Second World
chapter-1855

"F*ck!" Tips heard Linda curse.

"What is it?" Tip asked her. They were winning. He didn't understand the reason for Linda's curse.

"Check your platform's map. They should enter your view by now," Linda said.

Tip saw it then. Numerous red triangles appeared at the edge of his guild platform's projection map. These red triangles were heading toward them.

"More… More enemies…?" Tip asked with a trembling voice.

"I will be surprised if these were all we have to deal with," Linda chuckled in a sarcastic tone. "The ones we are fightning are just the underworld's vanguard army."

"Should… Should we retreat?" Tip asked.

Linda considered the question for a bit before answering, "Not yet. Most of the defensive walls are still intact. We still have many siege weapons. It is a waste to throw them away. We need to delay the enemies longer, to buy more time for the people building the next layers of defenses."

"I feel like we are only slowing the inevitable…," Tip said weakly.

"… Probably John and the others can create a miracle when they return," Linda said. She didn't sound hopeful, though.

*

The defenders fighting the demons were not aware yet of the second demon army heading their way. The only ones who knew were Linda and those who controlled the guild platforms inside the mobile fortress. They didn't tell the soldiers because they didn't want to lower the soldiers' morale. These soldiers were still in high spirits. If their morale fell, the speed of their defeating the vanguard demon army would also fall. They would then be in a worse situation when the second demon army arrived.

However, it didn't take long for the defenders to notice the demon reinforcement.

The second demon army was marching with a relaxed pace. They were not in a hurry. Even so, several of the demons in the army were hard to miss. This was because of their sizes.

Satan didn't need mentioning. He was the largest within the incoming demon army. Aside from him, there were some others with sizes close to a true dragon. Most of them were humanoid demons with dark shells covering their bodies. They had octopus tentacles for beards. Their hands and feet also had tentacles instead of fingers. These monstrosities were called Hell Demolishers. They were all mythical grades except for one who was eternal grade. They were all above level 80. The eternal grade was level 93.

Among the hordes were also many daemons, whose frames were twice or thrice the size of a regular demon.

Many among the high demons also wore lavish robes and flew with two pairs of bat wings. These were the archdemons.

The defenders' fighting pace immediately slowed once the second demon army came into view. They were so eager to defeat the vanguard demon army. They thought that was it. Once they defeated these demons, they could utter triumphant cries and return to their country with pride and glory for having saved the world. This fervor was squashed by the sight of the second demon army.

Linda had rearranged the army's defensive formation back to its original formation on the walls. She had been reining the soldiers so they didn't go out of formation. Their morale had been so high because they were winning that some wanted to push the demons past the defensive walls out of zeal. Now, they were glad they didn't go too far.

The vanguard demons were glad to see their reinforcement. They screamed in ecstasy because they knew it was time to avenge the shame they had just suffered.

Their delight was short-lived because the Hell Demolishers advanced first. Their giant legs afforded them a large distance with a single step. They arrived at the vanguard demon army in a short time. They didn't care about the demons below them. They stepped on these demons as if they were ants. Those whose HP were already low died from the stomping. These demons immediately scattered.

When the first of the Hell Demolisher was about to reach the walls, Eoranth swooped down from above. With a tail slap, he sent the Hell Demolisher flying back. The huge demon fell on its back on top of the demons who were too slow to run, crushing them.

"Hehe. A true dragon, eh?" Satan remarked after seeing Eoranth.

The eternal-grade Hell Demolisher advanced after seeing one of its kind sent to the ground by Eoranth. It swung its arms forward. The tentacles in its hand extended and enlarged.

Eoranth swooped to the side and dodged the incoming tentacles. He caught one of the tentacles in his hand while dodging. He then pulled and forced the Hell Demolisher to stumble forward.

The tentacles in the Hell Demolisher's other hand extended and pressed on the ground for balance. It stopped itself from falling, but it was still open for a follow-up attack from Eoranth, which came in the form of divine soul breath.

The Hell Demolisher uttered a strange cry as the soul beam burned its body. It was evident it was in great pain, but it refused to retreat. It resisted the beam's knockback force. The tentacle beards enlarged. They lashed out at Eoranth.

The dragon didn't expect the Hell Demolisher to still be able to attack even while suffering his breath attack. The tentacles wrapped around Eoranth. One tentacle even coiled around Eoranth's mouth and forced his mouth to shut, effectively ending his breath attack. The tentacles then pulled Eoranth toward the Hell Demolisher.

Eoranth didn't fight the pulling force. He lunged forward instead. The Hell Demolisher was caught unaware of this. Eoranth's large frame slammed into its body, causing it to stumble.

Eoranth didn't let the Hell Demolisher go. He grabbed the tentacle beard at its roots and pulled the Hell Demolisher back to him. At the same time, a gigantic runic symbol appeared on the ground underneath him. It then shone a bright light and created a light pillar that shot up to heaven.

The AOE of Eoranths' Souls of Heaven and Earth was rather large. The demons, who thought they could get a jump at Eoranth because the Hell Demolisher pulled the dragon into their midst, greatly regretted their attempts. They were caught up inside the light pillar and received tremendous soul damage.

When the light was gone, they saw Eoranth one-sidedly give the Hell Demolisher savage beatings. Some of its tentacles were even ripped by Eoranth out of sheer force. It tried to fight back by swinging its thick arms, but Eoranth easily swatted those arms away. Its strength was not comparable to Eoranth.

The defenders were riled up by Eoranth's display. Their dropped morale was lifted again. Their attacks increased in pace. The mythical-grade defenders, such as Emris and Everlasting Heavenly Legends' guild guardians, went and engaged the other Hell Demolishers who tried to destroy more parts of the walls.

Their heated battle suddenly stopped when a strange laughter was heard.

"Harharhar…!"

The laughter had strong mana manipulation. Even when they didn't want to, they couldn't help but stop moving for a beat. Even the demons were affected. This caused them all to turn to the one who laughed.

That person was Satan.

"Harharhar, and here I thought everybody in the upperworld was a small fry. Everyone, move aside!"

The demons immediately scattered to the side upon hearing the order. The area between Satan and Eoranth was suddenly cleared. The demons on the other side also stopped their assault and retreated. Everyone stopped fighting.

Eoranth was not moving, but he still had the Hell Demolisher's tentacle in one of his hands. He refused to let go. The Hell Demolisher was quiet. It didn't dare to act without Satan's approval.

Satan walked forward. He came until he was face to face with Eoranth. The two titans stood upright while glaring at one another.

Satan's hand darted forward and grabbed the Hell Demolisher's head. With a violent yank, he pulled the Hell Demolisher back. The tentacle that was still held by Eoranth was ripped apart. The Hell Demolisher was sent flying back and fell with a loud crash onto the ground.

It rose with its head bowing to Satan. It had lost one-third of its life from that short exchange with Eoranth. In its mind, Satan had saved it even when it was done violently.

It misunderstood Satan's intention. Satan didn't care about its well-being. It was simply in the way between him and Eoranth.

"Are you the strongest combatant here?" Satan asked.

"… I am," Eoranth answered.

"Are you the strongest combatant in this upperworld?" Satan asked again.

Eoranth didn't answer this time.

"Harhar. Never mind. I will just whoop your ass in front of everyone here who worships you."

Satan had seen the glints in the defenders' eyes. He could see how their spirit was lifted by Eoranth's actions. He didn't like it. What he liked was to squash their hopes and see the hopeful glints in their eyes turned into despair.

Eoranth didn't let Satan take the first strike. He didn't dare to be careless. He activated Soul Armor, Soul Wrath, and Soul-infused Fist all at the same time. His claw then swung at a high speed towards Satan's head.

The claw that was burning with silver fire stopped a few meters from Satan's face. It stopped because Eoranth's wrist had been caught by Satan's hand. Eoranth used all his strength to push forward, but his arm refused to budge. He couldn't believe this. Never before had he encountered an enemy where he lost in the contest of strength. He could feel from Satan's grip that Satan was stronger. This was even after he used his buff skill, Soul Wrath.

Eoranth's other claw swung in from the other side, but this too was stopped. His two wrists were now in Satan's hands. He was unable to move away.

"Harhar, is this all the strength you can muster? If so, then–"

Satan didn't get to complete his sentence because Eoranth's close-up head suddenly lunged forward. Eoranth's jaws bit into Satan's neck. After landing the bite, his mouth shone. His divine soul breath was fired at point-blank range.

Satan received damage from the two consecutive attacks, but that was not the painful part. The pain came from the shame of getting interrupted while he was talking. This was a humiliation in front of his subordinates.

"You, bastard…!!!"

An explosive shockwave exploded from Satan's body. The shockwave was strong enough that it jerked Eoranth's head away. His head didn't move far because Satan's hands caught it and pulled it back. His head was then headbutted by Satan.

The collision created a thundering sound. A fiery explosion also happened upon the collision. Eoranth reeled back multiple steps. His hand was on his jaws. The pain was stinging.

"Harhar. Ready for more? This is just the start," Satan warned.