Chapter 176: Loyalty in Despair

After receiving Zomatsu's advice to learn some illusion magic that would complement his swordsmanship and fighting style. Albert considered doing just that but had failed to find any suitable mid-tier spells that could help him in a fight and had thought learning low-level illusion spells would be a waste of his limited spell count and would end up being useless to him. He had then decided to focus on improving his secret techniques as well as his stamina instead.

However, his mindset had changed when he suddenly remembered one of his first Secret Technique, the Mirage steps. It was a technique that allowed him to create an afterimage of himself and imbued his presence and aura into that image, temporarily giving it back to his own will for a few seconds while his real body is hidden by a mirage so it could launch a surprise and critical attack.

Of course, the mirage was comparable to a low-grade skill effect and was easy to spot once one knew what they were looking for. Thus, this technique wasn't effective on opponents of high standards and due to that, he had almost forgotten about it. However, he was inspired by what lord Ty had done in the practice fight against Rain in the practice hall where he had used a low Tier illusion spell and succeeded in fooling all of them just by distorting the space around them a little.

While he could not use spatial distortion, he should be able to achieve the same results with a simple Tier 2 illusion spell. The mirage effect of his technique was the only weakness and made the technique almost useless to him at this point. However, if he could reinforce the mirage with an illusion even if that was only a low-level illusion spell, he would be able to fool almost anyone as the technique already erased his presence and created a distraction with his after image.

Up to this point, he had not yet tested his theory on an opponent so he was a little hesitant in using the technique in such a high-speed battle. However, he knew quite well that he would have to take the risk if he wanted to end this fight as quickly as possible before the others generals of Greed would decide to join in, or even worse, if Mammon moved himself.

Still, the technique carried a lot more risk than just failing to fool his opponent because if his first strike after using the technique was blocked or deflected, he would be leaving himself wide open for a counter.

He also couldn't use the technique on an opponent twice and needed to time it right which was not an easy task. Lucky for him, he was able to use the technique the moment his first attack on Nessi had failed.

He then had to move quickly into her blindsport as well as find a way to one-shot an opponent of her level. That brings us to his next technique, the Nine Abyssal plunge. Basically, a piercing attack that gathers abyssal every around his weapon and strikes at nine vitals of his opponent in a single strike while bypassing all their defenses.

Such a technique could not be blocked, only dodged and Albert had made sure she wouldn't be able to do that. He pulled out his sword from the dead demoness and her body dropped limply to the ground.

Their battle had only lasted a few minutes and the only ones paying attention to him were the four generals of Greed and Mammon himself. A look of shock was plastered across all their faces as they surely hadn't expected Albert to win so easily.

Albert needed to take advantage of this momentum and take down another general as the 51 goons that attacked his group was steadily being taken care of by his men under Zomatsu's lead. He had understood Albert's intentions and didn't try to overwhelm the lesser opponent, trying his best to delay their fight and put up a show for Mammon until Albert was done.

However —

While everything had gone to plan, the worst was yet to come as the atmosphere around the castle suddenly changed. The air got thicker and stifling as the battlefield immediately grounded to a halt. None of the less than 40 goons could move and even most of Albert's men had frozen in fear.

Albert hesitated as an absurdly powerful aura the like of which he had only felt ones exploded from the Behemoth of Greed, Mammon. A pressure that only those that were no longer in the mortal plane could withstand engulfed the area. He found himself unable to even move a muscle as Mammon took a step forward.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to destroy part of my new castle after making it this far. And yet, for a mere mortal to dare stand against me. For trash like you to get in the way of my birthright, YOU'RE ALL DEAD!"

Countless orbs of light suddenly appeared around him as his four generals quickly took steps back. The orbs suddenly expanded and shot out like cannons in all directions with great speed.

•Thousand Shooting Stars•

The orbs fired indiscriminately and would kill everything in front of Mammon, including the remaining goons. Albert panicked but was still paralyzed by Mammon's aura that transcended the mortal plane. 'Damn it, I have to, no, I need to do something. I can't just let it end here.'

He was desperately trying to resist the aura even though he knew that there wasn't much he could do to stop such a wide-ranged attack. However, someone else had stepped up to the fray as Zomatsu bit his lips and took a risk he had never done before. He wasn't the type to act rashly but for some reason, his legs had moved before he could even think of stopping it. 

His gauntlet was a Celestial Grade Magic Artifact and had an effect that protected him against negative status effect even from opponents far stronger than him. He quickly activated a skill:

•Ten Fold Crystal Dome•

The range of the skill wasn't large and at most, it had only protected half of his forces but this was all he could do with his limited strength. A few of the ogres and beastmen that hadn't been protected by the barrier ran behind the Frost Giants as their last hope and the Behirs Lightning Zone protected some more. However, about a third of their force was left unprecedented as the giant orbs of light slammed into the ground and exploded in a limited but powerful burst of energy that turned anything caught within it to dust.

Albert was also out of range from Zomatsu and the Behirs but had successfully activated his defensive multilayer barrier skill. It was only a two-layer barrier but had managed to keep him alive even though he had taken some damage.

Panicked by Mammon's attack, the rangers on the towers hastily fired their arrows and spells at him. However, their attacks hadn't even reached him as they all stopped a few inches around him— arrows and spells alike — and immediately shot back at them with twice their original power.

That was the effect of Mammon's skill, •Reverser• as rangers attacks from opponents that were far weaker than him would be sent back at them with twice the Atta my original strength.

Those that were fast enough to react managed to duck and avoid the attacks while the others died instantly by their own attacks. Mammon saw the crystals dome that had managed to stop his attack and furrowed his brows. Reddish black flames suddenly appeared in his hand as it shot out at the dome-like a bullet.

Upon impact, the flame exploded in a massive dome that encompassed the barrier as it burned with an insanely high temperature, burning at around 5,000° C. The high temperature burned all the oxygen around and killed off most of the ogress and beastmen that managed to survive along with the 13 Lesser Frost Giants, although the Behirs had managed to survive.

As the flames disappeared, Mammon frowned. The dome had shattered but several layers of them had been made underneath it to keep them safe. He was just about to use several more skills when the two Behirs by the side had opened their maws wide and a massive beam of lightning had shot out of them at him.

•Lightning Breath•

Mammon narrowed his eyes in annoyance as he was about to counter when someone from behind him suddenly yelled and dashed past him as he activated a skill.

"You insolent worms! Learn your place!"

Badgil, one of the male demons amongst the four yelled in rage as he dashed past Mammon and spun his long heavy magic spear-like weapon around before swinging it several times and activating a skill alongside a secret Technique.

Forceful strike •Wirlwind Blades•

Large spiraling blades of winds shot forcefully at the two incoming lightning beams and the attacks canceled each other out but Badgil did not stop there as he used the attack again and both Behirs were sent flying as they took a large amount of damage but they were still able to survive.

"Lord Mammon, please allow me to handle this, I'll erase the mistakes of that failure."

Mammon stared at the eager demon for a while before giving an answer to his request.

"There's no point in wasting any more time, the barrier won't stay open for long so let's wrap this up. Now then my generals of Greed, you're free to kill them all."

While he had wanted to do it himself, he knew he tended to get carried away wherever something or someone irked him so he decided to take a step back this time as there was no need in playing with pawns. The only one that he had any interest in was the behemoth that had managed to kill Nessi who was now a complete waste of his time and resources.

From their fight, he could tell he was a level below her and had already lost interest in him however, he had somehow been able to kill Nessi without her putting up much resistance.

For her to die so easily didn't warrant him even trying to revive or resurrect. His only goal here was to take control of the castle before the undead army gets here and with those forces, and the ones he had back in his region, he would be able to defend the castle while he slowly gains control of the Darknar region and with the power, the former demon king must've hidden in the castle, he would be able to achieve his goals.

For now, he was only asked to bring that demon back dead or alive so it didn't matter if he was the one to kill him. Besides, he needed to maintain his mana to fully break the barrier with the God Tier skill he had acquired.

Upon hearing his orders, all four of his generals sprang into action as Badgil charged at the wounded Albert in the distance as he was very eager for a good fight. 

Muzak charged in at the ones still hiding in a crystal barrier but Zomatsu sent the two Behirs who he had used some healing scrolls on to intercept him. They sent lightning breaths at him but he easily defected them with both great swords on his arms. However, the Behirs scales were tough and had to break and he could not easily get past their Lightning Zone to face the crystal dome.

Serene didn't move from her location but she whispered a curse at the remaining rangers that were about to fire attacks at her and Mammon. "Curse of Death." Most of them didn't have any curse resistance so the moment she snapped her fingers and a wave of death aura gusted out of them, almost all the rangers in the towers died, including Gail.

Ovil walked slowly forward and with a wave of his wand, he cast a spell. "Starlight Bolts."

Immediately, several bolts of light suddenly shot down from the sky at the crystal dome. Their force was like a nuke that completely decimated the crystal dome and if Zomatsu didn't react quickly enough to use the Mass short distance teleportation scroll Albert had given to him, they would all be dead by now.

The battlefield had been driven to chaos the moment all four remaining generals had made a movie showing the Great disparity between the air forces. Their hope of winning was null to begin with, and now that they could no longer stall for time to hope for help, their lives would surely end within the next few minutes.

Albert could only stare at the incoming General with regret and disappointment. If he had only been stronger. Why does this always have to happen to him. Why does he have to lose his love ones over and over again.

So many emotions that had been bottled up inside of him suddenly burst forth as he could barely bring himself to even resist hus gate. Should he not give up. Would that not be better for Lord Ty and Erin not to have someone as weak as him around. At the very least, he could still find a semblance of confort in knowing Erin was and the girls was safe.

She had a Mass teleportation scroll as well and once she sensed his demise, she should be able to escape with the rest of the settlement and await Lord Ty's return.

However—

In that moment of despair, as he desperately tried to cling to a sliver of hope. Gate proved to be more than just as cruel mistress as something that nearly drove him mad happened next.

His connection, the connection he had with Erin from the link to their souls had suddenly been cut off. This could only mean one thing. 

How was this possible, did she not listen to him and remain in the castle. Anger and hate boiled up within him as intense aura gusted out of him, startling Muzak— who was already before him. With a sudden burst of speed, he avoided Muzak attack and swung his sword with a explosive power that send Muzak who had barely managed to block his attack flying back several meters and slamming into the ground.

Albert's mind was on the brink of breaking and he was keenly aware that there was a high chance he could lose control and go berserk trying to head back into the castle even though that might be a sign of insubordination to lord Ty, but he knew he would not be able to help it.

However, as a sign of loyalty and a show of gratitude to the master that had saved him and her lives ones before, he used everything he had to suppress his rage and would try one last time to contact his master and report the situation before the rage would Eventually swallow him.

It connected.

An unexpected outcome as he was finally able to connect to him.

"Lord Ty, I'm glad I was finally able to connect with you."

'Yes, I'm aware of the army—' The voice of his master reverberated in his mind and a renew sense of confidence filled his mind. However, while it was rude, Albert had no choice but to cut his master off and get to the point.

"I regret to inform you that I have failed you, my lord."

'Huh?' 

"The barrier has been breached, and we're currently being attacked from the rear."

'Wait what!'