he still had the confidence to defeat many of the lower-ranked monsters.

The woman, succubus, turned around and gave Menendez a charming smile, which put the latter in a trance. This was one of her skills, and it was called Hypnotic Gaze.

This skill could charm anyone without mind control immunity, which was also at a lower level than that of the user.

As soon as Menendez was entranced, the succubus lunged and slashed his neck with one of her long nails. The difference in their levels was too great; Menendez couldn't react in time and lost his life in an instant.

"Your life shall serve well in the resurrection of my lord, Jaldabaoth," the succubus spoke loudly, enough for the remaining guards to listen.

The squad watched in horror as their leader collapsed, lifeless. Panic surged through them, their bodies trembling with fear.

"Formation!" shouted the second-in-command, Alvarez. "We can't let this monster escape!" His commanding voice snapped the guards out of their shock, and they quickly rallied into a semi-circle around Alvarez, their swords raised and aimed at the succubus.

"Fufufu, how adorable," the succubus said, a playful smile spreading across her lips as she turned to face the semi-circle of guards. Her voice dripped with mockery, clearly enjoying the show of their fear.

"You think you can defeat me? The humble servant of the Demon God, Jaldabaoth!" her wings unfurled as she took a step forward.

'Damn it! She killed Menendez in an instant; if she uses her magic on us, we are doomed! Damn it all! Why doesn't the Kingdom employ some mages like the Empire!' 

'Damn it! She killed Menendez in an instant. If she uses her magic on us, we're doomed! Damn it all! Why doesn't the Kingdom employ some mages like the Empire!' Alvarez raged in his mind. Menendez had been appointed as squad leader because of his strength, and now, with him gone in an instant, the squad's confidence was shattered.

'If only we had a mage in our squad, this would've been easy,' Alvarez thought bitterly.

The Re-Estize Kingdom didn't focus on magic at all, putting all its emphasis on martial prowess. On the other hand, the Baharuth Empire focused on both martial prowess and magic. Unlike the Kingdom's army, the Baharuth Empire's army was also trained in dealing with monsters.

"I should finish things up here; I have other things to do," the succubus spoke, her eyes beginning to shine red. A strange mist materialized, enveloping the guards. However, she left the guards at the end of the semi-circle out of the mist's range, leaving two guards unaffected.

This was one of her skills called Enchanting Mist, which did the same thing as her Hypnotic Gaze but affected a larger area around her.

Once the mist started affecting the guards, the succubus took quick action. It decapitated two guards, their heads rolling to the ground. This horrific sight shook the rest of the squad to their core, including Alvarez.

'No, I can't let this end like this! I need to do something!' Alvarez panicked, his eyes darting around for a way to defeat the succubus. She had already killed four more guards, their bodies lying lifeless on the ground with blood gushing from their necks.

The remaining guards wanted to run, but due to the effects of the mist, none were able to move—except one guard who had managed to stay at the edge of its influence.

Even though they were free of the mist's influence, they failed to run because fear had already taken root in them. Alvarez shifted his focus toward them and saw that the mist hadn't reached them yet.

'This is it! We can't defeat this monster, but maybe someone else could. She needs to pay for what she did,' Alvarez thought urgently. He turned to the guards still outside the mist.

"You two! Run!" Alvarez shouted with all his remaining strength. His words seemed to penetrate the fog of fear around them, and the guards, slowly shaking off their paralysis, sprinted towards the nearest guard post, desperate to find reinforcements.

As they disappeared into the distance, Alvarez turned back to the scene of horror. The massacre had already concluded, and all the guards had died.

Before he could make a move, the succubus had already killed him in the same manner as his comrades. Afterwards, the succubus drifted to one side of the intersection and bowed gracefully. As she did, a bat flew down from the darkened sky.

"You are dismissed," a bat flying in the air spoke.

The succubus transformed into motes of light, her form disintegrating into nothingness before disappearing entirely.

'I enjoyed it much more than I had anticipated,' Raizel mussed while looking at the corpses of the guards. He had deliberately let 2 guards leave so that they could spread the news of this massacre and Jaldabaoth, the fabricated character.

"I might addicted to this kind of thing," Raizel muttered as he flew away from the scene towards his inn.

To be continued...