Chapter 391: It’s You Again, You Puny Human!

Snook shouted in alarm, darting forward to save him.

But before he could fly even a short distance——

“Oh~. Are you trying to run away too?”

The same voice that had spoken to Dimik echoed in his ears.

THUD——!

In the next heartbeat, a colossal palm slammed into him, sending him flying like a cannonball.

He crashed straight into the towering city wall of Bongisto with a bone-shaking impact.

“Gasp! Cough... cough......”

Snook spat out a mouthful of blood, every bone in his body screaming in agony as if they had all been shattered. He couldn’t move a single inch—but even so, he forced his blurry eyes to look up.

THUD!

A massive, pitch-black figure landed before him, casting a long shadow over his broken body.

“Pathetically weak~!”

Karimal sneered, his three crimson eyes glinting with disdain.

“Do you really think you can stand against the great Demon Race with such meager strength?”

“Cough... cough......”

Snook choked on blood, trying to speak—but no sound came out of his throat.

“How boring.”

Seeing that his opponent could no longer resist, Karimal said with a bored expression,

“I’ll kill you and that worm over there first. Then I’ll go into the city and paint the streets red with blood.”

As he spoke, he raised his right hand.

A black orb of condensed magic began to glow in his palm.

HUM——!!!

Nine overlapping magic arrays unfolded simultaneously high above the sky.

“What!?!”

Karimal’s head snapped upward in shock.

BOOM!

A blinding beam of light streaked toward him, descending like a bolt of divine judgment.

Without a second thought, Karimal raised his right hand and hurled the black orb straight at the incoming beam.

The orb and the beam collided mid-air, locking into a stalemate. But moments later, the black orb—lacking any follow-up power—shattered under the beam’s overwhelming force.

BOOM——!!!

A cataclysmic shockwave erupted from the explosion, sweeping outward in all directions. Even the colossal City Barrier that shielded the entire city of Bongisto trembled violently from the impact.

Inside the city, the defenders were thrown into a panic.

“Hurry! Activate the Phase Two Defense Protocol!”

A sharp command rang out from within the Adventurer’s Guild headquarters.

RUMBLE......

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Bongisto—the greatest fortress in the world—sprang into action.

From atop the city walls, one could see buildings shifting like clockwork.

Countless civilian structures sank into the ground, replaced by towering war fortifications that rose up from the earth, forming new lines of defense throughout the city.

In particular, a series of special Mana Towers emerged, standing tall at strategic locations across the city in a precise formation.

Meanwhile, outside the city walls.

The adventurers had no idea that a single clash between Hulim and the Rank S Demon Lord Karimal had put Bongisto on the brink of collapse.

“I remember this aura......”

Karimal stood far away, his voice cold and flat.

When the black orb and the beam had locked into their stalemate, he had already fled the area in time to avoid the explosion.

His icy gaze fixed on the figure standing before him, his three eyes burning with rage.

“It’s you, you damned human——”

“Do you remember what I said to you deep inside the dungeon!”

Hulim Heyerar glanced at Karimal, ignoring his roar entirely. She turned her attention to the gravely injured Snook, her voice calm and steady.

“Mr. Snook, are you all right?”

“Cough... cough... I’ll live... for now.”

“——YOU DAMNED HUMAN, HOW DARE YOU IGNORE ME, THE GREAT KARIMAL!!!”

The black veins on Karimal’s forehead bulged with fury, his voice shaking the very air.

Hulim turned back to face the Demon Lord, her tone soft but resolute.

“Miss Uno, please take care of Mr. Dimik and Mr. Snook for now. The three of us will hold him off.”

“Got it~!”

Uno replied cheerfully, skipping over to Snook’s side.

Liz Val and Yuris stood behind Hulim, their expressions hardening with resolve.

“A Rank S Demon Lord... This is my first time facing an opponent of this caliber. I wonder if my axe can even scratch him.”

Liz Val rested her massive battle axe in front of her, running a hand over its blade with a determined glint in her eyes.

On the other side, Yuris said nothing. He simply summoned his four Flywheel Grimoires silently.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH......

The grimoires spun rapidly in the air, humming with a terrifying aura.

“......You think you weaklings can stand against me?”

Karimal sneered, his face darkening with rage.

“Dare you challenge the great Karimal?”

BOOM——!

In the blink of an eye, his massive body lunged forward like a cannonball, his right hand slashing downward at Liz Val like a blade.

“DIE!”

HUM!

A series of magic shields flared to life in front of Liz Val in an instant.

But in the next moment——

CRASH!

All the shields shattered like glass under Karimal’s palm strike. The terrifying blade of wind and magic continued its descent toward her.

Hulim’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Anti-Magic effect!

As expected, a Rank S Demon Lord was far from easy to deal with.

Even so, while the shields hadn’t been able to block Karimal’s attack, they had slowed it down significantly.

Liz Val raised her axe just in time, swinging it upward to meet his palm strike.

CLANG——!

The next instant, Liz Val’s small frame was sent flying backward by the colossal force of the impact.

Just as she was about to crash into the city wall, a Wind Barrier appeared out of nowhere, catching her and cushioning her fall, saving her from further injury.

“Ninefold Magic Array—Final Purification Ray!”

HUM——!!!

Nine overlapping magic arrays unfolded above Karimal’s head in the blink of an eye.

Karimal, who had just sent Liz Val flying, had no time to dodge. He looked up directly, opening his massive maw wide.

“ROAR——!”

A pitch-black beam of light erupted from his throat, shooting upward to meet the incoming Final Purification Ray.

BOOM!

The black and white beams collided violently mid-air, sending shockwave after shockwave rippling outward.

The City Barrier trembled violently once again.

“Hurry! Increase the Mana output to the Barrier!”

Under the urgent commands of the Guild headquarters, the Mana Towers across the city fired beams of light, connecting to the city-wide City Barrier.

With the influx of Mana, the City Barrier blazed with a brilliant light, becoming far more sturdy than before. The tremors from the clash between the human and the demon began to subside significantly.

Seeing this, the commanders inside the Guild headquarters let out a collective sigh of relief.

The City Barrier had held—for now......

Outside the city walls.

SWISH!

The four Flywheel Grimoires streaked toward Karimal, who was still locked in his stalemate with Hulim.

They spun rapidly around his massive body, forming a giant Circular Wind Blade in the blink of an eye. The blade contracted inward, slicing toward Karimal’s body with terrifying speed.

CRUNCH! CRUNCH......

The Circular Wind Blade grated against Karimal’s skin, but it was like cutting through the hardest steel in the world. It failed to break through his defenses even after several long seconds.

“HYAH——!”

Liz Val’s figure suddenly streaked toward Karimal at high speed. It turned out that the Wind Barrier had not only caught her—it had acted like a slingshot, launching her straight back at him.

Her massive battle axe glowed with a blinding light, slamming heavily into Karimal’s body and driving downward, trying to pierce his defenses.

CRACK!

Karimal’s magic shield began to crack under the impact.

His eyes narrowed, then his three pupils widened suddenly in shock.

“ROAR——!!!”

With a deafening roar,

the black beam erupting from his mouth surged in power, shattering Hulim’s Final Purification Ray in an instant. At the same time, a black shockwave exploded outward from his body in all directions.