"What a savage and cruel creature! Why not accept the gift of the abyss?" Kalande swung his weapon, engaging in a brutal battle with Porolo before him.
"Come, accept the gift of the abyss, and plunge into an eternal battle in the astral realm."
The two enormous monsters collided, clashing inexorably.
Crimson blood and gray lightning raged around them, even dents and cracks began to appear on the city wall beneath them.
The bloody battle between them awakened the fury of many demons.
For a moment, the demons' strength increased dramatically.
Three hidden figures slowly approached them, but kept their distance to avoid detection.
While the combination of Ankh treasures can render a person almost completely invisible, undetectable to higher-level beings,
But nothing is perfect. The reason this type of invisibility is used for reconnaissance is because, while completely invisible, it has a physical form.
At this moment, although Pororo was completely absorbed in the battle unfolding before him, at least he hadn't completely lost his mind.
The brutal and ferocious battle caused the aura of the abyss to swirl around him, trying to pull Pororo into the abyss.
Pororo still maintained his composure. He knew that with the current intensity of the battle, Alka and the others were likely already waiting somewhere nearby, biding their time.
He needed to create the perfect opportunity.
And now he looked at the demon before him.
Kalanda's entire body was shrouded in steam; the demon resembled a boiled shrimp.
A blood-red aura, the thick aura of the abyss, and the pungent smell of blood surrounded him. The demon had completely lost his mind, his sanity almost completely gone, all he could do was fight and kill.
He continued to defend himself, almost abandoning his attack, searching for weak spots.
Pororo seized the opportunity, his thin hammer-like tail swung directly behind him, striking the demon in the armpit. Then, spinning and jumping, he delivered a kick, pierced by powerful lightning, to the back of the demon's head.
A long-range attack, a powerful downward pressure.
Pororo's shattered outer armor unleashed an even more monstrous force. Metal armor covered almost his entire body, making him resemble a gigantic war beast clad in heavy armor.
Pororo instantly exerted pressure on Kalanda from all sides.
"Roar!"
A stream of gray lightning thundered down with a roar.
Leaving no room to maneuver.
In this momentary burst of anger, Kalande found herself at a disadvantage.
Sensing this brief opportunity,
The three people hiding nearby immediately sprang into action.
Keparo stretched out his arms, grasping at the air. A strange force took the form of a translucent square, forming around Kalande.
He instantly realized something was wrong. The thrill of battle died down, his mind began to cool. Space began to crack, and he tried to escape.
At that moment, Alka increased his power to the seventh stage of the dream realm, and a torrent of furious energy erupted from his body.
The silver coin was launched into the air, unnoticed by anyone, and it began to spin endlessly.
At the moment his power reached the seventh stage, Alka snatched the coin out of the air.
At the same moment, gray lightning and a blazing red flash struck.
The two combined forces instantly struck Kalande's vital organs, disrupting his spatial control at a crucial moment and preventing him from escaping.
His once-high chance of escaping through space vanished instantly.
Alka could have pinned him in place, disrupting the spatial suction, but that wouldn't have worked now, as it would have prevented Qeparo from being completely sealed off.
A precise strike at Kalande's unfortunate position completely deprived her of any chance of escape.
The energies of several elements instantly collided, throwing Kalande back.
The restraint's strength was almost perfect: when he returned, Kalande was frozen in place, like a statue.
Under these circumstances, he couldn't even move his eyes, slumped against the city wall like a lifelike statue.
A large number of demons began to gather.
Seizing the opportunity, Sofia and the others immediately abandoned their opponents and quickly moved toward the surrounding area.
Alka appeared next to Kalanda, and at that moment, clouds and broken lenses began to invade Kalanda's body, attempting to seal her.
This was the most powerful demon Alka had attempted to seal. It still retained the ability to dream, even having reached the seventh stage.
This would have been a significant aid.
Sophia and the others intercepted the demon from the periphery.
Alka was responsible for sealing it.
Thanks to the powerful strength of Sofia and the others, the demon was gradually repelled, and Kalanda became a victim of this war.
Before the eyes of the crowd, it was sealed within a mirror card and fell into Alka's hands.
Their goal had been achieved.
The demons, leaving behind a large number of corpses, began to slowly retreat.
Today's offensive was much less intense than usual.
Treating the wounded, collecting the bodies of comrades, cleaning up and disposing of the demons' bodies.
It seemed as if the entire battlefield was in chaos.
Order.
"Thank you for your help." Alka, Kopalo, and Anka hugged, thanking each other for their assistance.
After all, they had been watching Kalanda for months, waiting for the right opportunity.
"No, I should be grateful for such a reward for such help," Kopalo said with a smile.
After exchanging a few words, everyone dispersed. Alka and the others quickly returned to their hut to rest.
After washing the blood and traces from the bodies and sitting down at the table, Alka placed a mirror on it.
Everyone looked around.
In the mirror space, they saw Kalanda sitting in the corner, lost in thought.
He seemed to be thinking about how to break the seal, but he wasn't as reckless and frantic as he had been on the battlefield.
"He won't come out?" Jason couldn't help but ask, watching the scene unfold.
Hearing this, Alka smiled and nodded. "They might come out, but only if I'm seriously injured or my magical power is almost completely depleted."
Alka's confidence in her seal stems from the fact that it isn't tied exclusively to the mirror. It's almost entirely connected to the dream world, with the mirror serving only as a medium.
Thanks to its connection to dreams, the mirror can temporarily connect with dreams, bridging the vast barrier between reality and dreams.
Therefore, the true location of where these demons are sealed is actually in the dream realm.
To escape, they would have to demonstrate incredible strength even in their dreams.
Or, if Alka were to suffer an accident, even if the mirror's surface could no longer be maintained, a flaw would naturally appear and release them.
Therefore, Alka rarely holds demons for long periods of time and seals them primarily for temporary confinement.
After all, it was just a quick way to seal the demon in the heat of battle and drag it into slumber.
It served merely as a transit point.
If not for the intense battle, Alka would have had enough time to drag the demon straight into slumber, without even needing to fully seal and kill it.
"Now that we've achieved our goal, should we leave or stay a little longer?" Sofia asked, standing behind Alka's chair.
The others also looked at Alka, awaiting his decision.
Since there was no particular basis for any assumptions in this decision, staying for a while was fine, and leaving now wasn't a problem either.
Alka tapped the table, rested his head, and considered.
First, this extremely low-intensity offensive had been going on for a long time.
For over a year now.
Repeated investigations during this period essentially confirmed that the demons were indeed understaffed.
Furthermore, shrinking rifts lead to a decline in the demons' overall strength.
In fact, under certain circumstances, demons do shrink their territory.
This is a completely unrealistic situation.
Now the question remains, as stated earlier: should the Demonic Wall be expanded?
This is a crucial decision.
They can be roughly divided into three camps.
The conservative camp maintains the Demonic Wall in its current state.
The Demonic Wall has remained in its current state for over a hundred years.
This is also the longest period of maintenance in nearly a thousand years of fighting demons.
After many years of repairs and improvements, the Demonic Wall has almost reached perfect condition. Further expansion would require extensive reconstruction, potentially introducing hidden dangers.
These hidden dangers were gradually eliminated after significant losses.
The radicals naturally believed that reducing the demons' territory and weakening their defensive line would allow them to concentrate more troops in more areas, rather than scattering them across the entire Magic Wall.
Reducing the size of the entire Magic Wall would eliminate countless unnecessary defensive nodes, a faction they could easily imagine.
As for the disadvantages, they could naturally be tolerated in exchange for increasing the number of defenders, and such an opportunity rarely arose.
Who knew what level the demons attacking them were at? What if they were rapidly increasing their forces?
By then, hoping for such a good opportunity would be too late.
There was also a neutral faction.
They adhered to the principle of gradual advancement, requiring a full understanding of the battlefield before deciding whether to attack.
Because this was most likely a demonic conspiracy.
Previously, the conservatives and neutrals had the upper hand, but now the balance had shifted.
This happened because many neutrals had defected to the radicals.
However, this had nothing to do with Ake and the others yet. After all, they were merely volunteers who had come to defend.
The true leader of the entire defense was a council made up of representatives from all factions.
The leading group was the Church of the Four Gods.
"I'll talk to them. We'll have to wait a few more minutes."
"About a few days. Once those who were vacationing return, we can naturally leave," Aka said after a moment's thought.
Over time, some of the vacationers began to return.
Aka and the others could leave without affecting the battle formation. Having sorted out these matters and said goodbye to those they had met over the past two years, they headed back to the City of Return.
Having reached the sixth stage of power, Aka had already spent almost two years in the Demon-Resistant Fortress.
Jason and the others had been there only a few months shorter than him, while Sophia and the others had been there for exactly a year.
The journey was smooth and unhindered, and they soon arrived in the City of Return.
Looking from afar at this newly built city, only a few years old, it's difficult to place it in time.
Because the City of Return has now become a prominent city on the map.
Thanks to the terrain chosen by Alka and his companions, and the efforts of the Vastva people to build roads leading to two safe avenues on either side,
This led to it becoming a central recreational point.
It also became the largest city in the entire world between the southern wall of Skara and the port city.
The distance from the wall to the port is quite long, typically taking half a month.
As a result, soldiers on short leave primarily come to this city for a short rest.
Thanks to its geographical location, the city expanded incredibly rapidly in just a few years. Combined with the magic of the Vastva people and the mechanical technologies they later developed in a magic-free environment, the city underwent transformation.
Construction of various buildings proceeded with extraordinary speed, facilitated by Alka Stonehoof's clan. A grayish-white stone wall, approximately seven to eight meters high, towered before them. Along the top edge of the wall ran a row of metal fences, two to three meters high. Flashes of lightning from above indicated that the metal fence was an electric grid with nodes resembling metal towers.
The arch clearly sensed the element of lightning emanating from the tower's metal nodes. This must have been the lightning protection ring they had learned about when they left.
Each node could absorb a large amount of lightning, causing devastating attacks over long distances.
This device was primarily used to combat the mutated demonic flying creatures in the surrounding area.
Fire slits were also visible at the top of the wall.
It resembled a fortress.
This type of construction suggests that the people of Vastiva had planned the entire size of their city in advance.
They had long ago decided not to expand their city.
A stream of columns and people.
After all, the relief at the front gave the soldiers more time to rest.
Alka hadn't been here for two years and looked around as he walked.
At the entrance to the city stood two massive, humanoid black suits of armor, four and five meters tall.
Alka looked around and saw that some of the Vastva had already reached the third stage of strength.
If you think about it, it seems like many years have passed since Alka inspired them.
It seemed some of them should have reached the third stage of strength.
Combined with their weapons, the armor was more than sufficient to ensure the safety of the City of Return.
As Alka and his companions followed the crowd, the guards standing guard did not notice their return.
"It looks like they've revived their old architectural style," Alka said with a smile, seeing the buildings at the entrance to the city.
They had seen these architectural styles before—in the ruins of the Broken Isles and in some of the frescoes.
They had a unique flavor. Returning to the city, everyone dispersed, having been gone for so long.
Alka headed alone to their resting place and arrived at the small estate where they were staying.
The estate was now surrounded by various buildings, but it was well preserved.
A guard in battle armor stood at the estate gate.
The voice of one of the armored soldiers rang out, watching Alka approach.
"Lord Alka?"
Alka nodded. "Thank you for your hard work."
Alka recognized him; the soldier must have been inspired by his own mirror.
The armored soldier stepped aside and opened the gate himself. "Welcome home."
Hearing this, Alka smiled.
After speaking with the soldier for a few minutes, they returned to the estate.
Although this place had been uninhabited for a long time, there wasn't a speck of dust here, clearly someone had cleaned it regularly.
Sitting on the couch, Alka immersed herself completely in it.
Sighing with relief, Alka paused for a moment before reaching out, and a map appeared in his hand. He unfolded it.
Initially, this map was unusable, but it was updated in real time.
For example, where there had once been a golden point of light, a small landmark was now depicted, representing the City of Return.
Otherwise, this map would be obsolete.
Looking at the single remaining orange dot of light among the sea of dots on the map, representing a Scepter-level treasure,
Clicked.
[Cursed Blade]
[Difficulty Level: The One Who Granted My Wish]
[Notability: 67,000]
[Artifact Information: The 16th Commander-in-Chief of the Saralan Empire, a young general, possessed this artifact. Because of this artifact, he was also known as the General of the Cursed Blade.
This artifact was lost by his descendant, the last commander, during the war to protect the country from demons.
The artifact, along with his body and the souls of numerous demons, was sealed in a secret location.
During this battle, Assassin Kaland attacked the Cursed Blade clan and killed all remaining family members.
Take Kaland's head, and the Cursed Blade will be your reward.
Capture Kaland alive and kill him with the Cursed Blade, and you will receive a fully activated Cursed Blade.
This artifact can pierce the soul, bind the body, tear apart all forms, and separate the soul from the flesh. ](Perfect)