"The demon army is marching south from the capital. I just received a message from the Grand Magus — one he sent to all mages down south. He says that the capital has been split in half, with the demons taking one side and protecting the gate where even more demons are coming out," the Magic Tower principal said in the Motter Mansion's hall.
Ali sat at the end of the table with Fiona standing near the table, looking at a map of the south drawn on an old scroll.
The heads of the two knight families and Cassian were there too, all waiting for Ali to say something.
"Have the scouts post up all along the border with day and night rotations. Ready the knights and your mages for a march up north. The demon army will most likely split in the mountain range — most will attack the count, but the rest will come down here. And the count might even push them south just to inflict more damage on me," Ali said, and the knights nodded.
"We will prepare a trap with Earth spells to bury the demons in a rockslide. No knight will wait for them on the other side — they will die to demons capable of flying, and most are led by powerful demons," Ali said.
"How do you know, my lord?" asked Cassian.
"I caught a demon follower in Obidos once I took it. He killed himself, but I salvaged a book from his destroyed house. It had content on the different types of demons," Ali said, and Cassian nodded, not asking any further.
Ali snapped his fingers and small wood pieces in the shape of knights flew and positioned themselves at different locations on the map. An hour passed in the meeting, and the knights left along with the principal. They would now leave IronPeak to follow Ali's orders.
"I heard the paladin left for the capital. You didn't speak with her…" Ali said, and Fiona sat down in a seat with a sigh and a sad expression.
"I couldn't muster the courage to let her see me. We didn't have a proper goodbye when I left the capital…" Fiona said, and Ali stood up.
"I'm going to prepare our demi-human friends for the war," Ali said, opening a black portal.
"Ali, are we safe?" Fiona asked him without looking back at him.
"Fiona, the Demon Lord himself would have to set foot here to harm you, and even then I'm confident I can stall him with my immortality…" Ali answered and disappeared.
Fiona had a soft smile on her face as she looked at the knight pieces on the map.
"Something…" she was about to say something but stopped herself. 'Doesn't feel right…' she thought.
Later that day, Ali landed in the demi-human camp, which had now transformed into a small town with thousands of new tents set up for the freed slaves who were now working on building their homes.
Once Ali's two massive dragons passed over in the clouds, all the demi-humans stopped what they were doing and looked over at the human in the white coat with a black dragon on the back. They all, in unison, went down to one knee and bowed their heads.
Well, except for one big red bull with a closed scar on his abdomen and a massive hammer over his shoulder. He was standing in the training pit staring at Ali while the warriors around him were kneeling.
Ali wasn't looking his way. He was watching the gorgeous priestess walk over from the main tent in her entourage, with her thick white fox tails flowing behind her, her fox eyes fixed on Ali with a blush on her cheeks.
"My lord, I welcome you to our humble home," she said, giving Ali a small bow. The elders behind her followed suit.
"Kynari…" Ali nodded and looked behind her at Bona and Liza, who were now part of the council over the camp. They both smiled at Ali, happy to see him.
"Now… I'm here to take down the Beast Kings today. Kynari, cut your connection with all of them," Ali said, and Kynari nodded, expecting this. Her tails floated higher and a pinkish-red glow spread all over her before the tails settled back down.
"My charm will still affect them for the rest of the day, but after today they will attack each other for territory," she said.
Ali turned around, and his eyes locked onto the big red bull — the strongest demi-human in the camp. The bull didn't shy away from Ali's stare. The elders and Kynari saw this, and their hearts skipped a beat.
"Brak, show RESP—" Kynari shouted, but Ali interrupted her by raising his hand.
Ali walked up to the large demi-human. They were two meters from each other now. The warriors around them were still kneeling, but sweat trickled down their faces as it got harder and harder to breathe.
"I will not BOW DOWN TO A HUMA—AAAAAAAAAAH!" Brak saw the whole world spin and his stomach twist and turn as the cold air hit his face.
From below, thousands of demi-humans watched their infamous Brak fly up two hundred meters into the air in seconds. Then, to their horror, a giant red dragon with flames at the edges of its wings opened its massive maw, and scorching red flames hit Brak, breaking through his aura and turning his red skin to charred black.
Now their strongest warrior was plummeting down to the camp, spinning like a ragdoll with black smoke trailing behind him in the air. Then, just above the camp, a massive portal opened, and a huge black dragon head swallowed him whole before entering another portal and disappearing.
Silence and shock dominated their minds. They couldn't comprehend what they'd just seen.
But one strong voice broke the silence.
"Your Lord — that is who I am. You live here in this forest and beautiful nature with freedom and safety because of me. All I ask is that you remember who you swore servitude and loyalty to… else I will take it all back and some more," Ali's words reverberated in the camp.
"Ali—" Liza tried to say something, but he flew straight up and landed on his massive red dragon, flying deeper into the forest.
Up in the clear skies and the soft glow of the sun, Ali enjoyed the calm ride by opening his interface and digesting his gains.
[Personal Mission: Conquer IronPeak (1/1)]
[Reward: Level Four Aura, 0.5 Strength Attribute Points]
[Interfere with the Demonic Activity in IronPeak]
[Reward: 0.3 Spirit Attribute Points, Spell: Purifying Barrier of the True Flame]
'Purifying Barrier of the True Flame? Is that what the priests used against the demon? I guess it makes sense since I was on their side. But then what about Lilith? She doesn't count as interfering with demonic activity? Well, at least I got the Spirit points — those are big. And now the Level Aura will come back with me to Paradise…' Ali thought, looking at his status.
PC: 41,227
Free AP: 0
Strength: 2.6 → 3.1
Body: 1.1
Speed: 2.2
Spirit: 6.0 → 6.3
Intelligence: 0
Luck: 0.3
Spells:
[Golden Circle]
[Fireball]
[Shadow Step]
[Purifying Barrier of the True Flame]
Passive Skills:
[Tengen's Blessing]
[Flame King's Nature]
Active Skills:
[Force Sense]
[Force Telekinesis]
[Force Lightning]
[Aura Level Four]
[Venomous Breath]
Ali then went to his mission bar to see one personal mission there…
[Personal Mission: Hunt Down the Twin-Horned Mutated Lightning Wolf]
[Reward: 1.5 Spirit Attribute Points and Spell: Twin-Horned Mutated Lightning Wolf Spectre]
'The spell could be good since the beast was strong, but what I care about is the Spirit points — 1.5 is a massive increase to my Spirit pool and, as such, my strength,' Ali thought as he closed the interface and looked down at the never-ending nature with massive beasts hunting each other. Abeloth was flying high in the clouds where none of the beasts attacked from below.
Ali looked at his middle finger where a black ring sat. It was goldfish yellow when it belonged to the Viscount, but now, influenced by Ali's aura, it turned black, mimicking its color.
Ali sent his aura through the ring, and it transformed into a sleek black spear that was longer than Ali and heavy. Then he sent another burst of aura, and it transformed into a halberd.
'It has two forms — the spear and the halberd. I can switch between them easily using aura. Then come its other powers…' Ali thought and sent a much larger amount of aura. He held the spear with both hands and pulled in opposite directions. The spear cloned itself into two spears, one in each of Ali's hands, both just as strong.
'It can multiply based on how much aura I feed it. And speaking of aura…' Ali thought as he spent two whole points of Spirit to have his aura surge beyond the normal one point per hour activation. His arm was engulfed in black aura before it was absorbed into the spear.
"It stores aura — a ton of it. And just like the Viscount did, the stored aura can be released into a powerful attack. I've stored seven points of Spirit worth of aura into this, and only now do I feel resistance from the spear that it cannot hold anymore," Ali said, transforming the spear back into a ring.
"Maybe just one attack from this is enough to kill the wolf," Ali said.
"Master, are the offspring ours to feast on after the Wolf King dies?" Abeloth roared, and his words entered Ali's mind.
"You have to eat fast then, because we have other Beast Kings to hunt. Although they're weaker, we still have to be careful," Ali answered, and Abeloth surged forward with renewed vigor. Ali regretted riding his fire dragon, as the scales felt like sitting on boiled rocks now.
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