Chapter 250: Female Demon

Max accepted the communication device after seeing the caller’s name.

Matilda’s voice came almost immediately.

"Guildmaster! Angelo is requesting reinforcements! Are you already near?"

Max shuddered. His previous bad feeling surged through his body, sending alarms through his mind and making the hair on his arms stand on end.

"Yes. We are on the way. Tell me what he reported."

After sensing the urgency and understanding human language, Max’s horse sprinted forward, leaving Lancelot and the others behind.

Lancelot, Seraphina, and the Holy Knight snapped the reins of their war horses and followed Max, wanting to know what had happened.

Matilda said, "He only said, ’Emergency.’ He wanted you to see it for yourself, Guildmaster."

"Mhm. I’m on my way."

...

Angelo threw the communication device to his tactician while staring at the southern border with a frown.

Ever since they had maintained their momentum, the demons had remained less than ten kilometers from the Southern Border.

Max and the High General had deliberately commanded them to respect the demon army’s strength despite successfully defending the southern frontier and forcing the demon army to retreat.

In other words, the ten-kilometer area near the Southern Border was an empty area reserved solely for the war.

The empty area was not truly empty, of course. The Demon Hunters had laid out traps for the demons.

The Artificer Guild was not sitting idly by during the war.

In fact, throughout the time they had been given to prepare, the Demon Hunters Guild had been able to produce traps that could finally be put to use. These traps became one of the biggest reasons behind the Demon Hunters’ unstoppable momentum.

For instance, the outer detection zone near the Southern Border had detection stakes, movement sensors, spatial detectors, and other traps specifically designed for detection.

Past that was the middle layer, which contained disruption traps—mana snares, binding spike arrays, demonic mana suppression traps, formation breakers, and so on.

Then, the inner layer contained engagement traps, such as radiant burst mines, arcane blast mines, and demon lure beacons.

Finally, the last layer contained spatial security measures, such as spatial anchors, spatial distortion detectors, and emergency barrier generators.

The eastern frontier and western frontier had also laid out similar traps.

Those traps had proven to be effective, making Angelo think that tonight would be just another easy victory.

But everything changed when his heart skipped a beat.

The presence of a Demon Lord outside the Southern Border had suddenly disappeared.

He had been keeping an eye on them ever since the Guildmaster warned him of the possibility that a Demon Lord would finally enter the fray.

Though, of course, he had thought it was ridiculous.

He was not ignorant of the presence of the Authority of Salvation.

It was what defended the Empire from massive demon invasions.

Though, of course, it was useless against monsters.

The only reason the Empire had survived the monsters’ assaults was primarily because of the Empire’s own strength.

That was one of the reasons the Imperial Family had distanced itself somewhat from the Church.

Now, what his Guildmaster had warned him about had come true.

Hence, he did not hesitate to report the situation to Matilda and immediately ask for the Guildmaster’s presence.

He narrowed his eyes and sharpened his senses.

If the Demon Lord had truly been able to bypass the Authority of Salvation, their main target was naturally him.

Thankfully, only one Demon Lord had disappeared, while the auras of the others remained beyond the Southern Frontier.

Angelo tried his best to feign ignorance of their actions, continuously attacking peak Greater Demons as usual.

But his eyes were everywhere.

He scanned his surroundings, searching for the Demon Lord who had disappeared.

A while later, his eyes finally spotted an unusual shadow.

If it had not been within his Arcane Domain, he would not have noticed it at all.

Suddenly, the shadow shifted before returning to normal, and Angelo’s instincts screamed of peril.

A tall, slender female demon covered in black armor appeared behind him, swinging her twin shadow blades downward, aiming to hack him into pieces.

The twin shadow blades sliced through Angelo’s body.

But there was no blood.

Instead, Angelo’s body, after being sliced into many pieces, dissolved into Arcane Mana.

Angelo reappeared not far from the female demon, facing her with a serious expression.

The slender female demon’s body was partially dissolved into smoke, and her face was hidden behind a black mask.

Angelo recalled how Demon Lords were able to appear in human forms.

Angelo did not dilly-dally and attacked the female demon with his Arcane Prison.

A three-dimensional cage of compressed Arcane Mana was suddenly created around the target, aiming to restrict her movement.

It was one of the most powerful binding spells that Angelo had.

To his surprise, the Arcane Prison successfully imprisoned the female demon, who was obviously trying to break free.

Wait. Is she truly a Demon Lord?

Angelo was in disbelief.

The Demon Lord in front of him appeared to have been weakened considerably if she was indeed a Demon Lord.

The female demon finally stopped struggling and stared at Angelo with a chilling gaze through her mask.

Angelo’s heart skipped a beat.

The female demon spoke in human language.

"You reacted on time, as if you were expecting me to attack you. How did you know?"

Angelo clenched his fist to calm himself down.

He replied in a somber tone, "I just know."

The female demon’s face turned serious.

She hesitated over whether to break the seal or not.

She was deep within the Empire’s territory, and given the Authority of Salvation’s power, she would not be able to continuously teleport outside the Southern Border before being swallowed by it.

While she was deep in thought, she was snapped awake by a concentration of Arcane Mana in front of her.

She glanced at Angelo and was stunned.

A massive magic circle hovered in front of Angelo, facing toward her.

The Arcane Mana in the surrounding area gathered toward the massive magic circle as Angelo continued to chant.

Staring at the magic circle, the female demon felt a sense of crisis...