Advent of the Archmage

No wonder the Dimensional Demon was the archenemy of Magicians. It was extremely fast—faster than the limit for organisms on Firuman!

Even with Nana’s speed, she could only make three stabs. The first was blocked by the Dimensional Demon reflexively. The second was blocked by its cuticle. Only the third one was able to cause harm, and it had fully processed everything by the time she made her fourth stab.

Clang, clang, clang. There were countless clashes, and it blocked all of Nana’s attacks. As he blocked, its figure became blurry and illusory as if it would flee into space again.

Nana couldn’t keep it here!

The Dimensional Demon was about to vanish into thin air soon.

"Restraint!" With perfect timing, Link tossed out a Space Orb. When it appeared, it was only the size of a fist. It was beside the Dimensional Demon in an instant, and it burst, enclosing the demon inside.

The Dimensional Demon was trapped inside, and its body became clear again.

"Brilliant Moon Arc Cut!"

Royal Knight Joseph finally reacted. It wasn’t that he had a slow reaction speed but that Nana, Link, and the Dimension Demon were too quick! His sword sliced through the air. A blazing white arc of light cut toward the opponent.

"Protective Halo!"

The other Royal Knights didn’t stand around either. Each one glowed with heavy light. The light spread out, jumping from person to person. Instantly, everyone was surrounded by a milky white cloud of glowing runes.

Protective Halo

Battle Aura Technique

Effect: After the halo appears, all light organisms within 150 feet will have their defensive abilities against dark power raised by 50%. Protective abilities against biological attacks are raised by 100%, and speed is raised by 50%.

(Note: this holy power comes from the Holy Grail!)

With these actions, the Dimensional Demon was finally hit. It was about to be killed, but suddenly, there were roars. The burning red figure shot out from behind a tree. Its target was none other than Link.

It was a Fodor Flaming Demon!

This Flaming Demon was very powerful and extremely fast. At its top speed, it would leave a trail of fire in the air. Its appearance had perfect timing too—it was the exact moment Link released the Space Orb to capture the Dimensional Demon.

"Master!" Nana wanted to stab the Dimensional Demon to death, but with Link in danger, her target moved to the Fodor Flaming Demon.

Boom! The air exploded, and Nana disappeared. When she reappeared, she was blocking the Fodor Flaming Demon’s path.

The demon seemed to be prepared; it chopped down with its flaming sword.

Clang, clang, clang, clang. Metal clashed against each other. This Flaming Demon’s swordsmanship was practically perfect. It definitely was not as fast as Nana, but each of its actions was both defensive and offensive. Its sword didn’t move too much, and it planned the position of each slice. Just like that, it consecutively blocked all of Nana’s attacks!

They dueled for one-tenth of a second, but their swords hit more than 30 times. Finally, it came to an end.

Nana’s left arm was sliced by the Flaming Demon’s sword. Her sturdy leather armor cracked instantly, and she instantly flew backwards from the force. Nearly at the same time, her other sword, Whispers of the Forest, stabbed the Flaming Demon’s right chest. It pierced the skin of its chest and left a bloody ten-centimeter-wide hole.

However, the Flaming Demon had a strong vitality. Even if there was a wound in its chest, it was still a small wound. It barely affected its fighting.

They were evenly matched; the Fodor Flaming Demon’s swordsmanship was incredible!

Even more terrifying, after Nana was forced back by the strike, the Flaming Demon continued charging towards Link, ignoring its wound.

At this time, the Dimensional Demon started struggling violently. Thick battle aura appeared on its body. Not only did this help it block the Brilliant Moon Arc Cut, but it also loosened Link’s spatial restraint.

Link was forced to use up more Mana to stabilize the spatial restraint. As for the Flaming Demon, he didn’t worry about it because he had teammates.

"Crystal Fortress!"

Milda had been using Level-7 spells the entire time. In the blink of an eye, three semi-translucent crystal arcs appeared before the charging Flaming Demon.

Boom! An instant later, the Fodor Flaming Demon collided with the first fortress. It smashed the wall into bits of light, but it slowed down considerably.

Boom! A second later, it crumbled the second fortress. Its speed had become slower than an average person.

Nana rushed over at this moment.

Clang, clang, clang, clang!

There was another round of metallic clangs. After one-tenth of a second, the Fodor Flaming Demon roared in pain. Simultaneously, a large number of metallic shards exploded.

It wasn’t that its swordsmanship wasn’t well enough or that its sword wasn’t strong enough. After hundreds of high-intensity collisions, the demon’s sword was shattered by Nana’s main sword, the Last Nightmare. The Fodor Flaming Demon paid heavily for this accident.

Crack. Nana pierced its right arm, breaking the bone.

The Flaming Demon roared and shot up powerfully. The sword in its left hand struck down at an impossible angle. Thick blood-like light flowed through the blade. The sulfuric odor in the air suddenly made it painful for one to breathe.

Nana instantly retreated. Her past experiences told her that not only were these flames at a high temperature, they were also highly corrosive. She might not be able to withstand them.

Just as she retreated, Romulsin finally acted. It was the Thorn Python!

Boom! The ground cracked apart. A three-foot-wide python-like thing made of countless thorns shot out from the crack. There were countless sharp vines at the tip, stabbing at the Fodor Flaming Demon like spears.

The Fodor Flaming Demon finally gave up on attacking Link. It waved its sword, blocking the vines while retreating.

At the other side, the Dimensional Demon had finally sunk into despair. The eight Royal Knights, including Joseph, had rushed to it. Five crossed swords filled with Sacred Silver stabbed into it at once.

At that moment, Link transmitted his Mana at full power. The spatial restraint’s strength multiplied!

The Dimensional Demon was instantly restricted strongly. It couldn’t even use 10% of its strength. Faced with attacks all around it, it managed to block three swords but was powerless against the other five.

Five swords stabbed into it instantly. Under the battle aura’s force, the Sacred Silver poured into the Dimensional Demon’s body.

It let out a piercing screech. Its body started writhing and convulsing in pain. This was not struggling to escape; this was struggling for its life.

Even a demon could not withstand these injuries.

Seeing this situation, the Fodor Flaming Demon gave up. With a burst of dark red fire battle aura, it sliced through Romilson’s Thorn Python. It used this opportunity to retreat and flee.

Nana followed after with her swords, wanting to keep the Flaming Demon here. They exchanged three blows, and the Flaming Demon was stabbed through the back, while Nana was forced back again.

It was not because Nana was too weak; her body was too light. Though it was made of metal, its goal was to increase speed and agility. While it was sturdy enough, most of the metal had a sponge-like structure. Nana was only around 200 pounds while this Flaming Demon was at least half a ton. Nana couldn’t withstand the strikes at all and had to jump back.

Of course, the most important thing was that the Flaming Demon’s moves had returned to the true essence of swordsmanship. It was abnormally fast, almost 50% of Nana’s speed, and extremely effective. Each strike seemed brash and thoughtless but was all flawless.

This perfect swordsmanship was able to block Nana’s strikes which were faster than the speed of sound!

The Fodor Flaming Demon ran at top speed too, around 650 feet per second. It was abnormally agile as well. After a few turns in the forest, it actually disappeared.

Nana chased after instinctively, but Link called out, "Come back!"

There were more demons up ahead. If they were all as strong as the Fodor Flaming Demon, Nana would be in danger. It wasn’t worth it.

Nana immediately stopped and went back to Link. "Master, the target isn’t taken care of yet." Her voice was still crisp and lovely without any emotions, but there was a subtle tinge of discontent.

"Don’t worry. There’ll be more chances."

Link glanced back at the Dimensional Demon. This guy was about to die and was surviving off its strong vitality as a high-level demon.

At 6 1/2 feet, this demon was not that tall. It was a small thing among the other high-level demons. Its muscles and figure were perfect though. If Link’s surprise attack hadn’t been successful and the demon was allowed to use its top speed, probably even Nana would have a hard time against it.

Joseph walked over. He stepped onto the Dimensional Demon’s chest, pointing the crossed sword at its forehead. "Tell me," he ordered. "Where is the Necropolis?"

The Dimensional Demon didn’t answer. It just laughed—the sharp cackling sound was like a snake screaming.

Joseph stabbed the sword through the demon’s chest, nailing it to the ground. Then he twisted the sword forcefully. "Will you tell me?"

"Sss...Master will take revenge for me!" With that, the Dimensional Demon shook and exploded with a boom. Black blood splattered in all directions.

It had chosen suicide!

Thankfully, everyone was still covered by the Royal Knights’ protective halo. Other than Joseph, they were all far away so only he was affected. Everyone else was alright.

The powerful Dimensional Demon had been killed, but there was no joy in it. Instead, the people grew more somber.

They had had the advantage of striking first against these two high-level demons, and everyone had used all their tricks. But only one was left, and the other had escaped. Even Nana, their strongest fighter, had been unable to capture it.

If there were similar demons in the Necropolis—what would they do?

Everyone fell silent.

Half a minute later, Link said, "This is a mission without any choices. All we can do is go for it so let’s continue!"

Indeed, this mission had no other choices. If Wavier didn’t die, the undead army would surge into the mainland. They would still die on the battlefield. Rather than facing the undead army ravaging their homes, it was better to do their best now!

The group forged on. This time, they felt heavy but also resolute.

It was boom or bust!

...

Necropolis.

The Fodor Flaming Demon ran back and knelt before the succubus half its size. "Master," it said quietly, "They are very strong. They killed Milote."

"Oh, even Milote failed?" The succubus sighed at the shocking news. After a few seconds, she looked at Wavier, who was in the distance busy with the sacrifice. She raised her voice and whined, "Wavier, hurry and think of a solution. Two of my strongest Warriors couldn’t stop them."

Wavier laughed. "Misamier, help me get some more time. Not too long, just one hour. I’ll let them, especially Link, know what a god’s strength feels like!"

He howled with laughter and waved a hand. The Undead Knight beside him dragged another batch of Delonga citizens up the altar. He raised a hand and let the sword fall. Heads rolled down; blood flowing over the entire altar.

A beautiful power descended from the air. Wavier squinted his eyes drunkenly. Watered by this power, his appearance returned to a 20-year-old’s. He looked handsome, arrogant, and lively—other than those two crazed and bloodshot eyes!

"Alright, but I’ll only help you delay them for one more hour." Misamier stood up. Twisting her snake-like waist, she walked toward the forest shrouded in white fog.