The convoy headed north. Because the marshlands ahead were impassable for vehicles, they disembarked earlier than usual and continued on foot.
Before they even caught sight of the demon, they heard an unusual rustling sound, like countless beads scraping against one another.
It was certainly not a sound nature could produce.
Heroic Link. Hall of Heroes.
Poseus activated his concept, enveloping every member of the squad within its influence.
The demon resembled a humanoid. It walked upright on two legs but possessed four arms. Thick, heavy scales covered its entire body. Every movement of its joints caused the overlapping scales to scrape together, producing that unsettling rustling noise.
"Concept: Armor."
Poseus immediately judged it to be a concept specializing in defense and physical combat.
Their first priority was determining just how durable those scales were.
He silently raised his left hand and motioned with his thumb and index finger.
The teammate behind him instantly understood the signal. Moving cautiously, he circled around to the demon's rear and raised his rifle into position.
Meanwhile, the rest of the squad spread out to either side, forming an encirclement from the front.
"Fire."
At Poseus's command, bullets rained onto the demon's back.
Not a single scratch appeared.
Still, the attack successfully drew the demon's attention. It slowly turned around, searching for whoever had attacked it from behind.
The instant its back was exposed, Poseus led the others from behind cover.
Swords flashed as they charged.
Yet even blades glowing faintly with Force failed to leave so much as the slightest scratch upon the scales.
They would need far greater power.
"Channel as much Force into your weapons as possible."
Poseus continued issuing commands while weaving between the relentless attacks of all four fists.
Behind him, Saifo led the second wave.
Every weapon now shone with far brighter radiance than before.
Empowered by their own Force and strengthened by Poseus's concept Hero, they finally succeeded in shattering several scales, exposing the dark green flesh beneath.
But what happened next extinguished everyone's hopes.
Within mere seconds, every damaged scale regenerated completely.
The demon's astonishing regenerative ability guaranteed that this would become a prolonged battle.
Poseus, however, had another idea.
And he intended to test it himself.
"Saifo!"
Years of fighting together meant no further explanation was necessary.
Saifo immediately understood.
Instead of retreating with the others, he suddenly accelerated straight toward the demon.
Poseus remained closest to the monster, single-handedly holding back all four of its arms.
When the demon noticed another opponent rushing toward it, it detached one arm from its assault on Poseus and swung a massive punch toward Saifo.
Exactly as the two of them had anticipated.
Just before the fist connected, Saifo burst forward with another burst of speed, narrowly slipping past the attack.
At the same time, his free hand brushed against the demon's arm.
Sphere Compression.
Every scale covering that arm was instantly torn away and compressed into a single sphere under Saifo's control.
The flesh beneath remained intact.
But that alone was enough.
The third and fourth assault teams immediately surged forward.
Their objective wasn't to deal damage.
It was simply to divide the demon's attention.
Forced to divert yet another arm to repel them, the pressure on Poseus lessened dramatically.
In one fluid motion, he parried the incoming attacks and swung his sword toward the arm whose scales had not yet fully regenerated.
The blade came crashing down.
"ROOOAAARRR!!"
The demon let out a furious howl as one of its arms dropped into the swamp below.
No one attempted to press the advantage.
Something flashed through the air like a whip.
An instant later, every member of the squad was blasted backward.
Poseus himself barely managed to raise his sword in time, blocking what would otherwise have cleanly severed his head.
Using the tremendous impact, he allowed himself to be thrown safely backward.
Through the connection of his concept, Poseus immediately confirmed that everyone was still alive.
Most of the attack's force had been absorbed by the enhancement granted through Heroic Link.
Only then did he turn back toward the enraged demon.
Behind it, two long appendages whipped violently through the air.
Tails.
They had been hidden beneath the swamp's muddy waters the entire time.
Each tail was composed entirely of scales.
The demon glared at Poseus and Saifo with unmistakable malice, identifying them as the greatest threats on the battlefield.
Although the severed arm had retained a small portion of its stump, fresh scales rapidly regenerated around the remaining flesh.
The arm itself, however...
...did not regenerate.
Its concept was Armor.
It could regenerate its scales at extraordinary speed.
But it could not restore lost flesh and blood.
Their objective had become perfectly clear.
The moment the scales were broken, they had to strike the exact same location before new armor could form, ensuring their attacks reached the demon's true body.
Moments later, the demon changed tactics.
Rather than Poseus, who continued keeping it occupied, it judged Saifo—the man capable of stripping away its armor—to be the greatest threat.
It leapt high into the air.
Despite its massive armor plating, its movements remained astonishingly agile.
Landing directly in front of Saifo, it lashed out with both tails simultaneously.
Saifo could effortlessly strip away the scales covering the demon's body.
But the tails themselves were made entirely of scales.
Removing them accomplished nothing.
The demon simply regenerated new scales, creating brand-new tails almost instantly.
Yet as the battle dragged on...
...the demon began to grow restless.
With over a decade of combat experience, Saifo was every bit as capable of matching its movements as Poseus.
For the demon, that was terrible news.
Not only did it have to remain vigilant against Saifo stripping away its defenses once again...
...it also had to divide its attention among the rest of the First Squad.
The squad had naturally fallen into pairs.
One member focused solely on breaking apart the armor.
The other immediately followed up, striking the exposed flesh before fresh scales could regenerate.
By now, blood dripped from wounds scattered all across the demon's body.
Poseus proved to be just as troublesome.
He understood that no armor could completely cover a living creature. Every time the demon moved its limbs, tiny gaps appeared between the overlapping scales, and Poseus struck those openings with pinpoint precision. Before long, another of the demon's arms had suffered severe damage.
This was what made the First Squad under Leon so formidable.
Poseus's concept empowered every member of the squad, allowing overwhelming teamwork and relentless numbers to suppress even the strongest demons.
The demon's instincts refused to let it be cornered.
It deliberately used its already crippled arm as bait.
The moment Saifo activated his concept and stripped the scales from that arm, the demon manipulated the scales covering its tails, forcing them to grow and extend to twice their original length.
The exchange was immediate.
The demon sacrificed two of its arms—
and in return, both elongated tails pierced straight through Saifo's shoulder.
The concentrated strike, focused into a single point, penetrated the protection granted by Poseus's concept and tore through Saifo's body.
The demon hadn't intended to kill him.
Its objective was to cripple him.
During the fierce exchange, it had already concluded that Saifo's concept required direct contact with his hands.
There was no need to kill him.
Destroying his arms would be enough.
With a casual sweep of its tail, it flung Saifo away before turning its gaze toward the insects that continued to harass it.
At first glance, the battle still appeared to favor the First Squad.
Although Saifo's concept had been taken out of the fight, the demon had likewise lost two arms.
That illusion quickly vanished.
The regeneration of its scales became noticeably faster.
Before anyone could land a second strike on an exposed area, fresh armor had already regenerated over the wound.
With only two arms left to control, the demon could devote far more Force to regenerating its scales.
For most of the squad, dealing any meaningful damage became nearly impossible.
The demon slowly extended the razor-sharp claws on its remaining arms before turning toward Poseus.
That single glance almost cost it its life.
While attacking alongside Angela, Tyia had never stopped observing the battlefield.
She had noticed Poseus's strategy of targeting the joints.
Others had seen it as well, but because of limitations in speed and agility, most of their attempts had failed.
Tyia alone continued waiting for the perfect opportunity.
When Saifo was knocked away...
When the demon shifted its full attention toward Poseus...
She seized the briefest opening.
Strengthening both legs with Force, she launched herself onto the demon with lightning speed.
Her dagger shot straight into the gap between the scales protecting its neck.
Tyia was proficient with countless weapons, though she specialized in none.
For that reason, her choice of weapon changed frequently.
Today, she happened to be carrying a dagger.
Infused with tremendous Force, the blade buried itself deep inside the demon's flesh, tearing open a massive wound.
But the dagger's short length prevented the strike from becoming a fatal blow.
The repeated heavy injuries finally exhausted the demon's patience.
It let out another furious roar.
Its armor regenerated once again.
This time, however, it layered multiple new shells over the original scales, even sealing the vulnerable joints.
It abandoned mobility altogether, choosing instead to rely solely on its two tails while weathering the squad's attacks.
The demon with the concept Armor had transformed into an impregnable fortress.
The situation continued to deteriorate.
Most demons possessed at least some regenerative ability.
Although Armor only accelerated the regeneration of scales, that didn't mean the rest of its body couldn't heal naturally.
The two severed arms had already stopped bleeding.
Slowly...
New limbs began growing from the stumps.
Facing an increasingly hopeless battlefield, Poseus made the only logical decision.
"I'm activating my Concept Release."
He raised his voice so everyone could hear.
"The moment I release it, stay alert."
"Watch for any attack from the demon."
He emphasized the warning.
The demon wasn't slow.
It could easily exploit the brief moment when everyone was left defenseless.
Poseus tightened his grip around the hilt of his sword and took a slow, steady breath.
Even he wasn't certain whether his Concept Release would be enough to overcome armor this resilient.
But there was no longer any time left to hesitate.
Concept Release: Glorious Charge.
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