Inside the mountain, the young man, Vlad, suddenly clicked his tongue in irritation.
"Tsk! So much effort to hide from him, and in the end, he still found me."
"Men, raise your weapons! Fight bravely!" he shouted as he raised his hand, the bloody mist of the surroundings suddenly condensing into a sword.
BOOM
The ground beneath him exploded as he charged forward, cutting through the endless rats.
Each swing sent blades of wind slicing through hundreds of thousands of them, tearing openings in their formation.
Meanwhile, his free hand emitted a crimson glow, triggering a chain reaction throughout the entire area.
Kai watched from afar as the bloody mist across all of Shattered Sky suddenly began to be drawn toward the mountain.
"This is not good!" He clenched his teeth and accelerated even more.
The bloody mist grew denser and denser, until it transformed from gas into liquid, drowning the rats in poison and killing them by the thousands.
"Rat King! You should have known long ago that I am your worst nightmare! Today, I'll remind you of that once again!" Vlad said, extending his free hand.
BOOOOOM
The mountain exploded as red crystals surged forward, transforming the landscape.
The already countless billions of rats were rapidly purged, many of them falling from the sky like rain.
However, the Rat King, positioned in the rear, only laughed, increasingly amused.
"Yes! You're right—you are a terrible enemy for me! But so what? That only makes your flesh more delicious!" the Rat King laughed, summoning his royal guard.
The Rat King was the evolution of a Myriad Rat, which could only generate ordinary creatures—one stage below itself.
The Rat King, however, could easily generate Ferocious beasts of the Myriad type and, on rare occasions, Myriad creatures with an additional special evolution.
These rare cases formed his royal guard.
"Lightning Myriad Rat, Shadow Myriad Rat, Fire Myriad Rat, Ice Myriad Rat, Love Myriad Rat."
As he called them, rats of various colors appeared.
"Advance!" he ordered, and they rapidly multiplied by the thousands every second.
The Love Myriad Rat quickly used its powers to accelerate the multiplication even further.
Thousands turned into millions, and before long, they would reach the billions.
Simultaneously, the Shadow Myriad Rat immediately ordered its creations to merge with other rats, further strengthening them.
Lightning fell from the sky upon the barbarians.
Fire engulfed them.
Ice pierced through them.
And the Rat King only laughed in delight.
"Damn rat…" Vlad shouted, growing more irritated as he felt the pressure on himself and his men increase. "Doesn't he know this fight is just a waste of time and resources? Neither he nor I will win."
He sighed in resignation before once again summoning the surrounding mist.
Vlad was also just a common demon, and the mist did not belong to him.
However, having lived most of his life here, he had adapted to the environment and gained power over the mist.
BOOOOM
The ground trembled more and more as Kai simply fled with a smile on his face.
"I managed to buy time and even weaken the enemy…"
However, his expression suddenly darkened.
"Still, the enemy is greater than I expected. An army of Sinners certainly won't be easy to deal with, especially one led by a demon."
He sighed, only able to hope that Euphy would arrive as soon as possible with his request.
That way, they would at least have a chance.
…
Meanwhile, Euphy walked through a white mist with a mask fastened to her face.
"Hopefully they don't find me… otherwise…" She sighed deeply as she crossed the border between Axel and Condor.
An extremely heavily monitored region.
Step by step, Euphy walked in deep silence, not knowing exactly where she was going.
She could only hope it was the right direction—but she doubted it.
After hours in silence, the mist slowly began to thin as she advanced.
At last, Euphy sighed in relief when she saw a few trees, which she quickly climbed to observe from above.
"Condor, the country of mist… this really isn't something you see every day." She admired the scenery for a while.
Condor was completely shrouded in mist from north to south, giving it a macabre appearance.
Few trees rose above the fog, just as few lights were visible—always isolated, like wandering spirits.
Even so, there were cities, villages, and castles everywhere. Despite the hostile scenery, it was a normal country of ordinary people.
"I had heard so much about this country and its colorful flowers. It's a shame the war turned it into this."
Euphy sighed before climbing down the tree and heading toward the nearest city in search of directions.
A short while later, she approached the city gates, where two heavily armed guards watched her cautiously.
However, they did not attack her.
"Excuse me, I'm a demonic traveler with no connection to you or your war, so please don't kill me. Could you just tell me where we are?"
The guards exchanged long looks before once again scanning Euphy from head to toe.
"You're lost near the border. How do we know you didn't come from Axel and aren't a spy?" one of them said.
Euphy let out a tense whistle.
"I think we started off on the wrong foot. Actually, I'm a merchant full of magical artifacts who loves philanthropy!"
She suddenly rummaged through her bag and quickly pulled out several gold coins.
"See? I'm just a friendly merchant, looking to make friends and do business. That's all, I swear!" She slipped the coins into their pockets and smiled gently.
"Okay?"
Once again, they looked at each other—and then swiftly drew their weapons.
"I hate countries at war," Euphy sighed as a sword came down at her.
She leaned her body, dodging the attack, and swiftly struck the armor, hurling the opponent against the wall.
The second guard was startled but still charged forward.
Euphy dodged his strike, stepped in, kicked the inside of his thigh to force him to kneel, and immediately struck the back of his neck, knocking him unconscious.
"Weaklings," she said before calmly walking through the city gates, glancing around.
Above the walls and beside Euphy, dozens of men armed to the teeth watched her with hostility.
"Dozens of men… and still they don't advance. I don't even know if I can call these cowards men," she sighed. "It almost makes me miss Kai—at least that idiot charges in without thinking twice."
She suddenly smiled broadly.
Her blood boiled.
"Damn it, I can't learn to enjoy this. The strong should only face the strong—never the weak."
Euphoria filled her heart as her aura roared like never before.
The men suddenly turned pale as she advanced on them, knocking each one down with a single strike.
A horn soon sounded, summoning more and more men as she sank deeper into a trance.
"Hahaha! Yes, come! Come, more and more!" she laughed, feeling powerful for the first time in a long while.
Before she realized it, dozens of men lay scattered through the city streets.
All alive—but unconscious.
Euphy grabbed an apple from a stall, took a bite, and calmly walked toward the city's lord.
"Oh, so you finally show yourself." A sharp-featured old man glared at her along the way.
"What do you want here, demon? Have you allied yourself with Axel?!" he shouted as roots sprouted and writhed beneath him.
"I just wanted to ask where I am, to be honest," Euphy said, taking another bite of the apple. "But my father always told me that if someone wants to fight, you have to give them a proper one."
She laughed, tossing the apple away.
Hundreds of roots surged forward, trying to impale Euphy, who nimbly retreated and leapt across rooftops to evade them.
The roots destroyed the surrounding buildings in vain attempts to strike her.
Euphy drew her bow and fired at the enemy lord, who summoned roots to shield himself, blocking his view.
"Strike one," Euphy laughed, invoking her aura like a ballista. "Aura is a demon's greatest weapon against a cultivator. Always pay attention to this."
BOOOM
The ballista shot pierced through the lord's defense and penetrated his mind, forcing a shrill scream from him.
He immediately fell onto his back, eyes clouded, as the roots instinctively formed a dome around him.
"Strike two," she laughed again, summoning hundreds of aura arrows. "Aura is infinite. If you're hit once, double your focus and never allow a second attack."
The arrows rained from the sky, piercing the dome. The already weakened lord screamed in panic as more and more arrows struck him.
Before he realized it, the roots began slipping out of his control and opening the dome.
"But what?!" He stared at Euphy in shock as his body grew weaker and his spells no longer responded to him.
Immediately, he clenched his teeth and ran—without a shred of pride.
Euphy found it irritating when Sinners did this, but a man—and a veteran at that—was even more disgraceful.
"Strike three," she sighed. "If all else fails, never turn your back on a demon. They know very well how to deal with fleeing enemies."
Arrows fell upon him, dropping him after only a few steps. The lord clenched his teeth, trying to stifle his growing screams.
Euphy approached him with slow steps, her eyes twisting in disgust.
"Be a man and stop screaming like a little girl." She kicked him between the legs, making him scream even louder.
"Damn demon!" he shouted, unable to endure the pain, each aura and ordinary arrow causing infernal agony.
"I was still going easy on you! I could have shattered your mind in the first attack!" Euphy snarled irritably.
"What do you want?! Know that our king will soon come to protect us, and his royal guard will turn you to ashes!"
Euphy rolled her eyes.
"I just want to know where I am." The lord frowned and snarled.
"As if!"
Euphy sighed once more, then angrily kicked his head, knocking him unconscious.
"There must be a map somewhere around here… I need to head to Amph's territory as soon as possible."