Dungeon of Pride, Laplace



With the demon and the queen of the harpies becoming serious, the mountaintop was no longer able to contain their fight.

Annette watched their exchange from a distance, ready to step in at any moment. Though it did not look like she would need to, because her master was completely suppressing the Harpy Queen. 

The level of growth he had undergone in the past couple of months, was mind boggling to say no less. It would not be an exaggeration to say that their master had undergone another transformation of sorts. 

This transformation wasn't as obvious as when he became a Demon Earl, but it definitely occurred. Annette could tell because she had been observing him since the beginning. 

While doing her own training, she would glance towards Simon from time to time. He would falter, he would fall and even get depressed sometimes; nevertheless, he tackled every obstacle with an unbending willpower and determination.

He had this weird enigmatic air about him during training that it motivated all of his subordinates to try harder themselves. Of course, there were times were Simon would get stuck unable to progress any further.

However, she had never seen him quit or stop putting in his efforts even once. If met with a barrier on the way, he would bang his head on it clumsily. He was not a genius, he repeated things tens of thousands of times to understand something. 

As such, Annette had witnessed the progress her master had made. If it was the current Simon, he was even capable of fighting ranks above him.

The Queen of the Harpies might have posed some problems had she not been in her severely exhausted state. Without her Evil Eyes which was her main form of attack, she was the weakest of all the Seven Kings.

When it came to pure physical strength, she was nowhere near the levels of the other seven kings. However, that was only after discounting her Evil Eyes. The battle their master was engaged in right now was tailored, one that favoured him drastically and put him in an advantageous position.

Not only did he have information about his enemy beforehand, he even knew her weakness and had caught her at a bad time. Given these many factors favouring him, it would be weird if Simon did not win this fight.

It was evident from the battle occurring in the sky. The queen of the harpies might be faster than their master; however, as time passed by she fell into more and more of a disadvantageous position.

It was only a matter of time before their master won.

She might have also realised it, because the queen of harpies suddenly changed her attack pattern. 

[Thousnad Feather Dance] Melinda spread her wings wide. Thousands of black feathers appeared in front of her and started rotating and dancing around. Each of these Reinforced Feathers carried a razor sharp incisiveness and can be manipulated individually like a part of her own body.

So when they started rotating, a powerful storm generated around her which he used to trap the demon.

Facing the storm like attacks, Simon brandished his sword wildly. So what if he was besieged by thousands of attacks? Didn't he go through the same thing in his training? Worse, at that time all of his five senses were deprived and all he was allowed to do was dodge.

Thus compared to his training, the storm of feathers that Melinda created, didn't amount to much. With his Enhanced Six Senses, Intuition, Burnt Sword and Flash Steps, Simon had no issue fending off the attacks.

What's more, he even looked carefree and relaxed. Also, It had been commented by Irene that his [Sword Mastery] skill was on the verge of evolving. As such, even while fighting an enemy, Simon was trying to achieve a breakthrough.

"Hm? Where did she go?"

Simon remarked. After effortlessly fending off her storm of attacks, Simon found that Melinda was nowhere to be seen. Did she run away? Just as he was about to spread his senses to track her, he heard Annette's panicked and urgent voice from behind.

"Master save me!!".

Afraid that something might have happened to her, Simon hurriedly turned around only to hear Annette's voice once again.

"No Master don't!!".

The warning came a step too late, Simon had already turned around. His gaze was directed towards Annette or it should have been. However, the one standing there was not Annette, but instead the Queen of Harpies.

At this moment, she had a face full of smiles as she glanced at the demon.

"Master save me"

Melinda opened her lips and spoke; however, the voice that came out of her, wasn't hers but instead Annette's.

[Voice Imitation]... one of the skills of the Harpy Queen. Using this skill she was able to imitate any voice.

It was only now that Simon realised that the first cry for help that he heard, wasn't from Annette but from the Queen of Harpies. The second voice was from his subordinate who tried to warn him. Nevertheless, he had already fallen into the enemy's traps.

How so? That was because when Simon turned around hearing Annette's call for help, he had opened his eyes. And that was his mistake. His eyes had coincidentally overlapped with Melinda's who appeared in his line of vision.

Even though it was only for a second, that second was enough for Melinda's Evil Eyes to do its work.

The instant Simon glanced at her eyes, he felt like he had suddenly lost control of his own eyes. As if enraptured, he was unable to tear his gaze away from her eyes. His crimson pupils quickly turned violet and the raging mana inside him settled down.

Seeing the demon come to halt, Melinda flashed a smile of victory. Why would she not? The prey had fallen for her trap. No matter who it was, once they looked into her eyes, there was only one ending for them.

"You know… with how frustrated you made me, at first I thought of quickly killing you with my [Eyes of Annihilation]. But then I thought given your powers, it would be quite a waste to kill you like that. As such, I'm going to make you my new manservant for the rest of your life… Huhu"

Melinda said seductively as she caressed the demon's face. It was only now when she looked carefully, did she realise how handsome the demon was.

"Get away from him!!" a voice raged.

Annette shouted angrily and fired a couple of thunderbolts to separate the queen of harpies from their master.

The queen of the harpies immediately reacted and using her immense speed, she hurriedly backed down.

"Master, are you alright?" Annette quickly arrived at Simon's side and shook his motionless body in concern.

"Master… Master" she called at him again and again; however, his eyes which were covered in a violet light, were vacant and hollow. No response came from Simon, it was as if he was experiencing a dream with his eyes open.

"No… Spirit Magic- [Spirit Barrier]" Annette cast spirit magic in hopes that it might be able to wake Simon. Nevertheless, it was useless.

"Hoh, you can use spirit magic? Now that's rare. However, it's useless. No matter what you do, you cannot wake him up from my [Evil Eyes of Temptation]. Unless I release him myself, he will forever be trapped in that dream. His body had become a soulless vessel that would do my bidding for the rest of his lives… hahaha" Melinda laughed.

"Release him right now or else…"

Annette spoke in a low furious voice. The power she had been suppressing on orders of her master started flooding out in droves. It quickly affected the environment, the space started to violently distort and the mystical energy became turbulent.

Feeling the changes in the surrounding, Melinda's face quickly paled. The maid's power after she released her strength reached a level that even surpassed her own in her prime.

Not to mention she was in an exhausted state right now, Melinda's believed that she would be unable to win against the maid even if she was at her full strength. That was how much powerful the Valkyries had become after their limiters had disappeared.

"Wait…"

Panicked, Melinda hurriedly tried to back down but before she could, the maid had extended her hands towards her and a thunder spear completely crimson in colour formed from the numerous thunder sparks in the air flew towards her.

The queen of the harpies flapped her wings in a flurry; however, the spear was faster than her and followed her wherever she went.

"Wait!!! Even if you kill me, the demon will not wake up… kyaaahhhhhhahhh"

Melinda tried to negotiate in a last bit of effort but the thunder spear had already pierced her abdomen causing her to wail in misery.

The harpy queen's shriek of agony resounded across the distant skies causing all the harpies that were fighting the army of Andromedas, to immediately stop their actions and turned towards the direction where her voice came from.

"My Queen!!"

Feeling that their queen was in danger, the two calamity class harpies called out. However, against an opponent like Bianca who was simply toying with them with her overwhelming strength, they were powerless to do anything.

"Kugh!!… gugh!!…" The queen of the harpies clutched her stomach and lay on the ground in pain. Her eyes that previously held unmasked pride and condescension against her opponent, was at this moment, filled with fear and dread.

Why would it not, a single thunder spear was able to bring her to her knees. Not to mention the sky was currently lit up with hundreds of those spears currently suspended in the air.