"What- you, what are y-"
ARGH!
One last scream erupted out as the red light exploded outwards even more, giving me a surprise as the red light exploded to become gold bundles of books, items, cores, and something else I had never seen before.
I breathed out heavily as I looked at this scene that had never occurred before. The essence of the beasts I defeated usually gets pulled into one of my storage items where I would find the loot there. This time, an explosion of loot had occurred outside as the demon completely perished. The primal spirits that exploded before him were also nowhere to be found.
We had moved away from the battlefield for quite a distance as we fought and flew, and I found myself near a peak of a snowy mountain as the yells and screams of the battle a few miles away continued.
I sent the changed Holy Blight that was now adopting my face with his saintly aura caused by [Two Faced] towards the battle to continue saving more lives as everything wrapped up, and I looked towards the explosion of loot in front of me. What kinds of rewards would fall out from a Demon King?
Chapter 117 - Catastrophic Consequences! II
While the battle was concluding in the snowy mountains between a Demon Legion and the forces of the Frozen Kingdom, a world shocking notice passed through the minds of every Demon King in existence!
Whether they were the highest-ranked Demon Lords carrying out conquest in large worlds, or the Demon Kings currently invading the beast world, a singular message passed through their minds.
Something that rarely occurred and has not come to pass in the last hundreds of years, had now taken place.
A Demon King had faced True Death!
Shock!
Disbelief!
Apprehension!
Lines of communication that went across the worlds were sent out as the Demon Kings looked for answers. Who had died? Which world were they in? And the most important thing, which powerhouse had they offended that they faced True Death?!
To understand the shock of these Demon Kings, one would have to first know just how hard it was to actually kill one.
For the Demon Kings invading the Beast World, over the course of the months more than three Demon Kings had fallen. But neither of them faced true death!
Every time a Demon King was killed, their origin, no matter how injured, would be sent back to the Demon World. The origin would act as a seedling and absorb the primeval essence of the Demon World to eventually be born again after a long period of time passed.
This was one of the core reasons why the Demon World was able to wage war and dominate many other worlds, their main forces seemed inexhaustible as time passed. It was a World that continued to rise through the ranks, and almost neared the upper echelons of Prime Worlds.
Their strength was also their only weakness, where the 72 Demon Kings and the upper ranked Demon Lords were very careful when they waged war across worlds. Many things would be considered. What level was the world they were invading? Were there any beings there that could truly threaten their lives?
This was the crucial question that was always looked at first before any Demon Kings or Demon Lords descended onto other worlds. Over the past hundreds of years, a complete list of Worlds not to get in conflict with had all been doc.u.mented from past events where a Demon King had faced True Death.
Worlds that focused on and were proficient in Soul Systems were left alone. Worlds where inhabitants increased their strength by unlocking the secrets of the universal laws, were left alone. Only recently growing worlds that had not yet established their place in the universe were targeted . This allowed the Demon World to roam free and rampant, and prevent the True Deaths of their strongest forces.
From the time when their conquest began until now, only two Demon Kings had faced true death. Now, there was a third!
There used to be 72 rulers of the Demon World in total, and now only 69 remained. Where had the Demon King fallen? Which grand world had one of them stepped into that caused such a huge incident?!
Communications were sent back and forth across worlds as the rulers of the Demon World confirmed their positions. In a matter of a few minutes, all of the remaining 69 checked in.
The only one that was missing...was rank 56, Demon King Gremory!
Even more shock came from the realization of this, because Gremory was in a world that was neither weak nor powerful, but it definitely did not have powerhouses or such powerful systems of strength that would allow for its inhabitants to cause a Demon King to face True Death.
The Demon Kings currently in the Beast World were the ones that felt even more apprehension because they knew the situation of Gremory very well. He was a powerful Demon King of LEGENDARY rank, with many skills at his disposal.
He was the one in charge of occupying the kingdom in the Northern Lands of the Beast World where the weakest Kingdom resided. Yet...he had actually faced true death there?!
Communications continued as the Demon Kings and higher ranked Demon Lords quickly moved the information around. An impossibly cold voice rang out through the channel of communication that was established across worlds.
This was one of the highest-ranked rulers of the Demon World, someone ranked in the top 10 speaking!
"The ones remaining in the Beast World, focus your forces in the region where this incident occurred. A few more Demon Kings that are in nearby worlds will come to reinforce you soon enough. Move carefully. This could be a serious threat that is just now budding in this world, or something entirely different. Information is key, find out everything behind this incident first. Then we will see how to move forward."
A momentary silence passed as another Demon Lord of high rank chimed in.
"Once the information is known, strengthen the attacks on all the forces in that world and take over everything as soon as possible. Treat this threat with extreme caution."
More words were passed around as the Demon Kings grasped the situation of the Beast World and planned. A terrible threat had possibly appeared that could shake the core foundations of the Demon World, it had to be nipped as soon as possible!
A Demon Lord that had remained silent through all of this also had their voice ring out, making a few of the high ranked Rulers surprised. The one that talked was a Demon Lord that kept to themselves in a dominated world where they alone ruled. This ruler caused many of the lower-ranked Demon Kings to feel fear from the cruelty of their actions and power.
"Well, I doubt someone of my rank would be needed to crush this possible threat, but why don't I go down myself?"
Silence.
There was complete silence in the communication channel as the first cold voice that gave out the orders replied.
"That won't be necessary. The Beast World is not highly developed and still has strict universal laws protecting it from the descent of high tiered beings. Even trying it would deplete treasures and essences we've collected over the past thousand years. It is not worth it."
"Hmph, so be it. Don't regret this in the future. Orias, you go and do reconnaissance where this incident occurred first, your skills are a perfect fit for this."
There was a period of silence as the rulers of the Demon World felt the connection have one less being on the other end. This was a Demon Lord that caused fear to permeate through the bones of lower-ranked Demon Kings.
It was a Demon Lord that took over a world and completely massacred its inhabitants just to build up an army.
This was the Necromancer of Chaos, the one who gained the title of Destroyer. Rank 8 Demon Lord, Barbatos.
Chapter 118 - Rapid Changes
In the next week that followed certain events, movements could be seen across the Beast World that made many powerful figures apprehensive.
There were a variety of Demon Legions that were spreading out from the former Draconic Kingdom and waging war to the remaining three Mythical Kingdoms. Multiple Demon Kings were leading their forces against these powerful kingdoms that held powe
rhouses of LEGENDARY rank, and some MYTHICAL ranks at their forefront.
These powerhouses found the forces of demons shifting around with extreme urgency these few days, causing them to tighten their own defenses and wonder what they were planning now.
The Demon Kings had their own headaches as they had to soon move pieces towards the Northern Lands while keeping their positions and defending from the attacks of beasts.
Another factor that became a problem to consider was that who would be the one to head out to the location where one of them faced a True Death? None of the Demon Kings were cowards, but the reality that a being with the power to truly kill them existed gave them great feelings of apprehension. It was a feeling they were not used to before.
Talks and arguments took place as specific Demon Kings were chosen to lead their Legions towards the Northern Lands in the coming weeks. They would begin marching out the moment more information was gathered and their forces were reassembled as they returned even more firepower on the fronts where they were waging war against the Mythical Kingdoms.
Demon King Orias would be the one to head towards the Northern Lands first, her unique skill making her ideal for carrying out reconnaissance. Information would be key for them as they moved forward.
Deep in the center of the taken over Draconic Kingdom, the Sin of L.u.s.t, the 32nd ranked Demon King Asmodeus was calmly sitting on a throne of a grandiose castle. The throne was open to a large hall where lines of [Minotaurs], [Ogres], and enslaved [Dragons] were present.
Asmodeus had his eyes closed as he furiously used the Ultimate Skill that granted him glimpses of the future as he tried to predict the best possible ways to move from now on. On the face of his Ultimate Skill, who could possibly stand against him?
Outside of the castle was a terrifying presence standing guard like a dutiful dog. The being standing guard was a humongous [Bone Dragon]. Many people wouldn't recognize this figure if they tried, but those close could see glimpses of who the being used to be.
Although he was now mostly bones, his power seemed to be just as domineering. This was the being that used to be the ruler of the Draconic Kingdom, now standing guard dutifully for the invaders that took his life and enslaved his people. The terror of demons had yet to truly reach the minds of the beings in the Beast World, as they now began to move seriously.
---
A few days had passed since the terrible battle between two snowy mountains that took the lives of thousands.
At some point during the battle, the Ill.u.s.trious King had disappeared from the clutches of the enemy in a silvery light and appeared behind the defense lines where his soldiers swarmed to protect him. He, along with many of the injured individuals fighting on the Frozen Kingdom's side had all received healing from the Saint that appeared in the skies during the battle.
Thousands of lives had been saved through his hands, and yet, nobody knew where he was.
As the powerful beast continued to clash with the Demon King some distance from the battlefield, the Saint had disappeared from everyone's eyes. This wasn't the only one to disappear, as the EPIC beasts that reinforced the Battalion Commanders were also gone as soon as the battle was finished.
The horrifying corpses that were moving in the battlefield to decimate the Demon Legion also rushed to the mountains soon after, leaving behind a field of blood and gore, but not a single corpse in sight. No matter if they were human, beast or demon, not a single corpse remained on the battlefield.
This sort of power caused much apprehension and reverence on the forces of the Frozen Kingdom as many questions plagued their minds. What was the identity of the Saint that saved so many lives? Where did the Sword Beast that clashed against the Demon King come from?
There were many questions with no answers as the process of healing was taking place in the Frozen Kingdom.
The Ill.u.s.trious King was heavily injured in the battle, the result causing him to lose his right arm even after the constant healing lights fell from the Saint.
What many people didn't know was that the biggest loss he received from the battle...was the loss of his first son. The older prince was jailed in a secret location under the orders of the King as soon as the battle finished. The trusted Battalion Commanders did not raise any questions as they did what they were told.
The powerful king has lost a limb, and also lost much more, as the shock of stupidity and betrayal from his own blood made him despondent. Was he such a bad father that his own son would plot to take down everything they had built? No! There had to be something else…
The king was searching and grasping for straws as time passed, trying to understand the sequence of events as much as possible. This was the terror of Demon Kings, where even though they had won the battle, it still felt like they lost something much more. A shattered family where a son acted against his own father, who else can enact such a scene?
As problems were solved, new ones arose. The damage the demons had caused on the counties and dukedoms before they reached Valen County and Shadow Dukedom were plentiful, destroying many of the farms, warehouses, and homes of common people.
There was also the death of thousands of the Kingdom's elite forces, which caused a reduction of much of the workforce to clear dungeons for their resources and reduced adventurers of high skill that were required to cultivate the freezing lands of the Frozen Kingdom.
Many people found money and food becoming tight as more and more refugees from surrounding counties and dukedoms rushed into the kingdom. People wanted protection from the onslaught of demons, and they wanted food that was quickly becoming scarce as the Kingdom worked to provide during these times of war.
If nothing changed, hundreds of thousands of people could die from the hunger and cold.
Against all of these depressing events, it was the Queen Elect that had been moving rapidly across the kingdom that made many nobles turn their eyes. Even before the huge battle between the demons had taken place, Princess Adelaide had begun commissioning for new plots of farms to be prepared and seeds to be sown.
Many were wondering why the Princess was doing this, as anything planted right now would take weeks if not months to cultivate and be ready for harvest. This was especially so for the lands in the frigid environment they were in.
Many of the nobles were calling for the Kingdom to reach out for help towards the Mythical Beast Kingdoms they hadn't had many relations with. They pointed out the powerful beast that had come to their rescue as the sentiment that during these times of war, the Beast Kingdoms were becoming more accepting of working together with humans to survive against the invaders of their world.
Uncertainty was in the air as the people in the Kingdom were in a period of mourning these past few days, while also gaining hope from the powerful strength of the beings that saved them. The Ill.u.s.trious King and many of the people of the Frozen Kingdom wondered. Where were they now?
Chapter 119 - Loot!
I was in the center of the Frozen Plateau Spiritual Land as I looked over the bountiful things that had come out from the death of the Demon King.
As soon as the red light faded and piles of loot were beside the large body of the Demon King, I transferred everything into the central area of the Spiritual Land so I could check them all out without interruptions.
The battle had finished, with the Holy Blight I sent out being able to handle much of the cleanup. The few hours after that were spent with me looking over the rewards of the very long battle.
There were a great many things that brought a lot of surprises, but first and foremost were the skills.
[Demon King's Haki] :: Your strength displays itself outward, placing tremendous pressure on those you are facing.
[Memory Plunderer] :: Dip into the abstract and plunder the memories of your enemies and certain objects.
{Primal Conjurer} :: Two Primal Spirits of the same level are called to your side. Currently Available Spirits(Troll, Manticore, Dullahan)
&n
bsp; Two brand new LEGENDARY skills and a unique dropped from a single Demon King. The unique skill aside, just the two LEGENDARY ones made me want to go hunting for more Demon Kings right away.
Two of them were very straightforward, but [Memory Plunderer] was one that made me do a double-take as it was one of the skills that weren't the usual offensive or defensive, but something entirely different. Skills like these usually gave me the biggest surprises.
Next up were new things that I hadn't come across before.
[Power Jewel]x2 :: A condensed form of powerful Abyss Magic. Can be used to increase the firepower of skills by corrupting them with this terrible magic.
[Ruler's Medal- 56] :: Grants you the highest authority in the 56th region of the Demon World.
These two items made me ponder for quite a while as I observed them. The [Ruler's Medal] was a star-shaped medallion that was extremely heavy on my hands, and I found it shocking to come across something like this from defeating a single Demon King.
The [Power Jewel] was something I could more easily understand, as I had come across them before with the EPIC mercenary I fought. The "Corrupted" tag on the Sword Saint Incarnation finally clicked as I saw the description of the jewel.
I opened my huge panel to see which skills would be great to boost in damage. If they could come close to the usefulness of [Corrupted Sword Saint's Incarnation], I would have much more power in my arsenal. I hadn't yet begun absorbing the cores I gained from the Demon King, so my attributes were still the same as of right now.
[Noah Osmont][Occupation: Hunter]
[Vitality: 410]
[Focus: - ]
[Strength: 418]
[Skill(s) :: [F][E][D][C][B][A: Flight-100, Instant Transfer-100, Recorder-100, Language Comprehension-100, Lion's Roar-23,Water Barrier-100, Pierce-100, Executor's Speed-100, Sense Heat Source-100, Silent Communication-75, Regal Archer's Eyes-100, Cook-38]
[A+:: Arctic Zone-100, Relegator's Spear-23, Immutable Regeneration-100, Abstruse Cover-100, Barrier of Illusion-100, Paladin's Blessing-11, Pursuing Infernal Lightning-1]
Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse c1-705 Page 51
