The Ogre Demon Of The Royal Capital

Daaren, who had been tasked with slaying the demon, was patrolling the royal capital at night.

Because there was almost no information about the demon, each member of the extermination squad had no choice but to patrol the royal capital, rush to the scene if the demon appeared, and slay it.

There were six members in the extermination squad from Gyorei Cave in total.

Daaren was patrolling the streets of the royal capital together with the spearman Johnrin.

“Where is this demon, anyway?”

Johnrin grumbled, and Daaren made an irritated face.

“If we knew that, we would not be patrolling.”

At the angry reply, Johnrin shrugged.

Because the royal capital was large, they were patrolling mainly the places where a demon seemed likely to appear.

One such place was an area called the Sleepless Castle Nimuru.

This was a district lined with taverns and brothels, and it seemed that the demon targeted careless people.

And another target was the daughters of wealthy households.

Daaren chose to patrol the Sleepless Castle and searched for the demon.

A river flowed behind the Sleepless Castle Nimuru, and a scream came from its riverbank.

At that instant, Daaren and Johnrin dashed from the alley toward the riverbank.

In the dimly lit area by the riverbank, one man was lying on the ground, and a suspicious figure could be seen standing nearby.

“Stop!”

Drawing his treasured sword, Daaren rushed toward the suspicious figure and unleashed a horizontal slash.

That thing kicked off the ground and lightly leaped backward, as though it had no weight, avoiding the attack.

“Are you the ogre demon?”

Daaren said this after seeing the suspicious figure’s face.

Its skin was blue, its eyes were slanted upward, and its mouth was split all the way to its cheeks.

And on its forehead were two short horns.

The distinguishing traits of an ogre demon were blue skin and horns on the forehead.

It was unquestionably an ogre demon.

An ogre demon’s claws were jet-black, and it was said that those claws carried poison.

“Heh heh heh…”

The ogre demon let out a laugh.

That ogre demon had the slender build of a woman, and it was impossible to tell whether it was male or female.

“What are you laughing at?”

Daaren asked with a displeased look.

The ogre demon turned a cold gaze on Daaren.

In that interval, Johnrin ran over to the fallen man’s side and tried to help him up.

But after checking whether he was alive, he laid the man back down again.

“He’s dead.”

Hearing that, Daaren shouted as he slashed at the ogre demon.

The ogre demon pulled a dagger from inside its robe and blocked the attack.

The fact that it had blocked a slash from a treasured sword meant it was probably a treasured dagger or a demonic blade.

Daaren began using Dragon Qi Sword Art.

Dragon Qi Sword Art used qi called “dragon qi,” created by giving Floating Yang Qi a specific vibration.

When this dragon qi circulated through the entire body, physical ability increased severalfold.

Using his heightened physical ability, he slammed into the ogre demon.

Normally, someone who was knocked back like that would go tumbling across the ground, but the ogre demon let the force slip away by jumping backward softly.

Daaren kicked off the ground in pursuit and, at a speed too fast for the eye to follow, sent the blade of his treasured sword toward the ogre demon’s neck.

The ogre demon knocked it aside with the dagger.

The next instant, the ogre demon’s kick shot toward Daaren’s stomach.

The speed of both fighters exceeded the limits of ordinary humans, becoming so fast that the eye could not follow it.

“Hah!”

Daaren leaped sideways to evade it, then unleashed a thrust with his treasured sword in counterattack.

It was a godspeed thrust born from his enhanced physical ability.

Even the ogre demon could not avoid it, and the tip pierced through its side.

“Ghk, you bas—”

The ogre demon grabbed the blade of the treasured sword with its bare hand and forcibly pulled it out of its own side.

Then it scattered the flowing blood toward Daaren, and Daaren hastily dodged.

That was because it was said that an ogre demon’s blood was poisonous.

“Die!”

Johnrin joined the battle and thrust his spear toward the ogre demon.

After deflecting it with the dagger, the ogre demon grabbed Johnrin’s arm and threw him toward Daaren.

Daaren caught Johnrin’s body, and for just an instant his eyes left the ogre demon.

In that single instant, the ogre demon vanished.

It had escaped.

“Tch.”

Daaren clicked his tongue.

Seeing that, Johnrin made an apologetic face.

“Johnrin. Is this your first time slaying a humanoid demon?”

“That’s right. …Demons that use weapons truly are troublesome.”

Daaren glanced at the demon blood stuck to Johnrin’s arm.

“The blood of an ogre demon is poisonous. Wash it off in the river.”

His face stiffening, Johnrin immediately headed for the river.

If it was only a little blood on the arm, it would be fine as long as it was washed off immediately.

There was no problem with the poison that flowed into the river either, since it would be diluted.

Daaren washed the blood-stained treasured sword in the river.

Then he approached the dead man and examined the cause of death.

There was a wound like a claw mark on the shoulder, and there were also slashed marks on the neck as though his blood had been sucked.

“It seems it immobilized him with poisonous claws, then sucked his blood.”

Daaren instructed Johnrin to go notify the guard unit.

A little while later, soldiers from the guard unit arrived, and a great commotion broke out.

Among the people of the royal capital, fear had been spreading because murders by the demon had continued.

That was why anxious-faced people gathered, wondering what had happened.

Jian, the captain of the guard unit, came over to Daaren’s side.

“Lord Daaren, did you let the demon escape?”

There was a note of accusation in that question.

Captain Jian did not mean ill, but his sense of crisis that fear would spread again had made his voice sound accusatory.

Noticing the blame in it, Daaren twisted his face in displeasure.

“I do not recall giving the guard unit, who could not even uncover the demon’s identity, any right to accuse me.”

“My apologies. Were you able to uncover its identity, Lord Daaren?”

Captain Jian responded politely, because he knew how formidable a high disciple of Gyorei Cave was.

“The demon was an ogre demon. And I pierced its side with my sword. It is wounded, so this is our chance. Search for it with everything you have.”

After Captain Jian left to search for the ogre demon, Johnrin came over and apologized.

“Senior Brother Daaren, I am sorry.”

“I will forgive you once. But there will not be a second time.”

Unfortunately, although the guard unit and the extermination squad desperately searched for the ogre demon, they were unable to find it.