Shocked.
That's the only thing that comes to Livrin's mind when he watches Aldrian fight the Duke stage devils. Although they fight inside the barrier and illusion formation created by Aldrian, it can't obstruct his kingly sight and sense. After all, Aldrian's formation isn't enough to block a King stage cultivator.
Initially, the plan to hold off the Duke stages depended solely on Aldrian. Livrin never took it seriously because, as a King stage cultivator, he believed he could handle all the Duke stages and just needed to be vigilant about any hidden tricks they might have.
He wanted to see what made Aldrian so bold as to suggest the crazy idea of fighting many Duke stage cultivators on his own. He was ready to intervene if the situation went wrong because he didn't want anything to happen to the person the imperial family had their eyes on. But what he saw was far beyond his imagination.
"There's no way he is at the Viscount stage, right?" Livrin began to doubt Aldrian's real cultivation level. At first, he couldn't believe Aldrian was only 12 years old, but now he suspected Aldrian had also faked his cultivation level. "The way he battles, he must have a lot of experience. If I had to guess, he's at least peak Duke stage." But he was far from the truth.
He kept his attention on Aldrian while occasionally checking on the others involved in the hunt operation. Every time the Duke stage devils unleashed their techniques to trap Aldrian, he always blocked or evaded them. Now that he fought with his sword, his fighting style was more refined and unpredictable. Every slash and stab he made was deadly and effective.
"What is he? A sword cultivator? But he can use many elements, even spatial laws. There's no way his name hasn't been heard across the entire continent—oh, those devils finally revealed their devil forms."
Livrin saw the devils finally show their devil forms to fight Aldrian, before flying to the northern part of the city to support his men. The battle became more sporadic and intense, destroying the surrounding landscape inside the barrier Aldrian had made.
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Fire ignited in several places, some of it is black flames whose heat could be felt from kilometers away. The ground was marred with numerous slashes and craters, the aftermath of their clash. Residual elemental energy lingered in the air, a testament to the chaotic battle that had taken place.
Despite their numerical advantage, the 12 devils couldn't overwhelm the lone figure standing 500 meters away. Even in their devil forms, they couldn't gain the upper hand. Every time they boosted their power, their adversary seemed to grow stronger too. Their hurried breaths and haggard faces showed their struggle to defeat Aldrian. Realizing they couldn't capture him alive, they decided to kill him to eliminate any witnesses.
But to their frustration, Aldrian didn't appear tired despite facing all of them. There was no sweat or sign of desperation. In fact, a few of the devils had received fatal wounds from Aldrian's surprise teleportation attacks. To them, he was a formidable enemy who seemed to be toying with them. He stood there, sword in hand, with a serene but focused expression, his handsome face betraying no emotion.
"They are truly Duke cultivators." Aldrian thought. "Their experience, tactics, and techniques are refined and effective. I have to admit, because of those factors they've managed to escape my attacks several times, otherwise, they'd be dead by now."
Aldrian had attempted sneak attacks a few times, but the devils had sharp senses and backed each other up, thwarting his efforts. He realized his weakness: he lacked techniques to hold multiple opponents in place simultaneously and a technique with enough destructive power.
As he observed the devils, he noticed they were forming a new strategy. Six of them were creating a giant formation at the back, with two guarding them and the rest attacking Aldrian.
"That looks like a summoning formation," he noted, confused. "What are they trying to summon? With a summoning of that scale, they'll attract attention even though I've sealed this place with a barrier and illusion. Oh they are trying to drop their plan prematurely?" Aldrian read their thought.
In fact, that was exactly what the devils intended. They decided to summon their trump card, a move they had planned to execute years later when their scheme would have a tremendous effect on the elves.
The devils had already decided that their plan was compromised and that the elves had uncovered their scheme in the city. As a result, they decided to initiate their plan prematurely. They divided tasks: some were to inform their kin in the city, while others were to summon their trump card. However, as six of them began the summoning and the others tried to contact their men in the city, what they heard are—
"We are under attack! Argh!—"
"We've been compromised! Arrgh."
"The elves know our position! Ughh."
"We can't contact some of them!"
Their fears that their infiltration had been leaked were confirmed. The sounds of despair and their inability to contact the other devils in the city indicated that the elves had launched an operation to hunt them down tonight. Now, whether they liked it or not, they had to survive the night and cause as much destruction as possible in this part of the city.
"Hold him for a moment. Do whatever you can to prevent him from disrupting our summoning," Arman ordered. He, Dian, Lucy, Diya, Wan Yang, and Louis positioned themselves in a pentagram formation, creating a symbol in the middle to channel their energy. As their energy flowed into the formation, a dim red light began to appear.
Aldrian's face looked focused as he deflected and attacked the others who tried to distract him from the summoning formation, well not really focused because he wasn't entirely focused on the battle. He was also comprehending and creating a new technique, yes While fighting, he multitasked, a feat impossible for others. It was as if he had an innate talent for multitasking, achieving the same results as when he comprehended in silence. For him, it was easy to split his focus and tackle multiple tasks.
He dodged, slashed, blocked, stabbed, and unleashed his techniques, trying to kill at least one of his opponents. The ones who had received fatal wounds earlier had closed their wounds with healing pills and now stood behind the summoning formation, which was unfortunate. But Aldrian didn't despair and kept fighting. He tried to attack the summoners and disrupt the formation several times, but the guards always blocked him.
Aldrian was close to successfully creating his new technique when the summoning formation emitted a bright red light and shot a red pillar of light into the sky. Gradually, a large silhouette appeared within the pillar. Three giant heads with red eyes, a massive body, and a tail emerged into the world. The creature's entire body was nearly a kilometer long, and its aura made the space around it tremble.
The barrier itself rattled with its presence and seemed on the verge of collapsing. The illusion formation that Aldrian had created couldn't withstand the pressure and wavered, allowing people outside the barrier to see what was happening inside.
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At this moment, Livrin was supporting one of the positions opposite to Aldrian. The elves were starting to feel overwhelmed due to their lower cultivation levels, and the surprise attack no longer seemed effective as the devils sensed something was wrong and had prepared for an ambush. Livrin decided to make his move.
Suddenly, he felt an intense aura emanating from Aldrian's direction and saw a massive shadow with three long necks and heads from his position.
"That's…! That's a Hydra!"
Without hesitation, he flew toward Aldrian at his fastest speed. At this moment, people could see the huge monster outside the city wall, its tremendous pressure and aura spreading over a five-kilometer radius. Many people close to the wall watched in terror as the giant three-headed Hydra made its appearance and let out a loud roar.
ROAR!!
The entire city of Balin heard the roar of the Hydra and felt its overwhelming aura. People near the wall began to panic and run. Meanwhile, all the devils in the city who heard the roar realized their existence had been discovered by the locals. They were about to start a mindless massacre, but before they could act, their bodies mysteriously disappeared from their locations. Each remaining devil, untouched by the hunting team, vanished without a trace.
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Aldrian watched as the massive body of the Hydra emerged entirely from the red pillar. Each of its steps made the ground tremble, and each breath exuded heat that could kill a beginner cultivator. The aura and pressure the Hydra emitted could crush anything below the Baron stage.
"Middle King stage Hydra," Aldrian mumbled. How did he know what kind of monster this was? Because in one of the visions he had experienced, he had seen the same monster. That was also confirmed by the information he saw in front of him.
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Three Heads Hydra
Age : 60,067 years
Race : Beast (Hydra)
Cultivation : Middle King
Techniques : Fast Regeneration, Hell Flame Burst, The Hydra's Roar
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"How did they summon a Mid King stage Hydra? Their entire energy wouldn't be enough to summon a Hydra of that caliber, or is it because of that red rock they placed around the formation?" he wondered. He put some distance between himself and the devils, closed his eyes, and sheathed his sword. Focusing on his comprehension, he felt a sense of serenity and fell into a state of deep concentration.
Before he entered this state, Aldrian teleported all the devils in the city who had not yet been reached by the hunters to a location behind the Hydra. Now, hundreds of thousands of devils were gathered in this vast field. The devils, still disoriented from the sudden teleportation, were stunned by their surroundings.
The Duke stage devils were also shocked by the sudden large gathering and looked at Aldrian, who had closed his eyes.
"I don't know how you did it, but gathering all of us here won't change anything! I don't believe you can defeat this Mid King stage Hydra! Even though our mission failed, we will make sure to kill you!" Arman screamed. He had depleted his energy to summon the Hydra and had no energy left to battle, relying on his fellow devils instead.
The Duke devils started retreating from the Hydra, afraid they would be caught in its attack. The Hydra's eyes locked onto the lone figure of Aldrian, and it began to unleash its attack. It gathered black fire in its mouths, preparing to release it upon the seemingly defenseless Aldrian.