Rumble!
Adnan and Bodmir tensed up as they gazed at the pure white demonkind before them.
Even amid the blizzard fierce enough to freeze everything around them, cold sweat trickled down their backs from the sheer tension.
The pure white demonkind glanced over at them.
[Foolish mortals of the Phenomenal World.]
It wasn't a voice but a direct transmission of intent through mana that resounded in their minds.
At that moment, King's Fist snorted roughly as he stared at his comrade frozen into a block of ice.
Sensing the threatening presence emanating from the high-rank demonkind, he hadn't charged in immediately, but he looked ready to swing his hammer at any second.
Their minds rang again.
[I am Arzidum, a noble demonkind of the Demon Realm who has sworn loyalty to the
First Princess of the Demon Realm, Elizaveta.]
As a subordinate of Elizaveta and a noble of the Demon Realm, Arzidum exuded a completely different aura from ordinary demonkind.
Even Adnan, a seasoned Highlander, couldn't spot a single opening in Arzidum as he simply stood there.
Arzidum's voice echoed in their minds once more.
[Mortals of the Phenomenal World, I shall convey a message from Lady Elizaveta.]
Whoooosh—
The cold blizzard intensified.
[My benevolent master has decreed that if you hand over the Third Princess of the Demon Realm, Anastasia, and offer a thousand sacrifices, she will graciously allow your wretched lives to continue.]
Elizaveta's goal was Anastasia, the Third Princess of the Demon Realm.
After rescuing Anastasia, she planned to claim as compensation the authority and mobile fortress that Anastasia had received from her father, the Archdemon Grand Duke.
The Second Princess of the Demon Realm, Yekaterina, had also responded to a summoning from the Phenomenal World and invaded Mycenae for the same purpose.
And Elizaveta, well-versed in Demon Realm magic, could more easily bring her highrank demonkind subordinates into the Phenomenal World than Yekaterina could.
For now, Elizaveta held the advantage in their rivalry.
Arzidum was a loyal noble who enjoyed Elizaveta's particular trust among her demonkind subordinates.
With an arrogant expression, he spoke again.
[One of you may enter the castle to convey the princess's mercy.]
At Arzidum's words, King's Fist, standing behind him, could no longer hold back and stepped forward.
"I'll kill that bastard!"
King's Fist spun the hammer in his hand before hurling it toward the airborne Arzidum.
Whoooosh!
The heavy hammer gained speed from King's Fist's strength and hurtled toward Arzidum.
Its power alone rivaled that of a trebuchet.
But Arzidum, a noble of the Demon Realm, wasn't shaken by such an attack.
He elegantly gestured with his staff, and astonishingly, a shield of ice in the shape of snowflakes formed in front of him.
Crunch!
The hammer thrown by King's Fist crashed into the shield and failed to reach Arzidum.
But King's Fist didn't give up.
He began hurling the scattered remains of the ice golems at Arzidum.
Whoooosh!
Sharp chunks of ice rocketed toward Arzidum.
The other barbarians nearby followed King's Fist's lead and started launching ice boulders as well.
Arzidum, who had initially blocked them with graceful movements, grew flustered as dozens of powerfully thrown ice boulders came flying at him.
Rumble!
He expanded his shield to block the ice boulders the barbarians had thrown, furrowing his brow.
[The pathetic struggles of these foolish, filthy mortals are utterly laughable.]
Just as he had said, he decided to freeze them all, leaving only one to convey Elizaveta's message.
Arzidum raised his staff toward them.
Whoooong!
White light gathered at the tip of the staff once more.
Seeing this, Adnan shouted.
"Everyone, get out of the way!"
At the same moment, the white light poured toward them.
Whiiiish!
Along with the white light, massive pillars of ice surged up.
Adnan's group tried to evade, but Arzidum's magic relentlessly pursued them.
But then— Rumble!
Sharp bone walls erupted from the ground.
Crunch!
The bone walls struck by Arzidum's light transformed into jagged ice barriers.
Adnan recognized the suddenly grown bone walls.
'This? It's the magic used by the lich that Sir Zeke commanded.' Crunch!
Something began bursting from the ground.
Clack, clack!
Unlike ordinary skeletons, these were dragoons entirely purple, with hellfire flickering in their eye sockets.
Thud!
A dullahan clutching its own head led the dragoon unit, glaring at Arzidum.
Graaah!
As the dullahan roared, the dragoons raised their swords, summoning dark power.
Rumble!
Black flames infused with ominous energy coiled around the dragoons' swords, and they unleashed them toward Arzidum.
Boom, boom, boom!
Caught off guard by the sudden Demon Realm flames hurtling toward him, Arzidum had no choice but to falter.
[Urk!]
Arzidum retreated while erecting another barrier.
But the dragoons' flames pierced even his barrier.
The dragoons summoned by Richmond spewed the hellfire of Gehenna, the northern region of the Demon Realm, which was on an entirely different level from ordinary Phenomenal World fire.
Arzidum cried out as he regarded the dullahan and skeleton dragoons.
[This is Gehenna's fire! Whose subordinates are you? To dare invade Pandemonium's domain—it's a clear violation of the treaty!]
Though he shouted with dignity, Arzidum panicked under the relentless hellfire barrage.
That's when Richmond appeared to Adnan's group.
Crunch!
Bone walls sprang up around them, shielding Adnan's group.
Richmond approached them and said,
"Whew, what a blizzard in this season. Is everyone all right?"
Adnan urgently asked Richmond,
"Where is Sir Zeke? The situation is dire."
Richmond nodded and replied,
"The master went to handle the most urgent matter first." Adnan was startled by Richmond's words.
"The most urgent? What could be more urgent than here..."
But then— Boom, boom, boom!
A massive explosion echoed from afar.
Rumble!
Incredibly, the Demon Realm gate hovering in the sky was crumbling.
Adnan, Bodmir, and the barbarians looked up in shock, their mouths agape.
'Closing that massive gate single-handedly...'
Adnan realized that Zeke had become a transcendent being on the level of the High Table.
Richmond, too, gazed at the sky in admiration.
"Whoa, our master sure knows how to make a splash."
He instructed the skeletons to tend to the frozen barbarians and said,
"The master said to get everyone inside the castle quickly. I'll clear the path, so follow me."
As Richmond swung his hand, a bone wall extended straight to the castle.
Adnan, experienced with many necromancers, had never seen anyone handle bones as naturally as Richmond.
'Is it because he's a lich? No... even then, that's an impressive mastery.' While Adnan marveled, Richmond urgently gestured to the group.
"No time! Let's go!"
Urged on, the group dashed along the inside of the bone wall toward the castle under Richmond's lead.
Boom, boom, boom!
Realizing the situation, Arzidum launched ice magic at the bone wall.
Richmond grumbled as he watched.
"Geez, such a pain."
He cast a spell, and small bones detached from the wall, floating into the air and firing toward the airborne Arzidum.
Rat-tat-tat—
Hundreds of sharp bone fragments hurtled at Arzidum.
Caught by the sudden assault, Arzidum faltered.
Pew, pew, pew—
Though his barrier deflected most, some fragments grazed him, wounding his pure white skin.
Blue blood trickled as Arzidum gritted his teeth.
[You insignificant vermin dare...]
Rumble!
Enraged, Arzidum unleashed his mana to its maximum.
Boom, boom, boom!
A colossal iceberg formed above his head.
The mountain-sized iceberg was large enough to crush Adnan's group in one blow.
Seeing this, Richmond shouted,
"Hurry! Get going!"
They raced up the bone stairs Richmond had created to the ramparts.
"Hah!"
Adnan and Bodmir reached the ramparts first, followed by King's Fist and the other barbarians.
Adnan, arriving first, quickly composed himself and looked out from the outer ramparts.
The overwhelming iceberg was plummeting toward them.
'The ramparts will collapse.'
But at that instant—
Rooaaar—
The Tyrant appeared behind the outer ramparts and charged at the iceberg with full force.
Boom, boom, boom!
Pushed by the Tyrant, the iceberg veered away from the ramparts toward the opposite side.
Rooaaar!
The Tyrant roared, soaring into the sky before diving horn-first at the iceberg.
Boom, boom, boom!
The massive iceberg shattered, its debris raining down on the monsters below.
Crunch!
The cascading ice boulders swept through the monsters, completely blocking the path to the south gate.
The monsters behind could no longer advance.
Then, gliding through the air, the Tyrant unleashed flames toward the monsters below.
Boom, boom, boom!
Trapped with no way forward, the monsters had no choice but to endure the Tyrant's inferno.
Watching from above, Arzidum stared in disbelief.
[H-How is this...]
The iceberg he had summoned was on the verge of annihilating his own forces.
He raised his staff again, aiming to freeze the flame-spewing Tyrant.
But then—
"So, you're a subordinate of the First Princess of the Demon Realm, Elizaveta." Arzidum flinched at the sudden voice from behind.
As a high-rank demonkind, his senses far surpassed those of humans.
Yet someone had slipped past them.
Realizing too late, he felt a sharp intent piercing his skin and an overwhelming sovereign pressure that nearly stopped his breath.
Arzidum slowly turned his head.
Zeke, mounted on Bucephalus, looked down at him.
Meeting Zeke's gaze, Arzidum broke into a cold sweat, his body trembling uncontrollably.
Zeke spoke to him.
"Guide me to your master."
*
Tap, tap.
A black-robed mage hurried down a long corridor.
At the corridor's end stood a door guarded by knights disguised in casual attire.
Their auras alone marked them as far from ordinary.
The robed mage tensed at the sight of the knights.
'Draker knights.'
The relentless and strongest knights on the continent were the natural enemies of mages.
The mage swallowed hard, bowed his head, and entered as the knights opened the door.
Inside, seeing the one waiting made him even more tense.
'Baron Draker.'
Seated at the table was the Black Stage captain of Draker, the man who led the continent's most fearsome intelligence organization.
The mage bowed to Baron.
"B-Baron. It's an honor to meet you."
Baron said nothing in response to the mage's greeting.
Instead, as he fixed his gaze—
"Cough!"
The mage suddenly writhed, his eyes rolling back.
Crunch—
An ominous aura unlike before emanated from the ordinary mage's body.
Only then did Baron speak.
"Pleased to meet you. High Priest—or should I say, Doctor West?"
Harvey West, the High Priest of Narak, had possessed the mage's body and appeared before Baron.
The High Priest spoke in a sinister tone.
[...Baron, do you intend to break the treaty?]
"The treaty? Didn't that shatter the moment your side joined hands with Ramon Siemens to summon the Fell God?"
The High Priest of Narak and Baron Draker of the Black Stage.
They conversed as if they had known each other for some time.
At Baron's words, the High Priest replied irritably.
[And you have the gall to say that after destroying Abel Draker, our vessel.]
Rumble—
The air in the room shifted in an instant.
Dark energy surged, poised to swallow Baron whole.
Yet Baron's expression remained unchanged.
He addressed the High Priest.
"I've found a better vessel than Abel."
The High Priest, using the gathered darkness to threaten Baron, said,
"A better vessel? You don't mean Zeke Draker, do you?"
Zeke possessed immortal power and was essentially the only remaining vessel in the Phenomenal World.
But Baron shook his head.
"Not Zeke Draker."
Baron looked at the High Priest and continued slowly.
"What if Arthur Draker becomes the vessel for the Demon King?"