“Master, I have returned.”

“Good! I could use some good news right now. All this fighting is making me groggy. Did you deliver the package?”

“I have and also, have talked with her.”

“That’s rare. You usually don’t talk anyone.”

“Do I?”

“I think so, but enough about you. How is she? Is she eating normally? Was there anyone bullying her? What’s she doing right now? Is she worried about me? Did she say anything about me?”

“Master… you’re barraging me with too many questions. I am unsure where to begin.”

“Can’t you see I’m anxious to see to her?”

“Yes, I can. However, this isn’t the time for idle chatting. What’s the situation?”

“Boring. See for yourself.”

Behind Simonn, a little shack hidden in a few trees left untouched. However, the land leading to the horizon in front was littered by Demon corpses left to right. Imps, Lessers, Greaters, Behemoths, Abyssals, Elementals, Arch, and Greater Arch-Demons never made past the line he set for himself.

His equipment changed since he moved to the Demon Realm. He wore his old set of armor he used during the war against Demons.

It looked comfortable and suitable for the winter to come. It was a large white coat with loose sleeve holes lined with fluffy fur. The shoulders were well protected with guards and the coat’s underneath hid scales of tiny plates almost as flexible as chainmail. There was also a big sigil on the back, granting him everlasting high tier defensive magical properties an old friend helped enchant.

Beside him weren’t his usual short sword and hatchet used when he went adventuring. Instead, Simonn held onto an atrocious looking blunt object and a carried a blocky, obsidian statue standing by his side.

The blunt weapon; forged from materials of an ancient creature. It appeared to be a two handed for its size, but its obnoxious design was meant to be used with a single arm. The protruding plates may have been designed for aesthetic as an addition but was created well intend for the use of combat.

The obsidian statue framed in silver was as large as a dresser and resembled a shape of a coffin with belts tying the lid on it.

Simonn took a sip from his canteen after anchoring the coffin upright and taking a seat on a fallen log. As he decided to take a break, a blue vortex swirled into existence and spewed more hideous Demons onto the field.

“Master, let me-.”

Before Felix could finish his sentence, the silver lined coffin slammed itself open. The contents were blocked by scenic reflection of a night sky filled with a stream of stars. It’s as the coffin opened a portal connecting to space.

A rippled warped the image then a single fiery spirit of dull cyan blue color crawled out of the coffin. The spirit floated slowly towards the Demons at snail speed projecting rings of magic circles around it. Blue flames ruptured out of the earth and brewed a firestorm swallowing the enemy. The newly born Demonic army was annihilated before they were able to set foot on the battlefield.

“Did you say something?”

“No. Nothing.”

Felix shackled his guillotine back behind him.

“What do you think of the idea of answering the summit?”

“I find it preposterous. Given Vassal has launched an assault against us as he called for a meeting, the results will not change. As always, I am at your command.”

“Good to know I have allies in these trying times.” Simonn frowned. “Now we wait and see where the others stand. Olga’s definitely staying with Vassal.”

“I believe Goodman and Darnick are likely to join us.”

“Maybe. If possible, I prefer everyone else to stay neutral and stay out of my fight with Vassal. I prefer not to fight with Liandra and Bardock as they’re more troublesome.”

“Liandra’s a powerful foe even for me.” Felix said, crossing his arms. “I’m not good against magic and she’s fixated on you. I doubt she’d stay on the sidelines.”

“As for Bardock, we need to find a way to disable Demi-Gloves [Hansel and Gretel]’s defenses. Unfortunately, there’s still the golems after that.”

“And there are ‘Players’ pressing against borders on all countries.”

“Not my problem. I didn’t fight against Demons for the sake of the world in the first place and I’m not fighting against Vassal’s new creations for the same reason.”

“Is it for Neila?”

“Everything is for her. I was planning to stay on the sidelines as long as she wasn’t caught in this. But then, Vassal sent his Demons. I’ll make sure to repay the ones who threaten her happiness ten folds, even if it means I have to sacrifice everything. Felix, you might say you’re on my side, but to me, you’re expendable.”

“My life is yours to throw away when the time comes.”

“Good! You understand. We should get ready for the summit tomorrow.”

Simonn closed the coffin. He stood up, conjured a small magical sphere of distorted space and deposited his atrocious looking morning star.

“Master, one more thing. I have a message from Neila.”

“A message? Why didn’t you say it sooner? What is it?”

“I believed it was inappropriate at that time.”

“No! Not that! What did Neila say?”

“She mentioned the ‘deal’ is off if she does not see you soon.”

“Oh geez, this is all Vassal’s fault! I hope I can make it back in time before Neila’s patience runs out. Felix, I’m sending you back.”

“To find Neila?”

“Sort of. Before you look for her, I want you to track down the drunkards.”

“Why?”

“That’s none of your business.” Simonn cracked a small smile while he made a fist with both hands. “Just get me their locations after that ordeal.”

“Then what should I do when I find her?”

“Dunno. Anything she wants to avoid bringing up the deal. I don’t want her to call it off. In the meantime, I’ll go welcome those Otherworlders that just showed up.”

“Grrraaaahhhh!”

A cry rose up as he bashed his shield against sharp talons clawing at him.

His opponent was covered in its own blood and missing a wing. Even with a lost limb, the enemy possessed overwhelming strength that could easily throw him if he wasn’t careful. He twisted his shield to push the demonic arm away. Just as he was about to land the fatal blow, a small group of Imps charged his side and forced him to shift his attention to the little devils.

His blade cut into Imps trying to stop him from slaying the Lesser Demon.

“There’s too many of them!”

“Move it Davin, unless you want to get cut in half!”

Davin ducked to one side while cutting down an Imp. A great sword barely grazed his hair and inflicted a large bleeding scar across the Demon’s chest as it furiously flapped away with its recently regenerated wings. As it looked to attack with its claws, it noticed they were cut off.

“Tsk. Nimble flyer. I couldn’t cut it down.”

“I’m not going to let it get away!”

Once Davin broke through the Imps, he aimed his cutlass after the withdrawing Demon. He extended his weapon to the farthest length and scratched the surface of its leg. As the Demon hovered backwards, it opened its jaws to show a burning red light.

“It’s going to cast [Fire Breath]! Duck!”

Knowing the voice belonged to Neila, Davin instinctively threw himself to the ground.

An arrow soared over him then impaled the Demon’s mouth before it was able to cast [Fire Breath]. The unfinished spell was forcibly detonated by fire magic imbued onto an arrow and sent the Lesser Demon’s head smoking while it tumbled off the burning roof and smacked onto the hard cobblestone tiles.

“Nice shot Neila!”

“Take it down before it the wings come back!”

Another figure jumped into the fray plunged her spear into its shoulders. She landed above the Demon and struggled to keep it pinned before she was able gain balance.

“Gotcha!”

“Elizabeth, above you!”

She couldn’t end it as a flying grotesque creature intervened to prevent its brethren from being slain. It swooped down from the air and knocked Elizabeth aside.

“They’re persistent, and I was so close!”

“Who said slaying Demons was an easy task?”

The Demon laying on the ground attempted to crawl away and buy time for its wounds to regenerate.

“I got it!”

Nearby, a beastkin drew her machete and chopped the reviving Demon. She found a foul gem exhausting a poisonous miasma poking out from a wound that she quickly swapped to her firearm and put a round in it.

Before she had the chance to wipe sweat off her forehead, various shrieks and cackling emerged from the pile of torn down homes. Lucy withdrew her rifle and held her machete firmly against the newcomers.

“Imps! More made it past the walls!”

Red skin midgets, Imps, crept out of the debris. They made unpleasant grins as they leaped at her. Her rifle could take out a target one at a time, but they moved in numbers that could not be dispatched instantly with what equipment she had.

“Gurd, Ulos, Maks, Holk, Jeltz!”

A halfling poured a splash of magic liquid over the floor. Small pebbles and debris gathered by her side, forming into small shards in preparation for [Rock Blast]. She calibrated the sharp ends and slugged the wave of enemies with countless sharp rocks.

“I knew I can count on you, Adbelle!”

“Ran out of spells yet?” Tyler asked. His breath had gone slightly ragged as he eyed the Demons behind his great sword.

“Hmph. I have about twelve left.” Adbelle flicked her hair and whipped up [Firebolt] to disintegrate another group of Imps. “That aside, I feel the tremors closing on the town.”

“That means the town guards haven’t taken down the Behemoth.” Neila looked towards the walls.

“We’re falling back to regroup with the others.” Elizabeth demanded. “Neila, Davin, stay close to us.”

“Sheesh, what a slave driver.” Tyler groaned.

-Thump rubble rubble!

Halfway retreating towards the second defensive line, a disturbing quake shook the town. It came from the wall and there was a large shadow projected in the rising smoke. The figure then proceeded past the ruins, its giant wooden column struck down at platoon. An arm filled with hatred eyes stared down at the fleeing groups as more of its body poked into view. Its appearance ensured chaos.

It took the appearance of a cyclops and stood over eleven meters tall, dragging its greyish body covered with blinking eyes on its arms and legs. Its head resembled an elephant with one large eye on its forehead and trampled everything in its path with its hooved feet.

“Oh no! The wall!”

“It’s here! The Behemoth!”

“It’s not just here! It’s running at us!”

While withdrawing, Neila, Lucy and Adbelle joined others, unleashing a barrage of projectiles in order to slow down the monster. To their misfortune, their attacks bounced off protective plates and tough hide.

The Behemoth made a loud trumpet noise with its trunk like nose and waved a club above its head. Its movements are sluggish, but by no means slow. Its muscle packed legs brought it halfway through the town in less than a minute.

“There’s no way we can fight that!” Davin shouted. “Lesser Demons are one thing, but this is out of the question!”

The size of its scrappy club could decimate a well armored individual. They lacked explosive firepower except the cannons that were just destroyed. Unless they were lucky to not be its target and dodged indirect blows. There was no guarantee they would come out unscathed, let alone victorious without luck or miracles.

“Shut your trap and fall in formation! Your yapping’s not helping! We can’t let that thing past us!”

“W-we’re going ta fight dat thing? For real?”

“We have to. There’s only a handful of Adventurers and town guards left in this fight. Elizabeth, I think I should go treat the injured. If I could go heal more people, we may be able regain numbers to fight off the Behemoth.”

“I’ll leave it to you. The rest of us will distract it and buy time for reinforcements. We’ll try to take it down if we can.”

“Hopefully we’ll get them soon. We need the help.”

Adbelle marched off with her suitcase of medical supplies and ran to help the healers.

“Neila, you up for it?” Davin asked.

“Someone’s gotta do it. Simonn’s counting on us.”

“Then it’s decided. Let’s go!”

Adventurers lead the vanguard towards the Behemoth, each team making shallow wounds as they pass. The town guards would secure a perimeter around the civilians to fend off stray Demons hiding around town.

A Rogue scratched an eye, Warriors smashed and hacked their heavy weapons wherever they can. A Spellcaster’s different array of magic proved ineffective against the Behemoth’s thick hide. Archers and Gunslingers raced over rooftops and shot several projectiles into different eyes. Black sludge gushed from the eyeholes and its eyelids sealed them temporarily as they regenerate.

Lucy aimed down her rifle, loading a special round. She fired an explosive round enchanted by Adbelle’s magic that took out multiple eyes at once. The recoil threw her arms upwards as she used the momentum and performed a back somersault to land on her toes.

“Lucy, it’s going to tear off the rooftops!” Tyler bellowed. “Get off!”

“Eep!”

The Cyclops rotated its large stature and dragged its club around. It brought forth violent winds, skimming the roofs off buildings. Tiles, bricks, wooden chips flew everywhere. Lucy dropped through a hole into the building for cover and quickly evacuated out of the collapsing structures, reloading and shooting from ground level.

The Demon pounded its club against nearby houses, trashing buildings. The monster let out an unintelligent howl and leaned towards one side.

“It’s liftin’ its leg!”

“Yikes!”

“Back up, back up!”

“WaaaaH!”

Adventurers scattered into opposite directions as the Behemoth pulverized the cobblestone road. The tremor shook the entire town and threw everyone off balance. Some buildings within a ten-meter radius collapsed and some survived but their exterior looked like it could fall down at any moment.

After it stood still, Davin rushed in with several adventurers running for a leg and plunged their weapons into the eyes. He reeled his blade and jabbed it in an eye.

“Take that-! Woah!”

The eyelids on the leg closed and trapped his sword.

He and a few others were lifted into the air when the Cyclops raised its other foot. He dearly held onto the handle, trying to free it from the eyelid clamping on his blade.

“W-wh-what do I do!?”

“Unless you want to get slammed into the ground, let go!” Tyler shouted.

“But, my weapon-!”

“Forget about it!”

Davin only had less than a second to decide if it was worth throwing away his life for a cheap weapon. In the end, he chose the rational option for himself to let go before the Demon stomp the ground. Those who failed to heed Tyler’s warning had their hands ripped off and several bones in their bodies broke upon landing. They were beyond saving as the Cyclops stomped down, killing victims instantly.

While Davin was falling, Elizabeth reached out and tossed him behind. She continued her charge and sported a javelin jump to reach the Demon’s back. As she soared past the Behemoth, she drew a line connecting two eyes.

The Behemoth kept facing forward but swung its arm towards her.

Elizabeth twisted her body in the air like a cat and use her spear to push off from a grab. Once she landed, she noticed a few of its eyes looked her way.

“Those eyes aren’t just for show. They’re keeping track of everyone.”

“Ugh… I hate these types of enemies. If we take out anything, they’d just regenerate.” Tyler grunted.

“EEERRRRRAAAAAHHHHH!”

“Don’t forget about deez Demons too!”

Lucy cracked a few more shots right into the flying Demon’s temple. She quickly scattered out of the debris and noticed a group of returning town guards marching down the main street manning siege weapons.

They unloaded a row of large ballistae armed with an enlarged version of harpoons that were enchanted with wind magic.

“Bring it down!”

One anchor struck itself into the eye of its shoulders. Another hooked around its tusk and more around its arms.

“I’ll be dammed. The guards are still in this fight.”

“Looks like Adbelle worked hard to get them back to shape.”

The Behemoth supported itself with one foot while its arms held on the ropes. It was a stalemate, a battle of attrition. The Demon leaned back and forth trying to balance itself from being dragged down.

“Adventurers, while we keep it from thrashing, do as much damage as you can and find its weak spot!”

“Keep pulling as hard as you can!”

“Demons behind us!”

Two heavily armored knights turned their shields to the opposite end to intercept lances of fire. Riflemen behind fired relentlessly to keep flying demons from destroying the ballistae.

As little Imps tried to get their grubby claws to tear down the weapons, Neila conjured several [Wind Blast] through her arrows to throw their formation in disarray.

Davin stepped in quickly, reinforcing one side of the human wall. He braced himself to take the enemy attack head on, poking back the Demon with his new picked up chipped sword.

“Neila, doesn’t this count as an emergency?”

“I don’t know! I still can’t open the box-! Oh, it opened.”

It looked like a short spear for throwing. Upon closer inspection, the end was fletched with feathers to imitate an arrow. The shaft had series of complex magic words Neila wasn’t able to make sense of it or where the magic script began.

“A spear? No, it’s too thin. An arrow?”

“What does it do?”

“I don’t have the slightest idea.”

“Ready or not, it’s an emergency. I’m going to stay with the guards. You do you.”

“Yeah, here goes!”

Neila drew her bow to the extreme, straining the arcs to nock the unusually long arrow.

The tip illuminated brilliantly bright. A flash of spark and suddenly branches of lightning struck the air and the ground as Neila aimed down at the Behemoth.

Thunder? This is fusion elemental magic. I haven’t even gotten familiar with primary elementals yet!

“Ei!”

Thunder clapped when Neila released the arrow. Her bow strings snapped, and the arcs of her bow shattered during the explosion of intense light.

She couldn’t see where she fired off to because it travelled as quick as lightning, but it left a photo-bleaching trail where the flash led towards a breached hole in the Behemoth’s stomach.

The Behemoth raised its cudgel and suddenly stopped. It let out a wailing howl as the eyes rolled around drunkenly.

“Wah!”

“From above?”

Lesser Demons flying above behaved weirdly. It’s like something had dragged them back to the ground as their wings could no longer generate lift and pinned them towards the floor. Their bodies spazzed like they were experiencing a sudden seizure.

“The Demons have stopped?”

Just one shot stopped it? This isn’t some simple paralysis spell. It affected every Demon in the area.

“Worry about the rest later! We have a chance to end the Behemoth’s rampage!”

The Adventurers noticed the weird movements and capitalized it. With one strong pull, the large frame fell on all fours looking a bit lethargic.

“It’s down! Kill it!”

Adventurers began piling on top of it.

“Careful of its arms! It can still grab you!”

And that’s what it did. As the warning came late, the monster supported its upper half up, an unfortunate Adventurer approached carelessly and was caught. He had his body crushed. Armor, flesh and bones couldn’t withstand its grip.

While Adventurers with swords, axes, polearms and such took the responsibility to kill the Behemoth, people proficient with ranged weapons defended the rear against Imps.

Davin, Tyler and Elizabeth bulldozed through a group of Imps, rushing towards the downed Behemoth.

“GGGGUUUUUUIIIIIII!”

“Crap! The nose is swinging towards us!”

“Go! This is best left… to me!”

Tyler braced himself. His arms swelled up in preparation to engage the wall of meat moving to him.

With an invigorating roar, Tyler hacker down using all his strength. His muscles bulged intimidating while throwing his greatsword into the Behemoth’s trunk. At first, the blade wouldn’t cut through the trunk. The blade sank inside its dense meat, erecting two bulges of blubbery fat that could pop at any moment.

“Tyler-!”

“Keep going!”

Bullets flew by both side his head and popped the bulges. Black blood poured from the wounds, letting Tyler rip through the remaining meat to sever the Behemoth’s nose and smashed a crack into the ground.

“Elizabeth, it’s moving again! I think the pain took down the paralysis!” Neila warned.

“I need to get up there. Davin, get your shield ready!”

“Ready!”

Davin skid below the monster’s head, crouching, holding his shield over his head. Once Elizabeth jumped on him, Davin acted like a launchpad and shot her up.

“This is it!”

She soared towards the head, facing the ugly giant and drove her spear into the Behemoth’s main eye. As she put her weight towards the ground, she wedged its eye from the socket. With a somersault, Elizabeth sliced the organ into two halves and landed gracefully.

The Demon’s body shuddered and collapsed as if a marionette whose string had been cut. The remaining Demons fled or were hunted down by the remaining adventurers.

A large body laid there, still.

“It stopped?”

The adventurers kept their guard up despite it being immobile. Some slowly approached the beast to inspect it. One warrior got close enough to inspect the eyes staring off in the distance and proceeded to poke it with his weapon.

Black sludge formed a puddle, but it wasn’t regenerating the wound.

“It’s dead?”

“I hope so.”

“Wait, something’s happening.”

Minutes later, the large frame began to rapidly decay. The tough hide and flesh melted off the body. Black blood evaporating as soon as it touched the ground. When the bones collapsed, they turned to ash and vanished with the help of the wind, leaving a giant black crystal behind.

Elizabeth, the one who put the final blow onto the behemoth raised her spear high in the air. “The Demons are gone!”

“We did it?”

“We did it.”

“WE DID IT!”

A round of applauses and cheers revigorated their morale. Although they suffered casualties, the majority of them survived this encounter. Wide grins spread across the people’s faces.

“Heh. Guess drinks on me!” One Warrior said to his group. “We can add Giant Killers on our list of accomplishments!”

“Yeah and-.”

Someone pointed their finger; horror reformed on their faces. They heard more stomping out in the fields.

Their celebration came too soon. Two silhouettes marched into the town from the west gate. One wore linked armor and the other was full of feathers. The armored one had a head of a boar while the other wore an owl’s skeletal mask. Their enlarged eye stared at the wrecked town from a distance as they marched over the rubbles of the wall. They had an army of Demons marching behind them.

“No way…”

“We’ve almost spent everything to defeat one and now there’s two?”

“Where the hell are reinforcements from the capital?!” Davin asked. His face was full of sweat and his arms trembled.

“I can think of two things.” Adbelle answered. “Either they were stopped by Demons or they’re not bothering to send any.”

“Were being abandoned either ways.” Tyler chugged down a stamina potion. “Even if we wanted to escape, we can’t.”

“Seriously. This day couldn’t get any worse.” Elizabeth twirled her spear and pointed to direction of her enemies. A drop of sweat ran down her cheek as her breathing went ragged but trying to calm herself of fear.

Suddenly, a soft noise of chimes and horns quelled the tension from the distance.

Its noise marked its arrival.

“What? What is it now!?”

“Why is it so dark?”

“That chime. I recognize it.” Neila immediately looked up.

The sky above the town went dark. A giant island burst down from the sea of clouds, pushing the storm aside. No one had ever witnessed the legendary moving fortress up close that you could spot details of magical crystals keeping the structure afloat in the sky.

[Sovereign of the Skies], one of the three legendary mobile fortress and one that reign as the ruler of skies made its debut.

“It warped above us?!”

Numerous magic circles formed above the Demon army. When a volley of cannon shots echoed across the field, the island’s wrath decimated the enemies at a distance without mercy.

Neila wasn’t sure what she saw. Missiles, lasers, giant metallic bullets, magic higher stronger than arch wizards. All these years, the dormant [Sovereign of the Skies] finally showcased a fraction of its power to the public.

Unfortunately, the Behemoths were left unharmed as they continued to march into town.

“Uhh… those giants are still there.” Davin shrieked.

“Dere’s something else falling from the sky!”

A figure dropped down with his guillotine sword in tow. He held the enormous blade overhead and sliced the middle of the Boar-headed Behemoth into clean two halves. Before the Behemoth’s companion was able to react, it was already beheaded. The skeletal owl head tumbled across the ground.

The two bodies were then sucked into black orbs and vanished from everyone’s sights. He slew the two Behemoths in a flash whereas defenders struggled for hours to bring down one.

“Secure the area. Destroy all Demons in this region. Do not let even one escape.” The masked man relayed the command to the floating island and marched towards the crowd of adventurers.

Another barrage of projectiles bombarded the Demons’ location.

The crowd parted ways like a sailboat pushing water aside as he continued until he stopped right in front of Neila.

“Master has ordered me to find you.”

“Eh? Oh, Simonn? What did he say this time?”

The masked man stood still and continued to face Neila without a word.

“So… anything?”

“He ordered me to find you. I have found you.”

“Yes, you did. And?”

“I was not given further instructions. I am… lost, as oppose to what I must do after I have located you.”