Facing the sudden appearance of the elite professional army of the Batan Empire, the Demon Emperor did not seem surprised at all.
Instead, in a tone full of provocation, he said to them, "If you hadn't come any later, I would've already left."
The ones who had come numbered about a thousand professionals.
All of them were level 500, Tier 9, top-tier professionals.
Reaching level 500 and completing the ninth transcendence was an enormous breakthrough for any professional.
Looking across the entire world, the number of Tier 9 professionals each nation possessed was extremely limited.
This meant that Batan had mobilized all of its Tier 9 professionals for this battle.
At the front stood a man dressed in a white mage robe, holding a dragon-claw staff, his entire body radiating a majestic, sacred aura that brooked no offense.
He was the President of Batan, a level 500, Tier 9 legendary professional, Sanctuary Mage Shafu.
At this moment, Shafu's blazing eyes locked onto the Demon Emperor as he said coldly, "Since you already knew we were coming, why didn't you run?"
The Demon Emperor rested his long sword on his shoulder and replied indifferently, "Why would I run?"
"With just you lot, do you think you can hurt this Emperor?"
Feeling the crushing pressure emanating from the Demon Emperor, Shafu stopped arguing and instead turned to his companions to issue his final pre-battle order.
"The Demon Emperor is the only stumbling block standing in the way of the Dragon Country's Necromancer's growth. Only by eliminating him can the Necromancer rise, and only when the Necromancer rises can humanity move toward the light! So no matter what, we must kill the Demon Emperor! In saving this world, we also defend the honor of our Batan Empire, and protect the peace of our 236 million citizens."
He paused, then continued, "Don't underestimate him. Though the Demon Emperor's level is only 480, his strength far surpasses that of a pseudo-king-level boss, he already has one foot stepped into the emperor-level domain, a super boss beyond ordinary comprehension!"
"Everyone, be on full alert! This battle, we must kill the Demon Emperor!"
"Kill!"
At Shafu's command, the thousand-strong Batan army of Tier 9 professionals erupted with their strongest fighting spirit and charged at the Demon Emperor.
The Demon Emperor stood unmoving, calm as ever.
A sharp glint flashed in his eyes.
"Courting death!"
As he finished, he gripped his long sword, unleashed his sword formation, and charged toward the Batan army in return.
During the battle at the Hell Arena, the Demon Emperor had devoured the power of countless professionals, allowing him to achieve tremendous growth in a very short time.
He was only a step away from restoring himself to level 500, true emperor-class strength.
Even now at level 480, his power, just as Shafu had said, already far exceeded that of a level 500 pseudo-king boss.
Facing a thousand Batan Tier 9 professionals, the Demon Emperor swung his sword.
Slash!
A powerful wave of sword light swept toward them.
Even though the front-line knights had already raised shields to form a defensive wall, they still underestimated the penetrative force of that sword light.
It pierced straight through the bodies of the front-line warriors and knights, then devoured the archers standing behind them.
The sturdier warriors and knights managed to endure the first strike without dying outright.
But the archers, whose vitality was far weaker, stood no chance.
Dozens of archers were instantly slain where they stood.
Moreover, the Demon Emperor had already activated the power of his [Devouring Body], preventing the corpses from triggering resurrection, they all fell motionless to the snowy ground.
The next moment, the Batan army continued its charge.
Meanwhile, Sanctuary Mage Shafu raised his staff, casting spells and deploying formations to attack the Demon Emperor.
A thousand level 500, Tier 9 professionals, even the weakest among them, had power capable of shaking heaven and earth.
They all wielded top-tier skills and wore the finest equipment in existence.
Yet their attacks barely scratched the Demon Emperor.
The combined bombardment of all their spells and weapons merely tore at his surface, inflicting superficial damage.
But with his astonishing regenerative power, the Demon Emperor restored his lost vitality almost instantly.
"Your attacks are far too weak… completely worthless!"
"Now, let's see this Emperor's strength!"
He raised his long sword, channeling power into its blade.
The next instant—
Whoosh!
His figure turned into a flash of lightning, plunging into the crowd.
Within the dense ranks of enemies, his sword danced at blinding speed.
A chorus of screams followed, rising and falling like waves.
The professionals of Batan were being mercilessly cut down by the Demon Emperor's strikes.
Most of the mages and archers were instantly slain.
Those warriors and knights who weren't killed outright were frozen solid by a wave of frigid energy.
Within moments, the Demon Emperor had cut through the entire formation from front to back.
After a brief silence, the entire Batan professional army was completely shattered.
Over a hundred people were slain on the spot.
Then a surge of freezing power burst out, sealing the entire battlefield in ice.
The Demon Emperor looked down at his sword, gradually being covered by frost, and said with a sigh, "Still a little more… just a little more, and this Frostblade will be complete."
"Once I forge the Frostblade, my combat strength will soar even higher! When that happens, eliminating you humans' three mythic-class professionals will be simple, and once they're gone, there will be no one left in all humanity who can stand against this Emperor!"
It turned out that the Demon Emperor had already devised a strategy to counter Zhang Yue.
He planned to forge a weapon imbued with the ice power of the Otherworld, so that each strike of his blade would carry devastating frost effects.
With that, his performance in battle would improve immensely.
And as for defeating the Necromancer, he didn't necessarily need to kill him right away.
By first exterminating the three leading mythic-class human professionals and taking control of this world, dealing with the Necromancer afterward would be child's play.
Across the battlefield, the Demon Emperor slaughtered the Batan professionals like a storm, his overwhelming power leaving no survivors.
At this moment, Sanctuary Mage Shafu's fiery gaze locked onto the Demon Emperor as he began chanting a spell.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Of everyone present, only Shafu posed a real threat to the Demon Emperor.
For the greatest strength of a Sanctuary Mage lay in domain attacks, using domain power combined with control spells, he could dominate the battlefield, trap the Demon Emperor within his range, and inflict continuous damage while keeping him restrained.
The Demon Emperor clearly noticed this.
He realized that if he wanted to end this battle quickly, he had to eliminate the Sanctuary Mage first.
Moreover, by devouring this level 500, Tier 9 legendary-class mage, his own power would grow even further.
Thus, the Demon Emperor focused his killing intent entirely on Sanctuary Mage Shafu.
Slash!
His sword swept aside the enemies blocking his path.
In the next second, he charged straight toward Shafu.
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