Well, if she thought the camp was going crazy earlier, it was about to flip on its head. And so did her stomach. Ugh. She had almost gotten used to the smell of animal dung by now.
But this sour stench of fear? The smoke? The dust?
It was all nauseating.
Plus, the panicked screams, the running—
There used to be a documentary in her childhood about African animals. A herd of elephants at a watering hole got scared of a single mouse and trampled everything around.
Now, that's exactly what this looked like.
The panic caused more damage than a little critter ever could.
But, well—this mouse was the size of a giant freaking robot.
It needed no outside help to cause mayhem. But it got plenty anyway.
What the hell?
A mecha?!
No, it had to be a kind of monster. Godzilla?
Or the golem they talked about earlier.
Golemzilla.
And Midori-kun said it was only a distraction?
Well, it was quite distracting for sure.
But his men had no clue how to deal with it. They caused a terrible traffic jam rather than fighting. And if it were possible to make the situation worse, they found a way.
Wasn't Kon-chan with this thing? And a small gang or something.
Not that she could see shit from there.
Yuki knew better than to leave the pavilion. And thank God, the giant stayed away, too.
It Hulk-smashed a bunch of tents at the other end of the camp, but never looked her way.
Wait. It didn't fight the nomads, either.
Like, they served themselves up on a silver platter, shooting arrows at it, but—
Golemzilla didn't kill a single soul.
This world sure was weird.
And magic? Straight-up crazy.
There was this sound that made her think her skirt must have ripped, but no.
The tear appeared on the fabric of the universe itself.
She never tried drugs—since waking up in a hospital with most of her memories gone—but this is how she imagined LSD. Like, it was colorful, psychedelic, and made zero sense.
But there he was, Midori-kun stepping through that tear as if it were an ordinary Monday.
"Can't believe they fumbled this ridiculous thing," he said, leveling his staff at the golem. "And I was this close to banishing that damned demoness. They'd better be sticking around, or—"
His lips still moved, but no sound came out anymore.
Only a blinding green flash. Not a laser, bolt, or a projectile.
It was like an EMP wave, to compare it to something she had seen in the movies.
And from smashing tents as if it were his day job, the golem turned to dust within a second.
Before the light even reflected off its earthen frame, the wind carried it away like nothing.
"Wow," Yuki muttered. So this was magic? "You're not half bad, Midori-ojisan."
That earned her a glare.
"So, you're still here, Yuki of the Sorakumo clan?" he grunted, as if she had anywhere else to go. And a way to say her name, ugh. Edgy much? "Anything out of place while I was away?"
"You mean anything other than this Golemzilla you Thanos-snapped out of existence?!"
The Demon Lord raised an eyebrow.
"I've cut its bond with the spirits and dispelled the mana holding the pieces together," he answered. A question she never asked. "A temporary illusion of life. Nothing there to destroy."
"You're the edgiest magician I've ever known," the girl grinned.
Not that she knew another.
Or, wait. Did Konrad count as one?
The whirpool, or whatever that got them out of the Underground club, was his job, right?
"Whatever. I'll listen to the reports later," Midori-kun-ojisan said. He was cuter as a schoolboy, for sure. Edgy old men were kinda sketchy. "I've intruders to hunt down, so—"
So that giant freaking thing didn't even count?!
Not that she had time to ask.
"Not so fast, Maou."
Oh, talk about giants. A wild, muscular, and half-naked redhead appeared.
When? How? Did she miss another tear in the universe?
The Demon Lord spun to face the newcomer at a speed belying his looks, but—
"I hear you were looking for me," Konrad announced himself, too, closing in on the old wizard from the other side. Then, his eyes widened. "Y-Yuki-san?"
"Kon-chan?!" Yuki yelped, about to throw herself at him. "The whole gang's back together?!"
But why did he look so ridiculous?
He wore, like, legitimate armor plates. With a blade, that—
"Wait, is that the same prop you used during our concert?!"
"Huh?"
Konrad's gaze dropped to his sword, but that was all the distraction Midori-kun needed.
He pointed his staff and zapped him with a lightning bolt.
From that, she could finally conclude that they were not buddies. At all.
Like, not even a little.
But thank God, her guitarist did not disintegrate like that giant Golem. The arcs bounced off his shiny armor in every which way, one of them landing way too close for comfort.
And that's when a third figure materialized from the shadows.
Full plate armor again, but also a very goth-looking staff with a skull.
The Demon Lord froze.
"I walked right into that," he grunted, dropping his own staff and raising both hands in surrender. Not that he sounded defeated, but it seemed like that was it.
"You'd one-shot a golem, but see a skull, and you give up?" Yuki scoffed.
Wait, wait. Shouldn't she have rooted for Kon-chan and his friends anyway?
He had that sexy redheaded barbarian with him, too, and the metal knight, who—
Turned out to be a woman?!
Still pointing the staff at Maou, she ripped off her helmet, revealing her long blonde hair.
Sweaty, kinda masculine, but she was definitely a woman.
This world was so metal.
"I'm not foolish enough to fight a necromancer armed with a heavenly artifact," the Demon Lord said. Whatever that meant. The blonde? A neck romancer? "How did you get hold of it?"
"You left it on the battlefield when we beat you last time," she panted, but looking proud.
Wow. There had to be so much lore in here that she had missed.
"Lucifer will kill you for it," Mirodi-kun rasped for one, but would not lower his arms.
"My psychologist? It's his staff?" Yuki mumbled, trying to make sense of things.
Like, who was with whom now?!
"He tried," the woman said, wiping her sweat. "But Lady Gabrielle convinced him otherwise."
Now that Yuki looked at her, wasn't she even taller than Kon-chan?
And like twice her size.
"Indeed," another voice joined the illustrious gathering. "Though the fact that it's still here after I let it explode in my stupid brother's face so many times defies my logic, too."
This one wore no armor, but a blue, frilly dress.
Her face—the female version of Psychologist-san.
And she walked right up to Konrad to hook her arm into his.
"Bold of you to appear before me. Archangel Gabrielle," Midori-ojisan claimed, as if he was speaking from her soul. His hand dropped an inch. He was up to something, but—
CLICK.
"And that's all taken care of," the big redhead grunted, handcuffing the wizard.
"Good job, Welf," another redhead said, this one's closer to her size. "We can call it a day now."
And for the first time, the Demon Lord's face went pale.