Chapter 77:
The draconians all backed away by a thousand meters.
The four Heroes exchanged a glance before temporarily releasing Nancilia.
Right now, the most important thing is killing the Demon King. So long as they can kill the Demon King before them, just where could a mere sealed little elf city lord run away to?
Soon, the draconians have all disappeared from view.
At this point, the field was utterly empty except for the Demon King, the elf city lord, and the four Heroes.
"Demon King, unseal me and let's work together against them. Well?!"
Nancilia immediately swore an oath, "I swear that I won't run away!"
Zhang Nu replied, "No need."
The orc shaman shattered a magical crystal ball and a violet barrier with around 300 meters in diameter enveloped them.
The Demon King and the four Heroes were all trapped within, while Nancilia was excluded outside, leaving her quite mad.
"You terrible Demon King. I was trying to help here, and yet you wouldn't trust me!"
"Those four guys are really strong!"
"Let's just see how you're going to deal with them!"
It's a barrier crystal!
This item can temporarily create a sealed combat environment. It's an absolute necessity for any solo Heroes if they want to hunt and kill a Demon King.
After the barrier formed, the four Heroes relaxed quite a bit.
Wang Gang loudly laughed, "At this point, it's too late for you to regret it. You really shouldn't have been so arrogant."
The orc shaman Li Dingnan agreed, "That's right. You probably never heard of us, so you don't know just what it means for the four of us to work together!"
The wing-kin spoke, "What are flapping your gums for? Don't waste time and attack already!"
The Demon King just glanced at the four of them.
"One minute." He put a finger up, "Within this one minute, I won't fight back at all. Use whatever moves you have and don't complain about not getting the chance."
Wang Gang was enraged, "You're overly arrogant!"
The Demon King just replied, "You still have 55 seconds left."
The four Heroes are all top tier powerhouses!
Although they're all pseudo Lord in power, due to having hunted a great number of Demon Kings, they gained a lot of Talents as rewards. They also have all kinds of consumable items and powerful trump cards.
If they were to really fight with all they had, the four Heroes could easily match the strength of level 3 Lords.
What right does the Demon King have to look down on them so much? For him to act so prideful and arrogant, the Heroes naturally found their own pride hurt.
"Fine!'
"You asked for it!"
"You'll understand soon enough!"
"Just how foolish you were!"
"I'll have you die in the most painful manner possible!"
"..."
Outside the barrier, Nancilia looked very anxious.
She had no idea how the battle inside was going.
The four Heroes aren't easy to deal with, so what if the Demon King ended up losing? It's all fine for him to die due to his one hubris, but there's no way that those Heroes will let her go.
She never imagined that her own fate would end up linked with that of the Demon KIng.
She'll only live if the Demon King wins. If the Demon King dies, then she'll end up following after him. Although it feels kind of strange, she still prays for the Goddess of Nature to protect him and bless him with the fortune to win.
Boom, boom, boom!
With those explosions, there was a violent wave of shaking comparable to an earthquake!
Nancilia could accurately detect that the epicenter of the quake was inside the barrier. The shockwave energy was terribly powerful, meaning the battle inside was far more furious than she had imagined!
The Demon King wouldn't really die, right?
Nancilia's worries only lasted for a minute though.
Cracks spread across the violet barrier and broke off piece by piece like shattered glass before dissolving into sparkles of light and disappearing.
Immediately after, the Demon King walked on out.
Nancilia asked, "A-are you alright? What happened to those other guys?"
Zhang Nu replied, "Can't you see it for yourself?"
The Demon King was utterly unharmed.
But how could the battle have ended so quickly?
Nancilia looked toward where the battleground was with wide eyes.
The 300 meter diameter area within the barrier was pretty much completely tossed about. Lava flowed in the crater, setting things all around on fire. All kinds of various strange items and scroll fragments littered the ground!
What happened to those four Heroes?
The leader of the Heroes, Wang Gang, looked like he was still standing.
His arms were still raised in the motion of swinging his sword down.
However, his head, and a good portion of his torso were completely destroyed. The enormous wound was scorched black and smoking, but not a drop of blood had flowed out.
Nancilia was simply shocked at the sight.
It was obviously the result of some unfathomably powerful energy annihilating his body without any resistance in an instant. That's why he was still in that pose.
The orc shaman had runes absolutely covering his body all over.
He had collapsed on the ground, bleeding out from every orifice. His eyes were wide open, with his face locked in a rictus of shock.
The wing-kin Hero Jin Ying was kneeling down not far away. His two short swords were shattered, and only half of him was still there. The other half was completely gone.
Strange? There should still be one more though.
The troll Hero had completely disappeared.
However, there was a strange new creature there though. It looked like a squid with eyes and spikes growing everywhere, and it gave off an extremely dangerous impression.
Is that the fourth Hero?
The troll was an alchemist!
He must have used some kind of forbidden alchemical concoction and transformed his own body into that horrific monster.
That kind of transformation may very well be irreversible!
Unless one is in a situation where there is no other choice, where death is certain, no one would willingly turn themself into that kind of disgusting monster...
Even so, he still died.
The squid monster had been burned to charcoal .
Just how did the Demon King do this? He finished the battle in just two short minutes, and he even won in such an unbelievably one-sided manner too!
Nancilia was utterly shocked.
Did she overestimate the strength of the Heroes?
Or was she far underestimating how terrifying the Demon King really is?
She felt like it's likely the latter. Back when they fought in Giantree City, he must not have shown anywhere near his true strength.
Nancilia thought back to all the times she taunted the Demon King and demanded another fight with him. Then she looked at what remained of the Heroes and involuntarily shuddered.
...
This minor incident was now over.
Zhang Nu returned to the great throne room.
He thought back to the battle just now.
He had to admit, the four Heroes really did have a thing or two.
Beyond the fact that all of them had power nearing the Lord level, each of them also had all kinds of strange items too, like magic stones, scrolls, or potions.
LIkely, due to having killed lots of Demon Kings, they have an extremely high number of varied skills and Talents.
This did cause him a little bit of trouble.
That said, when the difference between them is this large, such insignificant tricks can't possibly change the result
Zhang Nu used Thunderflame to shatter Wang Gang's head. Jin Ying was cut in half across the waist in the middle of his shadow leap, leaving half his body in the shadow space.
After Li Dingnan tried various elemental attacks to no effect, he attempted to attack Zhang Nu with mental control, but the result was that he ended up dying to the mental backlash instead.
One point worth noting is the troll alchemist Peng Sihai.
He used an alchemical potion and transformation magic to turn himself into an abyssal demon. However, it was still unable to change his fate in the end.
In summary, Heroes of this level have the ability to cause some troubles, but their actual threat is minor, nothing to be feared.
They're already the most top tiered Heroes of this area, but it seems like they really are only this much.
Zhang Nu opened his status screen and scanned the messages. There were four new kill records that just popped out.
[You've slain a level 3 Hero. Soul +1, Skill Stone +1!]
[You've slain a level 3 Hero. Soul +1!]
[You've slain a level 3 Hero. Soul +1, Skill Stone +1!]
[You've slain a level 3 Hero. Soul +1, Skill Stone +1!]
Zhang Nu discovered that high leveled Heroes have a high chance of dropping skills.
He only killed four Heroes, yet they dropped three skill stones. Plus, those three skill stones are likely no simple things either.