Archdemons appear from time to time, and these demons are more powerful and fierce than regular ones.
It's not impossible to defeat these demons with the help of four saints, but Saruman and Leonard's team knew well that this wasn't just any ordinary archdemon; it was also one of the demon statues.
The creature standing before them was one of the rarest beings to have appeared throughout history, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for any saint.
The more fierce and powerful the creature, the greater the rewards extracted from its soul essence.
"Damn you, Leonard! Couldn't you have told us we'd be facing an archdemon?" Park was slightly nervous.
Lamar looked at Leonard and sighed, "You knew this already, but you hid it from us, didn't you?"
Leonard smiled wickedly, "What's wrong? Aren't you excited to smash this grotesque thing to pieces?"
Lamar and Park responded in unison, "Not at all!"
Saruman moved ahead of them, unconcerned. "We'll have a long talk later, Leonard."
Leonard was one of those who had a hobby of collecting soul shards; he was crazy enough not to care if the creature before him was an archdemon or not.
He simply lied to Saruman and his team, exploiting the presence of all the other saints for his own benefit.
When a chaos creature is defeated, a crystal known as a soul shard is extracted. When shattered, its fragments turn into either weapons, armor, or even magical attributes.
Some crystals also contain scrolls or secrets valuable to humanity, so killing a rare creature like an archdemon statue is considered a huge reward.
Leonard knew well that if it were known that the creature to appear was an archdemon, Saruman wouldn't have dealt with it himself but would have sent a letter to one of the three factions of saints to handle it.
But Leonard wanted this soul shard for himself, so he turned to Saruman, with whom he had a shared past.
And Saruman did not object when he realized this because he wanted to tear that thing apart himself as well.
"Hey, Park, get ready," Lamar called out to Park.
At that moment, the statue's sword swiftly moved toward Park's neck.
But with his titanium-reinforced hand, Park simply grabbed the sword and deflected it to his left.
Park smiled excitedly, "Take this, you ugly thing!" He then lifted his leg and kicked the statue's chin hard, sending it flying backward.
The statue plunged its sword into the ground to reduce its momentum by friction against the ground's surface.
Then the statue lifted its head, only to find Lamar's scythe blade right in front of its eyes.
Lamar's scythe collided forcefully with the statue's head, but it was so thick that it only caused a slight scratch.
"Tch, it's tough," Lamar muttered as she gracefully leaped backward.
The demon quickly raised its sword from the ground and swiftly advanced toward Lamar, swinging its sword with great force, sending powerful sparks flying and resonating in all directions.
But Leonard moved with insane speed in front of his sister, like a whirlwind, blocking all those sparks.
He maneuvered his sword, moving it left and right to fend off each spark emanating from the statue's sword.
Then Saruman, who appeared to be hovering in the air, said, "Move away from here."
At that moment, everyone quickly moved out of Saruman's range, who was now floating above the statue's head.
The statue, with its crimson red eyes, stared up at Saruman, who was now above it.
Saruman gripped the katana with both hands, unleashing a massive amount of purple liquid from its blade.
He then delivered a powerful horizontal slash above the statue's head, sending a crescent of energy imbued with the purple liquid crashing down, causing a massive explosion on the ground's surface.
The force of the impact caused the ground to shake and tremble, causing the creature, now covered in the purple liquid, to stagger.
"Follow me, Park," Lamar called out as she was already moving toward the creature.
Lamar didn't give it a chance; right after Saruman's powerful strike, she rushed in with insane speed, striking the creature multiple times with her scythe. The creature tried to block each of her strikes with its sword.
But Park was sliding across the ground like on a skateboard, grabbing the statue's left leg and pulling it hard, causing it to flip onto its stomach.
"Now's your chance, Leonard!" Park shouted loudly.
In that instant, Leonard moved with insane speed like a ghost from the right side, leaping onto the statue's now-exposed back and driving his swords into it forcefully.
The demon bent its body backward to see the swords embedded in its back.
From its stone body, red steam began to emerge.
Leonard looked at the rising smoke, "Damn it, get out of here quickly!" He pulled his swords out quickly, leaped back, and started running as far away as possible.
Everyone did the same, and then the ground began to shake and tremble violently.
The place became foggy from the thick smoke rising.
Suddenly, a large crack appeared in the city walls. "Damn it, the walls are going to collapse," Park cursed as he ran quickly.
Jennifer, Orosawa, Victor, Sumo, and the rest of the three saints were watching anxiously as the top of the walls became shrouded in thick smoke like fog.
At that moment, the city walls began to crumble, and sections of the wall started to collapse.
"Damn it, I have to get out of here," Somo cursed, slinging his bow over his back and starting to run, as he was close to the walls.
The city walls began to fall on the heads of many golems, some of whom started running.
The stampede of hundreds of golems created even more resonant sounds, causing the ground to shake.
"Shit, fuck, shit, shit, goddamit." Jennifer was running, jumping over the golems' heads, ignoring them to avoid the falling stones from the walls.
The walls collapsed, and a pile of stones fell on the city, turning the place into a massive expanse of dust and debris.
Like fog, the place turned into a vast expanse of dust.
Saint Victor was bleeding from his right leg, struck by a shard of stone.
He stood before the body of one of the saints, whose skull had been shattered by the falling stones. The saint's name was Lago.
Victor frowned, saying, "I pray for mercy on your kind soul."
No one knew the fate of the others; the area had become shrouded in fog, and everyone was scattered.
The archdemon statue was now like a ghost, unseen by anyone, ready to pounce on everyone at any moment.
Moreover, everyone was now on the same level as the ground, where dozens of remaining golems were present.
Everyone was in danger of death in an instant, and no one could help anyone else....