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Chapter 679
'Dark mages of the Abyss.'
Zeke, residing within Claudia's body, immediately recognized the identity of the dark mages who appeared through the gap.
After the Liberation War, the scattered dark mages began their activities in earnest under the name Abyss to revive the Demon King, following the appearance of the priest Harvey West.
And since it was these dark mages, the predecessors of Abyss, who summoned the demons during the Liberation War, they had now revealed themselves here.
The dark mages who appeared intended to steal the child in Claudia's womb, the future Holy King Geo Lubern.
Bound by the magic circle created by the dark mages, Claudia's eyes turned golden at their words.
Simultaneously, her eyes transformed into dragon eyes.
"How dare these bastards..?!."
CRACKLE! CRACKLE! CRACKLE!
Although they suppressed Claudia's power with demonic energy, they couldn't fully contain her power even with just a small release of dragon strength.
Shadows began to creep out from her body.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Soon, the shadows surging from Claudia's body began breaking down the magic circle made of demonic energy.
When Claudia successfully resisted their magic circle contrary to expectations, the dark mages panicked and raised their staffs again.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
Strong demonic energy flowed from the staffs, forming another magic circle where Claudia and Chronos stood.
Claudia's lightning and shadows tried to break the magic circle again, but the strengthened demonic energy blocked her power.
Just as Claudia gritted her teeth and tried to summon more power, Chronos, who was standing beside her, collapsed unable to endure.
"Chronos!"
Claudia exclaimed in surprise and supported her as she fell.
Chronos breathed heavily with a pale face.
Even though she had recovered some strength, that only meant she could use her powers.
While her spirit form might have been fine, her physical body was still weakened, making exposure to demonic energy dangerous.
"Why did you foolishly leave the tower?!"
Claudia scolded the heavily breathing Chronos and summoned purification power.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
The golden aura flowing from her body began purifying the surrounding demonic energy.
Simultaneously, Claudia directed healing light toward Chronos.
Chronos, with slightly improved color in her face, reached out to her.
"Claudia... they're targeting... your child."
"Damn it, I know. These cursed bastards, how dare they, do they know who I am?."
Claudia responded with anger and glared at the dark mages slowly approaching with their staves.
Perhaps due to the purifying light and lightning surging from Claudia's body, they couldn't approach within a certain distance.
She spoke to Chronos.
"If we hold out a little longer, the knights will come. Just endure it."
But contrary to her expectations, what arrived shortly wasn't the knights.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
The space behind the dark mages split open, and a black hole appeared.
From that hole emerged a demon with horns on its head.
Seeing this, Claudia was startled.
'This level means high-class, no, highest-class demon.'
Due to Karma's restrictions, demons above high-class couldn't descend to the physical realm.
That's why they devised methods like overlaying demon souls onto corrupted dragon bodies to minimize power loss.
Yet the highest-class demon that appeared before her now seemed to have descended to the physical realm with its full power intact.
The demon with a red eye embedded in its forehead smiled grotesquely while looking at Chronos and Claudia trapped in the magic circle.
"The Light Mage and Time Dragon. The gamble was worth it."
They had sent two dragon demons to draw out the hero Terakan Draker.
Their plan was to attack Claudia's location by exploiting the gap while Terakan and the knights were dealing with the dragon demons.
He smiled with satisfaction while looking at Claudia's swollen belly.
"Their words were true. The Light Witch indeed carries Terakan's child."
The demon approached Claudia while flicking its blue tongue.
"Resistance is futile. It would be better to comply quietly."
Claudia glared at the demon and spoke.
"Filthy demon bastard. Come any closer and I'll separate your head from your body."
The demon laughed loudly at her fierce words.
"As expected of the Light Witch who has annihilated countless of our kind. But you know, there's a time for everything."
Suddenly the demon's eyes changed as powerful battle energy flowed from his body.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
The battle energy released by the highest-class demon was on a completely different level from the demonic energy created by the dark mages.
Claudia clenched her teeth as the battle energy pressed down on her entire body.
'This damned bastard.'
While resisting him, Claudia had to struggle to protect Chronos, whose condition was worsening.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
As if mocking Claudia, the demon increased his battle energy to press down on her even more heavily.
Zeke, dwelling within Claudia's body, could only watch this situation while grinding his teeth.
'If I were there, I would have eliminated this creature with one strike.'
Even a highest-class demon would be no match for Zeke, who already possessed the rank of a constellation.
Claudia too could have easily handled a highest-class demon if she could manifest in her true form.
Though she tried to suppress her frustration and endure the demon's battle energy, she soon reached her limit.
THUD!
She finally dropped to one knee.
Seeing this, the demon grinned.
"Good, seems like your strength is finally draining."
He knew it would be troublesome if they lost her while trying to forcefully take her, the famous Light Mage Claudia.
The demon planned to drain her strength before taking her to their camp.
Claudia had noticed the demon's intentions.
She gritted her teeth and desperately called out mentally to her contractor, Terakan.
'Help me! Terakan!'
She had endured to avoid causing him harm, but now she had no choice.
After calling to Terakan in her mind, she realized something strange. There was no response at all.
At that moment, Claudia's face hardened.
The demon laughed loudly seeing her expression.
"HAHAHA! Seems you've finally realized. The hero won't come here."
The dark mages' power had completely blocked the connection between her and Terakan, the soul contractors.
Realizing her connection with Terakan was cut, Claudia grew desperate.
'I must escape from here somehow.'
Then Chronos, who had been disoriented by the unexpected situation, slowly rose.
As if having somewhat recovered, she said to Claudia.
"...I'll hold them here. Use that time to escape."
Claudia shouted at Chronos's offer to help when she looked like she might collapse at any moment.
"Don't be absurd! You look like you're about to die!"
She clutched her belly and tried to summon strength somehow.
But then light began rippling from Chronos's body.
A WOOSH! SWOOSH!
Shortly after, an hourglass made of light appeared before her.
Seeing this, Claudia cried out in shock.
"Chronos! No! If you use your power now...!"
Though Claudia tried to stop her, Chronos ignored her words and used her power.
Soon the hourglass turned over and the sand began falling.
The demon frowned and flicked his tongue seeing this.
"What are you trying to do? It's useless..."
Then something amazing happened.
"URGHK!"
The dark mages standing behind suddenly began aging rapidly.
It was the result of Chronos, the Time Dragon, rapidly accelerating time.
Unable to withstand their bodies' rapid aging from the dragon's power, the dark mages collapsed.
As they fell and the magic circle made of demonic energy crumbled, Claudia and Chronos were able to escape.
"You think I'll let you?!"
The demon moved to bind them again.
But then.
The demon suddenly stopped in place.
He froze involuntarily from the pressure he felt behind him.
'This, this is.'
DRIP!
Cold sweat fell to the ground as he could barely breathe under the pressure.
Footsteps approached from behind.
The Immortal Knight who transcended human limits despite being human, who had slain thousands of demons.
'Te-Terakan Draker.'
The demon could sense Terakan's movement approaching from behind.
When he felt him get close, the demon quickly turned while swinging his claws filled with battle energy.
"Die...!"
But as he swung his claws, something flashed past.
THUD!
Right after, the demon's claws fell to the ground.
"AH, AH..."
The demon backed away, unable to properly speak.
A knight in black clothes holding Zahak glared at him with golden dragon eyes glowing.
In that moment, when the demon's eyes met Terakan's, his body shattered and scattered.
SWOOSH!
Terakan, who had instantly shredded the highest-class demon, approached where Chronos and Claudia were.
"Claudia."
He quickly approached and embraced Claudia.
Claudia looked at Terakan and said,
"Did you use Poseidon's technique again? I told you it shortens your lifespan if you keep using it. Why do you keep doing it?!"
"I don't care about my lifespan. I couldn't let the one who threatened you escape."
Poseidon, an avatar of the divine dragon, had taught Terakan to cultivate refinement.
And by following his teachings to build that refinement, Terakan was able to awaken the true power of an immortal beyond his own limitations.
Poseidon passed down his technique to Terakan.
While the divine dragon Poseidon's technique was incredibly powerful, it could only be burdensome for him as a human.
Though he could somehow recreate that technique using dragon power and immortal power gained through the contract with Bahamut, there was no way to prevent his lifespan from decreasing the more he used it.
But when facing powerful demons like now, he had no choice but to use that power even if it strained him.
Understanding Terakan's feelings, Claudia sighed and slipped out of his embrace to check on Chronos's condition.
Having forcefully used her authority, her face had turned pale and her lips were blue.
Seeing this, Claudia said to Terakan.
"We need to take Chronos back to the tower."
Terakan nodded at Claudia's words.
"I've already dealt with the dragon demon. The knights are cleaning up the battlefield, so we should be able to open a portal soon..."
But that's when it happened.
DRIP! DRIP!
Suddenly Claudia staggered and started bleeding.
"Claudia!"
Without panicking, she calmly pulled on Terakan's collar and said:
"The labor pains have started. It seems the baby is coming now..."
Terakan was startled by her sudden words.
Since it wasn't even her due date yet, he couldn't help but be shocked at her saying the baby was coming right now.
"W-wait. I'll call the head mage right away. Damn, of all times for Hoshgar to be absent..."
Terakan moved Claudia and Chronos so they could lean against the wall, then quickly left the room.
"HUFF, HUFF."
Though she had lived for many years, Claudia had never given birth before, so she couldn't help but feel nervous.
That's when Chronos, her face pale, forced herself up and approached her.
"...Claudia."
She painfully moved to grab Claudia's hand.
Seeing this, Claudia said to Chronos.
"HUFF, both you and I. We look quite silly."
Though Claudia laughed softly, Chronos was glaring somewhere as if trying to protect her.
As she caught her breath, Claudia found her attitude strange and looked where she was glaring, sensing something odd.
WHOOSH!
At that moment, someone suddenly appeared before her.
A girl in an elaborate dress appeared before Claudia, her purple eyes glowing.
The girl smiled and cheerfully greeted Claudia and Chronos.
"Hello! Nice to meet you! Wow, I can't believe I really made it to the physical realm. Humans sure have created quite the fascinating thing, haven't they?"
The brightly smiling girl excitedly jumped around various parts of the destroyed room.
Chronos painfully opened her mouth toward the girl.
"Leave this place at once, ‘Master of the Unbreakable Contract’."
At her words, the girl turned her glowing purple eyes to look at them.
Then, focusing her gaze not on Chronos but on Claudia behind her, she spoke in a formal voice:
"Light Mage, I have come here personally to make you an offer you cannot refuse."