When the plot-skips players into the game world

Chapter 388: Chapter 296: I’ll Burn Them to a Crisp Chapter 388: Chapter 296: I’ll Burn Them to a Crisp Watching the people of Noble Red slowly gathering, Aiwass, hiding in the Priest’s house, slightly narrowed his eyes.

…There are quite a few of them.

He quickly counted, and there were at least thirty people in red robes.

And they hadn’t even fully emerged from the forest yet.

After leaving the forest, without any command, these robed figures immediately restored order—

The moment they stepped out, excited and somewhat noisy, they quickly quieted down and spontaneously formed a spellcaster formation, standing more than a meter apart.

They immediately began to perform their rituals in rows, ensuring that companions could always keep watch while rituals were being cast.

Just the sight of this organization made Aiwass’s heart skip a beat.

—Could this be the elite troops of Noble Red?

The group they had sent to attack the Supervisory Bureau looked professional, but they were clearly not as elite as this group.

Aiwass did know that within Noble Red there was indeed a regular army.

But he didn’t know much, since Noble Red hadn’t made it into the main game.

Prince Wolfram the Giant wouldn’t be involved in training…

After all, the reason the Giants were defeated by the Knights was that they had become accustomed to their own strength, lacking any form of formation or cooperation and fighting each one for themselves.

But within Noble Red, there were Sky Cavalry who had defected.

They brought Noble Red a systematic training and command plan—Aiwass had done this side quest and vaguely remembered a bit.

But he had skipped through it, so he wasn’t clear on the specifics.

He only vaguely remembered that this person was a student of the Guardian, and it seemed he had defected due to jealousy or something, feeling that he had been treated unfairly.

As a player back then, Aiwass didn’t think much of it.

But now he truly felt the pressure—

Demon Scholars trained on the scale of an army, even if only at the Third Power Level, were quite troublesome.

After all, Demon Scholars were inherently two units, a Demon and a Scholar…

meaning these Demon Scholars could at any moment become a group of casters with a front line filled with fearless, hardy shields.

The only good news was that the leading Giant was only just over three meters tall.

This indicated that either his bloodline wasn’t pure, or his Path of Strength wasn’t high-leveled.

The latter would mean that his status in the Giant Kingdom wasn’t high…

and therefore he likely didn’t have access to those special Mystical Skills secretly passed down by the royal family, nor would he have divine blood.

Aiwass remembered that Prince Wolfram the Giant was an advanced job class, a Great Wizard of Curse Ritual Magicians.

He truly had divine blood and was very difficult to deal with.

As for Noble Red, being a society led by Demon Scholars, they certainly had at least one high-ranking Demon Scholar.

—Without surprises, it should be him.

A pure Demon Scholar occupation was always better than a former high-level Warrior who had also dabbled in high-level Demonology—though Giants themselves were quite hardy, if they had a high-level melee occupation as well, Aiwass truly didn’t know how to deal with them.

Seeing Aiwass frown deeply, Lily gently tugged at the hem of his clothing.

“Young Master,” Lily whispered, “why don’t I go and assassinate him…”

Aiwass turned suddenly, looking at Lily in astonishment.

—How could you dare?

When had Lily become so aggressive?

“…He’s very likely at the Fifth Power Level,” he said with some pain in his teeth, “you should take it easy.

The Shadow Demon might help you kill him, but there’s no guarantee it could take you out again…”

Lily had not yet completed the second advancement ritual of the Path of Adaptation to reach the Third Power Level.

Even with the priority bonuses of the equipment on her, it was impossible to assassinate a high-vitality Transcendent of the Fifth Power Level within a group of regular troops and return safely.@@novelbin@@

Even counting on the Defiant Flame Butterfly, he didn’t have the confidence to rescue Lily again.

“But,” Lily said, frowning deeply, “if we don’t take the initiative…”

Through the window, they could see those Demon Scholars setting up a certain ritual.

They first summoned their bonded Demons to their side, and then they began to carefully bestow status enhancements upon themselves.

—Aiwass recognized it, it was the Demon Frenzy Ritual.

They would first drive their Demons into a frenzy, making them lose their reason, and then enslave them using the power of their contracts.

It was a Mystical Skill used to control stronger Demons than themselves.

This made Aiwass grow anxious—

What exactly were these people here for?

To find the Book of Law too?

He hoped that Hayna and Sherlock were hiding and would not come looking at this time.

Otherwise, with their strength, it would be troublesome if they encountered these Demon Scholars…

But just then, one of the individuals in the Demon Scholar formation suddenly spotted Aiwass.

His eyes, hidden beneath the red robe but still shining with a crimson glow, met Aiwass’s gaze.

Aiwass was instantly alarmed, instinctively pulling Lily to start retreating rapidly.

And Lily realized something too, beginning to lay out layers upon layers of white silk threads within the room.

About two seconds later, a black thunderbolt, writhing like a worm, suddenly shattered the glass and exploded thunderously inside the room!

Upon landing, it fractured into countless separated black sparks, the corrosive presence of Dark Attribute Mana blasting the ground and walls with a spider-web of purple cracks.

Luckily, those silk threads blocked some of it, otherwise, it would have splattered onto Aiwass.

Just as Aiwass let out a sigh of relief, another scorching fireball came drilling through the window.

It shone with a platinum glow, steaming with billowing heat.

The moment it entered the room, it began to expand violently, and by then it was already too late for Aiwass to summon the Defiant Flame Butterfly.

Instinctively, Aiwass turned to embrace Lily, pushing her to the ground, while loudly shouting, “Shadow Demon!”

The shadow beneath Lily suddenly expanded.

The Shadow Demon burst forth, forming a semi-circular shadow shield that protected them from behind.

The fireball that had entered the living room exploded with a bang, shattering the walls, floor, and along with them the tables and cupboards of the living room!

The entire ground shook and swayed.

The burning flames began to spread through the room, and the thick black smoke blackened the walls.

Aiwass easily recognized the two spells.

—These were Bone Rot Thunder and Fireball Technique!

The former was an armor-piercing ritual spell capable of directly burning through metal armor, and piercing shorter walls and barricades…

The ritual materials used were the three segments of an old man’s spine and the bile of a young girl.

The latter was a classic explosive spell.

Aiwass was all too familiar with the power of the Fireball Technique because his “explosive” attribute Flame Butterfly was equivalent to a fireball spell.

However, the Fireball Technique was a spell of mages; Demon Scholars typically lacked the fire attribute mana to cast it.

Thus, it was likely that the demons he had contracted were bombarding the target of his attack with a coordinated strike.

When the fireball directly hit its target, the Shadow Demon also emitted a dull thud.

It was a Phantom Demon not adept in defense—if not for the need to protect Aiwass and Lily, it would normally have evaded by hiding in shadows.

“…I’m going to kill them, Aiwass!”

The Shadow Demon let out a low roar, “It’s useless even if you try to stop me!”

The fire did no harm to it, but the burst of light from the exploding fireball clearly caused the Shadow Demon discomfort.

It was probably like being hit in the face with a ball of dung for humans—not much damage, but extremely insulting.

Perhaps influenced by the ongoing Demon Berserk ritual, the Shadow Demon’s aggressiveness had clearly intensified.

“Ah, I feel the same.”

Aiwass narrowed his eyes slightly, a faint purple glow flickering in and out of sight, “I won’t stop you…”

He had only glanced from a distance and was targeted and bombed twice with spells…

even with a follow-up attack.

If not for his quick reaction, he might have been severely injured by the blast.

Initially, Aiwass had thought about dodging.

After all, those of the Fifth Power Level were not to be trifled with.

He wasn’t afraid for himself…

but if his actions enraged them, causing trouble for Eagle Cape Village, it would be problematic.

—But when these Noble Red Demon Scholars launched an attack on him, Aiwass suddenly realized their identity.

There was a reason they were treated like rats on the streets of Avalon.

These Demon Scholars had a history of slaughtering villages, even the group led by Da Zi had just wiped out a village before coming to Glass Island.

For these unscrupulous Demon Scholars, humans were nothing more than ritual materials that could walk…

Their habit of slaughtering defenseless villages to replenish materials had become routine, and now backed by the Transcendents of the Fifth Power Level, they had no restraints whatsoever.

Before this, Aiwass had always lived on Glass Island.

Until the Supervisory Bureau was attacked, no major disasters had ever occurred, and the Noble Red on Glass Island had always kept a low profile.

Therefore, Aiwass had no strong feelings about this and did not find them particularly fearsome.

They merely seemed like a bunch of clowns to him.

But after this fireball struck, Aiwass suddenly understood.

They had never intended to leave any survivors, and it had nothing to do with whether he provoked them or not.

Aiwass finally grasped what the “slaughtering of villages” he had only read about in game text and newspaper articles truly meant.

—These were not clowns, but bona fide demons.

“…Heh.”

Aiwass’s pupils slowly ignited with purplish-red flames, the purple becoming ever more brilliant.

“Giants of the Fifth Power Level.

More than forty soldiers of the Third Power Level and above…

quite a challenge.”

“Merely scum—”

The Shadow Demon’s voice, full of rage and malice, echoed in his mind: “Kill them, Aiwass!

Charge and kill them!”

“—Quiet, Shadow Demon.”

Aiwass’s cold voice sounded: “Don’t order me around.

I am your master.”

As if by magic, a pure red card materialized between his right thumb and index finger.

A butterfly outline was drawn in black lines, and at this moment, the butterfly seemed eager to start flapping its wings on the card.

“—Defiant Flame Butterfly.”

Aiwass murmured her name, “It’s time for a killing.”

“As you wish, brother,” came an echoing, ethereal and chilling voice from within Aiwass, “I shall scorch them.”

Then, like a stream, flames flowed from the very center of the card—