“My Liege! What is the matter?” Kiva suddenly noticed King Baal’s irritation was on another level. After being with him for so long, he knew for a fact that this particular expression was one that meant serious business instead of wimps.
“Someone’s invaded Paradiso and stole the first key. I assumed it was Moloch since he was the one to have designed the place.” King Baal said as he stood up. “But to that assumption, I am clearly mistaken.” He could clearly sense the presence of Moloch in this city, and the scent of him was getting stronger and stronger. “He must have sensed his lackeys to do so.”
“Do you need me to retreat and deal with the threat at Paradiso?” Kiva was hoping he could get out and survey the battlefield at his more luxurious comfort than this place.”
“No need. The guards in Paradiso should suffice. Besides, I did order Paimon to visit the place for regular inspection. He should be there, and I trust him enough to be able to deal with the threat.”
“Wonderful thinking, my Liege. To send one of your sons to protect the Dungeon Core should be his honour too!
“Kiva, stay by my side. I might need you to deal with the small flies while I deal with Moloch.”
“I…understood!” Kiva replied so reluctantly that Prince Stolas, who had overheard the whole thing could not help but snicker at the direction of Kiva.
“What are you servants waiting for?! Dress your King for battle immediately!” Kiva, now irritated by an unwarranted giggle, shouted at the imp servants who were behind the throne, kneeling and waiting for commands. “Mages! Continue blasting your attacks against the incoming cavalry!”
“There is no need to. I will handle them.” King Baal pushed the imps who were trying to don him his cape and instead he took one of the imps by its neck. “Thank you for your service.” At that point, Kiva was already slowly grinning as he saw King Baal take his crown out and sucked the life energy of the imp.
“My Liege…!” The imp struggled pathetically in King Baal’s hands as it withered into skins and bones before turning into dust. King Baal ignored his subject’s suffering as he raised his palm right in front of the sky bridge.
“Firestorm.”
A single word from the King of Demon Metropolis suddenly caused the skies to darken in a similar way as earlier when Keyrin, the Thunder Ram Demon, had used his technique. Just that this time around, it was more ominous orange than the usual black clouds.
“Oh shit.” Moloch looked at the clouds and could already sense his King’s magic at work. “Jin, this is not good. King Baal seems to be using world-class magic on the city.” The Minotaur Lord warned as he gazed over the skies.
“Do we have to use the shield protection that we have been saving up?” Jin asked as they finally reached the descending end of the sky bridge.
“Wait, I think I am wrong… It is actually aiming for us rather than the city itself.��� Moloch gulped as he did some calculations with the aid of the System and noticed the concentration of mana was indeed aimed at their position.
“So?!” Jin had no time to think as he was bashing through the demon’s frontline with his BamBoo combined spear, attacking any that placed themselves on their collision course.
“We’re slightly out of the range of what our Dungeon Core would consider our territory, so we won’t be able to use it effectively. Even so, using it for us alone is kind of a waste too. I suggest that we split the Pandawans up, while we go straight ahead to confront my King alone! That way, the odds of survival for us will be better.”
“But not so much for the Pandawans?”
“That is the fate of reusable pawns, Master. Right now, we are the King piece that the enemies want, but first, we need to survive this.” Moloch explained, pointing at the ominous sky and Jin sighed at the current situation.
“Then lets at least even the odds a little so we can increase the chances to meet your King,” Jin said to Moloch before looking backwards to the Pandawans. “There will be a massive AOE spell directed at us! We need to split up as much as possible! At the same time, cover as much ground as we can!”
“You want us to fight hundreds over demons by ourselves?!” Yue Han exclaimed loudly at the back.
“Isn’t that normal for us all? Hahahah!” Xiong Da went close enough towards Yue Han’s mount and gave that Blind Bat Cultivator a slap on the back as a confidence booster.
“Normal for you, maybe.” Yue Han replied with a pouting expression, recalling how devastating his warclub techniques and Hippo styles worked in sync to kill dozens of goblins. But the Hungry Hippo Cultivator did not pay it any heed for he was dying to put some pain into those demons’ bodies.
“Alright so split up, survive the onslaught of magic and demons and then converge to fight against the main boss! I will go ahead and deal some damage to him first!��� Jin shouted, and the rest acknowledged it.
“Qiu Yue, I need to request for fire support and give it to me whenever possible! We are rushing here at full speed!” Jin reported in the System Channel as he saw King Baal’s World Class Magic, Firestorm begin to loom over them and activate.
Tornadoes started to descend from the clouds towards the ground, and it suddenly lit up on fire, chasing after the cavalry the moment they split up. As if breaking through the front was not hard enough, there’s a fiery tornado chasing after them from the back, giving them pressure to work harder.
“Frost Echo, mind giving us a bit of assistance?” Jin asked as this was his way of evening the odds.
“Aye, I get your predicament, but I still need some time to counter this wide AOE magic spell. Shiva isn’t as cooperative as I want her to be for some reason.” Frost Echo apologised, and Flame Ripper concurred.
“Same thing here. I thought Ifrit would be equally excited to fight in this battle. He barely granted me a boost to kill those Lion Mantises.”
“Maybe they still need to recuperate their powers after fighting out in the open against Queen Mab and Maeve?” Frost Echo theorised as the Orc King appeared at the cliff at Agriculture Sector 1 to look over the intensity of the Firestorm.
“You know them better than I do. Perhaps they just don’t want to get ordered around by us inferior beings?” Flame Ripper questioned as he decided to move towards Frost Echo to see if he might be able to assist with the subjugation of the Firestorm.
“Alright then aid the Pandawans as soon as you can. I will deal with my side.” Jin ordered as he looked at Moloch.
“Heh, you don’t need to say anything else. I know what you are thinking.” Moloch nodded as he revealed a card with a graveyard picture on it.
It was time for the second wave of Phantom Soldiers to show its might.
