Chapter 384: Breaking the Seal

BOOM——!!!

The earth roared violently, a massive earthquake sweeping across the land.

At the heart of the city, Firuvin Pohl Karl’s eyes snapped open.

HUM——!!!

A blinding radiance descended from the heavens.

The people of Bongisto looked up instinctively, their eyes widening in horror and awe.

There, hovering high above the sky, hung a gigantic magic array.

It was so colossal that its edges stretched beyond the horizon—completely invisible to the naked eye.

“So this is the Great Magic Array the Guild Master has been preparing......”

The Rank A Adventurers atop the city walls stood transfixed, their faces pale with shock.

This single move alone was enough to lay bare the gulf between Rank S and Rank A.

It was as if the two ranks belonged to entirely different worlds......

The colossal magic array descended slowly,

eventually vanishing beneath the ground at their feet.

BOOM!

The violent tremors shaking the earth subsided instantly, their intensity fading to a faint murmur.

On the city walls, the assembled Rank A Adventurers turned their gaze toward the city center, where a single figure was completely shrouded within a 3D Magic Array.

At the core of the array, Firuvin Pohl Karl—the one sustaining the Great Magic Array’s operation—seemed to sense their stares.

He lifted his head, his gaze locking onto the direction of the city walls.

“The rest is up to you......”

......

BOOM!

As the dungeon’s convulsions grew more and more violent,

the seal deep within its innermost depths began to crack at a visible speed.

CRASH——!

In one cataclysmic instant, the entire sealing wall shattered into dust.

A fearsome being, once trapped behind the seal, was finally free from its shackles.

A terrifying surge of demonic mana erupted outward.

Even before it stepped foot out of the dungeon, its overwhelming aura warped the very fabric of the sky.

Thick black clouds gathered unnaturally above the dungeon, thunder rolling furiously within their depths. Dark mist began to creep across the earth, and vegetation withered away on a massive scale.

BOOM!

A colossal jet-black beam of light shot straight into the sky.

“HAHAHAHA! I AM FINALLY FREE——!”

Beneath the might of its power, the entire dungeon crumbled into fragments.

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A colossal figure, towering like a small mountain, emerged onto the wilderness.

Deep obsidian skin, pitch-black wings, jagged fangs, curved horns, three blood-red pupils, and claws sharp enough to rend everything apart.

“......This feeling of absolute power.”

Karimal stared at his hands, clenching them into fists in delight.

BOOM!

A bolt of lightning struck down from the heavens.

Karimal let the lightning course over his body, then waved his hands casually upward.

RIP!

Giant claw marks tore through the clouds in the sky in an instant.

“HAHAHAHA! THIS IS THE POWER THAT BELONGS TO ME!”

After his laughter died down, his gaze turned toward the distant city standing alone in the wilderness.

“It is time to remind the inhabitants of this world of the terror of the Demon Race.”

“Karimal.”

At that moment,

a wisp of black mist materialized beside him.

“Oh, so it’s you,”

Karimal said flatly, his tone dripping with disdain.

Sethis failed to detect the hidden meaning in Karimal’s words,

continuing to speak to him in a commanding tone.

“Now that you have broken free, we shall leave at once as planned. Our priority is to free the other sealed beings.”

“No.”

Karimal replied coldly.

Sethis froze, his voice sharpening with disbelief.

“What did you say?”

“I said——”

Karimal looked down at Sethis, his eyes glinting with malice,

“I refuse.”

“What? You refuse! I order you to obey me!”

“HEH~!”

Karimal let out a cold sneer, his right hand clamping down to seize Sethis in his grasp.

He stared at the struggling figure in his hand, baring his fangs in a cruel grin.

“Watch your tone!”

“!?”

Sethis flew into a rage.

He never thought the demon he had once commanded would dare to throw his own words back at him.

But what Karimal said next sent him into a frenzy of fury.

“Do you think you are still the mighty Demon General Sethis of old? Look at yourself now—a weak, fragmented remnant of your former self~. We demons only submit to those stronger than us. What right do you have to command me, with nothing but a title and no power to back it up?”

“You——!”

“Karimal!!!”

Sethis was left speechless, his mind reeling. He had never imagined that without his main body—the source of his overwhelming power—he would be unable to suppress even a lower-ranked demon.

“......What exactly do you intend to do?”

“What do I intend to do~? HAHAHAHA!”

Karimal laughed maniacally once more, his laughter echoing across the desolate wilderness.

“Why, slaughter every last soul in that city, of course! Did you really think I would meekly follow you in your boring little plan? I only submitted to you temporarily because you could free me from that accursed seal.”

Sethis stared at Karimal in horror, screaming at the top of his lungs.

“You’ve gone mad, Karimal!”

“Heh. Just stand there and watch. Watch as I reduce that city to ashes and announce the return of the Demon Race to this world!”

“Stop this madness! You are at your weakest right now—you stand no chance against the Adventure King!”

“Hmph! The Adventure King? Never heard of him. Just some upstart kid, nothing more. Besides—can he even move right now? HAHAHAHA!”

“You——”

“Enough! Your incessant chatter is grating on my nerves. Did I give you permission to speak?”

Karimal tightened his grip mercilessly.

“ARGH!”

Sethis was instantly gravely injured, his body convulsing in pain.

But Karimal did not kill him.

“Consider yourself lucky. I’ll spare your worthless life—for now. You might still be useful to me in the future.”

With that, he hurled Sethis violently into the distance with a single flick of his wrist.

Sethis’s figure vanished into the horizon, gone without a trace.

“Heh. Finally rid of that annoying pest. Now—on to that city.”

Karimal’s gaze locked onto Bongisto once more, a predatory glint in his three crimson eyes.

THUD!

He took a single, earth-shaking step forward, marching steadily toward the city.

......

BOOM! BOOM......

The deafening sound of dungeons collapsing echoed across the wilderness, one after another.

Countless demonic beasts surged forth from the earth like a tidal wave.

After a brief moment of chaos, their primal instinct to kill drove them toward the nearest concentration of life.

The earth trembled beneath their feet. The demonic hordes emerging from all directions converged into a single, colossal black tide. From high above, they looked like a flood of darkness, surging toward Bongisto at breakneck speed......

“They’re coming from all four directions,”

Dimik said in a grave tone, his eyes fixed on the approaching black waves in the distance.

“We have no choice but to split our forces.”

He turned to the others, his gaze sweeping over each of the Rank A Adventurers gathered there.

“How shall we divide our defenses?”

A heavy silence fell over the group for several seconds.

Then, Monroe—who had been sitting on the battlements drinking from a cheap wine bottle this entire time—hopped down to the ground.

He set the wine bottle down against the wall, dusting off his hands.

“I’ll take the eastern wall.”

“Alone, Lord Monroe?”

Dimik looked surprised, his eyebrows shooting upward.

“Of course~!”

Monroe waved a hand dismissively over his shoulder, walking slowly toward the eastern wall without a backward glance.

“Don’t waste your time worrying about me. Focus on holding the other three directions if you can.”