Gonna Be a Demon King!
Chapter 102: Danger in the mist

Chapter 102: Danger in the mist

All around Xaren, the recruits who had been walking barely two metres away from him had vanished.

No one followed behind, and when he turned, he couldn’t find the fog wall he had entered through; the dense vapour had consumed everything behind him.

No footsteps or voices reached his ears, and despite using his gravity detection, he couldn’t sense any presences.

What’s more, he hadn’t noticed any of this until he’d turned and saw that Ilya had vanished.

The fog around him thickened, swirling more aggressively now, preventing him from seeing more than a few feet in any direction.

Xaren activated his Unique Skill, and simultaneously, his aura burst outward and wrapped around his body like a second skin.

The moment he did that, an unfamiliar voice echoed in the fog around him.

[I like your response; it only took you two seconds to get on guard.]

Xaren’s head turned as he tried to pinpoint the source of the voice.

[BUT! You took two whole seconds! You’re a Master Realm Existence for goodness sake, that’s far too much time!!]

The voice came from behind him this time, and Xaren spun around, spotting a humanoid silhouette slowly walking toward him.

Danger Sense blared alarm bells in Xaren’s head, but even without that, he knew this figure was dangerous.

It wasn’t because he could sense overwhelming power radiating from them. On the contrary, he couldn’t sense anything at all.

And therein lay the problem.

He couldn’t sense ANYTHING.

That meant one of two things: either they were so weak that Xaren’s senses couldn’t detect their minute power, or they were so powerful that Xaren’s senses couldn’t comprehend their realm of power.

Of course, Xaren didn’t dare think it was the former even for a split-second.

"...who are you?" Xaren asked, conjuring multiple magic circles around him, and taking a step back to put more distance between himself and the mysterious figure.

[Me? I’m the guy who’s gonna kill you.]

And with those words, the mysterious figure lunged at Xaren.

Xaren barely had time to react before they were right in front of him, throwing a punch aimed straight at his face. He ducked, the strike whistling past his head, and immediately countered with a gravity-enhanced jab to their midsection.

However, the figure leapt back faster than his strike could connect, and Xaren’s punch struck nothing but air.

The instant their feet touched the ground, they lunged at him again. As they closed the distance, Xaren noticed something strange—their height now matched his own, even though they’d been at least a head taller when they first appeared.

’Did they just shrink?’

The question crossed Xaren’s mind, but he pushed it aside. This wasn’t the time to be distracted. Their fist was already tearing through the air like thunder, aimed at his head once more.

They were striking to kill, and Xaren wasn’t about to let himself be an easy target.

He shifted to the side, narrowly avoiding the blow, and retaliated with a quick strike of his own. But the dark silhouette raised their hand, parrying his punch effortlessly.

But the moment they made contact, Xaren bent his wrist and seized theirs. In the same moment, he activated his Unique Skill, doubling the gravity acting on them, and stomped down hard on their foot to pin them in place.

The magic circles Xaren had conjured activated at that moment, sending spears of black fire shooting toward the figure from every angle.

However, his spells didn’t travel far before the silhouette summoned two-ringed black magic circles of their own, releasing black fire spears that clashed with Xaren’s mid-air attacks, detonating them on impact.

The shockwaves from the explosions forced Xaren to retreat to avoid getting caught in the blast, but the figure charged straight through the flames and smoke, unleashing a roundhouse kick aimed at his head.

Xaren raised his right hand, conjuring a gravity shield to block the kick, then immediately fired a burst of flame from his left hand, targeting the figure’s other leg.

The spiralling flame rushed toward them, but once again, an identical magic circle appeared, spawning a matching fireball that collided with Xaren’s mid-air spell, detonating in a blast that knocked both of them backwards.

The ground split from the force, and Xaren immediately used gravitational repulsion to turn the shattered earth into a volley of projectiles aimed at his opponent.

In response, the silhouette stomped its foot, cracking the earth and causing rocks to lift from the force. They kicked the rising stones, sending them crashing into the ones Xaren had launched with gravitational repulsion.

Seeing this, Xaren narrowed his eyes, tracing a circle on his left palm while simultaneously raising his right to fire a gravity sphere.

The silhouette instantly responded, raising their hand and releasing a mass of compressed magic power that collided with Xaren’s gravity sphere mid-air, detonating in a blast that warped the air around them.

In the same motion, they leapt upward, evading the tendrils of darkness that burst from their shadow, trying to ensnare their legs—a spell Xaren had activated with the circle drawn on his left palm.

The moment they avoided his magic, Xaren unfurled his wings and took to the air, just barely avoiding a tendril of darkness that shot out from his own shadow.

’As I thought, this bastard is copying me.’

The silhouette only used magic in response to Xaren, and each time, they either cast the same spell or mimicked its effect.

’If that’s how you want to play it.’

Xaren flapped his wings and dove toward the figure below, his fist colliding with their rising punch. Their clashing aura and magic power surged along their arms, meeting with a thunderous boom.

The shockwave blasted both of them backwards, and Xaren quickly retracted his wings, landing firmly on the ground before stomping his foot.

His magic surged into the earth, unleashing a shockwave of gravitational force that struck the figure and forced them to stumble.

Seizing the moment, Xaren charged forward, his fist hurtling toward them, but even while off balance, the figure managed to block the attack.

The moment the figure blocked his punch, they retaliated, throwing a jab aimed at Xaren’s throat. Xaren tilted his head just enough for it to graze past, then countered with a right hook packed with double the gravity behind it, his fist whistling through the fog-heavy air.