I'm Here to Burn Them

As the people in Noble Red gradually gathered, Iver, hiding in the priest's house, narrowed his eyes slightly.

There were a bit too many people.

He counted them briefly; there were at least thirty people wearing red robes. They hadn't even fully emerged from the forest yet.

After leaving the forest, these red-robed men restored order without any command whatsoever.

They were only briefly noisy and boisterous upon emerging, driven by excitement, but quickly quieted down and spontaneously formed a spellcaster formation, spaced more than a meter apart. They immediately began casting their rituals, row by row, ensuring that each person had a companion to monitor their surroundings during the process.

Just looking at this sense of order made Iver's heart skip a beat.

—Could this be the elite force of the Noble Red?

The batch sent over when they attacked the Bureau of Supervision seemed quite professional. But they are clearly not as elite as this batch.

Iver did know that the Noble Red did indeed have a regular army within its ranks. However, he didn't know much about it, since the Noble Red hadn't entered the main force.

The Giant Prince Wolfram himself didn't know how to train people... After all, the reason why the giants were able to be defeated by the knights was because the giants had long been accustomed to their own strength, and there was no battle formation or cooperation to speak of; they fought entirely on their own.

However, there were former Sky Knight who had defected from within the Noble Red. He brought the Noble Red a systematic training and command program— Iver had done this side quest and had a slight recollection of it. But he had skipped through the middle part, so he didn't know the specifics.

I only vaguely remember that this person was a student of the Grand Guardian, and then, perhaps out of jealousy or something, feeling that it was unfair, he defected.

At the time, as a player Iver didn't feel anything. But now he truly felt the pressure—

Demon Scholar trained on an army-scale scale are extremely troublesome, even at only the Third Level. After all, Demon Scholar is essentially two units: a demon and a scholar... This means that these Demon Scholar can transform at any time into a spellcaster horde with a large number of fearless front-line meat shields.

The only good news is that the giant leading the team is only a little over three meters tall.

This indicates that either his bloodline is impure, or his level of Path of Strength is low. The latter suggests that he holds a low position in the Giant Kingdom... which means he likely doesn't possess those special, mysterious royal techniques or divine blood.

Iver remembered that the Giant Prince Wolfram was an advanced class of Ritual Mage, Grand Wizard. He truly possessed divine blood and was extremely difficult to deal with.

As the Noble Red Society is led by Demon Scholar, they must have at least one other high-ranking member who is also Demon Scholar.

—If nothing unexpected happens, it should be him.

A pure Demon Scholar is better than a former high-level warrior who also works as a high-level Demon Scholar —although giants are quite tanky, if they also have a high-level melee class, Iver really doesn't know how to deal with them.

Seeing that Iver's brows were furrowed, Lily gently tugged at the corner of his clothes.

"Young Master," Lily whispered, "Should I just go and assassinate him..."

Iver turned around abruptly and looked at Lily in astonishment.

How dare you?

When did Lily become so radical?

"...He's very likely Fifth Level being," he said, his teeth aching. "You'd better be careful. Shadow Fiend might be able to kill him for you, but he might not be able to bring you back..."

Lily hasn't completed Path of Adaptation second advancement ritual to reach the Third Level. Even with the priority bonus from her equipment, it's impossible for her to assassinate a vital Fifth Level Transcendent among a group of regular soldiers and return safely.

Even with the Paradox Flame Butterfly, he wasn't confident he could bring Lily back to life.

"But," Lily frowned, "If we don't take the initiative..."

Through the window, they could see the Demon Scholar setting up some kind of ritual.

They first summoned their own natal demons to their side, and then carefully began to buff themselves.

—Iver recognized it; it was Demon Berserk Ritual.

They first drive the demons mad, making them lose their minds, and then use the power of contracts to enslave them. This is a mysterious technique used to control demons stronger than themselves.

This made Iver somewhat anxious—

What are these people here for? Are they also looking for the Book of Law?

Hopefully, Hai Na and Sherlock can hide and not come looking for them at this time.

Otherwise, given their strength, they would be in trouble if they encountered these Demon Scholar...

But just then, one of the Demon Scholar suddenly saw Iver.

His eyes, still gleaming crimson beneath the red robe, met Iver's gaze.

Iver immediately alarmed and instinctively grabbed Lily and started backing away quickly.

Lily realized something and began to arrange layers of white silk threads in the room.

About two seconds later, a black bolt of lightning, which stretched and contracted like a worm, suddenly shattered the glass and exploded inside the room!

Upon landing, it shattered into countless fragments of black lightning, the corrosive aura of Dark Attribute Mana blasting spiderweb-like purple cracks into the ground and walls. Fortunately, the threads blocked some of it, otherwise it would have splashed onto Iver.

Just as Iver breathed a sigh of relief, another blazing fireball burst through the window.

It shone with a platinum-gold radiance, radiating intense heat. The moment it entered the room, it began to expand violently, and by then it was too late for Iver to summon the Paradox Flame Butterfly.

Iver instinctively turned around and hugged Lily, knocking her to the ground while shouting, "Shadow Fiend!"

The shadow beneath Lily suddenly expanded, and the Shadow Fiend emerged from it, forming a semi-circular shadow shield that blocked them from behind.

The fireball that had entered the living room exploded with a deafening roar, shattering the walls, floor, and even the tables and cabinets! The entire floor shook and trembled. Scorching flames began to spread throughout the room, and thick black smoke charred the walls.

Iver easily identified the two spells.

—These are the Bone Rotting Thunder and Fireball! The former is an armor-piercing ritual spell that can burn through metal armor and penetrate shorter walls and barriers... The ritual materials used are three vertebrae of an old man and the bile of a young girl.

The latter is a classic explosive spell.

Iver was very familiar with the power of the Fireball spell, because Iver's "Explosive" attribute Flame Butterfly was equivalent to a Fireball spell.

However, fireball is a mage's spell, Demon Scholar usually lack Fire Attribute mana, so they cannot cast it. Therefore, it is most likely that his contracted demons launched a coordinated bombardment on his target.

The Shadow Fiend also let out a muffled thud after being hit head-on by the fireball.

It wasn't originally a phantom demon known for its defensive abilities—if it weren't for protecting Iver and Lily, its normal way of hiding would be to retreat into the shadows.

"...I will kill them, Iver!"

The Shadow Fiend let out a deep growl, "It's no use stopping me!"

The flames did no harm to it, but the light emitted when the fireball exploded clearly made the Shadow Fiend uncomfortable. It was roughly equivalent to throwing a ball made of feces at a human's face—not very damaging, but extremely insulting.

Perhaps due to the ongoing Demon Berserk Ritual, Shadow Fiend's aggression has noticeably increased.

"Ah, me too."

Iver narrowed his eyes slightly, a faint purple light flickering within. "I won't stop you..."

He had only glanced at it from afar when he was hit twice by magic... and even finished off with a blow. If he hadn't reacted quickly, he might have been seriously injured.

Iver was initially considering whether to give way.

After all, the Fifth Level is indeed not to be trifled with.

He himself wasn't afraid... but it wouldn't be good if he angered them and caused trouble for Eagle Cape Village.

—But it was only when these Noble Red Demon Scholar launched their attack on him that Iver suddenly realized who they were.

There's a reason they're treated like rats in Avalon. These Demon Scholar have experience massacring villages; in fact, "Big Purple" and his gang had just slaughtered a village before arriving at Glass Island.

To these unscrupulous Demon Scholar, humans are nothing more than walking ritual materials... They have long been accustomed to slaughtering defenseless villages to replenish their ritual supplies. And now, backed by Fifth Level superhumans, they have even fewer scruples.

Iver had always lived on Glass Island. Until the attack on the Bureau of Supervision, and since there had been virtually no major disasters, the Noble Red had always kept a low profile on Glass Island. Therefore, he didn't have any particularly strong feelings about them, nor did he find them particularly terrifying. He simply thought they were a bunch of clowns.

But now, after that fireball, Iver suddenly understood. They never intended to leave any survivors, and it had nothing to do with whether he provoked them or not.

Iver finally realized what the "village massacre" he had only read about in game texts and newspaper articles really meant.

These people are not clowns, but genuine demons.

"...Oh."

A crimson flame gradually ignited in Iver's pupils, the purple within them becoming increasingly bright.

"Fifth Level giant. More than forty regular soldiers at the Third Level or above... That's quite a challenge."

"They're all just scum—"

The Shadow Fiend's increasingly furious and malevolent voice boomed in his mind. "Kill them, Iver! Charge in and kill them!"

"—Quiet, Shadow Fiend."

Iver's icy voice rang out. "Don't order me around. I am your master."

As if by magic, a pure red card appeared out of thin air between the thumb and forefinger of his right hand.

A butterfly pattern is outlined in black lines above, and the butterfly is already eagerly starting to flap its wings.

"—The Paradox Flame Butterfly"

Iver whispered her name: "They've come to kill."

"As you wish, brother."

A clear, ethereal voice echoed in Iver's mind, "I will burn them to a crisp."

Then, flames, like a stream, flowed from the very center of the card—

Update complete!

I'll stick to two updates a day; three updates a day is a bit too much for my health, meow...

Let me recommend a new book by a relatively new author (I guess you're considered a new author) called "My Armed Maid"—I'm really looking forward to it!