The Dragons' Assault
Dragons were a race that was called the strongest in the Intermediate World.
Adult dragons could use magic up to the 9th circle, and their breath attacks were powerful in all attributes. Their body lengths easily exceeded 150 meters, and older dragons boasted even larger lengths.
There were more than 1000 dragons, and with over 1000 9th circle masters, it was clear why they were called the strongest race in the Intermediate World.
The Dragon Lord was always a 10th circle master across generations.
They were also called the guardians of the Intermediate World, and the reason they were called that was because it was their duty to constantly monitor and eliminate the demonic beasts invading the Intermediate World.
However, despite descending into the Intermediate World, Jae-hyun showed a different path from the previous Demon Kings.
Up until now, Demon Kings upon descending into the Intermediate World immediately summoned the Dark Army and revealed their presence. And if the dragons alone couldn't face them, they would borrow the power of humans and other races to fight the Dark Army.
Especially humans with holy power like priests and paladins were of great help in fighting the Dark Army, and that was proven in the war 10 years ago.
The Demon King Laylana was the strongest Demon King in history with terrifying power and magic power surpassing that of dragons.
Unlike the delicate appearance of a beautiful woman with unparalleled beauty, Laylana with her terrifying power brought despair not only to humans at the time but also to other races and dragons.
The demonic beasts she brought also possessed strong powers, and many dragons sacrificed themselves fighting them. In fact, before Laylana's arrival, the total number of dragons was up to 2000, but now only a little over 1000 remained, because nearly half of them died at that time.
The remaining 1000 dragons knew that the Demon King Laylana had fallen to the hero summoned from another world 10 years ago, and that the hero had been betrayed by the same humans and dealt with.
However, the 1000 dragons turned a blind eye to that fact. After all, it was a matter among humans, and they didn't want a being with such overwhelmingly strong power like the hero to remain.
The dragons believed that the continent where the hero and Demon King had disappeared would remain at peace for hundreds of years to come.
But their speculation was quickly proven wrong. In the Holy Kingdom of Astraea, many dragons were disguising themselves as humans and enjoying some kind of amusement, and of course they saw the videos Jae-hyun had posted all over the kingdom.
The dragons were greatly surprised that the hero they thought was dead was alive, and clicked their tongues, but didn't feel much crisis. They just dismissed it as a matter among humans, since it wasn't their business that he had been betrayed.
But it wasn't the case for humans. The truth of the final battle with the Demon King 10 years ago was different from what was known to the world: it was not that the Demon King and the hero died simultaneously from each other's holy and demonic swords.
The Demon King lost to the hero and died, but the hero was betrayed by his comrades and fled to another dimension. And the hero Jae-hyun, in addition to exposing this truth, showed the scene of the saintess committing a massacre.
Humans were outraged, and chaos broke out all over the kingdom, but to the dragons, it was just an interesting spectacle. They just watched with interest, saying it was obviously a matter of humans, and didn't get angry.
But soon, Jae-hyun widely announced to everyone the threat of the birth of a new Demon King and showed the corpses of the monsters he had killed filling Lampas City.
This was something the dragons had to pay attention to as well, and the appearance of 10,000 monsters in the Intermediate World raised the question of whether a Demon King had truly descended.
'New Demon King!'
'This cannot be allowed!'
If a new Demon King was born and descended into the Intermediate World, they had to stop it themselves. They had to confront it even by gathering the power of humans and other races.
And at this time, the dragons didn't pay much attention to the part where many humans swore loyalty to the hero, and didn't see it as a problem. But this was also revealed to be a huge mistake by the following words.
Those who had sworn loyalty to the hero, regardless of status, without distinction between warriors, mages, paladins, and priests, began to spew demonic energy from their bodies and turn into members of the Dark Army.
It happened in an instant, and in an instant, over 40 million humans turned into the Dark Army.
What... what is this?
H-how is this possible!
The dragons who were enjoying their amusement in the Holy Kingdom of Astraea were bewildered by the incidents that occurred everywhere. And soon they learned that the human from another world who was the former hero was actually the new Demon King.
It was something they hadn't imagined at all because of the holy sword he was holding.
A hero with a holy sword and a Demon King with a demonic sword!
The dragons were perplexed by this unexpected situation and urgently contacted the Dragon Lord.
It was none other than the Holy Kingdom of Astraea.
The Holy Kingdom of Astraea had holy power, which is the opposite of the power of the Dark Army that includes demons, monsters, and dark mages, and had played an important role as the Light Army in the previous war.
Although it was the one with the strongest holy power, the hero had shown the might of defeating 500,000 Dark Army alone, and even the great dark mages that the dragons couldn't guarantee a 1:1 victory crumbled before the hero's holy sword in an instant.
It was also because the power of holy power was an anti-energy to dark beings.
And even without that, the existence of priests was important. In the battlefield, the blessings of priests made the power of those blessed stronger, and while it didn't work on strong ones above a certain level, it had a significant effect on ordinary humans.
Moreover, when blessings were cast on weapons, they gained the holy attribute of holy power, and those weapons dealt not just simple attacks but stronger blows to dark beings with the demonic attribute, and even to enemies where physical attacks didn't work like ghost-type undead, but only aura or magic attacks worked, they could attack.
Especially when fighting against the Dark Army, it was even more advantageous for strong ones above a certain level to receive blessings from priests on weapons, etc., to give additional blows.
Jae-hyun also knew well how annoying the existence of paladins and priests was when facing the Dark Army. That's why he chose the Holy Kingdom of Astraea as the first target.
His plan succeeded, and already over 40 million people from the Holy Kingdom of Astraea had turned into the Dark Army, and over 80% of the priests and paladins had also turned into the Dark Army.
Facing this 40 million Dark Army, the dragons were in confusion, and the order of the Dragon Lord was delivered.
Save as many priests and paladins as possible rather than defeating the enemy!
The Dragon Lord made a wise judgment befitting a Dragon Lord. Even if all the dragons combined their power now, they wouldn't be able to handle the Dark Army.
Since the former hero Kim Jae-hyun had become the new Demon King and descended into the Intermediate World, it was natural that a significant number of powerful demonic beasts from the Demon World would also have descended, and to confront 1 million elite Dark Army, the power of the entire Intermediate World would need to be combined.
But already one of the most important forces, the Holy Kingdom of Astraea, had more than 90% of its population turned into the Dark Army, and 80% of the temple forces had turned into the Dark Army, and the Intermediate World had to face not 1 million Dark Army but over 41 million.
It was impossible for the dragons alone to handle it, and although the Holy Kingdom of Astraea had already fallen, they had to preserve their power by saving as many priests and paladins as possible within the kingdom.
There were temples in various countries and priests and paladins belonging to them, but they had to increase the power that could use holy power as much as possible.
So the dragons spread out to various places to snatch priests and paladins who were in danger from attacks by people who had turned into the Dark Army.
That is not possible.
Jae-hyun smiled coldly. He had guessed what the dragons were up to, and he had guessed this too.
But already most of the territory of the Holy Kingdom of Astraea was in Jae-hyun's grasp, and since almost all the people, starting from the citizens, to the soldiers protecting the country, had turned into his army, the Holy Kingdom of Astraea was essentially swallowed up by 90% or more.
Also, the priests and paladins who had not sworn loyalty to him and remained were mostly traitors, and even if not, they were related to the traitors.
His revenge was not over by punishing only the perpetrators.
Those who followed the 6 traitors who betrayed him could never be forgiven either.
Although they hated them less than the 6 traitors, they were also targets for revenge.
In the end, this world itself was also a target for his revenge. He had no intention of leaving this world that forcibly summoned him and betrayed him as soon as his usefulness ran out.
But the others could be killed easily, but he had no intention of easily killing the traitors who directly betrayed him, and he would kill them as painfully as possible and make them live in a state where they would suffer even after death.
Just like these guys. Hehe.
And in Jae-hyun's eyes, the souls of the paladins and priests who had turned into ghost-type monsters, including Robert, were shown. Their souls, who suffered in terrible pain and died, could not return to the gods' domain and were forcibly turned into ghost-type monsters by the Demon King's power.
To be precise, they should be called evil spirits. Since they had already become souls filled with demonic energy, they were not just ghost-type monsters with only evil souls, but had become evil souls.
And such evil spirits were quite useful existences for high-ranking demons.
You are not even qualified to go to heaven, let alone hell. But you still have use. Hehe.
After saying that, Jae-hyun snapped his fingers again, and then over 1500 evil spirits disappeared all at once.
Over 1500 evil spirits were evenly distributed to his subordinates fighting the dragons at various positions. Since they were distributed fairly, using the evil spirits was entirely up to the subordinates' choice.
Although the 1000 dragons were not a big difference compared to facing 1000 elephants, they were not insignificant opponents for the subordinates either.
Unless they were the leaders of each race, it was difficult for ordinary demon officers to fight multiple dragons.
But that's why they gave useful evil spirits as consumables to the subordinates.
Go on, don't disappoint me, my subordinates.
If that happened, they would die in my hands.
Hehe hehe!
Looking at the current situation where everyone was playing in the Demon King's grasp, the saintess who was crucified on the cross was trembling with fear, but at the same time, in the pain where the sharp blades of the knife were digging inside from the inside and then quickly regenerated and healed, only to be cut again by the blade, she could only suffer in pain without going mad.
And the aura from over 100,000 people who were unjustly killed by the saintess Lucretia was sucked into Jae-hyun, and those energies all turned into demonic energy, further strengthening the already ridiculously strong power of the Demon King.