Chapter 592: How Much Money Do You Have to Fight for Your Life?
During the Demon King Dark Night confrontation with Andre in the dark of night, even the lowest level of the underground complex felt the tremors, vibrations clearly coming from above.
Obviously, the clashes between multiple Demon Kings on the upper floors had alerted the magic-pattern users stationed below. But they didn't know what exactly was happening, and at the moment, they had no time to worry about it. They still had to face a Demon King and an entire demon army.
The demon army had already broken free, and this force alone was overwhelming for them.
Earlier, with the arrival of Marine Admiral Kizaru, the situation had shifted once again. The Demon King Desert had released all the demons imprisoned by Evergreen Tree, which completely changed the battlefield.
At present, Admiral Kizaru was fighting the Demon King Gusen alone. Meanwhile, the magic-pattern users of the guild, led by two Demon-King-tier Magic User, Zeno and Evergreen Jayne, were jointly holding off the Demon King Desert and the demonic army.
For now, the magic-pattern users were at a disadvantage. Due to the demon army's presence, they could only rely on the forest fortress built by Evergreen Jayne to hold their ground.
After constructing the fortress, Evergreen Jayne and Zeno confronted the Demon King Desert together. Neither wanted to act rashly; both preferred to delay and wait for reinforcements.
But once they felt the vibrations from above, they exchanged a look.
Something had gone wrong with their support.
It seemed the demon clan had sent more than two Demon Kings.
Their hopeful assumptions shattered instantly. Even so, since the opposing Demon Kings hadn't acted yet, the two still hesitated to move. They wanted to buy time, anything to prolong the wait for reinforcements.
Both had their own reasons.
Evergreen Jayne was simply lazy. With odds like these, the two of them stood little chance anyway, so he might as well coast along.
Zeno, on the other hand, was cautious. He had briefly fought the Demon King Gusen before and had been driven back almost immediately. He naturally wouldn't underestimate the Demon King Desert, if anything, this one was even more dangerous.
This was the Sand Demon King Desert's home territory: filled with yellow sand and dense deposits of sand and stone attribute fear minerals. A powerful pure magic species could ignore the ores' impurities and achieve effects similar to wielding an actual magic weapon.
In every way, this place belonged to the Sand Demon King Desert.
Because of this, Zeno didn't dare move before the Sand Demon King Desert made a move. One large-scale attack could bury them all alive; many comrades could die instantly. Zeno absolutely didn't want to see that.
As long as they held steady, he believed the higher-ups must have prepared contingency plans.
This entire mission was originally a test. If the demons on Demon Island didn't react strongly to the Demon-Hunting Ceremony, then everything would continue as usual. But if their reaction was intense, then measures needed to be taken.
How far those measures should go depended on the senior leadership.
Thus, Zeno and Evergreen Jayne remained in a stalemate with the Sand Demon King Desert. They didn't understand why he stopped acting after freeing the demon army, but this was undeniably the best outcome for now.
Meanwhile, while the Sand Demon King Desert was idly slacking off, Gusen was fiercely battling Kizaru.
The forest seethed with monstrous demonic growth; vines and roots surged wildly toward Kizaru.
He weaved through them like he was dodging a hail of bullets, sometimes turning into light, sometimes transforming into a phoenix to evade the attacks.
When he couldn't dodge, he countered with Yasakani no Magatama to carpet-bomb the area.
The battlefield was riddled with holes, only to be patched again by the regenerating magical forest, over and over.
"Is this the power of the Mythical Beast Fruit from Mythical Beast Island?" Demon King Gusen muttered, watching Kizaru show no signs of fatigue despite the relentless assault. "It's truly remarkable."
If this human hadn't eaten the Phoenix Mythical Beast Fruit, Gusen could've subdued him the moment he activated his domain. It was a shame, if the demons had acquired even one Mythical Beast Fruit or God Killer Equipment, they could have reached this level in a month. But none of them had.
Gusen sometimes wondered if the Yamata God Orochimaru was deliberately targeting them.
But in the end, it didn't matter; magic was supreme.
Rumble!
"Tree Nest!"
Masses of tree roots erupted at the battlefield's outer boundary, intertwining to seal the area.
"What?!"
Kizaru saw the border seal itself, turning the battlefield into a trap. The moment he realized the situation, he immediately sprinted for the edge. He only wanted to hang at the perimeter and drag Gusen down slowly. But now Gusen intended to cage him in and fight to the death; Kizaru couldn't believe it.
'How much is my salary? Why am I working this hard!?'
For a brief moment, he wondered how much money hunters earned. A Marine's salary certainly wasn't enough for this kind of effort.
"You want to run? Dream on!" Demon King Gusen sneered, shooting toward Kizaru on the rising tree roots.
Kizaru had been staying right at the edge of the domain earlier. Switching domain types, from open to closed, took time. Just enough time for Kizaru to escape.
So now, Gusen simply did it directly. As long as he got close enough to Kizaru, he could convert the domain instantly without breaking its boundaries. And once the domain closed, even someone made of light wouldn't be able to escape.
Inside a closed domain, Gusen had an absolute advantage. He was confident he could finish Kizaru.
To Gusen, this place was a private forest preserve, and Kizaru was prey. He even enjoyed the chase.
"Hey, hey! Why is this guy so malicious for no reason!?" Kizaru complained as he reached the wall of the Tree Nest. He fired Yasakani no Magatama at the sealed tree roots desperately.
He could feel the man closing in behind him, radiating pure malice.
Why did a simple work assignment turn into this madness? Where had all this hostility come from?
He was pretty sure he hadn't offended this guy.
Did the Apostle pay him some outrageous salary to motivate this level of effort?
Did he look that weak, so weak that someone felt compelled to step on him?
Rumble!
Yasakani no Magatama blasted the barrier, but only damaged it slightly, it didn't break through.
Kizaru's pupils tightened.
Gusen had spread his entire domain's power into reinforcing the barrier. Breaking through would take time, but time was exactly what Kizaru didn't have. The enemy wasn't giving him even a second to breathe.
Kizaru turned, staring at the figure rapidly closing in atop the tree roots. He truly wanted to scream: "Don't come any closer!!"
(End of this chapter)