Miss Wang Weina, even your cousin won't do!

However, this also indirectly confirmed one of Wayne's suspicions—this demon was truly incompetent. Its boastful description of its kingdom was probably genuine, and its arrogant self-introduction was likely serious as well; it was just that the way its brain was structured was somewhat questionable. Wayne couldn't find a suitable adjective to describe a demon as brainless—they probably genuinely lacked the organ, after all, the eyeball-shaped demon Wayne had encountered last time was clearly brainless—after much thought, he could only use one word to describe the demon.

fool.

He's still a not-so-bright idiot.

Hopefully, it doesn't have the ability to read minds, or like Theresa said, it can't read its own mind. Otherwise, Wayne is worried that his sharp comment will make this "Pope Alfaksen I" so heartbroken that he'll cry.

It's not that Wayne is beautiful and kind-hearted, it's just that seeing a dried-up corpse and a wriggling tumor groaning is quite disgusting. To be honest, Wayne has already started planning what to eat at the victory banquet after the successful subjugation. He's decided that he'll make Theresa cook a meal and have Kal'tsit serve the dishes in a maid outfit!

"Damn human, what did you say! You look down on my [Kingdom]? Then come on!"

Elfaxon I raised his hands, holding the scepter made of his own knuckles and Originium aloft. The thick fog around him converged towards the center of the scepter, quickly forming a black, expanding energy orb at its tip. He swung the scepter around, spinning it twice above his head like a mage in a popular TV series from the last century, before suddenly shooting the energy orb towards Wayne.

"stare--"

With a piercing scream following the explosion of flames, the lava giant wielded a longsword made of fire, cleaving the energy sphere in two. The condensed black mist [Republic (Pseudo)] instantly exploded, the pitch-black fog corroding the lava giant into a pool of black water and fragments. Elfaxen I watched this scene with satisfaction, just about to boast about his strength, when Surtr looked at Mudrock beside him with surprise and asked:

"Mudrock, what's wrong with you? Why are the stone golems so fragile today?"

"Woo—" Mudrock whimpered, sadly saying, "That black mist just now got into the armor, and my 'friends' are ruined. They're all sticky all over."

Mudrock refers to her clay figurines as "friends," and the friends have been ruined, which means...

Surtr shivered and took two steps back, pulling Levadin away from the oppressive mudstone that enveloped him, and together they hid behind Wayne.

"What happened?" SilverAsh slowly woke up and saw the scene in front of him, asking in bewilderment.

Wayne raised a finger to his lips in a shushing gesture, warning:

"Someone with chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) smashed the figurines and models of a model kit maker and was still showing off. Now he's going to get a beating."

Sure enough, the moment Wayne finished speaking, Mudrock took a deep breath, and the enormous exhaust sound of the power armor echoed throughout the camp.

She faced the demon, planted the hammer in the ground, and sat down cross-legged.

The soil began to swirl around her, and the blood of the filthy earth was sensing the land!

Get ready, eighty!

Chapter 107 Spare the Life

On the way to the manor castle, Kal'tsit's ears suddenly twitched, her eyebrows rose, and she stopped, pretending to listen. Theresa, standing beside her, also stopped, looking at Kal'tsit curiously, and said:

"What's wrong, Kal'tsit?"

"Your Highness, did you hear anything?" Kal'tsit asked, somewhat puzzled. "It sounded like... a hammer hitting something?"

Theresa tried to stop for a moment, but to no avail, and could only shake her head:

"You must have misheard, Kal'tsit. Beware of the demon's illusions."

"A hallucination? Probably." Kal'tsit glanced at the others in the group, and they all shook their heads, indicating that they hadn't heard anything strange. Kal'tsit had no choice but to give up.

While Felin's hearing was indeed more acute than that of other races, it couldn't be entirely trusted. In a place shrouded in demonic illusions, even seeing wasn't necessarily believing; how could one judge truth from falsehood solely by hearing? Nevertheless, out of caution, she still solemnly reminded her:

"Gentlemen, we are now less than a hundred meters from the castle's main gate. Be alert; we may be attacked directly by the demons at any moment. The sound I just heard may be a harbinger of their attack. Please remain calm, stay united, and act as a group. Whatever you see or hear, do not stray from the group, and do not act rashly to confront the demons. Throughout history, humanity's war against demons has never been won through individual combat; no one can defeat demons alone—"

"boom--!"

Before Kal'tsit could finish speaking, a loud bang suddenly erupted from the eerie ancient castle in the distance. The thick walls collapsed abruptly with a roar, and the surging darkness that burst forth rushed outwards as if to engulf Kal'tsit and the others.

Kal'tsit forcibly swallowed her pre-battle speech, and with a thought, Mon3tr instantly materialized, taking a defensive stance in front of everyone.

"Everyone be careful!" she shouted, but before she could give the order, the writhing black shadow suddenly stopped before hitting mon3tr. Then, as if in despair, it trembled and collapsed to the ground. The black mist surrounding it dissipated, leaving behind a twisted mass of flesh, crawling towards Kal'tsit:

"Finally...finally I've found someone alive! Help me, help me!"

Kal'tsit: "Huh?"

Theresa: "Hmm?"

The three elite forces of the Tower of Babel, standing ready for battle: [Patriot], [Logos], and [Ascalon]: "What?"

Having never seen a demon before, Warfarin, Kroos, and Yelena, who were protected by the Patriots, immediately chose to retreat: "Hey, what did it just say?"

"Save me! Stop that monster behind me! Please!" Alfakson III no longer cared about his "image," if he, as a demon, truly possessed such a thing. The human body he had originally occupied was gone, revealing his true form: a headless body in a strange dark red color; arms unlike those of a human, composed of segmented muscles like those of an arthropod; and what could barely be called lower limbs that thrashed about like the boneless tentacles of a sea creature, constantly spewing out large amounts of black mist from his tail to maintain his upright posture.

After being intercepted by Kal'tsit's Mon3tr, the demon who called himself Elfakson I knelt on the ground. His tentacle-like lower limbs flailing wildly, yet they were also intertwined as if mimicking the gesture of human hands clasped together, facing different directions and pleading with everyone present. Fortunately, Elfakson I had no head or tear ducts, otherwise Kal'tsit would have wondered if the demon was about to cry out loud.

It must be said that being able to manipulate its tentacles in a way that simultaneously pleads with everyone present is itself a remarkable feat, especially considering that many Pero people still can't even tame their own tails. But what surprised Kal'tsit and the others even more was yet to come. After initially communicating in Victorian only to elicit surprised looks from Kal'tsit and the others, the demon choked back a sob and immediately switched back to its former Esperanto—Gallic—repeating its previous words. After Gallic, it switched to Letanian, then Minoan, and finally, after that, the demon gritted its teeth—as if making a huge decision—though it truly had no teeth, the meaning was clear—and even Chinese, in a dialect version, began to emerge:

"help me!"

Now Kal'tsit and the others were even more bewildered. Their bewilderment wasn't due to the language barrier—Gallic was familiar to most of those present, some even older than the Gaulish kingdom itself—but rather because the demon could speak, and even speak a foreign language, and was pleading with them for help in that language.

She's very talented!

"Kal'tsit, what are you standing there for!"

Theresa's reaction was even faster than Kal'tsit's this time. She raised her hand, and the dark seal of the Ten Rings immediately burst forth with an overloaded red light. With Vayne providing assistance, she had no need to fear the massive absorption of memories and thoughts of the Sarkaz kings that would occur upon activating the Ten Rings. Compared to Vayne's vast spiritual power, the memories and emotions of the past kings were but a drop in the ocean. Not to mention, these memories and emotions were merely fragments; how could a single drop of ink possibly blacken the entire sea?

Unleashing the power of the Demon King without restraint resulted in a fighting force that was absolutely among the top tier on the Terra continent. Theresa grasped the air, and a longsword with spiraling patterns burning with blue flames appeared in her hand. The prototype of this sword was the treasured sword of the former Sarkaz king, Quiron, called "Blue Fury." When using the Demon King's ability to weave spirits and construct reality, the sword would change according to the Demon King's own will. In Theresa's hands, it became this slender, spiraling blade.

At the same time, another seal of the Ten Commandments opened, revealing a gilded staff coiled with a black serpent in her other hand. The staff's tip was a spellcasting unit carved using ancient Sarkaz techniques, resembling the emblem of a modern medical and health department. No, rather, the Union Jack armbands worn by modern medical and health personnel evolved from the deeds of this demon lord using her staff to heal and save lives—a story buried in the dust of history, unknown to most.

Theresa, sword in one hand and staff in the other, unhesitatingly cast a Spirit Invigoration buff on Mon3tr, while simultaneously protecting Kal'tsit under a pale white energy shield. She then swung her sword, sending surging blue flames rushing towards the demon.

However, the demon neither dodged nor avoided it, and actually felt a sense of relief.

"Spare her life, Theresa!"

Just then, in the distance, at the collapsed main hall of the ancient castle, Wayne dusted himself off and emerged unharmed, protected by the stone shield of Mudrock and Surtr's fire giant. He reached out and stopped Theresa's finishing move.

Chapter 108 Theresa pushed Kal'tsit forward a step.

"[Stand at attention! Don't move!]"

Wayne dragged Elfakson to the wall and gave the order. Kal'tsit watched helplessly as this pitiful fellow, known as "the enemy of mankind," "the destroyer of civilization," and "the terror of Terra itself," shrank back against the wall like a schoolchild caught playing a prank in class. He twisted his arthropod-like hands behind his back like a pretzel, forming a knot, his tentacles curled into a small ball. He didn't dare to move an inch.

Even though she knew it was wrong, Kal'tsit still felt a pang of sadness at the sight, thinking, "Ah, times have changed. Even demons have become relics of the past." But this feeling only lasted a moment. Soon, Kal'tsit realized that the person who had utterly shattered the fear brought by the demon, and even manipulated it with ease and amusement, was standing right beside her.

Perhaps he had been lost in thought for too long, because Wayne noticed Kal'tsit's complicated gaze. The blond-haired Athrun turned his head, looking at the still-absent-minded Kal'tsit with some confusion, and asked:

What are you thinking about?

Kal'tsit snapped out of her reverie, shook her head, and murmured, "The person I've become dependent on is someone more terrifying than a demon. Is this a blessing or a curse?"

“Of course it’s a blessing, Kal’tsit.” Suddenly, Theresa appeared behind her, wrapped her arms around Kal’tsit’s neck, and placed her head next to Kal’tsit’s startled, furry ears, whispering, “You don’t need to hide it from me. Didn’t I predict it long ago? Congratulations on finding someone like you to walk with you.”

"You've been wandering alone for too long. Now that you've finally met someone like yourself, you should do your best to fight for it, even if it's dangerous. Besides, don't you have me as your host here with you?"

Theresa released her grip, nudged Kal'tsit, and pushed the blushing, hesitant Lady of the Palace two steps toward Wayne. Standing behind her, she clenched her fist and gave her a pep talk.

Kal'tsit murmured, moved, "Your Highness Theresa... I... thank you."

"Thank you for what? I brought this on myself." Theresa's eyelids twitched slightly.

If she hadn't failed to keep an eye on Kal'tsit, allowing her to slip away from Kazdel to the northern border of Victoria, where she and Vayne weathered that crisis together and fought against the northern demons, how could the seeds of that conflict have taken root and sprouted later?

By the time Theresa realized what was happening, the seed had already grown into a large tree, and Kal'tsit, like herself and Vina, had secured her place beside Vayne. Even if, out of a woman's simple possessiveness, she didn't want to make such a decision, it was already too late.

Now that things have come to this, rather than letting Kal'tsit continue to apologize for every little thing and perpetuate this trend, it's better to take her under my absolute control and recruit her on the spot. Bringing Kal'tsit under my wing directly, preventing her from establishing her own independent faction, wouldn't that be wonderful!

Love is war. Although Theresa has never been in love, she has fought many wars. As a dignified Demon King, her wisdom should not be underestimated!

Moreover, from a purely personal perspective, Theresa truly didn't want to see this guardian who had toiled for this land for millennia continue to live a solitary life. However, Kal'tsit's profound indifference to personal emotions and the numbness brought about by her vast knowledge and experience made her decision all the more precious. And now, in the long course of her life, she had finally made a choice for her own happiness for the first time, and as her companion and close friend, Theresa would choose to support her.

Although Theresa felt somewhat helpless about the person she chose, she still forgave this "betrayal" that wasn't really a "betrayal," which was a sign of her generosity and respect.

"What are you whispering about?"

Blinking in confusion, Wayne watched Theresa and Kal'tsit interact and whisper, and asked curiously.

Kal'tsit blushed, turned her head away, and did not answer. Theresa smiled mysteriously and said:

"Kal'tsit will tell you when the time is right."

"Trying to keep us in suspense, huh?" Wayne shrugged, thinking to himself, "What, do you think I don't understand?"

It must be one of you who got persecuted again, right? Judging from the looks of it, Theresa won this time, and Kal'tsit got a critical hit. That's a bit strange. Kal'tsit also has something to hide and a keyword now? Wayne thought only Theresa would have the PTSD keyword "I'm sorry".

Uh, to clarify beforehand, Wayne knows that Theresa has been sensitive to the words "sorry" lately because Theresa's inexplicable wariness after Surtr apologized to her last time made Wayne notice this, and it's definitely not because Wayne himself wants to participate in the persecution.

Even if he didn't hear what Theresa and Kal'tsit were saying, so what? Wayne knew perfectly well what they were talking about!

I'm just a little curious about what Kal'tsit has up her sleeve... just a tiny bit... could it be some kind of photo of her in a new maid outfit? If that's the case, Wayne will definitely give Theresa a good scolding for betraying the organization! You didn't immediately share Kal'tsit's little photo in our "Wow~ Alliance Group," you kept it to yourself! That's betrayal!

As punishment, when you go back, you'll not only have to post the photos, but you'll also have to wear a maid outfit like Kal'tsit!

"Ahem..." After imagining Theresa in her elegant black and white maid outfit for a few minutes, Wayne realized he had absolutely no interest in such things. As a young and promising man, he should be thinking more about philosophical questions, such as where people come from, where they go, and the meaning of life.

Now it was Theresa's turn to be curious: "What are you thinking about, Mr. Bruce?"

"I'm pondering how to combat evil, where evil comes from, where evil goes, whether the existence of evil is good or bad for Terra, whether civilization is truly civilization, or whether we and evil are simply two sides of the same coin, and whether we are also evil to nature..."

Theresa listened, completely bewildered, while Kal'tsit immediately became interested. Talking about philosophy, riddles, exploring the meaning of life? This was something she was very familiar with. It was practically her area of ​​expertise. Having finally found a topic to ease her tension, Kal'tsit was eager to offer her insightful opinions.

Then it was interrupted by the cries of a demon from the side:

"You humans, although I have been defeated, although I have indeed lost, but, but..."

From somewhere, the headless body of the demon emitted a soul-piercing cry and question:

"But at least show me some respect! What do you mean by leaving me hanging and chatting away? Your people are still in my hands! Don't you want to save them?!"

"Our people?" Wayne was taken aback. The Snow Demon had already been rescued. SilverAsh and the others, along with the members of Babel Tower, were all here. With the demon officially kidnapped... no, captured, the black mist enveloping the manor had dissipated. Where were his people still in the demon's hands?

"You search the settlements of those long-eared mortals," the demon paused, seemingly convinced he had found Wayne's weakness, and sneered, "isn't it all to find that presumptuous rabbit?"

Chapter 109 A Brief History of the Ruined City

Rembiton, Rabbit Mine, Ruins Settlement.

The abandoned city once had a beautiful name, but that name has been reduced to a mere speck of dust, lost to the decaying streets and alleys, and will never be recorded in history books.

This place was once a satellite city of Sigrani, but decades ago it fell to the infected miners during a massive riot. The government was overthrown, the central police station was burned down, and the streets were filled with weeping and wailing people, driven by the angry infected to flee to place after place that promised them protection, only to witness fortress after fortress fall under the siege of the infected. Having learned from the lessons of Colombia's independence, the de facto rulers of Rembiton, including Victoria, have not allowed Rembiton to have a decent army. The police force, which can only handle community disputes, and the garrison, which at best serves as a supervisory team, have received almost no systematic military training and their combat effectiveness is extremely questionable.

In times of peace, Rembitox could maintain peace by leveraging the general balance of power and public opinion among nations. However, when an organization emerges that doesn't care about international prestige or the so-called balance of power among major nations, such "civilized" means of maintaining peace appear utterly pale and laughable. And the Infected are precisely such an organization.

When the rioting infected overrun the former garrison area of ​​the abandoned city, the Sigrani National Joint Council assessed that the cost of continuing to send reinforcements for suppression had exceeded their acceptable limits. Ultimately, Sigrani decided to withdraw all troops and personnel, pull the key to activate the mobile city's engine, and decouple the abandoned city from the main city of Sigrani, leaving it to rot on this desolate land. Without supplies and unable to activate the abandoned city, the infected were left isolated and helpless, descending into internal strife and ultimately left to fend for themselves.

Are the high and mighty nobles really incapable of suppressing this infected riot? The answer is of course no. Whether it's Victoria or Ursus, or even Bolivar, a warlord-controlled country that's just a figurehead in the Joint Conference, any warlord's army could easily suppress the impoverished infected mob who don't even know how to use proper magic or weapons.