Second World

"How the heck does an eternal grade demon appear?! I thought the portal is already half-closed and should not be able to support such a powerful demon?" Jack asked.

"Underworld demons are different from the demons you encountered in the wilderness. They need corrupted mana to survive," Peniel explained. "That portal oozes corrupted mana into this world that allows the underworld demons to exist in this world. Under normal circumstances, there shouldn't be enough corrupted mana to support such a powerful underworld demon."

"F*ck! This quest should have been an SSS difficulty if there is an eternal opponent," Jack cursed. At the same time, he asked Peniel telepathically, "I suppose this dome blocks Goddess Serenity from sensing what happened here?"

"Yes," Peniel replied.

"We brought this upon ourselves," Arlcard said with a solemn face.

Alfredo nodded. "When we killed all the demons inside this space, it created a vacuum. That archdemon must have been waiting behind the portal all this time. When it sensed this vacuum, it claimed all the corrupted mana for its own. This allows it to cross through the realm. This is bad. I doubt this sealing dome will be strong enough to contain this archdemon. If it breaks through the seal, it can destroy the rune diagram that is closing the portal. Undoing all the work and allowing the portal to enlarge again."

"Then we keep it here," Jack said.

"How do we do that? That is a bloody eternal-grade monster," Jonathan said.

Jack didn't explain. Instead, he asked Arlcard, "Arlcard, can you hold it for a while?"

"… Maybe," Arlcard replied.

"Okay. Do that, please," Jack said. "The three of you stay back. Arlcard and I will engage that archdemon. Duke and Dimitri, support us with your spells and bolts. Jonathan, you protect them in case the archdemon gets past us."

"Get past? I say it will have no problem getting past all of us," Jonathan grumbled.

The archdemon just stood there and looked around. As if not seeing the five enemies before it. It then lifted its arm and pointed a finger in a direction. A rune symbol appeared on the tip of its finger and a thin laser beam shot out. The laser beam hit the wall of the dome.

At first, nothing happened. But then the dome started shaking heavily. Runic symbols appeared around the part where the laser beam was hitting. It was as if they were trying to fight off the intrusion caused by the beam.

Slowly, a hole was formed where the beam hit the black dome. It was as if the dome's wall was a paper being burned by fire. Through that hole, Jack and the others could see the outside. They even heard the panicked voices of the mages outside.

"Shit! Arlcard, stop him!" Jack yelled and rushed forward.

"Now that it burnt a hole, you can go get attacked by it if you want to try calling Goddess Serenity," Peniel said to Jack while he rushed forward.

"No. I can't keep on relying on the Goddess. Also, I'm not without a way out yet," Jack replied.

Jack summoned his spirit weapon, ten wolves, and Ice Demon Fiend. He also activated Gold Scale Armor, Life Burning Art, and Strength of the Wild. He then cast Barrier and Time Domain.

The wolves and Ice Demon Fiend rushed toward the archdemon while the spirit weapon opened fire using its range mode.

The archdemon looked at the wolves and Ice Demon Fiend coming its way. It didn't retract his hand that was firing the laser beam. It waved its other free hand. A firewall appeared before it and moved outward. The firewall wave washed over the ten wolves.

Struck by the firewall, the wolves tumbled back while being burnt. The firewall took out more than half of the wolves' HP on impact. The burning damage devoured the wolves' remaining HP in a short time.

The Ice Demon Fiend jumped over the firewall wave. Jack used his Beast Form. He and Arlcard flew over the wave. The firewall wave continued without any sign of stopping, toward the other three natives behind.

"Get behind me!" Duke Alfredo shouted. His two hands formed different spell formations. He was dual casting.

His spell formations were completed before the firewall wave arrived. Earth Wall and Magic Wall were erected in layers before them.

The firewall wave hit the magic wall. It trembled heavily before being obliterated. The wave then hit the earth wall. The earth wall managed to finally stop the wave but it also crumbled and the residual energy continued onward.

Duke Alfredo cast Barrier when his walls resisted the firewall wave. He also put Magic Shield forward, but both of them were destroyed when getting into contact with the residual wave. He received damage but not much due to his protective spells.

Jack sent the Ice Demon Fiend first to distract the archdemon. The archdemon didn't seem to react when the Ice Demon Fiend came near. It simply looked at the Ice Demon Fiend with its black pupilless eyes. It glinted an eerie black and the Ice Demon Fiend paused its movement.

"Oh no," Peniel uttered.

"What is it? Some kind of a petrifying gaze again?" Jack asked.

"No. Some powerful demon has the ability to control other demons."

"What?!"

Peniel's fear was proven true when the Ice Demon Fiend suddenly turned back and fired its ice beam at Jack.

"Shit!" Jack used Shooting Dash and escaped the beam's path before it hit.

Jack tried to unsummon the ice demon fiend but failed. It was now an enemy.

"Crap! I wasted mana core and give an enemy a helper instead," Jack cursed.

The ice demon fiend was about to attack again, but a bolt struck its shoulder. Metal chains burst out from the point of impact and entangled the demon. The bolt was shot from Dimitri's crossbow using a skill, Lock Shot.

The skill simply restricted the demon's movement. It didn't prevent it from using skills. It used its ultimate skill, the Ice Spear Rain.

Countless ice spears rained from above, targeting everyone including Dimitri who just shot at it.

"Let me!" Jonathan shouted and used Hurricane Punishing Cyclone. His body spun with blinding speed. His spinning conjured a twister that knocked all the ice spears away, preventing them from hitting Alfredo and Dimitri.

Jack used his burst sword art to knock all the ice spears away while advancing toward the archdemon. He didn't want to waste his time fighting the ice demon fiend. The archdemon was still burning the dome's wall. The hole was getting larger as time passed.

Arlcard was the first to arrive before the archdemon. He brandished his crimson-blade rapier, which was now longer. It was also coated with dark flame.

He swung and uncountable dark flashes appeared around the archdemon. The archdemon lifted his free hand, which had grown larger and was coated with black smoke. It made a simple swing. All the dark flashes shattered like they were tangible things.

Arlcard was sent flying back with damage numbers.

'This is close enough!' Jack thought and took something out of his inventory. He used that item on the archdemon.