Chapter 926: The Gate Connected to Hell
"Boom—!"
Under the onslaught of black flames, the floors of the Demon King's Castle were shattered layer by layer, engulfing countless pieces of furniture and soldiers, burning them to ashes without a trace, leaving no pain in their demise.
"Where did he go?"
Asuk hurriedly searched for Eiji's figure.
But after breaking free from the restraints, Eiji seemed to have vanished, his whereabouts nowhere to be found.
Silently, a gleam of sword light appeared behind Asuk.
Without even noticing the enemy's presence, Asuk was beheaded by that sword light.
However—
"Swish!"
Asuk, now headless, showed no blood spurting from her neck.
Instead, she swung the heavy black sword in her hand, unleashing an unstoppable blade of light. The replicated demon sword Gram in this dream possessed the exact same functions as the original!
Yet, Eiji's reflexes were far quicker than she had anticipated. Before she could swing the demon sword, he had already moved away from behind her.
"As expected, as long as she remains within this dream domain, she is immortal!"
Eiji retreated once again, stealthily moving through the shadows. The collapsing Demon King's Castle became a natural barrier obstructing her line of sight.
Just like last time.
No, this was far more troublesome than before!
During the previous battle in the royal capital, Asuk had been fighting remotely, without the capacity to construct a dream domain. As long as the residents serving as her power source were awakened, Asuk would instantly lose her strength.
But this time, Asuk was fighting in her true form. Not only had she deployed an almost omnipotent dream domain, but she also no longer needed to extract power from others' dreams. The energy provided by hell allowed her to expend it recklessly!
A true Duke of Hell was far more troublesome than imagined!
"The only way to defeat Asuk in her complete form is…"
Eiji pondered strategies from the shadows.
Meanwhile, to locate the elusive Eiji, Asuk took action.
She soared into the air, hovering at mid-height. With a slight flicker, more than ten copies of herself appeared around her, each holding a demon sword Gram.
"Such a thing is possible?"
Even Eiji was astonished.
Last time, it took five minutes to create just one sword. Now, she could produce so many at once?
With hell as her energy backup, she could afford to be this reckless, huh?
No, this also meant that if her connection to hell's energy were severed, her power would drastically weaken.
But where was the connection point?
"Boom!"
More than ten Asuks stood in the sky, raising their demon swords Gram in unison and slashing chaotically toward the ground!
For a moment, the sky above the Demon King's Castle was filled with a frenzy of demonic activity!
Endless golden sword lights surged downward, one after another, raining upon the Demon King's Castle below!
She intended to destroy the Demon King's Castle, depriving Eiji of his hiding place and forcing him out!
"That woman!"
Eiji's expression suddenly changed, and he rushed out without hesitation.
"—Sacred Explode!"
A sacred golden light erupted from his sword, transforming into an endless pillar of golden light that shot upward like a divine greatsword, sweeping away the incoming golden sword lights!
Eiji wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and let out a soft sigh.
Kazuma and Megumin were protected by Barnier, but Dust, Kyouya Mitsurugi, and Megumin's parents were all ordinary mortals with flesh and blood bodies. Not to mention the many subordinates in the Demon King's Castle—if struck by that golden sword light, they would instantly be torn to pieces!
In the sky, Asucca froze for a moment, then a malicious grin spread across her lips.
"I can't delay any longer!"
Noticing her evil smile, Eiji's heart sank.
Without hesitation, he sprang into action, his figure shooting through the air like a cannonball toward the distance!
"What is he trying to do?"
Asucca was momentarily stunned.
She had just realized Eiji's reason for intervening and was planning to use the hostages to force him into action, but she never expected him to abruptly disengage from the battle?
Where is he going?
"That direction... Could he be...? Oh no!"
Asucca stared in the direction Eiji had fled, her expression suddenly shifting dramatically.
She quickly focused her mind and created several clones at that critical node—
Eiji's landing point was the entrance to the Demon King's Castle!
This area was originally the gatekeeper's post, but unfortunately, even the so-called "World's Strongest Mage" was nothing in the eyes of the Archduke of Hell.
When Eiji landed here, he immediately spotted the gatekeeper lying on the ground, fast asleep.
On his back grew three pairs of snow-white wings.
He was an angel.
And a high-ranking one at that.
No wonder the Witch had called him the world's strongest. Angels were servants of the gods and the main force in divine wars, so their magical power naturally far surpassed that of mortal mages.
Eiji recalled how the Witch had once described the Demon King's Castle's barrier to him.
"A barrier constructed by pooling the power of all the executives, designed by the gatekeeper to connect with Hell, allowing it to draw infinite energy from the infernal realm. That's why it's unbreakable—and even if damaged, it quickly restores itself!"
It was precisely because of its rapid regeneration that the goddess Eris could only stand outside, maintaining a breach in the barrier to secure their escape route.
However, this also helped Eiji understand something.
Even an Archduke of Hell shouldn't normally be able to cross worlds and connect to Hell!
The evidence was Barnier. Though he was just a clone, his power was extremely limited, at most on par with Wiz. That was proof he couldn't connect to Hell! Otherwise, even as a clone, he should have been overwhelmingly powerful.
Yet Asucca could connect to Hell, meaning she controlled a special passage linked to the infernal realm!
—At the entrance of the Demon King's Castle, there was a 'gate' connected to Hell!
In a flash of insight, Eiji reached this conclusion!
And when he landed at the castle entrance and saw several of Asucca's clones, he knew his deduction was correct!
This gate was likely known only to the gatekeeper—not even the old Demon King or the Witch were aware of it. Otherwise, they would have used this gate to take revenge on Eiji long ago.
Asucca had learned of this 'gate' through the gatekeeper's dreams and seized it for herself. Only when Eiji discovered her greatest weakness did she panic!
With a holy thunderbolt, Eiji obliterated all the clones, then kicked the side gate to splinters and charged into the battlements.
A deep, pitch-black passageway of unknown destination appeared brazenly before Eiji.
"Clang—!"
A sword gleam whistled through the air.
In the blink of an eye, the passage began cracking like a mirror before twisting and vanishing completely.
"Hummm—!"
The mist barrier enveloping the entire Demon King's Castle suddenly trembled.
Though it quickly stabilized, Eiji knew the domain's power had been thoroughly weakened!
"This way, your power shifts from infinite to finite."
Eiji turned to face the belatedly arriving Asok, wearing a leisurely smile.
"Now the conditions are equal—let us battle fairly!"