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Chapter 416 C416. Flame Emperor
The hooded figure giggled in amusement, her voice was a slightly high-pitched yet sweet, she gently removed her hood revealing the figure of a young woman who looked to be in her early twenties, she had an extremely pretty face and doll-like eyes with short silver hair and a carnivore's predatory gaze.
Her figure was well-toned and countless men would no doubt find her impossible to resist, as long as they admired her from a distance.
"Why are you here?"
That question rang in her ears from the imposing figure standing in the air in front of her, his presence condensing the atmosphere around her to the point where most demons would lose their breath just standing there.
However, Citrus shrugged as she smirked and spoke in a childish tone.
"Well I just returned and heard you were facing off against a horde of Lord Class monsters alone, so I came to see my old man in action after so long. Is that so bad~"
Malik remained silent after hearing Citrus' response to his question. He did not bother to repeat himself as the air trembled around him and Citrus giggled.
"Oops... looks like I've been found out. My bad~ I simply came to deliver Isabel's report on the Jaxith family cause I'm so nice. Aren't I a great big sister?"
"Get to the point."
Malik frowned, his gaze still fixated on the approaching horde in the distance.
"Geez, you're such a party pooper. Anyways, the soul link I had on the agent I sent to infiltrate the Jaxith family disappeared."
"Hmm..."
"That means he is probably dead or no longer in this dimension. Unfortunately, that means the list I sent him to retrieve from that organization was stolen and is now in the hands of the Jaxith family."
"Is that so? How unfortunate."
Citrus couldn't sense any reaction from Malik's voice so she couldn't tell if he was at all displeased as her report essentially meant the failure of the Great Five's plans to pressure the Jaxith family into submission from both within and externally.
A plan that had been in the works for over 3 centuries as the Great Five had systematically cut off the Jaxith family from all forms of support and alliance before finally using those three families to begin their attack.
A plan with thousands of moving pieces and carefully laid traps and traitors. Yet in only a single month, the appearance of a single-family had utterly demolished their plans with very little effort on their part.
They had been aware of the secret organization Numbers using their corruption of the nobles of the Jaxith family as a means and opportunity to infiltrate the Floato region to feed off the scraps of the Jaxith family's secret by establishing connections with said nobles' households.
However, they hadn't chosen to interfere with the organization as it had proved useful in the past yet this time had been different. They hadn't been aware that the organization had kept a list of all the nobles they had "convinced" to help them and many more.
Malik's eyes glanced at the eyes of the monsters that seemed to be possessed by something yet did not carelessly move as they began to encircle him. He had thought about using his innate ability, World of Inferno, but soon decided against it.
He was still inside his territory after all and did not want to render this place unlivable more than it already was. After all, the last time he used his innate ability, his bustling region full of life and vegetation was reduced to nothing but sand.
"How annoying."
Malik frowned as his mind had gone to a place he didn't want to remember. Just then, the monsters and magic beasts seemed to sense his distraction and instinctively lunged at him from every direction.
There were monsters ranging from Demon Sand scorpions, Giant worms, Sand Demon Vipers, and many more. Most of them were highly intelligent and possessed both magic and skills.
The intelligent ones did not rush to attack as they immediately activated several protection skills and used attack spells at the same time.
This was what it meant to fight multiple Magic beasts or Lord Class monsters at the same time. Despite them not communicating with each other, they all instinctively understood each other and acted accordingly.
However, in front of a true Great Demon Lord, none of that mattered as Malik hadn't even bothered to dodge their attacks and didn't even deploy any magic shield. Yet, before any of the mindless monsters or spells could reach him, they had all promptly been reduced to ash by the sheer heat being released from his body alone.
"I haven't been out in a while so I was hoping for an actual challenge from beings classified as Lord Class creatures. Worthless."
The truth was, he had only come here himself due to the peculiarity of the situation with these creatures as he was interested in the reason why they had been gathered in the previous site of that fortress.
However, none of his observational skills has yielded any significant results. From what he could tell, these creatures were probably just reacting to the magic signature left by the skill that had caused that fortress to disappear.
Still, that did not explain why they had suddenly gone mad and charged in the direction of Capital City although he had judged that there was no information he could gain from these creatures.
Just as he came to this conclusion, the remaining monsters that had stayed back and used magic, began another round of spells and skills, each stronger than the last.
At some point, they had completely surrounded him and had used their most powerful attacks.
"You insult me. Burn in Hell, - Blaze of Fury."
Sensing nothing worthwhile in this endeavor, he scoffed and cast an original spell as flames hotter than the temperature of the sun erupted from his body in all directions, in a radius further than the eyes could see, reducing everything it touched to dust in seconds.
The flames were so powerful, that they had burnt through the magic shields and protections of the magic beasts without even giving them time to escape.
Even Cirus had needed to alter the kinetic energy of the flames to protect herself from becoming collateral damage. She had also activated a spell to boost her heat r distance despite the fact that she had few a few miles away to get away from the impacted zone.
In the next moment as the flames disappeared, thousands upon thousands of magic crystals and monsters in the forest began to rain from the sky.
"Wow, as impressive as always."
Citrus marveled at the beautiful sight of falling crystals that oozed an air of calmness across the desert as she appeared behind Malik in amusement.
"We're done here, have the Adams family begin the attack on the Floato region immediately, there is no longer a need to hold back, I want that city to be reduced to nothing. This is where the true war begins."