177 - The Six Claws (3)
TL/Editor: raei
Status: ongoing
Illustrations: none
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Episode 177, Chapter 46: The Six Claws (3)
"What's wrong?" Keria asked, turning to Hiseller. He was more concerned about Hiseller's reaction than the collapsing building in the heart of the empire's capital.
"...That's the place," Hiseller replied.
"What?"
"That's where the Plant was."
"...!"
Keria's eyes widened in surprise at Hiseller's words.
"You an..."
Before Keria could finish, a series of explosions rocked the capital. Boom! Bang! Bang! Boom!
As if triggered by the initial blast, thick smoke began to rise from various parts of the city.
Hiseller's face hardened even more.
"Don't tell
all these explosions are..."
"Yeah, they're all where the Plants are located."
An attack. All the Plants in the capital were under assault by soone.
And with that realization, one person ca to Hiseller's mind as the likely culprit.
Zion Agnes. The demon realm's biggest headache and Hiseller's current target.
No one was supposed to be able to attack the Plants, but if anyone could, it would be him.
'How did he find out all their locations?'
Hiseller shook his head, pushing the thought aside. Right now, he needed to stop these attacks before the Plants were completely destroyed.
If all the Plants and their 'cores' were demolished, it would derail their grand plan to devour the empire from within when the great war broke out.
"We need to go now. Which Plant is the most crucial?" Keria asked, already moving towards the door.
"The western and eastern outskirts. Two locations," Hiseller replied.
"Then let's split up. Since the locations have been discovered, it's best to abandon the facilities and just retrieve the 'cores'."
As Keria stepped outside, he paused and turned back to Hiseller.
"Try to avoid combat this ti. This attack is likely a provocation from them."
"I know," Hiseller replied.
After Keria vanished, a grin spread across Hiseller's face.
"But that doesn't an I plan to avoid fighting."
There was a strange anticipation in his voice, stemming from the prospect of eting Zion Agnes soon.
---
Plants.
As the demon realm's key facilities in the capital, it had one purpose: to continuously inject massive amounts of demonic energy into a specific area, transforming it into an environnt identical to the demon realm where only demonic creatures could survive.
Kyaaak!
Crackle!
The western outskirts Plant, the most important of all, was currently under indiscriminate attack by an unidentified group.
Masked swordsn advanced through the Plant's interior, which undulated as if alive, chanically cutting down the demonic creatures that rushed at them.
"Who are you?! How did you find this place...?!"
The demons watching this scene were filled with shock. They never imagined this place could be discovered.
'We must hold out until reinforcents arrive!'
With this thought, the demons looked around and saw a man slowly entering the Plant behind the masked swordsn, his steps languid.
'That's him!'
Instantly realizing this man was leading the attack, the demons charged towards him.
If they could take out the leader, they might be able to buy so ti.
But they overlooked two crucial points.
Rattle!
First, the other swordsn made no attempt to stop them as they approached the man.
And second...
"You're...!"
They recognized the man with ash-gray hair far too late.
These oversights led them straight to their doom.
With one step forward, the man unleashed a monstrous darkness that engulfed the demons entirely, crushing them with a sickening crunch.
It was an unexpectedly inglorious end for demons whose individual strength nearly reached the superior level.
'This should wrap up quickly.'
After effortlessly erasing the attacking demons, Zion watched emotionlessly as the Twilight Sword Corps rapidly destroyed the Plant's 'roots'.
After concluding the eting at Chimseong Palace, Zion and all those involved in this operation imdiately sprang into action.
The Ascalon family of celestial swordsn and the Ozlima family of great mages.
Zion had ford assault teams centered around these two families to simultaneously strike most of the Plants in the capital. He had also dispatched a special unit composed of top-tier fighters to several key Plants.
'They should be arriving soon...'
As this thought crossed his mind, Zion spread a subtle darkness around him.
He was waiting for the 'Six Claws' who had injured Liushina and Rubrious.
This was one of the two most crucial facilities, so one of the Claws would surely show up.
Zion intended to hunt that Claw.
As ti passed and the screams of the demonic creatures inside the Plant began to subside,
'Has he arrived?'
Zion's eyes glead coldly.
His senses, spread throughout the Plant's interior, had caught soone.
This soone was stealthily and swiftly approaching the 'core' that Zion had deliberately left untouched.
In that mont, whoosh!
Zion's form vanished and reappeared directly in front of the intruder.
"...!"
The intruder's eyes widened in surprise at Zion's sudden appearance.
It was Keria, the demon wrapped in bandages from head to toe.
Was he truly one of the Six Claws?
Whoosh!
Despite the unexpected situation, Keria's bandages, imbued with terrifying demonic energy, shot towards Zion.
It was a strike powerful enough to obliterate a small castle.
In response, Zion swung Eclaxia. As the sword clashed with Keria's bandages, screech!
The surrounding space distorted completely, and the resulting shockwave vaporized all moisture in the area.
Through the hazy view created by this clash, sothing shot at an insane speed towards the Plant's core.
It was Keria, using the recoil from the collision to propel himself.
He had given up on fighting and was now solely focused on retrieving the core.
However,
"In a hurry, are we?" Zion said.
He wasn't about to let Keria go so easily.
Dark Current Transformation.
Using the Black Star Force threads he had attached during their clash, Zion instantly closed the distance to Keria, reducing it to zero. He swung Eclaxia, now pitch-black as if dipped in darkness, vertically towards Keria's crown.
Sensing the chilling danger from this attack, the demon was forced to turn and block.
At that mont, clunk!
Zion's descending sword stopped just in front of Keria's bandages.
"...?"
As confusion filled Keria's eyes at this sight, Partial Eclipse Double Overlap.
Boom!
The darkness residing in Eclaxia explosively increased, incomparable to before, and tore through the demon's bandages as it fell.
Keria dodged Zion's falling sword with superhuman reaction speed, but swish!
He couldn't avoid it completely. A single line was drawn across his body.
Keria stared blankly at the blood flowing from this sword wound for a mont before turning his gaze to Zion and speaking for the first ti.
"...So you're Zion Agnes. I've heard a lot about you."
"Oh? That's funny, I've never heard of you," Zion replied.
Keria's eyes turned cold at this response, which seed to belittle him, one of the Six Claws.
"It might be better for both of us if you let
go this ti," Keria said.
"Why do you think that?" Zion asked, his expression intrigued.
"Are you pretending not to know? Or do you really not know? Surely you're aware that two of the Claws are in Hubris right now."
"And?"
"Can you handle it? Even if you deal with , the other side will be difficult for you."
Keria's reasoning was sound.
The red-eyed woman and the First Prince who had nearly matched them before were injured, and Evelyn Agnes, known as the strongest knight, was currently absent from the capital.
'Moreover, the Sword King of Ascalon hasn't recovered, and the old wizard of the Grand Magic Tower can't move either.'
All of the 'Seven Heavens' in the capital were tied up.
Therefore, there was no one who could handle Hiseller, who had headed to the eastern outskirts.
Even wounded, he could easily annihilate the forces there and retrieve the core.
But,
"It doesn't matter," Zion said, his eyes perfectly calm.
"I'll kill you here and then go take care of that side."
It was an arrogant statent, yet it sohow felt like it would co true.
Keria snorted, quickly shaking off the ominous feeling he got from those words.
"Ha, do you think they'll hold out until then?"
"Of course," Zion replied with a grin.
As black stars began to swirl in Zion's eyes, he added, "I sent so capable people there."
Boom!
With those words, a deep darkness spread throughout the entire Plant, devouring the space around them, and the real battle began.
---
At the other crucial Plant in the eastern outskirts:
"What the hell! Why isn't he here?!" Hiseller shouted in frustration as he slaughtered the swordsn and mages around him.
Disappointnt filled his eyes.
The reason was simple.
Zion Agnes wasn't here.
All he found was a special unit composed of Ascalon and Ozlima's elite forces.
Of course,
"The enemy is just one person! Concentrate your fire- Urk!"
Crackle!
They were no match for Hiseller.
To face one of the Six Claws, who represented the demon realm's power, you needed a warrior of 'Seven Heavens' caliber at minimum.
The number of special unit mbers was rapidly dwindling.
Despite this, Hiseller's actions grew increasingly cruel, as if his frustration at not eting Zion remained unvented.
"Aaargh!"
"Aaaah!"
Endless screams filled the Plant as it descended into chaos.
"Right, I should just quickly seize the core and head west," Hiseller muttered, his face twisted in a frown.
Just as he was about to unleash an attack powerful enough to annihilate all the remaining special unit mbers,
Boom!
A trendous strike, fired from far away, blocked Hiseller's attack for the first ti.
Amidst the terrifying shockwave that erupted from this clash, a figure slowly erged.
A middle-aged man with steel-like muscles covering his entire body, his eyes filled with firm resolve as he glared at Hiseller.
It was Liam Rainer.
"I'll be your opponent here," Liam said in a gruff voice.
After briefly looking at Liam with a strange expression, Hiseller let out an exasperated sigh.
"Ha..."
"You think you can face ?" Hiseller said incredulously.
He could tell at a glance.
The man before him possessed rare strength for a human and had managed to block his attack, but he still hadn't reached 'Heaven'.
That ant he couldn't possibly handle Hiseller.
Yet he spoke with such confidence. It was absurd.
"And alone at that? Hey, have you lost your mind? You should know better than anyone that it's impossible."
"No, it's possible," Liam replied confidently, clenching his right hand, covered in calluses.
At that mont, whoosh!
Bright red flas erupted from the red ring on Liam's hand, explosively enveloping his entire body.
The dazzling holy power flowing from these flas covered the surrounding space completely.
Heat Heaven Armor Muspelheim.
It was the divine artifact Zion had specially 'lent' to Liam for this operation.
"That's..."
As Hiseller uttered these words in shock, sensing Liam's power increasing exponentially along with this unexpected sight,
"And I'm not alone," Liam continued, his voice carrying through the flas spreading throughout the Plant.
At that mont, swish-
The space next to Liam opened, and a man appeared.
A man with vacant yet sohow profound eyes, as if he was missing a screw.
It was Tirian Prieharden, a companion of the hero in the chronicles and the reincarnation of the only level 10 archmage in history.
---
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