'Now who in the new generation will stand among the rest. Roman was strong, but he was a one-man army, unlike Hilion. The younger brother of Hilion is also a solo type of person. Among all of them, only Hilion and that young man from the Lowe family tended to lead an army."

Thought the empress.

In the throne room, the battle was still ongoing.

"OOOOOOOORRRRRGH!!!"

The grieving howl of the Demon Lord brings joy to all of the participants who were raining attacks on it.

Hilion's strategy of using high penetrative attacks seemed effective as the Demon Lord was put at bay. It hindered his movement and could only use his sword to guard himself while stepping back now and then.

His body was impaled by multiple weapon-based magical attacks, and the purplish glow in his eye was blinking like a dying candle.

Even in this advantageous situation, "Don't stop! Give it all you've got!" Hilion sternly ordered not giving the boss room for breath.

Following his command, more weapon-based magical attacks were raining in the air, drawing colorful arcs towards the Demon Lord.

"GOOOOOORRRRGGGHH!!!" It's crying voice echoed inside the spacious room.

Woosh woosh woosh…!

Several condensed magical energies in the form of javelins made their way to the Demon Lord's limbs and caused the blood to splatter and drip on the floor.

The experts did not let themselves be outshined by the other participants. They also shot their attacks. The more attacks they fired the weaker the Demon Lord had become.

Gilion wasn't interested in this kind of battle of ganging the lone opponent. He was more curious as to what happened to that guy as he did not meet him. He was itching for a fight against him.

Wait, now that he thought about it, he could not find him here. 'Haha did he die?' Gilion laughed soundlessly. It was unfortunate for that person. Looks like he wasn't that great.

Now that person is out of the picture, he can't waste his time thinking about him. He needed to beat the real monster and not the fake who couldn't even make it to the final barrier.

Gilion glanced to his left and saw Roman standing still with cross-arms. While a gigantic summon from his back was sending powerful condensed magical blades.

'This guy was the real deal!' Gilion thought.

He darted back his eyes ahead and saw the grieving boss of the room. He also saw his brother sending his magical power while giving commands. From his right a mysterious man who was wearing a dirty white clock that covered all over his body. If his guess was right, this man was an adventurer.

From his hand, needle-like droplets of water were rapidly fired at the monster.

The boss could not even retaliate so no need for him to join the fight. Gilion stepped back and leaned his back on the wall beside the door. While waiting for the boss to die.

Looking at the monster's situation, he assumed that it would only last for a couple of seconds.

"Just a little more! Fire!" Hilion once again shouted.

"Ayyyyeeee, sir!" The other participants replied excitedly.

Then they fired with all their might. However, before they could kill the Demon Lord, "Nicholas!!!" Everyone heard a shout.

It was from Jura who was supposed to be lying unconscious. They noticed the person named Nicholas sprung on his legs and shot a powerful javelin.

"Sendor's Punisher!" He shouted.

"Supreme Slash!" Jura also leaped on his feet and shouted.

Two powerful attacks were sent together to end the boss.

"!!"

Hilion and the others were surprised at this. "Wha—!" He was late to realize what was happening. Looks like Jura and Nicholas were acting unconscious all this time to last hit the boss if ever someone tried to kill it. And seeing that Jura and Nicholas were so eager to kill it. It must be one of the keys to getting the treasures! He could not believe that he was dupe with a simple trick.

"Jura was an amusing young man. He was a cunning person who was capable of tricking even someone like Hilion. Fufufu, quite a lot of interesting individuals in this generation," said the empress.

Ella, side glanced at her aunt. Although she said that, her face was telling that she was unsatisfied. She wondered what her aunt was seeking.

"Mhm!" SHE nodded. "Looks like Jura noticed that the lord won't attack them if they don't show any ill intent towards it or to the treasures.

So upon noticing the other participants outside the door, he immediately ordered Nicholas to lay and act unconsciously."

"You're right, Your Highness Princess Merea Ella. A while ago when they were fighting the Demon Lord together with the son of Senrod, his action wasn't really to kill the boss, but to find faults or weaknesses about the enemy.

Haha, not every genius would bother thinking about it. Only he could certainly do it. So young yet had a high level of cunningness. In a span of a second, he already arrived at such a strategy to dupe and outclass everyone. He was truly a magnificent person that needed to be nurtured efficiently," the Knight Captain Borge Bergal excitedly said.

But soon he noticed her mistake.

"A-ahem! Sorry for my sudden intervention." Borge Bergal immediately cleared his throat and shut his mouth upon realizing that it was presumptuous of him to suddenly intrude on their conversations.

Ella just forced a laugh while the empress just shrugged and did not bother by it. Her focus was on the monitor.

In any case, the competition was about to end.

After a loud explosion that further shook the entire room, "hahahahaha!" Nicholas laughed heartily which made everyone gawk in disbelief.

How can these people who are supposed to be on their deathbeds suddenly wake up and fire powerful attacks?! Everyone thought so.

Jura and Nicholas were grinning broadly as they stared at the silhouette of the enemy inside the cloud of smoke.

Gilion and the others did not expect this. Could it be those two just acting unconsciously? He thought. And now they are in their full transformation.

Before everyone regained their senses, the expected dead boss that was covered with smoke at the moment suddenly howled an ear-piercing cry.

"What?! It didn't die?!" Jura and Nicholas exclaimed.

In the empress's mouth, a smile appeared.

After a loud cry,

"HEEELL-BOOOUUND!" Everyone heard a hoarse but thunderous utterance of words.

They glanced at the source; behind the smoke, a red gleaming color was visible from it.

A moment after the words were spoken, a strong pressure exploded and instantly wiped out the covering smoke. Then all of the participants inside the range of 50 meters away from the Demon Lord were taken aback and sent rolling on the ground. Jura and Nicholas who were inside as well were no exception.

Everyone noticed a huge segment of the pillar and the ceiling was destroyed.

Dum!

Suddenly, the floor trembled. They fixed their eyes in front and what they saw made them speechless. All of them froze and stared wide-eyed!

The Demon Lord had now red skin and on its face, the supposed to be closed eye was now open and was gleaming in red. On the contrary, the other eye with a purplish glow was now close.

The tusk on its mouth grows longer. And some horns grew on its shoulders and the back.

"Tsk! Fire it!" Hilion did not wait and ordered an attack.

But before everyone could move, a second later, 50 meters around the lord, the floor suddenly was on fire.

The place suddenly became a hell-like place! From the ground, some silhouettes came crawling.

"L-Lesser Demons!" Someone among the crowd warned.

After he shouted,

"Tsk! These Demons again!"

Lesser Demons raised from the blazing floor. Then charged without a warning to the nearby enemy they spot upon.

Clang! Ting! Shing!

The noise of battle immediately resumed inside the room.

"Damnit, let's join!" Harou bellowed.

"Okay!" Lyka responded. Then flew with her Spirit Beast and fired magical attacks.

The Demon Lord kicked the floor and caused a pit on it. Then his figure disappeared and appeared in front of the ten participants!

Wwwwoooossshhh!

Bbbbbaaaaaannng!

A down strike that hit the floor and plowed the tiles on it.

The smashed floor broke into pieces. Debris and broken tiles flew everywhere, hitting the other participants around

Those who were hit by the attack had no way to react; they just died without knowing what happened.

The sudden attack summed up its size, causing a strong wind pressure which threw every participant and even the Lesser Demons who were close by.

"What the hell is that!" Nicholas subconsciously muttered.

Everyone started to grimace.

The Demon Lord silhouette disappeared once again and appeared in the opposite place while brandishing its scarlet blade weapon which is now exuding a darkish red aura, sending a chill to their spines.

Several participants died on the spot while the others were sent flying and smacked on the close wall.

"Roman, Gilion, let's deal with it!" Hilion shouted.

Roman did not reply but he walked in front emphasizing that he was ready for a fight.

Gilion twitched his brow.

The next time the Demon Lord disappeared, Roman leaped and blocked its attack using the claw of his Spirit Beast, the Lightning Mayhem. The rank 7 Spirit Beast. Not all geniuses could tame such a level of Spirit Beast at such a young age.

"He truly is a monster himself, tsk!" Gilion muttered upon seeing Roman blocking the attack of such an enemy.

"Anthony!" Hilion shouted the name of their newbie member.

"Yes sir!"

Without wasting any more second, Anthony invoke his binding spell —Wood Quadra - Binding Pillars—!

Four gigantic pillars jutted out from the floor; Roman immediately Stepped back.

In the middle of the four pillars was the Demon Lord. A second later, spikes appeared to impale it.

The lord tried to struggle but to no avail.

The next second, (Bang!) The Demon Lord stomped his foot on the ground and created a shockwave that broke the wood pillars.

Oowwwwwwwooohhhhh!!! It howled upon freeing himself.

Anthony was sent flying back but caught by Leon.

The battle became a chaotic battle. The Demon Lord followed up by a long horizontal strike that sent a scarlet wave of energy in the form of a lying crescent moon. Hilion and the others immediately duck and the others dove to evade.

But not all of them were lucky enough. Some heads flew in the air.

"Damn!"