Four days later, exactly one week after Bai Zemin first battled against the Demon Lord and they both tested the waters to try to understand each other’s power.
During the four days that passed, the demons that had occupied the southern part of the city in the center of the dungeon had been carrying out large and cruel movements. It didn’t matter if it was female or male, nor did they care about age at all; every time they saw a human outside the safe zone of the city, a demon general would appear to take their life immediately before taking their corpse somewhere.
Worst of all was the fact that the demon generals had been extremely cunning as they had somehow managed to lure important figures from every human kingdom into the dungeon, which naturally ended up forcing the kings and queens of the kingdom to rush out in search of their princes or princesses.
Inside the meeting room of the highest building in the northern area of the city, the atmosphere was extremely heavy and tense.
Bang!
The King of the Lidora Kingdom slammed the wooden table, turning it directly into dust.
“Are we still going to stand around and do nothing?! Of the 48 kings of kingdom there are only eight of us left! All the others have been killed by the demons!” Edward’s eyes were bloodshot and his murderous intent was gushing.
The situation over the last few days had gone from bad to worse and this was no longer just about helping or not helping the cunning and cowardly humans who had decided to watch from the sidelines without suffering loss for quiet profit.
“At this rate we will be annihilated, annihilated!” King Edward stood up furiously and roared, “What are we going to do when we get out of here, ah?! There are now forty kingdoms that do not have a soul evolver strong enough to withstand the assault of a general demon!”
Previously, the reason humans could continue to exist and live in peace was because they outnumbered the demons’ Third Order soul evolvers, so unless the demon race was willing to risk everything, the foundation of the human race would not be threatened. However, the situation was different now.
There were seven demon generals alive, there was the Purple Flame Wyvern whose power was comparable to that of the first demon general or the most powerful kings of kingdoms. Last but not least, the Demon Lord.
Princess Bianca hesitated as she saw everyone silent before she said in a low voice, “The Demon Lord can fight thirty or forty kings of kingdom at a time, but now there are only eight left…”
“… Basically, even if the demon generals or the Purple Flame Wyvern don’t step forward, the Demon Lord alone is enough to annihilate the human race now that most of the kings of kingdom have fallen.” Princess Dianna muttered.
Although her voice was not very strong, everyone heard her loud and clear.
The last two kings of kingdom who had joined the alliance led by Bai Zemin heard everything with pale faces. The two had barely managed to escape after being surrounded by four demon generals and had it not been for the two of them being together at that moment they would have undoubtedly died.
In the end, the two had no choice but to bring their people and join the alliance in order to survive. After all, even if they stayed inside the safe zone of the city, the two kings were well aware that they would soon return to the normal world and once there no one would be able to stop the demon race. Besides, it was more than clear that the alliance force had no plans to help the others; they were paying selfishness and selflessness with selfishness and selflessness, therefore, no one had the right to complain.
“Now all we can do is hope and pray that Bai Zemin can really fight against the Demon Lord.” Said one of the kings of kingdom who had joined the latter.
“That pretty boy can definitely fight against Ar’gon.” Mei Lin leaned back lazily against the back of her seat, her body was filled with feminine charm with every minute gesture. She narrowed her bright eyes and said under her breath, “The real question is whether or not he can beat him.”
Everyone fell silent for a long time.
“Does anyone know anything about Bai Zemin? He’s been missing for days. The same goes for my little sister.” Ellis asked with a slight frown and worry in her beautiful purple eyes.
Just then, the large wooden door slid open and the two people that not only Ellis but everyone was looking for slowly walked into the room shoulder to shoulder.
Seeing the missing cornerstone, everyone sighed in relief. Even though no one had said it, some were thinking that maybe Bai Zemin might have gotten scared and ran away to avoid having to fight against the Demon Lord.
Ellis stood up and walked over to Bai Zemin quickly, “Zemin, where were you? Did something happen?”
Seraphina rolled her eyes and muttered grumpily in a voice only she could hear, “I’m fine, big sister, thank you for asking.”
Bai Zemin looked at Ellis with a serious expression and said in a deep voice, “I was training.”
“Training?” Ellis was startled, as was everyone present. “What kind of last minute training is this?” she asked quickly.
Bai Zemin smiled faintly and patted her shoulder gently. He said nothing but looked at Liam and asked something that confused everyone a little.
“Liam, if you could choose between bringing your mom back or the Demon Lord’s head, which one would you choose.”
“Bring my mom back,” Liam said in a firm voice. Although he didn’t understand why Bai Zemin was asking him such a question, he answered, “If I could bring my mother back to life I’m not interested in revenge, I’m willing to give my life for it.”
“… I see.” Bai Zemin nodded before apologizing, “Sorry for the weird question on this moment.”
Liam shook his head and said in a cold voice, “Don’t worry. Since it’s impossible to bring my mother back I’ll have to settle for seeing the Demon Lord’s head rolling on the ground next to his generals’.”
“I’m counting on you to make that happen,” Bai Zemin nodded again with a faint smile on his face and remarked, “Your strength will definitely be needed in this battle.”
Seizing the opportunity, Gu Lim stepped forward and asked what everyone was eager to ask.
“Big brother, do you have the confidence to defeat the Demon Lord?”
Everyone’s eyes focused on Bai Zemin, they were all anxiously awaiting his next words.
To say that the future of mankind was dependent on this was not exaggerated at all. With the death of the kings of kingdom, the human race was on the verge of annihilation because even if the demons did nothing it was questionable whether the other races would not take advantage of the situation to steal all the treasures the humans had accumulated over the years.
Having been one of the most powerful races in the world if not the most powerful, humans were from a certain point of view the rulers of Eventide World and thus possessed more overall wealth when compared to other races. It was safe to assume that there were scavenger crows watching from the treetops, waiting for the moment to attack directly in the eyes.
“Defeat the Demon Lord?” Bai Zemin shook his head.
His gesture caused everyone’s expressions to change noticeably, and Bai Zemin couldn’t help but chuckle as he realized that his head shake seemed to be misunderstood.
“I will not fight the Demon Lord to defeat him… I will kill him.” He declared.
His voice echoed within the silent room, and despite the terrifying content of his statement somehow it felt as if Bai Zemin was not at all worried about his victory.
“It’s good to be confident, but be very careful.” King Edward, Princess Bianca’s father, warned.
“The demons killed practically every human who entered the dungeon.” Queen Eloise added with an ashen expression on her mature face. “Even the other races are protecting themselves more than usual against them.”
Bai Zemin’s eyes flashed with scorn but no one noticed it. He looked at the kings of kingdom present and said with a faint smile, “Isn’t that good? Fewer kings of kingdom means that when we leave here we will have more treasures to divide among us and the power of everyone present will grow exponentially.”
When he said those words, it didn’t take long to notice that, just as he expected, everyone looked at each other with slightly shining eyes. It didn’t take a genius to understand what they were thinking.
“Humans really are interesting,” Lilith said as she watched the reactions of those present. “Human greed is so great that even when they are facing the possibility of being wiped out completely they don’t stop their thoughts of taking the belongings that once were someone else’s.”
Bai Zemin simply scoffed in his heart. Thanks to his time as a ruler back in China, he knew that in these kinds of cases the best course to follow was to say what others wanted to hear.
Perhaps Bai Zemin himself didn’t notice it, but taking a “break” from his position as leader had made him able to observe people better and since he had arrived at Eventide World he had learned many things that had surely made him grow as a person, as a man, and as a leader.
“Zemin guy, keep in your head that the Ar’gos you will face this time will be completely different from the one you faced a week ago.” Zilug’s powerful voice boomed inside the great hall. “He held back before because he needed to be at full power for the main treasure of this dungeon, but in the battle to come he will let loose completely and I fear he might even have been planning something with the corpses of the humans his generals killed.”
Bai Zemi nodded with a serious expression on his face. He was clear that this time the combat would be to the death and not a “little spar” to test each other’s strength.
However, despite the fact that he was taking this seriously, Bai Zemin was still confident that the final victor would end up being him.
The Demon Lord had held back a lot, yes. However, hadn’t Bai Zemin held back as well? Not to mention the fact that for the past four days Bai Zemin had been going through fierce training to adjust his fighting style a bit with Lilith’s help.
Rumble…
“Quake?”
“Is it the demons?”
Everyone suddenly became alert as the building began to tremble.
“No.” Bai Zemin looked out the window, his eyes focused on the large silver tower rising into the clouds and said in a cold voice, “The tower’s barrier is weakening.”
He turned around and walked towards the exit with firm steps as he said in a deep voice, “Let’s get moving, it’s time to end all this once and for all and put an end to the long war between humans and demons that has dragged on for several millennia.”
* * *
An hour later, everyone who had made it this far began to gather near the huge silver tower.
Although more than 70% had died in the course of the little more than a month that had passed, the remaining 30% still numbered over 4000.
Although most of them were separated into small groups, there were three general groups that could summarize the current structure of the soul evolver formation around the silver tower.
To the west, the Demon Lord and his generals as well as the mighty Purple Flame Wyvern fully healed and vigorous.
To the east, all soul evolvers from other races that did not have a particularly deep feud with the demon race or anyone in general.
To the north, the faction composed by approximately 550 humans.
Bai Zemin felt many eyes on his body, but he stayed unperturbed. His expression was as cold as ice and he did not even bother to return his eyes to the Demon Lord who was looking at him with a faint smile on his face.
The Demon Lord suddenly frowned slightly when after about 30 minutes, he noticed a small figure flying from the east to the north.
“Why is the princess of the pixie race approaching the humans?” He asked in a deep voice.
The pixie race might be small in numbers or size, but they were excellent mages whose destructive power was truly terrifying. In this kind of circumstance where there was a human capable of fighting him as an equal, Ar’gon didn’t want anything out of the ordinary to happen in order to keep his plans from going off course.
To make it worse, it seemed that the pixie princess and Bai Zemin were getting along quite well with smiles and all.
The demon generals next to him looked at each other and shook their heads, none of them having any idea whatsoever what was going on.
The only thing that made the Demon Lord feel slightly more at ease was that after a brief exchange of words with Bai Zemin the pixie princess returned with her people and stood there in silence.
Approximately 1 hour later, the blue light barrier covering the tower finally began to crack, and under everyone’s expectant eyes it finally shattered into millions of tiny luminous sparks that disappeared after several seconds.
“The barrier broke!”
No one had any idea who it was that shouted those words, but despite the anxiety everyone felt no one moved. Despite the greed everyone felt in their hearts for the treasure that had given birth to such a big and wonderful world as this, the message of the Soul Record that shone in everyone’s retinas took priority always.
[Staircase to Heaven is now open.]
* * * * * * *
Author’s note:: I hope you enjoyed the chapters, lots of good things to come!
Really thank you very much to all those who send gifts to the novel and support with valuable Golden Tickets. I hope we can all keep it up <3
