Boiling lava had cooled in the seawater and, over ages of change, formed the peninsula whose outline now resembled a demon's claw.
Several figures stood silently on the northern cliffs of Demon Island.
A hideous Demon Warlord and a beautiful Incubus stood behind a towering "woman" at the cape—if female features were enough to call her a woman.
Her upper body resembled a woman's torso sculpted by a Dark Elf. Her face was cold yet alluring, and a spiral-ridged demon horn jutted diagonally from her forehead. Thick blue-green keratin covered her skin, with blood-red veins like cracks in lava spreading across its surface.
Below the waist, her body extended into that of a giant python covered in dark green scales whose edges gleamed like cold metal. Four arms emerged from her shoulder blades and ribs; together with her original pair, she had six.
Counting her tail, she reached five meters in length. Even standing normally, she rose more than three meters tall.
A Six-Armed Snake Demon was a born demon commander. On the lists humans loved making to rank every kind of creature, the species placed among the top three smartest in the Abyss.
Among demons—chaotic, profane creatures ruled by the Abyss and their desires—the Six-Armed Snake Demon was one of the few whose intelligence could rival a devil's.
This Six-Armed Snake Demon was watching the battle between humans and Ratfolk on the distant coastline.
Flickers that looked almost like magic flashed now and then across the magic-suppressed tundra. Then a mushroom cloud suddenly lit up the north like an aurora and slowly rose.
"What an interesting weapon..." The Six-Armed Snake Demon sounded intrigued.
Its power rivaled some High-Circle Spells. How had those humans done it?
Then something flew out of the human lines.
The Incubus behind her cried out,