Man on the ark, forced to become king

Everyone knew that the Demon King had no intention of letting them leave.

Many people began to regret that if they had known the Demon King was so outrageous, they would have done the same as their comrades who had not left the legion to try to stabilize the chaos in the formation. After all, there were only a few enemies and the entire legion had tens of thousands of people. Even if they relied on sheer numbers to hold out for a long time, they could have done so.

Now that they've run out, they've run straight into the Demon King; escape is impossible now.

"Humph."

The black-armored warrior floated in the air above his head, holding a greatsword in one arm. Theresa narrowed her eyes, staring intently at the small group that was independent of the entire legion, a cold smile playing on her lips.

You've offended the Demon King and you still want to run away?

You were beating her so hard just now, now it's her turn!

She didn't use the suicidal mental burst. Supported by the golden power, she quickly recovered from her near-exhaustion. Although she was still not at her peak, it was enough to deal with these guys!

The current situation is undoubtedly much better than she had anticipated. At least, they achieved a remarkable result that would be considered outstanding even in the distant past, without relying entirely on Lin Lu's strength.

Although Ursus still had tens of thousands of troops, a disorganized legion was left with only its numerical advantage.

While she may not have the ability to kill these people and annihilate the entire legion, she can at least keep them here!

The offensive and defensive situations are easy!

If they can hold out until Kazdel's main force arrives, none of these people will be able to escape.

Now, let's collect some interest in advance...

Theresa felt a surge of joy. She crossed her arms, and a black-armored warrior with only one arm appearing above her head, wielding a greatsword. The massive blade swatted at Wendigo and the war sorcerers as if swatting a mosquito.

Such an attack would probably be ineffective against the physically powerful mixed-race Wendigo, but it was violent, satisfying, and sufficiently intimidating.

Faced with the massive, black sword that seemed to be collapsing and crushing down like a towering building, the officers who had just escaped from the chaotic army formation seeking refuge turned ashen-faced and nearly fled.

However, they could only think about it, not do it, because as soon as such a thought emerged, a massive energy, as if it were a tangible force, locked up a large area around them. Under such circumstances, any abnormal movement could break the extremely fragile balance, trigger an energy rampage, and bury them all here.

"—Target identified: Kazdel Demon Lord, extremely dangerous."

Faced with the massive sword hurtling towards them, the war sorcerers, who had remained silent and clad in their armor, stepped forward in unison and uttered the same words.

The sound, filled with a strong mechanical quality, seemed incredibly strange at this moment, even drowning out the oppressive feeling of the approaching giant sword.

"Conditions met, final agreement unlocked."

"Initiate the destruction program."

"For the great Ursus Empire!"

hum!

Visible black and red ripples spread from their bodies, and the armor covering their bodies slowly melted and flowed like candy under high temperature, revealing the true face beneath the armor.

The war mage's true appearance was unexpected by everyone. Even Theresa, who noticed the anomaly and looked over, was stunned and paused for a moment as she slowly swung her greatsword down with a playful attitude.

Beneath that tightly wrapped armor was a shell made of orange-black crystals. The tiny crystals condensed together to form a human-shaped image, but apart from that, there was nothing else that resembled a 'human'.

Rather than calling them human, it would be more accurate to say that the so-called war mages are a group of humanoid puppets constructed from Originium.

On the body, which is entirely made of Originium particles, the place where the heart should be is inlaid with a red crystal of a different color from the rest of the body. Through the translucent crystal body, fine red lines can be seen spreading from the red crystal to the entire body, and a faint light rhythmically pulsates within it, like a beating heart.

They have no eyes, but they can still see.

They didn't produce results, but they can still make a voice heard.

Despite being a rigid and inflexible crystalline joint, it is no different from that of an ordinary person.

'Perhaps these things have transcended human understanding and could be called Originium life forms?'

A thought flashed through Theresa's mind, and she felt inexplicably strange.

In terms of expertise in Originium, Kazdel should be ahead of all nations, even though they have declined due to civil war. But when did Ursus acquire such advanced technology so quietly?

You know, war mages have existed for a very long time...

However, no information about this mysterious unit, which is used in large-scale wars and special battles under extreme circumstances, had been leaked before, so people's understanding of them was still limited to the concept of "mages who rely on arcane methods to burn their life force to obtain powerful spells".

I never expected it to be something like this?

Ursus mastered the technology to merge humans with Originium many years ago?

Or is it, like those internal guards, an alternative method adopted because the true inheritance of the older generation could not be continued, and a relatively new technology in recent years?

Theresa couldn't tell, but one thing was certain—these Originium-incarnations were very powerful, and they had activated something that sounded ominous.

Destruction program?

You can roughly guess what it's used for just by hearing its name.

However, she wasn't too flustered, partly because she had plenty of confidence in her abilities.

On the other hand, even if she crashes and burns for some reason, there are powerful figures who can back her up, so there's nothing to be afraid of.

Moreover, even if that destructive mode is indeed very powerful and beyond her ability to cope, she could simply avoid a direct confrontation and run away.

There are no of her subordinates or troops here at all; they are all Ursus people. What is there to be afraid of?

No matter how powerful the destruction, she will only destroy herself after she runs away.

The war mages, whose true forms have been revealed, clearly do not care what others think or think. Perhaps in this state, they have long lost human thought and emotion, and can only act according to rigid and inflexible fixed patterns.

The melting armor connected their legs to the ground, solidifying into a base-like structure. Brighter ripples spread out in concentric circles, colliding and merging with each other. Suddenly, the air seemed to be affected by some invisible force, becoming unusually viscous.

Theresa's greatsword, which she slammed down again, seemed to be thrown into semi-solidified syrup, moving slowly for a short distance before coming to a complete stop.

The movements of the mixed-race Wendigo and the officers beside the war sorcerer also seemed to be in slow motion, becoming incredibly sluggish. One could clearly see the officers' expressions change from bewilderment to fear.

Destruction, pure and simple destruction, indiscriminately including Wendigos and Legion officers who were his comrades in the destruction.

The next second, the black and red ripples spread rapidly, enveloping an area with a radius of hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye. The heavy, viscous feeling caused everything affected to slow down, even Theresa, who had activated the power of the Demon King.

The Demon King's power was no match for this strange spell with unknown principles. It seemed that the only way to break free was through brute force. She could move more nimbly than ordinary soldiers, but that was all. In this semi-solidified area, spells were completely unusable, like a vast forbidden magic domain. Her previous idea of ​​escaping remained just a thought and could not be put into practice.

Theresa blinked, and sadly realized that she seemed to have fallen victim to it yet again!

Why is she always the one being persecuted today?

This is a very upsetting thing.

However, the worst was just beginning.

As fine and dense as blood vessels, veins extended from the war mages, rapidly expanding within the stagnant domain and occupying most of the space.

An orange-black halo spread out from the veins and flowed into the condensed air.

It was as if this vast area, with a diameter of a kilometer, was about to be transformed into a giant source stone!

This is something that magic can't do!

The ability to solidify everything in an entire space into Originium crystals is simply unimaginable, and what's most terrifying is that it might only be the beginning.

What happens after the conversion is complete?

Is the crystal stable after the transformation is complete?

The unchecked spread of Originium crystals was no different from a bomb about to explode.

If such a massive crystal were to explode, it might blow up most of the city!

The extent to which the pollution will spread is unknown, and the consequences could be even more devastating than the aftermath of a natural disaster.

That's true destruction?!

Chapter Thirty-Five: The Body Constructed from Originium

The situation on the battlefield underwent a subtle change, suddenly turning from chaos into destruction.

This result was to be expected.

The entire command structure has been disrupted, and the legion is in complete chaos. If no miracle occurs, destruction will be the final outcome.

Unfortunately, the entity capable of bringing miracles stood on the opposite side of this legion, and even miracles would not belong to them.

However, the war mages' rampage still changed the course of events to some extent—they could have held out longer, Kazdel's army wouldn't have arrived so quickly, and Theresa and the others didn't have the power to completely destroy an army of tens of thousands of people in that time.

If Lin Lu doesn't take the initiative, they can still survive in this oppressive atmosphere for a while. During this time, something might happen that will ultimately lead to a legion-level battle.

However, the rampaging magical power now covers an area of ​​thousands of meters in radius. The war sorcerer's spells cover everything indiscriminately, biting off a large chunk of their own army, both friend and foe.

Regardless of the origin of this power that solidifies vast areas of space into Originium crystals, it is something that ordinary armies cannot resist. In the foreseeable future, the uncontrolled eruption of the super-sized Originium crystals after solidification will engulf this battlefield in a massive natural disaster. The terrifying energy storms will be enough to destroy everything, and no one will be spared.

Even Theresa probably wouldn't have survived a natural disaster explosion of that scale, let alone the others.

Moreover, this devastating future is not far off; it could happen in just a few minutes.

At that time, everything on this broken ice field will be annihilated in the torrent of energy.

Ursus's army will die in their own magic, annihilated. The extreme and wild magic deprives them of all chance of survival from the moment it is unleashed.

This was undoubtedly a very dramatic outcome.

The army of tens of thousands of people were all actors in this drama. They did nothing and knew nothing, but their place was already in the script.

As a spectator, Lin Lu found it very interesting; this war, which shouldn't have been taking place at this time, had finally produced something unexpected.

So he planned to watch the whole play to see what else this corrupt military empire was hiding.

Of course, since the script was being performed on the stage of Ursus, the actors of the Golden Tree could not participate.