"It's been a while, Duke."
Although the young man spoke to him with honorifics, there was no trace of familiarity or affection within his voice. The duke felt as though he was speaking to an entirely different person.
His second son, who'd been always afraid to even look at him, was now looking him straight in the eyes.
For a moment, the duke had the urge to avert his gaze and lower his head. An indescribable sense of authority emanated from the young man's body. Even the previous king of the kingdom—the so-called Tyrant King— was not this domineering.
An uncomfortable silence befell everyone.
Lark stared at the duke for several seconds. He spoke, "Your Majesty, it should be safe for you to come down now."
His Majesty?
The duke and his soldiers instinctively looked up at the massive flying monster in the sky. From atop its body, several men—assisted by wind spells—started to hover down. They all landed softly on top of the walls, right behind Lark.
The duke finally found the courage to speak. "Your Majesty?" he whispered in disbelief.
What was the king doing here, of all places? Moreover, the ones accompanying him were prominent figures of the kingdom.
The former general of the kingdom, Marquis Carlos.
Elias Farsight.
The Seer, Lady Ropianna.
And several royal guards.
All figures that served as pillars of this kingdom.
"Duke."
Duke Drakus almost flinched when his second son spoke.
"How long has it been since the sky demons escaped this region?"
His second son was looking at the west, in the direction of the Mullgray Islands.
"Just… Just a while ago," the duke almost stuttered. He was surprised that he answered the question of the devil incarnate. Under normal circumstances, the duke wouldn't even bother giving an answer. He'd just broken the vow he made several years ago not to speak with him.
"I see," said Lark. "Blackie."
The seven-headed monster hovering above the city spoke in a deep voice.
"God Evander."
"I'll be gone for a moment. Protect this city. Make sure no harm comes to His Majesty."
The seven-headed monster fiercely flapped its wings, creating strong gusts of wind. All seven heads lowered their heads and said, "As you wish, My God."
The duke and his soldiers trembled.
There was nothing more terrifying than a colossal, intelligent monster.
But what horrified them the most was that this monster was showing such deference to a single person.
The soldiers who'd recognized Lark questioned if he really was the duke's second son.
"Your Majesty," said Lark. Massive amounts of mana visible to the naked eye started gathering around his body. "Please stay inside the city."
King Alvis lightly bowed his head. "We'll patiently await your return, Lord Lark."
Lark's body slowly hovered up. Without uttering another word, the mana surrounding his body exploded and his body shot toward Mullgray Islands. In seconds, his figure turned into a dot in the sky, before completely disappearing from sight.
After Lark left, the seven-headed monster landed at the outskirts of the city, just a few hundred meters in front of the gate. For several seconds, it longingly stared at the west. It folded its wings, slumped its head on the ground, and closed its eyes.
Duke Drakus looked at King Alvis. Even now, his mind still could not process everything that transpired before him.
King Alvis gently smiled. He could understand how stunned the duke was.
"Drakus, this old man is willing to answer whatever questions you may have."
*** Lark flew at top speed.
After passing through the destroyed towns and villages adjacent to Gryphon City, he finally arrived at the Kelvin Duchy.
Lark slowed to a stop as he scanned what used to be one of the largest territories of the kingdom. The Duchy, which boasted a strong army of hussars, had been ravaged to the ground. Half the city was burned and dismembered bodies littered the streets. Judging by how mutilated most of the corpses were, it seemed that the soldiers fought against the demons until their last breaths.
Lark seethed with rage. Tens of thousands of people had been killed by the demons in mere days.
"If only I'd got here sooner," he mumbled to himself.
Screeches were heard from the sky. Hundreds of sky demons appeared and flew toward Lark. Below, hundreds of parasitic demons started unburrowing themselves from the ground.
Lark emotionlessly gazed at the flock of demons shooting toward his direction. He raised his hand into the air and cast the same spell he'd used back in Lion City.
Grand Scale Magic: Wrath of the Sun God.
A massive magic circle formed in the sky in seconds. Like glass, it glowed brightly for a moment then shattered. Thousands of fist-sized golden orbs of light appeared and rained down from the heavens.
As though they had lives of their own, the golden orbs of light shot toward the sky demons and toward the parasitic demons below.
Like a hot knife cutting through tallow, the golden orbs of light easily pierced through the bodies of the demons. Soon, the whole Duchy was filled with death throes as the parasitic demons were slaughtered by the dozen.
Seeing their kin being slaughtered, the sky demons at the back of the flock immediately made a turnabout and tried to escape. Seeing this, Lark cast another spell. A similar-looking magic circle appeared in the sky and over a thousand spears of golden light appeared above Lark.
Grand Scale Magic: Spear of the Sun God.
With speed far surpassing the golden orbs, the spears of golden light shot toward the sky demons trying to escape from Lark. The spears impaled the sky demons right at their chests before exploding and bursting into flames. Hundreds of sky demons, their bodies still burning with golden flames, fell to the ground like rain.
*** [Mullgray Islands] A couple of weeks had passed since the parasitic demon army attacked the empire.
To Plagas' surprise, his attempt to obtain the body of the so-called prince and his general had ended in vain. Despite ordering all of the parasitic and sky demons in the empire, they still failed to breach the defenses of the imperial city.
A group of magicians capable of flight suddenly appeared and intercepted the sky demons' attacks. As well, a female human who appeared to be their leader, was capable of reanimating the corpses of demons, turning them into her soldiers. With her on the empire's side, the humans quickly tilted the tides of war.
A necromancer.
And a powerful one at that.
Plagas thought those despicable magicians had been erased from this land after the fall of the Magic Empire.
Who would have known that he would encounter one, after attacking one of the cities of the empire?
"Witches of Aravark, was it?"
Plagas learned of the name of the organization after spying on the humans for several days. According to what he'd heard, the Witches of Aravark were a powerful organization that served as the guardians of the northwest part of the empire. An organization equal in strength with the royal knights.
Plagas stood from his throne and licked his lips. "Even the body of that female is fine. I need to obtain it, no matter what."
Realizing there was a surprisingly large number of powerful humans in the empire, Plagas no longer bothered overseeing what was happening in the Kingdom of Lukas. He decreased the number of parasitic demons directly connected to his consciousness. He deemed that even a mindless mob of demons would be more than enough to slaughter such a weak nation.
Currently, the Lord of the Parasitic Demons' priority was to secure several strong human bodies to become hosts of his nests.
The moment he'd managed to create several dozen high-ranking nests, it should be possible even for him—the weakest among the tribe leaders— to wage war with the entire human race.
"My beloved nest," Plagas stroked the fleshy tentacle of the high-ranking nest next to him, "take me there."
The high-ranking nest screeched. It gently wrapped its tentacles around Plagas and placed him on top of its body. They were about to depart for the empire when suddenly, Plagas felt the links binding him to the sentries he'd placed in the kingdom disappear one after another.
Plagas furrowed his brows and mumbled, "What's happening?"
Several links had disappeared at the same time. Even the parasitic demons he'd ordered to hide underground were gone.
Plagas closed his eyes and took over the consciousness of a parasitic demon located at the Kelvin Duchy. He was stunned by what he saw.
"What... What's this!?"
Through the eyes of the parasitic demon, Plagas stared at the massacre unfolding at the Kelvin Duchy.
The parasitic demons were being slaughtered by the dozen. Hundreds if not thousands of golden orbs of light were falling from the sky. The parasitic demons were rendered helpless as the golden orbs of light pierced through their bodies, melting their innards and killing them with a single strike. Even the sky demons above weren't spared from the golden orbs' wrath.
A one-sided massacre.
The parasitic demons and the sky demons couldn't even fight back.
"Who? Who is it?!"
Before Plagas could see the perpetrator of the massacre, the parasitic demon he was linked to was struck by the golden orb. Plagas flinched as the pain the parasitic demon felt was transmitted to him for a moment. His vision turned black and his consciousness was forcefully sent back to his real body.
Plagas fell silent.
He was certain that at least a tenth-tier magic was cast to create that spell. Whoever the caster was, he was certainly a very powerful magician.
Plagas rubbed his chin. His silver-black tentacles squirmed.
He could afford to lose thousands of parasitic demons. As long as he had his high-ranking nests with him, it should be possible to create them indefinitely.
"A necromancer and a strong unknown magician," he mumbled.
Plagas initially wanted to go to the empire personally and take the body of the prince and the leader of the Witches of Aravark. But now, he'd changed his mind. He decided to first investigate the identity of the unknown magician. His instinct was telling him that the unknown magician was far stronger than the necromancer protecting the empire.
Plagas sent a mental transmission to the middle-ranking nest hiding at the Kalavinka Port.
"Find the magician and bring his body to me," ordered Plagas.
Upon receiving its orders, the middle-ranking nest screeched and immediately shot toward the Kelvin Duchy.