Supreme Monarch

"What the fuck is going on. Who did this!?"

Badgil roared in frustration as his arm was blown away by that one shrike. He had pain resistance and could handle such a minor issue as losing an arm but the fact that he hadn't even been aware of the attack that took off his arm frustrated him to no end.

The others also got on high alert as they tried to scan the area for their opponents. Mammon also created another much stronger barrier around the group as he was enraged his barrier had been so easily broken through earlier.

However—

Another magic bullet was shot and yet again, his Barrier was shattered and the dense ball of mana continued forth, towards the supposed childlike Ovil, who hastily cast a defensive spell of his own. He use a 10 fold light barrier that had managed to stop the magic bullet at the very last layer.

With that, their eyes were finally able to trace the trajectory back towards the source of their troubles. 

Raising their heads a bit, their vision crossed the distance and they saw two figures standing on the front entrance of the main castle.

The one in front was a man wearing a long black coat with black pants and a pair of high-quality leather boots. He had slightly short black hair with fade, hazel-colored eyes and stood motionlessly by the entrance of the castle as he stared coldly at them. His presence was non-existent and his aura was weak, yet he gave off a feeling that made them a little uncomfortable.

The second figure hovered in the air next to him with bloodied claws that dripped fresh blood constantly. One of the massive creature's arms even held what they believed to be a still-beating heart. Aside from Mammon, none of the others could even sense this being's aura but its presence was domineering, signifying the creature was a being of a higher life order than them.

"What is this? A conjured creature."

"Seems like it."

"That bastard. Did he hide in the castle preparing a ritual for this? This is why I hate weaklings."

"That creature is strong. And unlike the summons earlier, conjured creatures are very intelligent so it won't be easy to deal with it."

"Isn't it fine? Once we kill the summoner, we can just offer the creature a better deal. I doubt it wants to serve such a weakling, after all, conjured creatures at that level are very proud beings."

"I see. You may be right."

"What do you think Lord Mammon? Should we all take on that creature while you quickly finish off the summoner? If it's you, I'm sure you'll end it quickly." Serene asked Mammon in a calm and aloof tone as it seemed they had judged the previous attacks to have originated from the Dark Garuda.

However—

Mammon frown deeply at this sight. He had thought the behemoth he had been warned about by Citrus was the aged man that seemed to be a former demon lord but clearly he was wrong. The fact that the aged man had been a former demon lord had made much sense as it slightly explains how he had been able to enter this castle that even the great five had been unable to.

Well, that was what he had wanted to believe as he didn't think an independent behemoth like himself would be able to figure out a way into the castle before he did.

However, the appearance of this man had dispelled all that. He, just like his foolish companions, could also not sense the presence of this man. Him, as the holder of an innate ability, is a possessor of several unique skills and original spells. As someone who had also crossed into the realms of the divine, could not fathom the vastness of this man's power.

What a joke.

Was someone playing a prank on him. He had multiple perception skills like Magic sense. Spatial perception and Divine recognition. And under his gaze, even weaklings would register their weak presence on his radar.

Of course, he could still sense his aura, and unlike his generals. He could sense even the ones that were hidden inside him. For some reason, he didn't seem to be actually hiding his aura nor was he actively releasing it. Rather, the aura was concentrated around his mana body as though he was trying to restrict most of his mana flow. 

However, aside from that, he was unable to sense his presence. For someone was to be able to hide their presence from him when he was already looking at them was absurd. With his high perception abilities, he was generally able to tell someone's actual strength at a glance and even judge their potential to some extent.

Yet— he could not read anything from this demon and could only tell that his aura was concentrated mostly in him and not how strong it was. He was confused and alarmed at the same time. It was either he really had no potential as his minions seem to think or there was actually no limit to his strength.

'Ridiculous.'

There was no way that was true. If one thing was constant in this world, it would be the limits of one's magic potential and Mammon. No, Hemei refused to believe otherwise. It was obvious this behemoth was strong no doubt. So it shouldn't have surprised him that he would have a magic artifact that could hide his presence from the world.

'Yes, that is the only possibility.'

For someone that cowardly sneaked into the demon king's castle to claim the treasures here for himself. It was only natural that he would want to hide from the world to prevent himself from being tracked by the Great Five.

Upon his realization, Hemei narrowed his eyes. The fact that this man was strong was of no issue to him. After all, with his ability. The strength of his opponents would eventually become his, but first, he needed to force out his skills without getting caught up in them.

"Don't lower your guard. Both of them are quite as dangerous."

He stretched out an arm the moment the man started to move and activated his greatest transportation skill, Gate. As a black void opened up next to him, several more of his men instantly walked out of the gate. There were around 100 of them all clad in impressive armor and equipment. Most of which were made of Duranium and Adamantine.

Some of them even had magic weapons and items. This was the strongest legion he had personally recruited from his region. They were the force he had originally prepared to claim the castle in case anyone had gotten on his way before Citrus had gifted him those 50 cannon fodders.

The moment his men lined up perfectly behind him, an illusionary book appeared in front of Hemei as he loudly commanded.

"Kill them!"

At his command, Badgil roared and immediately charged ahead of the group even though his arm hadn't regenerated completely yet. He lead the army of a hundred strong at the pair while Ovil and Serene stayed in the rear to protect Mammon while they also prepared their spells and curses to aid the group.

Although they actually thought this was overkill. They had no right to question Mammon's orders and that course of action was a very dangerous one. However, they had no idea the levels of danger that awaited them.

Hemei stood at the rear with his innate ability active. He could record the skills of even summoned creatures so as long as the pair wanted to survive. They would have to use those skills and spells even if they were to use a weapon as well. And once he had copied their strongest skills, he would quickly dispose of them.

This was his usual method of handling strong opponents as this world was extremely dangerous and there were skills and spells, even items that possessed unfashionable abilities that could easily reap one life in an instant if they were careful. With scrolls and artifacts alike, one could even kill a higher-level fed opponent, although such and this was unlikely.

Still, Mammon always felt that it was a good idea to test the waters with disposable pawns instead of risking his life. A nasty smile crept into his face as he awaited the reap the plentiful skills that were about to be unleashed.

However—

Nothing had gone as he had expected as the moment his army had crossed a certain distance and were about to launch a barrage of attacks at the approaching pair.

Every single one of them aside from Badgil had just suddenly dropped down to the ground lifelessly as though they were puppets whose strings had been cut.

"What!? What just happened? What the hell did they do."

A greatly perplexed expression was plastered across Hemei's face. His ability could not record skills that were being activated around him unless he witness the activation of the skills to its complete execution with his eyes as one could not make a record without first witnessing what the record was about.

This also meant he could not record skills that were already activated, else his ability would've been the perfect cheat. This was why he had made it a point to gain so many perception skills. And why had had never taken his eyes off the pair the moment he gave his attack order.

Yet, he had still failed to comprehend what had happened. As far as he could tell, the man did nothing but stop the moment his men had gotten close enough, neither did the large birdlike monster do anything.

Well, he had noticed the Dark Garuda glance at the man after his men had died but even with his enhanced hearing, he had been unable to hear what was said. But with that exchange, surely it meant they had done something right? So how the hell did he miss it.

"Impossible."

As Hemei contemplated the usefulness of his own senses, he suddenly heard Badgil roar in anger as he dashed madly at the pair with his spear in hand as he rapidly spun it around. His spear suddenly shattered as it turned into pure energy that enveloped his body.

•War God Assault•

His trump card, a berserk skill that served as his ultimate skill. The skill triples his physical abilities and vastly increases his attacks by several folds. His attacks in this state also deal both Magic and physical damage. He was even capable of damaging the soul. However, this type of power could only be used for a very short time as if it was used beyond that, it would come at a cost.

In this form, Badgil would be able to go toe to toe with any behemoth if only for a limited time. Hemei saw Ovil prepare a spell as he waited for Badgil to create an opportunity for them as it seemed they hadn't been shaken by the death of so many of their men.

However —

For the first time, the floating celestial moved as it swooped down after crushing the heart it was holding and with speeds beyond what Badgil was capable of even in this state. The Dark Garuda appeared before him and swung its claws at the shocked war god.

•Dimension Spitter•

With just a single swing, everything before its eyes was cut in threes. If Hemei hadn't reacted fast enough to cast his absolute defensive barrier while reinforcing it with a constant stream of mana. Even they would've been split into threes as the wall behind them and even the clouds had been spilled in threes to the point that it felt as though, space itself had but cut.

With such power, it was safe to say that Badgil who was the target of that attack, was stopped in his tracks as his body was cleanly cut in half and both sides fell lifelessly to the ground, gushing blood that splatted on the exited Garuda.

Both Ovil and Serene instinctively took a step back as their eyes widened in shock. Such an attack was beyond their comprehension and thus, their minds went blank.

Seeing another one of his men fall, and his remaining generals shaken to the core. Hemei frowned deeply. He could no longer retain his anger as he changed his mind. There was no point in having so many skills if he wasn't going to use them and now was the time. He would kill everyone that stood in the way of his goals and a conjured celestial was no exemption.

•Astra Smite•