Flying through the air is a tremendous feeling.

　It's as if you have assimilated into the wind, and flowing freely through the vast ocean of sky gives you a sense of freedom like no other.
　It may be just a matter of how you feel, but even the sunshine seems to be watching over you more warmly and gently than usual.

　Occasionally, big birds and wyvern were flying around, and although they had been just a backdrop for me, I now feel a sense of intimacy, as if I were one of the creatures of the sky.

　...... Well, I'm the only one who feels that way, so I'm usually attacked.

Hmm ...... And then I'd like to learn to fly a little better.

　I'm not going to be the only one who can do that.

　I'm sure the awkwardness of the beginning has worn off and I've gotten used to it. ...... But after watching Lephi fly up close and personal, I feel like she's still a chick, just like she says she is.

　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make it work.

　It is as if the sky and the entire world around her were a stage set for her to stand out, so graceful that you could even have the illusion that she was flying.

　You've said yourself that you're the champion of the sky, and with that, no wonder you're proud of it.
　In the dragon form, you would be overwhelmed by its frighteningly intimidating presence, but if Levi came down in front of you in doll form, you might mistake him for an angel.

"--Oh, that's right. Hey, Lil!

　With that in mind, I glide downward, calling out to the surface.

　Ahead, a beautiful white-furred wolf - Mowrir notices my presence and bows his head in a light bow.

　You have a clear face, but your emotions are evident in the way your tail flicks and wags from side to side. You're such a sweetheart.

"There, there. Hmm, looks like you're eating the good stuff.

　Landing on the ground, I stroked Lil's body and said something like a mother worried about her son, who lives alone.

　The monsters in dungeons eat the magic floating in the dungeon, but that's not all of them.
　They can also eat meat and fish normally, and live off of them outside the dungeon.

　However, if you aren't in a dungeon for a long time, your physical abilities will gradually decline, so you can't stay away from dungeons for very long.

　I've asked Lil to basically work in the dungeon area, but I've also told her that she can eat the corpses of dead monsters she kills without bringing them to the dungeon, without thinking about turning them into DPs or anything like that.

　The amount of DP you can get is: kill an intruder > absorb the intruder's corpse as sustenance > with an intruder in the dungeon > spontaneous recovery, which I think is a bit of a waste, but, well, it's a bit tasteless to live on magic power alone, isn't it?
　Even if you are a curry lover, you will definitely not like eating curry for three meals. Anyone who doesn't has a taste disorder.

　--Demon meat is actually very tasty.

　I've taken the trouble to roast some demon meat just out of curiosity, and it's so good you'd think it was marbled to the max.
　I don't know much about it, so I'm sure it was a mess, but it still tasted great.

　According to Reffi, demons have a lot of magical power inside their bodies and that's what makes them tasty, so it's common knowledge that demon meat is better than normal meat in this world.

　Ever since I learned that, I've had a lot of dead demons in my item box. It's not Lephi's, but it's enough to make a mountain out of it all.
　Time stops inside the item box, so you don't have to worry about it going bad.

"All right, Lil, let's go. I'm not that familiar with the geography of this place, so you'll show me the way--what? Can you give me a ride?

Coo.

　Folding his body, Lil looks at you with a single cry.

"Haha, okay, well then, please.

　At her prompting, she stepped over Lil's huge body and stretched out her folded legs and stood up with a start.

　Oh, wow, that was awesome.

"All right, let's go, let's go--whoa!

　Hearing my signal, Lil' runs at once.
　The wind pressure slammed my whole body and almost knocked me off, I hurriedly grabbed its fur, tightened my thighs and clung to Lil's torso.

Hahahahahaha! Dude, that's awesome!

　I cheered at the sheer speed of it all, and Lil took me into the forest with her.


　　　* * * *


　Today is a hunting day with Lil.

　I haven't been hunting demons lately because I have a lot of DP to spare, but I spent a lot of it to get the unique skill of "Flying". I need to replenish that amount.

　And I haven't been paying attention to Lil. Let's have a good romp today.

　We're headed east, looking east from the cave.

　Since the nature around here is quite extensive, the cave is the center and can be divided into four areas, roughly north, south, east, and west.

　The north is Leffi's former territory. It is almost completely devoid of living creatures to avoid Lephi.

　The south is the dungeon area I've expanded upon in the past. The demons are the weakest among the other three, and even I can fight them with no knowledge of martial arts.

　The east is the normal area. The monsters that appear aren't particularly strong or weak, and this is the best place for me to train for battle. Occasionally a strong one will appear.

　West is the most dangerous area. There are quite a few demons that you can understand at a glance, "this is impossible", and even those that aren't are one, two or three levels stronger than the demons inhabiting the eastern area. You're not allowed to enter here except when Leffi is there.

　It's possible to roughly classify them like this, but the east and west areas in particular are often inhabited by bad monsters as you go deeper into the interior, and Reffi warns me that "you'd better not go deep into the interior because you can't do it now".

　Hmm, I'm half afraid and half curious.

　We usually go to the southern area for DP conversion work: ...... It seems like we've been focusing too much on the south, and the ecosystem there has been a bit of a collapse.

　It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for when you're looking for it.
　Because of this, the demon habitat has been moved out of the dungeon area that we had expanded, and DP income has been decreasing.

　Therefore, I've decided to refrain from hunting demons there for a while until the ecosystem returns to normal, and I'm heading to the east area with Lil.

　Well, this is a good time. The east area is still in the process of expansion, so let's continue to expand the dungeon area here as well.

Hey, Horn Tiger.

　And in my vision, I saw a tiger with unicorn-like horns sprouting from its head - a "horn tiger".
　It's a low growl of alarm as it notices the presence of the nearby lil', "Gulu ......".

　This guy is not very strong, despite his vicious appearance, his movements and attacks are weak.

　The rabbit named "Gifty Hill Rabbit" was much more vicious than this tiger.
　They were as big and as durable as rabbits, but they were extremely agile, and as soon as they saw that we had lost sight of them, they would immediately approach and bite us with their poisonous fangs.

　The power of its venom is also quite formidable, and once I saw a demon bitten by a gifty hirabbit, its body parts changed color in less than ten seconds, and in less than thirty seconds it was gone to the other world. An enemy that is more than ten times larger in size than you are. 　


　I guess a guy with peaky abilities is tougher to deal with than a guy with high overall ability.

　Anyway, let's just let this guy be DP.

　I descend in one fell swoop from the skies above and at the moment of impact, I swing both swords in my hands down to the tiger bastard's brain.

　The horn tiger, who had been distracted by Lil, didn't notice me until the very end, and then fell to the ground and didn't move.

　This is our strategy now.

　Well, it's simple: first, Lil draws the enemy's attention to the ground, and while the enemy is distracted, I'm waiting in the sky, activating my Stealth skill, and then I drop down from there.

　Then I crush the enemy's head.

　The wretched enemy will explode and scatter.

　When the enemy pretends to notice me, Lil activates the Manka no Chains to stop them, and it's working very well so far.

　At first, I didn't intend to swoop down like I'm doing now, but I was planning to sneak up on them normally from above: ...... But then, after riding Lil' and getting excited about his race-car speed, I was paralyzed in my thought process. I guess.

　I'm not as good as Leffy, but if it were me right now, I'd be able to slow down right before, crush the enemy's nuts, and land in a spectacular fashion, wouldn't I? I went over the top of the plane and tried to glide over it like a high-altitude bomber.

　Well, I failed to control the plane as usual.

　You were unable to decelerate, and the momentum of the fall kept you in a constant state of head-on collision with the enemy. The opponent explodes and falls.
　The panicked expression on Lil's face was a bit amusing.

　I had a chill in my heart too, but apparently the demon king's body is nothing more than this.
　The ground caved in lightly with a tremendous impact that hit my whole body, but my body was unharmed. No loss of status HP.

　--After that, having completely erased the concept of brakes from my mind, I let the momentum take over and turned myself into a bullet, becoming a machine that only drops from the sky.

　It's a brain-powered battle strategy that relies on physical abilities alone. Honestly, it's super fun.

　I used to love thrilling attractions at amusement parks. 　
　If this new thrilling attraction opens as a new type of attraction, it might be quite profitable. I'm looking for customers.

Oh, ...... is broken.

　After a quick dusting of dust and flesh from the body, I look at the sword in my hand, which is now just a hilt.
　The blade was fundamentally broken by the current attack, making it completely useless.

Hmmm......... weapons..." "Hmmm...what's going on? What's going on?

　While incorporating this area into the dungeon realm, it's a bit of a headache.

　There's also a magic short gun, but it takes a little longer to reload.
　It's nice to have it as a trump card, but it would definitely be better to have a separate main weapon.

　But--no swords.

　It seems I'm not cut out for it.
　I've already ruined a few of them, and even though I'm using them, they don't feel right to me.

　It's an undeniable fact that I'm just bad at it, but the sword is not suited to the power of my body as a demon king and, in short, the sword is more fragile than I imagined and is difficult to handle. To this day, I've broken many swords.

　It would be nice if there was some kind of replacement weapon: .......

　...... Well, okay, for now, let's get some rebar out. It's not just a matter of how to use it, it's also a matter of why it's in the weapons section.

　It's not just a matter of how much time you spend with your friends and family. This one might be more effective.

　I grabbed the rebar and mounted Lil, who looked very apologetic as he watched me crash into the ground every time, and started looking for his next prey.