Chapter 132 - Baffling
An unexplainable sight had occurred as those watching the movements of forces around the continent found the demons making a hasty retreat towards the Draconic Kingdom.
None of the Mythical Kingdoms moved their forces to attack as they followed cautiously, having learned their lesson of how wicked the demons could be. Yet, it didn't seem to be a plot as the moment dawn broke, golden light shone through the skies into the occupied Draconic Kingdom, showing an empty sight with no demons to be seen.
The beasts that had been enslaved in the surrounding lands found themselves waking up to find the people torturing them every day gone. Those that saw the retreat were even more baffled as they watched it happen.
In the skies of the Draconic Kingdom, three powerful beings floated as they looked down at the destruction the demons left behind. It was a gloriously glowing blue turtle that had a wizened expression, a fiery red phoenix whose fire blazed across the skies, and a white tiger that had white shining fur letting out a blinding light.
They looked at the destruction the demons left behind as they moved their forces to multiple positions across the fallen kingdom. All they found left behind were destroyed Spiritual Lands and enslaved people that had already been broken.
A process of long recovery would be needed, but their first actions would be to prevent something like this again. For an invasion like this to occur, a significant amount of time was needed for the powerful demons to establish the connection and break out of it.
They would be manning every position they could see around the continent from now on, and at the slightest sign of a connection being made, erupt out. Their hearts were full of wrath against their enemies, but they were nowhere to be seen.
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I breathed heavily as I felt the excitement of taking down another Demon King, this time it wasn't just from brute force, but something that took days to plan and many pieces to be in place before it occurred successfully. As the red light signifying the death of the demon shined out, I moved the explosion of items, cores, and what seemed like two powerfully glowing skill books into my storage pouch.
RAAA!
The EPIC beasts were looking around excitedly as they saw the fall of yet another powerful LEGENDARY being, their excitement still not coming as close as when they neared the [Snow Vines] where the fruits crucial to their advancements were about to ripen.
I moved out of the crater of toxic pools and frozen ice as the mangled body of a red horned Demon King made itself visible to me. Its head was perfectly nailed to the ground as it still had the expression of shock frozen on the face.
I sent the beasts away from this location as there were many things that would occur after my actions, and I had to move fast.
First and foremost, I instantly took out and absorbed the new skills appearing from the Demon King. It was only two skills this time around, but my smile grew wider as they were the things I wanted to get my hands on the most.
{Spatial Travel} :: You become heavily proficient in space, being able to travel to any location you've previously seen.
{Shapeshifter} :: Not a single soul can distinguish between the different forms you take.
The descriptions were concise and simple, and yet these skills were the thing I was aiming for that would allow me to make significant movements from now on. If I was a ferocious tiger prowling powerfully around with my nearly endless mana before, now I was actually given wings that would make me even more terrifying.
Taking down Orias would be one of the most crucial events that would propel many of the things moving forward. The demons would no doubt take a step back after this, having taken such tremendous losses they could have never expected from their invasion into one middle world.
The powerful Rulers that had their ranks in the top 10 of the Demon World were terrifying to think about, but I wouldn't be meeting them anytime soon. What I would be doing though...is continue to completely disrupt their plans, and eventually bring about their own destruction.
The Beast World wasn't my enemy, the demons that pulled the strings and used the beasts here to massacre beings in another world would be the ones I would continue chasing until the ends of the universe.
As for my actions towards the Beast World from now on? I smiled at this thought as I looked at a blue crystal lying carefully in my storage pouch. I still had some time.
Besides the two skills and cores, I was also able to get my hands on another [Ruler's Medal] for the region in the Demon World that Orias controlled, and another two [Power Jewels], bringing my total to three and giving me many options to choose from which of my skills to enhance next.
I put all of these aside for now as I sent a message to Adelaide that I might not be able to be reached for a day or two as I approached the body of the dead Demon King and activated [Memory Plunderer].
Orias was a particularly interesting figure whose life should hold even more expansive memories than Gremory because of her unique skills. Her memories should be on the same level of rewards as the skills I gained from her. I prepared my head for the potential pain to come as the red light shined out, and a long film played out before me.
This time around, the pain was not as excruciating as I watched the life of this Demon King without blacking out. The memories were spectacular to say the least, as each Demon King led their own life even though they had similar goals.
This was especially so for Orias, as I watched her do the vilest things in the most spectacular ways. Even more secrets opened themselves up to me as I continued to receive more of the memories. I could feel my excitement bubbling again as they continued to play, already seeing how I could use them to cause extreme mayhem and pandemonium for the demons.
The process lasted a few hours as I gained something even more crucial than the powerful skills I had, and this was not exaggerating. I had to calm myself down as the memories of another being swirled around my head yet again, taking me another two hours before everything settled itself down and I found myself calm again.
A smile bloomed on my face after this as I realized the many different paths I could take, but for now, I would do the one thing that will allow me to move forward. I knew that after the death of Orias, the demons would be backed into a corner by their unknown enemy, with the only smart choice left for them being...retreat.
They would not stupidly rush headfirst into an environment where two of their people fell. This meant that my goal to disrupt the movements of demons in the Beast World had effectively succeeded just by taking out two of them while playing a game that kept them in the dark. My objective for the Beast World was actually achieved this way, propelled forward by many months and arduous battles from the use of the stolen memories, as well as the uniqueness of the System that allowed for the True Death of demons that fell through my hands.
I pulled out a glowing [Plane Crystal] from my storage pouch and added mana into it, watching it float in front of me. These crystals were a unique material that allowed for the smooth transition between worlds and were not necessarily needed to travel across. But simplicity was always good to work with, as much more essence would be required to form a channel otherwise. Not that this was a worry to me. The crystal expanded and struck down into the ground of the Frozen Plateau Spiritual Land, soon forming into a monolith similar to a dungeon.
The monolith was blue in color, and continued to pulsate in a blue light that seemed to signal the arrival of something big. I moved back from this location as I prepared to move to another chapter of my journey, something inexplicably even more exciting than everything I had been experiencing as I watched the monolith grandly shine out before it exploded.
When the light cleared, the air around me trembled as I looked at the new arrival. It was a girl with striking blue eyes and hair as white as snow that appeared.