The mighty aftershock was a testament to the power of the destruction just wrought.
There had been only two attacks.
Yet, because of them, the massive Demon King’s Legion that had lined the border was nearly annihilated.
Scars were carved deep into the earth.
However, even within that scene of devastation, there were Demon Clan members who had survived.
No, it wasn’t just a few.
Many demons still remained.
“Thump, thump, thump, thump —”
A staggering number of the Demon King’s Legion began to sprint.
Orders must have been given to cross the border and attack one hour later.
But since we had launched a preemptive strike, there was no reason for them to hesitate.
I stared briefly at the fiercely surging Demon King’s Legion.
“…Go,” I commanded the Knights standing beside me.
At that moment.
“Boom, crash!”
They kicked off with enough force to dent the ground and surged forward.
At most, only three charged from our camp.
They were the Knights, excluding Blansia Bellamin, who had been retired after using Grandis.
The difference in numbers was vast.
It looked as if they would be pushed back instantly, but that was not the case at all.
“Boom!”
They withstood the fierce onslaught of the Demon King’s Legion.
“It is His Majesty’s command. No one shall pass this point!” Agamemnon Saglayer.
The shield techniques of the man so sturdy he was called the Shield of the Empire began to shine.
“Boom, rumble!”
It was a true onslaught.
However, no matter how sturdy the Shield of the Empire was, it didn’t mean he was invincible.
If he continued to take attacks like this, even that robust shield would eventually break.
But Agamemnon Saglayer was not the only one on the field.
“Haaaap!” A battle cry erupted.
The moment that frequency, sounding like a tiger’s roar, echoed across the field.
“Boom, boom, boom!”
Impacts and explosions similar to the Demon King’s Legion’s onslaught occurred.
At the center was Malice Ahman.
The progenitor of the Malice Family was swinging the Dragon Slayer, which was infused with powerful Qi.
Every single movement of his brought destruction and he wasn’t just cutting.
As if he were a man born for destruction, his movements gave birth to annihilation.
And then.
“Come!”
The one responsible for leaving scars on the earth with his scorched-earth sword.
Blansia Sewell.
Compared to his descendant, Blansia Bellamin, who had collapsed in exhaustion just from using the imitation Grandis, he was full of life.
More than just lively, he was cutting down the Demon Clan as if he were a fish in water.
Many often mistakenly assumed that a Knight belonging to a siege unit would have weak personal Martial Power.
While that was somewhat true in general, it did not apply to the progenitor, Blansia Sewell.
“Swish!”
Countless trajectories drawn in the air cut down the demons like stalks of straw.
The Knight Sword given to him was Moglay.
But that wasn’t the only one.
The Twin Swords of the Sovereign.
The pair of swords he was currently wielding was Blansia Sewell’s second Knight Sword.
Moglay for sieges was the first, and the Twin Swords of the Sovereign was the second.
Originally, only one was issued, but since he possessed outstanding abilities in both sieges and combat, he was specially granted two Knight Swords.
And his ability and performance were enough to send shivers down one’s spine.
“Hahahaha!”
He ran wild like a wolf that had jumped into a flock of sheep.
It was as if the battlefield were his own living room.
It was only natural.
Blansia Sewell and Malice Ahman had lived through an era of war.
They were there at the beginning of the Empire’s thousand-year war.
The start of a war was bound to be even more intense.
They were those who had made it through that harsh era and had been loyal to the Empire for a long time.
The battlefield was their home and sanctuary; slaughter was like a home-cooked meal to them.
Especially when it came to the Demon Clan, who were not human, they were a different species that deserved to be killed without a hint of guilt.
The current process of enjoying the slaughter was only natural.
I watched the scene intently.
I planned to step in if it looked like they were being pushed back.
That was why I had even drawn Anus and prepared.
‘There’s no need for that.’
The situation of the war was not unfavorable.
In fact, it was more than favorable.
Therefore, I didn’t bother joining the battle.
It wasn’t that I was avoiding the fight.
I simply needed to conserve my strength.
‘The real deal hasn’t appeared yet.’
Countless high-ranking demons?
The Demon King’s Legion near the border were nothing more than arrow fodder anyway.
They were just bait and a threat.
The true power of the Demon King’s Legion lay with the six Legion Commanders and their subordinate legions.
The demons currently before me were merely underlings who didn’t belong to any specific group.
The Legion Commanders and the Demon King.
To face them, I had to be in perfect condition, so I chose to observe.
I was watching the field of slaughter unfold for a while.
‘Hummm —’
I felt something and shifted my gaze.
Unlike the gruesome battle unfolding before my eyes, I looked toward the clear sky.
-Flash!
Something flashed.
At that moment, I kicked off the ground.
“Boom!”
With that movement loaded with power, I moved through at full speed.
“Crash!”
I managed to arrive beside Malice Ahman, who was busy destroying the enemy.
“…?”
His questioning gaze lingered on me for a moment but regardless of his gaze I swung the Anus in my hand.
“Swoosh!”
And the next moment.
“Clang!”
It felt as if space itself were cracking.
A roar echoed through the area along with the impact.
“Kyak!”
“Grrr!”
Some of the demons who couldn’t withstand the circular shockwave collapsed.
The same went for the Knights who were focused on the battle.
Frowning, they looked toward the source of the impact.
“Hum, hummm —”
The cause of the commotion was a spear.
A spear of a peculiar shape, dyed black and sprouting sharp, thorn-like protrusions.
“…Mistilteinn.”
I knew what it was.
If Knights had Knight Swords, the Demon Clan had Demonic Weapons.
It could be a treasure from a Dragon, those hoarders of wealth.
It could be a trophy obtained by killing a foolish human or it could be born through the body and authority of a Demon King.
Among these, the top-tier ones were those forged from the Demon King’s body and granted his authority.
And right now, before my eyes was Mistilteinn, one of those top-tier Demonic Weapons.
-Sssss!
A dark energy began to crawl out slowly.
It was the kind that annihilated all existing life.
It was one of the powerful Demonic Weapons, forged from a Demon King’s molar and granted the authority of Annihilation.
Thinking of the owner of this powerful Demonic Weapon.
“Hup!” I applied strength.
Then a transparent sword Qi surged and coated the broken blade.
“Boom!”
It collided with the aura of Annihilation, causing a strong repulsion.
-Whoosssh.
Mistilteinn flew back as if it were bouncing away.
It looked like it was falling somewhere after losing its power, but it wasn’t.
Mistilteinn spun through the air as it fell.
-Snap!
A hand reached out and snatched it.
“To think a human could block my strike.”
Among the Demon King’s Legion, a being had suddenly taken its place.
Featuring a helmet shaped like a lion with a thick mane, a stature over 3 meters tall, and rock-solid muscles.
“Beast Legion Commander!”
“Ho? You know me?”
As expected he didn’t know me but I knew him well.
Beast Legion Commander Behemoth, he had an original name, but he had never uttered it once.
Only the glorious name Behemoth, granted by Demon King Ingram, remained.
The one who had never revealed his true face hidden inside his helmet was the leader who led the Beast Legion, one of the six legions under the Demon King.
He stared at me intently and examined me as if he were looking at something mysterious and then.
“You, for a weak human, have accumulated quite a decent karma.”
As expected of a Legion Commander.
Unlike the other rabble, he didn’t just look at the appearance but peered into the karma hidden within.
That was something that couldn’t be grasped unless one had reached the level of an absolute powerhouse.
“If we had met on another battlefield, we might have vied for supremacy day and night, but it is a pity. I must summarily execute you according to the Demon King’s command.”
The reason the Beast Legion Commander appeared?
It was obvious.
To put an end to this stagnant war.
The fact that a Legion Commander, who hadn’t shown himself until now, had appeared showed how much the Demon King hated me and those associated with me.
And the manifestation of that rage was being revealed here and now….
“Step forward!”
“Thump, thump!”
Beast Legion Commander Behemoth and his Guardian Knights.
‘The Four Perils.’
Four sinister beasts.
Originally, they were uncontrollable beasts scattered across the north, south, east, and west of the Gritia Continent, committing all sorts of heinous acts, but they had surrendered to Behemoth’s Martial Power and joined his command.
“Grrrr!”
With long hair that practically swept the floor and legs made of interwoven human fingers.
It was Hundun, the chaos that swallowed everything.
A being with no intelligence, filled only with the desire to eat.
Then there was Taowu, who had a tiger’s face on a human’s face.
Qiongqi, who had the form of a winged tiger and Taotie, with a human face, a sheep’s body, tiger fangs, and sheep horns.
They were beings so powerful that the people of the Gritia Continent had once worshipped them as gods when they were called calamities.
In terms of ferocity and power alone, each one was easily comparable to a Legion Commander.
Even Behemoth wouldn’t have been able to keep them under his command if he didn’t have the ‘Control Over All Magic Beasts’ granted to him by the Demon King.
“Since I have personally brought my Guardian Knights, it’s over…”
“…Die!”
The moment he pointed at me the Four Perils, those absolute beings each called a calamity, lunged forward simultaneously.
Watching them, I recalled the words Demon King Ingram had once said to me, “Ohohoho! What?! You want me to tell you the weakness of the Four Perils?”
I had achieved a feat and received a reward for that merit.
And one of them was information about the weakness of the Four Perils.
Since it was certain that I would eventually oppose them and the Demon Clan, it was for the purpose of gathering information.
Of course, most things could be found through ancient books, but information regarding the Four Perils was hard to come by.
So I chose to ask the Demon King, the creator of all demons.
Of course, for that, I had to give up the rewards I could have gained by performing a feat.
If asked if it was worth it, I would say yes.
Because the Four Perils, the Guardian Knights of the Beast Legion Commander, were extremely powerful.
Specifically, the biggest problem was their hide.
Every single one of them was protected by an absolute hide that no weapon or attack could pierce.
After testing it a few times, even my attacks after rising to the rank of Legion Commander were useless.
That was why I even gave up my reward to ask about the Four Perils’ weakness, and I was able to get the answer.
“You seem to fear the Four Perils’ hide, that absolute defense. Fine, if you’re so desperate that you’d give up your reward for a feat, I should tell you. Actually, their hides were accumulated through the lives they’ve devoured and the evil deeds they’ve committed. Piercing it is quite a difficult task. The simplest way is to use a weapon with absolute authority, like the Mistilteinn that Behemoth uses. If that’s difficult, you’ll be able to cut through that hide if you use something imbued with absolute will.”
The Demon King’s answer was somewhat ambiguous.
Absolute will?
What on earth did that mean?
But after a long time had passed, I was able to find the answer to that.
I gripped it tightly.
The sword Anus in my hand.
Actually, this wasn’t bestowed by a king or an emperor.
It was a sword containing the soul of an old swordsman, a dying old man who never let go of the sword until the very end.
-Hummm!
This sword, forged with the will of a man who didn’t let go until he died boasted a sharpness that could cleanly cut through the hide of the Four Perils.
-Slice!