『Demons are pouring down like a torrential rain!』
『Oh! The participants in the area are being swept away in an instant!』
『It’s the natural outcome. Even low-ranking demons are equivalent to diamonds by default!』
The passionate coverage by TWC’s Michael and Jonathan continued without a break. It couldn’t be helped. Normally, in a Platinum Rank debut match, there would be close-ups from over 500 different angles, but now nearly half of the close-up shots were focused on:
“Hahaha! How weak!”
“They are all weak and pitiful! Primitive creatures.”
“Tear their limbs apart! Hahaha!”
It was a scene of massacre unfolding by the demons.
Moreover, “Aaah! Run away! Run for your lives!”
“Don’t even think about confronting them! Focus on surviving!”
“D-Demons are already here!”
Considering that these were promising individuals soaring in their own countries, Michael and Jonathan, who were broadcasting the debut match, couldn’t help but raise their voices higher.
They tried to address the doubts of both the participants facing the demons and the viewers watching the broadcast.
『Did demons appear this early intentionally? The participants seem totally unprepared.』
『Naturally, Michael. The usual strategy in Platinum debut matches is to quickly join forces with players from the same region and secure as many kills as possible before the arrival of Angels and Demons.』
Commentator Jonathan continued his explanation with an animated tone.
『But now, demons appeared just 20 minutes into the arena match, so there’s no way to respond.』
『Right. But Jonathan, the issue isn’t just the demons, is it?』
As Michael asked, the screen changed once again. This time, it showed a completely different atmosphere from before.
“These despicable beings.”
“Your filthy desires have led these filthy creatures here.”
“Atone with your lives.”
However, the same massacre was unfolding. Along with the demons making their entrance, angels also appeared. They were slaughtering the participants in the area. Watching the screen, Jonathan heaved a sigh.
『Oh! Angels were summoned all the way to the edge of the map. Normally, they should be summoned at the center.』
『All this must be the fault of Faust summoning demons early. Many countries must be resentful, right?』
『Exactly! But we can’t just blame Faust. From his and his allies’ perspective in Europe, this situation couldn’t be better.』
As Jonathan spoke, the demons summoned through the ritual sacrifice of the dark mage were exclusively under Faust’s command.
They were carrying out a massacre except for the European players. Moreover, the angels summoned in response were taking care of players from other countries on their own. Thus, Faust and the European players were in a situation where they could simply lie back and enjoy the benefits.
In fact, “Hahaha! Demons are the best! Demons reign supreme!!”
Standing amidst the chaotic debut match, Faust spread his arms wide, cheering.
“The screams full of despair and agony! Ah… music to my ears!”
His eyes, with dark circles deeply under them against his pale skin, sparkled with fervor. Lost in ecstasy, Faust even muttered to himself, making him truly seem insane.
“Hey Faust, this is getting a bit too much!”
One of the players who formed a team with him treated Faust as if dealing with a crazy person. Glaring at the player, Faust shot back, “Huh? What’s your problem?”
Perhaps feeling his enjoyment being interrupted, Faust, who had been excited a moment ago, now turned his cold, sly gaze towards the player. Taken aback, the player bit his lip and exclaimed.
“Not knowing that and asking me?! Look at that!”
The player pointed roughly to the nearby peak. There, the bodies of players, still twitching with magic and turned ash-gray, were strewn everywhere. What was strange was that, for a sacrificial ritual of 13 kills, there were more bodies than necessary.
“And you think this is what teammates do!”
The European player was hitting on that point.
“Sacrificing your own team members for a ritual! Even if you’re crazy, you should be crazy in a more dignified way!”
With veins bulging in his neck, the player could only squawk in frustration. Faust, nonchalantly, just scratched his ear with his pinky finger.
“So what do you suggest? We don’t have enough sacrifices to summon the demons.”
“Well, then find other people to fill the gap! We have already gathered 14 people, so what’s the problem!”
It was not a wrong statement. In less than 10 minutes after the debut match started, there were already 14 members from the same faction gathered, almost all European players had joined. This situation was unprecedented even throughout the past Platinum debut matches. In essence, it was like Galaxy Arena saying, ‘Alright, form your teams from the start.’
However, this insane Faust, with a one-sided question of “Since we need 20 sacrifices to summon, will you help?”, proceeded to kill 7 of his own teammates. Blatantly committing team kills. To this accusation, Faust boldly replied with a voice full of annoyance, “It can’t be helped. We need to reach 20 sacrifices.”
“Are you making excuses now? 7 of them are half of our power. Half of 14 members!”
The player grabbed Faust by the back of his neck, fuming. And it seemed that was not his only complaint.
“You’ve gone too far, Faust. No one wanted any of them to die.”
“Yeah. If we die like this, we won’t even rank later.”
The surviving players sent sharp glares and criticism towards Faust. It was understandable as the implicit agreement within the same continent or region allowing teaming up was ultimately broken in the Platinum Rank debut matches – where in the end, the last person standing determines the ranking and the agreements between the affiliated countries break during the final battle.
There were various ways of these agreements among the affiliated countries like ‘I’ll give you something, so yield your ranking to me’, ‘Since I carried last time, I’ll take the ranking this time’, ‘Let’s cleanly compete based on our skills’, leading to the final battle under their mutual agreements. This was the last spectacle of the Platinum Rank debut matches.
While it didn’t start like this initially, after some guilds from a few countries started this method, it naturally became an implicit rule of the Platinum Rank debut matches. Therefore, “What are you going to do about compensating the dead players? You maniac!”
“Because of you, our Germany’s image is ruined.”
“Faust, you’re going to face sanctions even on a national level.”
Faust’s behavior of arbitrarily killing his affiliated players was unacceptable. European players even fixed their weapons, aiming at Faust. Showing their resolve not to hesitate to retaliate with team kills if necessary. Maybe Faust caught onto that.
“Kuh… Kuhuhu! That’s right, that’s it!”
Faust chuckled, pale, covering his face with his thin, dry hands. Just then.
“We ultimately need to establish our ranks, don’t we? Yes, there can only be one first place in the end.”
Faust, a triumphant voice, nodded, his head held high. At the same time.
Shhhk.
“Ack!”
“Ri, Rihart!”
With a horrifying squelch, screams erupted from all around. The player who had been leading the charge ahead of Faust. A thick, piercing thing penetrated the chest of the player known as Rihart.
Thud.
Rihart, with a pierced chest, was flung aside like a discarded rag by the being who had accompanied Faust as Germany’s representative with a single strike.
“Tsk. Do I have to deal with such matters as well, as a dark mage?”
Even his languid voice sounded acid as the being irritably flicked his arm. From the wooden trunk-like arm, at one arm of the being, Rihart’s blood dripped down.
The five players who were raising their voices in alarm froze at the shocking sight. Except for one.
“Kihit! What a sight!”
Only Faust, a player from the same country, let out a smirk. In the manner of European nobility, Faust soon after.
“I apologize, Lord Marte. I didn’t mean to cause you trouble.”
With courteous deference, Faust bowed slightly to the towering demon, Marte.
Marte, with horns akin to those of a bull, merely nodded indifferently, his jaws shaking along the rock-like jawline.
“Dark mage, sparing them at your request is as far as my mercy will go. I do not permit any further leniency.”
“Of course. I am grateful for your mercy.”
Bowing as if a loyal vassal, Faust gazed briefly at the frozen European players.
Did you see?
His eyes seemed to say.
“……”
“……”
The European players fell into silence. Having seen firsthand what defiance would lead to. Didn’t Marte, a high-ranked demon, have made it clear?
By mentioning they were spared at Faust’s request, the story was effectively over. Furthermore, given that they were still alive and benefiting from it.
The European players could do nothing but watch Faust’s capricious demeanor.
“Tsk! If you had been this obedient from the start, wouldn’t it have been better for both of us?”
Did their demeanor please him?
“Stay quiet. That way, perhaps your rankings will improve a bit, okay?”
Faust shot a sharp glance at the European players before turning away.
“Lord Marte? Since everything seems in order here, shall we proceed to the nauseating battle with those wretched things…?”
Faust’s voice trailed off, his gaze naturally aligning with Lord Marte. And then.
“This can’t be…”
Dark-circled, sunken eyes widened with a somber realization. Of course.
“The, the demons….”
Diamond-ranked race.
Those grandiose and aggressive demons.
“They’re kneeling?!”
They were all kneeling towards a man.
***
Demons. The representative race of the Demon Realm, commonly known as demons on Earth. However, there was a clear distinction between demons and demon kings. Generally, demons from low to high ranks.
Only those who have gone through and surpassed all stages could reach the status of a demon king. Naturally, only those who became demon kings could talk about the hierarchy of the Demon Realm.
Among the countless demon kings, only 72 demon kings could ascend to become a Constellation in the Demon Realm, in other words, they could reign as Demon Kings.
Naturally, in front of such knowledge and power,
“Ah…!”
“H-How could it be from a human?!”
Mere demons could only lower their heads. And in the face of such demons.
Heavenly Demon Divine Arts.
Wave Annihilation Cannon.
The dark ray kept shooting ceaselessly.
Those touched by the ray had parts of their bodies annihilated, demons hit in the head or heart, regardless of their rank, were all wiped out. It was simply a one-sided slaughter.
In this eerie massacre where not even screams were allowed.
“Ugh, how annoying.”
A clear-faced beautiful man. Shimun fired the Annihilation Cannon successively with a face full of annoyance.
“They just won’t die easily, huh.”
With a total alchemy energy of 150 and a demonic ki stat of 75, he could handle the continuous attacks without much burden, but demons boasted formidable toughness befitting of being called a Diamond-rank race.
Unless aimed at the head or heart, they would continue regenrating. That’s why Shimun painstakingly sniped the demons, one by one.
“If it weren’t for Lemegeton, it would’ve been a real struggle.”
Shimun blinked his left eye, working hard not to vomit blood.
The previously golden left eye was now mixed with ominous energy. It was the influence of Lemegeton absorbed by Odin’s eye – ‘Demonic Eye’.
Ping.
Shimun mechanically fired the Annihilation Cannon, activating the ‘Demonic Eye’, or precisely, he opened the information window of the Lemegeton turned into Demonic Eye.
『Lemegeton』
Grade – Replica (40%)
A creation of the Constellation Solomon erased from existence. It contains knowledge and abilities of demonology but for some reason, it cannot fully exert its power.
Lemegeton.
A divine item of the mythic rank that appeared once in an event arena from Shimun’s past life. Shimun recalled the memory of that time.
“At that time, Faust summoned the 71st Devil, Dantalion, using this and carried hard against the Rankers.”
The incident that made Faust known as the Demon King. It was also an event that properly showed how powerful demons were. The fact that there were 72 Demon Kings alone was astonishing.
And among them, one could take down dozens of Rankers or Insectors in one fell swoop. Of course, later it was revealed that all 72 Demon Kings were the Constellations of the Demon Realm.
With a Constellation taking the lead, the expected outcome was evident despite some doubts. The incident shed light on the power demons and mythic-rank artifact. Shimun tilted his head slightly and closed the information window.
“Of course, my alchemized Lemegeton is completely different from that.”
Even though it was a replica item not graded as mythical.
“Didn’t Faust from my previous life mention that the original was divided into five?”
After encountering Faust once in Shimun’s past life, Faust hinted at the possibility that the Lemegeton was a special mythic-rank item divided into five.
Therefore, rather than finding all five originals, the Lemegeton had not even received a mythical rank.
The extreme degraded version that Odin’s eye absorbed and became the demonic eye. Even with just this degraded version.
“Heh… hehe!”
“Mercy! Please have mercy!”
The mid-rank and low-rank demons couldn’t even flinch. Seeing their state, Shimun chuckled softly.
“It’s like a massacre.”
Just like the incident that paralyzed even the top-rank dragonkin tribe Naga. Even though the operational principles were different.
*Kiieeeng.*
By continuously activating the Demonic Eye, it gave the similar effect of rendering the opponent completely immobile.
“Well, what kind of magic is this?”
As Shimun shrugged his shoulders and raised his hand again.
*Shhhaaaak!*
A strong shockwave ripped through the air.
Similar to the sight of a meteor plunging down. However, Shimun did not move a step. The reason was simple. The target of the falling meteor was not himself.
*Koooouuuung!*
The ground shook not far away, covering the area in dense dust.
“Worm-like beings…”
Could there be a word that perfectly encapsulated the essence of this existence?
As if easily dismissing ogre-like creatures, a being resembling an Ogre emerged through the dust. Its two horns stood erect like a helmet, seemingly expressing its current emotions.
*Crackling*
It was engulfed in blazing flames.
“To kneel before a mere human. It’s embarrassing that we belong to the same species.”
Growled the Ogre as if it could devour.
“Your incompetence will stain our realm.”
He casually raised his thick arm.
*Crunch!*
The heads of the demons burst at once.
Ignoring his fallen comrades, he turned his attention to the human who stared at him indifferently. More accurately, to his strangely calm left eye.
Marte inquired about the dissonance he felt from the insignificant human from afar.
“What exactly are you, human?”
And the insignificant human.
“Kneel.”
With just one word in response.
*Kwoong.*
He forcefully drove the high-ranked demon Marte to kneel into the ground.
TL’s Corner:
MC is too OP. Making demons kneel like Cadis Etrama Di Raizel. Noblesse reference btw. 🙂