A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

"Did they run away?"

That was way too decisive! Running away so fast? You're the true king of survival tactics, aren't you? You don't act like a boss at all!

Erza, panting, walked over and said, "Winter, what are you doing here?"

Winter stammered out his thoughts.

Natsu asked, "Kira, where are your enemies?"

"They ran away! They probably couldn't beat me, and seeing that you were all here, they retreated first!"

At this point, Kira suddenly noticed that Natsu and Gray's expressions were a bit off. Although the analogy wasn't quite right, Kira felt that the two of them looked like a couple who had just had a fight, so he asked, "What's wrong with you two?"

"Ugh, just thinking about it makes me so angry!" Natsu shouted. "That guy just tried to use Absolute Freeze, he's insane!"

"What? Gray, you..." Erza was surprised; she hadn't expected Gray to make such a decision.

"Seriously? This can't be!" Kira looked at Gray in surprise. "You two don't have any deep-seated hatred for each other, so why resort to such desperate measures?"

"It's all because of you that I almost got killed! You made me almost use it in a moment of panic!" Gray shouted at Natsu, somewhat embarrassed and annoyed.

So it was for Natsu, huh? That makes sense.

Hmph! Kira thought to himself, with that arrogant tone, that Gray was probably thinking, "I don't want to experience that someone I care about being killed by a demon again."

Ah, what a pure friendship this is!

"You can't do that again!" Erza said sternly. "We're comrades, and we would never want to see you sacrifice yourself!"

Gray said, sounding annoyed, "I know!"

Erza then smiled and said, "But... you did this for Natsu, right? I'm angry, but I'm also relieved."

Her words made Gray's face turn even redder.

Waaaaah... Their feelings are real, Kira felt touched.

Winter looked curiously at Natsu, then at Gray, his expression strange, lost in thought.

"Ahem..." Kira coughed twice, feigning an attack, and brought the topic back on track, revealing Ace's true purpose to everyone. "He has already devoured the Sea King, and his long-held goal has been achieved. There is no need for him to stay here any longer."

"Really? Another terrifying demon has appeared in the magical world!" Erza sighed, a mix of emotion and helplessness in her voice. "It seems the Magical Council is in for some new trouble."

"That's their problem!" Kira showed no shame for letting the enemy escape. "If the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up. Even if the Balam Alliance gains another member after a while, the Ten Wizard Saints can still handle it!"

"It's impossible for a single demon to build a guild so quickly, right?"

"Gray, you're still too young! Who said becoming a member of a faction means you have to start your own guild?"

"What do you mean?"

Erza said, "His strength as a single demon is comparable to the combined strength of an entire dark guild! That's probably what Kira meant!"

"What?!" ×2

“Erza is right!” Kira nodded. “Besides, he’s not without companions. Although you defeated those demons, once they regroup, they’ll be enough to sweep through most of the magic guilds…”

At this point, Kira suddenly stopped talking, and his expression gradually turned grim.

"what happened?"

"Damn it! I completely forgot!" Kira slapped his head.

Although that guy just said he left three underlings to deal with a certain enemy, that was under the premise that he had enough power. Now that he finds out that he still can't defeat Kira even after devouring the Sea Demon King, the outcome is hard to say.

What's more, these three demons are currently completely powerless to fight back!

Chapter 82 Encirclement by a Pack of Wolves

"Natsu, Gray! Go find those two demons you defeated right now, and bring them back to the tavern! Erza, let's go back to the tavern immediately! Lucy and the others might be in danger!"

"What's wrong?" The inexplicable command left Natsu and Gray completely bewildered. "Wasn't the battle over?"

Fortunately, Erza immediately realized what was going on: "You mean, the remaining demon will devour his three companions?"

This statement left Natsu bewildered and furious, prompting him to shout, "How could this be?! They're our comrades!"

“Natsu, they’re demons!” Gray accepted it quickly, pulling Natsu along as they ran in the direction Snowy and Fogg had gone, with Happy close behind.

"Wait... let go of me, Gray! I need to go..."

Natsu's voice grew fainter in the distance, but Kira ignored it and immediately put wings on Erza beside him, and the two flew towards the tavern.

Kira was right. When Ace saw Snow and Fogg defeated, he knew he couldn't handle the four of them for the time being, so he decisively chose to retreat.

Devouring the Sea Demon King did indeed bring him a great boost, especially in terms of physical strength, transforming him from a demon specializing in magic into a demon skilled in both magic and combat.

"Absolute Freeze truly lives up to its reputation as magic left behind by the gods; its vanishing attribute almost completely eroded the Sea Demon King's life force and magic power."

After leaving the battle, he immediately found the dying Fogg and Sinoi, revealed his true form to their shocked gazes, and then ruthlessly drained them dry!

"In terms of quality, it is indeed much tastier than the 'coarse grains' I used to eat; but in terms of quantity, it is far inferior!"

With the Demon Cannibalism Magic at his disposal, this wasn't the first time Ace had devoured his own kind—one of the reasons he'd lived so long! "Indeed, without the tempering effect of cannibalism, the quality of ordinary demons is nowhere near that of the Sea Demon King! But… better than nothing!"

At first, Ace did intend to treat these guys as companions, but now that the Sea Demon King's power is not as great as expected, he can only treat these underlings as his "food"!

"Damn humans, they ruined my years of plans! Fortunately, there is still time, and I still have a chance to win the other half of the victory."

At this moment, Ace was very agitated because its plan, which it had been scheming for many years, was less than half completed. First, the unexpected arrival of Silver killed the water demon Walter, and after his death, his body was taken over by someone else; then Fairy Tail members arrived, defeated and captured the cloud demon Krowy; and now these humans actually came knocking on its door, which was simply too much of a bully for demons!

"Next, all that's left is that 'traitor'!"

……

In order to complete his plan to devour the Sea Demon King, Ace had the Snow Demon Snowy and the Mist Demon Fogg distract the other mages from the very beginning.

Upon noticing that Kira and his companions had arrived at the base's entrance, Kira unleashed his full power of "Beast Taming Technique," commanding all his snow wolves to launch a full-scale attack on the Forget-Me-Not Tavern in an attempt to bring Krowy back.

The art of animal control is a kind of magic that can manipulate life.

The founder and the time of its creation are unknown, but it has existed for at least several hundred years. Over the centuries, this magic has been improved and evolved, resulting in many similar magics. Among them, some can control humans, some can control non-human life forms, and some can even control dragons!

But the most common application is controlling animals and magical beasts; Ace's mastery of beast manipulation is one such technique.

By integrating a small amount of body tissue and magic into the body of a magical beast, and then cloning it through secret techniques, a group of obedient and powerful magical beasts can be cultivated. Zonia's large group of snow wolves was created by Ace using this magic.

At this moment, thousands of snow-white wolves surrounded the Forget-Me-Not Tavern in the snow. Cana, Lucy, Loki, and Elfman, who were forced to fight passively, could only guard one direction each, waiting for Kira and the others to finish the battle and return to provide support.

"Damn it! This is never going to end!"

Although the Five Elements Formation is powerful, it will eventually run out of magic power. Faced with these endless enemies, Kana dared not try to use her magic power to activate those powerful cards that had run out of magic power.

Therefore, she went back to using the cards she used before that consumed less resources. Of course, since they were made by Kira, their strength was sufficient to deal with this situation.

On the other hand, Lucy has not yet unlocked the power of the Celestial Cloth, so she still has to rely on the Celestials in the battle.

Faced with this situation of wolves charging at her, Lucy, who was still unable to open the two doors, was struggling to cope and could only rely on Taurus of Taurus to put up a stubborn resistance.

"Come on, Talos!" Lucy encouraged from behind the wall.

"Oh my gosh!! For Miss Lucy!! Moo!"

Swish! With a shout, he swung his axe.

Despite facing numerous enemies, Talos, the muscular cow and guardian celestial spirit, is willing to fight until he falls for his beloved Miss Lucy!

boom!

Elfman, who was just recovering from serious injuries, barely managed to support himself as he received the Beast King's wrist technique that he had used for more than ten years, sending one giant wolf after another flying in front of him.

"Hmph! I'll stake my manly honor on this and I won't let you take a single step forward!"

Something seems off about this pack of wolves! They're unlike any other wolf packs we've faced before, but what exactly is different?

Although Elfman is now a muscular man, he was once a meticulous and gentle man, which is why he keenly noticed the unusual behavior of the wolf pack.

From the last direction, the ring on Rocky's hand continuously emitted flashes of light, and the wolf pack was pierced one by one by the oncoming beams of light, like roasted meat, and finally fell in rows.

"What's going on? These guys are attacking without any pattern. Don't they have a wolf alpha?"

Of the four, Rocky was probably the one with both combat experience and intelligence, so he quickly discovered what the others had not.

"If the wolf king isn't here, then who do they obey? And how do we repel them?"

Wolves are highly organized animals, often advancing and retreating according to the command of the alpha wolf. Without the leader's command, they will fight to the last wolf without retreating, unless the alpha wolf dies.

Therefore, the best way to drive away the wolf pack is to kill the wolf alpha!

"Judging from what Natsu and the others encountered yesterday, the wolf pack must be under the command of those demons!" Loki analyzed while fighting. "So they're here to rescue the demon inside! I can only hope that Kira and the others can finish off the remaining three demons as soon as possible; I can't hold on much longer!"

Who would have thought that Rocky would be the first of the four to lose his strength!

After the battles on Galna Island and in these two missions, his strength is almost exhausted, and time is indeed running out! Right now, he's only holding on to his last bit of power thanks to Kira's ring!

Another golden light flashed, and Loki gave another wry smile: "Honestly, I knew I shouldn't have come!"

……

After Kira and Erza left, only a small figure remained at the Demon Base.

Winter was left here all alone!

"Damn it! That guy! He went back without me, he must have done it on purpose!"

Winter, still sulking, ran down the stairs with his short legs, taking two steps as one.

While jumping, calculate: on a staircase with 10,000 steps, if you can jump down one or two steps at a time, how many different ways are there to jump down? And how long will it take...?

Thump! Winter's little fist slammed against the wall!

She wasn't angry because she couldn't think of many ways to jump, but because she knew the tavern and her uncle were in danger, and she wasn't there for them.

"I knew I shouldn't have come along; I wasn't really any help anyway!"

With a crack, the wall split open.

"Huh? Did I just use that much force?"

Even a mountain peak that is thousands of years old is bound to be covered in wounds after being fought by the three Destroyers of Fairy Tail. Now, after being hit by Winter's punch, it immediately collapsed and caved in!

"What happened?!" Winter's hair stood on end as he saw the cracks in the wall beside him extending down the stairs. "Could it be that their battle broke through the mountain's support?"

Before I could figure this out, the steps beneath my feet instantly shattered, revealing a massive abyss tens of meters below!