chapter 221

Succubi with bat wings filled the sky. It was nighttime. They were stronger at night, especially with a full moon. They were similar to wolf-type monsters. Moreover, the Succubus Queen gave them her blessing. Thus, they were not ordinary succubi.

‘In short, the first thing I need to do is get rid of the Succubus Queen,’ I thought.

I pulled out Rage and the Sword of the Emperor.

The Succubus Queen had a very beautiful appearance. She had purple hair and seductive eyes. Her lips were red and plump. She wore a very tight leather clothing. Her slim waist and toned buttocks held mana that caused an unceasing desire for men to want to rape her.

[The Mind’s Eye ran a quick scan at the ‘Temptation of Instinct (Epic)’.]

[High intelligence (111) calibration has succeeded in defending against 100%.]

It looked like she tried to use her skill on me. However, no way such a skill would work on me. I was not easily seduced.

“This is the first time I’ve seen the Succubus Queen.”

She was a bit of a novelty. I only read about the Succubus Queen. I had never actually seen one before. Succubus Queens were really beautiful. They could attract both men and women. Because of this, many people set their eyes on Succubus Queens. I also read that they had all disappeared.

I couldn’t believe I was acknowledging that Groggy did something amazing. I wondered how much love he had for succubi that he managed to summon a queen… But I wouldn’t put it past me that he possibly made one.

“She is a highest-grade monster…”

I opened my Mind’s Eye again.

Name: Succubus Queen, Dolla

Capability:

Power 99, Intelligence 91, Speed 97, Strength 82, Mana 105

Potential (474/474)

Others: She is the queen of succubi. She has inherited the name Dolla, the legendary Succubus Queen. A strong blessing is with her. She has influence among all succubi.

Skills: Dolla’s Blessing (Epic), The Temptation of Instinct (Epic), Queen’s Wrath (Ex Epic), Festival of the Whip (Epic)

Indeed, she was among the highest-grade monsters. Level-wise, she would be between levels three and four. No wonder Ufa thought highly of Groggy. Groggy managed to ensnare such a monster. Perhaps that was why Ufa let Groggy keep this vast space alone.

When I was just preparing to attack, more messages popped up.

[Dolla’s Blessing (Epic) has encountered the Power of Domination (Ex Epic).]

[The Power of Domination neutralizes Dolla’s Blessing at a rate of 64.4%.]

[Dolla’s Blessing has become very weak.]

I smirked. The Power of Domination had various effects. It seemed like when it came to skills related to the realm, this kind of effect also worked.

It wasn’t bad. Dolla’s Blessing could be burdensome, so I must kill the Succubus Queen as quickly as possible. However, with the help of the Power of Domination, I did not have to strain myself.

When the blessing was weak, succubi were nothing but intermediate monsters, albeit slightly stronger compared with others. Their numbers were not enough to reverse the situation. Groggy scowled as he noticed it.

“Then, please teach me something, Mr. Demon,” Oswen dared with each arm equipped with a sword.

Each sword was remarkable. Oswen made all of them by himself. He was a great blacksmith who made the Seven Sins. His creations were exceptional. He put a lot of thought and effort into everything that he created. Weapons were his specialty. They were his pride.

Dolla, the Succubus Queen, held her whip. I looked at her eyes and muttered, “You are only a figment of one’s imagination…a character from a book. You do not belong here.”

Admittedly, I was awestruck when I first saw her. But that was it.

She was the Succubus Queen that appeared in the world after a few thousand or tens of thousands of years.

“However, the Succubus Queen would only exist in books again…,” I claimed.

***

The wall created by Ufa was surprisingly weak. Was it because he had too many things to care about? Or because he was too occupied with fighting against Ariel Diablo at the moment?

I had just started to join the battle, but a hole was already visible. I attacked stealthily, but I couldn’t care less of what Ufa would think.

“We are enemies from the beginning anyway—and demons, too. In our kind, ‘kindness’ is a taboo.”

I saw myself a little better than other demons. At least, I was trying to keep my word to some extent. Anyway, this battlefield was a great opportunity to defeat one of the archdukes without much risk. I would borrow Ariel Diablo’s hand, so I would not be put on the spotlight.

I was advancing to Ufa’s blind spot. I did not feel guilty at all.

“Demons have no sense of remorse,” I reminded myself.

Ufa fully concentrated on Ariel Diablo. His drive to defeat Ariel amazed me. Even if he heard reports of what had transpired because I joined the battle, he would not easily change his plans. He would be furious, but he would not be able to retreat. He couldn’t afford to do that at this point. Ariel Diablo would not let him go. Thus, he had no choice but to keep fighting against her. That was Ufa’s fate.

“This is enough.”

I killed three demons of Ufa’s camp. I had casualties, too. Many of the monsters I had brought were killed.

I made a small hole. It was totally up to Ariel Diablo to find this hole. The aid I had provided her was enough. No reason to help her further.

“What should we do now, Your Majesty?” Oswen asked, wiping off the sweat on his forehead. For an undead, Oswen was exceptional. Fighting gave him life.

I put my Rage and the Sword of the Emperor back in their sheaths and turned.

“I will keep bugging them, just for fun. I will have the death knight replicas move around the battlefield. They don’t need to fight, just create a distraction and annoy the others.”

“Ufa will be nervous.”

“I will return to the castle.”

“Your Majesty, will that be okay? As of this moment, there are no loyal followers of Your Majesty in the castle,” Oswen informed me.

I answered swiftly, “That is needless meddling. I will return and look at the situation. Come and find me if you need anything.”

As I confirmed, Oswen nodded. “Yes. Then, I will lead the rest of the monsters.”

Now we had tasks to do. I started moving. Soon, I disappeared from the scene.

***

The reason that I returned to the castle was that I wanted to put the pieces together. Also, I need to check the right time to detonate Hope.

Hope would not explode unless I instructed it to. In order to get the timing accurate, it was better to observe from the castle since it was slightly away from the battlefield. I needed to examine the whole situation first.

There was a hidden room underneath the castle. It was an area to check all the places around the castle, entry and exit points, and control. Many crystal balls and thousands of lines were intertwined there.

“It is a device that boosts all the mana in the castle in an instant. Even Pandemonium did not find it.”

This was one of the items which belong to the Hell Lord. It was a magic circle that could amplify the mana. It looked like even Pandemonium, who was referred to as the master of magic, did not find this anomalous item of the Hell Lord.

Dozens of crystal balls were showing the ins and outs of the castle. I monitored the crystal balls and took five pieces out.

“Advanced Training Room.”

The pieces were tokens obtained from completing the training room. Krithli, Tashumal, Yoo Eunhye, and Edward entered the Advanced Training Room. If so, there should only be four pieces. But I already had five of them.

“Hashi got one.”

Then I remembered. I trained the young Hashi at the Advanced Training Room.

In the Advanced Training Room, bodies did not age, but minds developed. Hashi was still young in appearance and could not even talk because of the slow physical growth. However, she was already capable of thinking like an adult.

If not, I would not have put her in the angels’ sacred area. Even if she was a cherub, she might be influenced by other angels. But since she was pretty mature now, there was less probability for that.

‘Why did the Hell Lord prepare this?’ I thought.

I had this question from the beginning. He was close to perfection, yet he prepared something like this.

He had so many monsters already. Why did he put this item in his treasure warehouse?

There were also many other legendary items. That was why this item was more conspicuous.

It wasn’t intended to grow his subordinates. If it was for that, he would not prepare only for five of them. Also, these pieces were only obtained by those who successfully completed the training. I strongly sensed that something would happen once all the pieces were gathered.

I was going to check it now. I placed the five pieces on the ground.

However, I could not put them back in my magic pouch.

“Guests are here.”

I felt a lot of signs coming near. They were wandering like they were looking for someone. They suddenly appeared. They didn’t seem to have any good intentions.

I shook my head and stepped outside. At first, I had to welcome those guests. This place should not be uncovered.

Shadows appeared from the ground. It was weird that shadow could exist in a dark underground. Shadows then filled the underground space. It seemed about 10,000 of them here. Soon, the shadows began to change their appearances. They looked like…

“They look like me… Doppelgangers?” I was surprised and amazed at the same time.

I had never seen anything like this. I had never heard of a monster that looked like a shadow at first and could transform into another creature like a doppelganger.

I immediately opened my Mind’s Eye.

Name: Shadow Hunter

Others: A shadow-type monster that transforms its appearance similar to that of an opponent’s. Pandemonium has created it. Once transformed, stats vary depending on the opponent. It is a monster specially created for this purpose. It has a strong desire to destroy the target it has transformed into. On the contrary, it is incompetent compared with others besides what it has transformed into.

Skill: Imitation (Ex Epic)

They only had one objective. It meant that these monsters were specially designed and skilled to assassinate. It was as if they were cursed to kill one being.

“Pandemonium made something interesting,” I admitted.

I couldn’t see their stats. It meant there was a large variation in their stats. However, they could not imitate my capabilities. If that was possible, Pandemonium would have already won this game.

After a while, tens of thousands of monsters who looked like me was created. I never thought it would be fun. The sides of my mouth twitched.

“I am used to fighting myself.”

I didn’t panic. I had already fought against myself many times in the Tree of Origin. There was no need to be afraid or cautious of things that were merely imitations.

There were many of them, but I just shrugged my shoulders.

“Pandemonium… He really wants to keep me in check.”

Surely, he was not easy to deal with or get rid of. He really wanted me gone. Ten thousand versus one… It wouldn’t be easy, but it was worth a try.