What kind of realm is the 9th Circle?
It was an unknown realm that not a single human in history had ever reached.
A realm known to be permitted only to dragons—that was the 9th Circle.
Yet Gaon had entered the 9th Circle?
Even Kerhen, who knew Gaon well, found it hard to believe.
But every circumstance pointed to Gaon having achieved 9th Circle ascension.
It doesn’t matter what it is.
Kerhen put an end to his thoughts about Gaon.
The level of Gaon’s realm wasn’t unimportant, but it wasn’t something he absolutely needed to know either.
Knowing it wouldn’t change the situation anyway.
Kerhen turned around.
After dismantling the Veil of God, he collected the remaining debris.
Having finished the recovery, Kerhen immediately began heading south.
His destination was Ashiris, the frontline city of Coexistence Zone 15.
From here on, I’ll fly.
Having arrived at the Gadiol Forest in the northern part of the Aletars Swamp via a single Teleport, Gaon began flying.
The reason he moved by flight instead of Teleport was because of what he had to do next.
From now on, Gaon planned to clean up demons and demonic beasts while eliminating rifts to the demon world.
If he moved by Teleport, he might miss things.
Before long, Gaon encountered a pack of demonic beasts.
It was a group of 5th-grade demonic beasts—deaddogs.
Deaddogs were canine demonic beasts with a shoulder height of 2 meters and a body length of 4 meters.
Their distinguishing feature was their tails that burned fiercely.
Gaon chanted a spell.
Crack-le!
The deaddog pack froze solid in an instant.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The frozen pack shattering into pieces was equally instantaneous.
Gaon extended his hand.
One demon stone and one inner core floated up and flew toward him.
The stone and core were sucked into his pouch.
Having collected the byproducts, Gaon immediately headed to the next location.
This time, it was another deaddog pack.
There were three more than the first group.
Of course, that didn’t change anything.
Crack-le!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The process and outcome were the same.
They froze solid and shattered into pieces.
After gathering the byproducts, Gaon moved on again.
The targets at his next destination weren’t a deaddog pack.
They were demons.
Their level wasn’t high.
Slightly stronger than deaddogs.
A patrol?
Not far away, a large number of demons were gathered.
It was presumed to be a demon village.
The demon group Gaon was about to kill was likely a patrol that had come out from that village.
Of course, patrol or not, it didn’t matter.
To Gaon, demons were no different from deaddogs.
They were the same kind of existence.
Crack-le!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The demon group met the exact same process and end as the deaddog packs.
Gaon then headed straight for the demon village.
“Blizzard.”
The moment he arrived, Gaon cast Blizzard.
A snowstorm infused with Pacheonki engulfed the village.
Every demon in the village froze solid without exception and met their deaths.
Having wiped out dozens of demons in an instant, Gaon stopped the Blizzard.
He moved to the center of the village.
An artifact was installed there.
One that had been overflowing with demonic energy.
Of course, that was in the past tense.
Frozen by the Blizzard, the artifact no longer emitted demonic energy.
Gaon split the artifact open.
A 6-star demon stone, its power source, was revealed.
Gaon recovered the 6-star stone and reduced the artifact to complete dust.
So it couldn’t be repaired and reused.
He stored the 6-star stone in his pouch.
But he didn’t close the pouch yet.
There were still things to store.
Soon, demon stones left by the demons across the village flew in and began pouring into the pouch.
After the last stone was sucked in, Gaon finally closed the pouch.
Leaving the village, he approached a nearby pack of demonic beasts and thought to himself.
I wonder if any survivors remain in Ruhen?
If he continued north like this, he would reach the city of Ruhen.
It was now a demon faction city, but just half a year ago, it had been part of the human side.
Few had escaped the city at that time.
Countless people had been trapped inside.
Half a year wasn’t a short time.
The chances of survivors remaining were extremely low.
But if even a few were left?
I should rescue them.
Maiom Great Plains.
Currently, an army consisting of demons, demonic beasts, and human slaves was moving in orderly fashion across the plains.
The army had not one leader but two—demon viscounts Eto and Blanc.
“Eto.”
“What?”
At Blanc’s call, Eto asked with a puzzled expression.
“No matter how I look at it, doesn’t it seem strange?”
“What does?”
Eto couldn’t help but ask again at Blanc’s follow-up words.
What was suddenly strange?
“For holy power to persist that long in our territory, not even a coexistence zone? No matter how you slice it, it doesn’t seem like a normal situation…”
“Ah, that’s what you meant.”
Eto answered with a look of understanding.
He smirked and continued.
“What’s there to worry about?”
“Aren’t you worried? It could be a trap to lure us in.”
“So what if it is? That’s why I brought this, keeping that possibility in mind.”
Eto raised his hand to show the bracelet.
“Ah.”
Blanc let out a sigh.
The bracelet was an artifact prepared for the worst-case scenario.
Its effect was the suppression of holy power and mana.
Any trap would be based on holy power or mana.
In other words, with the artifact, the trap would be meaningless—and it could even be turned against them for massive damage.
Eto smiled at Blanc’s reaction, then erased the smile as a thought occurred to him.
With worry creeping into his expression, he continued.
“More than that, I’m worried about the city.”
“The city?”
“Yeah. There aren’t many humans left.”
When they first occupied the city, there had been plenty of humans.
But not anymore.
Because countless had been offered as sacrifices to heal the count.
“The count’s condition shows no sign of improving…”
The problem was that the count still hadn’t recovered.
Soon, there would be no more humans to offer as sacrifices.
What would happen if there were no humans left to sacrifice?
Would the count give up on recovery?
No, he absolutely wouldn’t.
Next would come the demonic beasts, and if there were none left?
Demons.
Blanc nodded in agreement and replied.
“…It would be good if we could capture a large number of humans this time.”
That was when it happened.
“…!”
“……!”
As if by agreement, both flashed their eyes at the same moment.
The carriage they were riding promptly stopped.
Both demons already knew why it had stopped.
Because of the sudden presence of an aura ahead.
The aura’s magnitude was at the level of a high-grade demon—not particularly strong.
But the two demons didn’t take it lightly.
Until just moments ago, they hadn’t detected it at all.
And no demonic energy was felt.
That meant the aura was exceptionally well-contained—and that it might be beyond high-grade demon level.
For now, Eto and Blanc stepped out of the carriage and headed to the front.
Seeing the owner of the aura blocking their path, they were slightly taken aback.
A human?
The one blocking the way was indeed human.
With deep black hair and snow-white skin.
Their surprise grew even greater at what followed.
“Did you come from Ruhen?”
Fluent demonic tongue spilled from the human’s mouth.
“Who are you?”
Instead of answering the question, Eto responded with another.
Given the fluent demonic speech, he presumed a converted human.
That only heightened his curiosity.
About the human’s identity.
A converted human with strength beyond high-grade demon wouldn’t have an ordinary status.
Before the human could answer Eto’s question, Blanc asked.
“Abyss? Or the Northern Alliance?”
Two factions came to Blanc’s mind.
One was the Abyss, the other the Northern Alliance formed by the kingdoms of Dion, Baren, and Mortin.
It feels like Abyss, though…
The Northern Alliance was located in the far north of the continent.
Considering the distance, the chance they had sent someone to the Maiom Great Plains was low.
In other words, the probability of Abyss affiliation was high.
“That’s not what I asked…”
The human trailed off and smiled brightly.
In that instant, Eto and Blanc flinched.
His identity was unknown.
But one thing was certain.
He hadn’t appeared with good intentions.
“Eto! That thing!”
Blanc urgently shouted while raising his demonic energy.
Eto followed suit, channeling demonic energy into the bracelet he wore.
At the same moment, waves emanated from the bracelet, and a purple barrier 500 meters in radius appeared.
“Oh.”
Seeing the purple barrier, the human—Gaon—let out an exclamation of admiration.
He now knew what effect the artifact had.
It’s exactly like the Metra Cult’s holy relic.
It was identical to the holy relic of the Metra Cult, one of the forces Gaon had destroyed in the past.
Of course, that meant the effect was the same—not that it was the actual relic.
Gaon looked at Eto and Blanc.
The two demons’ expressions had relaxed considerably.
Gaon knew why.
Because holy power and mana had been frozen.
The problem was that Gaon’s foundation wasn’t holy power or mana, but Pacheonki.
Gaon opened his mouth.
“Mega Gravity.”
Hummm…
A tremendous roar sounded the moment the incantation finished.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Demons within range collapsed to the ground.
Of course, not all fell.
Eto and Blanc merely staggered but remained standing.
They simply hadn’t fallen.
The relaxed expressions they had worn were gone.
Their faces were filled with panic.
Understandably—using magic while holy power and mana were suppressed would cause panic.
“Ice Spike.”
Gaon followed up by casting Ice Spike.
Chill-infused ice spears began surging from the ground.
Holy Empire of Seionia, Papal Palace.
The Pope’s office.
Currently, two people were in the office.
Pope Basus and Golden Lion Knight Order Leader Marma.
“That’s why we had no choice but to withdraw.”
Marma’s report concluded.
Unlike usual, Basus said nothing.
Marma glanced at Basus’s expression and asked.
“What exactly is the promise from eighty years ago?”
He was far too curious.
What kind of promise could make Basus’s mood this bad?
But this time too, Basus said nothing.
He merely gave a bitter smile.
Marma asked again.
“Is it perhaps a top-secret matter you can’t disclose?”
As leader of the Golden Lion Knight Order, Marma’s security clearance was extremely high.
But he couldn’t access all information.
If the promise from eighty years ago was at the highest security level, one even Marma couldn’t view?
“It is top-secret. But there’s no reason I can’t tell you. It’s related to the Golden Lion Knight Order as well.”
“…?”
At Basus’s words, Marma couldn’t help but look puzzled.
Related to the Golden Lion Knight Order too?
Seeing Marma’s confused face, Basus continued.
“Do you know of the Metra Cult?”
At Basus’s question, Marma thought for a moment before answering.
“Are you perhaps referring to the cult that worshiped a demon god and was annihilated eighty-three years ago?”