The Demon Goes to Work Today As Well

Chapter 8: Duel (3)

After the duel ended.

“To think I would lose…… Ribbit, ribbit.”

The Frog Man, who had been unconscious for a long time, woke up and was informed of his defeat by the instructor, falling into despair.

“It’s okay. You were just unlucky.”

“……I-Is that so? Ribbit, ribbit.”

“Of course. You just had a bad matchup with your opponent. If you had fought someone else, you would have won for sure.”

“Matchup…… Ribbit, ribbit.”

“It wasn’t even a test, right? It doesn’t affect your score. You can do well next time.”

“R-Right? Ribbit, ribbit.”

Perhaps somewhat comforted, the Frog Man showed signs of regaining some of his vitality.

‘But the gap will widen because of the bonus points.’

Thinking that telling him this would make him gloomy again, Jung Minwoo decided to hold his tongue.

“Phew, well. There’s no point in regretting it now. Ribbit, ribbit.”

“Good thinking.”

The Frog Man clenched his fists, showing his determination.

‘He seems to be feeling better, should I ask him a little?’

Now that he seemed to have fully recovered, it seemed like it was time to get to the main point.
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“I looked away for a moment and missed it. What did No. 99 do?”

“Why do you ask? Ribbit, ribbit.”

“Why, you ask? So I can get revenge for you, of course! How dare he do that to my friend!”

“……No. 1! Ribbit, ribbit.”

Touched by Jung Minwoo’s words, the Frog Man’s eyes welled up with tears.

“……Haha.”

Just as a pang of conscience was about to hit him for using sweet talk to get information,
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‘Well, if I win, that’s revenge.’

Come to think of it, if Jung Minwoo, who had defeated the Frog Man, defeated No. 99, it would be revenge for his friend before his own victory.

Thus, he cleanly dismissed any guilt about using his friend.

“First, he was using a spear. Ribbit, ribbit.”

“And?”

“……Well, it seemed like he floated the spear in the air and swung it, but I don’t remember what happened after that. Ribbit, ribbit.”

Jung Minwoo fell into thought at the Frog Man’s words.

‘Floating a spear and fighting……’

It wasn’t bad information, but it was too little to strategize against No. 99.

‘If I happen to fight him in the next match, I’ll need to take some time to figure out how he fights from a distance.’

One thing was certain, he needed to be cautious as No. 99 was strong enough to defeat the Frog Man in one blow.

‘If I’m lucky enough not to meet him in a match, I can just watch his fights and figure out how he fights.’

Just as he was organizing his thoughts,

[We will now proceed with the next lottery]

An announcement for the next lottery rang out.

‘Who will I fight?’ While the Frog Man was unconscious, the lottery had been drawn five times, so based on simple calculations, there was a high probability that this draw would be his turn.

‘I hope I get someone weak.’

As Jung Minwoo looked at the screen with curiosity about who he would be dueling,

The numbers of the demons selected by the lottery began to appear on the screen one by one.

[No. 1 VS No. 36]

And as expected, his number appeared on the screen right after.

‘Was No. 36 the one who used the bow?’ Just as Jung Minwoo was trying to recall information about No. 36,

[The selected demons, please come up to the stage]

The announcement instructing them to come up to the stage rang out.

‘I’ll think about it after I go up.’

Jung Minwoo put his thoughts aside for a moment and headed towards the stage.

Standing on the stage, Jung Minwoo looked at the demon in front of him.

‘Is he not going to allow close combat?’

Perhaps he had watched Jung Minwoo’s duel, as No. 36 had his leg pulled back, ready to flee at any moment.

‘And he’ll keep his distance and attack from afar.’

Just by seeing the arrow nocked on the bowstring, Jung Minwoo could easily grasp No. 36’s intentions.

‘This…… will be disadvantageous if I fight barehanded……’

He could win if he dragged out the fight, but

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‘If I get hurt doing that, it’ll only be a loss for me.’

Getting injured by not using something he had would cause problems in the next duel, so Jung Minwoo decided to use his ring safely.

‘It’s best to finish it in one blow.’

As Jung Minwoo finished his preparations by channeling demonic energy into his ring,

[The duel begins]

Beep―――!

The buzzer signaling the start of the duel rang out.

“Shadow Deployment.”

Jung Minwoo immediately chanted the activation word in sync with the buzzer.

The shadow beneath No. 36 wriggled, and

“……Huh?”

Shhhhrrrr―

The shadow transformed into thorns, surging upwards towards No. 36.

“……Ah!”

The demon, seemingly flustered by the sudden attack, couldn’t even react.

Just as the thorns were about to pierce the demon’s head,

Clang, clang, clang, clang, cla―ang!

Perhaps judging it as a life-threatening attack, a protective barrier appeared around the demon’s body, deflecting all of Jung Minwoo’s attacks.

“Ah……”

The demon let out a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the floor.

‘Easy.’

Jung Minwoo felt a greater sense of satisfaction from conserving his demonic energy than from winning, and he descended from the stage.

As he was resting in the audience seats,

[The selected demons, please come up to the stage]

It was No. 99’s turn before he knew it.

‘Let’s see how he defeated No. 2 in one blow.’ No. 99 stepped onto the stage, and after about 5 minutes,

[The duel begins]

Beep―――!

The buzzer rang out.

Vwoom―

No. 99 floated the spear he was holding into the air as soon as the buzzer sounded.

Gulp―

The demon standing on the opposite side, with a tense expression, held his sword in a defensive stance.

As No. 99 flicked his finger towards the demon in front of him,

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Whizz――!

The spear began to rotate fiercely and charged towards the demon.

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“Hup!”

Clang!

However, the demon seemed to be skilled with the sword, as he easily blocked No. 99’s attack.

‘Hm?’

Jung Minwoo, watching the duel, tilted his head in puzzlement as he looked at No. 99.

‘With that kind of attack, No. 2 wouldn’t have been defeated so easily?’

Just as he was feeling doubtful,

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“Division.”

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The spear floating in the air multiplied into 10 in an instant.

Whizzzzz―

And the spears began to rotate fiercely, flying towards the demon.

“Hiya!”

The demon swung his sword at the first spear that flew towards him, but

Swooosh―

The sword passed right through the spear.

“……What?”

Just as the demon looked at his sword with a bewildered expression,

Thud!

“Kyaaaaagh!”

The spear that flew in next pierced through the demon’s shoulder.

“Ugh!”

As the spears continued to fly in, rotating,

Clang―

The demon pulled out the spear embedded in his shoulder and hurriedly began to flee.

‘What a joker.’

Jung Minwoo, who was watching the duel, let out a chuckle in disbelief.

‘He’s faking with words?’

He had boldly deceived everyone by calling his illusion-related effect “Division” with a straight face.

‘As expected of a demon, he uses deception and lies as naturally as breathing.’

Although he had figured out No. 99’s shallow trick, there was still one thing that hadn’t been resolved.

‘He wouldn’t be able to defeat No. 2 with just that.’

Thinking about it objectively, it wasn’t enough to take down the Frog Man.

‘He must be hiding something…… Should I check his total amount of demonic energy?’

It was undeniably strange to see No. 99 dragging out this duel after defeating the Frog Man in one blow, so Jung Minwoo decided to use his Demon Eye to resolve his doubts.

As he focused his mind on No. 99,

【Victory】

The word “Victory” formed above his head, and at the same time,

‘He has a considerable amount of demonic energy.’

Jung Minwoo could see a significant amount of demonic energy surging from No. 99’s body.

‘With that much demonic energy, it’s understandable that he defeated him in one blow.’

The overwhelming amount of demonic energy was incomparable to that of other demons.

‘He was acting like this because he had consumed a significant amount of demonic energy in the previous duel.’

Seeing that No. 99’s demonic energy was more gray than black, Jung Minwoo believed his guess was correct.

‘Gray means that the demonic energy has been depleted.’

Furthermore, seeing the gray demonic energy rapidly turning black, he speculated that No. 99 might have a unique trait related to demonic energy.

‘Should I try reading his thoughts?’

Just as he was about to use his Mind’s Eye as well,

“Hiya!”

The demon charged towards No. 99 with his sword raised.

“Tsk!”

No. 99 clicked his tongue and stepped back, manipulating his spear.

‘Hm?’

And at that moment, he could see that the rapidly recovering demonic energy had slowed down.

‘Could it be that his demonic energy only recovers quickly when he’s standing still?’

It was a plausible deduction.

‘I’ll know if I check with Mind’s Eye.’

Jung Minwoo used his Mind’s Eye to confirm his suspicions.

【Damn it, it’s tough to fight while moving……】

Letters formed above No. 99’s head, transforming his thoughts into text.

‘……As expected, my guess was right!’

Jung Minwoo smiled proudly at the fact that his deduction was correct.

However, there was one problem with rejoicing over being right.

‘By the time he fights me, he’ll probably have fully recovered his demonic energy.’

The speed at which his demonic energy recovered was too fast.

‘Is there any way to prevent him from charging his demonic energy?’

After pondering for a moment,

‘Ah!’

He easily came up with a brilliant idea.

‘……I just need to make him consume all his demonic energy before our fight!’

It was to inform No. 99’s opponents of his weakness.

‘Then, by the time he duels me, his demonic energy will be depleted.’

It was a truly demonic idea worthy of admiration.

Jung Minwoo smirked at No. 99.

‘What’s going on?’

No. 99 couldn’t shake off an uneasy feeling as the duels progressed.
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‘How do they all know my weakness and act accordingly?’

It was because every opponent he faced seemed to exploit his weakness, catching him off guard.

However, thanks to his Wood Demon unique trait, he managed to overcome the crises and win his duels.

‘……But at this rate, I feel like I’ll lose.’

However, with the final round just around the corner, he found himself in an emergency situation where his demonic energy was completely depleted.

‘Should I try provoking him to buy some time? Or should I increase the number of spears and bluff?’

If he entered the duel immediately, he would surely lose, so he had to buy some time while his demonic energy recovered.

‘If I can just stall for 15 minutes, no, even 10 minutes, I’ll have a good chance of winning.’

If he poured all his demonic energy into his spear, he could defeat his opponent in one blow.

‘Alright, let’s use both provocation and bluffing.’

Just as No. 99 was finalizing his strategy for fighting Jung Minwoo,

[No. 1 and No. 99, please come up to the stage]

The announcement rang out, signaling that his time was up.

‘Let’s go.’ No. 99 steeled his resolve and walked up to the stage.

A man with black hair and heterochromatic eyes smirked at him.

‘Why is he smirking at me like that?’

He was momentarily confused by Jung Minwoo’s expression, but No. 99 dismissed it as a pathetic provocation and decided to proceed with his plan.

“No. 2 is the guy you hang out with, right? I’ll send you flying in one blow, just like your friend.”

Even he thought his tone was quite provocative.

‘This should be enough to get to him.’

No. 99 was convinced that Jung Minwoo would frown and get angry, but

“Puhahaha!”

Contrary to his expectations, Jung Minwoo suddenly clutched his stomach and burst into laughter.

“Did you not notice anything strange during your duels?”

“W-What?”

No. 99 asked back with a bewildered expression at Jung Minwoo’s question.

“Didn’t you feel like the demons were strangely aware of your weakness?”

“……H-How?”

“How? It’s simple. I blabbed about your weakness, so they know.”

At the following shocking statement, No. 99’s face contorted like a demon’s.

“You despicable bastard!”

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Jung Minwoo shrugged at No. 99’s words and said,

“Despicable is a virtue for demons. Thanks for the compliment?”

“I won’t let you get away with this!”

“Do as you please~”

Jung Minwoo’s flamboyant taunts made No. 99’s face flush red.

‘I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you.’ And just as the thought of killing Jung Minwoo filled his mind, causing him to completely forget about his previously planned strategy,

[The duel begins]

The buzzer rang out.

“Die, you bastard!!!”
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As soon as the duel began, No. 99 hurled his spear straight at Jung Minwoo.