NOVEL NEXT Chapter 166
Chapter 166: The Demon King’s Army
The Demon King was excited at the thought that there was someone among humans who could rival him.
Yet, he never truly believed that anyone could defeat him.
Even though he had crossed the wall, the years he had lived through were far too relentless for him to fall to someone still inexperienced.
However, there were always monsters out there that surpassed even geniuses.
Rustle!
– A rare ability indeed.
I felt it the first time I saw him; Glen’s abilities were exceptional.
Even within the Master Class, his swordsmanship possessed enough power to disturb space itself, and now that he had crossed the wall, he was tearing apart space entirely.
– At least when it comes to concentrating strength, he may surpass me?
The Demon King frowned, acknowledging the difference between Glen and himself.
Not being able to use even half of his strength, nor wasting it unnecessarily, was no excuse.
– Not bad, but… I still have the upper hand.
Even at this moment, when he couldn’t use half his strength, the Demon King was still vastly superior to Glen.
The proof was in the way he adjusted his attacks after witnessing Glen’s strike that even split the very fabric of space.
The Demon King was overwhelming in every aspect; however, Glen’s swordsmanship compressed strength to an extreme pinpoint, slicing through the Demon King’s power completely.
So, all he had to do was launch countless attacks without compressing his strength into that one point.
– It doesn’t seem like distributing power for that space-slicing strike will be easy… How do you plan to block it?
In response to the Demon King’s question, Glen turned to look behind him.
There stood the Masters beside him.
“I’m not planning to fight alone.”
From the start, Glen never intended to face the Demon King by himself.
Kariel had warned him that the Demon King’s power would exceed what anyone could imagine.
Thus, even if Glen surpassed the wall, he must never be allowed to fight alone.
The important thing was to tie the Demon King’s feet down.
For Kariel, who always prepared for the worst-case scenario, it was a success just to survive if the Demon King came with more than half his power.
– Boring.
The Demon King was losing interest upon seeing Glen adopting a defensively-minded approach rather than actively attacking.
However, he couldn’t fight like before.
The moment he showed even the slightest opening, Glen’s blade that sliced through space would target his throat.
– This is getting annoying.
Joined together with the forces of the Giant’s Fortress, the troops were dedicated solely to holding back the Demon King.
While preventing the discrepancy between Glen and the Demon King with numerous soldiers and Master Class forces, they bought time.
Simply delaying was beneficial to the Demon King.
So, despite the annoyance, he kept the bulk of Ignit’s main forces bound here, waiting for more demons to cross over from the Demon Realm.
It wouldn’t be until fifteen days later that he realized how much of a blunder this judgment was.
The Demon King, who had previously annoyed the fortress simply for amusement, felt that the responses from his opponents had changed dramatically this time.
Boom!
– …….
While Glen was resting, exhausted, the armies gathered to block him.
The Demon King’s plan to thoroughly drain Glen’s stamina crumbled under Ignit’s military forces.
From the staggering number of bombs falling around the Demon King to the massive Magic Cannons that slowed his advance, all of it was making things complicated.
As he attempted to unleash his power towards the fortress, the Masters began their assaults.
– Such a nuisance.
Annoying humans.
However, if he were to, in a fit of rage, gather his strength and annihilate them in one blow, Glen’s precise strike would come for him.
– Growing even in combat? It seems monsters are not the only issue now.
The Demon King’s expression hardened at the sight of the human army growing stronger as they fought him.
Above all, the greatest problem was Glen’s growth.
With each encounter, Glen’s sword became sharper.
As he learned to distribute power better, he was able to slice through space with even less strength, causing the time spent battling the Demon King to increase steadily.
If he continued to grow like this, he could turn into a terrifying existence in the future.
With the human army growing stronger as well, it was unacceptable to allow this trend to continue.
– A choice…
Indeed, the human who crossed the wall had a high potential to grow into a much more frightening presence if left unchecked.
Therefore, it was appropriate to remove him now.
The problem was that this would require some sacrifice on his part as well.
– Perhaps it would have been better from the start…
He thought that he should have erased the Giant’s Fortress before Glen ever appeared, but retrospectively, he felt he had no choice.
He had needed some amusement to break the tedium before reaching the fortress.
Ending his moment of regret, the Demon King contemplated the Fortress of Giants before him.
The time for a choice was truly upon him.
1. Risk everything and erase the fortress and humans.
2. Withdraw.
It was clear that Glen’s rapid growth instilled a sense of crisis within the Demon King.
But even more, it sparked a thrill.
‘How far can this human grow?’ The anticipation constantly hindered his decision.
For the Demon King, who had long reigned as an absolute being in the Demon Realm, this kind of tension was a refreshing feeling for the first time in ages.
Hadn’t he sought after resurrecting remnants of the past due to the sheer boredom of it all?
– ……. Should I withdraw?
The idea of retreat began to sway the Demon King.
The main reason he found himself inclined to retreat was that he wanted to confront the remnants of the past in perfect condition.
‘How strong will those who reigned as gods in the Mythical Era truly be?’
‘How strong would the giants who fought against such gods be?’
‘Perhaps someone might appear to elevate his stagnant realm even further?’
This was the very reasoning that led to the initiation of this plan.
Indeed, he had paid a heavy price while advancing this plan.
At first, he persuaded demons under the guise of resurrecting the God of Demons, but later, when the true intentions of the plan became clear, countless dissenters emerged.
And the Demon King killed them all by himself.
Solely to find a stronger opponent and to introduce a spark of tension into his tedious life.
From that perspective, Glen was worth nurturing and growing.
While eliminating a future threat to the Demon Realm was the sensible choice, he had lived a life solely for his amusement.
Therefore, once again, he made a decision just for himself.
– I hope to see you next time as a more delicious prey.
The Demon King, who had planned to completely eradicate everything in the fortress and turn it into a battlefield against the gods, changed his mind.
As the Demon King retreated, hoping for Glen’s further growth, the soldiers, who had finally relaxed, were beginning to sit down one by one.
Days spent under the unbearable tension of not knowing when they might be slaughtered by the Demon King.
This wasn’t just true for the soldiers, but for everyone in the fortress.
Whether they were knights or mages, the Masters also experienced a continuous cycle of tension while battling the Demon King.
“How did we manage to hold him off?”
At the words of Duke Welch, the Sun Blade and Chardonnay nodded slightly.
Their battle against the overwhelmingly powerful Demon King, who had killed three Masters upon his arrival, had brought a peak of tension to the Masters.
“Next time, we must be ready to lose our lives.”
Upon hearing Duke Welch, Chardonnay turned to look back.
“By that time, he will have grown even stronger.”
“…Then we must hope he grows strong enough to stop the Demon King.”
Duke Welch muttered as he sighed.
When he first became a Mage, he felt like he owned the world.
However, realizing that there was another level above that, feeling like an ordinary mage when confronted with the Demon King and the Grand Master Glen was humbling.
“Phew… But truly, your majesty’s foresight is astonishing.”
What Kariel ordered was to never fight the Demon King from the start.
To wait as long as possible for Glen to cross the wall.
While a significant sacrifice was made, this operation was indeed a success.
All that remained was to wait for Glen, who had crossed the wall, to grow even stronger.
Just as the Fortress of Giants had successfully held off the Demon King, the North also successfully defended against the Demon King’s army, using the Giant Mountain Range as a wall to block their approach to the fortress.
“From now on, Ignit will enter the siege phase. We must concentrate all our forces in two locations to ensure that the Demon King’s army cannot even glance at the West Continent.”
“Yes!”
Under Seriel’s command, the majority of the forces from the West Continent began to concentrate in the Frigid Canyon and the Giant’s Fortress.
Simultaneously, Marquis Sicario entered a closed training session.
Given that the Demon King was much stronger than anticipated and likely to grow stronger still, this was not something to be taken lightly.
With Marquis Sicario being the only one among the Masters capable of potentially crossing the wall, the situation was becoming even more urgent.
*
While the Ignit forces were heading towards a siege strategy, contrary to expectations of the Demon King’s army devouring the old Roman territory and pressuring the South, they focused on occupying only the North and newly opening the Demon Gate.
What on earth were they planning?
Everyone observed the somewhat strange movements of the Demon King’s army, their expressions filled with curiosity.
– Is it finally beginning?
The Demon King muttered audibly while grinning.
The long-awaited remnants of the past.
They were starting to crawl back to the continent from hell.
Just as the living Demon King had been expelled from hell, the remnants of the past, recovering their strength, began to emerge with intimidating vitality, one by one banished to the continent.
– I wonder how strong those gods will be.
There was no way they would display the overpowering might of the Mythical Era.
However, there was hope that you might catch a glimpse of their remnants.
At the very least, it would illuminate the path to the next level through the current darkness.
With that kind of anticipation, the Demon King hoped for the remnants of the past to fully emerge onto the continent as quickly as possible.
As if in accordance with the Demon King’s desire, the remnants expelled from hell began to appear across the continent.
“Is… is that a giant?!”
Suddenly appearing from a mountain, alongside fairies arriving with storms and monsters creating tsunamis, monsters that could have well been recorded from the Mythical Era began to surface throughout the continent.
Simultaneously, at the eastern edge of the desert, a pillar of gray light appeared, and a gigantic Hell Gate opened up.
The allied forces attempted to attack to stop this, only to experience the humiliation of being driven back by the mighty Army of Hell emerging from the enormous gate.
“Is humanity doomed to extinction after all?”
Briton, known as the Knight King, lamented as he watched the crumbling allied forces.
The monsters of the Mythical Era appearing across the continent paired with the fully opened Hell Gate left humanity with no choice but despair.
As everyone plunged into despair, a whirlwind erupted from one area of the desert, completely obliterating the army of hell that had been spreading from there.
“Phew… It’s been a while.”
A man emerged from underground for the first time in ages, smiling at the blue sky.
– I could have stayed in hell a bit longer.
“Stop babbling nonsense.”
The man immediately cursed at the small fireball’s grumbling and turned to look at the shadows approaching his astonished figure.
“Your Majesty!”
“Long time no see? By the way, Talion, your presence here means…”
“The Grand Army of Roman is on standby. You should evacuate quickly…”
At the moment Talion spoke, an overwhelming number of the hellish army was seen forming a siege around them in the shimmering mirage.
“What about the allied forces?”
“…They are retreating after consecutive defeats.”
At Talion’s report, Kariel quietly looked at the enemy troops.
The fortunate thing was that the army of Sandria was currently occupied fighting the allied forces.
This meant they only had to deal with the armies of Roman and Hell.
“Right back to battle as soon as I return?”
– Let’s think of it as warming up before getting rid of the remnants.
Kariel smiled brightly while looking at Surth making his leisurely statement and gave orders to Talion.
“Tell everyone to prepare for battle.”
“Your Majesty!”
With a shocked expression, Talion reported, and with a beaming smile, Kariel stepped silently towards the enemy.
Seeing that figure, the late-arriving Achelio was taken aback.
“Your Majesty!”
As Achelio hurriedly attempted to restrain him, Talion shook his head.
He was aware that Kariel always assumed the worst circumstances.
Yet, seeing him show such confidence?
“It seems he’s gained quite a bit down there.”
“However…”
Shaking his head at Achelio, Talion commanded the Red Ghosts and Shadows.
Achelio sighed and then ordered the Imperial Palace Knights to follow suit.
Determined to follow their majesty even if it meant death here, they valiantly charged forward just as massive fireballs began raining down from the sky.