Tendrils of red essence spun out of Vale and formed around his body, curling above him, creating the shape of a demon that rested its head on his own.
Then the two of them breathed out at the same time. It was as if the room breathed together with him. A pulse of shockwave blasted out, followed by a blast of fire that jetted from his mouth in waves, but that was nothing.
It was the roar, the bone-shaking roar that came out next, that was the attack. It sounded like nails on metal, the tortured voices of thousands, and it attacked the mind and soul directly—Demon’s Inferno Roar!
The Knights froze, dropping their weapons and covering their ears, but it made no difference. Their screaming joined the roaring, and it combined to swell in the room, doubling and slamming back into them.
The room shook, the floor cracked, and the whole building looked as if it would collapse. Across the room, Tiber’s eyes were wide open, his dark gaze darker still, seeming to hide the night within them. He stood unaffected, and with his hand on Slya, she was unaffected as well.
Senk and his Knights had no such protection. Their ears burst, and blood poured out of them and from their noses too. Some had already passed out, while others began to plead and beg.
Then the roar cut off, and the demon figure collapsed. Vale surveyed his work and nodded in satisfaction.
"What were you saying again, Senk?"
He got no answer. The man had already passed out, foaming at the mouth. Vale shook his head. "Disgusting."
But it was expected. The attack didn’t only target the body—it went after the spirit and soul as well. From the book of techniques, Vale knew it could even break the mind or forcefully send the soul out.
The rest of the Knights who lay groaning on the ground soon passed out after.
Vale heard footsteps and looked up to see Tiber and Slya. Tiber shook his head.
"If you increase that attack, then I won’t be able to hold up either.
"You... are terrifying. Because I know you didn’t even use the real power of your core."
Vale waved all of that away with a swipe of his hand. He looked down at the bodies on the ground in disgust.
"Weaklings who should have known better. But then again, I can’t blame them. This was their first time fighting me, after all."
"Ah! I’m hungry."
His stomach grumbled loudly. All the fighting had made him hungry.
Xan chose that moment to appear. He first peeked through the door before fully entering. His eyes widened as he took in the view—all the Knights lying there unconscious.
"You actually did it."
Slya snorted. "You don’t have to sound so surprised," she said smugly, even though she’d doubted him in the moment. It was one thing for Vale to beat the team leader, but another to beat a room full of Knights.
Xan shook his head. "This... Vale, you just defeated the team leader of the rank 34 team! Do you know how impressive that is? With this... everyone will know you!"
Vale shrugged. "He doesn’t seem that impressive."
Tiber chuckled. "Maybe to you, but think about it. If you were using normal elemental fire at our rank, there’s no way that rotting water wouldn’t have doused it and covered you, eating through.
"Senk is strong, but he’s just nothing compared to you."
Vale frowned slightly. "Maybe," he allowed. "At the very least, that last attack would have been difficult to counter if I didn’t have Dominion techniques."
Xan immediately asked, "What will you do with these Knights?"
"Take them outside, and all the Knights of team 34 should get the infernal hell away from this building. It’s mine now."
Vale waved as if the matter was settled and began to walk toward the door. He paused.
"But leave the chef and servants be."
Xan opened his mouth and then paused. This was the first time something like this had happened in the second layer. To invite a team to a duel and then defeat them—impressive. More than impressive.
Slya looked at the bodies on the ground and shook her head. "Now the rest of the day will be a busy one."
☆☆▪︎☆☆
That same day, news spread that team 34 had been defeated, rippling outward like water disturbed by a stone. The first thing people wanted to know was who did it. Was it one of the higher ranks? When did the Ten approve it? What was going on?
Most chose not to believe there was a single outlaw who had gone out to duel that day. It was impossible—this was a team they were talking about.
But no matter how much they tried to ignore it, reality smacked them in the face. Team 34 had been defeated by a single man. It made all the Scuffed Bones angry and embarrassed. They hid their humiliation as they fled from inns and taverns, immediately heading toward the team 34 base to find out what was really happening.
In the end, they all went to their base to hear it from their team leader himself. Everyone was cautious. Was this some mechanism of one flag moving against another?
All the other bases around team 34 went on full alert immediately. No matter how it was looked at, if a single man defeated team 34, then he couldn’t be ordinary.
Suddenly, everyone wanted to know about Vale. Fortunately or unfortunately, someone was going around inns and taverns spreading the news of a certain Vale.
It was said he had just arrived at the second layer and wanted his own team. That he was from the Steelclaw Alliance.
That caused mixed feelings within Steelclaw. On one hand, they were proud someone from their flag had done something like this. On the other, they looked at their own teams uneasily. Would the crazy man come for them next?
In just a single day, Vale’s name spread through the second layer, from deep inside the Veilwood to its edges, then toward the core outskirts, and finally into the core itself.