A beam of dark red light shot straight forward, only slowly dissipating moments later.
Where the light-element mage had once stood, nothing remained but a bottomless crater.
The crater stretched onward, nearly bisecting the entire block and vaporizing several unlucky souls who hadn't managed to flee in time.
...
The members of the Gray Wolf Mercenary Group let out stifled gasps of horror.
They stared at the demon ahead who was slowly lowering his hand.
He was a male whose appearance was almost indistinguishable from a human.
His features were handsome to an eerie degree, making him look more like a noble scholar from a foreign land than a demon.
A Rank 7 demon—Samael.
His eyes swept over the shivering human mercenaries, and his lips curled into a playful arc.
“The eyesores are gone. Finally, some peace and quiet.”
“M-My lord...” a trembling voice called out.
It was the leader of the Gray Wolf Mercenary Group, a burly man with a scar across his face, who forced himself to step forward.
He glanced at the corpses littering the ground and quickly lowered his head, his voice shaking. “The Blue Stream Mage Association has been wiped out, and the light-element mage has been dealt with. According to... according to our previous agreement, the vein was to be a 50/50 split... You see... is there still a problem?”
“Agreement?” Samael interrupted him, tilting his head slightly as if he had heard something utterly ridiculous.
He threw his head back and laughed. The laughter echoed through the silent ruins, sounding exceptionally bizarre.
“Hahaha... You said agreement? ...Oh, I remember now.”
The laughter stopped abruptly.
Samael’s figure vanished from where he stood. In the next second, he appeared directly in front of the leader, the distance between them so close they could feel each other’s breath.
The scarred leader’s pupils shrank violently. He instinctively tried to retreat, only to find his body stiff and unable to move at all.
Then, a hand clamped around his throat, slowly lifting him off the ground.
“Foolish human.”
Samael leaned close to the man’s face, which was flushing red from suffocation. His eyes held no warmth whatsoever. “Did you really think we, the great demon race, would actually discuss agreements with ants like you? A fifty percent share of the vein? You must be out of your mind.”
He sneered, his tone filled with blatant contempt.
“The vein belongs to the demon race. And this city, from this moment on, is also the territory of the demon race. As for you...”
His gaze swept over the surrounding mercenaries, whose faces were as pale as death.
“...You are merely tools that are still temporarily useful.”
“No... My lord... mercy...” The scarred leader struggled to squeeze a few words from his throat, his eyes filled with despair and entreaty.
Samael tilted his head, seemingly considering it seriously.
Then, his fingers tightened slightly.
Crack!
The leader’s head slumped to the side at a grotesque angle, the light in his eyes rapidly fading.
Samael casually tossed the limp corpse onto the ground.
“Leader!”
“He killed the leader!”
“Fight them!”
After a brief, deathly silence, several angry roars erupted from the mercenaries.
A portion of the mercenaries who still had some fight left in them charged toward Samael and the several Rank 4 demons behind him, their eyes bloodshot as they raised their weapons and channeled their magic.
However, even more mercenaries were completely broken by the horror of their leader being killed instantly. They screamed and turned to flee, wanting nothing more than to get as far away from this devil as possible.
“Heh, commendable courage.”
Samael looked at the dozens of charging mercenaries, a highly pleased smile appearing on his face. “Just in time to stretch my limbs.”
He raised both hands and clapped them together lightly.
Hum!
With him as the center, the space within a fifty-meter radius suddenly compressed!
The dozen or so mercenaries at the front didn't even have time to scream before their bodies were instantly crushed into clouds of blood mist by the terrifying spatial pressure!
The mercenaries behind them were scared out of their wits and tried to stop, but their momentum carried them forward, and they too exploded.
In just two or three seconds, every mercenary brave enough to charge had been turned into blood mist.
At that moment, the other Rank 4 demons began to move.
They were not high-ranking demons, so they did not look particularly human. However, their movements were equally lethal.
They lunged into the midst of the fleeing mercenaries, and screams and wails instantly filled the block.
One mercenary was pierced through the chest by a demon's tail, hoisted high into the air, and then flung away.
Another mercenary was corroded by magic, his body melting like a candle, emitting a sizzling sound and desperate cries.
Others tried to resist, but their blades struck the demons' hard skin without leaving even a scratch, and they were promptly rewarded with snapped necks.
It was a one-sided massacre.
The Gray Wolf Mercenary Group, an organization with a fearsome reputation in the border regions, was as fragile as a stray dog before true demon powerhouses.
Their greed had summoned devils, and devils never honor human contracts.
Samael stood where he was, admiring the show.
He even pulled a pristine white handkerchief from the inner pocket of his formal coat, slowly and methodically wiping the blood from his fingertips where he had crushed the leader's neck.
“Efficiency is too low,” he said with a slight frown, addressing the Rank 4 demons.
“Derrick, eliminate all humans who possess magic within their bodies. Ignore the civilians for now, but no one is permitted to leave the city.”
“Yes, Lord Samael!” a Rank 4 demon replied respectfully.
Samael stopped paying attention to the massacre.
He turned and looked toward the City Lord's Manor.
“Time to go see my new home.”
He set off, walking at a leisurely pace toward the City Lord's Manor.
Everywhere he passed, whether it was burning ruins or terrified, hiding human civilians, nothing could draw even a side-glance from him.
To him, this city and everything within it already belonged to him.
As for those humans?
The obedient ones could serve as temporary slaves.
As for those who were disobedient or useless...
He licked his lips, a bloodthirsty glint flashing in his vertical pupils.
“They can serve as food.”
Sounds of resistance faintly echoed from the direction of the City Lord's Manor, but they were quickly silenced.
Clearly, the remaining defensive forces there were equally powerless against the demons.
On the edge of the city, a cellar was packed with shivering civilians.
Men gripped crude weapons, shielding women and children behind them, even though they themselves were trembling with fear.
The tremors and screams coming from above kept them in a state of constant agitation.
“What... what’s happening outside?” a young mother holding an infant asked in a small, tearful voice.
“Be quiet!” a wrinkled elderly man hissed. He pressed his ear against the cellar door, listening intently to the outside world. “The sounds of fighting are getting further away... It seems they’ve moved toward the City Lord's Manor...”
“The Gray Wolf Mercenary Group... and those monsters... did they win?” another man asked, his voice hoarse.
The elderly man was silent for a moment before slowly shaking his head, his face full of despair. “No matter who wins... we... we are finished.”
“I heard it... I heard it... it was the laughter of those monsters... that wasn't a human voice...”
Suppressed sobbing broke out in the cellar.
“Will... will no one save us?” the young mother clutched her child tightly, tears falling silently. “What about the capital? The Holy City? Where are their armies? Where are those high and mighty figures?”
No one answered.
...
The City Lord's Manor.
Samael stood on a high vantage point, looking down at the city.
Several Rank 4 demons stood solemnly behind him, their bodies still stained with wet blood.
“My lord, the primary resistance within the city has been largely suppressed. About a hundred remnants of the Gray Wolf Mercenary Group surrendered and are being held in central custody. Seventeen holdouts in the City Lord's Manor have all been executed,” reported Derrick, the lizard-headed demon.
“Mm,” Samael grunted noncommittally. He turned his gaze to the north, toward the rich magic crystal vein. “What is the status of the vein?”
“A squad has been sent to investigate. The scale of the vein is indeed staggering. Preliminary detection shows that the magic crystal purity in the core area is very high. The reserves are sufficient to support a medium-sized demon legion for several years of high-intensity consumption.”
The smile on Samael’s lips deepened.
“Excellent. Begin setting up the energy-absorbing arrays and spatial tunnels immediately. We need to transmit these coordinates and the situation back to the Demon Realm as soon as possible.”
“Additionally, establish a base in the core area of the vein. Mining operations can proceed simultaneously, prioritizing the extraction of high-purity magic crystals.”
“Yes!”
“And one more thing,” Samael turned around. “Send a message to the Shadow Council. Tell them that although I don't know why their invasion of the Elf Kingdom failed, we have something of even higher value. Tell them to prepare to receive the first shipment of goods.”
“As you command, my lord.”
Samael looked back at the city beneath his feet.
“Human kingdoms... the Elf Kingdom... Heh.”
He muttered to himself, “The Four Calamities are about to return, and the current Demon King's order is collapsing. Chaos is the best stage for us demons.”
Rate on N.U.
