"BOOM!!!"
Duanmu Huai smashed straight through the ceiling and leapt upward, his furious roar echoing throughout the entire Ammunition Tower.
"Who is it!? Who dares spout such arrogance here!?"
At the same moment, another voice rang out, and immediately afterward, Duanmu Huai saw a pure white beam of light suddenly fire straight toward him!
"White Destruction Ray———!!"
"HRAAAAH!!!"
Facing this beam capable of annihilating everything, Duanmu Huai had no intention of dodging. He grabbed the power sword on his back, roared, raised it high, and cleaved straight down into the beam head-on!
Under Duanmu Huai's furious strike, the white beam was split cleanly down the middle, howling as it blasted through the walls and vanished into the sky.
"I never expected that someone would actually be able to block my White Destruction Ray..."
At the same time, a seductive voice sounded. Duanmu Huai raised his gaze and looked forward. He saw a beautiful, alluring woman standing not far ahead, wearing nothing more than revealing clothing similar to a swimsuit. She had fiery red wavy hair and a clearly defined, seductive figure. However, compared to the woman herself, what drew Duanmu Huai's attention more was the black, dictionary-like book she was holding in her hand.
Even without opening it, Duanmu Huai could feel the twisted, evil demonic aura radiating from the book.
Alright. That settles it.
No need to think any further.
"Prepare to die, heretic."
Duanmu Huai did not waste words. Strictly speaking, he could have used the same method he used on Liya, "killing" the demonic energy inside Papaya's body. However, Duanmu Huai had no intention of doing that. Compared to Princess Liya, who had merely tortured girls to vent her inner malice, the woman before him was already unforgivable and had only one road left—death. Besides, no one was begging him to spare her life, were they?
Then there was only death!
As his words fell, Duanmu Huai lunged forward, gripping his greatsword tightly and swinging it down with full force at the woman before him. Her expression changed slightly as she hurriedly retreated. At the same time, she raised her hand, and several flaming arrows shot out, blasting toward Duanmu Huai.
Duanmu Huai was not wearing power armor at the moment, but even so, he did not care about such trivial flame arrows!
As he charged forward, a golden flash appeared in his hand, and the next instant, a towering mud-and-dust golem nearly two people tall appeared in front of him, blocking the woman's magical assault.
Manalia Defensive Formation!
"BANG! BANG! BANG!!"
The woman's flame arrows slammed into the mud golem, instantly shattering it to pieces. But Duanmu Huai seized the moment as dust and debris filled the air, charging straight through. He reached Papaya's front and swung his greatsword forward with tremendous force!
"Ugh———!"
Although Papaya was one of Seth's Four Heavenly Kings, she was ultimately a mage, and a research-oriented one at that—not particularly adept at frontal melee combat. Under Duanmu Huai's relentless counterattack, she was thrown into disarray. Still, Papaya clearly had no intention of surrendering. As she retreated, she raised the black grimoire in her hand. In an instant, dozens of tentacles shot out from all directions, slithering toward Duanmu Huai like venomous snakes.
"Seeking death!"
Duanmu Huai twisted his greatsword, and the surging sword aura tore the incoming tentacles to shreds. The sword's momentum did not slow in the slightest—it stabbed straight into the black grimoire, piercing through it and continuing forward, impaling the red-haired, seductive woman through the chest and pinning her firmly to the wall!
"AAAAAA——!!!"
That single scream was all the red-haired woman had time for. Duanmu Huai then gripped his greatsword and violently swung it, splitting her body in two. As blood and viscera sprayed everywhere, pitch-black flames surged like tidal waves, instantly engulfing the red-haired woman along with the grimoire in her hand, consuming them completely.
When the Seth guard forces rushed over upon hearing the commotion, all they saw was a field of scattered wreckage.
Meanwhile, not far below the Ammunition Tower, others also noticed what had happened.
"What's going on?"
Staring at the Ammunition Tower billowing with thick smoke in the distance, the leading woman frowned. She was Elizabeth, one of the highest-ranking cadres of the resistance organization Pentagram. At this moment, Pentagram was carrying out the "Liberation of the Motherland" plan proposed by their leader Nielson—that is, dispatching four teams simultaneously to the four towers to destroy the magic amplification devices beneath them.
Once the plan succeeded, they could proceed with the next phase!
But what Elizabeth did not expect was that she had only just arrived near the Ammunition Tower with her people and had not even begun their operation when the tower suddenly exploded, emitted a burst of white light, and then filled with thick smoke. One look made it clear—something had gone wrong.
"My lady!!"
Just as Elizabeth was feeling puzzled, the scout she had sent hurried back.
"What happened? What exactly occurred at the Ammunition Tower?"
"I'm not entirely sure, but from overhearing the guards, it seems that one of the Four Heavenly Kings, Papaya, was attacked and is currently missing—very likely already killed! The entire Ammunition Tower is in chaos right now!"
"What?"
Hearing this, Elizabeth was first shocked, then overjoyed.
Attacking the four towers guarded by the Four Heavenly Kings was originally an extremely dangerous task. Elizabeth had been agonizing over how to break into the Ammunition Tower. She never imagined that such a coincidence would occur. Although she did not know who had clashed with one of the Four Heavenly Kings, Papaya, for their resistance organization, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!!
"Immediately organize everyone and launch the attack!! We must destroy the magic amplification device!!"
At this moment, Elizabeth truly believed from the bottom of her heart that this was good fortune bestowed upon them—divine providence itself. Otherwise, how could such a coincidence exist?
No matter what, she would absolutely not let this opportunity slip away!
Duanmu Huai could never have dreamed that a casual act of purification on his part would create such an opportunity for Seth's resistance forces. But even if he knew, he would not care. Any corrupt and degenerate human must be purged—that was the duty of an Inquisitor, regardless of who the person was, what position they held, or what influence they possessed. Even if it were the King of Seth himself, if Duanmu Huai discovered corruption and betrayal of humanity, he would cut him down without hesitation.
As for whether Seth would plunge into chaos or even civil war afterward, Duanmu Huai would not concern himself with that at all.
After swiftly and decisively dealing with Papaya, Duanmu Huai returned to take care of the orphans.
However, for Seth, the disaster had only just begun.
"How could this happen...…!!!"
Staring at the rapidly flashing red alerts on the screen before her, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Seth, Yamada Chizuko, looked ashen, her face pale.
In fact, Yamada Chizuko was not unaware of the resistance attacks on the four towers. She simply did not understand what the resistance groups were trying to accomplish. After all, the locations of the magic amplification devices were the highest secrets of Seth—equivalent to the locations of nuclear arsenals in modern nations. Even beaten to death, Yamada Chizuko would never have imagined such information could leak.
Thus, at the beginning, she did not pay special attention, assuming these terrorist organizations were merely trying to make a show of presence.
But reality was far crueler...
In fact, the Sun Tower under Yamada Chizuko's command was the first to suffer an incident!
The reason was simple. She had received a report from her subordinates that a resistance group had infiltrated the Sun Tower. Naturally, she did not ignore it and ordered a female mage named Annis to deal with the intruders.
Annis was a rare magical genius. In terms of raw magical power alone, she was even stronger than King Gandhi within the Kingdom of Seth.
However, despite her overwhelming magical strength, this mage had one fatal flaw.
She was stupid.
Extremely stupid.
Just how stupid?
Yamada Chizuko ordered Annis to stop the resistance forces from invading the Sun Tower. Annis went, stopped them—and then fired a single "White Destruction Ray," destroying both the resistance forces and the magic amplification device in one shot.
When Yamada Chizuko received that report, she felt like dying on the spot.
If she had known this would happen, she would have gone herself!!
If the destruction of the Sun Tower's magic amplification device could be blamed on a pig-brained teammate, then the subsequent reports from the other towers made Yamada Chizuko completely unable to sit still.
After the Sun Tower was attacked, news came from the Ammunition Tower as well: one of the Four Heavenly Kings, Papaya Saba, had been attacked and was missing. Amid the chaos engulfing the Ammunition Tower, a group of resistance fighters suddenly stormed in, destroyed the magic amplification device, and fled!
At this point, Yamada Chizuko realized something was seriously wrong. Once was coincidence—twice could not be coincidence. Just as she was about to issue orders for the remaining two towers to heighten their alert and guard against attacks, news arrived from the King's Tower—
One of the Four Heavenly Kings, Magico, had gone to attend a graduation exam, leaving the tower unmanned. A group of resistance fighters charged in at the cost of heavy casualties. By the time Magico rushed back after receiving the news, the magic amplification device had already been destroyed!
Fortunately, the Jump Tower did not suffer the same fate. Another of the Four Heavenly Kings, Nagi S. Lakarou, successfully defended the Jump Tower and repelled the resistance forces.
But... the Maginot Line was now on the brink of collapse!
The magic amplification devices beneath the four towers were what powered the Maginot Line. At least two devices were required to maintain operation. Now, only the Jump Tower's device remained active. As a result, the Maginot Line's power supply plummeted directly to 34%!
It had reached the edge of extreme danger!!
"Your Majesty!!"
Staring at the flashing red alerts on the screen, Yamada Chizuko turned to King Gandhi behind her. His expression was grave. After thinking for a moment, he finally issued the order.
"Immediately issue Kingdom Order No. 4. Command all first-tier citizens to proceed to the magic supply points at once and provide magic power! This is the highest-level directive! No resistance will be tolerated!"
With the magic amplification devices destroyed and impossible to repair in the short term, there was now only one option left—
To rely on human power to sustain it!
(End of Chapter)