- Containment

When they heard those two words, everyone's eyes turned serious as they checked each other's positions.

In the hero trials, each stage resembled battle situations, and to pass them, certain maneuvers needed to be performed.

Each stage is named in the same format: the solution maneuver followed by the number of seconds needed for the trial to be completed.

Only those who underwent the trials, the king, the kingsguard, and the throne advisors know about these maneuvers and have been used as combat codes when giving swift orders.

'Contain! 5!' literally meant contain the targets together within 5 seconds.

The heroes swiftly adjusted their positions before taking action.

Edge and Falna began zoning the mana creatures they were fighting against and pushed them towards Drago's area.

Drago stopped releasing his domain so that the mana creatures would not retreat.

After 5 seconds, the 9 mana creatures were already zoned into one tight location.

This was when Arissef yelled the final phrases of a chant. A magic circle lit up on the floor where the mana creatures were and four pillars of light shot up 5 meters from the ground.

A gem that looked similar to the ones embedded on Hevan's crossbow then materialized in each of the four pillars.

"Back away!" Arissef yelled once more as Drago, Edge, and Falna used skills to stagger the demons right in front of them before jumping back.

The mana-creatures already sensed danger seconds ago but the magic circle was strangely sapping at their mana at a rapid pace the moment the pillars lit up.

As the light grew in intensity, the mana-absorbing gems started violently sucking in the mana from those inside the circle that was visible even to those who could not sense magic.

"The ebb and flow of darkness swallow the flickers of moonlight. Redeem the devout beacon with your dominating might..."

As Arissef began chanting with his arms stretching upward, the mana pillars began sending tendrils of mana towards the sky 10 meters from the center of the magic circle.

The mana began coalescing into a visible mana sphere that grew in size as each second passed.

"Heed my whisper of resolution! Pierce through the curtain of shadows and declare your absolution!"

Arissef's eyes lit up and abruptly lowered his arms to face the direction of the keep.

"Annihilate!"

As the final word left his lips, the mana sphere in the sky which grew to around 15 meters in diameter, lit up and shot a beam of chaotic light that slowly ran through the ground, piercing the walls and finally destroying a huge chunk of the keep's entrance.

The beam of light continued to bombard the keep for a few more seconds before the beam thinned down and dissipated.

Arissef plopped to the ground as he coughed blood and wore a pale complexion.

Hevan moved to check in on him as the others saw the magic circle disappear together with any trace of the demons and mana creatures inside it. The mana-absorbing gems shattered as they fell on the ground, clearly as overdrawn as Arissef's mana was.

The dust settled and the heroes saw the terrifying destruction that Arissef's spell caused.

A wide section of the inner curtain wall was nowhere to be seen as a huge trench on the ground was created in a straight line from the first point of impact to the large hole of the keep.

"Did you just... Drill a hole on the beehive?" Brius said as he wiped the sweat off his bald head.

Arissef just laughed as he continued to cough blood.

"We were gonna face it eventually."

After he said those words, however, a bone-chilling aura fell over all of them as something terrifying approached.

When Arissef and Edge saw the figure materialize from thin air, their expressions changed drastically.

However, when Zex saw him through Drago's eyes, he could not explain his emotions.

0

He was expecting it.

He prepared himself for it.

However, he finally found out how dangerous his current situation was... because the figure did not resemble the master that Alzeius in the memory transmitted to him.

The figure WAS Alzeius.

This implied that his master lied to him about most of the things he was told. Even the memories that were transmitted to him were false.

He did not know why but from this new information, deep down in his heart, he was starting to admire his master.

Yes... Despite the surprise and the danger that loomed over his soul, he was charmed by the master who lied to him.

Was this insanity? To the world, yes.

However, to those who are despised by the world, this was normal.

Everyone has deep and dark secrets they hide from the world. For Zex, his secrets were most likely the reason he was conveniently placed in front of his master back then...

...And the same reason why he had the urge to worship the figure who was right in front of him.

...

"That was impressive... Using my demons as a mana source. However, it was rude of you to knock on my door in such a fashion!" Alzeius's eyes looked calm and collected but hidden behind them was a turbulent rage that he was holding back.

Of course, there was no use hiding it, these heroes were not stupid. Arissef's reckless magic was a direct provocation to this demon lord.

To make things worse, the beam from earlier did not continue onward to the rest of the castle and only stopped at what they assumed to be the throne room.

In other words, the figure in front of them, who looked unscathed, was able to block or negate such an immensely powerful blast.

They knew from the start that this was not a walk in the park but it would seem that they have bitten off more than they could chew.

Before the heroes could even move a single step, Alzeius shook his head and stopped releasing his aura.

"I liked this place." He said as he glared at Arissef who was still trying to recover the stability of his mana.

A strange wave of magic then swept outwards, washing over the heroes.

To Zex's surprise, he felt a strong dissonance between what he was seeing and what Drago was experiencing.

Through Drago's eyes, he could see Alzeius turning around and walking away without a care in the world as a massive creature materialized behind him.

However, what registered in Drago's mind and what he believed was the same for the other heroes, was that Alzeius began to transform into the massive creature.

'An illusion?' Zex assumed. He only watched as Alzeius vanished into thin air as the heroes were preparing to move against the creature which was walking forward, eyes staring far into the distance.

What astonished Zex the most was that the image of Alzeius began fading away from Drago's memories like they were being repressed. He finally understood why Hevan and Caylin did not recognize his master despite being present in this event.

'Memory manipulation.' Zex thought to himself. No wonder they were confident in attacking his master before. The creature they faced here was strong, but from his senses, he knew that his master was stronger than this by leaps and bounds. They overestimated themselves.

The next moment, pillars of light as red as blood shot up coming from the directions of the three fortresses.

Thunderclouds gathered as a barrier was spreading from the pillars of light, interconnecting with each other to form an insanely large dome.

As the heroes saw this, worry showed on their faces.

This dome was not meant to stop people from going in. It was meant to keep people from going out.

Quickly, the loud sounds of war that they could constantly hear earlier have become screams of panic and fear.

The demons who were around them began growing in size, turning into terrifying monsters.

As they fought the gigantic creature, they assumed that the same transformation happened to all the demons outside the castle once the dome was formed.

Since the fortresses were too far away, the only choice they currently had was to defeat the gigantic creature and hope that doing so, would destroy the dome or stop the demons.

Zex, who was watching all of this play out, was amused.

His master was able to amass a huge army of demons, create such a situation, and display huge amounts of power. He could conquer Grimley or other kingdoms without his help.

However, in all the times that they met, his master acted aloof and lazy.

He could not understand this. His curiosity was growing more intense as time passed by.

...

Despite it being a critical battle, the straightforwardness of its progression bored Zex.

Drago tanked while Falna, Edge, and Caylin dealt heavy damage to the creature's weak points.

Hevan and Brius bombarded it with ranged magical and physical attacks while Arissef supported the group with his spells and enchantments.

He played too many games and watched so many anime that this arrangement and the tactics they were using were nothing new to him.

However, an incident during the battle caused the situation to further take a nosedive.

At the corner of Drago's eye, he saw Edge falling fast from a dangerous height as he lost grip of his daggers.

"EDGE!!!!!!!"