Chapter 127
Chapter 127
Chapter 127
Seven Arks (2)
"Why... Are these bastards...?"
Beings from another dimension with human forms but completely different skeletal structures from humans.
One of the Seven Arks' greatest enemies and the beings that should be eliminated first in this world—why were they joining hands with those people!
"I had my suspicions... But I never thought you'd actually fall for it."
The number of demons that appeared on the scene was twenty in total.
All of them were elite forces composed only of high-ranking demons and above, with more than half of the demons dispatched to this great forest deployed here.
At the head of those demons, a demon with a dignified impression and two horns on his forehead looked straight at Layla and Dugrid.
"How pleasant to meet again, you damned humans."
"Demon King Crosel..."
"Kuhuh, I never thought an opportunity to eliminate such a big obstacle so easily would come."
Only then did Layla realize how this situation was unfolding.
"You bastaaaard!"
KWAGWAGWAK!
Materialized fighting spirit headed toward Rudian, who was thought to be the cause of this situation.
"How dare you! You joined hands with demons, the enemies of humanity?"
Rage incomparable to anything before.
Considering the origins of the Seven Arks, it was a natural reaction.
"Huhuhuh..."
At Layla's reaction, Rudian laughed ominously.
To the extent that Gray, who was watching, felt slightly disgusted.
"Wow! Brother, you really look like a villain."
"It is villainous. At least to those bastards."
Dugrid approached Rudian with his expression twisted like a fierce deity.
"Weren't you an enemy of the demons?"
"That's right. Demons are my enemies. Even now, I'm in life-or-death competition with Baal."
"Yet you form an alliance with demons to strike at us, the guardians of humanity?"
"Guardians of humanity?"
At that moment, the sneer on Rudian's lips deepened.
"Guardians of humanity only, I suppose."
—The sole empire where only humanity exists.
The ultimate goal pursued by the Seven Arks.
Those who settle in that place are only humans.
"Let me ask one thing. Are other races included in the nation you aim for?"
"..."
"Let me ask another thing. On the Day of Great Liberation, when the age of mythology arrives, what can you do for humanity facing the crisis of extinction? Except for your shallow plan to just build an ark and run away."
"How do you... Know that...?"
The momentum of Layla, who had been pouring out anger, subsided like a lie.
Dugrid also widened his eyes with an expression of disbelief.
"That's why I'm trying to eliminate you even if it means joining hands with demons."
Seven Arks.
Seven elite individuals, each inheriting ancient secret arts and reaching the realm of absolute beings.
And one of the 'allies of the protagonist party' appearing in Chapter 2 of
In the original work, when the Psychic Luminous that destroyed the Morian Empire joined hands with the other races of the great forest and swept through the world, the Seven Arks approached protagonist Abel's party and Luciella, who was leading the remnants of the Morian Empire, to form an alliance.
Their goal was singular.
To annihilate all other races and forces except humanity in this middle world and build a single nation composed only of humans.
Though they were few in number but possessed tremendously powerful individual military force, Luciella, cornered, had no choice but to form an alliance...
"Your methods are too extreme. Those who would do anything for the human race. Moreover..."
"Aren't you also human!"
Dugrid, filled with rage, cut off his words and shouted, but Rudian replied nonchalantly.
"Moreover, what you want is the sole human force with you at the center, isn't it?"
That's why when the Day of Great Liberation came, they planned to take only humanity's leaders, build an ark, and flee without hesitation.
Abandoning the protagonist party who desperately tried to save others.
"The dragons who fled while taking care of their entire race were much better, you bastards."
"What... What are you talking about?"
Toward the two people looking puzzled, Rudian smirked with an attitude of not caring.
"Ah, never mind. I'm just saying you're far worse than demons."
As soon as those words ended, Crosel approached Rudian's side.
"You remember the terms of the alliance, don't you?"
"I proposed it, so how could I forget."
"Good, let's cooperate with each other until we eliminate all those bastards who entered this great forest."
Watching Rudian and Crosel's friendly conversation, Dugrid snorted and raised his fighting spirit.
"Ridiculous. You bastards who couldn't match us one-on-one and had to push with numbers dare to say you'll eliminate us!"
"Kruuk!"
"Uuk!"
At Dugrid's overwhelming fighting spirit, the momentum of the high-ranking demons positioned around them visibly diminished.
The power possessed by each individual of the Seven Arks was definitely on a different level, to the extent of treating the Golden Dawn Society as 'mere.'
There was a reason the demons accepted Rudian's alliance proposal.
—Name: Dugrid Meireles
...omitted...
Total Combat Power: 81,690
—Name: Layla Starseis
...omitted...
Total Combat Power: 78,910
Since Demon King Crosel's combat power with some restrictions lifted was about 50,000, there was truly a tremendous gap in combat power.
But Rudian had something to rely on.
"What shall we do, Rudian? I'm willing to actively lend my strength to eliminate those bastards."
Eugene, a skilled individual not inferior to their level, began releasing his magic power with a menacing smile.
Restraining Eugene, Rudian shook his head.
"Wait, there's something I want to test."
"Test?"
"I recently acquired a very interesting power."
CLICK!
Rudian drew Diablo and stood beside Crosel.
"Demon King Crosel."
"...Speak."
"I'll support you from now on. Won't you try fighting that guy one-on-one?"
"...What?"
Crosel stared at Rudian with an expression of lost composure.
Knowing clearly what the opponent's strength was, why would they come in a mob with all their subordinates if they were going to fight one-on-one?
"Don't worry, you'll be able to win."
"..."
"If you really get pushed back, just deploy your subordinates. I guarantee you won't lose."
What was he thinking with such words, or whether this was a trap, he was briefly suspicious, but...
Crosel nodded without much hesitation.
"Fine, if it's the word of the fierce warrior who defeated Marbas, I can be deceived once."
When Crosel accepted the proposal without particular suspicion, rather, Rudian, who had made the proposal, was slightly flustered.
'Hmm, he's quite naive for a Demon King...'
In fact, Crosel was evaluating Rudian higher than Rudian thought.
Especially since he could establish proper competition even with Baal, who ranked first in the demon world, it was natural from the demons' perspective of revering the strong.
"How long do you plan to ignore me!"
CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
Dugrid's giant axe blade made of aura covered the spot where Rudian and Crosel had been.
SLASH!
Like a long wound appearing on lush hair, a giant slash mark was created in a straight line in the blue and dense great forest.
"Hmph!"
Even as all the surrounding vegetation was cut down, Crosel began to wield his power in earnest, responding to Dugrid's attack.
"We'll take that witch! Everyone attack!"
Jagan, Crosel's lieutenant and highest-ranking demon, led the high-ranking demons to assault Layla.
"Rudian, what exactly is this situation..."
Luciella and Elvin, who hadn't heard the circumstances from Rudian beforehand, approached in confusion at this suddenly unfolding situation.
"Ah, I'm sorry, everyone. It was a matter requiring some security..."
Above all, information about this 'alliance' absolutely must not reach the ears of the other races in the great forest.
"Ugh... Well, brother must have his own calculations, so I'll go with it, but what do we do now?"
At Gray's question, Rudian grinned and gripped Diablo.
"I've fought demons quite a bit, but you all know I also possess demonic energy due to this demonic sword, right?"
"We know."
"How long have we been together? Of course we know."
"Ah, is that so?"
The last word were from Eugene.
Rudian ignored Eugene's words and continued.
"I gained some power while catching Demon Kings before, and what used to be simple power has manifested in a rather unique direction."
Since accepting Leviathan's core into his body at the Tower of Trials in the past, Rudian's body gradually moved away from ordinary humans.
Even setting aside the dramatic improvement in maximum storable magic and output as the core fused with his body...
As the inheritor of 'Leviathan's Throne,' the unique authority possessed by the Seven Seats manifesting in Rudian's body was something completely unexpected.
Seven Seats, Leviathan of Envy.
His disposition of envying and resenting all things in the world created by God developed into a tremendous greed to place all those things under himself.
Plundering what others have and making it one's own.
In other words, it was the power called the authority of domination.
The origin of the domination spell used by demons and Leviathan's unique authority.
Though the power of this domination authority was quite crude and used limitedly compared to the original...
In terms of the scope of authority, it was more versatile and free than any other authority.
— Huhuh, this is quite a different experience.
Since it was still impossible to exert that power with Rudian's ability alone, he had to receive Diablo's assistance...
Still, the effect was absolute.
PUFF!
"...Huh?"
"...!"
The battle between Dugrid and Crosel.
Both beings knew well who was superior in combat power.
Accordingly, their battle was proceeding with Dugrid's one-sided offensive and Crosel's thorough defense.
But as soon as Rudian exercised his authority, the situation reversed as it was...
"What, what is this!"
When Crosel, having deflected Dugrid's attack once, threw a full-power punch...
Dugrid's arm exploded with just one strike!
"My, my arm!"
"Dugrid?"
"...!"
Even Crosel, who had thrown that attack, stood there dumbfounded in an awkward posture, not having expected this result.
Coming to his senses, Crosel felt his rapidly amplifying power and clenched his fist.
"Power is overflowing...!"
It felt like the restrictions of causality that had been weighing down his shoulders like a thousand pounds had suddenly been lifted.
Crosel, realizing the cause, widened his eyes and turned his head.
"This is definitely Rigos's authority of equality!"
"You're quick to notice?"
"How on earth!"
At Crosel's intense gaze, Rudian scratched his cheek slightly and smiled.
"Hmm, somehow it just worked out."
Leviathan's authority of domination had the characteristic of being able to partially use the power of others under his dominion.
Of course, it was a power subject to causality restrictions like when Rigos used it, so it couldn't be used for very long or frequently...
But using it as a hidden card in limited situations like this was possible.
'Hmm, this is just the strongest buff ability limited to demons.'
He thought it was really fortunate that Rigos wasn't in Rohans and had died early.
'The duration is... Only about 2 minutes.'
However, compared to Rigos using it directly, both the power and duration were woefully insufficient.
But 2 minutes was more than enough time for victory or defeat to be decided in the battle before his eyes.
"Ooooh!"
"Power is overflowing!"
"These, these bastards, why are they suddenly like this...!"
Layla was flustered.
It wasn't just Crosel who was affected by Rudian's authority, but all the high-ranking demons including Jagan.
If they all fully lifted their restrictions, even the 'strongest necromancer' Layla Starseis would be helplessly defeated.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
The nightmare barrier Layla had deployed began to shake rapidly due to the rampaging demonic energy.
If this continued, it would be troublesome for Rudian as well.
"Hey, don't waste time and finish it quickly."
"Ah, understood."
The high-ranking demons unknowingly nodded and responded to Rudian's command-like request.
"This, this is...!"
Dugrid with one arm blown off and Layla rapidly being pushed into a defensive position.
Their opponents were demon hordes with restrictions lifted and combat power more than doubled.
It was obvious which side was advantageous without deep thought.
"Huhuhuh, what a pleasant sight."
An ominous voice flowed from Rudian's mouth.
"How dare you perform 'tempering' on my companions behind my back, I absolutely cannot forgive this."
Looking like he was leading the demons from behind, Rudian's companions united in heart and voiced a common opinion.
"Demon King..."