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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Ruby
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The falling of Vampire Lord Cerphek’s head on the mountain was the signal.
A signal for the imperial army to charge towards the demon army.
The sword energy fiercely enveloping the sword of Luke, the head of the White Night Clan, shot forward.
It was a slash.
The heads of the demon army in the front were swept away into the distance.
Red sword energy bloomed on the sword of Hestia, the cat-folk swordswoman.
Bell’s sword and Hestia’s sword annihilated the demons.
“You’ve grown again, Bell.”
It was Haven’s voice.
Haven ran alongside Bell.
The siblings looked at each other.
“You’ve also crossed the wall, brother.”
Haven grinned.
“How did you know?”
Bell spoke while turning his head towards his enemies, the demons in front.
“The density is different. The density of the sword energy.”
The blue flames blooming on Bell and Haven’s swords shot forward.
Towards the densely packed demon army.
Every moment on this land was a battle line.
And in those moments of battle lines, it was mostly the imperial army side that was annihilating their opponents.
Of course, it wasn’t that there were no casualties on the imperial army’s side.
That couldn’t be the case.
“Don’t let your comrades’ deaths be in vain!”
They were only determined not to let those deaths be meaningless.
The blood of the imperial army and the demon army mingled thickly on the mountain.
Bell swung her sword endlessly.
Brigitte’s power Emperor’s Song allowed Bell to maintain her physical abilities at their limit.
She swung her entire body fiercely while wrapped in protective strong qi.
Crack!
Elbow blow.
The head of a 2nd-rank demon that took a direct hit from Bell’s elbow burst without a trace, causing brain matter to ripple like waves.
Crunch!
She struck upwards with her knee into the huge jaw of a 1st-rank demon beast in the form of a giant lizard.
And without hesitation, she swung her sword to behead the demon beast.
The demon beast’s head rolled off.
Whoosh!
The blue flame sword energy didn’t diminish at all.
Bell continued to pile up mountains of corpses endlessly.
Someone’s words kept flashing through her mind with each moment. – Bring your arms closer together.
It was the voice of her swordsmanship master, Yuma.
Clang!
She saw a black wolf countering her sword, which she swung with both hands, with its huge claws.
At a glance, it looked similar to the lycanthrope she had seen at the recent race council, but judging by its lower body that looked like a lizardman, it seemed to be a different race altogether.
“- When you enter a state of power struggle with an opponent of similar strength, you’ll have to create a variable first, right?”
The advice Yuma had given directly.
That advice, even the calm tone of the voice, flashed in her mind at the appropriate moments when it was needed.
Tap!
Bell lightly kicked the ground and threw her body backward.
And for an instant, she exploded sword light on the sword that was in contact with the creature’s arm.
“- It doesn’t matter what that variable is.”
A phenomenon like a flash grenade going off enveloped their space.
“- The enemy will be flustered. You just need to not be flustered.”
Grrragh…!
The red eyes crumpled fiercely.
In that instant, Bell’s sword drew a trajectory of intersection like lightning in an instant.
A cross-shaped slash cut through the wolf demon’s body.
The person who had passed down swordsmanship to her—.
The ideal she was looking at was far, far away.
Bell continued to extend her sword path towards that world that couldn’t be seen or even dared to be predicted.
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Demon Realm.
The strategists in charge of directing the demon realm invasion were dumbfounded.
The great devil Fraud muttered with his mouth wide open.
“…When did humans become this strong?”
From the moment the head of Vampire Lord Blark Cerphek, whose gaze they had been sharing at first, fell to the ground, they felt that something had gone seriously wrong.
Three out of the four 1st-rank demons that were scheduled to be deployed today had died.
Now only one remained.
And that one was the only one directly handled by the Demon King, equivalent to a Demigod, a semi-god class in the middle realm.
Celiel, a demon realm duke and vampire strategist, hurriedly got up.
“I’ll ask Bephalon-nim if he’s ready.”
King of All Demon Beasts Bephalon.
Bephalon was a demon king who possessed the power to completely dominate demon beasts so powerful that 2nd-rank demons would be eaten instead when trying to tame them.
“Bephalon-nim says he’s preparing to depart.”
Celiel’s hardened face relaxed a little.
If Bephalon himself took action, they could spread a more powerful calamity on the Astes Empire than all the demons they had poured out so far.
Grind—
Great Devil Fraud gritted his teeth.
“If we fail this time too, it’s as good as having no harvest on the first day of invading the middle realm.”
Celiel shook his head.
Although he agreed with Fraud’s words, he was certain that there would be a harvest this time.
A certain harvest of conquering the Astes Empire.
Divine Realm.
Malphas, the god in the form of a giant black crow, pondered while seated in his chair.
He had received reports that the demon realm invasion had begun through the evil god cult that regularly reported to him.
He wanted to fill Yuma with vain encouragement to definitely kill him, but the divine realm and demon realm were worlds that had a mutual non-aggression treaty.
Not interfering in each other’s affairs.
That was the basic framework.
Of course, there were those who deviated from this basic framework in both the divine realm and demon realm.
“No… if I interfere unnecessarily and the demon realm guys absorb too much world power using the middle realm as a sacrifice, that would be troublesome in its own way…”
The Great Demon Kings.
Those who corresponded to the core of the demon realm were beings that couldn’t leave the demon realm.
They were symbols that maintained the circulation of the demon realm itself.
Because they were the nuclei of the world.
The Great Demon Kings of the demon realm had power equal to that of a god, not just a demigod.
That too of the 1st rank.
Power comparable even to the Eight Evil Gods.
The difference between the Great Demon Kings and the gods of the divine realm was simple and clear.
The point was that the Great Demon Kings could only have that power equal to the Eight Evil Gods within the demon realm.
While the gods of the divine realm could come and go even to the demon realm, it was impossible for the Great Demon Kings to move to other worlds.
But if the demon realm completely dominated the middle realm, and if they completely devoured the world power of that middle realm, the Great Demon Kings might awaken a power capable of devoting themselves to other dimensional worlds.
If they had such power afterwards, the Great Demon Kings, who were already desperate to become gods, wouldn’t just sit still.
They would invade the divine realm and try to covet divine power too.
To become a full god.
“I wish the demon realm guys would land a powerful effective hit on him… or better yet, kill him.”
Malphas thought while recalling Yuma’s cold yet expressionless face.
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Black clouds stretched out like fog from the black gate.
The outstretched black clouds formed a shape.
The black clouds that densely filled the sky formed the shape of a black mountain goat.
A large man was riding on top of that giant mountain goat.
King of All Demon Beasts Bephalon.
Bephalon looked down at the land of the Astes Empire, his black hair fluttering thickly.
“Weak things.”
The point of those words was not directed at the humans.
It was a voice of contempt aimed at his fellow demons.
Hatred for his kindred who dared to make even him take action.
Bephalon looked down with contemptuous eyes at the scenery of the Astes Empire Bellow the 1st-rank class demon beast, the black mountain goat, he was riding.
Imperial Palace.
There were imperial troops struggling hard even at the foot of the mountain.
There were people struggling to fend off the countless monsters falling from the body of the black mountain goat.
Hestia quickly descended the mountain along with members of the Hollow Mercenary Group.
It was to quickly help those fighting desperately below.
Hestia’s body moved violently.
Now was the time to awaken her beast nature.
Rumble—!!!
This was because black tentacles fell from the entire body of the mountain goat demon beast, which was long and huge like the dense dark clouds gathered in the sky above.
There were thousands of huge tentacles.
It looked like they intended to completely sweep away not just the imperial palace, but the entire Astes Empire.
“Protect the empire!”
At the cry of Eldrie, the red tower master who was in charge of the mages in this war, they poured more power into the curtain magic that was already spread out in the sky of the imperial palace.
Among the mages who continued to pour mana into the magic circle of that dome-shaped giant hemispherical defensive barrier was Ermel, the former saint.
This was because she had achieved 3rd circle just before the demon realm invasion, qualifying as a War Mage.
She poured mana into the magic circle with all her might.
Ermel faced the other mages who were maintaining the defensive barrier magic, [Absolute Fortress], along with her.
Everyone was pouring their hearts out while wearing robes of various colors.
The barrier artifact overlapping with Absolute Fortress was also intact for now, but they had to keep maintaining the magic to block the tentacles and demon magic that were now piercing down on the empire with just that.
Crash—!!!
Even though they were blocking desperately like that, the barrier was crushed.
Absolute Fortress also had parts where gaps were crushed and pierced through.
Crash!!
A tentacle pierced through the barrier and Absolute Fortress while rotating like a drill.
And below it was the former saint Ermel.
“Ermel!!!”
Someone called her name and pounced on Ermel’s body.
The one who saved Ermel from the brink of death was the cat-folk swordswoman with crimson hair.
After saving Ermel’s life by knocking her down, Hestia immediately got up again and moved forward.
She put strong force into the tip of her right foot, then rotated her entire body.
And at the end of that rotation, she swung her sword.
Slash!
A red trajectory cut off two black tentacles.
This was a battlefield.
It was natural for war mages to always live with such dangers.
So she immediately stood on the magic circle again.
Rumble!!!!
Demon King Bephalon looked at the magic Absolute Fortress that was withstanding the attack of his subordinate, the living dark cloud, the black mountain goat Barphone.
“It seems the magicians have gathered quite some strength.”
It was pathetic.
Bephalon placed his hand on top of Barphone’s head.
The demon king’s mark on Bephalon’s forehead shone.
He had bestowed his demonic power to his subordinate Barphone.
“Break that. My servant.”
Kiiiiiiiing!!!!
The huge black horns on top of the black mountain goat Barphone’s head.
Black sparks continued to flicker at the tips of those black horns, and a black sphere condensed in the center between the two horns.
Rumble—!
Black Disaster that blows away all living things.
That fierce power gathered, tearing apart the very flow of the atmosphere.
The hemispherical defensive barrier Absolute Fortress that was perfectly surrounding the imperial palace shook.
It wasn’t just the black mountain goat in the airspace of the empire right now.
Whoosh!
Griffin, Ethan.
Yuma and Cloney were riding on top of Ethan.
They had finally pierced through the distant sea and returned to the Astes Empire.
And they saw it.
The mighty death energy condensing in the distance.
Yuma hurriedly looked at Cloney.
He had to make that attack target himself.
“Do you know a loudspeaker magic? I mean, a magic that makes my voice echo loudly?”
“Yes, yes, it’s a magic called cave resonance.”
The name’s a bit tacky.
“Cast it in front of me now.”
“Yes!”
Cloney’s right hand holding the magic wand moved busily.
A translucent vortex appeared in front of Yuma.
Yuma immediately opened his mouth.
“This is not your world, you miscreant. If you don’t want to end up like your kind that were shattered in that blue ocean, stop your antics, tuck your tail, and go back to your home.”
Yuma’s voice echoed loudly in the sky.
And those words reached Bephalon’s ears.
Bephalon’s gaze turned to Yuma, the man on top of the griffin.
“…So that’s the bastard.”
Bephalon recalled the two advisory bastards who dared to chirp advice beside him just before he departed through the gate of the demon realm.
“- He’s a human with ash-gray hair and blue eyes. That human has very powerful strength. He’s a dangerous individual.”
“- He deflects and reflects any mediocre attacks with an unidentified technique. It’s not a simple counterattack, but he reflects by overlaying an attack several times stronger than the original attack.”
“- Be careful, Demon King-nim.”
A dangerous individual.
That very phrase was a contradiction.
How could a mere human be dangerous to Bephalon, the Demon King?
‘Mediocre attacks?’
Did this attack of his subordinate, infused with his demonic power, seem like a mediocre attack?
It’s a power that could devastate an entire demon realm kingdom and still have power to spare.
‘Those young bastards are just too timid.’
Bephalon decided to change the target of his attack.
Not to [Absolute Fortress], but to that human who had lost his fear.
And he conveyed that decision to his subordinate, the black mountain goat Barphone.
Rumble!!!!
Sky.
In the sky full of clouds and fog, two men were staring at each other.
Yuma and Bephalon, each on their mounts, were aiming their gazes at each other as if by appointment.
The huge red horn in the center of the forehead among the blonde hair of Bephalon, who had black skin, stood out.
Demon King Bephalon opened his mouth.
“Regret the words you spat out as you burn in hellfire.”
Flash—
A straight beam of black demonic energy shot out from the sphere of death condensed in the center of Barphone’s huge horns on both sides.
The black beam pierced through the sky.
Like dipping a brush heavily in black paint on a pure white paper and sweeping it back forcefully.
For an instant, the segmented sky shook.
Whoosh!!!!
The griffin Ethan performed a sharp acrobatic maneuver to the right according to Yuma’s will.
Balmung’s magical power enveloped Yuma’s entire body.
It was a defensive magic that acted like protective strong qi.
The black demonic energy beam slowed down gradually.
Crack—
The center point of the demonic energy beam, which he had set as the parrying point, was on the center straight line of the beam.
The body’s balance didn’t collapse until Balmung’s blade reached that point.
Even on top of the griffin Ethan.
Clang!!!!!
Golden waves spread out.
As Bullet Time ended, the world turned black as if the power had gone out.
None of the hundreds of mages pouring magical power into the magic circle, nor the thousand knights protecting them, could guess the outcome of the match.
Because that instant that Yuma and the Demon King showed was an unreal moment as if the world would be erased.
Grin.
Only one person.
Only one person sitting on the ground was certain of the result of this battle.
“If you don’t know, you have to get hit.”
It was Ermel, the former saint and battle mage, who had watched in real-time the scene of the soul of her trusted god Incrinew being crushed in Yuma’s hand.
Rumble!!!!
The world that had darkened turned white with a thunderous roar.
And in the sky, the being that had been a demon king until just now, and the black mountain goat that had been his subordinate, were falling as formless lumps of meat, having lost their shape.
While emitting thick gray smoke.
“It’s the manifestation of a god, you demon bastards…”
All strength drained from her body.
Ermel sprawled out flat on her back.
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