1597
The Return of the Demon King. Domain Activated!
A large ark floating on the North Sea…
The people guarding this s.h.i.+p were anxious until they received news from the task force that the so-called energy signatures they had detected were just from the Demon King’s revival chamber starting up again, and that there were no signs of the Demon King or a Demonic Dragon awakening.
Everyone cheered, hot tears rolling down their cheeks in a flood of emotions. At this very moment, none of them seemed to care just where the awakened demons had gone. Their only concern was the return of Nikai.
!!
Clement did not partic.i.p.ate in the celebration on the deck, nor did he care about Nikai’s return. As an energy signature specialist from the Subduing Demon City, Clement’s personality was somewhat strange, and would usually be found hunched over a pile of crystals and complex machinery all year round. His face would be expressionless when talking to anyone, and he was not picky with his food while dressing in cheap cotton apparel. Whether he was eating roast meat or polenta, all that mattered to him was that he had his fill.
In any case, Clement was a typical technology specialist. Though his pay was not low, a lot of his salary was consumed by his need to buy various crystals and machinery. His home even had a multifunctional machine tool, and when some parts he was using were not working well, he would just make a new batch on his own!
He could hear a chittering from the monitoring earphone, the sound coming from the deep sea at a relatively far distance. At the moment he could not make out clearly what was on the other end, but Clement patiently adjusted the frequency of the signal receiver and checked the amplitude, trying to figure out just what the sound was.
The harder it was to make sense of, the more interested Clement became. In the end, he pulled out his ultimate move; amplifiers, filters, harmonics, and frequency dispersal recombiners galore! There were even plenty of other machines that normal people could not name now connected!
*Roar!*
A loud roar came through the earphone, and that finally gave Clement a fright. He could feel an ominous feeling welling up inside him as he hurried to check the data being spewed out by the harmonics recombiner.
That was when this sound suddenly became crisp and enormous. It was rapidly approaching and closing in the distance between itself and Clement in an extremely short time span. For every tenth of the distance, the sound was amplified fivefold!
The rapid volume increase almost shattered Clement’s eardrums. He quickly took off his earphones and rubbed his red hot ears, feeling a ma.s.sive headache rocking his brain.
“That sounds like… a Dragon!”
Clement’s heart was thumping hard as he saw two glowing dots on the screen of the deep sea scanner quickly closing in. They were layered on top of one another, like there was one lifeform riding on the back of another. Furthermore, the sound one of them made was a 99% match to that of a Demonic Dragon.
One second, two seconds, three…
Just as Clement was shocked by what he discovered, the two glowing dots went speeding toward the Demon Palace at startling speed!
All of a sudden, Clement recalled that the task force and Nikai were still in the Demon Palace. His mouth hung agape from shock as the color drained from his face. He pushed away the scanner in front of him and went rus.h.i.+ng toward the deck.
…
“What? Something’s coming back?”
“How fast do you mean by ‘really fast’?”
“They have already entered the Demon Palace interior?”
“Speak! Speak up!”
—
“Why have we suddenly lost the connection?”
General Dresden, who had been happily forging ahead to save Nikai, took off his earpiece and shook it vigorously, but all he heard was static.
Everyone had ugly expressions on their faces. From what they had heard from the headquarters, there seemed to be something headed straight for the Demon Palace! HQ had given them a warning, telling the warriors still in the Demon Palace to be cautious.
“General, look!” Christopher held out his portable scanner with a shocked look. On the display screen of the scanner was a strange straight line. A normal signal would have shown a regular wave fluctuation instead.
“Energy distribution has reached its highest, and no matter which direction you point the scanner toward, the energy signature could be picked up. I do believe this should be the sign that a Domain is rising!” Christopher said, his face pale with fear.
A Domain?!
The warriors could feel their hairs stand on end. Thinking back to the warning they just received from headquarters, the two unknown figures that were making a beeline for them, with a Domain opening and the Demon Palace sealed… This might very well be the return of the legendary Demon King!
The owner of the Demon Palace had returned, and he had ordered the Demon Palace to activate the Domain that would only be used when at war!
The many energy fields in Subduing Demon City worked to prevent the demon forces from besieging it, and the Demon Palace also similarly had such defensive Domains. It was definitely not the ordinary White Bone Regiment that had activated this Domain, so it would have to be at least be the Demon King or his mount that had done so!
—
Beyond the Demon Palace…
At that moment, in the middle of the dark and murky abyssal waters, a transparent and powerful barrier was being erected around the place, essentially separating the palace from the sea at large. The raiders were all still in the Demon Palace, while the bulk of their army was outside the palace. Everyone could not help but break out in cold sweat just imagining the scene.
This was the worst case scenario possible! Within the demon race’s Domain, demonic energy ran rampant, which would have a strengthening effect on the White Bone Regiment and any other demonic creatures. Meanwhile, humans would experience unbearable pain while under the effect of demonic energy. After all, every warrior from the Subduing Demon Army also had the blood of the Demons coursing through their veins. Only the most powerful among them could slightly resist the pressure demonic energy exerted on them, While in this Domain, their enemies would become stronger, while they would instead become weaker and weaker!
In just a few seconds, everyone could feel it. It was a chill that seeped into their bones, pa.s.sing through their pores and into their bodies. With the Domain activated, the Demon King had returned. That was how the Demonic Domain suppression began to affect them!
In no time at all, the warriors with inferior bloodlines would begin to lose their senses and no longer be able to resist.
“What’s there to be afraid of! We are the descendents of the Demonslayer Clan! Our ancestors once vanquished the Demon King, and we can do the same again! Stick close to me and we’ll forge ahead together!” General Dresden ordered firmly, raising his muscular right arm and ordered firmly.
With that, they continued along the way. The air was growing hotter and hotter, but their bodies, because they were being suppressed by the Demonic Energy, were gradually dropping in temperature.
…
“I say, you could not have actually fallen for Nikai, right? Otherwise, given your temper, you ought to be grabbing that old man Dresden by his neck already, viciously giving him a good defanging,” Traveling Buddha suddenly blurted out with his arms crossed while Xia Fan was inspecting the underground nuclear reactor.
“I don’t even know the person, so how could I have fallen for her?” Xia Fan answered from below.
“Then why are you willing to accept everything he ordered of you?”
“It’s very simple! It is because my father said he was sending me to Subduing Demon City to learn, and I could go look for him and my elder brother once I’m done here. That is why I’m being more tolerant about everything right now. After all, the Awakening cla.s.s in Fulmar City had been very effective. Now that I have the Beast King Records, I no longer have to fear demonic beasts of any sorts. Of course, I still have to be careful if I were to encounter any Dragon or Yggdragon, since the Dragon bloodline is too high a grade and I have no way of controlling them.”
Traveling Buddha showed an expression of comprehension. “So that’s the case! Even though when we’re talking you’d often mention how irresponsible your father is, not choosing to see his son when he’s just right in front of him, opting instead to busy himself with fighting, sounding very much like you’re complaining about him! In actual fact, his words still weighed heavily on you. Your father allowed you to learn in Subduing Demon City, and you truly intend to properly learn everything you can while you’re here.”
“Do you think so? What else could I do, anyway? I’m not fast enough, and if I don’t master some impressive moves, there’s no way I could hang around with the rest of my clan, even if I was accepted back,” Xia Fan said.
“Tsk!” Traveling Buddha waved his hand dismissively. “I refuse to listen to what my father tells me. He wants me to go east, then I’ll definitely head west. In any case, I’ll do exactly the opposite of everything he wants of me!”
Xia Fan sighed back to him. “That’s because you have had a father since you were young, so you don’t really cherish him. Can I compare to you? I’m in my early twenties, yet I’ve yet to catch a glimpse of my real family at all.
“Right now I just want to properly learn what I can. I’ve already made my mark out in Ashen Moon, so now I’ll let others take the spotlight. With how strong the Skywing Clan is, I’ll be very satisfied if I don’t lose any face for my father and my elder brother,” Xia Fan said.
Traveling Buddha regarded Xia Fan with a sympathetic gaze. “That’s true. Being born in a fairly remarkable clan isn’t necessarily a good thing. This is something I’ve known since young. In order for my clan not to lose face, I’ve spend many days and nights studying and training, which is why I hate my father so much.
“And you’re even worse off than me! Your family had been asked by the Demon Subduer Legion to deal with the Demons running wild in the Middle Realm. Those ancestors from your clan definitely have mine beat!
“Thinking about it, this world of ours sure is amazing. The ancestors of my clan were literally beaten up by the ancestors from your clan, yet here we are, best friends with each other!”
Xia Fan lifted his head up and flashed him his standard, radiant smile, “No, we’re sworn brothers!”
“That’s right! Best bros! I feel that my relations.h.i.+p with my real brother isn’t as close as mine with you!” Traveling Buddha laughed.
Actually, they were not in some secret society, so it was quite silly to call each other sworn brothers like that, but neither of them minded.
All of a sudden, Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha both raised their heads at the same time, suspicion filling their eyes. When the Demonic Domain rose, the Demonic Energy inside the Demon Palace quickly became even more potent, and both men could feel the changes happening outside.
“What happened? Something seems amiss!” Traveling Buddha looked around their surroundings.
“The environment has changed. The demonic energy in this place is growing stronger.” Xia Fan knit his eyebrows together and then took a deep breath, taking in a lungful of the smells inside the Demon Palace.