And right at that very moment...
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
Accompanied by thunderous footsteps, continuous tremors passed through the ground.
"Hand over your land, mortals. Otherwise, we shall bathe this city in blood today."
Every word was uttered with tremendous force, resonating throughout the entire sky. And as these words shook their eardrums, a humanoid figure emerged from the demon army.
The calm expressions on everyone's faces could not be maintained any longer.
"Is that Satan?" someone whispered.
Amidst the astonished murmurs, the soldiers stared at the humanoid creature approaching from the distance. This colossal being, standing at a towering 3-4 meters, wore thick armor in white and wielded a massive axe. The sight of it left them utterly dumbfounded.
But what made them shudder even more is the crimson-white aura surrounding the demon. It was so vast as the ocean, so immense that it distorted the surrounding space and the atmosphere became so dense that the soldiers on the dam had a hard time breathing, even though they were kilometers away from the demon.
Other than its massive demonic aura, they could sense a cold and fearsome killing intent radiating from the demon and spread through the sky, chilling the soldiers to their core.
"I don't want to say it again," speaking in a grim voice, the demon in white armor raised its massive axe high.
With a deafening roar, the axe struck the ground.
To the shock of the Black Armor Soldiers, a crack several dozen meters long appeared, spreading toward the towering dam.
What was even more terrifying was that this abyss-like fissure grew wider and wider as it approached the dam. By the time it was close to the wall, it had expanded to over ten meters in width.
The sight of it was completely horrifying. Even the imposing dam started trembling.
In the face of this terrifying power that cracked the earth, the towering dam seemed as fragile as papier-mâché.
Just at that moment, as if sensing the impending disaster, a figure promptly jumped down from the dam.
In the next instant, a burst of magical energy surged from the figure as she drove the sword in her hand into the ground with tremendous force.
With a swoosh, a waterfall of mana, several dozen meters tall, rose from the ground.
A deafening roar reverberated through the sky as the crack came to an abrupt halt.
When everyone's attention turned toward the base of the dam, they saw Floria Melian Shelberry, whom they regarded as some freaky alien witch, left a 20-meter-long trench in the ground as she slid.
Except, what others failed to notice was the wound that had appeared on Melian's hand.
Had she not promptly inserted her hand into her sleeve and sealed the wound with her mana, her disheveled state would have been revealed before everyone's eyes.
"Uuuhhh..." An imperceptible gasp escaped Melian's lips as she looked at the nearby monstrous figure, her pupils shrinking to the size of pinpricks.
'What terrifying power. With just a casual swing, he was able to crack the earth and almost demolished the dam entirely even from that distance. If I didn't stop it or he used his full strength...' At this thought, Melian's heart sank slightly. Nonetheless, she had no choice but to step up.
"I'll say, Lord Andromalius was indeed correct that this is no manaless world," said the Archdemon as he set his eyes that seemed to hold a desire that knew no limit on the Elf Queen, "You appeared strong, way stronger than the creatures in this nation. Tell me, what is your name?"
Stepping forward with determination, she infused her words with mana and declared boldly, "My name is Floria Melian Shelberry, ruler of the Kingdom of High Tarxan and one of the strongest in the Third Civilization Zone. And you, demon. What is your name?"
"Hm, stating your name before battle is commendable for a warrior, I respect that. As for my name, I am Lord Conquest! A conqueror, a high-ranking member of the Greed Clan, one of Demon Lord Andromalius' greatest followers!"
"Then, Lord Conquest, why don't we talk this out?"
"Talk?" A cold smile appeared on Conquest's lips beneath his mask as he tightened his grip on the enormous ax, and stated in a grim voice once more, "Hand over this land without resistance, and you will be spared. If not, you shall duel with me in a warrior's battle. Should you win or satisfy me, I may withdraw my forces and let you and all of the mortals here to live... for now."
"Then we should du-"
At that moment, a cold voice suddenly reverberated from on top of the high wall, "Alien Witch, why are you negotiating with these abominations?"
With disdain evident in her voice, General Trese raised her sword and declared in a voice filled with hatred, "We have an irreconcilable blood feud with these demons. We, the servants of God, and these monsters that he deemed impure and corrupt, will have to fight one day!"
And just as her words echoed across the dam, war cries erupted one after another.
"Fight!"
"Fight!"
"Fight!"
"Fight!"
"Fight!"
"Fight!"
The unified shout echoed across the battlefield, showing the soldiers' unity and determination.
The entire crowd was outraged.
However, there was no denying that these Black Armor Soldiers had the strength to back up their confidence. Having already faced and resisted a demonic army multiple times before, they harbored no fear.
Every time they saw one, all that came into their mind was to fight. After all, many of them had lost family members and loved ones to the demons and many others for religious reasons.
This deep-seated grudge had already filled these Black Armor Soldiers with hatred toward the demons.
However, what no one knew at this moment was the terrifying nature of the demon army they were facing. More importantly, how terrifying a demon army was when it had something called discipline.
"Fight?" Hearing the distant unified shouts, Conquest chuckled darkly, "It seemed you humans are indeed very violent creatures no matter which worlds."
"You're mistaken," Trese retorted, shaking her head. "I know violence is never the right answer... unless used against heathens, heretics, and vile abominations such as you who will seek the world's end!"
"The end of the world?" Conquest scoffed, "That is a simple inevitability. All that is created is destined to someday be destroyed after all. My purpose is to simply guide this world to that point. I hold no fear for that moment. Instead, I will embrace it and in doing so will see the world in its purest, most beautiful form. Tell me, do you desire to see that world as well?"
"...Fuck no. Instead, you shall hand off your disgusting demonic taint from this world created by the hands of the Lord!"
Conquest broke into mocking laughter, "Very well, if war is what you seek, then war you shall have!"
With a voice filled with bone-chilling killing intent Conquest slowly turned his head around and shouted.
"My Legions! Charge!"
At the same time, Trese fired a single shot of her handgun and screamed out with fervor like a madwoman.
"OPEN FIRE!!!!!"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
"TODAY WE SHALL FIGHT TO THE DEATH AGAINST THESE DEMONIC SCUMS!"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
"KILL ALL THE SUMMONS OF LUCIFER! AVENGE OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS WHO SACRIFICE THEIR LIVES TO DEFEND THE GLORIOUS CREATIONS OF GOD!"
"By the Gods, maybe I should've done most of the talking!"
With a groan, Melian raised her sword and took a battle stance, staring intently against the endless tide of demons marching towards the dam. They roared and screeched with bloodthirsty eyes, eager to taste the blood of the humans behind the walls.
Occasionally, flying demons would swoop down and attack Melian. Every time that happened, she would simply swing her sword, bisecting the demons before they could come within tens of meters of her.
However, Melian knew how useless this was.
Even if she killed hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of demons like these, it would be useless as it would only have drained most of her strength.
No, her task here was to kill the strongest demons first. Once she killed the demons that could threaten the army, only then could she afford to spend her remaining strength with the lesser foes.
Fortunately, she didn't have to wait long to find the first one.
In the front ranks of the demon army, a large tiger-like creature with wings caught her eye. The tiger roared angrily to the sky, displaying its fury and for bloodlust.
Just a glance was enough for Melian to assess its strength and the amount of Magicule it possessed.
"130,000," she muttered, her eyes narrowing. With over 200,000 Magicule and being one of the strongest individuals in the Third Civilization Zone, she was confident enough to slay this demon with ease.
And adding to the fact that she has the mark of the Goddess, there was even a chance she could hold her own against an Archdemon like Lord Conquest.
As she prepared to face the impending battle, memories of Amelia leaving the city flashed through Melian's mind, reminding her of their last moments together before they parted ways.
____________________
"I don't have any fighting or military experience, so I should leave now as I have another important matter at the IDAC," Amelia said as she approached the helicopter. "But be careful out there, Miss Shelberry."
Melian nodded, "I doubt it, but I'll try my best though."
Amelia gave her a small smile and was about to board into the helicopter when...
"Wait, before you leave," Melian interrupted as she glanced around at the Black Armor soldiers who were gazing at Amelia with disdain and hateful look, "I'm still wondering why they look at you so hostilely. I never got an answer."
Amelia sighed. "Two answers: I'm White and an American. Before I was born, my parents were American immigrants who arrived here in Austronesia after my home country became fully Communist or Marxist. It was extreme enough that even radicals in the Left-wing party in this nation saw them as... too radical."
"Oh... so it's just simply politics, race, or nationality?"
"Exactly."
____________________
Shaking off the blood on her sword, Melian sighed. This American woman named Amelia felt like a friend she never had, but now was not the time to get too distracted as she had a war to win.
Gathering most of the mana within her to enhance her body, she kicked off the air and appeared just above the tiger in the next instant.
With a war cry, her sword slashed down.
Boom!
The sword strike crashed against the ground, unleashing powerful mana waves that obliterated nearby demons. Just that sword slash was enough to create a ten-meters-long crevice on the ground
But...
"Do you really think I'll sit back and allow you to slain any of my forces?" A voice spoke from the ground.
Standing before Melian's sight was Lord Conquest. He was holding his enormous axe while defending the tiger-like demon from her attack.
The tiger demon kneeled before the Archdemon and growled submissively. After a nod from Conquest, the tiger spread its wings and flew away.
"Now," Conquest returned his gaze at Melian and tilted his head, "Are we going to fight or not?"
"Hmph!" Melian snorted before a strong sword intent surged out of her body as she charged towards the Archdemon.
But Conquest laughed. With a wave of his weapon, a slash was created that seemed to tore through reality itself and easily dissipated the sword's intent completely.
In the next moment, their weapons collided in an earth-shattering clash.
Just like that, the battle between two mighty warriors began.