Titan!

The situation in Ashur City became increasingly tense.

Whispers of prayers from fleeing residents. The cries of children in the arms of their parents, while a few uncontrollable individuals rampaged, trying to escape.

Chaos had begun to unfold, including those who struggled to control their lust due to the influence of poison.

Amidst all these circumstances, Cien moved, leaping over rooftops towards the city's exit, where the battle between Hanibal and Asmodeus was taking place.

He could even hear the thunderous clash between the two super-powered beings.

The booming sound shook Ashur itself, intensifying the cries of the children.

Cien felt that the effects of this battle would only worsen if not dealt with immediately.

He could only hope that before he reached the location, Hanibal would have already managed to kill Asmodeus.

Cien arrived at the city center, intending to keep moving quickly, but an incident down below halted his steps.

Around the city square, he could see several Ashur soldiers engaged in combat with each other. Cien frowned, noticing that some of the soldiers had red eyes with slitted pupils.

"Demons..."

Cien had suspected that Asmodeus couldn't possibly carry out his mission alone. Now he knew that Asmodeus' forces had disguised themselves as Ashur soldiers.

What would be the fate of the genuine soldiers? There was no need to ask; Cien already knew the outcome of their lives.

'But it looks like Asmodeus' army isn't that many.'

If you think Asmodeus is carrying out a secret mission, perhaps a smaller number of troops would be more ideal.

Cien, who was observing the battle below, tapped his coffin.

"Arrow."

Cien uttered briefly, and the coffin door opened on its own, revealing a bow thrown into the sky by a gentle hand with fair skin.

Cien caught the falling bow and retrieved an arrow from its holder hanging on the side of the coffin.

"A regular arrow will do."

Muttered Cien as he took a Hellteak wooden arrow, with a hardness level equivalent to iron.

Shoot!

The arrow flew, piercing the head of a demon soldier, then penetrating the chest of another soldier behind him.

The Ashur soldiers who witnessed this were stunned, as were the demons.

Both sides turned their gaze towards Cien, seeing a figure in a robe with a large wooden box on a two-story building.

"Run."

Cien commanded the Ashur soldiers. He pulled back his arrow again, but this time it was different. The tip of the arrow instantly ignited.

The Ashur soldiers who saw this were immediately reminded of the incident at Millard's residence. An exploding arrow.

They all ran away, leaving the confused demons behind.

From this, Cien knew that these demons had probably recently disguised themselves as Ashur soldiers, maybe in the past day or two.

"It seems like Asmodeus has another plan, but that's no longer important—just die, [Explode]."

Shoot! Boom!

The arrow instantly exploded after piercing one demon and decimated a dozen other demons affected by the blast.

There were still a few demons left, but they appeared to be injured.

The Ashur soldiers who had previously dodged now returned to finish them off.

Cien furrowed his brow, seemingly realizing Asmodeus' plan.

The Demon General likely wanted to replace all the inhabitants of Ashur with demons one by one.

His main goal was to gain full control over the Mandora water source and expand the distribution of Ashur's water throughout Kastia. And then, chaos happens in the Land of Sand.

To subside the chaos, as the King of Mandora, Asmodeus will order the purge of citizens. Then after the chaos is gone, he will replace all the leftover citizens of Mandora with demons.

'Well, it seems that plan has completely failed now.'

Cien then looked to the west, where the battle between the two monsters still raged, shaking the surrounding area.

He then turned his gaze north, where his friends were located.

Cien then turned to the Ashur soldiers fighting in the city square.

"Hey! How many demons are there in the city?"

One soldier heard the question.

"I don't know! But we're aware of the fact that there are disturbances caused by the Ashur soldiers in several corners of the city!"

"In the north?"

"Duke Bahman's mansion!"

'I knew it. If Asmodeus wants to control all water sources, the first thing he should have changed is the Bahman side. But why didn't they report to Asmodeus? Halima's actions in the past few days should have alerted the Abyss side. Are they foolish?'

In truth, Cien didn't know if his assumption was correct.

The majority of demons relied more on instinct than their brains, much like animals but slightly smarter.

The demons instructed to disguise themselves by Asmodeus were demons like this.

They could only follow simple commands. They couldn't undertake difficult missions like spying on Halima.

Only a few demons with power levels above Rank 6 could use their logic.

Even then, their logic was mostly used for fighting, not for planning and such. Therefore, the demon leaders themselves considered them mere lowly slaves.

So, yup! They are foolish!

Unfortunately, even though they are foolish, it doesn't mean they are weak.

Their physical and magical powers are far stronger than those of the human race. This is what worries Cien about Duke Bahman's side.

"Sigh... it seems we need to make a stop somewhere first."

Cien immediately moved northward. Knowing the behavior of both Halima and Duke Bahman, Cien was confident they were the last people to leave the city.

Responsibility is considered as a friend rather than burden by this noble family.

They wouldn't leave until they made sure all the citizens had evacuated from Ashur.

It took about fifteen minutes before Cien finally arrived at Bahman's residence.

Along the way, he saw more and more empty streets that had been successfully evacuated.

Cien smiled faintly because it seemed that the evacuation plan was going quickly and smoothly.

Although there were some obstacles from demon attacks, it appeared that they could still be intercepted by the Ashur army.

Cien aided in some of the skirmishes with his arrows along the way.

He had witnessed several casualties due to demon attacks, both soldiers and ordinary civilians.

When he arrived at Duke's residence, he saw it resembled a battlefield.

Demon forces were blocking the Ashur troops outside the gate, turning the front of the mansion into a small warzone.

Meanwhile, inside the residence, sounds of battle could also be heard, indicating that there was fighting happening there as well.

If the reinforcements from the Ashur army outside couldn't enter quickly, the lives of the soldiers inside and Halima herself would be in jeopardy.

"This is incredibly frustrating," Cien muttered.

He grabbed two arrows, biting one with his mouth and shooting the other towards the front line of the demon forces.

Boom!

The arrow exploded, scattering the demon forces. However, the path was still obstructed.

Cien took another arrow from his mouth and shot it again. This time, the arrow transformed into a phoenix-shaped fire, incinerating any remaining demons blocking the way.

The Ashur soldiers who had been fiercely battling all along fell silent, gaping at the events unfolding before them.

The seemingly invincible enemy vanished in an instant. Not all of them were annihilated, as it turned out, as a few managed to survive with horrifying burn injuries.

But it was still extraordinary. They wanted to turn around and see who was responsible for all of this, but before they could do so, they heard a command.

"What are you doing?! Don't just stand there! Save those inside!"

After witnessing all the soldiers starting to rush in and eliminate the surviving demons, Cien let out a long sigh. It wasn't long before he saw Halima emerge with a group of knight escorts.

Not far behind, Cien also saw Duke Bahman being carried out by an old servant.

Seeing that his friends were safe, Cien breathed a sigh of relief.

He then tapped his quiver, counting the remaining arrows by sound.

"Not many."

Cien remembered all the magic arrows he had used and tried his best to conserve them, as he still needed them for the battle against Asmodeus.

"Sigh... it will be harder, but not impossible."

Taking one last glance at where his friend was, Cien smiled faintly and began moving quickly towards the west.

The sounds of the battle grew more threatening in Ashur City. Especially in the outside of city, where Hanibal has to fight Asmodeus.

He didn't know the outcome, but if Hanibal lost, he would truly have to deal with Asmodeus on his own.

"Ugh... I don't know. It's still a gamble. It would be really bad if she refuses."

Cien muttered, imagining the worst-case scenario if his plan failed.

***

In the area where the battle between Hanibal and Asmodeus took place, it turned out to be not just a fight between the two monsters.

There were also three thousand Ashur troops and around two thousand demon soldiers summoned by Asmodeus using the [Gate of Abyss] skill.

Initially, the number of demon soldiers was ten thousand, but Hanibal managed to take down eight thousand of them single-handedly while fending off every attack from Asmodeus.

Hanibal succeeded in reducing the threat to Ashur by defeating most of the enemies. However, mana within him were dwindling. And now his condition was weakening.

Swoosh!

Hanibal was impaled by a spear of fire, crashing him into the ground, blood starting to flow from his abdomen.

Hanibal, who had fought thousands of soldiers alone, finally found himself helpless against the power of Asmodeus.

Hanibal tried to stand but his legs looked trembling. Blood began to pour profusely from his mouth.

Asmodeus, seeing his opponent's condition, laughed and flew down towards Hanibal.

"I must admit, you're stronger than we thought. The Champion of Mandora. A Rank Jack, but your power in this kingdom might surpass mine.

"I never expected you to manipulate all the sand around here, sweeping away thousands of my soldiers with fu*king sandstorm tsunami! I've never seen anything like that, you're amazing. You should be proud to receive praise from me. But now, it's time for your small resistance to end."

Hanibal, upon hearing this, could only chuckle.

"You think this is over?!"

Suddenly, a large circle above the sand surface lit up brightly.

Asmodeus was surprised and flew away, preparing himself to receive an attack.

However, what happened was not a massive assault, but the sand gradually compacted and formed into a gigantic creature.

It was so huge that the head of the giant creature was at the same height as Asmodeus in the sky.

"Hahaha! You're amazing, Hanibal!"

Asmodeus laughed with delight as he saw Hanibal had just created a massive golem that emitted a power that might be greater than his own.

A Rank Jack creating a doll with power surpassing its owner? It was something that seemed impossible, but here he was witnessing it with his own eyes.

"You truly have turned Mandora into your own playground, Hanibal!"

"Forbidden Sand Magic - [Sand Titan]."

ROARRRRR!!!