—Back in the Demon King’s Castle,

Not giving Erin any time to refute him, Albert quickly rushed out of the castle as he dashed all the way to the outer ward to meet up with Zomatsu, Hart, Talen, and Kela who had set up a line of defense a few meters away from the main gate. Naturally, all the undead left in the castle had been brought out to be used as cannon folders as they were all pretty weak aside from the one Tier 3 Lich and two Tier 3 Black Knights.

Even with those and the remaining trolls, their current fighting force was only about 30 and that was including the female ogress and beast girls Zomatsu had trained over the past few days. Most of their strongest fighters were away at the moment, including Azar and the evolved trolls namely Kazko and Rekaz as well and Rain and Liz, making this lineup the best they could muster.

It would take the Raven Settlement another week or so to arrive here so hoping for backup was out of the question. Moreover, all of those he mentioned were currently out of communication range and thus there was no way to reach them.

Their opponents had chosen to enter through the main entrance and while there were traps set up in front of the gates, Albert didn’t have any expectations from them and could only hope they would be able to stall their opponents even if it was only for a moment so as to allow them to launch an attack.

With Hart and Talen leading the way alongside the Tier 3 Black Knights, Albert had the mages and rangers stationed behind them and on the towers. He then brought out several scrolls from his spatial storage. There were about 15 of them, two of which were given to him by his master. With no time to waste, he immediately activated them all at once.

“Summon – Lesser Frost Giants” x13

“Summon – Behir.”x2

All fifteen scrolls suddenly burnt away in a purple haze as fifteen large magic circles appear on the ground all around Albert. Two of which were especially large. Thirteen 9 foot tall ice blue humanoid creatures geared in icy blue crystalline armor that made it seem like they were armor made entirely of ice appeared from the smaller magic circles.

They wielded a large battle-ax and had eyes that glow red without a hint of intelligence. Following the entrance of the thirteen Lesser Frost Giants, came two terrifying monsters that even Albert felt apprehensive about and if he were to meet them alone in the wild, he would surely have no choice but to run or die.

Although Behir’s weren’t actually based on the demon continent and one would not normally find them in the wild. In fact, Albert wasn’t even sure if they existed in this plane.

The two creatures that had been summoned had long narrow heads, crocodilian in shape, with curved, black horns on the top of their heads, which were used for preening.

They had thick, armored scales, much like the typical example of a dragon or drake. Their scales were colored in variations of dark blue, being lighter on their undersides and their mouths were full of sharp teeth as they roared and slight crackles of electricity could be seen on them.

These creatures were called Behir and were considered Advanced class monsters who were also magic beasts, unlike the Lesser Frost Giants who were classified as Intermediate class monsters.

These were the only two summoning scrolls that had been given to him by Lord Ty in case of emergency. He had chosen these monsters not because they were the strongest summons he had but because their abilities were highly suitable in defense and against a multitude of opponents.

Behir’s were large serpentine monsters with twelve legs, hard scales, electrical breath, and a highly effective lightning barrier that was very useful at the moment.

These creatures could be easily mistaken for wingless blue dragons as they had long, snake-like bodies and could slither on the ground like a snake, but it also had six pairs of legs upon which it could walk or climb if it chose to do so.

The 13 Lesser Frost giant lined up with Hart and Talen at the front of the group as their front line of defense upon Albert command while the two Behirs slithered around Albert and used the skill,

•Lightning Zone•

Upon activation, a faint pulse of electricity spanning about a 30-meter radius was constantly being emitted every 1.5 seconds and upon contact with what the Behirs consider enemies or an attack. A bolt of lightning would automatically be sent at them from multiple locations. The electrical field also creates a magnetic pull to the ground that slows down any enemies that are able to make it within range during the short time frame the pulse wasn’t being emitted.

Zomatsu stood next to Albert in his previous butler-like combat gear. Only this time he had swapped his white gloves for a pair of purple gauntlets.

Albert had already given him control over the rangers so all he needed to focus on was the battle ahead of him. Victory didn’t seem possible against one of the seven behemoths but as a former demon lord himself, he couldn’t just let someone trespass on his master’s territory.

With iron-clad resolves, he tightened the grip on his enchanted Miaodao and waited for their opponents in the outer ward.

*Boom!

They didn’t have to wait long as the huge metal gates they had spent a long time fixing up were smashed in like it was nothing. The gates were heavily reinforced with magic and although the runes on it hadn’t been completely fixed yet didn’t take away from the impressive feat of breaking it in a single blow.

The gate went flying back a few meters as a young man with short neet brown hair, black eyes and fair skin tone casually walked in with his hands in his pockets. His casual attitude was followed by an oppressive aura that told the vast difference between mere mortals and a literal demigod.

Three other demons and two demonesses walked in only a few feet’s behind him and more than fifty thugs like lesser demons with somewhat decent weapons walked further behind him. They didn’t seem like they were supposed to be there as their eyes lack any will or energy, almost as though they were already dead.

“Well, This is a surprise, I didn’t expect anyone to already be in ‘My Castle’ upon my return. What’s going on here?”

Albert narrowed his eyes. ‘He’s lying.’ The fact that he made such an obvious lie about not being aware of their presence even though he had sneaked past their defenses and practically destroyed a gate that he could’ve easily opened told Albert that he was aware of their presence before he had bothered approaching.

That confirms Albert’s original fears that the Great Five were now aware of their presence but at least for now, there wasn’t much they could do. However, a behemoth was a different story as they didn’t have to bother with Noble politics as long as they felt confident enough in their strength in withstanding their fury which this behemoth obviously had.

The behemoth of Greed, Mammon walked closer to their formation and even through their traps without any single one of the triggering. He stopped only a few feet before Hart, Talen, and the Frost Giants before speaking again.

“Well, this isn’t the way I wanted my first day in my new castle to be but I guess this will do. Still, with how weak you all are, I’m a little disappointed. To think you actually considered yourself worthy of taking my throne, what a joke.”

“Indeed Lord Mammon, to think they would put a common summoned creature before you. This trash does not deserve to face you. Please permit me to dispose of them.”

One of the five generals behind him— a female demon clad in slightly revealing leather armor with only a few high-quality metal plates on her alongside her fancy greaves and vambraces— spoke to him in reverence and with her head lowered slightly.

She was quite beautiful with long black hair and supple wax-like skin although she had a cold and emotionless expression on her face. She wielded a large oversized magic sword that she rested on her shoulders casually as though it weighed nothing.

Hemei (Mammon) smiled and shrugged. “Sure, there’s no point in prolonging this any longer as it doesn’t look like my target is even worth my time. I got excited over bothering.”

His gaze shifted and locked on Abert who was positioned in the center of the formation and had the two strongest summoned creatures directly protecting him as well.

Nessi, who was one of the youngest amongst the demon generals of the behemoth of Greed, Mammon stepped forward with the same expression on her face as the other four generals next to her just stood in place without moving.

“Damn it. I should have spoken first, now I might not even get to kill anyone.”

One of the male demons amongst the four grumbled to himself as he folded his arms, trying to hold back his anticipation and eagerness. His name was Badgil Herm, he had short blonde hair, a wild appearance about him, and a muscular build. Standing about 6’3, he wielded a long heavy magic spear-like weapon with an intricate design on its handle.

He was also clad in an expensive sliver and black-colored armor. The male demon that stood next to him grunted but did not speak a single word as he tapped the blade of his swords on the ground. He had dark skin and short black hair, clad in heavy full plate armor and wielding two great swords on either arm. His name was Muzak Graml.

Next was the second female in their ranks who didn’t seem interested In Badgil’s complaints as she stared tiredly at the enemies before her. She was also quite the attractive lady with a dark skin tone and long white curly hair. She was dressed flauntingly with most of her amble bosom exposed, she had a long wooden staff by her side as she rested lazily on it. Her name was Serene Vyle, the strongest amongst the five generals of Greed.

“wow… Everything here feels so mystic and ancient. I wanna explore it so badly.”

The last male in their ranks spoke into the air without a care in the world. He was an extremely young boy with a doll-like face and looked to be nothing more than 12 or 13. He had short and well-trimmed white hair with sky blue sparkling eyes and was dressed in golden-colored mage robes with a wooden wand in his hands as he stared curiously behind the enemy before them and into the castle excitedly.

As stated earlier, Nessi was indeed the youngest of the five and thus this boy— Ovin — was older than her, being the oldest of the five and even older than his master, Mammon. None of them bothered to engage Badgil as they knew that would only lead to a distracting conversation that would ever up pissing them off. They all just barely focused on Nessi as she approached the front line of the energy that numbered only around twenty.

Of course, they were all aware of the rangers that were secretly stationed on the towers and had only chosen to ignore their existence as a way to make this more interesting.

Dragging her oversized blade on the ground as she walked towards the ground and seemed to have taken a fighting stance and were now ready to handle her. Nessi couldn’t help but roll her eyes at their foolishness. Her grip on her magic weapon tightened and her feet dug into the ground as a frightening amount of aura suddenly exploded out of her making the air in the entire ward stale and everyone aside from her master and the other four generals suddenly became ponderous.

“I’ll end this quickly.”