Release That Succubus



Hogan couldn't help but despair hearing those words. This was his final safety measure. If he failed to pull this off even with the help of the scroll, then there was a high chance that he wouldn't be going back to the Hunter family in this lifetime.

He prayed so that the scroll in his hands would work. After all, it was considerably stronger than the ones those people had on them.

"Our scrolls are being blocked by matrix magic. There is no way out for any of us. Even if you have a strategic class spatial scroll, you wouldn't be able to get out of here." yelled one of the more competent mages. He had been studying the restriction in hopes of bypassing it somehow. But he was also powerless in front of it.

Hogan fell into despair as well; he finally figured out why Zach had been acting so smug earlier. It turned out that he was sure of keeping his enemies in place because he had already made the preparations to burn a large funeral pyre for his enemies.

Obviously, he knew what matrix magic was capable of. It was capable of stabilizing the space in an area for some time. During that time, using spatial abilities became a chore. Stable space was not only difficult to tear up but also unavoidably difficult to manipulate for people skilled in using spatial or void magic.

Therefore, the teleportation scrolls, that required connecting two spatial tears in different locations, were unable to function as well. 

Due to the highly stable space in Greenland, each of the scrolls was only able to produce a single spatial tear instead of two which caused the teleportation to fail.

Driven by madness and despair, Hogan crushed the scroll in his hand, placing all his chips on the strength of the ancient scroll that had always been with him as a means to ensure his personal safety.

He had paid an enormous amount to get the scroll and couldn't bring himself to believe that it would prove to be so useless in the direst situation he had ever encountered in his entire life. 

With two pieces of the ancient scroll in both hands, Hogan looked towards the sky as he stared death in the face hopelessly. The weight of those falling stones seemed to have increased by a lot as Hogan could feel the pressure bearing down on his shoulders from above, pushing him into the ground as if he was a weakling.

Of course, the meteors had no way of exerting such strength on him. It was only the weight of the future that would unfold after his death that was burdening his very soul. When he was gone, there would be no more Hunter family to stand at the zenith of Byzantium city like overlords. The work of his ancestors and their tireless accumulation over the years would only end up benefiting outsiders. The fact that he was going to be the reason for the downfall of the family only made it that much worse.

He remained stuck at his spot like a lifeless doll. It was as if his soul had left his body the moment he realized that he too wouldn't be able to escape the disaster.

The people around him began to curse out loud. They cursed their terrible fates; they cursed Zach for doing this to them and for leaving them no escape route; and they lashed out at Hogan for leading them to this godforsaken place in search of benefits.

Purely from an objective point of view, the anger of the Hunter family forces was certainly justified. They were not only unable to escape death but also their death was going to be so gruesome that the generations to come would probably remember this day with painful expressions.

Unlike the hoard of people, he had brought with him, Hogan was able to retain some of his rationality in the face of certain death. He didn't run about the island in panic as he tried to figure out a means of escape as there were probably none. 

If he were in Zach's place, he would have made sure of that. This place was probably no different from a cage at this time; a cage that was about to implode in on itself in the near future if Zach's countdown could be trusted.

Only less than three minutes were left until impact. There was no use trying to run out of the impact range because there was no time. 

Zach had chosen to tell them the truth only when he was sure that his enemies had no fighting chance. Otherwise, he would have let them all die ignorant.

Hogan understood that logic, being the leader of the faction. Therefore, he had already accepted that he was going to die. Not doing so at this point would have been an even greater folly.

Unlike Hogan, there was someone who still retained some hope of escaping the deathtrap.

The sensory mage from earlier had managed to stay behind even though the people around him had kept urging him to keep pace with them. Fortunately, all of them were highly motivated and had no choice but to leave a cowardly person like him behind when they felt like they were about to be separated from the main group.

Thanks to that, the sensory mage didn't have to travel deeper into the island. So, he was still around the outskirts when he felt the greatest warning his senses had ever given him. 

Jerking his head towards the sky in disbelief, he praised himself for being prudent earlier. His premonition had turned out to be right.

Without thinking of warning the others, he turned tail and ran. He wasn't so noble to risk his life for people he had barely met and who would have done the same if they were in his place.

The sensory mage felt that he would be able to escape the brunt of the heavenly wrath if he successfully made it into the ocean. Therefore, he rushed madly in the direction of the shoreline faster than his feet were capable of carrying him in normal times.

When confronted by the grim reaper's scythe, Hogan closed his eyes like an aging sage finally embracing death after having cheated it for a long time. A heavy sigh escaped his mouth as the thought of having failed his family took the maximum space available in his brain.

Zach didn't bother with how his adversary was faring or what the latter's mental state was like. He just kept counting, "...120...119...118..." like an unfeeling machine.

As the huge burning islands in the sky began to move closer to him, reality burst apart Hogan's fragile mind. He had only been maintaining a façade of calmness so far. 

In reality, Hogan still harbored hope of survival in the tiniest corner of his heart. Therefore, the descent of meteors only hit him that much harder. It was enough to break his fragile state of mind and the composed façade into countless pieces.

He hatefully looked at the screen where Zach's face hung in the air as it counted the time until his untimely demise like the harbinger of death.

"...64...63...62...61..."

"@%#$#%@#$@…bastard... you are undoubtedly the shittiest...the most disgusting scourge of human race to walk the earth...#$@%$#$#%… your whore of a mother...that bitch should have strangled you in the cradle...that slut probably slept with a hundred different mutts to give birth to a mongrel like you..."

Hogan wailed and cursed in the foulest of languages, but Zach remained completely unaffected by this outburst. It was as if he didn't even register the words of someone who was about to die in a few moments.

He raised his hand to stare at his watch once again as if to make sure that he was counting right.

"...35...34...33..."

There were only thirty seconds left on the watch. The fiery doom of Hogan Hunter was descending faster as if it had picked up speed on its way down.

The meteors looked like they couldn't wait to smash their targets into meat paste.

"You have no way out. Don't waste your time thinking of escaping. Now is the time to talk...any last words?"

Zach reminded Hogan to say his last words and prayers before the flame of his life was snuffed out forever. Zach had already won. Therefore, his words didn't have any intention of mocking or ridiculing his dying opponent. It was purely out of sympathy for someone who was about to die an especially terrible death.

Hogan had been ranting madly but as soon as he heard Zach's words, his visage shifted to become the epitome of 'calm and composed'. There wasn't a trace of that previous madness in his eyes and even his words became extremely gentle and respectful as he pleaded with Zach to grant his final wish; a final favor to make his journey to the underworld a little easier.

"I beg you to spare my son. He had no hand in it. He didn't even know about my plan until today. The Hunter family will crumble without me and most of its protective force. The hyenas waiting on the side will pounce and the vultures circling above my family mansion will descend to have a feast soon. There is no need to pull out the roots of my lineage. Please, let my son go. He neither has the courage nor the strength to exact vengeance against you or your family members."