Chương 42: Archonte

"Children! Hurry! Run to the settlement! You have to tell the adults to light the smoke signals!"

"But, Archonte, what are you going to do?!"

"I'm staying behind to stop these creatures." The children looked at the old man, their faces full of worry.

"Ha! Don't underestimate me!" Thaelor exclaimed, raising his thin arms.

"These old bones still have some fight left in them." A few nervous smiles appeared on the children's faces.

"Good! Now run! Quickly!" The children looked at one another for a few seconds, still hesitant, but finally broke into a sprint.

"If my son were here, he could have transported them to the settlement in an instant... Saelith inherited his talent, but she still has trouble with long distances, and she cannot use her magic on more than one person at a time." Thaelor made his way to the top of a hill, where he could see hundreds of thousands of green creatures of different sizes running in his direction. Like them, they were most likely a race transported to this world, but on a completely different scale.

"To think I only came here to tell a few children I had stumbled across during my walk not to play so far from the settlement... And now I find myself standing before this." The Archonte interlaced his fingers and stretched his hands forward, cracking his knuckles as he prepared to channel his magic.

"There is no other choice. I would rather not introduce myself in this manner, but that is clearly an army in full rout, and I know what happens to villages caught in the path of one." Thaelor raised his hand, all five fingertips glowing with a bluish light. The old man curled his fingers beneath his thumb and released them all at once, discharging the tension he had built up in them.

The lights on his fingers flashed, and in the distance, five orcs each lost a leg, fell to the ground, and were crushed beneath the rest of their companions.

"I only hope I can buy enough time for Lord Nereziel or Lady Avelle to return to the settlement."

"Orcs? And some goblins..." Nerez stopped in his tracks. On the outskirts of the settlement, they had come across a group of five green creatures. The creatures were running toward them in terror, and apparently, that fear was not unfounded, because in the next instant, a slash of spatial magic struck all five. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

The torsos of the two orcs were cleanly severed from their lower bodies, while the heads of the three goblins, which happened to be at that exact same height, were cut off just as cleanly. Beyond the creatures now lying lifeless on the ground, Osvel could be seen with his sword drawn, panting from exhaustion.

"It's an attack that reminds me of Aren's," Nerez murmured to himself.

"Though it isn't the same. Osvel seems to have severed space with his sword; Aren's Severance was more absolute. I saw it divide the very existence of whatever Oath's Edge cut." Nerez and Cerys carefully lowered the two visiare they had been carrying to the ground.

"Ugh!" Well, Nerez did. Cerys just dropped Ily. If Osvel was this far from the settlement, that meant the worst of the danger had already passed.

"Lord Nereziel! Sae! Ily!" the sword prodigy exclaimed when he saw them approaching.

"What happened? Why are there orcs and goblins in the valley?" Osvel stared at him in confusion at first, but soon understood what Nerez meant.

"These green creatures? We don't know... The only thing I can say for certain is that, thankfully, Lady Avelle and the dryads arrived in time. Thanks to them... there was only... only one casualty."

"One casualty?" Nerez asked. But before Osvel could give him the answer, a notification from his Godscript delivered the unpleasant news. And when Nerez checked the section that listed his servants, he could confirm it was true. Osvel, his expression grim, turned his gaze to Saelith. But before he could say anything, Ily hugged her friend tightly. For all her usual mischief, Ilyra was truly the most perceptive of the three.

"Sae... No... Archonte. Lord Thaelor has left us."

"Drazel, you can't keep doing this."

"Did you call me all the way here just to complain, sister?" The two siblings, children of the late demon king, were in a place a good distance from their army. Below them, at the foot of a steep cliff, flowed one of the underworld's many rivers.

"I have already spoken with my most loyal officers. If you keep going down this path, we will take our own." Drazel, who had been gazing down at the river from the edge of the cliff, turned around and smiled at his sister.

"Drazira, what is bothering you so much? Is it not natural for our race to seek greater power? Now that we do not even have a place to call home, we must do everything we can to avoid being looked down upon." The demoness frowned at her brother's nonchalance.

"So we won't be looked down upon? Who will be left to look down on us if you keep destroying everything in your path?"

"Didn't I let half their army retreat? For now, at least..." Drazel approached his sister and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"But in any case, what difference does it make? If they were already in the underworld, dying merely puts them on the other side of the Titan."

"Are you serious? And what about all the souls you've imprisoned?"

"Those will play an important role. They should feel proud to become our sustenance." Drazira let out a sigh and brushed Drazel's hand off her shoulder.

"Brother, I no longer recognize you. My faction and I will go to the surface. I only hope you realize your mistake before it is too late."!! But after taking only one step, Drazira felt an intense pain in her abdomen. When she looked down, she saw that Drazel's hand had pierced through her.

"It's a shame, sister, but I cannot allow you to split the army. Losing the demon kingdom, being transported to a new world... These are difficult times. We demons must remain united."

"Drazel... you... Agh!" With a simple motion, Drazel withdrew his bloodstained hand from his sister's body, while a thin line of blood trickled from the corner of Drazira's lips.

"Don't worry. I will tell your officers that you left without them so we could stay united. They will respect your decision." A sadistic smile formed on Drazel's face. Without another word, he pushed his sister over the edge.