Volume 8, Chapter 48 – The Demon Lord Descends

She’s too strong.

This was Lin’s first impression of the being known as Yisi Enya.

Both the stopped arrows and the earth-shattering collapse were magic the likes of which Lin had never heard or seen. The former might be a technique similar to Red’s degraded magic blade, but the latter, an existence that made more than half the city block tremble, had already surpassed Lin’s estimation of Yisi’s strength.

A fourth-tier spell? Or a peak fourth-tier spell, infinitely close to the fifth tier? If it was the latter, then she had to place Yisi Enya on an equal, or even higher, level than herself. There were many magic chanters who could use fourth-tier magic, but those who could react in such a short time and come up with the optimal solution were extremely rare. In addition, from what she had seen in the Warriors’ Association, her fight with the Flower of the Kingdom, Cynthia, this person not only had considerable attainments in magic, but also exceptionally excellent close-combat skills.

A magic swordsman.

Lin’s grip on her long scythe tightened.

The other party, like herself, was a magic swordsman proficient in both magic and martial arts. Although magic swordsmen were prone to being mediocre in both, once they achieved mastery, they would become their enemies’ nightmare.

Of course, the possibility of achieving such mastery was minuscule. She herself had the capital to practice both paths at the same time only because she possessed the blood of both a sea monster and a dragon, giving her a very high affinity for magic from birth, and her physical constitution was much stronger than a human’s.

But this person named Yisi Enya was different. Even if she was a pureblood, it was impossible for her to be stronger than herself in terms of talent. Otherwise, with the advantage the Blood Clan had over humans, even with the Tower of Alexia, humans would not have been able to withstand their raids.

No.

Now was not the time to think about why. Since it had already happened, the only thing that mattered now was how to defeat her.

Lin nodded to her two companions.

“You two take care of Cynthia. This one is mine.”

“Hoh.”

Before her two companions could reply, Yisi Enya let out a light hum of interest. She was probably scoffing at her proposal of a one-on-one duel. People with absolute confidence in their own strength were all like this. Whether it was those in the Empire who opposed her, or the current Yisi Enya, they believed that only by everyone attacking at once could they be a match for their strength. But such people often met a dismal end. The number of beings in this world who could slaughter both the Blood Clan and humans was not small. Therefore, one should never underestimate their enemy.

Of course, that includes me.

The sound of splashing water indicated that Red and Purple had already gone to deal with Cynthia behind her. With their strength of nearly level forty, it wouldn’t take long to deal with Cynthia. And their group had also come prepared. Not only were they wearing magic items to conceal their identities, but their entire bodies were also wrapped in black cloth, leaving no clues related to their identities. As for how to make Cynthia think that the ones who had attacked her sister were the nobles, that was very easy. The dead noble soldiers in the corners and their family crests were the best evidence for framing.

“Are you sure you’re going to face me alone?”

Yisi Enya threw out a question.

Isn’t she worried about Cynthia?

But she had no room to be so kind as to remind her. The target of this mission was only Alice. Then, there was only one choice left.

Lin turned around without hesitation and rushed towards Cynthia with her two companions.

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From the very beginning, she had no need to fight Yisi Enya. To engage in a one-on-one duel with her would undoubtedly be an act of underestimating the enemy.

Although the heavy rain would make it difficult for ordinary people to see, because of the deep-sea monster blood flowing in her veins, this blurriness was of no consequence. In her vision, her two companions had already engaged Cynthia. Cynthia was naturally no match for the two of them. Even in a prepared, frontal battle, Cynthia could not defeat either of her companions, let alone while trying to protect her younger sister. As long as she joined the battle, everything would be over.

With this thought, Lin leaped into the air.

[Danger Sense]

Like missing a step while going down the stairs, a huge sense of danger instantly filled Lin’s entire body.

Behind me.

If I don’t dodge, I’ll die.

But this was the air, with no foothold. How was she supposed to dodge? Even if she were to activate flight magic now, it would be too late.

A light hum of displeasure at being outplayed escaped Lin, and then, the sound of cloth being torn was heard in the torrential rain.

A pair of wings appeared behind Lin.

They were different from ordinary vampires, and also clearly different from the wings of a pureblood. They were much larger than the wings of a vampire that could not support its own flight, large enough to envelop a person entirely—enormous dragon wings. Disregarding the risk of being seen by Cynthia, Lin flapped her wings forcefully, forcibly turning around in mid-air. And the very next second after she dodged, a red stream of light, like a meteor, streaked past the spot where she had been. With the sound of the wind tearing through the air and rain, Gungnir plunged into the ruins, and a roar that almost shattered one’s eardrums echoed from the earth.

Glancing at the ravaged ground, Lin frowned. If not for ‘Danger Sense,’ she would have had all her bones broken, even if she didn’t die. ‘Danger Sense’ was a magic unique to the holders of the Gospel. When danger was foreseen, the Gospel would remind the holder of where the danger was coming from.

Landing on a roof, Lin subconsciously turned to look behind her, but Yisi Enya’s shadow was no longer on the street.

Where did she go?

“Guh.”

“Lin!”

The pained cry of her companion came from behind.

At some point, Yisi had inserted herself between Cynthia and her companions, and in just a short moment, had incapacitated both of them. Red had been blasted into the ruins, while Purple seemed to have been knocked out and thrown to the ground.

Yisi clapped her hands.

“Hah, as expected. You’re much harder to deal with than your two companions. I thought my Gungnir was fast enough just now. How did you react? I don’t think even the fallen angel Ariel could have dodged that.”

The fallen angel Ariel?

Ariel was one of the strongest fallen angels in Ouranos’s faction. Had Yisi Enya already fought with such an existence and survived?

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Lin’s wariness of Yisi Enya grew even stronger.

Then.

Yisi Enya once again disappeared from her sight, and ‘Danger Sense’ activated again.

She’s coming.

Below.

Using her feet to push off the roof, Lin leaped into the air. Then, the roof was pierced from below. A long spear filled with the light of blood and a silver-haired figure drenched in rain appeared before her. More like a demon bathed in blood than a spirit in the rain.

“You dodged again?”

Yisi frowned in dissatisfaction.

Lin narrowed her eyes. Almost everyone who had tried to ambush her had had this reaction, but only this time was she no longer at ease—the other party was too fast. She hadn’t even seen when she had pulled the long spear from the ruins. To fight such an enemy, if she didn’t pay twelve-tenths of her attention, the only outcome would be defeat.

“It seems it’s not that your reaction is fast, but that you foresaw what I was going to do. The Gospel? Am I right?”

Along with the voice came a tearing sound against the wind.

[Danger Sense] activated again.

It was the same premonition of death, but this time, it did not give Lin accurate information. The threat of death seemed to be coming from all directions, as if no matter which direction she dodged, she would be met with a fatal end.

This is bad.

“Hmph.”

With a cold snort, Lin no longer concealed her power. Using her body as an axis, she swung her long scythe in a wide slash.

“[Waltz Slash].”

Clang!

The sparks that flew out lit up the rainy night for an instant.

It was like a knife hitting an iron plate. The force that came back from the handle made the web of her thumb go numb. If she hadn’t secretly covered her hands with scales, this single collision would have paralyzed more than half of her arm. Unfortunately for her opponent, she was not human.

“Hah!”

Forcibly changing the trajectory of the scythe, which had recoiled from the impact, Lin swung it at Yisi again with a speed even faster than the recoil.

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As long as she could grasp the opponent’s trajectory, there was a possibility of victory. In fact, even though they were both magic swordsmen, the other party could not possibly have a physical body that surpassed that of a human like her. She could re-swing the recoiled scythe in an extremely short time, but a human could never do that. Humans had a moment of weakness called ‘exhaustion.’ And the current Yisi was the same. Due to the violent collision just now, Yisi, whose Gungnir had been sent flying backward, was forced into a moment of stiffness.

However.

“What?”

Lin let out her first word since the fight had begun.

It was a cry mixed with surprise and shock, and even a hint of panic.

Just like her own scythe, Gungnir also returned at a speed even faster than when it had been sent flying, and finally collided with the scythe. And this time, because she was in the air with no point of leverage, Lin was slammed back onto the roof by Yisi’s downward strike. The fragile roof only held for less than a second before it shattered with a series of clattering sounds, and finally, she fell to the ground along with it.

“Ugh.”

Although she had managed to spread her wings in time to cushion her back, the impact of hitting the ground was not pleasant either. The ground had probably been smashed into a large crater. Her bones let out a creaking groan, and her internal organs felt as if they had been displaced. Stomach acid rushed up her esophagus to her throat, and the nauseating sourness almost made her vomit.

This is a monster.

Her brain immediately made a judgment.

Not only was she not human, but she wasn’t even of the Blood Clan. Her pureblood identity was just a disguise. This was a complete and utter monster, even more so than herself, a monster so strong it could defeat her in a single blow.

“So it is a magic that senses danger. I knew it. If not for sensing my movements in advance, with your level, you could never have dodged Gungnir. I never thought the Gospel would be so perverse. Although you’re a woman, I won’t spare you for that reason. The crime of deliberately harming Alice and Cynthia must be repaid,” Yisi walked up to Lin step by step, the unyielding will in her eyes making it impossible to lie. “I know the Gospel is on you. Give it to me.”

The other party’s goal was the Gospel.

Was her constant interaction with Cynthia to bait her? The reason she could always predict their movements was also because she possessed something similar to, or even more advanced than, the Gospel?

A series of wild thoughts flashed through her mind. This was an experience Lin had never had before. It wasn’t that she was inexperienced, but that too many incredible things had happened in this short period of time. As if to crush Lin psychologically, Yisi took another step closer.

“Danger Sense is not omnipotent. Because you rely on it too much, once you encounter a situation it can’t handle, you will be left waiting for death. Just like how I applied pressure from all directions just now. From the moment I judged that it was Danger Sense, you had already lost. Hand over the Gospel!”

I can’t give it to a person like this.

Perhaps her eyes had betrayed her thoughts. The moment their gazes met and she intended to get up, the other party no longer hesitated.

To prevent her from escaping, Yisi stepped on her chest, then unceremoniously began to search her body. It was a frantic, obvious search for the Gospel. Her blue eyes were mostly calm, with a small part of anxiety.

Anxiety?

What is she anxious about?

At this critical moment, Lin’s mind raced.

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Could it be that her power is not long-lasting, and the reason she could defeat me was because she has a similar ability to ‘that,’ like me?

If that’s the case, then she just needs to hold on until her power is exhausted and she falls into a moment of weakness.

No matter what, she could not hand over the Gospel to her.

Lin tried to push herself up from the ground with her limbs, but the force on her chest was like a mountain. No matter how hard she tried, she could not get the feedback she wanted.

Damn it.

If the Gospel were to be taken away, she, no, everything in this world would be finished.

A fear she hadn’t experienced in a long time welled up in her heart again. In the past, she had killed everything that had made her feel fear. But only now, she had the illusion that she could never overcome this high wall.

I can’t give it to her.

In a situation where she couldn’t break free and was not in mortal danger—without mortal danger, she couldn’t use her special magic—there was only one thing she could do.

Her fingers curled back towards her wrist and grabbed the stone tied to it. Although she had promised Purple that she wouldn’t use it lightly, now was the time when she had no other choice.

She clenched her fist, and then crushed it.

Crack.

As if glass had been shattered by someone, a series of cracking sounds echoed around them. An incomparably strong wind blew from the ruins, and the crumbling houses were also instantly blown away. Then, a huge black hole slowly appeared in the empty sky. The torrential rain, as if it had encountered some terrifying thing, changed its trajectory and avoided this beast that devoured people.

That was an existence stronger than the son of the great demon.

The son of the great demon was a demon that could only be dealt with by two level-forty individuals. And an existence stronger than that, besides the fallen angels, there were only a few left in the demon faction.

Although she bore the mission of having to challenge them, it was not now. She did not yet have the capital to challenge them.

Also drawn by the change in the environment, Yisi stopped searching Lin for the Gospel and looked up at the black hole in the sky that seemed to be about to swallow the entire city. A moment later, a deliberately mature voice came from the black hole.

“Ohoho~ Finally freed from that castle. Is this the air of the human world? How intoxicating. I—no, We, We shall reward you, the human who summoned me. Do you wish to die a quick death, or join me in the ranks of the demons?”

Appearing in the sky was a small girl with long gray hair and red eyes, her petite body covered only by a loose robe. The girl looked very lovable at first glance, but a look at the horns on her head and the long, slender tail behind her would tell you that this girl was not human. Even the raindrops in the sky feared this demon lord. Even standing in the rain without any protection, there was not a single drop of water on her.

As if enjoying the attention of the crowd, the girl paused for a moment before tilting her head back and announcing in a deliberately loud voice.

“My name is Tina Alexia Tartaros! Fear my appearance, you lowly humans!”