96: Chapter 96 Preparations for the Demon King Battle

The fifteenth Envy Demon King, Pablo, who had possessed Prince Mian, gazed quietly at the royal palace now reduced to ruins, and merely waved his hand.

Immediately, a notification window appeared simultaneously before the eyes of the Five Great Guilds players who had died in the palace bombing:

[ The fifteenth Envy Demon King, Pablo, is conquering your soul and body. ]

[ Resistance failed. ]

[ Demonification process initiated. ]

[ Due to the effect of Demonification, you have undergone Resurrection. ]

[ The Demonification state will last for one week. ]

[ You are now under the command of the Envy Demon King, Pablo, and have obtained the "Envy Authority". ]

The moment the notifications finished refreshing, their gray-white vision was filled with color once again — they had undergone Resurrection.

Not only the players of the Five Great Guilds, but also many NPCs who had died innocently in Fu Hao's bombardment, revived one after another in the form of demons.

"What on earth is going on?" Yukina widened her eyes, her voice laced with unease.

"I don't know." Alan slowly shook his head, his expression grim.

Dying in the royal palace, which was touted as the "highest security zone," was already unfathomable, but even more unbelievable was the sudden appearance of the Demon King and the entire sequence of events leading to the players being forcibly demonified.

Death originally meant punishment and the end, but now it had become an entrance to another faction. Although they had undergone Resurrection, they had lost their freedom.

Before the players of the Five Great Guilds could react, a new notification window popped up again:

[Forcibly assigned "Slaughter" quest.]

<Slaughter> Difficulty: B. The fifteenth Envy Demon King, Pablo, intends to turn the capital of the Rowen Kingdom into a Demon Realm. To achieve the expansion of the Demon Realm, a large number of human deaths are required. Please slaughter all humans within the capital — the more you slaughter, the greater the reward. Quest Completion Conditions: Exterminate all humans within the capital of the Rowen Kingdom. Execute at least 100 humans. Quest Rewards: For every 10 humans executed, all stats +3. Obtain the title "Demon". Quest Failure Penalty: Level -5.

The content of the quest was clear at a glance, and the players of the Five Great Guilds all wore expressions of shock.

Even for top-tier players like them, this was the first time they had seen a quest where stats increased infinitely based on completion.

"What the hell is this situation now?"

On the other side, Fu Hao, who was observing the battle situation through the live streams of the Five Great Guilds streamers, felt a great sense of unease rising in his heart.

Originally, he had planned to kill Prince Mian in one fell swoop and easily conclude the nation-building main quest, but he hadn't expected the Demon King to suddenly appear and possess his target directly — and even worse, to have resurrected thousands of the dead as demons.

Killing Prince Mian was already difficult, but now it was even harder.

Fu Hao couldn't help but burn with anger, cursing the otherworld's development team, or rather the artificial intelligence system, in his heart. He suspected that these guys hadn't anticipated that the snowball he rolled would cause the difficulty of the nation-building quest to plummet into the abyss.

["Jin Hao" donated 50 won. (Why did the Demon King come out at a time like this?)]

["Class" donated 50 won. (How are we supposed to kill the Demon King?)]

- "We lost." - "Holy crap! This really never ends." - "Fu Hao was the one who demolished the royal palace, right?" - "It feels like the whole otherworld is giving Fu Hao a hard time."

Fu Hao was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, wishing he could immediately use the giant catapult to blast the Demon King and the demons into dust, but he knew that was impossible.

The locking ability possessed by the +10 giant catapult was only effective against large-scale buildings. Unless it was something massive like a royal palace or city walls, it could not perform precision strikes.

If the Demon Realm transformation process was allowed to continue, the capital of the Rowen Kingdom would likely be completely reduced to a dead zone.

"I absolutely cannot let this happen."

From the moment he obtained the Mimic, Fu Hao had regarded the Rowen Kingdom as his own — no matter who the enemy was, even if it was the Demon King, his ambition could not be shaken.

"Stop the catapult attack!"

Now was not the time to play siege warfare with the kingdom's army from across the city walls.

Fu Hao immediately stopped the catapult loading, then used a teleportation gem to return to the Lepis Territory — he had to go see Helm.

"Master!" "Disciple."

Helm was, as usual, by the stables of Calus and Rahim, his expression more solemn than usual. The two magnificent warhorses were also neighing uneasily.

"Master, the Demon King has appeared!"

As soon as Fu Hao spoke, Helm nodded in response: "We are also discussing this matter."

Seeing Fu Hao's stunned expression, Helm took a crystal instrument from his waist: "This is a demon detector made by Loki. As long as demons appear in the world, it will sound an alarm."

Fu Hao marveled at Loki's omnipotent craftsmanship while inwardly rejoicing that he had been spared a long explanation.

"Then without delay, please Master, and Lord Calus, eliminate the Demon King as soon as possible!"

With the power of the Mimic, he had now fully upgraded his equipment to +10, but he had never dared to hope he could confront the Demon King himself — he was not a demon, and his chances of winning were zero.

If there was no countermeasure, he might have braced himself and gone, but he knew The Seven Legends were there — especially Helm and Calus, who had shone brilliantly during the Human-Demon War.

According to the notification window from the Five Great Guilds streamers, this was the fifteenth Demon King. With Helm and Calus's strength, dealing with the fifteenth Demon King shouldn't be a problem, right?

After all, with the help of the Mimic, all their equipment was now upgraded to +10, at least twice as strong as they were during the Human-Demon War.

However, one sentence from Helm shattered Fu Hao's fantasy: "The two of us cannot beat him."

He said with a complex expression: "To confront a Demon King of this level head-on, we must rely on Aria's power."

Aria, one of The Seven Legends, the "Saintess," had been stationed at the border between the human world and the Demon Realm since the Human-Demon War, guarding the barrier to prevent demon infiltration.

"Because of the Holy Power?"

"Yes. When dealing with demons, whether one has Holy Power or not makes a world of difference."

Fu Hao had once personally killed a vampire demon using stacked Holy Magic, so he understood this deeply.

"Is the Holy Power of top-tier holy water or high-ranking priests not enough?"

"It's enough to deal with ordinary demons, but it's ineffective against Demon King levels. During the Human-Demon War, the only thing that could hurt a Demon King was Aria's Holy Power."

Fu Hao took out the experimental +10 top-tier holy water from his backpack:

<Top-tier Holy Water (+10)> Grade: Legendary. Usage Condition: None. The target that comes into contact with the holy water will be affected by the Holy Power contained within it. Holy Power +200%. Holy Power +200%. Holy Power +200%. After drinking, Holy Power +10 (Limit 100). After drinking, completely remove demon-related abnormal status. Description: Holy water with Holy Power condensed to the limit.

- "What the hell is +10 holy water." - "The Holy Power stat bonus is amazing."

Helm took the holy water and examined it closely, then shook his head with a bitter smile a moment later. Even if the Holy Power was stacked seven times, it still couldn't match Aria's level.

"If only all the +10 stats could be stacked into Holy Power..."

Unfortunately, except for Item Enhancement, the attributes of other enhancement paths could not be changed and could only maintain their initial settings.

"Then I will go and invite Lady Aria!"

Fu Hao took out the teleportation gem that recorded the coordinates of the Demon Realm border; although the coordinates were not precise, he could always find her after spending an hour or two.

But Helm and Calus did not heave a sigh of relief because of this.

"...Disciple, do you know why the Legendary Assembly is always held at a fixed time?"

"I don't know." Facing the sudden topic change, Fu Hao answered in confusion.

"Because during that period, the border passage between the human world and the Demon Realm closes naturally, which is the only time Aria can move freely. If she leaves her post at any other time, the barrier guarding against the demons will immediately collapse."

"Then..." "So, even if you find her, you won't be able to bring her here."

Upon learning that he could not rely on Aria's power, Fu Hao's face sank instantly.

"Why is the Legendary Assembly held in different places every year? Can't we go to Lady Aria's location and hold it at other times?"

"Our duty is to act as the 'core' and influence the overall situation. The Legendary Assembly is not just a strategy meeting, but also a banner to warn the world, guiding nations to unite against the demons."

Helm's explanation left Fu Hao in silence — the next Legendary Assembly was still a long way off — which meant that in the short term, Aria simply could not leave to provide support.

"Then... besides Lady Aria, are there any other ways to deal with the Demon King?"

Fu Hao asked dejectedly, and Helm's expression finally softened slightly: "Don't worry too much. It's not just Calus and I who have the demon detector; other Legends have them too. Even if Aria cannot come, others will arrive immediately — at the very least, they can keep the Demon King in check and prevent the demons from expanding. When Aria is able to move freely, we will deal with the Demon King then."

However, Fu Hao knew that this would directly affect his grand plan of nation-building. The land after the Demon Realm transformation would need a long time to be purified, and the kingdom that was originally just a step away now seemed to have become unreachable.

Fu Hao re-checked his backpack, looking for items that could be useful besides the +10 holy water and the teleportation gem.

"Holy Power... Holy Power..." He rummaged through all items related to Holy Power but didn't find anything reliable. It seemed that the method of solving problems through Item Enhancement, like manufacturing the giant catapult to bomb the royal palace, would not work.

"No, there is still equipment enhancement!"

Because of the huge benefits brought by Item Enhancement, he had almost forgotten the essence of enhancement — equipment enhancement. Since he could easily upgrade equipment to +10 using the Mimic, why obsess over Item Enhancement?

"Although I can't invite Aria, I can mobilize all the High Priests!"

If all the Holy Power-based equipment of the High Priests were upgraded to +10, their Holy Power potency would definitely exceed the +10 top-tier holy water. If everyone was equipped with +10 equipment, the total amount of Holy Power produced might rival Aria's?

But thinking of the Demon King's power, Fu Hao still felt uneasy — Helm and Calus as NPCs would be gone forever if they died. He could not let these two pillars die in vain.

"Right, there's also that!"

Fu Hao suddenly remembered that he still had an "Attribute Enhancement Skill" that he had never used.