While the missiles advanced at such speed that only Jake, thanks to his multiple points of view and his incredible processing capacity per second, could see them, a colossal figure appeared in the sky.
Out of nowhere, formed by mana of all colors, giving it an almost epileptic appearance, a massive octopus materialized at the center of the territory.
'T-this is fine, there is no way that thing can withstand the power of eight missile explosions together' Jake thought at high speed, believing that even if they did not destroy the territory with this attack, it would at least be severely damaged, and they would have forced them to use many of their hidden cards.
But, to his disappointment, the attacks never connected, the enormous octopus began to spin in the air without Jake understanding the reason for a moment.
However, when the missiles approached it, each of its eight arms grabbed one missile and began spinning with them.
And if Jake still did not understand what was happening in that situation, he did not deserve his title as the Union's Battle Strategist.
"What the hell is it doing?" Viktor asked, unable to understand why a giant octopus had suddenly started spinning with the missiles.
"It is… maintaining their speed" Jake replied with a frown.
"What?"
"It is not stopping them. If it did, the force would make them explode or push it away. It is matching their speed, as if they had never been intercepted" he explained, his voice growing more tense.
Viktor narrowed his eyes upon hearing that.
"Then…"
"It is controlling them" Jake muttered.
In the sky, the octopus spun rapidly, each of its tentacles holding a missile that kept rotating with the same inertia with which it had been fired.
There was no resistance, no collision. It was as if the missiles had always belonged to it.
"It took ownership of them…" Jake said, unable to hide the disbelief in his voice. "Damn it, we were tricked, they made us fire all of them at once."
"What about the seal?" Viktor asked, recalling the second most powerful artifact.
"There is no time!" Jake shouted as he saw the octopus preparing to launch.
His eyes glowed light blue once again as an urgent message appeared in everyone's minds.
"Protect yourselves."
Hearing this, everyone, as if possessed by those words, did the best they could, using any kind of magic or weapon within their reach to protect themselves.
But against the combined explosion of eight missiles detonating together, most defenses were useless.
The ground exploded instantly, turning what had once been a flat surface into uneven terrain filled with craters.
Once the smoke cleared, Viktor stood up, brushing the dust off his clothes indifferently.
"How many are left?"
"Less than 10%" Jake said with a frown. "But at least..."
Brrrrrr
"At least they suffered from that attack too" was what Jake wanted to say, thinking that in their desperation they had used an attack that dealt one hundred damage while losing eighty.
Clearly that was not the case, hearing that vibration sound was enough for Jake to understand that they had been deceived again.
Whether it was the fact that they could not use the vibration nullification artifact or the fact that they had nothing to defend themselves from the missiles, it had all been an act to use their weapons against them.
Now that they no longer needed to act, they could use the artifact whenever they wanted. At least that was what Jake thought.
"With that thing, the territorial bombs we obtained are useless" Viktor muttered in annoyance as he saw the same scene of the territory vibrating.
"It is time, Jake, activate the seal and let me act" he said, looking at Jake, who was still muttering in disbelief at having been deceived, being used to being the one in control.
"Jake, wake up, activate the seal" Viktor repeated, striking him and bringing him back to reality.
"Y-yes!" Jake straightened up and nodded nervously.
Following Viktor's order, Jake took out a simple talisman from his inventory, with Chinese characters written on a rectangular yellow paper.
"This will seal any type of energy in the area for ten minutes, including mana or any kind of weapon or artifact, however, it will also affect us" Jake reminded him.
"That is fine, that is exactly what I want" Viktor replied confidently.
Jake nodded as he placed both hands on the talisman and then tore it in half.
From it, a wave of golden aura spread across the entire area before disappearing.
Hell did not take long to realize what was happening.
However, Viktor did not give them time to react, he immediately bent his legs and leaped hundreds of meters directly toward the territory.
"Stop him!"
The nearest demons reacted and placed themselves in his path to stop him.
Boom!
A single blow from Viktor sent dozens of them flying due to his strength, making their efforts useless.
And after breaking through dozens of demons along the way, he landed in front of the territory with such force that he cracked the ground.
"Stay back, he is too strong!" the high ranking demons said, recognizing that Viktor had at least strength comparable to them.
Twenty two high ranking demons remained alive in total, and all of them moved toward him.
At the first demon that approached flying thanks to wings that did not depend on mana, Viktor quickly dodged by moving to the right, then grabbed its wings and pulled, slamming the demon into the ground with all his strength.
"Trash" Viktor said with disdain.
Three more approached.
Viktor moved toward one, striking it mid attack and pushing it backward.
The other two failed to land their attacks, so Viktor ignored them and continued advancing toward the territory.
Sensing another one flying toward him, he shifted slightly to the left, easily dodging before raising his leg and striking its chest with a knee as he passed.
The demons, seeing Viktor's incredible strength and skill, and understanding they could not win alone, surrounded him as a group.
Faced with their simultaneous attacks, Viktor first moved quickly, making sure he was no longer at the center.
He grabbed a simple stone from the ground and threw it forcefully at the one in front.
As soon as the demon covered itself, it found Viktor striking its blind spot and sending its body toward the others coming from behind.
"You... only rely on mana and flashy spells" he said with disdain as he ran toward the nearest demon.
It tried to punch him, but Viktor grabbed its arm and pulled it, then drove a knee into its chest.
Viktor released it afterward, and the demon clutched its chest, looking away.
A kick to the same spot from Viktor made it cough blood as it fell to the ground.
"Despite being strong, you have no idea how to use your bodies or how to work as a team."
He simply crouched to dodge the three who rushed in without thinking, relying on their wings, causing them to crash into each other like novices who had never fought before.
Then he struck each of them hard, pushing them back and disorienting them before simply ignoring them and continuing toward the center.
This continued for more than five minutes, as Viktor advanced toward the Lord's mansion without anyone being able to stop him.
In reality, very few died, no more than five, Viktor was extremely efficient, only killing those necessary to advance, while those he could remove from his path he simply avoided.
In fact, what suffered the most damage were the houses and buildings along his path to the center, the only reason the inhabitants of that area were not dead as collateral damage was because they had moved upon seeing the situation and being warned.
Finally, with the high ranking demons following him, extremely ashamed of themselves for the humiliation, Viktor slowly reduced his pace until he stopped.
In front of him there were no more houses, instead there was a massive courtyard, several times larger than the one Kaito had seen before at the Shinomiya mansion and much more luxurious as well, filled with decorations and gardening that would normally take years to grow.
But since all of this was provided by Gaia's system, Kaito did not have to wait.
And beyond that courtyard, at the absolute center of the territory, stood a massive mansion with nearly ten floors and more than a hundred windows, more like a hotel than a mansion, with several ornate towers around it.
Viktor stood before Kaito's Lord Mansion.
Upon arriving here, Viktor smiled arrogantly.
"In the end, the body surpasses everything, without mana you are nothing but useless" he said, looking with disdain at the demons behind him who had failed to stop him until the end.
But despite the anger and humiliation they felt from those words, none of the demons moved to attack him.
Because Viktor had already entered Kaito's courtyard, his personal territory.
Not only did they not enter out of absolute respect for their Lord, refusing to step into his private space, but also because they knew they were no longer needed there.
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
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(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)