<h4>Chapter 159</h4>


    “...What? How did we just hold them off?” said Zepar, the senior mage in charge of the magic corps. He squinted.


    The defensive battles they periodically had at the Hellgate were always repetitive. The seasoned troops of the Cardenas and Wickeline families stationed at the Hellgate had long grown ustomed to the Demoniacs’ physiology, and simrly, the Demoniacs had long grown familiar with their strategies. Since the two sides knew each other so well, they had no other choice but to go through a never-ending cycle of full-frontal assaults.


    Gifted soldiers, each worth more than their weight in mithril, always died in vain.


    There was no winning.


    There was no losing.


    It was a battlefield that was supposed to be made of a constant cycle of life and death, and the change was almost iprehensible. Zepar had also been stuck in the repetitive loop, but his eyes slowly began to widen.


    “It... doesn’t seem like a trap. Why is that?”


    When he felt his mage’s curiosity piqued, he became aware of the weight of the responsibility on his shoulders and pushed away the distracting thoughts.


    He had to use this.


    It didn’t matter whether it was a one-time fluke or if it could be replicated. If the knights, who were only supposed to hold the line, were pushing the enemy back, then the magic corps could attack from a safer distance.


    “Men! Bombard the enemy from the rearguard!” he ordered.


    They’d already shot down all the hide Demoniacs swooping over their heads like bats. Since the mages no longer had to focus on what was happening on the ground, the power they would usually use to support the ck Dragon Knights had been poured into sniping the flying Demoniacs, which they were able to hit with several times more uracy. Bombarding the enemy was the obvious next move.


    The magic corps, who were split into several squads, epted the new order and attacked as one.


    “me Strike!”


    “Freezing Ray!”


    “Chain Lightning!”


    The offensive spells shot forward, each spaced out with five paces.


    <i>Craaaack! Fwoosh—! Boom!</i>


    The spells flew in an arc, crashing down in the middle of the Demoniac troops and burning, freezing, and scorching the monsters. The mages continuously released highly destructive attacks, and the only reason the creatures were enduring was that they were highly durable bone Demoniacs. Had they been from the hide or ws, they would’ve already been annihted.


    The ck Dragon Knights posed a grave danger to them as they continued to sweep forward, and the magic corps didn’t stop their wave of attacks.


    The Demoniacs were in great peril.


    ■■■—! ■■! ■■■■■—!


    As if frantically giving orders, someone shouted several times in the demonguage, which was reserved only for the higher-ranking Demoniacs.


    “The ws areing! From this point on, the noble sses can appear at any time, so be on guard as you fight!” As soon as Zepar finished giving the order, hundreds of Demoniac troops flooded in from the Hellgate again.


    The w Demoniacs.


    In the hierarchy, they were considered low-ranking like the bones and hide, but they were more dangerous because they had the intelligence of humans. The other two were considered to be no different from beasts, so the w Demoniacs, who were also considered inferior, were the troops that the higher-ranking Demoniacs ordered around.


    The line of four-legged, beast-like bones had started to fall apart, but as soon as the ws quickly joined them at the frontline, the bone Demoniacs pulled themselves together, and their bloodlust surged again. This showed just how strong the presence of the w Demoniacs was.


    <i>So these bastards are the w Demoniacs? </i>Leonard quickly scanned the appearance of the Demoniacs as they reached the ck Dragon Knights’ third line. They looked simr to bipedal beasts such as lycanthropes, but there was a major difference. Instead of fur, their bodies were covered in hideously contorted skin, and there were several ces where bones were piercing through the flesh and protruding like horns.


    They looked just like humanoid beasts that were born in the Demonic Realm with their bulging eyes, zing with malice.


    <i>Graaaah! </i>


    One of them charged at Leonard, thrusting its elbow forward. The bone protruding from the joint was as sharp as a de, glinting as it headed toward his neck. There was a reason they were called “ws”—that bone could rip through armor made of mithril.


    Its footwork was impressive. It looked as if the Demoniac was trained in hand-to-handbat.


    <i>Shing. </i>


    But it stood no chance against the Five Elements Augmented Qi, and when Leonard’s sword met the elbow, he cut it right off, bone and all.


    <i>Grah! Graaaah! </i>The monster writhed in pain and shock, but Leonard was impressed by the resistance he’d felt when amputating the arm.


    <i>The bone that pokes out of its body is almost as tough as a Vajra Physique. I can tell that it has trained in hand-to-handbat and used these bones as weapons. If a rank-and-file soldier is this strong, a higher-ranking Demoniac must be dangerous even to Transcendence Tier fighters.</i>


    Even though Leonard admired the monster’s toughness, he cut off its head and stabbed its heart, just to be sure. He turned around.


    He couldn’t waste time on just one opponent.


    The Demoniacs had started pouring out of the Hellgate in earnest, and they already numbered in the thousands. Though flesh and blood Demoniacs were quickly exterminated, if any stronger ones increased in number, they would be troublesome. The ck Dragon Knights had to step forward and use Skanda’s Demon Felling Sword to maximize the damage dealt to the Demoniacs.


    Skanda’s Demon Felling Sword


    Severing Technique


    Demon’s Death by a Thousand Cuts


    This technique had two main methods of use. The first was to concentrate consecutive hits in a small area and hack a small number of opponents into pieces, while the second was to scatter the consecutive hits and sweep across arge number of enemies.


    Leonard did thetter.


    He took four steps forward and rained down 48 strikes like a sudden rain shower.


    <i>Grahh!</i>


    <i>Kraaa!</i>


    <i>Gak</i>


    He swiftly cut off the bones that the ws boasted from the root, killing more than ten monsters as he cleared the way.


    The ck Dragon Knights smoothly followed behind, killing the Demoniacs who tried to fill in the gaps made in the line of troops. The fifth stage of Skanda’s Demon Felling Sword was deadly to lower-ranking Demoniacs.


    The casualty rate became astoundingly low. There were 330 knights, 331 counting Leonard, and not a single one had been incapacitated.


    <i>If we keep this up, we might be able to win without a single death. </i>


    But right then, a chill went down his spine as if to deny his optimistic hopes.


    His instincts picked up on the presence of something approaching the Hellgate from the other side, and he automatically used his technique.


    Five Elements Style


    ck Tortoise Seventh Form: Ice Shell Barrier


    He didn’t stop until the immacte Sword Curtain wasplete.


    <i>“Haa...! Haa...!” </i>Leonard took in ragged breaths.


    It had been a while since he felt drained like this. The technique had absorbed a massive amount of mana, and he hadn’t felt the internal energy leave his body like this after he reached the Transcendence Tier. He used nearly a fifth of his mana just to make this shield alone. His Dragon Heart pounded violently from the sudden strain.


    He could likely pour out power like this once or twice, but any more than that might make his qi pathways copse.


    However, his move was well-timed.


    <i>???!!!</i>


    Immediately, something stepped out of the Hellgate and into the Middle Realm. It emitted a tremendous superpower.


    A wave of violent psychic energy flooded the entire enormous cavern.


    It would have caused brain death in the reserve troops and made them the ves of the Demoniac that had released the psychic shock. The force was so powerful that a few Transcendence Tier knights could have also been enved.


    <i>aaang! </i>


    The Sword Curtain was infused with Five Elements Augmented Qi, and it shattered when a force that was psychic, not physical, hit it. The Rift Guardian, the Mind Kraken Leonard had encountered at the Antis Maritime Alliance couldn’t evenpare to this output of psychic strength.


    Leonard could sense that this was a superpower that only someone well past the rank of a Master could have.


    He swallowed the blood that rose all the way to his throat, his eyes widening.


    n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    <i>The Corps Commander?!</i>


    Leonard could see it from a close distance. The first thing that shocked him was its hideous appearance, but he was even more shocked when he realized that the monster was observing him as he too observed it.


    Itsrge, bizarre skull was transparent. Floating inside was a shiny, fluorescent brain, and other than bones such as the cervical vertebrae and the spine, the rest of its body was made of green ectosm. The monster was somewhere between material and immaterial.


    <i>Is that a brain Demoniac?!</i>


    The brains sat at the very top of the hierarchy that ruled the Nine Hells. Unlike the hearts, which had unique physical capabilities, the brains disyed the peak of supernatural abilities. After seeing its power with his own two eyes, Leonard sensed danger. He felt some kind of force swell up, but it was too vicious and immense to be described as Intent.


    In any case, he could tell that it knew that he had blocked its attack. If it weren’t for Leonard’s Sword Curtain, more than half of the ck Dragon Knights would have been incapacitated.


    It was about to use something even more dangerous than a heart sword.


    “How dare you try to touch the boy!”


    Audrey shot out from the rearguard like an arrow and swung her ive down.


    Extermination


    The ck Dragon Commander’s techniques were not based on any specific martial principles because using her unique trait made basic movements lethal. Her deadly attacks didn’t use any opening disys or require any type of preparation.


    Her ive swung with tremendous force in the shape of a half-moon. Her Aura de was as ck and hazy as the night sky, and it came down on the brain Demoniac, destroying everything in its wake.


    <i>???!!</i>


    Shockingly, the brain stood its ground and used its powers to meet the massive attack. Its psychic force bent time and space as the brain Demoniac stood its ground against a unique trait that could erase all existence.


    Leonard watched from less than tens of meters away, seeing through the principle behind its powers. <i>The Demoniac developed its Visualization and upper dantian to an unfathomable level and uses them to manifest its will. It doesn’t have a unique trait—it’s just that it’s reached the peak of mind arts in a primitive form. A human wouldn’t be able to do that.</i>


    Only a being that gave up its physical form to evolve into a more psychic entity would be able to reach that level.


    “How troublesome,” Audrey growled. Even though she had interfered in a heartbeat, her eyes narrowed like knives.


    Its ambush had nearly put the ck Dragon Knights in danger, and now it was nning to target Leonard after he’d so valiantly blocked its attack.


    Her eyes zed, her Demigod Tier aura blending with so much rage and murderous intent that the brain Demoniac forgot all about Leonard and turned to the woman instead.


    That was what the twomanders had been nning.


    Parallel Infinite Fatal Strike


    One of Thousand


    Using a unique trait that he hadn’t shown Leonard, Demian lunged forward from a crack in a “mirror,”unching a deadly attack.


    As one thousand strikes ovepped each other, the output became so tremendously powerful that it shook the entire cavern. Not even the brain Demoniac dared to try to meet it. Instead, it reacted by shortening the space behind itself in an attempt to run away.


    <i>Shing! </i>Demian’s sword just barely missed the skull, but it shredded through the body made of ectosm, leaving only parts above its ribs.


    The brain Demoniac had ended up escaping the reach of One of Thousand even though the attack had a range of ten kilometers. Demian clicked his tongue at its speed. His only greeting to Leonard was a look of acknowledgment, and then he charged forward with Audrey.


    Now that twomanders had joined together, not even the brain wouldst long.


    The only problem was that there was another threat remaining.


    “Dammit! It’s the tongues!”


    “There’s no point in blocking your ears! You have to resist with your mental power!”


    “Sir! Be careful!”


    The ck Dragon Knights that Leonard had protected created a formation around the boy to protect him. They raised their swords against the Demoniacs trailing behind the brain.


    The tongue Demoniacs were just as hideous as the other Demoniacs and were one of the two noble sses of Demoniacs existing in the Nine Hells.


    While their heads were round like a human’s, they did not have eyes, ears, a nose, or even teeth. They only had a mouth with a long, dangling tongue. Even though there were only four of them, for a brief moment, Leonard sensed that they were more dangerous than a thousand w Demoniacs.


    <i>The tongues’ special ability is False Words. </i>Their power was the antithesis of the ancient magic known as words of power.


    The monsters went beyond deceiving and controlling living beings and could tell lies that tricked thews of nature themselves. That was how they caused such massive human casualties.


    The Demoniacs made a sound that resembled cackling, their tongues darting in and out as theymanded False Words.


    ―■■.


    ―■■■■.


    ―■■■.


    Theymunicated mysterious, inexplicable words that could not be described as auditory, shaking the knights’ minds.


    <i>Kill each other.</i>


    <i>Stab yourrade’s back.</i>


    The Demoniacs smoothly whispered malicious suggestions to the knights, as if they were devils on their shoulders. They had the ability to bring out the evil one harbored in one’s heart.


    <i>Like I thought, the One Origin Five Elements Cultivation Method blocks psychic attacks. </i>Leonard easily pushed away the voice trying to invade his mind, but his face fell when he looked around.


    The ck Dragons were supposed to be closely watching their surroundings from their position at the heart of the enemy line, but they were wavering. Even the elite troops in the Transcendence Tier were damp with cold sweat. And even worse, the reserve troops’ eyes had gone bloodshot, their hands trembling.


    They were in serious danger.


    Learning Skanda’s Demon Felling Sword only helped one y demons. It didn’t strengthen one’s mind.


    <i>It’s a shame that I couldn’t teach them proper cultivation methods. </i>If they had only learned how to apply it at a greater scale, they would not have been affected by the tongues’ attack.


    Leonard pushed away his thoughts and tried to look for a way out.


    Dwelling on the past would not solve their predicament.


    If he used the Azure Dragon’s Roar, the knights might snap out of it for a moment, but it would not solve the core problem. Going back and forth between being in a daze and being awake would only drain and further weaken the mind.


    <i>Thump.</i>


    Just then, Leonard’s Dragon Heart became enraged at the Demoniacs that had dared to use words of power in its presence. It was simr to the feeling he’d had when he faced opponents from beyond the Rifts.


    ording to ancient records, dragons could take hold of naturalws without having to go through the whole process of constructing spells orying magic arrays.


    They had an ability that reached the peak potential of the words of power, and the people who witnessed its might named it as such:


    Draconic Words.