Killing intent flashed in Kran’s eyes for a moment, but it disappeared faster than it appeared. Then, he turned to look at the Vampire Duke, who was standing in front of the cloud of dust again.
But Lukas realised that this guy had just thought about killing him although it was only for a moment.
Perhaps he’d thought about killing the witness.
It seemed that he’d revealed something he didn’t want people to know.
‘Nevertheless, the Vampire Duke takes priority.’
His hatred for the Demons. He’d thought that there might be some special reason for it. But it might have had something to do with his peculiar constitution.
“What about you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“From what you say and what he said, you can tell that I’m not human. But you’re the same.”
Lukas shook his head.
“I only used a few spells.”
“Ha. Do you think I don’t know anything about magical science? Your control over the spells that you just used surpasses human ability.”
As he retorted with a sneer, Kran checked his equipment. Because of the explosion that had just occurred, most of his equipment was either completely unusable or partly destroyed.
He then pulled new equipment from a fist-sized pouch on his waist and re-equipped himself.
Lukas’ eyes shined for a moment.
A Subspace Bag.
One of the rare magical items in the world.
Actually, now that he thought about it, this man seemed to be covered in magical items. The cloak that was wrapped around his body had considerable defense, and the shoes on his feet allowed him to move about freely in the air.
Not to mention the weapons in his arsenal. Even Lukas was not completely certain about the components of the bullets he used.
“I’ve killed hundreds of Demons.”
It felt more like he was muttering to himself than to Lukas.
“And those are just the ones I remember. Of course, I don’t remember most of their faces, let alone their names. I only remember the fact that I killed them.”
He didn’t even bother counting the lesser Demons like Demonic Humans and Demon Beasts or the other wild beasts because the number was too large.
Lukas listened to him in silence.
“Do you understand what I’m trying to say? I don’t need your help. You’re better off helping those idiots over there.”
He gestured to where the members of the Gray Sun were fighting against the Demons and Demon Beasts.
At the front of the group stood Elijah and Lee Jong-hak. They roared loudly like wounded beasts as they took on wave after wave of Demon Beasts.
Neither of them was in good shape. In particular, Lee Jong-hak looked like he would collapse at any moment.
Just as Lukas was about to answer, Gullard leaped through the dust cloud and into the sky.
Now that his body was revealed, it could be seen that he wasn’t completely unharmed. His entire body was covered in blood.
Looking up at the sky, Kran spoke slowly.
“The Vampire Duke, Gullard Phisfounder. Aside from his transcendent physical ability and other abilities that are common among high-ranking Demon Nobles… His best features are his division ability and his ‘wings’.”
“Wings?”
“The reason why the Five Dukes are called the ‘Five Dukes’ is because they each have a special body part that other Dukes don’t have. In Gullard’s case, it’s his wings.”
Lukas was almost certain that even Neil Prand, President of the Hunter Association, didn’t know this information. According to him, almost everything about the Five Dukes was a mystery except for their names.
Most people didn’t know what powers they had or how much power they had, but they knew their characteristics.
“You, are you saying that you can take him on on your own?”
“Right.”
“It would be difficult.”
“I’ve never had an easy fight.”
Following Kran’s gaze, Lukas looked up at the sky before muttering.
“Did you say division and wings? Perhaps he has other abilities as well.”
“What?”
Gullard looked down at the city from the sky.
He was incredibly frustrated at that moment.
The Strongest, Kran, and Lukas. These two who dared to face him like they were equals and the other humans, who continued to fight fiercely despite only being a few dozen.
He’d never imagined that something like this would happen on the continent of which he was in charge, not to mention his home, Zinga.
What was going on?
Was it because he hadn’t destroyed the Gray Sun?
Was it because he’d let Kran do as he pleased in his territory?
Or was this Wizard with considerable power the real problem?
Crunch.
Gullard gritted his teeth.
He couldn’t think of a reason why all of this was happening.
There was only one thing that mattered at that moment. The unpleasant garbage was still alive.
How dare they come to his land and do this?!
Gullard took a deep breath to calm himself before speaking.
“…Our King always told us, the Five Dukes, to be modest and to keep our guards up. He told us to constantly improve our strength, no matter how strong we might be. To not be proud of our current power because anything could happen at any moment.”
Kran’s expression became strange at those words.
Not to be conceited and constantly increase their strength?
That didn’t sound like the Demons he knew at all.
Lukas, on the other hand, paid close attention to Gullard’s words.
‘Something is about to happen…’
Was he simply reacting because of the upcoming Great Game?
Paht!
Gullard spread his wings apart.
Kran tensed up immediately, but the stretching of his wings didn’t seem to be an attack.
Instead, strange sounds could be heard from the giant wings.
Kiii— Kiii—
It was a very ominous sound. Something one would never expect to hear from wings.
A sound similar to a cat scratching an old tree with its claws filled the entire street.
Kran, who stared blankly at Gullard at first, slowly began looking around the street, his guard fully raised.
Lukas also felt the sudden movement of hundreds of presences.
And it wasn’t long before these presences revealed themselves with clumsy footsteps.
“…they are…”
Kran’s expression hardened.
This was the same for the Gray Sun members who were fighting the horde of Demon Beasts.
Now, when the number of enemies had finally been reduced by a considerable amount, they were being reinforced by a large number of humanoid figures.
When he saw them, Elijah couldn’t help but speak in a solemn tone.
“…hybrids…”
“Hahaha!”
Gullard laughed in a faux, cheerful voice.
“I must commend you! I didn’t plan to make use of them at the start! So you guys should be proud of pushing the Vampire Duke so far!”
“Kut…”
Joanna, who was chanting a spell, choked.
Hybrid.
These beings whose appearances were a mixture of the features of Demons and humans were staring at their group with blank expressions as though they weren’t conscious at that moment.
Nevertheless, the demonic energy erupting from their bodies was as fearsome as those released by normal Demon Nobles.
Elijah slowly closed his eyes.
He knew the most about the combat power of hybrids than anyone else there.
‘…hundreds of hybrids.’
It wasn’t a problem that he had to think too deeply about.
Regardless of how the situation changed, he didn’t have any intention of giving up. No matter what happened, and no matter how much despair he felt.
Because of this, this extremely large man was able to remain calm without being shocked and scared like the others.
And in his calm state, he concluded that it was all over.
“Hahaha!”
Gullard’s laughter pierced the night sky.
He could see it. He could feel it. The despair was slowly consuming them. And soon, they might show the ugly expressions that he wanted to see the most.
What would they do then?
Would they abandon the others and try to save themselves? Would they surrender to him and beg for their lives? Would they blame each other and start infighting?
Gullard loved to predict human behaviour in situations like this.
As the King had taught him, he wanted to see their ugliest side.
“Huh?”
At that moment, a man had flown up to Gullard, who was happily waiting to see how the situation would unfold.
“You…”
He hadn’t stopped at the same height as Gullard. Instead, he’d stopped slightly higher than him.
How dare this man look down on him?
Gullard’s pride was hurt, but he still smiled without showing any of it.
Such childish provocations were proof that this man had lost his composure.
Gullard looked at Lukas and spoke with a calm voice.
“I saw my alter ego’s ‘memories’. I know you are hiding a considerable amount of power. However… you’re not as strong as that mysterious woman.”
“…”
“If you were, you wouldn’t have brought Kran to help you.”
Kran had been about a thousand kilometers away from Zinga. He knew that it was Lukas who brought him over. He also knew that the spells he’d used in their previous skirmish were very powerful.
Nevertheless, he didn’t think that this man could reverse this situation.
Lukas then looked down and said.
“Those are hybrids.”
“That’s right. Aren’t they amazing?”
Gullard’s voice had a hint of pride.
“They are the perfect hybrid. Created by combining the best characteristics of humans and Demons as well as my own DNA.”
“Then.”
Lukas only paid attention to the most important part of that statement.
“You’re saying they’re not Demons.”