Even before battle, Klaus ran many scenarios in his head and created solutions for every last one of them. He knew a battle of this magnitude wouldn’t be easy to handle.
So, when a third Ant King arrived—stronger than the one the ladies were fighting—he knew his plans had to change.
Of course, he had already run this by the ladies, so they knew what had to be done the moment the outlier appeared.
“Nari, this one is all yours,” Queen Lunara said, letting Nari take on the Ant King they were fighting. This was the plan they had all come up with.
If a new monster appears, either Nari or Queenie will take the one they were fighting.
So when the news appeared, they let Nari handle the one they were fighting.
Klaus knew they could easily kill the Ant King. However, that would cause them to use too much energy. He knew Queenie alone could even kill it, but that was what he was after.
He was aiming for the last chess piece to appear on the board. Because of this possibility, he lets them take their time since the chances of them getting backstabbed would be higher when handling the main boss, and they become tired.
Naturally, Klaus formed another plan in case another beast or monster—hidden and yet to appear—appeared.
The third Ant King isn’t the only surprise he prepared for.
The hivemind allowed him to run many plans in his mind, making sure no variables remained unchecked. So Nari now had her opponent, prompting her to switch to her Spearman form.
“Queenie, you already know the plan,” Queen Lunara said before clashing with the new Ant King, who—despite being a little shorter than the first two—was actually a Level 4.
This meant it was much more powerful than the first, so Queen Lunara would handle it while Queenie moved to the next battle plan.
“I am ready, Klaus.” Queenie conveyed her message using the harem connection between them.
Klaus, who was frozen, smiled and then, using his authority over [Demon Killing Circle], commanded the other Level 3 Ant King out, sending it about two miles away from his location.
Queenie was already waiting, so the moment the Ant King arrived, she attacked by conjuring hundreds of blood swords.
The Ant King, meant to protect its boss, was now being forced to face Queenie—leaving only Klaus and the Peak Tier 11 still frozen.
“Looks like it’s just you and me now, buddy,” Klaus laughed, feeling the four minutes remaining shift to eight the moment the Ant King was kicked out.
“I feel like this is the best time for us to have a nice discussion, don’t you think?” Klaus spoke again, causing the already twelve sets of eyes that were glowing red to turn even more crimson.
The hunger in them said it all.
The moment the bastard is free, Klaus is as good as dead.
But of course, while the bastard is still restrained, killing him is the least of his problems, considering he had already accepted that the battle could easily kill him—yet he wasn’t afraid.
In fact, Klaus’s mom was currently watching the frozen brat she called her son. She looked visibly afraid for him.
Thankfully, Klaus made Old Lu send Pickle Berry to her, knowing that the spoiled snake would be enough to calm her down, regardless of how the battle turned out.
But while many people were worried about him, Klaus just couldn’t get his mouth shut from further antagonizing the already furious spider demon.
“I want to ask: just what did you do to become a peak Void Stage monster and even manage to comprehend the Void despite being a monster?”
Of course, Klaus expected the silent treatment.
But he was genuinely concerned about the fact that he sensed Void energy around the monster he was about to fight.
Sensing Void energy around a being could only mean one thing: the being had comprehended the Void to a stage where it could freely harness it.
That meant they could easily enter the Void and exit as they pleased.
Battling them wasn’t going to be easy.
But the monster kept silent while the time until its release dwindled, prompting Klaus to prepare mentally.
One could ask why he didn’t allow Queenie to attack the monsters frozen inside the demon-killing circle. The answer is quite simple: had he allowed her to do that, first, every attack would have weakened the circle.
Second, the attack will lose most of its power when it enters the circle. So he sent the Ant King away and let Queenie go against the odds.
Nari, too, was facing her opponent squarely in her Spearman form. This form, which would last only two hours, was being used by Nari to injure the Ant King to the point she wasn’t even taking her own safety into account.
It didn’t matter how wounded she became—when she switched to her Archer form, which was also her demi-Phoenix form, all her wounds would be healed.
As for her true Phoenix form, that was her trump card. Unless it truly came down to it, she wouldn’t use that. So for now, her spear danced through the air, clashing with the Ant King.
Away from her, Queen Lunara was also locked in battle with her opponent. Both were Level 4 Void Stage beings, so the battle wasn’t as simple as one might think.
They had already exchanged thousands of attacks, showcasing just how devastating their battle was. And it wasn’t even slowing down.
Queenie was also in the same setting.
But one had to give it to her—despite not fully awakening her bloodline or memories, the way she fought was eerily similar to that of an Asura-born.
Her eyes were red, and her sword was coated in blood. Every step left a trace of crimson, and every swing carved a trail through the air like a brush dipped in blood.
It was as if she was made of blood itself. Watching how she kept increasing her speed as the battle progressed, it didn’t take a genius to realize she was built for war.
She is level 2, and her opponent is level 3.
All over the world, everyone was glued to their screens, watching with panicked expressions.
They could tell that the battle in the Tier 9 Forbidden Zone wasn’t one to be underestimated.
Somehow, they believed that the next ones wouldn’t be as harrowing if this mission succeeded.
However, that was just wishful thinking—something to make them feel less anxious. If they knew there were much more dangerous monsters hidden on Earth, perhaps they’d have different opinions.
Just like that, only a few seconds remained before Klaus entered the battle.
“Before we try to kill each other, I want you to know that this battle will be one I will remember for the rest of my life. For this is the first battle where I’ll face a being I know deep down I cannot kill.”
Klaus laughed and uttered one last sentence his fourth incarnation used to say before battles:
“Let death bear witness to this legendary battle.”
The Demon Killing Circle dropped, and the structure below exploded—revealing a grotesque amalgamation of spider, demon, metal, and horror, with fourteen legs.
It has 12 red eyes and the head of a human, or more like a demonic, large enough to fit all 12 eyes.
The first four stabbed toward Klaus, whose body was now covered in alien-like armor with two glowing red horns sitting on his forehead.
A large cauldron appeared between him and the spider demon defending the blow.