CHAPTER 163: BATTLE! (1)

The goat demon’s eyes widened slightly at Zephyr’s sudden charge at him. He first thought Zephyr was being suicidal, but the look on his face and his insane acceleration made the demon take him seriously.

He let out a roar, priming himself for the clash as the distance between them closed rapidly. The intricate markings on his body glowed even brighter, making his size expand even more just as they covered the last few steps.

’Shit!’

Zephyr quickly executed Galestrike, compressing the air around his already outstretched arm.

He realized within the last second that his raw strength was not going to hold up. The sheer momentum the demon carried behind his punch alone was enough to cause Zephyr some damage, even though the demon would also receive some too.

Boom!

Their fists met, causing a light shockwave to ripple out from the impact, scattering sand and carving a small hollow crater beneath them.

The elf variant girl watching in the distance squinted her eyes, trying to make out the result of the clash through the sand scattered into the air.

Her eyes caught a movement, a figure had been thrown back out of the impact radius, skidding for a few meters before his feet sunk into the sand, stopping his momentum.

The elf variant girl’s eyes widened in surprise.

It was the goat demon.

"...Tch." He spat to the side, glancing at his slightly trembling arm. He clearly hadn’t expected to be pushed back at all. At least not by someone as ’tiny’ as Zephyr.

Zephyr himself had not really budged from the clash, only taking a step or two back.

He dispersed the Galestrike spell immediately after he used it, making sure even the goat demon didn’t really see the mechanics of what hit him.

Zephyr cracked his knuckles, walking out of the small crater. "So this is the difference..." he muttered under his breath. His raw strength alone surely couldn’t have matched, but with Galestrike layered on top, he’d managed to overpower the demon.

The goat demon let out a short laugh. "Not bad... At least you can put up a fight." He licked his lips menacingly. "I’m gonna enjoy this!"

He charged forward again with even more ferocity, not holding anything back this time.

Boom!

The goat demon and Zephyr’s fists collided with a louder crack than before, sending even more sand into the air.

This time the goat demon was flung back even farther, skidding across the desert sand, trying to get his footing. His arm dropped to his side, swinging limply like the bones had been broken.

A look of shock flickered in his eyes. This time he had noticed the spell Zephyr had used to enhance his punch, finally regarding him in a different light.

He had never seen anyone use a spell like that in his life... At least not as easily and not without severe repercussions.

Zephyr’s danger level had just shot up exponentially in his books, and for a second it looked like he was even deliberating whether to escape or to continue...

But just as the thought came, it immediately disappeared, and was replaced by an defiant, manic look as the demon willed the glowing markings on his body to flicker out, reducing his size back to normal.

For a second, it looked like he had given up, only for a different set of wicked-looking markings to start crawling across the surface of his skin rapidly, using the blood seeping out of his skin like an ink.

It glowed a bright red that began to morph into a vivid orange, shining brighter and brighter as it covered his whole body.

Eventually, even his body itself started to glow red, with cracks all over his skin that hissed hot air into the cold desert night.

He bent over in pain as his body went through the transformation, clenching his jaws tightly as all the hair and cloth on his body were burned off.

"Oh...?" Zephyr muttered in surprise and amusement, waiting to see the end result of the guy’s transformation.

’Heh! Taking such a long time to transform... Isn’t that like asking to be killed—?’

Zephyr had barely finished his train of thought when the demon’s head snapped up and their eyes met.

Immediately, he felt a shiver run down his spine and he stiffened slightly. ’What the—?!’

The demon looked like a totally different animal now. He was literally on fire, glowing with a burning intensity like a beacon in the night. With magma-like blood flowing from the cracks and fissures criss-crossing his body.

The elf girl’s shout rang out from the distance as she yelled something at Zephyr, waving her hands wildly and dashing forward instinctively.

But Zephyr’s attention wasn’t on her. Even without her warning, all previous traces of playfulness and curiosity had disappeared from his face entirely as he felt very threatened for the first time.

He subconsciously started up a few spells immediately, without any care for the elf variant girl that was watching...

And he was right in his decision...

Just as he did, the demon charged towards him with such speed that Zephyr took a step back in shock.

He immediately responded, launching an ice spear that he had floating beside him whizzing at the demon with blistering speeds.

But the demon still dodged with his increased reflexes, charging down on Zephyr within a few seconds, leaving a trail of flames and melted sand behind.

Zephyr followed up on his missed ice spear projectile, immediately sending his intention to his mana node, willing a massive jet of water into being to douse the demon’s flames...

But instead of a massive jet of water, what he got was a trickle. Barely a bowl-full of water.

The dry desert air meant that the moisture content was not enough for the spell to be executed on the level Zephyr had visualized.

He realized that immediately and cursed lightly, starting up another spell — this time a wind spell.

He sent a burst of wind hurtling directly at the demon, pushing him back a few meters just as the demon reached his position slashing down at him with his flame-covered arm.

The pushback gave Zephyr some space and bought him more time to stack up spells in succession.

He tried making more ice spears, but there wasn’t enough moisture in the air to stack them consecutively—