Chapter 326 (Patreon)

Chapter 326

Steph had her match against five demons at once, and to the surprise of no one in the group, she had easily won against them by turning the entire field into a winter wonderland and encasing her challengers in an ice prison. Afterward, the demons got even more suspicious about Sophia after Steph let some things slip, so Igis decided to challenge her to a match as well to see what was going on with her.

“That’s a lot better!” Sophia let out a relieved sigh when she noticed that the snow Steph had created earlier was mostly melted again already because the temperature around them was too high for it to stay for too long. “Anyway, has anyone else gotten hungry after everything that happened today?”

“Sure, we’ll have a great feast soon.” Igis smiled at her. “After our match, that is.”

“I at least had to try.” The blonde shrugged in return. “Fine, get it out of your system.”

Hearing that, Igis wasted no time and immediately started her attack. Her approach on the matter was quite different compared to the other demons before, though. She suddenly kicked the ground and sped towards Sophia while forming a fist, trying to surprise her with a hearty punch.

The demon closed the distance in an instant, and her fist was about to connect with the tiger’s face, but it never happened. Sophia didn’t even flinch when she saw the fist only a few centimeters away and simply twisted her body to the side at seemingly impossible speed to dodge it. She adjusted her position so fast that Igis didn’t even see her moving.

The horned woman was still in attack mode, though, and only cared that she had missed, not why, for the time being. She instinctively used the momentum of her missed swing, lifting her right leg as she spun on the other to deliver a roundhouse kick to Sophia’s side with devastating speed and force.

That was the plan at least. Somehow, the blonde was able to react in time and shifted her body backward to narrowly avoid the demon’s foot. Igis seemed to have anticipated something along the lines of that, though. Once her foot was right in front of the tiger’s stomach, she suddenly used a hearty amount of magic and used it to create a massive ball of fire right under her heel that instantly grew inside and swallowed Sophia whole as she finished her spin.

Sophia seemed to stay on fire for a few short seconds before countless pink and purple particles eventually began appearing, eating away at the flames until the tiger was visible again while looking completely unharmed. She then just lightly dusted herself off while smiling at the demon.

Igis didn’t like that, and she looked rather disgruntled over how effortlessly the tiger was negating all of her attacks. She readjusted her footing again and changed into a brawler-like stance, but she didn't stop at raising her arms and clenching her fists. The demon closed her eyes for a second, and her hands suddenly started sparking in a bright-yellow light, as if they were clad in lightning.

Her eyes shot open again before she leaped at the blonde with lightning speed. She instantly closed the gap, and her fist actually connected with Sophia’s cheek this time. There seemingly was an insane amount of force behind the demon’s punch, judging by the sound it made, and the lightning from her magic sprang over to the tiger’s face as it started sparking in the same bright yellow as the fist.

However, it didn’t seem Sophia was much affected by it, if at all. Igis’ fist slammed into her cheek, which had some suspicious pink and purple particles radiating from it, and her entire head got covered in lightning, but the blonde didn’t even flinch or had any defensive reaction at all. On the contrary, Igis immediately retracted her arm again and vigorously shook her bruised hand while looking like she was in pain from the punch.

“Woah, that was so cool!” Sophia’s eyes were sparkling as she lightly put her hand on her absolutely pristine-looking cheek. “It’s so cool how fast you demons are! The group that fought Steph already was impressive, but you are on another level!”

“…” Igis just stared at her while slowly shaking her head as she looked a bit tired and very annoyed. “You say that, and you look like you mean it, but you still managed to easily dodge all my attacks with ease in a way that breaks the laws of nature, and even when I managed to hit you, it did NO damage at all! Well, it did… TO ME! WHY AND HOW IS YOUR FACE THAT HARD?!”

“She’s always been pretty thickheaded.” Steph just shrugged while the others of the group nodded along.

“That’s not how that works!” The demon woman didn't accept this explanation. “It felt like hitting a rock rather than a body!”

“I have a pretty good reaction speed, that gave me plenty of time to dodge~.” The tiger looked extra smug for some reason. “You used lightning magic to make your punch stronger. Would it be that surprising if I were to use magic to reinforce my cheek? I have more magic than you, so it makes sense that my defense is stronger than your offense, right?”

“…” Igis went silent again. “Us demons usually go by the motto of the best defense is a good offense, but there are some individuals who do handle it like that…” She made another slight pause. “Attacking just is more fun, so I can’t say I share your sentiment.

“Oh, no, I’m also a big fan of fun offensive magic.” Sophia shook her head. “I just wanted to see what you were planning first.”

“Also, what are those sparkling purple particles that appear on and around your body at times?” The demon had even more questions. “On top of that, how were you able to move in an instant to avoid my earlier attacks so fast I didn’t even see you moving?!”

“I have some rather peculiar ways of using magic.” The blonde smiled at her and decided to put on a little show. Just like at various times during her match, she stopped time to prepare a few things. She opened two of her usual portals, linked them to each other, and made them mostly see-through. One of them was right where she was standing, and the other one was placed behind Igis. Once she was done, she resumed time again before stepping through one of the portals, only to reappear instantly behind the demon. “I have a few tricks up my sleeve~.”

“H-HUH?!” Seeing her suddenly disappear and hearing her voice behind her, Igis sounded extremely confused as she turned around to face the blonde again. “What did you just do?!”

“It’s just a fun little magic I came up with.” Sophia went through the portal again while saying so. “It’s quite handy~.” She gave her a thumbs-up while standing in front of her once more.

“That explains nothing!” It only confused her more, and the tiger's continuous changes in position certainly weren't helping, either.

“They’re called portals.” The blonde smiled at her. “They connect two places with magic and let you travel instantly between those areas. They’re all over our continent for easier travel between major cities.”

“WHAT IN THE NAME OF EVERYTHING?!”

“Yeah, it’s great.” Sophia nodded a few times as she conveniently forgot to mention that she’s the culprit of everything and they only started placing them a couple of months ago.

“How has the beastfolk actually surpassed us over there?!” Errol couldn't believe what he was hearing and seeing either. “Our cities have some impressive quality of life and defensive magic goodies that you don’t get to enjoy in smaller places like ours, but instant travel?! Sure, many of us can fly at least some distance, but it’s far from instant and transporting goods is not a thing that way, either!”

“How does this even work?!” Igis was circling one of the mostly see-through portals. “How do you come up with that in the first place?!”

“How it works is an interesting question.” The blonde scratched her cheek. “No idea.”

“Sounds like magic.” The demon woman couldn’t exactly blame her.

“For how I came up with…” Sophia paused to think about it for a moment. “I just wanted it to happen, and it happened…?”

“Yup, sounds like magic alright.” Errol nodded a few times. “Still, this has to take a tremendous amount of power to activate and keep up, right? Why can’t I feel your authority going down at all?”

“YES!” Igis raised her voice again. “The portal things, the dodging, which clearly wasn’t just your body, getting rid of the fire, and yet your powers hadn't dropped at all!”

“Well, what can I say? I have a lot of it, so it takes a while for it to be recognizable.”

“Nuh-uh!” She didn’t buy it. “Your harem leader and the dog-girl seemingly have the same amount of authority, and yet the changes in their powers were clearly detectable.”

“HEY!” The black-haired leader didn’t like what she just heard.

“Look, everyone has some secrets, okay?” Sophia was okay with showing off her portals because she was planning to also generously use them on the demon continent, but she didn’t feel like wanting to share any more secrets of hers just yet.

“That makes me even more curious! You’re definitely some sort of big shot!”

“I’m just your friendly neighborhood tiger~.”

“Fine…” Igis let out a sigh. “Demons are naturally curious, especially when it comes to magic, but I can accept it if you really don’t want to reveal your secrets.”

“Especially because you’re much stronger than all of us combined, by far, and we have no means of getting it out of you.” Errol also looked like he really wanted to know more. “Not wanting to upset you, of course, is important, too.”

“Thank you.” Sophia was glad they weren’t too inquisitive.

With that conversation over and the match over, everyone decided to head back to the beach with the cozy houses nearby to relax and have some nice food together.