I was a Nerfed Hero in Another World

"We cannot fight them like this, Arthur," Meliodas asked, while glaring at the demonic figures. "If we only focus on defending and not attacking them, we would lose this battle. Someone might get hurt, especially the little girl."

"Currently on it, Meliodas. I just don't know how to knock them out without hurting the two demonic beasts," I answered.

Our team cannot harm the demonic boy and the dog, considering that the little girl treated them as their family. And since cutting off their legs would pose a problem, we had no other choice but to tickle our enemies.

However, that method would help us win this fight. We needed to do something before this situation could get worse, just like Meliodas mentioned.

After thinking for a few seconds, I finally came up with an idea. However, this plan of mine had some risk shared with it, considering that it would involve Merleen's powers.

"Merleen! Can you create a barrier surrounding the dog?" I asked. "And can you still shield the girl while you're conjuring one over here?"

"Yes. I am on it!" Merleen answered, without doubting my plan. "And it's fine, Arthur! I can't protect both this girl and project a shield at the dog!"

Although she flashed me a confusing look before heeding my instructions. The order I gave to Merleen was a difficult one, considering that she needed to focus on two things at the same time. Using light magic also consumed a lot of mana, which would risk her from fainting on the battlefield.

Luckily, Merleen also knew that possibility. Without even telling her the risk, Merleen planned on telling her circumstances if she ever felt something funny inside of her body.

Merleen immediately stood from the ground and concentrated her magic on her palms. After a few seconds, magic circles appeared on her hands, which eventually shot a beam of light towards the dog. Fortunately, the light did not attack the dog but covered it with a yellowish luminance.

Within a few seconds, the brilliant light enveloped the dog enough to trap it inside.

It was my goal from the very start. Since Merleen's light could obstruct any elements, except dark energy, using it as a cage would work well for this situation. And if it didn't, it was always safe to try out new things while using our spells.

This feature was not available in the actual game. Since we would only use our mouse, screens, or phones as our devices, mixing spells to create another ability was not something we could do. It was a job that the developers could manipulate, considering that they handled the game.

But now that the game became my reality, making the spell something entirely different was something I could abuse to our advantage.

Thanks to the shield Merleen created, the dog got trapped inside that cage. Even though the animal had demonic powers, those buffs were not enough to destroy the shield. If I had to guess it right, abilities needed at least a million statistical power to destroy that light shield. I was the only player who achieved that number, which made me nearly the god of this game.

And I doubted that would happen in this world, too, since all the people we met were around less than one hundred thousand statistical power. However, Meliodas, who only had around ten thousand statistical power, could become a powerful enemy. He was the living proof that numbers were nothing compared to an overpowered ability.

"Now, we focus on the boy! Fenrir! I need you to lock him down so I can stun him!" I ordered, while dashing straight at the demonic kid.

Fenrir followed my lead and went straight at the demonic boy. She locked his arms at the back, revealing the boy's vulnerable head for me. Meliodas also strummed his string, boosting my movement speed and accuracy. He had the power to do that as long as Meliodas was at the back watching the scenes.

As soon as I reached the demonic boy, I used the pommel of my sword and slammed it against the kid's legs. If I weaken the balance of this demonic boy, he won't have any chance of running away. I still had my potion with me in case something terrible happened. But I would only use it if that demonic beast would self-destruct before me.

Self-destructing was an ability that the demonic aura could use if it felt threatened. If the demonic creature realised it cannot stay alive any longer, that aura would self-destruct, forcing the host to explode alongside the demonic parasite. However, that thought would not be possible. Few demonic auras could only perform this skill since it was a unique one from the demons.

But despite its rarity, our team still had to keep an eye on that to happen. I was the only one who knew this ability, since telling my team about it while fighting against these beasts would eat up our time. And since these beasts still showed no signs of exploding, I kept the information to myself for the time being.

Fortunately, that never happened. We still had time to release the demonic spirit from the innocent kid and the dog.

After disrupting the kid's balance, I jumped from the ground and finally gave the ultimate blow. Within a few seconds, I whacked the pommel of my sword against the demonic boy's head, while praying it won't deal any brain damage. I saw some series that made the person ill after getting a trauma on the head.

I just hoped that won't happen to this kid who got himself into this problem.

Lucky for us, after crashing my weapon against the demonic kid, the aura fled from him, leaving the child alone. When the deadly spirit left the kid, I immediately caught his body and gingerly placed him on the grass.

The boy slept like an angel despite the fight we had earlier. That demonic aura amplified the arcane from the boy, which gave him superb powers and mana. Since this kid had bulky muscles when he transformed into a demonic beast, I could only guess that he was a son of a knight around this place.

"Now we only need to-."

Before I could even finish my sentence, the feral dog made a blaring growl. That sound almost defeated our eyes as if it were not for the golden cage Merleen made for the pet. After a few moments, the dog's eyes turned black, hinting that it unlocked power of some sort. As I studied the magic circles forming around its body, I turned around and shouted at Merlene.

"MERLEEN, RELEASE THE SHIELD, NOW!"

As luck would have it, Merleen deactivated the shield from the dog before it could release a shockwave enough to push us back. That blast had dark energy mixed with it, which pressed all of our bodies on the ground.

Merleen and I were the only ones who could control our bodies even after the dog surrounded the place with a dark spell. That demonic aura hiding inside the dog turned into a sinister being, which made the occurrence into demonic possession.

If we had to compare the strength of the two, this demonic dog had numbers around one hundred thousand statistical power. It was three times stronger than Fenrir, especially with that dark energy revolving around the demonic dog.

We could still save the pet. However, it would take a toll on our bodies if we planned on fighting that possessed dog without killing it. And the only way to stop the mad hound is if I use the dark energy inside my body.

"I think we need to kill this dog right now before it could kill us," Meliodas suggested, as he clipped his harp tighter in his hands."

But the little girl heard his words and retorted, "No! Please spare Krypto... He's a family to me….. My father's going to be sad if you kill Krypto."

After hearing the girl's request, no man could ever kill the pet dog. I did not have any pets from my previous life. But those damn dogs were still fun to watch on the internet.

"Don't worry. We'll spare your dog... I promise…," I answered, and nodded at the girl.

Using the same tactic as we did with the boy would definitely not work against this dog. Since there was a dark aura covering its body, our team also had to use obsidian energy.

I could not clash against that dog all by myself, despite cladding Clarent with my darkish power. I was too weak to face that monster alone, even though I activated my sword's ability. Although my will amplified my prowess, that power would not be enough to knock that dog out.

We needed bigger firepower if our team planned on saving the dog.

"Fenrir, I will cover your claws with dark magic. I believe you're the only one who could stop this dog from going berserk," I confessed, while preparing the spell. "I need a minute to prepare this spell. Until then, Merleen, protect all of us with your light!"