“Ozran failed.”

Sozgadan said. They were currently in the throne room of the palace. King Derek’s motionless body was lying on the throne.

“Even though I told him not to act recklessly. He was supposed to attack King Chase. But, whatever, It doesn’t matter anymore. There is no turning back at this point.”

Arkul spoke in a calm tone.

“But, why did you kill him? I thought he was on our side.”

Sozgadan asked while looking at Derek’s body.

“He was, but I didn’t like the tone he used when speaking with me back at the forest.”

While they were talking, someone entered the throne room.

“A group of people entered the city.”

Floyd said with a smile.

“Good! More audience!”

Arkul shouted with pleasure.

“Where are the ladies?”

Floyd asked curiously. He was talking about the other demons.

“One is visiting the Elven Kingdom, and the other is visiting the Nymph Queen, and soon we will be visiting the Emperor.”

Arkul’s laugh echoed throughout the throne room.

* * *

“I can’t say I was expecting something like this.”

Elius expected it to be crowded and full of life like Sonio City when they entered the Lazor Kingdom, but it was far from that.

“Where is everyone?”

Ruvyn was as confused as Elius.

“It is weird. Don’t drop your guards.”

Jay said while looking around. As soon as they set foot in the city, Jay felt like someone was watching them, so he was on alert, even though he was unsure.

‘Do you feel anything?’

“I can feel people inside some houses, but most are empty.”

The city looked as if it was abandoned, but they kept going deeper into the city.

“Wait! I felt something. A large number of people is at the south of the city.”

‘How come your checking range can be larger than mine?’

“I’m using your mana to extend my range, but you can’t use my mana. It’s not the important thing right now anyway. Focus. Something is wrong.”

‘Fine.’

Elius pointed towards the south.

“I sense something from there.”

Elius took the lead and guided the group there.

‘Impressive, it didn’t take long for him to sense them, but I guess that is because he is a mage.’

Jay thought to himself and followed the group. They were getting close to the gates of the city. When they arrived, there was nothing at the south entrance.

“Outside!”

They couldn’t see outside because of the huge city walls. Elius put some strength in his legs and jumped on the city wall.

“What the…?”

Elius was dumbfounded.

“Hey! What do you see?!”

Liam shouted from the ground but didn’t get an answer from Elius, few seconds have passed, and Elius kept standing there like a statue. The group who realized that began to jump one by one. Liam was about to nag at Elius, but his eyes widened at the sight of thousands of people. At the entrance of the forest, thousands of people were waiting. Nobody was talking, and nobody was moving. They were just standing there like waiting for an order.

“What is this?”

Even Neil, who had a displeased expression in any situation, was frowning.

‘Oookay, Should we wait for backup now? I should probably contact Idarin.’

Jay was surprisingly calm, but he had to make sure the kids were safe.

“Quick! We are leaving!”

Jay shouted and prepared to jump off the wall, but an unfamiliar voice stopped him.

“Well, well, since you saw it, what should I do to you. Hmm.”

The man who appeared looked up like he was thinking.

‘That tattoo…’

Ian realized the man’s wrist.

“Silvershiv…”

He clenched his fists and gave the man a menacing look, but the man wasn’t even aware of Ian.

“Oh! I found it.”

The man raised his finger.

“I’ll just kill you!”

He grinned while a blade appeared in his hands, and he rushed towards the group.

* * *

“Ahh, the mighty nymph queen. The so-called woman who is one with nature.”

Arkul’s subordinate said while holding Elaine’s hair. The Odiria Kingdom was in chaos right now, and only one person caused all of that. Queen Elaine, one of the strongest individuals of the Mohan Empire, wasn’t enough to stop Llana. Elaine was on the ground, half of the palace was destroyed and burned, and the civilians Llana managed to transform into mindless half-demons were waiting for her orders behind her. Elaine gave a hateful look to Llana.

“Why are S-Rank adventurers even allowed to be kings or queens? Don’t look at me like that. If you have something to say, say it.”

With a grin, Llana brought her ear close to Elaine’s mouth. But before Elaine could say anything, a whistling sound came from behind Llana.

“Whoah, what a mess.”

Elaine’s eyes widened and a smile formed on her mouth.

“Hey, hey, be respectful towards a granny.”

Elaine was still smiling, but a vein popped up on her forehead after hearing the word ‘granny.’ Llana turned to see who it was. A man whose hair was tied from behind walked towards them while cleaning the blood on the katana he was holding. After seeing him, Llana raised an eyebrow.

‘I couldn’t sense his presence. What the hell happened to the ones I’ve transformed?’

“And who you might be?”

Llana let Elaine’s hair go and got up.

“Man, why do people keep asking me that question when it won’t matter after a few seconds later.”

He shook his head. Llana prepared to say something, but something weird happened. Her world turned upside down.

‘Huh? Isn’t that my own body?’

She saw her own body upside down, and after she understood what was going on, it was too late.

*Thud!*

Her headless body fell onto the ground with a sound. Wilbert helped Elaine to get up.

“Ah, damn! I forgot to interrogate again…”

He looked sad.

‘This damn monster! While we thought he was dead, instead, he became incomparably stronger than before.’

“Where were you this whole time?”

Elaine asked casually while trying to heal herself.

“I miss you too! Come on, give me a big hug.”

Wilbert hugged her tightly.

“Stop fooling around. This is serious!”

“Fine, fine.”

He stepped back.

“Are you coming?”

“To where?”

“To find and kill those bastards, of course.”

“Where are they?”

Wilbert paused for a second.

“Somewhere… Inside the empire?”

Elaine desperately shooked her head.

“Even if I come with you, I’ll only slow you down. I should stay with my people right now, plus I’m hurt.”

Wilbert nodded.

“Okay, we should gather for a drink after this bullshit is done. Tell that elf bastard too!”

Wilbert gave her another. Then turned back and left while waving.

‘Hmm… What to do, what to do? Should I visit Idarin?’

* * *

With the collision of blades, the sparkles scattered around. Jay and Don began to exchange blows. Silvershiv had only five high-rank members, and Don was one of them.

“All of you quickly retreat!”

Jay quickly checked the kids with the corner of his eyes and shouted after seeing how they were preparing for combat.

“He is right. We will only hinder him!”

Ruvyn quickly tried to make them retreat. Especially Ian. They were heartlessly about to follow Jay’s order, but when they turned towards the forest. Half of the people who were standing there weren’t humans anymore. Their complexions were pale, close to gray, and the rest were in the transforming phase.

“Aha! It began!”

Don shouted with a smile.

“A little advice! They will try to rip apart every living thing they see. So good luck.”

Don disappeared after saying that. Jay didn’t try to stop him since he has a more serious problem right now. Thousands of mindless half-demons were looking at them, but even though Jay had a disinterested expression.

‘I guess I’m starting to understand why everyone in the middle continent thinks of the four empires as a joke.’

“Let’s break our way through.”

Liam said while looking at the half-demons.

“They can’t jump up here, right?”

Unlike him, Ruvyn asked with a forced smile, and the half-demons answered his question. They began to run towards the city walls like crazy. One of them jumped, and he flew towards the group like a bullet. But he must have put too much strength in his legs since he flew past them towards the city. The half-demons who saw that began to jump one by one.

“Okay, breaking through them might not be a good idea.”

Liam jumped back inside the city, like the rest of the group.

“Stay close to each other!”

Jay shouted. Most of the half-demons already were inside the city, looking for fresh flesh to tear apart. While running, Jay slashed one of the demons. It made him stop for a while, but then its wound healed, and it began to run towards them again.

“Great, now we have to find a way to kill them.”

Neil snorted. No matter how much he tried to act calm, his heart was beating like crazy. They were getting closer to the city’s center.

‘Hmm, I need to create a way out for the kids.’

They were currently getting chased by a dozen half-demons.

“Why are we running?!”

Elius shouted to Jay.

“As you can see, we can’t kill them in a usual way! So instead of wasting time and energy, we need to wait for the backup to arrive.”

‘Even though I said that, if this continues, we will find ourselves in the enemy’s lap. Can I take on all the high-level demons?’

Jay gave it a thought. The idea of fighting with the demons who were responsible for all this was tempting, but his priority was to protect kids.

“Tch. Fine! Prepare for combat!”

“Hahaha! Finally!”

Liam quickly stopped and turned towards the demons behind them. The ground between them crumbled and caused demons to lose balance. Before they could get up, Ruvyn’s arrows pierced them one by one.

“Tsk.”

Ruvyn clicked his tongue because the hole in their body that Ruvyn’s arrows left behind was healing a few seconds later. The number of the half-demons increased with each passing second. They quickly formed a circle. This way, it was easier to defend against the attacks that might come from blind spots. Ruvyn was in the middle of the circle raining arrows everywhere, even though it didn’t harm them.

‘Can’t yıou be quicker?’

Elius said to Elly while pushing the demons away with his bo staff.

“I’m trying.”

‘Well, try faster!’

Elius spun his staff, and a gust of wind pushed the half-demons in front of him away. The mana around began to move according to Elius’ will and gathered in front of him, under the half-demons. A circle about 5 meters in diameter formed on the ground, and a pillar of fire rose from there. The half-demons who caught up in the fire turned to ashes.

“Hmm? Not healing back? Is fire their weakness?”

Eldron said while the blade of his glaive getting engulfed in flames.

“I found it! A little core turned them into demons, but it is in liquid form and constantly running through their veins. You need to destroy that.”

“No, not fire! They had a core inside their body, but it is constantly changing locations.”

Elius passed the information on to them. With that, Eldron began to set the demons on fire. His range wasn’t wide as Elius’, but still, it worked. Currently, only the two of them were able to kill these monsters. It continued for a while, and they stood their ground. Jay wasn’t next to them, he was invisible, but if someone looked like they were about to be attacked, Jay appeared there and temporarily eliminated the danger.

The gap between the group members began to widen. They were trying to hold themselves back since Jay told them to save energy. Even though they found a way to kill them, the number kept increasing, and it was getting harder for Jay to keep everyone safe.

On top of that, the city’s southern gate was already destroyed, and the half-demons were pouring in like an unstoppable wave. They were already struggling to keep a small number of demons away, and now an army of them was running towards the group, but something was weird.

A silhouette was jumping between the demons, actually more than one silhouette. Elius was just about to set fire the demon in front of him, but he stopped after hearing the sound of chains. Two sickles entangled in the devil’s arms, and those sickles were attached to a chain. Someone came flying while holding the end of the chains and destroyed the demon’s face with his knee. Then, an elf with a joyful expression appeared in front of Elius. It was Lucas, Helen’s team leader.

“Shame on you guys! There was a party, but we weren’t invited!”

Lucas shouted and kept attacking demons. He wasn’t alone. Elius also saw Allen from afar, setting demons on fire and rampaging with his two swords. Jay took a deep breath.

“Okay, kids, from now on, you’re allowed to go nuts.”

Elius smiled after hearing that. His staff shrunk and disappeared, and flames appeared inside his palms.

“Finally.”