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Boom-!
Dylus was knocked back by Jin's attack, crashing into a True Demon World battleship. His view was momentarily obscured by the shattered wreckage, and he wanted to use Zito's flesh to heal, but Jin was already charging towards the sunken battleship he was in.
'Damn it...!'
A flashing sword energy cleaved through the battleship from both sides. Dylus barely twisted his body to avoid a fatal blow, but reading Jin's sword movements was proving extremely difficult.
He couldn't keep up with the speed and trajectory. If he tried to defend against the sword energy flying to the left, he suddenly felt blades coming at him from behind, and even if he thought he had avoided those, high-speed regeneration was already starting somewhere in his body.
However, high-speed regeneration was merely activating, but the eternal flame was preventing his flesh, bones, and organs from regeneration more persistently.
As time passed, Jin's attacks grew increasingly relentless, and Dylus could only become more and more sluggish. Just like a human who had lost a lot of blood, he was easily getting fatigued.
"It seems like you're the leader among them, Demon King, but is this all you've got? Where did that audacity you showed when you dared to counterattack me go?"
There was no way to answer. His mouth was as dry as wood from tension, and his head and eyes felt like they would explode as he tried to keep up with Jin's sword.
Jin is a formidable foe whom he could not defeat.
Dylus was realizing it. The fact that he was nothing more than a mere beast in front of Runcandel's young patriarch.
'I can't see a way out... There's no way to survive this human, no matter what I do.'
There was no time to use flesh, let alone escape.
It was impossible to cast a return dark magic spell by sacrificing soldiers. While there were still millions of ordinary soldiers on the defensive lines, but on the side where Jin and Murakan were, there were only densely packed piles of corpses.
The ordinary soldiers dared not approach that radius. High ranking troops, like commanders, were no different. To Jin and Murakan, there was no difference between them and ordinary soldiers.
Occasionally, nearby commanders tried to help in any way they could, throwing their lives away, but the problem was the shockwaves from flame of hell and Black Chain caused by the battle.
Moreover, the Allied Forces' support bombardment and magic were pouring incessantly onto the demon's side, so those commanders who rushed in recklessly could only meet a gruesome death.
'Even the situation on Ticano's side doesn't look good. Begel and Sulam's frost and plague abilities are useless against them.'
Begel and Sulam even had successfully enhanced themselves using Zito's flesh. Yet Begel's frost couldn't even scratch Murakan's scales.
Sulam's spread plague aura enveloped both Jin and Murakan simultaneously, but it had no effect at all. Jin and Murakan simply breathed in the dense plague aura as they fought. They didn't even cough.
In other words, Jin and Murakan were clearly showcasing their power. Millions of True Demon World soldiers were witnessing this. Demon Kings, beings perceived as close to the heavens among ordinary demons, were being crushed mercilessly, trampled like insects.
'What the hell is Ragal doing...!'
Squeak!
Dylus's left arm was torn away.
It wasn't a sword or sword energy that cut it. It was the fierce gust of wind created as Jin rushed past, tearing his left arm away.
Since there was no eternal flame in the gust, regeneration was possible, but if he focused on regenerating the torn arm even for a moment, his entire body would be ripped apart next.
"You've given up on regeneration, good decision. If you were under me instead of Zito, you wouldn't be helplessly waiting for death like this. You're quite a valuable talent. Zito is just using you like expendable pawns. Are there so many Demon Kings like you in the True Demon World that he can use you like this?"
Certainly not.
Dylus was clearly one of the top-ranking Demon Kings. Jin knew this, but he was deliberately breaking the enemy's morale.
Perhaps, if the enemies they were facing were humans instead of demons, most of their forces would have already dropped their weapons and kneeled.
However, the demons still feared Zito more than Jin and Murakan.
"Which one should you fear more, me or Zito... All of you will gradually find out starting today."
Pss, ssss...!
Dylus's lance was cracking. It was the result of successive Light-speed thrusts hitting the same spot on the lance accurately.
Dylus showed more concern for the broken lance than his lost left arm. Losing the weapon was more lethal than losing the left arm. He hastily infused demonic energy to postpone the damage, but the Light-speed thrusts continued.
You can only avoid Runcandel's fifth secret technique by predicting, not by reacting. Jin had mastered the light-speed thrust and was in a completed state. Jin ultimately shattered Dylus's lance and struck him.
Using demonic energy to reinforce lance was possible, but it was only effective against much weaker opponents. In reality, the moment when Dylus could turn tables purely by his own efforts had become impossible.
Now, all that remained for Dylus and the remaining Demon Kings to do something unexpected.
Even if that were to come true, there was absolutely no chance that Dylus would survive. Unless suddenly powerful individuals like Zito, Paelito, or "Ridolos" and "Videluce" didn't come to support him.
However, they were not coming, and Murakan had already half-killed Ticano and was chasing Begel, Sulam, and Ragal.
Thud!
Bradamante pierced through Dylus's abdomen. Jin rotated the blade, amplifying the eternal flame.
"Ugh, ah..."
"If you had used Zito's flesh, it might have been a little more burdensome. Now it's time to rest, Demon King. Do you have any last words?"
Dylus hesitated for a moment. Since he had confirmed the gap between himself and Jin, he had been expecting death.
With death looming before him, something that he had completely forgotten seemed to come back to him.
For instance, the day he went with his subordinates to capture human souls who had deviated from their path, the moment he accidentally met a demon in the forest.
And he remembered the time when he formed a bond with that demon and had a child.
'Who is this woman... and the child next to her?'
It was certain that Dylus never had these memories before. He had no idea who those subordinates were, who the woman he lived with was, who the child was; he simply couldn't remember.
What is certain is that he simply couldn't control the anguish in his heart the moment he saw them.
'...Tears?'
Jin was momentarily taken aback as tears suddenly flowed from Dylus's eyes.
The scenery that had just resurfaced in Dylus's memory was, of course, the people he had forgotten.
Through several cycles of oblivion and the torture and brainwashing by Zito, these memories had been completely incinerated from Dylus's mind.
The reason these memories resurfaced was because Zito's brainwashing on Dylus had temporarily weakened. It wasn't intentional, but Jin's eternal flame had inadvertently touched upon the ring of brainwashing that had been placed on him.
Why was he crying? In the moment when Jin was about to ask, Dylus's face contorted in agony.
The reappearance of the forgotten people in Dylus's memory was only for a brief moment.
Immediately afterward, his brainwashed mind awakened and turned him back into Dylus Claupino, a demon king of the True Demon World army.
"Don't hand over my corpse to that scum Ragal. Enjoy this small victory to the fullest. Lord Zito will repay my death with more excruciating pain than this, more profound suffering!"
Jin had wondered why Dylus had shed tears, but he nodded in understanding now.
"Don't worry about that, you'll soon disappear without a trace."
Vzzz...
Eternal flame rapidly consumed Dylus. He screamed in agonizing pain and his ashes scattered across the battlefield.
When Jin turned around, he saw Ticano Belgasyum was also facing death at Murakan's hands. Begel and Sulam were in shambles, with only Ragal appearing relatively unscathed.
"... Ragal! What the hell are you thinking? You're not trying to escape on your own, are you?" Begel couldn't hold back anymore and asked. Ragal grinned as if he had no intention of hiding his thoughts and nodded.
"Well, I've already prepared to escape while you guys were getting beaten up."
"What, what did you say?"
"It's not me who can't understand things, it's Sakiel, you scoundrels. How can she deal with those monsters with the likes of us? How much time did we gain with you four Demon Kings sacrificing your lives? 10 minutes? 15 minutes? Does that even mean anything?"
"Ragal, Sakiel's orders are t Lord Zito's...!"
"Ah, don't worry about Lord Zito; I'll handle that. I'm leaving now, and the rest of you can curse me as you like."
A dimensional portal opened behind Ragal. It was a dimensional portal that opened by offering Zito's flesh as a sacrifice.
Then, Ragal, finally broke the remaining flesh, shouted.
"Army of the True Demon World, listen up! As of now, we're abandoning the first-line of the front defense line. If you want to live, give your all to make it to the second defense line. It doesn't seem like anyone will survive."
Ragal disappeared into the dimensional portal.
As soon as the dimensional portal closed, from that very spot, Ragal's miasma, fortified with Zito's flesh, began to spread.
The miasma contained a fair amount of toxicity that was quite troublesome even for Jin and Murakan, and it began to erode the entire first defense line in an instant.
[Kid, who is that weird guy?]
"When this miasma subsides, we'll have to investigate records here with the help of Valeria," Jin replied.
The remaining demons were being absorbed into Ragal's miasma. Jin and Murakan were finishing off those trying to escape from the miasma.
Ten minutes later, there wasn't a single living member of the True Demon World's forces left in the first defense line.
***
At the same time, Belgasyum Second Castle, the hell of True Demon World.
Layla looked at Kelliark Zipfel with a blank expression when he unexpectedly appeared before her.
"It was probably because of the help of the Witch that someone who belongs in the human world was able to enter Hell. Why have you come to see me?"
"Layla Belgasyum, I have come to this place to take you away from Zito."
"Say it again, what are you going to do?"
When Layla showed signs of anger, Kelliark smiled quietly.
"I want to make you one of my subordinates. To do that, I'm willing to share one secret about Zito. What do you say, will you listen?"
Layla stopped pulling out her sword and made eye contact with Kelliark.
".... Tell me, Kelliark Zipfel."
"His goal is to color the entire world with suffering. Every living being, you see. However, in the end, the targets of Zito's desire to inflict pain are not limited to the lower beings or humans, but also… includes you. You know that, right?"
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