Celia stood at the edge of the river valley, narrowing her eyes as she took in the scene before her.
The stream she remembered falling from the cliff had disappeared, leaving behind nothing but bare rock walls.
A few pitiful wisps of water vapor still clung to the stone, evaporating into nothing before they could even hit the ground.
The deep pool at the bottom had also dried up, revealing the riverbed.
The center of the riverbed was filled with lava, and in the middle of the molten pool stood a figure.
The figure was nearly 3 meters tall.
Dark red armor encased his body, two horns sprouted from his helmet toward the sky, and a burning greatsword was strapped to his back.
This look — ignoring the nauseating stench — just based on the special effects of his gear, would definitely make him an elite BOSS in a game.
It was just that this BOSS seemed to lack any sense of public morality.
“That’s…”
Iris shivered beside her.
Celia glanced over. The maid was covering her mouth, looking utterly terrified.
If she hadn’t been leaning against a nearby withered tree, she probably would have collapsed on the ground.
It seemed like an acquaintance of Iris’s. And not just any acquaintance, but the kind of parental figure who could scare a brat into silence.
Flame Demon General, Ragner.
The name surfaced in Iris’s mind. Ragner was her sister’s most loyal hound and most brutal Executioner.
‘Why him?’
Merely to catch a little runaway mouse like her, did they really need to deploy a Strategic Grade Weapon capable of slaughtering an entire city alone?
This time, it really was over.
“Hey, you big guy in the red suit!”
A roar cut through Iris’s despair.
Celia arched an eyebrow. Uncle Barton was pointing at the terrifying figure in the center of the valley, his face flushed with anger as he cursed.
“You’re the one messin’ around with that fire, aren’t ya?”
“Do you know how much a pound of pig iron costs these days? You’ve boiled all the water away! How am I supposed to quench my steel? If my hoes are ruined, can you afford to pay me back!”
Immediately after, Grandpa Bagla’s beard trembled with rage. He raised his cane and struck the ground.
“Have you no civic duty! It’s one thing to bathe in the river on a hot day, but you’ve made the water so scalding! You’ve boiled all the fish downstream alive!”
“Get up here and put that fire out right now! Or else we’re going to file a complaint against you!”
The villagers’ logic was simple. To them, the big guy was probably just some wandering Adventurer who didn’t know the local rules.
After all, the aesthetics of some veteran Adventurers these days were quite avant-garde.
Iris looked at the agitated villagers, her whole body numb.
A complaint? They were lecturing a Flame Demon from the Abyss about public morality and demanding compensation? Was this the fearlessness of the ignorant?
“So noisy.”
Ragner, who had been silent, slowly turned around. Two burning red flames ignited beneath his helmet, sweeping over the creatures on the shore who looked like ants to him. There was no anger, no disdain — only the indifference one has when looking at dust by one’s feet.
“A swarm of noisy insects. You’re screaming just because I raised the temperature a little?”
Ragner raised his hand, and his armored fingers flicked casually.
Boom!
A wave of fire erupted from Ragner’s hand, instantly crossing the distance of several meters.
Wherever the fire wave passed, the soil melted and rocks shattered.
A bottomless chasm appeared in the ground in front of Uncle Barton.
The shouting stopped abruptly.
The villagers stood with mouths agape, staring at the searing scar at their feet.
Their throats felt as if they were stuffed with burning coal, unable to make a sound.
‘This doesn’t seem like a normal fire-playing freak.’
‘Isn’t this fire a bit too much?’
‘This big guy doesn’t seem to care about fair play at all.’
Ragner ignored the terrified civilians. Then, as if sensing something, he scanned the crowd.
Finally, his burning pupils locked onto the figure trembling behind the villagers.
“Found you.”
A puff of black smoke drifted from the slits in his helmet. Ragner pulled back his lips into a cruel smile.
“My little mouse.”
The moment she was locked by that gaze, Iris felt as if she had been tossed into an ice cellar, despite the high temperatures surrounding them.
“Since you escaped, why didn’t you hide further away?”
Ragner took a step forward. With every step, the earth trembled, leaving burning footprints on the dry riverbed.
“To think you’d hide in such a remote countryside, mingling with a bunch of lowly humans. You’ve truly disgraced us, Princess Iris.”
As Ragner spoke, he reached for the sword on his back and drew it.
The blade was as wide as a door, glowing red and wrapped in the Indestructible Black Flame from the Abyss.
Ragner pointed the blade at Iris. “As punishment, I will cut off your four limbs, put them in a jar, and take them back to your sister. As for these humans protecting you…”
Ragner glanced at Elent standing in front and Celia beside him, who looked like she hadn’t fully woken up yet. “They shall serve as fuel for a barbecue party.”
Celia listened to his speech and did a mental calculation.
‘Turning an employee into a specimen and taking her away? That won’t do.’
This kid still owed her a massive debt of 100 gold coins, and she had been performing well recently.
An employee who didn’t require a salary and looked for work on her own was a rare resource in the job market.
More importantly, this guy had made it so hot that it seriously affected the taste of her Happy Water.
This debt needed to be settled.
“Elent, I choose you!” Celia said to Elent. “Go get him!”
Before her voice even faded, Ragner’s figure blurred.
His massive body burst forth with a speed completely at odds with his size, appearing above everyone as a red afterimage.
His greatsword was raised high, swathed in overwhelming flames as it swung down toward Iris’s head!
“Die!”
Iris looked at the approaching sword, her legs turning to jelly as her scream caught in her throat.
She was going to die. This was it. Was it going to end like this?
Iris closed her eyes.
“…”
“?”
The expected pain didn’t come.
Iris opened her eyes tremblingly. A tall back blocked her view. Elent held his Broad Sword with both hands, firmly blocking the burning greatsword.
The ground beneath him shattered instantly, his legs sinking into the dirt, but he didn’t retreat a single step.
Elent’s blade looked like a fragile toothpick in front of the Flame Demon’s giant weapon, but at this moment, that toothpick miraculously held up the weight of a collapsing mountain.
The boy looked up, a golden light more intense than any fire burning in his eyes.
Elent stared at the Flame Demon General inches away, squeezing the words through his teeth.
“You want to touch the Priestess’s Cleaner? Have you consulted the Church Security Regulations!”