Chapter 163: Expansion Plans

—In the south wing of the demon king's castle.

Albert held his Miao Dao with both hands as he adopted a fighting stance in one of the massive training halls in this wing. He was the only one currently in this hall as everyone else would train in a different hall.

As an Advanced Level Tier 5 Magic swordsman, the only people in this castle that could challenge him besides his master were the girls. Even Z would not be able to push him too far and he wouldn't get anything out of a sparring section with him.

Since the girls weren't interested in training with him he had no choice but to go at it alone. Z had advised him to just spend his time learning new control spells that could complement his fighting style but he could not learn many spells and he did not feel like just learning low-level spells would help him to the extent he was aiming for.

For Albert, reaching the peak of Tier 5 was the only chance he had to get any stronger as his swordsmanship was already perfect or near perfection and even improving his secret techniques would not make much of a difference. He would train here every morning to improve on his stamina and try to attain a breakthrough but such a thing would not be easy.

With his eyes closed, Albert envisioned his opponent and contemplated on the ways he would be able to attain victory against them. His master was a no-go area as he would lose before the match had even started. Although if he was feeling generous like he normally was he would entertain Albert's efforts and hold bad as long as he found the match a little entertaining.

However, even then didn't mean his odds of winning had improved from zero. He envisioned the dark elf known as Rain. Her speed was far superior to his and as an assassin type she would be hard to deal with but he was fairly confident he could force a draw 6 out of 10 times.

The demon Liz was also not a compatible opponent as she was a mage and although he felt like he could win if he got close enough to her. He was unsure of the full extent of her availabilities and there was sometimes within her that gave him the chills.

Erin was also a no-go area as that would be devastating in more ways than one. In the end, amongst all the top fifers in the castle, he was surely the weakest and most ordinary even though he was the only one that had once been a demon lord.

Even adding Z to the list didn't make him look better as the man had the highest level of intellect after his master's.

Albert frowned and opened his eyes, if he wanted to remain useful to Lord Ty, he would need to get way more stronger than he was now. He greeted his teeth but soon stopped and took a deep breath as he brought out five scrolls from his spatial storage ring. They were his personal items and since Lord Ty had shown no interest in them, he was free to use them as he saw fit.

Summoned monsters - Chained Spirits. (Tier 4)

While one would consider using five tiers 4 summoning scrolls as a waste, Albert thought it would be worth it if they could push him past his limit so he could achieve a breakthrough and reach the Peak of Tier 5.

Five large Humanoids monsters with pale white skin appeared from the magic circle that had formed on the marbled floor. The creatures were wrapped in chains attached to metal skulls that dragged on the ground. They only had physical bodies from their waist up and their legs were just smoke that originated from the skull that had appeared in the ground like some type of genie.

These were spirit beings that could not be harmed by physical attacks. They could only be killed with specific elements and magic or enchanted weapons. Albert Miao Dao was heavily enchanted but that was not why he had chosen these monsters as his challengers for the day.

The reason he did that was because these monsters mostly attack with physical attacks even those who were spiritual beings. They were very vicious and as such would attack any opponents even if they were stronger than them and would attack without care as their attacks would not affect other chained spirits.

Albert proceeded to dash forth at the summoned monster who immediately charged at him, swinging their chains around. The monsters all swung their chains at him and Albert immediately began the moves he had been practicing all mourning.

Secret Technique: Shadow Step.

In a complicated movement, A shadowy figure suddenly began to trail behind him while mirroring his movements.

He suddenly kicked off the ground and jumped above the 10-foot monsters and swung his blade down.

Secret Technique - Gravity Slash.

This was a technique he had created himself back when the lesser basilisks were attacking the settlement. He would normally use the force of gravity to power his slash as he used a bit of his mana to expand on the area of effects.

However, this time was different. He quickly silently cast the spell 'Heavy' on himself, promptly dropping back down to the ground several times faster than the norm. He swung his blade at the monsters as he landed and a large boom resounded in the hall.

A large slash of energy shattered the reinforced marble floor and three of the chained spirits had died. The other two continued their attacks and Albert easily avoided their attacks as he soon found an opportunity to counter and within the next five minutes, all five monsters were dead.

Although he was glad he made some improvements. He still felt frustrated that he could not make a breakthrough again today. He left the training hall and after Albert was done checking mg upon the others that were being trained by Jarret using the Black Knight and Lich.

Albert then returned to the north wing, he would usually begin assigning new tasks to the maids and the guards he had stationed around the castle but right now, he had another thing on his mind. He went up a level in the north wing and located Erin in one of the offices on this floor.

She was currently alone at the moment so Albert walked in after placing a single knock on the door. This has been the office she and Liz had used while translating the magic runes they could not read in their attempt to fix the defense mechanism in the castle.

It was a shame they didn't have anyone that specialize in those types of work as their labor force was very lacking. "Hey Erin, How are you faring?"

Erin raised her head from the book she was reading and looked at Albert before speaking. "Fine, I guess. Liz and Rain already left so I'm just passing the time by studying the advanced runes we copied from the walls."

"They left so soon. Hmm, I see."

"Is something wrong?"

"No, not at all. I only came because I need your help with something."

"Really. You haven't asked for my help since we came here." Her eyes seemed to sparkle for a moment but soon returned to her usual lazy stare.

"Is that so. I suppose I haven't been doing much to be honest. There aren't that many people to manage so I didn't need your help for those."

"Hmm okay. Why do you need my help now then?"

"Oh right. I need to set up a connection with the kobolds at the grayad plains." While the kobolds were excellent at making traps, construction was not their forte as they could not build any suitable structure for other races to live in due to their status and lack of any advancements in their culture over the years.

"I need to be able to communicate with them while keeping an eye on their work. I just want them to clear out an area to for the town and set up the tents before the Raven settlement arrived."

The Raven settlement was the only settlement of Hobgoblins in the Darknar region. Hobgoblin were goblins that had evolved to look similar to humans and demons over the years. Having a normal height of around 5-6 feet and pale green skin tone.

While they are more intelligent than other races of goblins and their usual training had given them proficiency with a multitude of weapons and armor. They were still amongst the weakest race of demi-humans in the demon continent.

Albert had previously traded with them several times back when he was the captain of the guards in the Red ogre settlement. The hobgoblins had high military standards that were based on their intellect and strategies more than their strength but their true worth shined in their farms and construction.

Their high intelligence had enabled them to experiment with the soil over the years and are now able to farm more easily farm in any area of the demon continent. Albert had traded weapons and armors they had gotten from Berlin for vegetables and other consumables the Hobgoblins had produced themselves.

The two settlements had a good relationship with each other and when they had sent a representative here seeking to become Lord Ty's vassals after investigations were conducted on what happened to the Red ogre settlement. He had a more favorable opinion of them.

According to the representative, the current darknar region was even more dangerous than before as monsters stronger than the ones they usually encountered were sprouting everywhere. The was a level of chaos in the region right now as the monsters were more violent and no of the

Seems to be remaining in their natural habitat.

This was a major problem for the Raven settlement that had plagued their chief for weeks now. Due to them not being too strong, they generally could not handle enemies they could not plan for. And as such, the region had become too hostile for their survival and they had been contemplating moving all the way to one of the seven behemoth's regions as they would rather die than serve any Noble due to their undying loyalty to the demon king.

They had been unable to enter the castle without Lord Ty so although it was rude, he had to communicate with the representative via telepathy. With that, the representative had no choice but to camp outside the barrier for a while. It was fortunate that Lord Ty had returned to drop off a prisoner so Albert had informed him of the issue.

However, Lord Ty wasn't interested in allowing just anyone else into the castle so he ordered for a new settlement or town to be constructed by the north of the castle which was the grayad plains and incidentally where the fallen Darknar city had been located.

The representative was then sent back to migrate his settlement of around 1500 Hobgoblin and around a hundred Karma Oni who were essentially just lesser demons. Their migration would take around two weeks as they did not possess the magic carriage the Red ogre settlement had thanks to Albert being a former demon lord.

The kobold's job was just to clear out a large area for the town and constrict sturdy tents that would be used as temporary housing for the settlement who would be responsible for building the town with Berlin already being tasked with making the construction plans even though that was not his specialty. They would see if the Hobgoblins had any capable craftsman to work together on the final product with Berlin.

Erin nodded at Albert's words as she began setting up his request. Albert had sent only a few trolls with the kobolds so he wasn't just worried about them messing up. He wanted to keep an eye on them so if something happens he would be able to move out in time.

He took a seat at the corner of the room as he watched Erin construct and solidify a water mirror while engraving magic runes on it. Creation magic was in the realms of the gods but as a demigod, Erin could do something slightly similar albeit temporarily.

She had just created a pseudo-magic mirror that could remotely view and communicate with others within a certain range. While this item would only last a week at most, and she couldn't use the spell without consuming her lifeforce, nor could she create items she didn't understand. It was still an amazing ability and Albert couldn't help but stare in awe.