1455 Black Dungeon City Part 1 (1/2)

Of course, there was no way for every demon serving Saleen to be of level-9. Only the supreme demons and a handful of demons had reached this level. Level-10 demons were fewer in number. The amplification of their combat prowess was due to the Devil Possession Armors.

At first, the demons were in awe. Then they cackled, saying, ”The head warden was right. This place is going to be invaded. Now we can use all those contraptions laid beforehand.”

The leading holy master gave the order.

”Yes, sir!”

The wardens acknowledged him and activated the divine-rune charm arrays at the beach.

As gray light burst from the arrays, all 10,000 demons were struck by the beams. But...

None of them fell.

The holy masters were baffled by what they saw with their very eyes. How could that be? The Great Prophecy Spell Arrays were the only divine-rune charm arrays in the Holy See capable of using prophecy spells in a concentrated manner. They could only be used in a special environment like the Black Dungeon Island with a 30 percent success rate.

Such high prophetic abilities! According to conventional calculations, even if all 10,000 of those invaders were extremely lucky, at least 3,000 or so would have perished.

Suddenly they were struck by silver beams. Roar! None of the demons was felled by the curses being hurled at them. The armor they were wearing had been crafted by Saleen. That was, of course, referring to the lightning-magic patterns on the armor.

Saleen discovered that those patterns were probably the best method for defending against prophecy spells.

If the level of the spell was the same as the target, the prophecy spells would have been nullified by the lightning-magic patterns. All demons wore level-9 magic armor. Be it the prophecy spells or the curses, they were only at about level-7 because of the multiple-target spells fired from arrays.

While those spells were terrifying, it was still impossible for them to break the lightning-magic patterns' protection.

Saleen had done detailed research into Tribunal tactics. For every bit of information he gathered, he had more than 100 thousand enchanters do calculations on them over and over. Saleen had long been prepared to deal with such attacks.

It was usually challenging to place arrays of any kind in the sand, which would have caused them to break easily. But Saleen caught sight of the divine-rune charm array embedded in the soil for prolonged periods in that divine smith's compound.

Although the soil was less shifty, its stability was even poorer than sand.

Saleen had prepared mightily. He first let the high-level demons storm the beach wearing Devil Possession Armors, triggering attacks from the divine-rune charm arrays before sending in the star figures and ancient warriors.

As for the ancient warriors, he saw them in a different light and was no longer concerned about their loss. Those people had died a long time ago and their souls were in fragments. The combined powers of the ancient warriors would have far exceeded those of golden grand swordmasters.

Those people were little more than level-9 beings, after all.

Although Saleen had sympathy for them, he had to use whatever means were available to him. He presented the Black Dungeon Island as the final battlefield after discovering that he had no way of saving their souls.

Black clouds hovered above the island. Untold numbers of flying magic beasts were inside but all were illusions. The large illusion originated from the core of the Black Dungeon Island, an extinct volcano.

The power emanating from that location was more potent than Saleen's family badge. What was even more terrifying was that the power was controlled by others. Despite being illusions, those beings in the sky were capable of solid attacks.

If Saleen had brought the Floating City there, the place would have been attacked.

He had been observing the many changes to the Black Dungeon Island, due to having possessed a plane map. That was why he brought the Baldur's Gate and attacked from the waters instead.

Be it divine or magic spells, once the battle was taken to the ground, it would be a matter of personal strength, with combatants clashing head-on with each other.

The demon army marched forward and took the entire beach. They laid down a line of defense and stopped advancing, waiting for the forces from the rear.

Saleen was surprised that the wardens did not emerge to stop them, which meant that he would have had an easier time initiating the battle.

Riding on the Violet Angel, he and Rafel disembarked at the forefront of the battlefield.

”Rafel, you're in charge of the fighting now,” Saleen said and took off. He hovered high in the sky and looked down on the battlefield. He was simply keeping a close eye on enemy movements. If the head warden showed up, he would have had to take him out personally; no one else was capable of doing that.

”Yes, my lord,” Rafel was behaving unusually respectfully toward Saleen. She was born with a mission to fight wars. She had great respect for the act of combat.

The Violet Angel's golden dragon form stood instead of lying prostrate, its head held high, proudly looking at the ridges in the distance. A group of holy masters was there too, but none dared to come near the dragon.

The forces behind the demons arrived soon enough, consisting of Bug Angel Warriors and some low-level elemental creatures.

After different troops mixed with the demon army and reorganized, Rafel summoned someone to her side—Gusion, who hardly spent any time with Saleen.