Chapter 257 – Hero Invasion (4)

“The prisoners are all gone!”

“The prisoners in the citadel have vanished too!”

The humans placed to lure the Hero had completely disappeared.

We already knew the so-called Devil Slayer had a subspace that could hold living creatures.

But no one expected he could take them all without even making contact—no, by simply expanding his domain over a wide area.

“He got one over on us.”

One of the Demon King’s commanders muttered.

To be honest, it was a plan they were reluctant to follow from the start.

Even though other Demon Kings had fallen, the very idea of gathering in this city—no, this fortress, home to the Eastern forces’ finest—just to catch a single Hero was a blow to their pride.

Still, orders were orders, so they proceeded even if it stained their honor. The plan was to lure the Hero deep inside and then annihilate him in a coordinated strike.

“So, the operation has failed.”

The commander of Agares, a man so handsome he could be mistaken for a woman, grinned.

It was incredibly rare for all the Eastern commanders to gather in one place. For such a dream team to assemble only to have to turn back without a proper fight was a humiliation.

“That Devil Slayer fellow must have known how reckless it was.”

The Eastern capital is a sacred place that not even the gods have managed to breach.

For a mere human Hero to invade such a place should have been impossible.

As their hopes of witnessing the famed champion in action were dashed, the commanders felt their fighting spirit wane. The Hero would flee, never to challenge them again.

His specialty was his inventory ability, after all. A porter Hero—what a ridiculous combination.

Just then, a messenger burst into the operations room where the commanders were waiting.

The commanders assumed it was an order for a full retreat. But the messenger’s report shattered their expectations.

“Urgent dispatch! The Hero is engaged in combat in Sector 4!”

“What?”

The commanders couldn’t believe their ears.

“An interesting one, isn’t he.”

Agares’s commander, Aren, smiled with his red lips.

“Now that’s good news. Shall we go on a Hero hunt?”

The commanders were actually grateful that the Hero hadn’t fled.

They began placing bets on who would capture the Hero first.

To them, the Hero’s invasion was nothing more than a game. But this arrogance stemmed from their flimsy understanding of the Hero.

The Hero is humanity’s champion, its hope.

The Demon Kings and their commanders had crushed that hope countless times, repeatedly killing each new Hero that emerged.

As such, the existence of a Hero was of little consequence to the Demon King Alliance.

It should have been.

“The 63rd Legion’s Lord Teleos is currently engaging him in Sector 4!”

“Ah, someone beat us to it.”

The one-horned commander clicked his tongue upon hearing the report.

“What’s the situation?”

“Is there even a need to ask?”

The one-horned commander chided Aren, the commander of Agares. But the hesitant messenger delivered his report.

“They’ve cornered the enemy, but our casualties are mounting.”

“So he’s the final Hero for a reason, I see.”

If he was holding out well, that was welcome news. It meant whoever killed him first got the prize. The late commanders scrambled to move, eager to be the one to capture the Hero.

“All commanders have been ordered to stand by.”

“…Stand by?”

“Who issued such an order?”

The commanders asked, unable to comprehend.

“Lord Barbatos has gone himself.”

“Dammit.”

The moment they heard Barbatos’s name, every commander let out a groan of complaint.

The strongest Demon King of the East. If he was on the move, the battle was as good as over.

***

*Swish, crack!*

A jet-black whip undulated like a wave.

Soldiers touched by the whip’s magic screamed as their bodies were torn apart.

The Devil Slayer. The monster who had hunted no less than six Demon Kings—no, seven, if you included Dantalian—was engaged in battle with the 63rd Legion.

The ten thousand warriors of the 63rd Legion surged forward like a tidal wave, but the muscular Hero moved with agility, lashing his black whip to avoid being surrounded.

Teleos, commander of the 63rd Legion, observed the situation.

The Hero who was said to have single-handedly slaughtered Demon Kings and their legions.

He was certainly strong, just as the rumors said. But not stronger than Teleos had imagined.

‘Did he really take down seven Demon King armies at that level?’

Frankly, he’d heard the Hero’s breakthrough power was immense, so he had even positioned shield bearers, expecting him to tear through ten thousand soldiers in an instant to take his head. But far from breaking through, the Hero was only retreating again and again.

‘I’d sooner believe that swordsman is the Hero.’

Commander Teleos looked at the blond knight.

With every swing of the cursed demonic sword, dozens of soldiers fell. He moved like the wind.

Wherever the blond knight went, corpses piled up, to the point that even the soldiers feared to stand before him.

Without using any particular skills or special abilities, he had already slaughtered over a hundred soldiers with pure swordsmanship alone.

In Commander Teleos’s eyes, it was the blond knight who seemed to be holding back his true power.

He was constantly checking the distance and formation, his gaze threatening, as if he could take Teleos’s head at any moment.

“Send in the elite troops.”

“Already, sir?”

The adjutant questioned the commander’s order. The commander repeated it.

“By now, the other commanders must be breaking formation, desperate to claim the Hero’s head for themselves.”

The legions meticulously defending the fortress city had been praying for the Hero to come their way. Now that he had appeared here, they would be itching to steal the glory.

Of course, the Hero might be conserving his strength for a prolonged battle. But at this level, he didn’t seem to possess any overwhelming power.

No matter how incredible a Hero he was, he couldn’t possibly slaughter the hundreds of thousands of demons filling the capital.

“We take his head, and quickly.”

At the commander’s order, the most elite soldiers moved to the front.

His order might have been the right call. The regular demon soldiers were just being sacrificed to the two enemies.

Of course, they could continue a war of attrition to drain the enemy’s stamina. But that wasn’t a good option when the credit for the kill could be stolen.

The elite soldiers were different, starting with their sheer size. Wielding massive iron maces, they charged toward the enemy who was building a wall of corpses.

*CRASH, BOOM!*

The giant demon soldiers began to charge like chariots, trampling the regular soldiers underfoot. Seeing this, the Hero drew a skill pattern in the air.

From the ground, sticky shadows stretched out black hands, blocking their advance.

“Gaaah!”

The soldiers’ ankles were seized and crushed in the shadows’ grip. The soldiers at the front fell, creating a tangled, chaotic mess.

The crowd control skill the Hero used was highly effective against the regular soldiers. But it was useless against the elites.

“A shallow trick!”

They kicked away the shadowy hands and resumed their charge.

The absolute elite, numbering only 500 out of the ten-thousand-strong legion. These were warriors who had distinguished themselves in other wars.

“Fall back.”

The Hero, perhaps sensing the threat from the elites’ charge, shouted to the blond knight. But instead of retreating, the blond knight advanced.

“No, I’ll cut them down here.”

The demonic sword in the blond knight’s hand scattered a dark light, creating afterimages.

*Swish, spurt!*

As if to show that everything until now had just been a warm-up, the blond knight began a one-sided slaughter of the elite soldiers.

Before the elites’ maces could even connect, the knight’s blade sliced through them. Before the blood of one enemy hit the ground, the blood of another was already suspended in the air.

*Spurt, slice. Slice!*

It looked as though petals made of blood were scattering in all directions.

Not a single one dared to lay a weapon on the blond knight’s body. It was a scene that displayed the overwhelming might of an absolute powerhouse.

“Hmph.”

The commander let out a low breath.

As soon as the blond knight began to use his magic, soldiers started dropping as if he were a different person.

When the number of elite soldiers dwindled to 400 in an instant, the commander furrowed his brow.

“Send in the riders.”

The commander sent out the wolf riders.

In human terms, these were equivalent to knights.

A rank held by only twenty in the entire ten-thousand-strong legion.

As if they had been waiting for this moment, the wolf riders howled, raising their battle axes.

As they began to run, the soldiers parted to make way. Once the riders were on the move, the infantry were nothing but obstacles.

“Finally coming out.”

The blond knight, Siegfried, wore a smile.

The man who would have been called the strongest human in this world, had it not been for the Hero, readjusted his grip on the demonic sword.

*Shhh-!*

The riders charged, aiming for Siegfried rather than the Hero.

In that moment, their target suddenly vanished.

*Thunk.*

The head of the rider at the very back fell off.

Seeing the blond knight suddenly appear behind them, the riders tried to turn their mounts, but Siegfried’s form vanished without a trace once more.

*Spurt.*

A dire wolf on the outer edge was split in half along with its master.

“Gah!”

As if peeling an apple, Siegfried moved in a circle, slicing one rider’s neck after another.

Watching the twenty riders die in an instant without putting up any real resistance, the commander sensed something was terribly wrong.

…!

The commander and his adjutant lost track of Siegfried’s afterimage.

“‘Taking the enemy commander’s head is the easiest way,’ he taught me.”

The voice of a human, which should have been impossible to hear, echoed right beside him.

A blink skill, closing the distance in a single leap.

The commander hastily raised his sword. It stopped just short of the blond knight’s neck.

*Slice!*

The commander’s pupils dilated in disbelief.

Dark red blood was pouring from his own neck. When a commander falls, the chain of command falls into chaos.

Siegfried had concealed his skills as much as possible, then launched a surprise attack on the command post, beginning his massacre.

Meanwhile, the Hero created a thicket of shadowy hands in the narrowest alley, wringing the soldiers’ necks.

*Crack, snap!*

The sensation from the shadow hands brought a thrill of excitement.

The Hero licked his lips, his eyes gleaming.

Killing is fun, after all. And what’s even more fun is that this killing is helpful to *him*.

“But this might get a little dangerous.”

The Hero—no, the Company Man wearing his shadow—saw another legion starting to swarm in and decided it was about time to retreat.

The Incarnation of Battle.

Barbatos led his commanders out to subjugate the Hero.

‘Barbatos is here, just as the Hero planned.’

The Company Man sneered.

Barbatos was, by his own and others’ admission, one of the strongest Demon Kings.

With him here, the Hero’s plan would be difficult.

‘The question now is how long we can hold Barbatos here.’

The Company Man’s eyes narrowed.

The immense pressure radiating from Barbatos was no less than the Hero’s.

He wasn’t participating in the battle, simply watching with his arms crossed.

Thank goodness. He’s still just spectating.

…!

In that instant, the Company Man saw Barbatos’s figure disappear.

“What is this small fry?”

A chilling voice suddenly came from behind her.

The Company Man spun around, swinging her whip at the same time.

The whip never reached its target.

Barbatos, who had appeared behind her, snatched the whip out of the air with his bare hand.

“How dare you wear such a pathetic shadow in my presence.”

Barbatos sneered.

The Company Man poured a massive amount of magic into her whip.

The power of shadow erupted like an awl, aiming for Barbatos’s hand.

*Crack!*

But the shadow awls couldn’t penetrate Barbatos’s shield. On the contrary, they turned to dust the moment they made contact.

“Using such petty tricks.”

Barbatos’s form vanished again.

“Kuh…!”

The Company Man suddenly found herself caught by the neck.

A grip like steel seized her throat and lifted her into the air.

Choking, the Company Man struggled in agony.

-An order to all Demon King armies.

Barbatos spoke through the language of the system.

-Capture the Hero who has infiltrated the main castle.

Barbatos caught the blade flying at his neck with his bare hand.

…!

Siegfried saw that his surprise attack had failed.

Barbatos bared his teeth in a leisurely smile.

“Consider it an honor.”

*Sssss-!*

From behind Barbatos, a spear made of black flames shot toward Siegfried.