Through the senses he shared with the middle-ranking nest, Plagas felt the massive clumps of mana headed his way.
The middle-ranking nest, along with thousands of parasitic demons marching under its command, felt insignificant in comparison.
Soon, he realized he was right.
Plagas abruptly stood from his throne upon seeing the hundreds of winged, golden soldiers in the sky. Their bodies—even their spears—were made of golden fire.
"How… How could such creatures exist in this realm?" Plagas shuddered in terror.
The golden soldiers were neither human nor monster—Plagas was certain of it. It felt as though massive amounts of mana had been gathered, solidified, and turned into humanoid creatures capable of flight.
Was it magic?
A summoning?
Even the Lord of the Red Tower—considered the most intelligent demon in the Demon Realm—would likely be hard-pressed in finding an answer.
Despite being a high demon, Plagas was certain that a few dozen of those golden soldiers would be more than enough to kill him.
'I should escape immediately. I have to go back to the Demon Realm.' Plagas had survived this long by trusting his instincts. And right now, his instinct was screaming at him to flee, that he would perish if he fought those creatures.
His pride aside, his priority was to ensure his survival.
"I've done enough reconnaissance. I'm sure the Demon Lord Barkuvara won't mind if I finally return."
Through the middle-ranking nest's vision, Plagas watched in horror as the hundreds of golden soldiers swooped down and started massacring the parasitic demon horde on the ground. The few sky demons were also killed on sight.
"There you are," a voice was heard.
A human—a very young one at that—had landed next to the middle-ranking nest.
"You," said the human. "You're watching, right?"
Plagas' eyes widened. He realized that the human was not speaking to the nest, but to him.
Was it out of fear? The nest screeched and immediately shot out several tentacles to the human in front of it. But to Plagas' surprise, several golden soldiers moved in front of the human, protecting him from any harm. The tentacles, blocked by the spears of fire, burst into flames. The nest shrieked and squirmed in pain.
For a moment, it looked like a scene of knights protecting their king.
Plagas realized that this human was the master of these absurdly strong creatures massacring the demon horde.
"Not going to speak?" said the human in a cold voice.
It sounded as though the human was certain it was possible for Plagas to communicate through the middle-ranking nest.
The human gathered mana at his fingertips and fired a thin thread at the fleshy monster in front of him. The moment the nest's body was struck, it froze in place, as though its body had become enclosed with ice. Its tentacles remained suspended in the air, its eyes and mouth wide open.
With unhurried steps, the human walked closer to the nest.
"Plagas, was it?" said the human in a voice full of hatred.
Plagas fell in his seat and inadvertently gripped the throne's armrest tight, shattering it in an instant. The Lord of the Parasitic Demons had never expected to hear his name come out of a human's mouth.
How did the human learn of his identity?
And how did the human know he was connected to the nest?
The human grabbed the fleshy body of the still frozen nest, yanked it closer to him, looked at it straight in the eye, and said, "I should have annihilated your tribe. Your father, that bastard promised to never attack humans again if I spared his tribe back then. That damn liar."
Chills crawled down Plagas' spine.
Upon hearing those words, he finally realized the identity of this human.
He'd heard before how their tribe was almost annihilated during the First Great War, fifteen hundred years ago.
Back then, the parasitic demon tribe was almost erased from existence by the hand of a single magician.
"I'm coming for you," said the human. "Wait for me."
Massive amounts of mana were forcefully channeled into the middle-ranking nest's body, destroying its core from within. The link connecting Plagas to the nest vanished and he found himself inside the throne room once again.
For several seconds, Plagas sat there, horrified by what he saw.
That was no human. It was a monster far more terrifying than a high demon.
If he was not mistaken, it was the same human who almost annihilated the parasitic demon tribe more than a millennium ago.
"Impossible. He should be long dead by now," mumbled Plagas. "A human couldn't possibly live this long."
Although Plagas was still uncertain regarding the true identity of the human, he knew that the strength the human showed was real. No matter the human's true identity, one thing was certain—Plagas would meet his end here if that human managed to reach him.
The golden soldiers alone were probably more than strong enough to annihilate all the parasitic demons in these islands. Staying here was far too dangerous. Plagas had decided to concede this territory and leave everything behind.
"We're leaving!" shrieked Plagas, his face more pallid than usual.
The high-ranking nest sitting next to the throne rose. It wrapped its tentacles around the body of its master and placed him on top of its body.
At full speed, the high-ranking nest shot out of the Pirate King's palace.
Using brute force, it bored a hole through the walls and made its way to the ocean.
Plagas looked behind him nervously as they fled the Mullgray Islands.
He was afraid the human would suddenly appear and attack him from a distance.
"To the portal," he ordered.
The high-ranking nest screeched. Using its tentacles, it swam through the ragiacrus' territory.
Unlike humans, the sea wyverns did not fear the parasitic demons.
Shoals of ragiacrus started attacking Plagas and the high-ranking nest the moment they entered their territory.
"Out of the way!" snarled Plagas. His silver-black tentacles shot out and pierced the bodies of the sea wyverns. At the same time, the high-ranking nest released dozens of eggs, which immediately hatched into tentacled, parasitic monsters.
A fierce battle started unfolding in the Black Expanse, as the sea wyverns and the parasitic demons fought for dominance.
The sea wyverns—the so-called rulers of the Black Expanse—were clearly unhappy with the sudden appearance of the parasitic demons in their territory. Despite losing several of their kin in battle, shoals upon shoals of sea wyverns continued appearing and attacking Plagas and the high-ranking nest.
The sea wyverns were so persistent and territorial that Plagas ended up taking several hours to finally reach the portal.
Above them, a vortex of mana with an azure sphere at its center covered the sky.
The portal to the Demon Realm.
Plagas heaved a sigh of relief upon finally reaching it.
"Pesky sea lizards," Plagas angrily spat. Dozens of dead sea wyverns floated about. "I'll make sure to annihilate every one of you when I return."
Plagas' silver-black tentacles wrapped around the high-ranking nest's body. Using mana, he propelled himself toward the sky and entered the portal.
The azure sphere at the center of the vortex momentarily glowed.
Plagas, and the high-ranking nest he'd brought with him, disappeared from sight.
*** After passing through Port Kalavinka, Lark flew straight to the Mullgray Islands. The golden soldiers under his command would immediately disperse upon reaching an island, wiping it clean of demons in less than an hour.
Lark looked at the corpse of the middle-ranking nest floating next to him. He'd been using it to locate the whereabouts of Plagas. Unfortunately, a few minutes ago, he'd completely lost track of the Lord of Parasitic Demons. The high demon had probably retreated back into the portal.
"He's gone," said Lark.
Below him, the golden soldiers continued massacring the parasitic demons on the island.
Dismayed, Lark disabled his wind magic; the giant fleshy corpse fell from the sky and struck the ground with a loud thud.
'Survivors?' Lark noticed several islanders had come out of hiding. Together with the golden soldiers, they started fighting back against what remained of the parasitic demons.
Although he could see less than a hundred, Lark was still glad that several people had survived until today.
Some of the survivors noticed Lark as he hovered in the sky. Although they couldn't properly see him due to the distance, it was apparent by his clothes that he came from the mainland.
Lark ignored the stares and issued a command to the golden soldiers.
"Clean this place up. Proceed to the next island and kill every demon that you find."
The golden soldiers placed their hands on their chest upon receiving their orders. After killing all of the parasitic demons in this territory, they immediately moved to the next island. Lark, on the other hand, flew in the direction of the portal. Eventually, he arrived at the Black Expanse. The territory where the ragiacrus lived, where the portal was currently located.
A massive vortex spun in the sky, at its center a colossal azure sphere.
The same sphere that once appeared above the Lake of the Full Moon in the Kingdom of Lukas.
The only difference was that this one was a bit smaller, probably around two-thirds the size of the one that had appeared in the kingdom.
Lark looked at the ocean below. Several dozen sea wyvern corpses floated on top of the water. Judging by their dead bodies, it seemed these twenty-meter large monsters died recently. Lark could also see several hundred parasitic demon corpses floating here and there. It seemed that the Lord of Parasitic Demons killed all of these sea wyverns before leaving this realm.
The sea wyverns put up a decent fight, considering the opponent was a high demon, thought Lark.
Lark gazed at the portal in the sky.
According to the Arzomos, they'd made preparations before leaving their village in the Demon Realm. Agreas was supposed to sever the supply of mana connecting the portal to the mana well, before altering its coordinates and suppressing its size using several pinnacle-grade spells.
But judging by the portal and how the demons could freely enter and exit it as they pleased, it seemed that Agreas had failed.
Or a demon, capable of altering a portal this large, has appeared on the enemy's side.
How troublesome.
If such a demon really existed, Lark vowed to prioritize killing it once given the chance.
"Morpheus should still have enough mana for a single pinnacle-grade spell," said Lark as he gazed at the bracer in his arm.
His golden soldiers would eventually disappear several hours from now. Even if they managed to annihilate all of the parasitic and sky demons in the Mullgray Islands and the kingdom, the same problem would persist as long as the portal was open.
Now that Plagas had returned to the Demon Realm, a larger number of demons would likely soon invade this realm.
'I need to replenish the sword's mana after this.' Lark's bracer transformed into the same two-meter-long staff he used before. Clumps of mana gathered at its crown, and the five gemstones hovering on top of it rapidly spun around.
The clumps of mana shot toward the portal and wrapped around it, enveloping the azure sphere with Lark's magic. Lark repeated this several times until the Sword of Morpheus finally ran out of mana. His beloved artifact, now drained of all mana, latched on his arm and morphed back into a bracer.
The spell wrapping around the portal was neither a pinnacle-grade spell nor grand scale magic. It was eight-tier at most and would immediately explode the moment someone touched it.
With over a hundred layers wrapped around the portal, the next demon army to invade this realm would be immediately blown to pieces the moment they stepped foot inside the portal.
The explosion would probably be powerful enough to evaporate a portion of the Black Expanse. A simple, yet effective spell, considering the current circumstances.
Lark's welcoming gift to Plagas.
He sincerely hoped that the Lord of the Parasitic Demons would be the first to enter the portal.