Without the burden of protecting the Knight Guard’s members, the five Demons focused solely on attacking, relying on Lith to recover from even the most grievous wounds in a matter of seconds. Be them Awakened or not, even the heaviest Emperor Beast died from a single strike of Solus’ Fury and there were nine of them soaring the corridors at all times. Entire squads of Emperor Beasts were turned into a bloody crater by a single throw. Ragnarök fought alone for the first time in its new life and found the experience exhilarating. When the angry blade won, the flesh and blood of its enemies would join its body and fuel its powers. When Ragnarök lost, it always led to laughter and fun. The Emperor Beasts mistook the blood construct as the real body of their enemy and after destroying it with magic or powerful blows, they claimed the angry blade as their prize. The moment their claws touched the hilt of the murderous sword, Davross hooks pierced into the flesh and the Reverse Imprint enchantment killed the usurpers in a gory firework. What was left of their bodies became a new blood construct and Ragnarök resumed its hunt. Those who witnessed such deaths lost their will to fight, thinking they were facing an immortal cursed object. The Emperor Beasts tried to escape, but it only aroused Ragnarök’s predatory instincts. "Scream." The blood construct frothed. "You must scream." As for Lith, even without his blade, he had plenty of weapons. Different Flames worked in different ways, but they killed just the same. His Spirit Spells made short work of regular spells and their casters. When someone managed to engage him in close-quarter combat, the blades of the Hands of Menadion diced them with ease. The thing that baffled the beasts the most, however, was how Lith always took the quickest route. How he always found them despite their cloaking items. How his spells would turn around a corner and aim at their allegedly invisible targets. Lith didn’t have enough power to create many powerful Demons but even the one-eyed ones excelled as scouts. They explored Lith’s surroundings, sneaking under closed doors and reporting everything to him. He cleared the other breeding grounds and rescued the specimens while hunting down the Emperor Beasts. Everything happened so fast that by the time Kugoh noticed the disappearance of a few contact runes, more faded out of existence. "Protect." Each Demon carried only one person at a time and they said the same thing before entrusting the sickly humans to the soldiers. "Sorry." Unless the Demons carried the corpse of someone too weak to survive after being rescued. "Gods above and below!" Thaas saw a line of living shadows that went around the corner. "How many people are down there?" Once a Demon delivered a human, they went back to the nearest hive and returned to the back of the line. Find your next read at freewebnovel "East wing clear." A Demon crawling at Lith’s feet said. He was standing in front of the door leading to the third underground floor, waiting. "North wing clear." Another Demon hissed. "West wing clear." "South wing clear." "No more humans left, but not all delivered." Once a Demon completed their task, they returned to Lith. There were so many Demons surrounding him that they painted the entire corridor black. "Good." Lith nodded, using that time to study the corridor in front of him with the Eyes of Menadion. "This is one of those days I’m proud of staying behind." Locrias spat in disgust. "I can’t believe filth like this walks Mogar while the innocents suffer and die." "Patience." Lith said, his voice almost serene. "There’s nothing to gain from getting riled up. Our job is not over yet." Locrias had no biological need to swallow but did it anyway. He could feel through the black chains connecting him to Lith that the Tiamat’s calm was only apparent. The fury, the hate, and the grief were still there. Reined in and leashed, but still there. Those feelings were akin to three monsters that growled and snarled, ready to explode the moment the grip on their chains loosened. "Soon." Lith said, mostly to himself. Solus and Menadion came next. The First Ruler of the Flames never left her daughter’s side, even against enemies Solus overpowered and outmatched by a wide margin. Then came, Varegrave, Trion, and Valia. "The floor is clear." She said. "The humans are out and alive and the Emperor Beasts are dead." "Good." Lith took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second to calm down. When he opened them again, seven eyes shone on his face, burning with barely contained power. "I’m going first. Don’t follow me until I give you the signal." "Shouldn’t we send the Demons?" Solus asked. "What about the toxins?" "What about them?" Lith walked down the stairs without bothering to wait for an answer. The corridor went quite deep. The third underground floor had been built far enough from the second so that in case the position of the base was exposed, the Emperor Beasts could collapse the upper floors and destroy all the evidence without endangering themselves. Between ground-burrowing bloodline abilities, dimensional magic, and the secret passage, they had many escape routes the humans couldn’t follow. With the air, earth, and dimensional-sealing arrays in place, however, the Emperor Beasts’ contingency plans had become useless and their safe position had been turned into a trap. "Stay calm and remember the plan." Jika the Zouwu nervously touched his neck where the tattoo potion was. "There’s one of him and three of us. The toxins work on Verhen, I’ve seen it with my own eyes." He stood a few dozen meters in front of the door with two more Emperor Beasts shapeshifted into their hybrid form. More and the narrow corridor would have hindered their movements and teamwork. The three Emperor Beasts took turns using Life Vision, to follow the intruder as he walked down the stairs without consuming too much mana and focus before the battle started. "Fuck." A serpentine Emperor Beast said. "The guy got a cloaking item. There’s no way the Kingdom sent a yellow core alone. He has a Life Ward mask. That he can’t hide." "A yellow core?" Jika used Life Vision out of turn as a shiver ran down his spine. Soon the intruder came close enough for the Zouwu to recognize a familiar energy signature. "That’s Verhen! Screw the plan. Go all out from the start. There’s no point saving our best weapons for later if there’s no later." As soon as Lith reached the final turn of the stairwell, the three Emperor Beasts took position while the Zouwu pressed a switch on the wall. Gears turned and countless small enchanted blades shot out of the space between the brick. Arrays did not affect mechanical traps and the stairwell had been engineered so that the enchanted metal darts would ricochet off the walls while losing the least momentum possible. The swarm of blades attacked Lith from every side, dealing him no damage but ripping the protective layer of Life Ward to shreds. The moment Life Vision confirmed the success of the first step of their plan, the Emperor Beasts moved on to step two.