Death & Destruction!
Azkar witnessed everything from the wall; it was his first experience of war. Although he had endured significant suffering in his past, what unfolded here surpassed anything he had faced. This was a relentless slaughter; no amount of stamina or power could prevail against the overwhelming numbers of enemies.
In just half an hour, the battlefield underwent a drastic transformation. The demonic beasts, with their vast numbers, advanced ceaselessly, leaving no room for respite. At this juncture, both soldiers and hunters found themselves utterly depleted, with casualties mounting even among the zenith Empire forces.
They faced hordes of mindless demonic beasts, primarily comprised of lower-ranking creatures ranging from D to B rank, as the more formidable beasts were handled by King Rudas's Guardian unit.
The river flowed entirely red with blood, a stark contrast to the continuing onslaught of demonic beasts. They seemed to lack control over their bodies, driven solely by the instinct to kill anyone in their path.
The battlefield was a gruesome sight, littered with numerous dead bodies—predominantly demonic beasts, but humans as well. Some corpses were decapitated, while others remained with only a portion of their bodies intact. The scene resembled a nightmarish hell.
King Rudas and Duke Belilar refrained from engaging in the current conflict. Instead, they observed the battlefield, each witnessing a different aspect of the chaos unfolding before them.
OOOM!
King Rudas, with his emotionless eyes, witnesses his people dying horribly. He feels powerless, unable to do anything for them, his family, or his empire. He stands there, watching everything unfold, knowing this isn't the end. The situation is bound to worsen with time as he comprehends the fact that the vampire lord is merely toying with his empire.
On the other hand, Demon Duke Belilar of the Reven Empire perceives entirely different scenes. He witnesses his demonic beasts tearing apart most of the human soldiers, deriving immense pleasure from this brutal war of survival. He cares little for the number of demonic beasts that perish; his sole desire is to witness despair etched on their faces.
The Demon Duke wanted to destroy these humans, tearing apart everything because he harbored immense hatred for this empire. But here's the twist – he wasn't the real Demon Duke Belilar from the Reven Empire. Yes, this version of Demon Duke Belilar was just a puppet, someone pulling the strings from the shadows.
Unaware of this fact, his hatred for the empire coincided with the intentions of the controlling party, finding it amusing. The irony here is that the Demon Duke controlled a demonic beast army without any freedom, and now someone else behind the scenes controlled him, giving him false freedom.
"..."
Azkar felt something weird about Duke Belilar's strong hatred—it just felt off. To dig deeper, he used his [Numeric Eyes] to see things in Numerical Reality. There, he saw red numbers forming a thread, stretching far away. This made him think: Duke Belilar might have a problem, or someone was controlling him. Plus, the one pulling the strings behind Demon Duke Belilar wasn't around.
Azkar can see reality as numerical data, which is in the form of thread lines made of numbers floating from top to bottom. Everything is in a [green color], symbolizing that everything is natural. If something is wrong with anything, it will show that numerical data thread in [red color].
BOOM!
Azkar witnessed Duke Belilar attempting to summon something, and soon, a large summoning circle began forming in the air. Gradually, a colossal beast emerged from the circle—a dragon exuding the aura of Transcendent Rank Cultivation, accompanied by an immeasurable amount of demonic energy leaking from it. As a result, the entire sky turned a vivid shade of red, even casting the rising sun in a blood-red hue, transforming the morning sky entirely due to the presence of the summoned dragon.
"..."
RUMBLE!
"Now, what's a dragon? How can even a background character summon a dragon? Hell, what kind of situation is this?" But his eyes are telling a different story with immense sparkle; his eyes see a dragon as loot because, Azkar wants to kill that dragon and secure his loot as soon as possible.
As soon as the dragon is about to come out from the summoning circle, cries of despair echo across the battlefield. They are about to lose all hope when they see something shining in the red-blooded sky.
"What's that shining in the sky? Hey, look, something's there!" Some soldiers and hunters notice it. However, most on the battlefield, already on their knees, didn't see anything in the sky due to their overwhelming sense of despair.
"We are doomed. How can we survive this?" Many hunters begin to lose faith.
"God of light, please help us." Some of them begin to pray to their gods.
....
"My lord, this is a demonic dragon; they are born in the demon realm," Veldora identified the dragon instantly.
"Veldora, don't lose hope. I'll kill that dragon by sacrificing my life. You can leave this battlefield, take some of your family, and please also take my daughter Alena. My friend, I'll be counting on you," King Rudas said.
He began to prepare for the kamikaze move for his people. His body heated, and his aura changed from red to completely white gold, emitting a fiery glow.
"Fire of...." He was about to say something when he was abruptly stopped in the middle of the power-up by Veldora.
"What is the meaning of this, Veldora? Don't stop me. I'll kill this dragon before it destroys everything I care about," he said with a solemn face.
"Your majesty, there is something shining in the sky. Take a look," Veldora said in a hurry.
"It looks like a coin. What is this?" Both of them said the same thing.
They were about to say something, but before they could, the white coin touched the dragon, not even fully emerged from the summoning circle. Before the dragon could comprehend what happened, the white coin transformed into numerical data, resembling multicolored light, and enveloped the dragon without much resistance. The dragon disappeared like an illusion, as if its entire existence had been negated by reality itself.
"..."
Complete silence!
Yes! the entire battlefield fell into complete silence. No matter who witnessed this bizarre scene, they couldn't believe their eyes because it was too illogical to accept. Normal people could only see the multicolored energy enveloping the dragon, making it vanish in less than a second.
"Your Majesty, it seems I'm seeing things," he said, rubbing his eyes in disbelief.
"No, Veldora, you saw the right thing. It's hard to believe. Why would someone help our empire using their artifact?" King Rudas accepted what he saw but got the wrong idea; he thought it was an artifact used by someone to assist them.
"Your Majesty, why would someone help us using their precious artifact? Even our Zenith Empire doesn't have any artifact that can be used to deal damage," Veldora said.
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Inside the void, four vampires were speechless, witnessing what happened to the dragon. They doubted their eyes but also understood that someone had assisted the empire, leading them to consider the mysterious domain-rank powerhouse.
"My lord, this is too much. No one in their right mind would use their artifact to help someone if they're not close," Isabella said.
"Prepare for battle. This is not looking good. It seems the mysterious powerhouse lost his cool and wants to end this battle," Armand said, his eyes turning red. He thought, "It seems I have to inform the empire about this situation."
As always, even the domain-rank powerhouse got the wrong idea about Azkar's attack. Everything that happened was simply too illogical for them to comprehend, leading them to use what they could to justify what they saw.
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[Author Note: If you enjoy my novel, feel free to add it to your collection. If you'd like to support my work, consider giving it a power stone. I'd also like to remind you that your thoughts and comments about my novel are highly appreciated. Your feedback motivates me, and I'll try to improve my novel with each character.]