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Published at 13th of May 2019 07:32:39 PM


Chapter 224

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[Twenty-second Quarter] [Silent Street]

On the opposite side of the street, pretending to be coffee shop patrons, Clyde and his team, as well as Clare and the magical girls waited, gazing at the forty-floor building. Alice's job was on a tougher time crunch than the assault teams, but there was no guarantee that she'd save lives. He took a look at the two skyscraper guards and shook his head. On a nice, cloudy day with a somewhat mild temperature, they were about to be splattered across the pavement. Talk about back luck. Eventually the texts of the hour flowed into the group chat.

Toru: Our circle's done. Good luck.

Chika: We're done! On our way, Clyde.

Clyde: Good work. And thanks. Both groups.

Clyde glanced over his team: Tear, Harumi, and Natalia. Neko didn't count.

"Are you sure it was a good idea to send off Alice?" Harumi said.

The young man placed a hand on Tear's shoulder.

"We've got nothing to worry about," he said. The succubus blushed. He was definitely going to get her on a date, with some kind of thank you gift, regardless of what the system said. What did she like to do in her off time? Thoughts for later.

"Let's do this. The magical girls are about to snipe."

Clyde gave the signal. The pre-transformed women unleashed quick and precise hell on the two guards, in the form of beams to the heads. Of course, they were non-lethal, sleep beams. Well, somewhat non-lethal.

"Let's go. Knock them out unless they pose even the slightest resistance," Clyde said.

"I sure hope this doesn't backfire, onii-chan," Natalia said.

"Well with the strongest members on my team, I doubt it," Clyde said. "Except Airi." Harumi sighed.

"You give me too much credit," she said.

"You mean not enough credit," Clyde said. "No need to be modest." He patted the pink-haired girl. "Are you ready to end this and get home?" She smiled.

"You know it. By the way, why didn't you include Airi?"

"To be honest, I simply forgot," he replied with a chuckle. "Same with Kiko and Sazuki. But they'll be fine guarding Hinako. Chika and Melody's strengths will ensure the success of the other groups."

Clyde and his team rushed into the building. The others followed shortly, orders in mind.

[You are about to enter a Raid. Difficulty: Hard. You've pre-selected yes, so no takebacks.]

[Demon lord's Skyscraper.] [Floor 1 of 40] [Lobby]

A sparkle caught Clyde's eye. He walked over to it and knelt. The moment he touched the floating snowflake-like object, he received a system notification.

[You've found a set of Super Health Potion x2 item class: uncommon.]

Clyde shrugged then hurried up to the others.

"I found the elevator, but it needs two key cards to activate," Tear said.

"What kind of bullshit elevator…Never mind. Do you think any of the guards would have them?" Clyde said.

"There's only one way to find out," Tear said then sent a text. "The magical girls went left. We'll continue right and meet up at the elevator if we find the cards."

"Alright," Clyde said.

He observed the place as they ran. It resembled a hotel, decked with pink marbled floors and the works. Nothing remarkable to the young man, other than being a place for the rich.

The first guards showed themselves—monsters in armor. With a brief analysis, he caught the range of levels fifty-nine to eighty.

"Hey! What are you doing in here?" the monster shouted.

"We're here to see your demon lord," Clyde said. "We've—"

"Over our dead body! PROTECT HER SMILE."

With a single wave of her hand, Tear gathered them all with the force, smashed the monsters against the wall, denting it. That kind of force could kill any normal person, Clyde silently noted as he stared at the unconscious bodies blankly.

"We don't have time for small fry," Tear said.

"She's right-right-right," Natalia said.

And so they moved on until reaching a background that predictably held a mini-boss. Before Tear could move in for the inevitable sweep, Harumi struck it down with a blue Kitsune lightning.

Clyde thought the demon—a young man with spiky red hair—was a goner, but he survived. He assumed Harumi held back. Natalia dug into his pockets, pulling out the keycard.

"Here it is, pervy-nii," she said.

They soon met up with Clare and the others.

[Elevator active!]

[This elevator goes up to the 40th floor. It is optional to explore the others. The 4th floor belongs to the minotaurs.]

"Clare, take the magical girls to clear the fourth floor," Clyde said. "That's where the minotaurs are located."

"Are you stupid?" Clare said. "You expect us to face an entire minotaur army?"

"Combined with Sahara's buffs and a surprise attack, could you not wipe them out?" Clyde said.

"Minotaur magic," Clare said. "Now if you don't mind, we'd like the continue the original assignment."

"What weaklings," Natalia said. "I'll handle them. And without—"

"We'll do it," Sahara said. "A quick surprise attack under the piercing power of the thirteen witches."

"I call the shots," Clare said. "And we're not doing it."

"But we—"

"No," Clare interrupted Sahara, voice cold. "You know what they can do—and I'm not in the mood to try seven on two hundred, even with a surprise attack. Unless killing is permitted." Clyde blinked. "We can't knock that many bodies unconscious while holding back. It's kill them or no deal."

"Fine, continue your original assignment," Clyde said. "We can't kill them because we need answers. If we don't find out where they're holding the men, this will be all for naught."

**

When they stepped out of the elevator onto the fortieth floor, Clyde spotted a large office door ahead, with two guards. One was a level ninety demon wizard, the other a level seventy-two green pumko. Tear used the force to pick up a large dining table. The bowls and silverware on it clang to the floor. She hurled it at them, but at the last second it stopped, gently falling to the side.

"Do you have any idea how hard the maid works in here?" the demon wizard said. "Look at what you've done? Is it that hard to…wait a minute—who are you?"

"I presume your master's behind that door? Stand aside or get hurt," Clyde said.

"Pfft, as if you scare us with your puny level…" the demon wizard's voice trailed off at the sight of Tear. "A succubus…What do you want?"

Tear magically pinned him to the wall.

"You will treat my Clyde with the upmost respect, worm." She tossed the minions to the side like used ragdolls.

"You can't go in there, my lady has a guest," said the green pumko. "It'd be rude to interrupt."

The party ignored the idiots, entering the large door without so much as looking back. Alice and Necro were arguing. Clyde's life mate spoke with passionate words, attempting to convince the demon lord to relinquish her power. The beautiful blonde demon lord didn't seem to be taking the situation seriously at all.

"So villain, you're here to take over my home," Demon lord Necro said. "Well, I won't have it. You'll have to challenge me to a duel! And if I win, you and your evil doers must leave my city forever."

"Or we can simply kill you," Tear said. "But Noona, you seem like someone who can be reasoned with. My Clyde." Alice gave rolled her eyes at the succubus, but didn't interrupt. "Sent Alice ahead in hopes that we can sort everything out peacefully."

"By wrecking my home?" Necro said. "You've sent forces all over it."

"You've ignored all six of my attempts to contact you," Tear said. "I even sent a letter to invite you to tea. Ignored."

"I…haven't received any of them," Necro said. "Leo was supposed to…It doesn't matter now. You're still a threat. Now duel me, savages." She pointed a finger at Alice. "And I will crush you with friendship and the heart of the cards."

Everyone nearly fell backward. Clyde facepalmed.

[Warning: there are three card bearers now. Noona Necro has declared herself a card bearer and unknowingly made a contract with her dead father's deck leader.]

[Raid Objective: Defeat Noona in a Real game. This is objective is mandatory and cannot be refused. Warning: if you lose, you fail the entire quest line. And you will be magically banned from this city. All citizen relationships with you will drop to murderous hatred and sworn nemesis while in Niyoto.]

Clyde facepalmed again. For such a beautiful woman, she was oblivious to her irresponsibility, thrown into a leadership position without a clue how to run things. Perfect. A regular demon lord would be deadly. This one could be saved.

"Stand aside, I'll face her," Clyde said flatly.

"Ah, so someone has a deck, good," Noona said. "I was a little worried there. I don't have any extras." She did the anime girl "silly me," gesture, giggled, and even stuck her tongue out. Clyde and his party were already behind blank stares. "I hope you're prepared to lose, because I fight for my friends. Well, I don't have any—but that's beside the point."

Clyde's eyes widened then shook his head. Her first impressions told the young man a lot. Still, he figured he'd at least humor the woman.

"Here are my terms," Clyde said. "If I win, you'll step down as demon lord because I'm going to need your goons to stop spawning. Humans souls are being lost every night, and it has to stop. And I—"

"My servants and I don't consume human souls, you fiend," Noona said, pointing at Clyde dramatically. "Are you stereotyping demons now?"

"If you're not behind it, then who?" Alice said.

"A wild demon may come from the woods sometimes," Noona said. "My servants deal with it. The only missing human problem were the minotaurs, but… you're that guy! I forgot to thank you for gathering them. I was teaching them how to be nice, so that they could release the captives. I think some of the minotaurs may still be out there in a camp somewhere. Well, unless the crusaders got them." She sighed, appearing to be thinking of something.

"Why are you in power as a demon lord instead of head of household, like Alice," Clyde said.

"Enough talk, evil doer," Noona said. "Are you going to duel or what? I'll have you leave for wrongfully accusing me."

"Hmm, let's add one more to my wager," Clyde said. "If I win, you'll be my friend. And friends help each other out."

"I don't plan on losing," Noona said.

"By the way, we should probably take this outside," Clyde said. "It's going to start a Real game—and I'm pretty sure you know what that means."

Noona's eyes widened.

"Goodbye building," she said. "Well, elevator's this way. Let's go."

As they headed to the elevator the wide-eyed guards called after their master.

"Lady Necro, are you sure we shouldn't escort you?"

"I'll be fine," she said. " I'm just going to win this duel and ban these people from our city."

"Clyde, why are we not detaining her?" Alice whispered.

"Long story, but trust me. If anything, blame Mortem," he said.

Alice's eyes narrowed.

"I hate him. He's always ruining your life."

"I know right?" Clyde said.

"I've texted everyone the news," Tear whispered. "They're a little unhappy."

"At least they've done their jobs," Clyde whispered. "Otherwise getting in here would've been impossible."

The somewhat crammed elevator trip felt a little awkward. Noona's ass was positioned right on Clyde's horn, which erected. She didn't seem to notice—but the softness through her skirt triggered the young man's inner beast. He felt a building nosebleed and willed it to hold back. Somehow, he didn't spray.

"So, you're a house head and not a demon lord?" Noona said to Alice. "How does that work?"

If there was room in the elevator, Clyde was sure they'd all fall over.

"You simply magically revoke your house out of demon realm politics," Alice said. "The downside is that the other houses may believe you to be weak, not take you seriously. You lose any owned lands in the demon realm."

"Pfft, I don't go there anyway," Noona said.

"Neither do I," Alice said. "Tear does sometimes. Well, did."

"I've got a network to run," Tear said, "and the demon realm makes things convenient. Besides, I'm not the head of a household or demon lord."

"You may be someday," Alice said.

"I don't think so," Tear said. Her cousin giggled.

Clyde wondered if this counted as a raid boss, but the system didn't reply. Despite being a "hard" raid, Tear turned out to be a cheat code. The young man almost mentally flipped the system off but decided it wasn't worth the potential backlash.

Noona took her position, yards from Clyde, determined look in her eyes.

"After I beat you, you will apologize to my servants," Noona said.

[You have accepted the challenge to a Real game.]

[Warning, this game has stakes that will be magically enforced.]

The familiar floating crystal mat appeared in front of both duelists. From an explosion of many colors, a blonde fairy woman appeared. She about eight inches or so tall with golden butterfly-like wings, dressed in a white tunic dress.

"Helllooooo everybody, my name is Lily and I'm too cute to contain. I will determine who shall go first. Oah! It's you again." She teleported in front of Clyde's nose and kissed it. "Good luck saving us all, my lord." She gave a bow.

"A fairy from the Outer realms," Noona said softly. Clyde was suddenly thankful the streets were empty. Without the phenomenon civilians would see and experience a lot of things. And could die. Noona tilted her head, eyes on the young man. "She just called you lord."

He shot her a blank stare.

"Lily, let's just get this over with."

"Ooh, she's pretty, but... hmmm, I shall determine at random who will go first!" The fairy lurched into the air. "Noona Necro! You will make the first move, but you cannot attack on the first turn nor draw. Plan your defenses carefully, okay?"

Lily joined Clyde's party off to the side to watch.

"Good luck, Lord Stone," she said.

[Your relationship with Lily has increased to friend level 5 and intensely sexually interested. If she didn't live in the Outer Realms and succumbed to the Supreme demon lord's influence, she'd be…very close and personal with you right now.]

"Lord Stone? No way," Noon said, eyes widening. "No way, no way, no way! You're the Stone? Well, it's too late to back down now. Believing in the heart of the cards will help me prevail, even against you!"

Clyde sighed. Why did he have to do this? Ah well, no use complaining. He wondered how the edge lord would react to all of this.





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