Yes, that was absolutely right—Maxwell had always been supremely confident in his own strength. To a large extent, he even looked down on "His Highness" and the old strategist they called Elder Garo.
But no matter how confident he was, facing a lineup made entirely of five-digit powerhouses or higher left him with exactly zero courage in his chest.
When people heard the name "Maxwell," most immediately thought of the great physicist—and the thought experiment known as Maxwell's Demon.
Maxwell's Demon. Schrödinger's Cat. Laplace's Demon. Zeno's Tortoise.
Collectively known as the Four Divine Beasts of Physics.
And the Maxwell standing before Ren Kuroda and the others right now was precisely that paradoxical demon whose existence science had once denied—Maxwell's Demon made manifest.
When Maxwell arrived in the corridor and confronted Ren's group, his insides were trembling so hard they might as well have liquefied. But he also knew that Rin's earlier warning had been correct.
Yes, he had been sent from above to monitor His Highness.
But if this mission failed, he would absolutely not escape punishment.
So the moment he spotted Ren and the others in the passageway, Maxwell struck without hesitation.
As one of the "Divine Beasts of Physics," Maxwell's abilities revolved around ice and fire. But the true essence of his power wasn't temperature itself—it was the energy generated from temperature differences.
Because of Salamandra's racial traits and living habits, their headquarters was situated near volcanic vents. The entire area remained in a constant state of high heat.
Yet with a casual wave of Maxwell's hand, bone-piercing frost erupted outward, sealing the entire corridor in thick layers of ice almost instantly. The scorching heat of the surroundings flipped in a heartbeat into the dead of winter.
Then, after freezing the passage solid, Maxwell invoked the power of flame.
The ground liquefied into magma.
His goal was simple: slow their advance.
Given that lineup, there was no way he would commit suicide by engaging them head-on. His mission had always been to stall.
But of course, his intention to delay was obvious—especially to Shiroyasha.
And the moment Shiroyasha realized their true objective might be the release of the sealed "Absolute Evil," she stopped holding back for the first time.
Though most of her power was sealed, and though she had received the spiritual rank of a "Yasha" from the Buddhist pantheon—leaving her with barely a fraction of her former strength—she was still an undisputed tyrant in the lower levels of Little Garden.
Otherwise, His Highness would never have chosen to act during the period when she was supposedly weakened by Pest's Gift Game.
And besides—
Could even the coldest ice truly freeze the sun?
The answer was obvious.
Though Maxwell's ability coated the entire corridor in thick, layered ice, before Shiroyasha it might as well have been nothing.
She didn't even bother attacking.
Charging forward at the very front of the formation, she unleashed her essence as a White Night Star Spirit. The blazing heat radiating from her body alone caused the frozen corridor to melt away like snow beneath spring sunlight.
Layer upon layer of heavy ice evaporated instantly, failing to hinder Ren's group by even a single step.
Maxwell hesitated.
Should he run now?
Or stay and buy more time?
Though only a four-digit Demon King, Maxwell's survival ability rivaled even the "Humanity's Final Trials." That was precisely why he had dared to stand alone before Shiroyasha and the others.
"Behold the roar of divine flame—the devouring blaze of the Greedy Wolf!Invade like fire—Fenrir!"
In that brief instant of hesitation, Ren surged forward, overtaking Shiroyasha in a single step.
Seeing Maxwell preparing to flee, Ren's hand snapped to the hilt at his waist. Without the slightest pause, he unleashed a vertical slash.
In Little Garden, anything could become a Gift—even powerful techniques.
The moment Ren's blade cleaved through the air, a wave of scorching heat rolled outward. The corridor filled with the sound of wolves howling.
Flaming wolves—cloaked in blazing fire—burst forth alongside the arc of his blade.
The molten terrain Maxwell had created to hinder their movement not only failed to slow them—it empowered them. Sharing the same attribute, the magma only made the Greedy Wolves more majestic and fearsome.
The hundred-meter corridor was carved open in an instant.
Where the blade-light passed, the ground was left charred black.
Maxwell, who had just begun to turn his back to escape, sensed danger only at the final moment—
And then a pack of massive wolves lunged at him from behind.
By the time Pest and Izayoi snapped out of their shock, they stared in disbelief.
A four-digit Demon King…
Had just been torn apart by a single slash.
Both Izayoi and Pest had fought Ren before. But because Ren had never fought with killing intent, he had mostly battled barehanded.
Now, seeing that breathtaking strike cleave Maxwell in half, they finally understood.
Ren didn't carry that blade merely because it was a spiritual-ranked weapon.
His swordsmanship itself far surpassed his other combat skills.
"Hey, aren't you hiding way too much, big guy?" Izayoi complained, staring at Ren as he calmly sheathed his blade. "When you fought me, you didn't even use half your strength, did you? That was a four-digit Demon King! Stronger than that spotted loli over there! And you just sliced him in one hit?"
Izayoi felt extremely irritated.
That persistent feeling—that he and Ren weren't that far apart—suddenly seemed like a complete illusion.
Every time Izayoi thought he had grasped the extent of Ren's strength, Ren would immediately display something even more outrageous.
It was as if he had no limit.
And despite having briefly been comrades, Izayoi suddenly realized something unsettling.
Aside from Ren's name…
They knew absolutely nothing about him.
Ren didn't respond to the teasing. Instead, his eyes remained fixed ahead.
"That guy's strength didn't match that of a four-digit Demon King," Ren said calmly. "And he's not dead."
Everyone froze.
"My slash definitely hit him. But his presence didn't disappear. It didn't even weaken. Which means after taking my 'Fenrir' head-on, the Demon King called Maxwell isn't just alive—he's completely uninjured."
"That's impossible!" Pest blurted. "I clearly saw him torn apart! Even a vampire—or any top-tier race—couldn't survive being ripped to pieces like that!"
As she spoke, she didn't miss the chance to jab at a certain newly recruited vampire.
After all, that particular vampire—together with a certain star spirit—had forcibly pinned her to the ground earlier and changed her into a shameful maid outfit under the pretense of it being a "community welcome ceremony."
The humiliation was far from forgotten.