512 The Defense Crumbled In An Instan

On this night, everyone in Highland City bore witness to the occurrence of a miracle — one that was as much a legend as any Forbidden Spell. On this night, the demons had expected to eat their fill of human flesh, only to realize that their last meals were to be served by a weapon as powerful as a Divine Regalia.

Spells of various elements burst forth from the hammerhead shark plushie's underbelly, including fireballs, deadly icicles, and ice arrows. Among the deluge of spells were javelins of light and shadow arrows — uncommon elemental spells. Rare spells like corrosive fluids and venoms could also be identified, so could bizarre spells like a rain of white, viscous fluids.

The spells bombarded every single demon in the city with unparalleled accuracy. Just minutes after the giant plushie appeared in the city, all the demons that got through the city wall were slain.

This was how far the hammerhead shark plushie had come! It started as a run-of-the-mill toy that served as a little girl's cuddle buddy, and eventually evolved to an instrument for self-defense. Afterward, it played host to several Voidwalkers that descended to the real world. Today, the hammerhead shark plushie was a weapon of mass destruction. As a side achievement, it even became a collective nickname for the audience of this story. It really had undergone much!

If anyone wondered what next would happen to the hammerhead shark plushie, the answer they would get would not surprise them: whatever the Fifth Walker, in a moment of boredom, decided. As a Soul Armature, Baiyi was unable to sleep or engage in carnal activities, so he often had a lot of free time on his hands. Sometimes, he chose to fool around with his beautiful daughters, but when they go to bed, he would only have the hammerhead shark plushie for company.

When Baiyi's thoughts shifted to Mia, he knew that, as she grew stronger, she was bound to encounter stronger enemies in the future. Thus, it was only natural that her go-to weapon of self-defense, the hammerhead shark plushie, was made much more powerful.

Even Baiyi had forgotten how many rare resources and powerful spells he had pumped into Sharkie, but he knew that the precise accuracy of the plushie's auto-target feature was just the tip of the iceberg. Baiyi also knew that chaos would ensue wherever this plushie was let loose; using this deadly trump card was akin to unleashing one's inner nine-tailed demon fox.

After the giant plushie made sure that every demon in the city was dead, it turned its cold gaze to the demons wreaking havoc outside the city wall. Having decided that these demons were outside of its active zone, instead of attacking, the plushie chose to shrink back to its original size. Moments later, it fell directly on Mia's outstretched hands.

"Way to go, Sharkie~!" Mia exclaimed as she hugged the killer plushie happily. She could not resist rubbing her cheeks against it.

Lulu, who had witnessed the entire spectacle, was shocked speechless. Although the worst had passed, Lulu was overcome by fear; she fell backward and landed on her butt, after which she began to sob.

"Wha?!" Mia put the plushie away and rushed to Lulu's side. She gripped Lulu's shoulders and, in a panic, said, "H-hey! It's okay now. The bad guys are gone, they can't hurt you anymore. Don't cry, okay? I'll always protect you!"

Mia took Sharkie out and placed it in Lulu's arms. Leaning closer to the terrified Lulu, Mia reached out and pinched her cheeks softly, cooing, "But, there are still many people out there who need my help, so I can't stay here for now. Please, wait here; I'll be back, okay? Sharkie will protect you in my stead, so you have nothing to be scared of. Please, Lulu, be strong for me. Be brave for me."

Lulu only sobbed softly in reply, after which she buried her face in Sharkie's belly. Mia could only silently watch the traumatized girl, who was hugging the plushie tightly.

This was reminiscent of a scene that had occurred in the past.

After making sure that Lulu had calmed down, Mia set off for work. The boulders hurled over the city wall by multiple Cyclops demons had caused a lot of destruction. Many people could be seen crying for help, and Mia knew she needed to help them however she could.

As Mia began to provide relief to the injured, in the commanders' office, Commander Lorenz and Chiliarch Finn focused their attention on an area south of the city. Their pale faces were all it took for one to realize that the two had watched enough horror unfold. When the battle began, both commanders had maintained their composures. Now, however, their grim expressions made them seem as though they had just escaped certain death.

"What… What was that?" Commander Lorenz asked in a low voice.

"I have not the slightest idea," Chiliarch Finn replied. "As a matter of fact, I never thought I would, one day, see something this frightening. How does something like that even exist?"

The scene of a giant hammerhead shark plushie running riot in his city had been burned into Finn's mind.

An attendant in the room seemed to have taken the bizarre scene better than her superiors did. "I think that was a hammerhead shark, sir," she carefully said.

"What's a 'hammerhead shark'? Is it a sort of fish?" Commander Lorenz asked, visibly discombobulated. "Or, is that the nickname of a terrifying monster that I have yet to hear of?"

"I have no idea, sir, but it seemed to be on our side," replied the attendant. "Reports indicate that the demons in the city were killed by that thing, sir. This means we don't have to worry about the city, for now."

"Damn. I almost forgot that the battle has not ended," Lorenz murmured and smacked his cheeks to collect his thoughts. His gaze shifted to the fighting taking place atop the city wall. "I need a status report about our wall!"

"It's improving, sir! The demons were frightened so much by that strange creature, they are now retreating en masse!" A soldier reported. "Sir, shall we advance?"

Lorenz did not reply immediately. Before he could come to a decision, he felt a strong magical pulse radiate from the distance.

The crowd froze in trepidation.

'The enemy commander has arrived.'

A humanoid demon with wings, a blank face, and two large sickles wiggled out of the crack in the realm. A sinister aura that had a tinge of lust emanated from this demon, making it resemble a metrosexual man.

The fleeing demons came to a stop and dropped to their knees, and the faceless Abyss Lord glanced in the direction of Highland City, where the giant hammerhead shark had vanished. After a brief moment of silence, the Abyss Lord threw its sickles into the air and began to chant an incantation in the demon language. "For I the seven bells toll." [1]

Its purple aura disappeared, and the Abyss Lord's muscles began to grow at an alarming rate. A thick, black wave of miasma oozed from its body. It was as though the darkness in its soul had take form. Its unfurled wings grew bigger, and in moments, they had covered the sky.

"What… What the hell is that?!" A soldier, who was renowned for his sharp eyesight, trembled when he spotted something growing in the distance. Silhouettes could be seen marching towards the city from afar. These beings were dressed in the same uniforms as the city's soldiers. When they got closer to the city, the soldiers realized that these beings were exact replicas of themselves — chilling shadows, if you will.

When the shadows got close, they attacked. Their techniques were exact copies of the soldiers that their appearances took after.

A thousand soldiers had survived the first bout, and now a thousand shadows were sprinting towards the city wall. Soon, chaos ensued once again as the enemy regained the advantage. Although the shadows were weaker than the originals, their shadow-like properties made them impervious to physical attacks.

The longer the soldiers fought the shadows, the more alarmed they got. Soon, they could no longer maintain their composures, and waves of anxiety overtook them. This adversely affected their fighting abilities.

One of the sorcerers in the sky bellowed in an attempt to calm the soldiers. "Calm yourselves! They are only shadows!"

Before the words could leave his mouth completely, the sorcerer spotted a large ball of death energy hurtling towards him. The sorcerer quickly conjured a barrier around himself and attempted to flee, but it was too late. The death energy ball struck him squarely.

The sorcerer's corpse began to fall fast, and when it hit the ground, it blew up, splattering blood and guts all over the place.

Satisfied with itself, the Abyss Lord flexed its claw before making three clones of itself. Each clone emitted the same sinister energy as the original Abyss Lord. They began to fire death energy ball after death energy ball at every sorcerer hovering in the sky. The kneeling demons quickly got into formation and charged towards the city wall once more.

The soldiers, who already had their hands full with the shadows, felt despair, and some quickly fled the scene. The Sorcerers Corps fell into disarray as they tried to dodge the super-fast energy balls coming to claim their lives. More sorcerers could be seen dropping from the sky.

The demons rejoiced. They let out long, bloodcurdling war cries and rushed toward the city wall in a stampede.

"Who… No, what is this demon?! It's tearing through every defense tactic we came up with!"

"Where in the world is Dante?! Where — is — he?! Where is the help he promised will come?!"

The commanders despaired, their groans no different from those of suffering dogs. They had lost all hope. Only the reappearance of that giant hammerhead shark could bring hope and ensure their survival.

The hammerhead shark did not reappear, though. However, the savior rushing over to the army was even stronger. It was a lone individual clad in a futuristic sorcerer armor, who could be seen standing alone in front of the city wall. It seemed as though he intended to stop the approaching demons all by himself.

Dante the hound had been waiting for this very moment since the Abyss Lord appeared. When he noticed the lone figure standing between the soldiers and the demons, Dante yelled, "Look, all of you! It's the Prophet!"

Then, as though entranced, Dante began to chant at the top of his lungs, "Long live the Empire of Rohlserl! All glory to our Emperor! Victory belongs to us!"

The sorcerers that survived noticed the seemingly suicidal stranger. When they heard Dante's words, they could not hold back their ridicule. Who was this prophet? Was he another obnoxious fraud that loved conning villagers? What had gotten into Centurion Dante? Had he finally lost it?

The longer the sorcerers listened to Dante's words, the more bemused they became. How was one man supposed to overwhelm an army of demons? One could not expect a cricket to stop a cart in its tracks!