Sousou no Frieren

[MFauli]

I wonder how strong the demon king was, because so far all demons were total pushovers, even the high-up group we met.

As for the water-earth fight, I just find it silly how the earth guy kept acting superior, but none of his attacks ever connected their target. Although that is a problem with stories in general: A supposedly stronger opponent attacking, but never hitting, ultimately making the "weaker" fighter just as capable, because if you cannot land your attacks, you're not strong actually.

[Ryllharu]

I wonder how strong the demon king was, because so far all demons were total pushovers, even the high-up group we met.

The demons are not pushovers at all. No idea where your revisionist history makes that shit up. Frieren is astonishingly powerful. Fern is one of the strongest mages in the exam right behind Frieren because both of whom taught her magic. Our frame of reference concerns the two strongest mages to have ever lived and the apprentice to the one still living.

Aura was only defeatable by Frieren, who spent 80 years prepping to deceive Aura. Literally no one else would ever have been able to defeat her, because Aura would have run or used her zombie army to defeat anyone she couldn't command with her scales.

Qual is someone Frieren sealed away because she couldn't beat him either. He was extremely intelligent at combat magic and again, according to Frieren, would have worked out a new countermeasure in minutes if the duo hadn't one-shotted him when they released his seal. The side effect was that Frieren spent 50 years seeding humanity with the means to kill demons more effectively by stealing and refining Qual's techniques.

Draht (garrote guy) was someone who could have easily killed Fern or Stark. Frieren first showed off why she deceives demons to make them drop their guard. Frieren won because she has 500 years of experience (before her break) and never lets her guard down near demons.

The unnamed demon that Frieren defeated when Flamme found her slaughtered her entire village and was only challenged by an exceptionally strong mage in Frieren.

Putting numerous other examples aside. Demonkind has been mentioned to have a strict hierarchy and they do NOT hide their mana from each other. The Demon Lord was literally stronger than any other demon in existence, or he wouldn't have been the demon lord. Plain and simple.

As for the water-earth fight, I just find it silly how the earth guy kept acting superior, but none of his attacks ever connected their target. Although that is a problem with stories in general: A supposedly stronger opponent attacking, but never hitting, ultimately making the "weaker" fighter just as capable, because if you cannot land your attacks, you're not strong actually.

Richter's magic, by necessity, is literally and figuratively telegraphed every attack, except for the one time he got serious and sent a spike from underneath their barrier, which hurt them both pretty bad.

In contrast, Lawine's ice attacks just happen from wet ground, or bursts. Very easy to catch opponents unaware if the conditions are right. She only telegraphs the ice needles. Kanne is similar when she has water. It just appears.

Fern's zoltraaks aren't telegraphed. Frieren's aren't either. That's exactly why they work the way they do. Ubel is the same way, her slices appear out of nowhere, which makes her attacks so unnerving and demon-esque.