652 Unrivaled [2]
Amidst the charred remains of the world, Ren stood still and looked around him with a lost expression on his face. His vision was obscured by the rising smog from the depths of the earth, which obscured the ruined landscape that surrounded him.
The surrounding surface had been stripped of all vegetation for some time now, and what was once a vast gra.s.sland filled with vegetation had been reduced to nothing more than a rocky surface that was covered in blood and the remains of various body parts.
Ren lowered his head to examine his trembling, b.l.o.o.d.y hands.
'Sh..hit, I've overworked myself.'
He struggled to take a breath and could hardly move his body as a searing pain spread throughout his entire body. He was helpless. His vision was hazy, and the only thing he could make out in his nose was a potent burning odor.
"Ukh.."
Ren fought through his discomfort as he extracted a number of potions from his dimensional s.p.a.ce and promptly ingested all of them at once.
Tsss! Tsss!
His wounds started to feel better after a while, and he even managed to crack a smile. Even so, the severity of his wounds was such that it would take a considerable amount of time for him to fully recover.
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"Haaa..."
Nonetheless, Ren was aware that a significant portion of the discomfort that he had been feeling was gradually disappearing.
As he finally began to loosen the tension in his brows, a pleasantly warm feeling spread throughout his entire body.
It wasn't long before he regained the ability to move his body, and his vision began to improve as well.
At that precise instant, his gaze paused in a particular direction, where he could see a large army of demons looking at him with great caution.
"Haha...I guess my job is still not done."
As Ren slowly stood up and turned his gaze toward the demon army in the distance, the look on his face became more worn and weathered.
He knew that he couldn't rest just yet.
Snap—!
Once he snapped his fingers, a powerful shockwave spread across the entire battlefield, attracting the attention of all demons and orcs.
After Ren had finally been successful in getting everyone's attention on the battlefield, he paused for a moment to look around him before slowly levitating in the air.
Resting on his extended hand was a large purplish core that glistened under the now exposed suns.
"…As you can see, I've defeated your leader."
When Ren spoke, he did so in a manner that suggested he was unfazed and unruffled, but as soon as those words left his mouth, the entire battleground fell silent.
"I'm sure you can tell from its size and energy that this is not a regular core…"
No matter the distance, Ren's voice could be heard in the ears of everyone present.
As they raised their heads to look up at the sky, they were confronted by the formidable figure of Ren, who was standing in the sky and watching over the entire battlefield with eyes that seemed to see through everything.
At that point, the focus of everyone's attention shifted to the sizable core that was sitting in his palm. As quickly as it had begun, a heavy tension descended upon the battlefield as the demons froze in place.
Ren, unperturbed by their gazes, turned his head to look below him and then opened his mouth once more.
"Let all the Marquis and Count ranked demons that have survived come to me."
The many demons that were there heard his words echo loudly and clearly inside their own heads.
This was especially true for the Marquis and Count ranked demons that were still present on the battlefield, as the pressure that Ren was putting off caused them to begin sweating profusely.
His words didn't sound like a request but rather an order that they couldn't dare hope to refuse.
"So?"
At the same time that his gaze was fixed on a number of different people, a potent force erupted from his body.
"I know where you are, so there is no point in hiding. Come to me while I'm being nice."
Swooosh! Swooosh! Swooosh!
Finally, the demons with the rank of Marquis and Count reacted, and they all rushed in Ren's direction with terrified expressions on their faces.
It didn't take long before Ren was surrounded by more than one hundred distinct demons, nine of which were ranked as Marquis, and the rest were ranked as Count.
Those who had been oblivious to the situation up until that point were profoundly affected by the sight of his solitary figure standing in the middle of the air while being surrounded by a large number of demons.
Just as things were starting to get back to normal, Ren made a small turn of his head and pointed his finger in a particular direction.
Thump!
A demon came tumbling down from the heavens and smashed into the ground below it. The expressions of the many demons that surrounded him underwent a radical transformation, and they all wore looks of nervousness on their faces.
They didn't even understand how the demon had died!
"Looks like everyone is here:"
Ren kept his composure as his eyes swam toward the demons that surrounded him with his gaze.
While he was tossing the core in his hand and catching it repeatedly as though it was a toy, several figures suddenly appeared behind him.
They were none other than Angelica, Jin, and Han Yufei.
"Here you go."
They each tossed him several cores.
Ren nodded his head in contentment as he s.n.a.t.c.hed them up with his hand and then hurled the cores into the air, where they quickly morphed into a number of different demons. What was shocking was the fact that each and every one of them held the rank of marquis.
Even though their aura was noticeably weaker than that of a typical Marquis-ranked demon, one could still get the impression that they were quite formidable.
"W..what's going on?"
"I thought I had died."
They appeared perplexed by the unexpected turn of events, as evidenced by the fact that they all turned around and looked around them. Their bodies froze completely the moment they saw Ren standing in front of them with the core in his hand.
At that point, their expressions hardened as they finally understood what sort of situation they were in.
"This will do, for now, thank you."
Ren thanked Angelica and the others before looking back at the demons around him.
Once again tossing the core in his hand and catching it, he started speaking.
"I'll give you guys the same offer that I've given this guy…Submit to me, or…"
Narrowing his eyes, Ren's voice deepened.
"Come at me all at once."
As he spoke, the already tense atmosphere became even tenser, and the demons cautiously stared at one another.
'Come at him all at once?'
There were a total of fifteen demons with the rank of marquis and approximately two hundred demons with the rank of count... If they were to launch a full-scale a.s.sault on him at the same time, would they have a fighting chance against the human that stood in front of them?
As they exchanged glances and secretly communicated with one another, every demon in the room entertained a variety of different thoughts.
It was right at this moment that one of the demons spoke up.
"…If we choose to submit to you, what do we have to do?"
Everyone stopped what they were doing and gave Ren's calm gaze their full attention.
As he remained silent for a brief period of time, the atmosphere around him became filled with an eerie stillness. As he opened his mouth, he turned his attention to the millions of demons that were below him.
"There seems to be a lot of demons present. What do you say we reduce the numbers to a manageable level?"
Hiss~
All the demons drew a cold breath.
The meaning of Ren's words was crystal clear. To demonstrate their submission, they were required to murder and ma.s.sacre their own kind.
As the demons who were present mulled over whether or not they should accept the offer presented to them by Ren, their minds raced through a wide variety of possible plans and ideas.
Soon enough, a minute had pa.s.sed, and not a single demon had still accepted his offer.
"Still not answering?"
Ren extended his hand toward a nearby demon and grasped it as he furrowed his brows.
"Heak! N-!"
Almost immediately after that, the demon vanished.
The demons that were present didn't even have time to react before they found out that a Marquis ranked demon had been wiped off the face of the planet.
"I don't have a lot of time. Quickly make your decision before I decide to kill all of you."
Ruthless.
In the eyes of the demon, the human in front of them was extremely ruthless. He did not hesitate to use a Marquis-ranked demon as an example for them.
He was nothing short of ruthless.
Swooosh! Swooosh!
His methods seemed to have stimulated something within the demon's mind, as evidenced by the fact that it caused them to shoot down from the sky and begin attacking the lower ranked demons below.
"Haik!"
"What are you doing?!"
"What's going on?"
A bloodbath began to break out, and Ren was there to witness it all as he languidly gazed at the demons with a look that seemed to be detached from reality
Opening his mouth, he reminded.
"I'll kill anyone that tries to escape."
"…I see everything."
***
"Are you not concerned that they are merely pretending to be on your side? What if they try to relay what happened to the demons outside of this planet?"
I heard Jin's voice coming from behind me.
Sparing him a glance, I replied.
"Don't worry too much. I came prepared beforehand."
I took out a small device from my dimensional s.p.a.ce and showed it to Jin.
"This device over here will allow me to determine whether any of the demons are trying to communicate with the outside world. It's something that the dwarves have given me."
"Oh."
Jin nodded his head in understanding.
Then, scanning the device carefully, he asked.
"How confident are you in making sure that it works?"
"Fairly."
The apparatus in question was something that Randur and Jomnuk had bestowed on me. Since they a.s.sured me that it would work, I naturally believed them.
'Worst case scenario I might end up having to throw away this planet.'
It would be a shame, but in the end, there were probably plenty of other planets in the universe. It shouldn't be too difficult to locate another one of these. The one and only drawback was that it would require a significant amount of work in order to properly set up.
"Let's go back for now."
I moved back toward the castle once I spared the demons one last glance.
My body was at its limits and in spite of the potions I had consumed, I knew that I only had minutes to spare before I would pa.s.s out on the spot.
It appeared to me that it would take at least a couple of hours before the demons and the orcs finally eliminated the majority of the weaker demons.
If we're being realistic, I wanted to keep all the demons on this planet and put them to work for me, but I was also aware of the times when an individual needed to rein in their greed.
Too many demons and the situation would no longer be manageable. The Marquis and Count ranked demons were enough for now.
'Also, I need to think of a way to stop them from betraying me.'
Although one of the ways to make the demons work for me was to have them sign mana contracts, unfortunately, there were far too many demons for me to be able to control all of them.
It wasn't something I could afford even with all the capital that I had.
They were, after all, highly ranked demons. Had they been lower ranked demons, I would've been able to somewhat manage it, but they weren't.
'Fear won't work in the long run, especially since Jezebeth is scarier than I am...I could try swallowing their cores, but there are just too many demons, and I can't have them follow me back to earth...'
In the midst of my thoughts, my feet softly landed on the walls of the castle, and at that moment, a number of figures rushed toward me.
"You're finally back."
Amanda, who appeared to be sickly, was the first person to welcome me as she gave me a soft hug. When I saw how disheveled she looked, I got a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach.
While in her embrace, I gently brushed her hair beside her ear and smiled.
"How is it?"
"How is what?"
Amanda raised her head and looked at me in a daze.
I stared straight into her eyes and softly replied.
"…My smile."
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