The history of the Demon Lord’s Castle is very ancient.
To humans, the entire world was created by the gods, so no matter how old the Demon Lord’s Castle is, it was born after the gods.
But the Demon Race holds a different view.
They believe the Demon Lord’s Castle is far older than the so-called gods, and even their own Demon God is merely the same age as the castle.
Although both sides hold different opinions, the Demon Lord’s Castle’s antiquity is an indisputable fact.
No one knows how long this castle has stood atop Teros Cliff…
Teros Cliff dominates the northeast of the Sylvia Kingdom.
Legend has it that during the Age of Gods, a King Rank Demon Dragon named Teros fell here, hence the name “Teros Cliff.”
It is also said that beneath the cliff lies a King Rank Dungeon born from Teros’s resentment, but until now, no one has found it.
With Teros Cliff as the center, within a radius of over five hundred kilometers lies the territory of the Demon Race.
This area borders a human nation, a Beastmen nation, and a Lizardfolk nation, making it a very important strategic location.
Thus, for hundreds of years, conflicts have been frequent, with the Demon Race’s expeditions and human campaigns against the Demon King being the norm.
However, under the deterrence of the gods and the Demon God, humans and the Demon Race could never decide a winner.
Until one day, the Goddess of Life suddenly emerged on the human side.
With the blessing of the Holy Attribute at the God Rank, humans finally gained the upper hand over the Demon Race.
And to continue suppressing the Demon Race, humans regularly dispatched Heroes to slay the new Demon King to maintain balance…
At that moment, above the cloud-covered Demon Lord’s Castle, accompanied by a thunderous flash, the Ninth-tier Elementalist Omili instantly appeared on a high platform of the castle.
The moment she landed, several unfamiliar and chaotic divine thoughts focused on her.
The entire black-and-purple castle immediately let out a low, moaning sound.
Soon, elite Demon Race soldiers took their positions, surrounding the suddenly intruding Omili!
Then they realized it was someone they knew…
“You again?!” An elite Demon with a strange appearance but exuding an Eighth-level aura called out to Omili, as if he had grown accustomed to this.
Then, a cold, charming female voice rang out in the air:
“Are you here to be a messenger again, Omili? And how many times have I told you to come through the front door! Do you really enjoy suddenly barging in, triggering the alarm, and scaring us all?!”
From a stained-glass window of the Demon Lord’s Castle, a palm-sized, oddly shaped blood-red bat flew out.
It flapped its wings rapidly, swooped in front of Omili, and in a flash, transformed into a tall, slender woman!
A dark red long dress trailed on the ground, her pupils overlapping black and red, her hair as black as ink stained with blood.
This was one of the Demon God’s three Primordial Demons—the Blood Demon, Night Bat!
Watching Night Bat raise her hand with displeasure to dismiss the Demon Race soldiers, Omili unhurriedly leaned against a stone pillar nearby:
“I’m not here to deliver a message this time. I just came to ask about something. Since it’s you who came to welcome me, perfect. Let me ask you: if you and I were to fight head-on to the death, who would win?”
“A head-on fight to the death?” Night Bat was momentarily stunned. ‘Why ask that all of a sudden? Is she trying to intimidate me? But that doesn’t seem like Omili’s style…’
Not yet knowing what Omili was up to, Night Bat decided to play along for now:
“Of course, you’d win. There’s no way I could beat you in a direct confrontation.”
She had witnessed Omili’s exquisite Space Magic.
Those unpredictable Continuous Teleportations left an Assassin like her almost helpless.
Assassination was already difficult enough, let alone a head-on fight!
As if she had anticipated this answer, Omili nodded thoughtfully and pressed further:
“Then, what if you were very familiar with my fighting style? If you could accurately predict seven or eight out of ten of my teleportation landings and see through my next move, do you think you could win?”
This time, Night Bat thought for a while, then shook her head slightly:
“In that case, I’d have a chance to win, but it would still be a low probability.”
Even if Night Bat could truly see through Omili’s fighting style and gain the upper hand in every exchange, as a Demon Assassin, her endurance in a direct fight was far inferior to Omili, an Elementalist.
Moreover, Omili was the kind of close-combat Elementalist who fought like a Warrior.
As long as there were no major mistakes, wearing down a Same Rank Assassin would be child’s play.
It was like, under the same level and same conditions, pretty much no Assassin could beat a certain blacksmith who spammed basic attacks between combos in the Cycle of Reincarnation.
……
“But if…” Omili wanted to continue asking.
But Night Bat had lost her patience:
“Stop beating around the bush. What exactly did you come here for this time?”
“Fine, fine. I’ll say it directly. I’ll say it directly.” Omili spread her hands and asked no more, since she had already gotten the answer she wanted.
Since even the primordial Blood Demon Night Bat, of the same rank, had said that in a direct fight, she basically couldn’t win against her, that meant the Blood Demon in Deya City humiliating her wasn’t because she was inferior in skill. It had to be Level Suppression!
That’s right—Level Suppression!
The difference in strength between Blood Demons wasn’t that significant, so Omili guessed that the Blood Demon in Deya City simply used its King Rank stats to bully her.
Hmph, that wasn’t an honorable victory at all!
Thinking this, Omili regained a little confidence. She continued:
“A powerful Blood Demon appeared on the Deya Plateau. That thing has caused quite a stir over there. I came this time on orders from the Goddess of Life to find out where that Blood Demon came from. Maybe it’s a relative of yours, Night Bat?”
“Another Blood Demon? Powerful?!” Night Bat was stunned. For Omili to use the word “powerful” to describe it…
…Just what kind of origin did that Blood Demon have?
“How powerful?”
“Well, how should I put it? It was so strong it was extremely arrogant. It didn’t even put the gods in its eyes, and it even tried to capture the Ninth Saintess right in front of me and the Goddess of Life. Fortunately, the Goddess and I managed to repel that Blood Demon and kept the Saintess safe.”
“I see… Wait, you said ‘repel’? Even with the Goddess of Life personally taking action, it was only ‘repelled’?!” Night Bat was shocked.
For hundreds of years, only Night Bat among the Blood Demon population had reached the Ninth Rank and become one of the two great primordial Assassin Demons, alongside the Shadow Demon.
Arguably, whenever someone argued about who was the most powerful assassin in the world, the only contenders were her and the Shadow Demon.
But even as one of the world’s strongest assassins, Night Bat had never even considered the suicidal idea of “trying to have a go at the Goddess of Life.”
After all, a single Saintlight from the latter was True Damage that countered all Demons and the Demon Race!
And right now, she couldn’t even beat the Ninth-tier Elementalist Omili, let alone a Twelfth-tier Elemental Priest…
But now, Omili was saying there was a Blood Demon that dared to disregard the Goddess of Life, and even tried to capture the Saintess right in front of her and the Saint’s Shadow Guard?!
If that was the case, that thing either had absolute confidence in its own strength, or it was plain stupid!
So how was it “repelled” by the Goddess of Life? Shouldn’t it have been struck nearly to the point of annihilation, forced to abandon over ninety percent of its body and flee in disgrace? Did it just get lucky?
Night Bat swallowed hard and asked in disbelief:
“That Blood Demon on the Deya Plateau, just how strong is it? Is it Ninth Rank?”
Omili shook her head. “No, it’s not Ninth Rank.”
‘It’s not?’ With a definite answer, Night Bat breathed a sigh of relief.
‘Good thing it’s not Ninth Rank. Otherwise, my title as the strongest Blood Demon would almost be at risk.’
But the next second, Omili suddenly added a sentence that made Night Bat’s chest tighten with fright, nearly forcing her to transform back into a bat!
“My preliminary assessment is that Blood Demon… is King Rank.”
…
And of course they won’t mention how they fought to a draw