The next day.
Darkness Valley.
The four solo Heroes infiltrated in.
They didn't try to break through the heavily guarded Darkness Canyon.
Instead, they traversed the perilous mountains to get into the Valley.
"Hehe."
"The geography was dangerous indeed."
"However, it wasn't enough to stop us."
The orc shaman let out a breath of relief. They have finally managed to get in, which was not an easy task.
The wing-kin assassin Jin Ying spoke, "Actually, there's no need for you guys to come as well. It's just killing a sealed elf after all. If I was acting on my own, then this quest would have already been completed some time ago!"
"Hah. After spending so much effort to get in, are we seriously just here to kill that elf?"
The troll alchemist Peng Sihai turned to look toward a certain direction.
"Wang Gang, what do you think?"
This fire god orc is the strongest one among them.
Wang Gang pulled up his fire red greatsword and spoke, "The Demon King of Darkness Valley is a dragon. Have any of you killed a Demon King like this before?"
The other three smiled knowingly.
"LIke hell. Never mind killing one, we haven't even ever seen one before!"
The elven First Elder had emphasized over and over that they're only to rescue the elven city lord, and to not provoke the Demon KIng.
The Heroes completely ignored those worlds.
They didn't even have any consideration toward the elf First Elder.
Can a Hero who doesn't kill Demon Kings even be called a Hero anymore?
How much rewards would a dragon Demon King yield?
If they could kill him, then even if they can't shoot to the top in one go, their powers will at least explosively increase!
It would be worth more than killing 20 normal mob Demon Kings combined!
If they're lucky enough and, after killing the Demon King, they managed to get one or more of the dragon Demon King's Talents, then they could basically take flight on the spot.
Can any Hero resist such temptations?
Wang Gang spoke up, "Based on the information that I have, this dragon Demon King is indeed very strong. He's even capable of taking on a level 3 Lord in single combat. If we were acting along, then it would indeed be necessary to be careful and properly gauge things first, but right now..."
"The four of us are working together. That's more than enough to take him on!"
Li Dingnan spoke, "I agree. At this current progress, there's no way there could be any Demon King that can take on the four of us working together. Rather than just more than enough, it might be more accurate to call it a cakewalk!"
"This is the heavens handing us a magnificent gift. Refusing such a gift is practically a sin. We're definitely killing this Demon King!"
"I agree as well!"
"What's the point of coming all this way if we're not killing the Demon King?"
"Wang Gang's Blessing of the Fire God greatly increases his fire elemental attack and gives him unbelievably powerful fire resistance. That's perfect to counter a dragon!'
"..."
"Since everyone is in agreement, then it's decided!"
"We'll locate the target first!"
The four of them have reached an agreement.
Jin Ying swept his gaze at the scene before them, "The Valley is full of magical fog, so the Demon King probably has a Tower of Fog. This will cause us quite a bit of problems."
The magical fog only works against outsiders, so it would greatly increase the dangers to the Heroes' operation.
The troll alchemist Peng Sihai brought out a potion, "Have no worries. This is a potion of True Seeing. So long as you paint some on yourselves, you can temporarily prevent the fog from affecting you."
The four of them applied the potion, and a great deal of fog had indeed vanished from their sight.
"Potions of True Seeing are relatively expensive, so I didn't prepare that much. Therefore, we need to hurry up, so as to not fall under the effect of the magical fog again."
After saying so, he brought out two different potions.
One is a stealth potion. This potion can cover up the user's scent, heat, sounds, and even signs of light, making it so that the Demon King's minions will have far harder time detecting the user.
The other is an invisibility potion. After drinking it, the user will be completely invisible for a certain period of time, completely shielding them from sight.
The four of them first used the stealth option and quickly did some scouting of the nearby area.
Thus, they discovered a prosperous place.
"This is..."
It's none other than the Demon King's farm.
Only, its size is extremely exaggerated.
Thousands of goblins were wearing straw hats while working in the farm on bare feet. A great number of minotaur priests and other minotaurs were assisting them, and also present was a division of several hundred draconian soldiers standing guard.
A new village was located near the farm.
That village is full of neat wooden houses. Old goblins and goblin children lived within without worries.
The Heroes determined based on their experiences that those goblins aren't summoned units, rather they're native units who surrendered and were made vassals.
They've never seen a Demon King who dared to accept so many vassal units, never mind keeping them all in the center of their power. That's just far too risky!
Beside the issue of the loyalty value, the biggest problem is that this makes it easy for a Hero to sneak in.
That's why, for the vast majority of Demon Kings, whenever they conquer a village or tribe, their most common action would be to just purge and slaughter all the natives. Not only does this remove all risk, it also gains them gold as well.
"Not here!"
Wang Gang's detection crystal showed no responses, meaning that the elf city lord isn't being held here.
The elf city lord is an extremely important hostage, so there's no way that the Demon King would just toss them wherever and forget about them. He would definitely instead situate her in the center of his power.
The orc shaman Li Dingnan couldn't resist muttering though, "So many vassal units and hundreds of elite warriors, yet this still isn't the core of his territory. Just how many subordinates does this Demon King have!"
The vast majority of Demon Kings that they've dealt with in the past were merely level 1 mob Demon Kings.
The goblin village and goblin farm is just the Darkness Valley's production area, but it's already enough to utterly crush the entire territories of those Demon Kings.
The Heroes just got more excited though.
The reward from killing a Demon King depends on both the personal power of the Demon King as well as the size of their territory and the number of their subordinates!
The bigger the territory, the more rewards that will be generated!
This is an extremely rich opportunity for them!
After finally arriving at the central area of the Darkness Valley, the four Heroes were utterly stunned. The Darkness City is already over half complete, with thousands of draconians, minotaurs and skeleton soldiers swarming everywhere. It was an awe inspiring scene!
That's way too much!
Although they did their best to estimate upwards, the territory was still far beyond what they had imagined!
The Demon King's directly summoned units and his vassal units have probably already broken through 10,000 in total. This is something completely unprecedented.
The four Heroes realized. The Demon Kings that the four of them have killed before might not be able to compare against this Demon King even if they were all put together.
This Demon King's forces are rather beyond what common sense should dictate!
"Found it! She's inside the Demon King Castle!"
This provoked a slight reaction from the other three Heroes.
Only now did they finally notice the existence of the Demon King Castle.
The Demon King Castle is the Demon King's home base. Heroes will be weakened after entering the castle, whereas the Demon King's strength will increase while within the Castle. It would thus greatly increase the challenge difficulty!
That said, after coming all this way, just who could bear to just give up now.
There's no more chances if they miss this opportunity.
There's no way that they'll be able to find a second Demon King like this one.
Hmph, so what if there's a Castle? There's no way that the Demon King could stop them!
"Let's go!"
They drank the invisibility potions and directly headed to the Castle.
The orc shaman casted a spell, "Mind control!'
The Demon King Castle's guards are high soldiers. Although they're level 2 Elites, when taken by surprise, there's obviously no way that they'd be able to resist a level 3 pseudo Lord's mental attack. Thus, their eyes turned dull.
"Open the gate!"
The four Heroes stepped into the Castle.
They could clearly feel that the moment they entered, their powers were immediately suppressed.
"Everything went smoothly!"
"What's the next step?"
"Do we directly search out the Demon King, or should we instead follow the guide to find the elf city lord?"
Wang Gang replied, "Get the elf city lord first. She's a very important piece for the Demon King."
"If we can find her and take her hostage, then the Demon King would hold back. After all, the elf city lord is useful for him, so he wouldn't want to just randomly kill her."
When the other three heard that, they felt this strategy was brilliant.
"Hahaha!"
"A reverse kidnapping and hostage situation!"
"As expected of you, Wang Gang. Your moves are just too much!"
"Use the Demon King's hostage to instead threaten the Demon King. Nice one, I like it!"
The four Heroes moved invisibly and, through use of potions or mental hypnosis, managed to successfully pass through one checkpoint after another.
In the end, they finally arrived before a certain room.
The elf city lord is inside that room.
They exchanged a glance. Everything went smoothly so far, so they immediately pushed the door open. However, at that moment, a magical eyeball suddenly opened up from the wall right behind them.
The Heroes' idea was indeed pretty good.
The young city lord is indeed a very important hostage for the Demon King.
Not only can she be used to extort Giantree City now, in the future, she can also be used to control Giantree City or even the entire elven race.
Thus, how could Zhang Nu not pay a great deal of attention to such an important hostage?
Zhang Nu had placed a high number of Eyes of Detection nearby to monitor the area.
It's one thing if those Heroes had shown up anywhere else, but the moment they showed up near where Nancilia is, the Demon King would notice for certain.
At this moment.
In the Demon King's throne room.
Zhang Nu is currently sitting on the altar.
He clearly saw the four Heroes sneaking about.
"Be it the Darkness Valley or the Demon King Castle, both are well guarded and patrolled. The fact that those Heroes were able to get in means that they really are no ordinary individuals."
Since the Eyes of Detection are a kind of indirect observation, Zhang Nu was unable to see their appraisal information.
That said, given the evidence, he estimated them to at least be around the strength of a level 3.
This is around the same level as the guildmaster of the Ironblooded Heroes, Du Mingfeng.
Plus, they're extremely experienced in dealing with Demon Kings. Otherwise, there's no way that they'd have been able to infiltrate this far.
"It looks like I really am going to have to increase security. Otherwise, getting mice sneaking in every couple of days will end up being quite a headache."
As for how to deal with the four of them here?
Zhang Nu stood up from his Demon King Altar, and a powerful aura immediately enveloped the entire room, making the draconian generals, draconian priest, and draconian soldiers all unconsciously kneel down and avert their eyes.
"High quality souls, delivered right to my door. Since you're being so generous, I'll go ahead and receive it with a smile."
Heroes of that level would definitely not be some nameless mobs. Their abilities will definitely be quite abundant, which made Zhang Nu feel a sense of expectation.
He had just leveled up to level 3, so it's only natural that he'd want to try it out and see just how strong he really is.