668
Chapter 668
BOOM!
The power of the Tuma warriors , who regained their fighting spirit, was formidable.
The Yekaterina unit, enhanced by the arrogant savior's treasures, immediately charged toward the giant monster.
ROARRRRR!
The giant monster tried to attack Yekaterina and the Tuma tribe again by launching its feathers.
Unlike earlier when they were paralyzed by fear, they now glided through the plasma storm and avoided the feathers.
"Strike!"
At Yekaterina's command, red energy rippled from the Tuma tribe's horns, and they launched concentrated fighting spirit toward the giant monster.
BOOM!
The Tuma warrior's fighting spirit, enhanced by the God of Destruction eyes, pierced through the plasma barrier and struck the monster's eyes directly.
SCREEEECH!
At the first successful counterattack, the monster spread its wings to protect its eyes.
At that moment, Yekaterina raised her sword, and energy surged up along the blade.
"HAAAAAH!"
She brought her sword down from above.
The giant blade of energy completely severed the monster's wings.
THUD!
The wings cut by Yekaterina's sword fell in clusters.
As the eyes were exposed again, the Tuma warriors launched another attack.
BOOM!
Under the Tuma warriors' concentrated attack, all of the giant monster's eyes burst, and once they were gone, the giant monster immediately lost power and plummeted.
Yekaterina watched the giant monster fall into the plasma storm with a confident expression and let out a battle cry.
The other Tuma tribe warriors following her likewise shouted their battle cries.
At that moment, Zeke approached Yekaterina's side and spoke quietly.
"It's too early to celebrate."
As soon as Zeke finished speaking, something could be felt approaching from beyond the storm.
RUMBLE!
Shortly after, several monsters similar to the giant monster they had just defeated appeared.
Yekaterina gripped her sword again upon seeing this.
Having regained her fighting spirit, she now had nothing to fear.
However, Zeke raised his hand to stop Yekaterina from charging recklessly.
The battle-spirited Yekaterina roared at Zeke.
"Get out of my way! I will eliminate those beasts with my sword right now!"
"Yekaterina, calm your excitement. Wait."
Surprisingly, with just one firm word from Zeke, Yekaterina came to her senses.
Having regained her reason, Yekaterina finally realized that the number of monsters appearing from the storm was alarming.
'Ten of them? No... there could be even more.'
Zeke spoke while watching the now calmed Yekaterina.
"A commander leading troops must always maintain fighting spirit while calmly assessing the situation. That's how to minimize casualties."
Yekaterina wanted to deny it, but she couldn't reject the words of Zeke, who was both a Demon lord and an Absolute Ruler.
While she was feeling confused about her own unconscious attitude of accepting and following Zeke's words, changes occurred in the mobile fortress.
RUMBLE!
The gun ports that had been closed on the fortress's sides opened, revealing magical cannons.
These were magical cannons modified by Hades, Feinan, and Gelion.
Elizabeth had already engraved them with highly aggressive magic circuits from the demon realm.
WHOOOOSH!
Strong magical power condensed in front of the cannon muzzles and fired shells toward the giant monsters approaching the defensive barrier.
BOOM!
Hundreds of compressed magical shells pierced through the giant monsters' barriers and wings, striking their weak point their eyes.
ROARRRRR!
The instantly shredded giant monsters plummeted.
While the first row of magical cannons reloaded, the second row below fired their shells.
This was because Hades, Feinan, and Gelion had arranged the magical cannons in three rows to enable continuous loading and firing of high-compression magical shells.
It was designed to maintain constant firepower by firing from one row while the other rows reloaded.
BOOM!
Under the relentless barrage of magical shells, the giant monsters couldn't even properly approach the mobile fortress before falling with holes blown through them.
Watching this, Yekaterina had to acknowledge that even the demon realm's warriors with their outstanding individual abilities would have struggled without proper preparation against these giant monsters.
'Though human, he is one whose qualification as a Demon lord is recognized by other Demon lords.'
Yekaterina could not deny that Zeke's strength was genuine.
It was not just outward submission, but respect that welled up from her very soul.
She bowed her head to Zeke and spoke with complete sincerity.
"Guide of Fair Pain. Please forgive my previous rudeness."
Not just Yekaterina, but the other Tuma warriors also showed reverence to Zeke, the powerful being from beyond the heavens.
Zeke spoke while looking at Yekaterina and the Tuma tribe unit.
"Stronger monsters exist when we reach the abandoned continent. Yekaterina, stay alert as a commander."
CLAP!
At that moment, applause was heard from behind Zeke.
Anastasia had appeared and was looking at Zeke and Yekaterina with a pleased expression.
"As a father, I'm very proud to see our second child getting along well."
It was Mephistopheles who had descended into the vessel Anastasia.
Yekaterina tensed and bowed her head at the sudden appearance of the ArchDemon.
Mephistopheles spoke to Zeke, seemingly uninterested in Yekaterina.
"You took my advice well, Zeke Draker."
Zeke opened his mouth with displeasure while looking at the demon of contracts, still difficult to trust.
"Don't misunderstand, Mephistopheles. I didn't come here solely because of your advice."
Mephistopheles smiled amusedly at his words and replied.
"The reason doesn't matter. As long as I can prevent the Demon King's soul from flowing to the heavenly realm, that's enough."
But Zeke didn't believe Mephistopheles's words.
He wasn't naive enough to take at face value the words of an old demon who hid sinister schemes within contracts and moved chess pieces according to his will.
Zeke narrowed his eyes and spoke to Mephistopheles.
"Why did you appear here anyway? Other Demon lords will target any gaps if you waste karma here."
The demon realm's Demon lords were close allies yet also enemies who coveted each other's territories.
However, Mephistopheles grinned at Zeke's words and said.
"Haven't you heard the news yet!."
He snapped his fingers.
The space where Zeke and Mephistopheles were suddenly changed.
Mephistopheles's unique domain made of countless mirrors.
Inside, the demon archduke in Anastasia's form continued speaking with a smile.
"The Abyss and Gehenna have now become territory of our Pandemonium."
Zeke was startled by Mephistopheles's words.
'Baal and Agares who fought over the Abyss, and Asmodeus of Gehenna were defeated by Mephistopheles?'
Each one was a formidable Demon lord. It was hard to believe that three Demon lords were defeated by Mephistopheles at once.
Zeke realized Mephistopheles must have some scheme.
After thinking briefly, his eyes lit up as he looked at Mephistopheles.
"Don't tell me you joined hands with Beelzebub to defeat Baal, Agares, and Asmodeus?"
Mephistopheles responded cheerfully to Zeke's words.
"Indeed, you understand well."
Mephistopheles had joined forces with Beelzebub, Lord of the Abyss, to defeat Baal, Agares, and Asmodeus and seize their territories.
"I thought the Demon lords meeting was to strengthen alliances, but perhaps I expected too much from demons."
Mephistopheles shook his head at those words.
"Guide of Fair Pain. You're greatly mistaken. Rather, the Lord of the Abyss and I helped you."
Zeke furrowed his brow at Mephistopheles's words.
"Are you saying Baal, Agares, and Asmodeus tried to break the contract to resurrect the Demon King?"
Mephistopheles clapped and nodded.
"Exactly that. Contracts are precious, aren't they?"
Zeke finally understood what Mephistopheles had aimed for.
'He deliberately drew me in, granted me the position of Demon lords , and made a contract not to resurrect the Demon King. To gain justification to restrict three Demon lords with different intentions by joining hands with Beelzebub.'
For demons of the demon realm who faced stricter karma restrictions than the celestial constellations, justification was important.
Especially Mephistopheles, who had the authority to twist karma's restrictions through the medium of contracts.
As soon as the other three Demon lords showed signs of trying to resurrect the Demon King, he undoubtedly used the contract as pretext to place restrictions on their souls and seized their territories together with Beelzebub.
Zeke spoke while looking at Mephistopheles.
"The Demon King's soul was bait, and the Abyss and Gehenna were your real targets."
"I won't deny it. But protecting the Demon King's soul is also important regardless."
He pointed to the sky and spoke.
"The more that bastard up there scorches the material world and the world is reconstructed, the more unstable the demon realm's territory becomes. As the number of vanishing civilizations flowing into the world of the abyss increases, the demon realm is gradually becoming saturated."
Zeke realized that Mephistopheles's desire to maintain the current state rather than face the end was sincere.
This was because the more the world's end and reconstruction repeated due to the absolute law of primordial light, the higher the chance that the unstable world of the demon realm would collapse.
Mephistopheles, possessing Anastasia's body, slowly approached Zeke and spoke again.
"And one more thing, I came to make another proposal. Zeke Draker."
Zeke looked with suspicious eyes at Mephistopheles who was offering him another contract.
Mephistopheles shook his head.
"It's not a bad proposal for you at all."
"I'm not foolish enough to readily accept the words of the demon of contracts."
While it seemed like a reasonable contract on the surface, there was no telling what traps might lurk beneath.
Mephistopheles spoke to Zeke.
"I learned something when defeating Asmodeus. That fellow was in communication with Arthur Draker."
Zeke furrowed his brow at Mephistopheles's words.
'Arthur Draker and Asmodeus were communicating?.'
Asmodeus, the "Master of Unrelenting Passion" who ruled Gehenna, was a powerful arch-demon who commanded Mammon, Belial, and Urynom.
It was quite surprising that Arthur Draker, the avatar of the sun god Apollyon, a celestial constellation, was secretly communicating with an arch-demon.
Mephistopheles looked at Zeke and spoke.
"I found out something about Arthur Draker through Asmodeus. Perhaps this information could be very important to you."
It was Mephistopheles testing Zeke's heart with a truly devilish smile.
In truth, for Zeke who was facing the final chapter, any information about Arthur Draker would be advantageous to know.
The problem was that Mephistopheles was the one holding this information.
As Zeke hesitated to readily agree, Mephistopheles brought his face close and spoke with glowing purple eyes.
"Zeke Draker, actually, I want to give you the information about Arthur Draker freely to build our trust. The condition I want to propose isn't difficult at all. It's practically like giving it away."
Zeke became even more wary of Mephistopheles's words offering valuable information about Arthur Draker for a light condition.
'What is he planning?'
Though he knew Mephistopheles was setting some kind of trap, he decided to hear the condition first.
"Tell me what the condition is."
At Zeke's words, Mephistopheles's eyes sparkled as he immediately answered.
"Having children with my daughters,this is my proposal."