Although they'd been petrified by fear, the royal guards still formed a defensive formation around King Alvis. Their hands were trembling as they held their swords, their legs wobbling and their faces drained of all color.
"Lower your weapons," said King Alvis. "This mons— this creature means no harm."
Although King Alvis was visibly terrified just like his men, he'd heard the words uttered by this seven-headed monster the moment it arrived.
Although it sounded preposterous, it seemed this creature was subservient to the Lord of Blackstone Town.
"Blackie," said Lark.
Gusts of wind swept through the forest as the seven-headed monster flapped its wings.
"God Evander," replied the Scylla in a meek voice.
"This man is King Alvis, King of the Kingdom of Lukas," Lark started introducing his companions one by one. "Lady Ropianna, Elias Farsight."
Lark gazed at the bulky old man wearing armor next to His Majesty.
Seeing Lark's gaze, the old man said, "Viscount Carlos, former general of the kingdom."
"You heard him," said Lark. "And as for these men, they're valiant soldiers of this kingdom."
The seven-headed monster continued hovering in the air, its gaze indifferent. Only the third head nodded its head in acknowledgment. It was apparent that this massive creature saw these humans as nothing more than insects. In the eyes of the Scylla, Austen and George held far greater importance than the lives of all these people.
King of a nation? Such a title was trivial when compared to God Evander's direct disciples.
"Come down, Blackie. Make sure not to damage the trees too much," said Lark.
The seven-headed monster immediately landed on the ground, and amazingly avoided damaging the trees, faithfully following the orders of Lark.
The first head of the Scylla sneakily moved closer to Lark, and to its delight, received a pat on its snout. The first head closed its eyes in bliss.
"This is Blackie," said Lark as he continued patting the first head's snout.
The other heads, realizing what was happening, growled, startling King Alvis and his men. The other heads also moved closer to Lark, in hopes of also receiving a pat or a rub.
"With its help, it should be possible for us to reach the front lines within a single day."
Silence befell the group for a moment.
They were still stunned by the sudden turn of events. They'd never expected a creature this domineering to suddenly appear from the forest.
Moreover, judging by what the Lord of Blackstone Town had said, it seemed that they would be using this seven-headed monster to reach the west.
"We… We're riding that?" muttered one of the soldiers, disbelief evident on his face.
The seventh head snorted upon hearing the remark of the soldier. One of the heads glared at him, its eyes clearly saying: 'This insect. If not for God Evander, I would have ripped you to shreds.' It was amazing how the creature's gaze could easily convey its message.
"Lord Lark…" said Lady Ropianna. "This… majestic creature. It's the one the royal knights encountered in the labyrinth, right?"
As the one who'd received the message from the survivors of the first expedition to the Forbidden Region, Lady Ropianna was the first to realize the true identity of the seven-headed monster.
"It was the creature guarding the lowest floor of the labyrinth in the Forbidden Region," said Lark. "That's right."
"T-The monster that killed the royal knights?!"
"But what is it doing here?"
The royal guards started whispering to each other. The story of how the royal knights were almost annihilated was a famous story among the soldiers of the capital. Some of them thought the story had been blown out of proportion and greatly exaggerated. But now, they were seeing the seven-headed monster in flesh.
"God Evander," said the first head, "I dislike these humans."
The murmurs died in an instant. Upon hearing those words, the soldiers immediately shut their mouths.
"I'm indebted to these people," said Lark. "King Alvis and Lady Ropianna, in particular, have been of great help to me in developing Blackstone Town."
Indeed, King Alvis had been incredibly lenient to him, going as far as brushing off the incident when he refused to take on the role of a Royal Advisor. Despite the various nasty rumors surrounding Lark Marcus, the king had still entrusted him with the role of leading the Third Army, granting more than ten thousand men under his command. The king even went as far as granting him sovereignty over the Endless Forest. A territory larger than the kingdom itself.
Lady Ropianna, on the other hand, had been pulling the strings in the Temple of the Water God, making sure things were convenient for Lark.
"God Evander is indebted to these people," said the first head. It looked at King Alvis and his men. "We understand."
From worthless insects, the status of King Alvis and his men had been promoted to 'humans it should protect should danger arise.' "I hope you will let them ride on your body," said Lark. "We're going to the western territories."
The Scylla replied, "Of course. If it's God Evander's will."
The prideful Scylla lowered its body.
"The sooner we get there, the better," said Lark. He jumped on top of the Scylla's body. "Let's go, Your Majesty."
Everyone, particularly the royal guards, was hesitant at first. It took them some time before they were able to muster up the courage to climb on top of the seven-headed monster.
The moment everyone was onboard the Scylla, Lark cast a protective barrier, protecting everyone from the wind the moment they started flying in the sky. As long as they were inside the barrier, it wouldn't be too dangerous, even if they were to fall off the Scylla's back.
"Let's go," said Lark.
The Scylla roared, jumped to the sky, and unfolded its wings. King Alvis and his men desperately clung onto the Scylla's body, unaware that Lark's barrier was more than enough to prevent them from falling.
As they gained altitude, Lark noticed several people below. It seemed that news of the appearance of the unknown monster had spread to all of the miners. Holding their pickaxes in their hands, they all looked up and stared at the Scylla flying in the sky.
"Top speed," said Lark. "To the west."
"Yes, God Evander!"
The Scylla flapped its wings, increased its altitude, and flew toward the west at an incredibly fast speed.
The scenery below shifted at a dizzying pace. With its two pairs of wings, the Scylla flew several times faster than Lark's flight magic.
King Alvis and his men still couldn't believe that such a method of transportation existed.
"This is amazing," mumbled one of the royal guards.
If they kept this pace, it would be more than feasible to reach the western territories in less than a day.
*** [Marcus Duchy – Gryphon City] Duke Drakus had hardly slept these past several days. After the demon horde ravaged the Kelvin Duchy to the ground, they immediately set their eyes on the neighboring territories.
Although the demons had split into several groups, a bulk of their forces decided to attack the Marcus Duchy. All of the nearby towns and villages had already fallen to the demon's hands. Now, all that remained was Gryphon City.
Wearing full plate armor, Duke Drakus stood on top of the battlements, personally leading the soldiers to battle.
"Pour the oil!" roared Duke Drakus.
From atop the twenty-meter-high stone wall, castrel oil incessantly poured down on the demons below.
"Archers! Fire!"
Flaming arrows rained down on the parasitic demons. Tentacle monsters and parasitized humans—none were spared from the soldiers' attacks. Their bodies were engulfed by flames, scorching them alive. The scent of burned flesh wafted strongly in the air.
The tentacles within the mouth of the parasitized humans violently squirmed; some of them even tried getting out, but to no avail. The parasitic demons, on the other hand, screeched in pain, their tentacles repeatedly banging against the walls.
The soldiers had learned of this little trick several days ago. After the surrounding towns and villages had fallen to the demons, they'd learned that the damnable creatures were capable of taking over the bodies of their prey. Duke Drakus knew that the only way for them to survive a prolonged battle was to prevent the demons from utilizing that ability. Simply killing the demons wasn't enough. They needed to get rid of the corpses too.
Without hesitation, the duke ordered his men to burn all the bodies of both humans and demons.
Duke Drakus' decisiveness played a critical part in how the city had managed to survive until now. Although burning the bodies of their fallen comrades seemed cruel, it rendered the parasitic demons' abilities useless.
Screeches were heard from the sky. Looking up, Duke Drakus saw hundreds of sky demons approaching the city.
"The pesky bastards are back again," Duke Drakus said, frowning.
"The nets?"
"Ready at any time, Your Grace," said a soldier.
"Good." Duke Drakus sheathed his sword, grabbed a crossbow, and aimed at the flying demons in the sky.
Over a hundred barrels of castrel oil were currently stored in the city.
With the walls protecting Gryphon City, it should be possible for them to continue with their current tactic for several more weeks. The only problem was the demons coming from the sky. Even now, they hadn't come up with an effective way for the soldiers to fight against those bastards.
"Not yet," said the duke.
The archers stationed on the walls patiently waited for the duke's command, their arrows aimed at the demons in the sky.
"Not yet," the duke repeated.
The sky demons loudly screeched, signaling the start of their attack.
They swooped toward the soldiers stationed on the battlements. Duke Drakus tightened his grip on the crossbow. The moment the sky demons reached a designated range, he roared, "Fire!"
On command, the archers fired their arrows. Although a third of them missed their targets, the majority successfully struck the demons swooping from the sky.
Unfortunately, unless it pierced their heads, a single arrow wasn't enough to kill a sky demon.
The sky demons angrily screeched and brandished their talons. They wanted to grab the humans and tear them into shreds. But before they could reach their targets, a net made of small iron chains abruptly rose from the ground and blocked their path. Unaware of the humans' trap, the sky demons collided with the nets. The soldiers didn't miss this opening. Even without the duke's orders, they started stabbing the sky demons with their spears.
The sky demons desperately tried evading the spears, but to their horror, their talons had been entangled by the meshed chains. Now their ability to fly had been temporarily sealed off by the humans, they were helpless cut down.
Duke Drakus watched in satisfaction as his soldiers one-sidedly slaughtered the demon horde. The sky demons that managed to survive encircled the city for several minutes, before flying away toward the direction of the Mullgray Islands.
"Lui's strategy is working really well against these demons," muttered the duke.
Although Duke Drakus ordered the burning of the bodies, the iron nets were proposed by his son, Lui.
The duke said to an officer. "How many men did we lose today?"
The officer said, "We've lost fifteen soldiers, Your Grace."
Fifteen men.
It was a surprisingly small number, considering they'd been fighting against thousands of demons on the ground and hundreds of flying demons in the sky.
When they were first attacked by the demon horde, the Marcus Army lost several hundred soldiers in a single day. It was only after the duke ordered the burning of the bodies that they managed to drastically reduce that number.
"Reporting, Your Grace!" A soldier ran to Duke Drakus and saluted.
"We've killed all of the demons at the southern gate!"
Duke Drakus smiled in satisfaction. As expected of his son.
The northern gate, along with the western walls, was guarded by Duke Drakus himself. Lui Marcus, on the other hand, guarded the southern gate and the eastern walls. Moreover, several groups of archers had been stationed through the city, protecting the city from the sky demons.
"Good work," said Duke Drakus. "Tell my son to take a rest."
"Yes, Your Grace!"
Duke Drakus gazed in the direction of the Kelvin Duchy. Although he'd never gotten along with the Kelvins, he still couldn't believe that such a powerful family met a fate so tragic at the hands of these demons.
"How regretful," muttered the duke.
With this, as long as they survived this war with the demons, Lui's ascension to the throne was practically secured.
Duke Drakus wondered what the scheming pig locked in the dungeon was feeling right now. While he was locked up, his territory had been ravaged to the ground, gone in the blink of an eye.
And as though that wasn't enough, several of his sons had been killed and the residents of the Duchy had been turned into parasitized humans.
Duke Kelvin looked at the corpses burning below the walls. Most of them were probably former residents of the Kelvin Duchy. The duke even caught a glimpse of someone who resembled Zaask Kelvin. It was regretful, but they needed to burn all their enemies if they wanted to protect the city.
This was the only way for them to survive against these parasitic monsters.
The duke took off his helmet and sighed. Tomorrow, another wave of demons would probably attack.
He was about to go down the walls and return to the lord's castle when he noticed a large shadow approaching the city from the east. A creature far larger than the flying demons.
The duke trembled.
The black creature was massive. If it stood up, it would probably easily tower over the walls of the city. Its tail alone would probably be enough to destroy the walls. Those black scales—they looked as tough as iron.
A dragon?
No.
Based on what he'd heard, dragons did not have seven heads. This was an entirely different monster.
"Y-Your Grace!"
"O-Over there!"
"Wh… What the hell is that monster?!"
Duke Kelvin's mind blanked for a moment.
Even when he faced the parasitic demons and the sky demons, he'd remained calm and collected.
But what's this?
How could mere humans hope to win against something so massive?
"Your Grace! Your orders?"
The soldiers visibly panicked. Metal clanked as they pulled out their swords, nocked their arrows, and raised their spears. The few magicians stationed on top of the walls started casting their magic.
The seven-headed creature finally reached Gryphon City, its body casting a massive shadow over the city.
Duke Drakus' shock quickly turned to denial, then despair. The city would be destroyed at this rate.
Just when he'd thought that they would soon meet the same fate as the Kelvins, a familiar figure jumped down from the seven-headed monster and landed on the battlements.
A young man with short silver hair and blue eyes.
"L-Lark?" whispered the duke.
This was the first time in years since the name of that human trash came out of the duke's mouth.
The young man looked at the corpses of the sky demons sprawled on top of the walls, then at the burning corpses below.
"The parasitic demons are incredibly weak to fire. It was good judgment to burn them along with the parasitized humans," he commented.
The young man finally looked at him.
"It's been a while, Duke."