The disparity in strength between them was too vast. Even relying purely on his own abilities, these humans stood no chance against him. Moreover, with Zhang Nu possessing several Evil God talents, his strength continued to grow, and the effects of his talents became increasingly powerful, allowing him to achieve such an overwhelming victory.
"His Majesty is too powerful!" Marilyn seldom witnessed the Demon King taking action and was shocked by his power, almost rivaling gods.
Nancilia was equally exhilarated. Although she had long known that His Majesty was terrifyingly powerful, she hadn't expected him to be this formidable. With such a figure leading them, the Forest of Chaos had nothing to fear.
"The rest is up to you!" After personally dealing with Bachor and others, Zhang Nu didn't linger on the battlefield.
Although the current strength of the Chaos Federation meant that even if the Demon King was fully exposed, there would be no fear of threats from the empire, progress should be made one step at a time. Conquest was a process and couldn't be achieved overnight. For this reason, Zhang Nu still maintained a degree of low profile, allowing the Chaos Federation to expand gradually at a healthy and steady pace.
When the domain was reopened, the bodies of the four knight commanders and the various Heroes were all presented before everyone. As for Bachor, not even his bones remained.
The soldiers of the empire's camp were utterly despaired.
"It's all over..."
"We're done for!"
"The Duke of the Empire has been defeated!"
"The Archbishop of the Radiant Church and the Sword Saint of the Sunset Empire have been killed!"
The troops of the empire were in despair as the fall of their strongest forces plunged them into a state of collapse.
......
Back in Darkness City, Zhang Nu opened his player interface to briefly check his gains. The rewards from this battle were not small by any means. The battle was not over yet, but a preliminary estimate suggested that the income in terms of gold could reach around 3.4 billion, especially since this battle could eliminate tens of thousands of knights from the Bachor Duchy. These ducal knights were the most powerful and core forces, painstakingly built by Bachor Duchy with immense effort, resources, and time. They were also extremely loyal to the duchy, making the chances of their surrender quite slim.
Moreover, there were quite a few high-level fighters involved in this round of battle. Just the Grand Duke of the empire alone, being a Level 6 monarch-class unit and having the special status of an empire's duke, contributed to an impressive 50 million gold in earnings, making the rewards from this battle quite substantial.
In addition, this battle resulted in the deaths of a large number of Heroes. Zhang Nu gained the souls of about a dozen Level 6 Heroes, nearly a hundred Level 5 Heroes souls, and almost a thousand Level 4 Heroes souls. Among these, the number of skill stones reached several thousands.
For the Demon King, these were valuable resource reserves. Zhang Nu glanced over the skill stones currently in his possession. To him, skill stones below A-rank no longer hold much significance; only those that were rank A or S could effectively enhance his power. From this battle, he obtained several S-rank skill stones. Zhang Nu selected a few S-rank skill stones and picked out a few others from the rest that are of particular use to him, intending to keep these skills for himself:
[Skill Stone: Mind Qi] S-rank skill stone
[Skill Stone: Inner Sword Technique] S-rank skill stone
[Skill Stone: Radiant's Holy Physique] S-rank skill stone
[Skill Stone: Titan's Might] A-rank skill stone
[Skill Stone: Life Baptism] A-rank skill stone
Mind Qi is a Qi-based skill. Qi skills are foundational for martial Heroes. Different types of Heroes cultivate different types of Qi, each with its own effects and attributes. The most significant difference between Mind Qi and regular Qi is that Mind Qi is of the psychic attribute. Up until then, Zhang Nu had encountered various attributes of Qi, but he had never come across Qi of the psychic attribute. That meant, using this type of Qi to attack an enemy could not only cause physical damage but could also destroy the opponent's psych, thereby forming a powerful psychic attack. It was quite rare.
As for the other S-rank martial skill, the Inner Sword Technique, it belonged to a famous swordsmanship school in the Sunset Empire. When cultivated to the extreme, the Inner Sword Technique could directly annihilate an opponent's soul. Moreover, this type of strike could not be dodged.
If the Inner Sword Technique and Mind Qi were combined with the Dragon Fear and the Eye of Domination, the resulting effect and lethality would undoubtedly be astonishing. It could be said that by mastering these two skills, Zhang Nu's attack methods and killing power could have been further enhanced.
As for the other skills, they were all passive.
[Radiant's Holy Physique] S-rank passive skill. Upon cultivation, HP, MP, and all stats +50%. Light attribute attacks +100%. Absorption of light damage +99%.
In simple terms, this was a top-tier skill that could significantly enhance all attributes, increase light-based attack capabilities, and absorb light damage. It was powerful enough to provide a boost comparable to the benefits brought by a Level 4 advanced Demon King talent. Without hesitation, Zhang Nu learned it. With this S-rank skill, his strength improvement was immediately noticeable.
The other two A-rank skills were also not to be underestimated.
[Titan Strength] A-rank passive skill. Strength +1200, Constitution +800.
[Life Baptism] A-rank passive skill. Max HP +10,000. HP restoration +100 per second.
These two passive skills provided fixed enhancement effects. For Demon Kings or Heroes with weaker strengths and lower stats, the improvement brought by these skills would be immediately significant and quite evident. Although the enhancement wasn't as substantial as the S-rank skill for Zhang Nu, it was still not to be underestimated. Zhang Nu found it extremely difficult to level up now. However, through the amplification of stats using crystals, potions, skills, or other means, he could still continually strengthen himself and deepen his foundation.
The gains from this battle left him very satisfied. In addition to a substantial amount of gold, souls, and skill stones, he also acquired two monarch crystals this time. Such items were of considerable value to a Demon King. Including the one obtained from killing the Hero Luo Zheng, he now had three of these crystals in total.
Hoarding such resources would be wasteful. Zhang Nu decided to try and exchange them for something more useful for Darkness City. He opened the chat channel, took out a monarch crystal, and posted the information in the trading chat. Then, he made an announcement across all Demon King channels:
"Selling a 'Monarch Crystal.' Open to exchange for top-tier blueprints, skill stones, or reliable information on 'Godhood' or 'Void Seeds.' Interested parties, please PM me!"
Zhang Nu believed that an item like the monarch crystal would have an irresistible attraction to Demon Kings at this stage. Throwing one into the mix was bound to cause an unprecedented sensation across various Demon King channels, thus drawing countless eyes and discussions.
Zhang Nu tried to gather information on "Godhood" and "Void Seeds," which were crucial materials for activating his Level 6 talents. Given the number of souls he currently possessed and his rate of acquiring them, activating a Level 6 talent was not difficult in itself. The real challenge lay in choosing an advanced evolutionary path.
Upon ascending to Level 6, a Demon King's evolution could branch into different directions. Zhang Nu had the option to activate "Primordial Dragon" or "Void Dominator," but he could also choose to activate "Chaos Dragon God" or "Void Overlord." The former options were undoubtedly strong, but they likely paled in comparison to the latter. If Zhang Nu were only seeking a faster level-up, he could quickly activate a Level 6 talent right this moment and fully activate all Level 6 talents within a month.
However, Zhang Nu believed his current strength was more than sufficient to deal with surrounding enemies. Therefore, why rush the leveling process? Instead, he preferred to choose a better path to become an even stronger entity!
Having three monarch crystals, selling one was not a big deal. In fact, with Darkness City currently having enough high-end units and Zhang Nu possessing various ways to create monarch-class units, even trading all three monarch crystals wouldn't be a loss, provided he could exchange them for useful information and resources.
As expected, the Demon King chat channels exploded!
"Damn, what kind of divine material is this?!"
"It can actually transform a subordinate unit into a monarch-class entity? I've been around until now and am only at lord-class strength... Is this the world of the big shots?"
"I've heard of monarch crystals before. It seems you need to kill a Level 6 monarch-class Hero to obtain one, right? Did Potato Boss actually take down such a high-level being? Is Potato Boss's strength really that terrifying?"
"What? Am I seeing this right? A Level 6 monarch-level Hero?"
"Are there really Heroes that powerful in this world? Impossible!"
"Just because you haven't seen them doesn't mean they don't exist. Such Heroes are indeed very rare, but they do exist in various regions, and their numbers are on the rise. Heroes can grow too!"
"Potato Big Boss, are you interested in trading for gold? I'll offer 10 million gold!"
"10 million gold for a monarch-class unit? Are you dreaming?"
"Hey! 10 million gold isn't a small number. How many of you trash can come up with that? But the question is, does Potato Boss look like someone who needs just 10 million gold?"
"Admiration +1!"
"Admiration +10086!"
Zhang Nu glanced over it. Every channel's chat channel had blown up. His private message inbox also exploded in an instant. Zhang Nu had set a threshold for private messages, requiring Demon Kings of at least Level 4 and above to send him messages, and yet he still received thousands of messages in a blink of an eye. However, whether it was in the chat channels or his private message inbox, Zhang Nu did not find the information he was looking for. Everyone was confused about the "Godhood" and "Void Seeds"; no one knew what these items were used for, nor did anyone know where to find these two items.
"This is getting tricky..." Zhang Nu furrowed his brows, realizing that pursuing a higher-level upgrade path might not be an easy task. It seemed he needed to prepare for a long-term search.
As for the monarch crystal? He decided to just list it in the trade section for now. After all, Zhang Nu had plenty of money and didn't care about a little transaction fee. Such a rare treasure could attract the attention of a large number of Demon Kings. With a hefty reward, there will surely be opportunity takers. Countless Demon Kings would be mobilized to gather information and search for the two upgrade materials for Zhang Nu.
......
The next day, the battle in the Elro region concluded, aligning closely with expectations. Almost the entire duchy's knight order was wiped out, while nearly half of the ordinary imperial soldiers surrendered. Zhang Nu, instead of completely annihilating these surrendered units, planned to construct several Level 5 prisons in the human territories to specifically house prisoners of war and manage them.
Following this battle, Zhang Nu gained more financial resources, allowing him to significantly expand his territory once again and further encroach upon and assimilate the population of the empire's territories.
However, at this moment, Zhang Nu, along with all Demon Kings and Heroes, received a notification message. The message for the Demon King faction read as follows:
[Global Announcement: The initial development phase of this round of the game has concluded. The ranking system for Demon Lords and Heroes will soon be opened. Demon Kings and Heroes who make it onto the leaderboard will receive additional bonuses. Extra rewards will be granted for killing those listed on the leaderboard.]
Ding! Another notification popped out.
[It has been detected that you will be placed on the Demon King leaderboard. Would you like to publicly disclose all your information?
A Demon King leaderboard? Zhang Nu was taken aback upon seeing this announcement. It had been half a year since the game began, and discussions about the top ten Demon Kings, top hundred Demon Kings, and so on, were rampant in almost every Demon King channel, but it was difficult to truly clarify and compare these rankings.
Unexpectedly, an official leaderboard had now emerged."