The Author's POV

[Pillar of Sloth]

SHIIING—!

Silently coming from beneath the ground, Jin appeared behind a demon, and with his daggers crossed behind the demon's neck, a head rolled on the ground.

Thump!

Thin black threads emerged from the ground, enveloping the entire head before crushing it into a pulp and revealing a black core.

After the core was uncovered, the threads eventually worked their way toward it, and wrapped all over it, shattering the core at once.

Like that, a Duke ranked demon died.

"Haa…"

After releasing a soft breath, dark threads emerged from the ground and grappled onto his legs, pulling him beneath the ground, and his figure disappeared into the ground.

Boom—!

Shortly after his figure merged with the ground, a foot stomped in the area he was in, forming a large crater.

"He's gone!"

A demon huffed, looking around with a menacing glare.

It had only been a couple of minutes since he had made his appearance, but from the moment he had appeared, the situation started to turn more chaotic.

The great advantage that they had built was slowly starting to crumble, and the other races were starting to recompose themselves

"Where has he gone!? Damn, hiding bastard!"

The demon cursed and trashed, looking everywhere for any traces of the human that had appeared from out of nowhere.

It was right when he fixed his gaze in a particular direction that he suddenly felt a chill coming down his back and a voice whispering into his ears.

"I'm not hiding anywhere."

"You—!"

Swoosh—!

He swung his claws directly behind him, but to his great dismay, he saw that his claws hit nothing. Instead, thin black threads emerged from underneath the ground and slowly grappled and latched onto his hands, halting his movement.

"This! What is this!?"

The demon tried to rid himself of the threads that were gripped onto his arms, but as he pulled, he found that they didn't budge a single inch and merely stretched a little bit.

If that wasn't bad enough, more and more threads appeared from beneath the ground, encircling his legs and wings.

No matter how much the demon tried to struggle, more and more threads emerged from the ground beneath, sealing his movements.

The process moved along rather quickly, and before the demon even realized what was happening, the dark threads had encased every part of his body, with the exception of his head, which protruded from the cocoon.

"Release me!"

The demon tried to struggle, but it was a futile effort.

Appearing behind him, Jin casually looked at him from top to bottom before bending over and stabbing at his calf.

"There it is."

Spurt—!

eyes shone

core, the demon's face

Cr…Crack!

dissolved into the air. The threads that were cocooning him

"Huu."

another powerful demon,

really isn't easy to

it was anything but easy. Nearly half of his mana was depleted,

a lot of work that he

Gulp—!

a potion, his figure once again melted against the ground, and he headed

***

long pinkish hair—a trait belonging to the higher demons within the clan—and

All of

It looks like we've found

a certain human boy with short blond hair and deep green eyes

the other demons and harvested

was, without

almost makes me want to

the Prince, silently licking his lips

secret, but the demons weren't exactly

goal was to win the war, they had another

as they

This order…

was not something that they desired but rather something that His Majesty desired. He insisted that they make an effort to grow their forces

the demons were confused

was no questioning His Majesty in their

and the results were anything

was nothing that could escape his gaze, and all they could do was

with

questioned as he cocked his head to the side to take a look at the Prince-ranked demons that were still present. There were more than a dozen of them, and for some time they had been standing off

playing a certain game from the very beginning, one that consisted of choosing a certain

they did enjoy killing, they had all agreed that letting such talented individuals rot would

be useful if there was a conflict with

make good cannon fodder or perhaps

a particular demon. Out of all the demons, he seemed to be the one who

"Are you interested?"

"…I indeed am."

voice sounding extremely calm. Such behavior pleased the Prince, who

"What's your name?"

"Valling."

a couple of steps and stopping right

"Valling is it?"

him, and he seemed to be rather talented. His age and the rank he had achieved

he had actually seen

Ka Mankut, and it had even reached his ears. Especially lately when he

deal with so many things and demons on a daily basis, only the most important topics

heard about him was a

"Good… good…"

the more pleased he was with what he

strength was adequate and fairly

it wasn't his strength that impressed him the most; rather, it was the

and he was extremely pleased to know that there was someone like

"For now…"

gaze didn't linger over Valling for very long as he returned