Volume 10 Chapter 15 Dancing While Eating
Ice was thinking about how to get out of this situation.
Escaping safely was the minimum requirement. Defeating Dantalion was the goal to strive for.
However, Ice didn't think, "If I can't reach them, I'll just give up." Unless it was absolutely impossible to win, Ice recognized Dantalion as an opponent who must be defeated.
Just then, Rollo opened her mouth.
"That guy, Dantalion, right~? If we're gonna win, it's gotta be a quick battle, or else~..."
"...What do you mean?"
"Huh~? Because, just like Ice-sama, Dantalion specializes in long-range attacks, right~? If we hide, we'll be in trouble...~"
Ice's eyes widened at Rollo's words. Ice sent a small, inconspicuous ice bird flying out of the attic window, making it multiply after flying a short distance.
Some of the birds caught sight of Dantalion's figure, walking in the opposite direction of Ice, while hiding behind Hounds.
"Thanks, Rollo-chan... If I had stayed anxious, I would've let him escape and it would've turned into a muddy mess..."
"Hehe~, Rollo's not good at anything~, so maybe I'm a bit calmer than Ice-sama~?"
As expected, Rollo was clever.
Ice realized that she wouldn't have thought of that if it were her usual self, and slapped her own cheek.
The sound of the slap echoed, and Rollo's eyes widened in surprise. Ignoring Rollo's reaction, Ice told herself,
"Calm down, me... Don't get too worked up, it's okay. I'm already strong enough..."
Ice would just go all out and win. That's all that mattered.
Ice released her hand from her burning cheek, took a deep breath, and thought.
The enemy, Dantalion, had the ability to summon Hounds, strange creatures, from his shadow.
The total number was unknown. Rumors said it was in the hundreds, but instinctively, it felt like there were more.
And one important point was,
"One Hound is stronger than one of my ice soldiers..."
The ice soldiers deployed to stall for time had already been defeated by several Hounds.
About ten ice soldiers were no match for a few Hounds. The ice soldiers had combat power equivalent to lower-ranked Gold-class warriors.
If they were defeated by a few Hounds, it meant each Hound was around mid-Gold class in strength.
This is what they mean by 'hell'... There are so many powerful warriors like this around. If she hadn't come to this place, she wouldn't have met such strong warriors...
"...What a waste..."
"Huh? What's wrong~?"
Rollo looked puzzled and asked Ice.
Ice prefaced her response with "Ah, it's nothing, really..." and said,
"If Wade-kun had fought Dantalion-san, it would've been a great battle, but it's a waste that I ended up defeating him..."
Still, she needs to eliminate him here.
Dantalion won't engage Wade in a direct battle. He'll definitely try to whittle down their forces without choosing his targets.
That would be Wade's sorrow. So she needs to eliminate him here.
"...You're thinking more about master than anything else, aren't you, Ice-sama? Wow~."
Rollo said, sounding a bit surprised by Ice's words. Then, she asked with interest,
"Does master like fighting, then~?"
"Uh, yeah... But it's no good unless the opponent is around the same strength as him, or even stronger..."
"I see, I see~. That's the kind of person he is, huh? Got it, got it♡."
Well, that's good, Rollo said.
"That disgusting enemy is stronger than Ice-sama's soldiers, right~? What do we do~?"
"...It depends on what kind of enemy that is... If they can revive like the ice soldiers, it's better to target Dantalion-san. If they're strong but have poor magic efficiency, we can come up with a strategy..."
"Ah, Rollo know about that~♡ I mean..."
Ice looked up and gazed at Rollo. Rollo laughed, saying "Hehe♡".
"That disgusting enemy is a product of the 'Dance-Eat'..."
"...Dance-Eat?"
"It's cannibalism. You know that demons sometimes eat each other when they're hungry, right?"
"Yeah... sometimes demon'd get tired of hunting and just eat the demons they found, yeah."
It was common in the morning. Demon would just kill each other and divide their meat among theirselves.
That's when she realized. Demons eating each other's corpses. And the meaning of "cannibalism".
"...So, you're saying that demons eat each other while they're still alive...?"
"That's right~♡ Demons don't care if the meat is from a dead body or not~, but if they eat it while it's still alive, they 'mix' with it~."
Rollo explains.
"It's like their memories, personalities, and powers get all mixed up, so not many people do it~. But if you do, you'll definitely get stronger~. And that's exactly what happened with those Hounds~."
"...Dantalion-san made countless demons do that..."
"That's amazing, right~! And the ones he made eat were probably just empty shells~ So, if demon eats something like that, their personality will get all messed up, yeah~"
That's why Ice thinks that the Hounds were completely loyal to Dantalion, like dogs.
It's like they took people with broken personalities and instilled loyalty in them with sweet words, making them all confused and obedient.
Among the Hounds, who were all confused about their own identities, Dantalion became the only one they could trust.
"So, you know how there are things that are a mix of different stuff~? Well, there's this one thing that's special. It's the only demon that can be killed~."
Rollo says.
"To be exact, when you kill them, the 'mixed one' separates before it mixes~. If a strong demon dies, it takes time to revive, that's what it means~..."
"So, you need to go back to before you mixed and eat again to regain your power...!"
"Yeah, yeah~ Although there are exceptions, like those who are strong from the start~..."
Then Ice thinks that the Hounds won't revive. An endurance battle will work.
"Hehehe..."
Rollo says.
"I got a bit loud with my explanation, but sorry about that, okay~?"
'*△〇■×〇■×*〇■×△〇■×!'
The ground cracked open, and Hounds emerged. "Kyaa!" Rollo hid behind Ice's back.
Ice let out a bitter laugh, "Good grief, already..." and touched the Hounds' neck.
"That was useful information, so I'll give you special treatment... right?"
Absolute Zero.
Ice's hand released an absolute 0-degree cold air. The Hounds, about to devour Ice, opened its massive jaws, but they froze shut before it could.
There, the ice soldier created by Ice crushed the Hounds. Ice stood up and offered Rollo a hand.
"Shall we go? Rollo-chan... Now that our location has been exposed, we need to hide somewhere else too."
"Yaaay~! Let's move together, Ice-sama~♡."
The two of them disappeared from sight. From now on, the real battle would begin.
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