Volume 5 Chapter 14 (1/2)

~From the [Dragon] Demon Lord's perspective~

The [Dragon] Demon Lord Astaroth was dashing through the sky atop a dragon.

He had entrusted his faction of Demon Lords with the task of attacking the dungeons of the ones that attacked the [Beast] Demon Lord. As for Astaroth himself, he was going to take care of the one behind it all.

Leading the charge were twenty selected dragons. All except one of the twenty were fully-trained and fully-leveled A rank monsters. A certain dragon was clad in darkness while another was clad in electricity. Each was different but all, without exception, was extremely powerful.

The Dragon medal was extraordinarily powerful even among A rank medals. The dragons born out of it crushed everything in their path. There wasn't a Demon Lord foolish enough to fight head-on against [Dragon].

The place that the [Dragon] Demon Lord was aiming for was the enemy's stronghold, the Holy Capital.

There was only one person [Dragon] could think of that was behind all of this: [Black] Demon Lord Balam.

Who was the next most powerful after the three current strongest Demon Lords? [Black] Demon Lord Balam's name would unquestioningly appear in the minds of most when asked such a question.

He was the only Demon Lord whose title was the name of a color. His Unique Skill allowed him to do various things so long as it was associated with the color black. It was an extremely versatile ability but as compensation, each of its effects were exceedingly weak even though their consumption of magic power was terribly high.

His medal offered great versatility too since it had the ability to change during Synthesis into any random medal associated with [Black]. It was very much like gambling each time.

To lure humans, he used religion. Furthermore, by turning his dungeon into a holy site for his religion, he was able to efficiently gather the human beings' emotions.

There were other Demon Lords that tried to mimic him but he was the only to succeed.

Controlling humans freely was hard. And even if the other Demon Lords could eventually do so, they were going to be crushed out of the race by the [Black] Demon Lord first. He was the kind of Demon Lord that didn't permit competition and wanted to monopolize it all.

Such was [Black] Demon Lord Balam.

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[Dragon]'s forces had arrived at the Holy Capital. As soon as they reached the city, its citizens panicked while the soldiers and adventurers readied to intercept the invaders.

There hadn't been a single Demon Lord that dared to attack the Holy Capital.

After all, for the bishops from various countries, the [Black] Demon Lord was their god. So, attacking this city was tantamount to declaring to the whole of mankind that you were their enemy.

An ordinary Demon Lord would at first hesitate and then completely abandon the idea of attacking the Holy Capital. However, for the [Dragon] Demon Lord, the feelings in his chest were not of hesitation but rather confidence to the point of arrogance in his own abilities.

To him, mere humans, no matter how many of them stood together, would never be able threaten his dungeon. Rather, it would actually be a good promotion for his dungeon. Heaps of humans would come to dungeon without the usual need to entice them.

As he thought of such, a ferocious smile floated on his aged face. Normally, it would seem that his was a face of calmness but in truth, it was one of unforgiving fury and cruelty. Anybody that knew him would warn that if ever there was one that shouldn't ever be angered, it was him.

”Now, let's enter the Holy Capital.”

To the dragons flying in the sky, such things as the walls made by the humans to hinder their attackers were nothing. But then, when they flew over the walls, the dragons collided with an invisible barrier.

This defensive barrier wasn't a product of a monster's special ability; it was made by the desperate efforts of the humans within the Holy Capital.

Humans shouldn't have been able to use a barrier strong enough that it could hinder even [Dragon]'s elites but if numerous priests were willingly sacrificing their lives, it was a different story.

They sacrificed their lives not because they were being threatened or manipulated, but purely because of their faith on their god.

Seeing such humans, [Dragon] Demon Lord Astaroth pitied them.

He knew that the [Black] Demon Lord didn't feel any compassion towards the humans. Worse, they were viewed as nothing but cattle.

[Dragon] knew the least he could was to make them suffer as little as possible.

”Go run wild, my kin.”

By his command, 19 of the twenty dragons activated [Berserk] and were clad in a black haze.

[Berserk].

It was the fiendish ability that the monsters made with the [Dragon] medal could have. In exchange for losing their intelligence and reason, it increased all of the monster's stats except for luck. If an A rank monster with a progressive level was made with [Berserk], it would allow the said monster to compete even against an S rank monster.

Originally though, save for some special monsters, this ability couldn't be conveniently turned on or off, making the monsters steeped in madness impossible to control.

However, 19 of the twenty elites of the [Dragon] Demon Lord, the [Raging Dragon Division], were able to suppress Berserk during normal times and when it was activated, they were able to remain in control for about fifteen minutes.

As for what made this possible…

”Caesar, how is it? It has been long since you and I have seen battle, hasn't it? Have you grown dull?”

The Emperor Dragon Tupon gave its master a quiet look.

Among all dragons, this silver one was the most sublime, beautiful, and powerful.

It was the third of [Dragon]'s Covenant monsters. It was also his only S rank.

With the exception of the [Creation] Demon Lord, S rank monsters weren't normally made. They were commonly obtained through rewards given by the Creator. The Dragon Emperor Tupon was such a monster.

It had an ability called [Dragon Emperor] which allowed it to rule over all dragon-kind.

Even if a dragon was under the influence of Berserk, it would still obey the skill bearer's commands. That wasn't all; the forces led by the Dragon Emperor Tupon also experienced the utmost increase in their power.

The Black Dragon of Death Siegwurm made by [Creation] Demon Lord Procell also possessed [Dragon Emperor] but it just couldn't compare to the other dragon.

After all, the [Dragon Emperor] Skill was a skill that could grow stronger by having the skill bearer devour the soul and power of other dragons. One could only become a king of dragons, in the truest sense, when this skill had bloomed.

The Dragon Emperor Tupon, who had fought in countless battles, had obviously fulfilled such condition over and over again, and had thus become a true monarch of dragons.

”Bow down to our rule. My [Raging Dragon Division] shall crush anyone that stands in our way.”

At the moment, the [Dragon] Demon Lord's elite forces were all equivalent to S rank monsters… actually, they were stronger than even average S rank monsters.

Against such nightmarish creatures, the defensive barrier built on the sacrifice of human lives was shattered like glasswork.

The dragons entered the Holy Capital and rampaged as they wished. The humans defending the city tried to resist but it was all futile. Countless arrows and magic spells were flung against the dragons but most didn't hit and even if they did, it did nothing.

Conversely, just one attack from a dragon took dozens of human lives.

Each member of the [Raging Dragon Division] was a nightmarish monster straight out of a child's bedtime story. Each was a monster that would take hundreds of knights and dozens of heroes to barely defeat and yet now, there were twenty of such monsters. The humans had no chance of winning.