As the corpse of the Bulwark Demon fell to the ground, Simon looked at it, then he looked at his blood stained claws and swung his hands slightly, causing some of the blood to fly away from his hands.
He inhaled slightly, then he crouched and used the beast skin cloth of the bulwark demon to clean his hands.
While he was doing this, he felt a sharp pain on his right hand and he looked at it.
There were slight bruises on his knuckles, and he could not help but shake his head when he saw his.
He looked at the deformed head of the corpse.
"Even after using my demonic energy to protect my hands, I still got injured punching you."
"Bulwark demons truly live up to their name."
Just like the name and their appearance, Bulwark demons were exactly like living fortresses.
Not only do they have high physical prowess, their physical defenses were absurdly high.
This was why Simon used such a cruel method to kill the Bulwark, their eyes were their weak points, but even with that, stabbing through the eyes of a Bulwark requires enough strength.
"Because of a Bulwark’s physical defenses, assassins of the same rank would struggle against them because blades can barely pierce their skin and blunt weapons are not so effective against them."
"I wonder how my classmates would fare against them."
Simon stood, then he jumped and landed on the roof of one of the buildings which was still intact.
For the first time since he arrived, he took a good look around him and saw the Varkhess Bastion in its current state.
Varkhess Bastion was far larger than he initially thought. It could be compared to a medium sized city on earth and it was not easy for Simon to clearly see the entire city even with Sky Eye.
’It’s size is more than ten kilometers.’ Simon thought as he recalled the range limit of Sky Eye.
As he looked around, he noticed that the entire stronghold was built upon a rising mass of dark stone which was basically a jagged hill that elevated the city above the surrounding land.
From the rooftop he was standing on, the battlefield stretched out in all directions, and Simon could hear the screams, shouts, and roars of chaos all around him.
His gaze landed at a massive structure that was at the very center of the Bastion.
Even when he was fighting the Bulwark demon, he noticed this structure since it was massive and it was the biggest structure in the stronghold.
It was like a towering citadel made out of rocks and metals, and its surface was carved with ancient lines that faintly glowed beneath the smoke-filles sky.
Despite the chaos all around them, it stood tall and unmarred compared to the rest of the buildings in the stronghold.
’That should be where the leader of this city stays, and it should also be where the Night Sovereign or the Grave Lords are if they are present.’
Simon narrowed his eyes slightly.
’But I can’t sense any powerful presence in that building or even in the battlefield at all.’
’I can understand if the Night Sovereign and Grave Lords are able to perfectly hide their presence since they’re, but a Bulwark should not be able to do that.’
’A Bulwark would not even want to hide his or her presence in this situation.’
He tilted his head slightly, his eyes flashing with a calculating light.
’Does that mean that the Night Sovereign and Grave Lords are not present? Or if they are, are they far away from this battlefield?’
He narrowed his eyes slightly, then he looked back at the towering citadel.
’Or maybe the Night Sovereign and Grave Lords are not even present. The Night Sovereign is like a myth to many members of the clan, and if us first years are able to see him in a simulation, then that’d be strange.’
He shook his head slightly in regret.
’What a shame. I was hoping I could catch a glimpse, just a tiny glimpse of the Night Sovereign or the Grave Lords fighting.’
He decided to push the thoughts of the Night Sovereign to the back of his head.
He continued his observation of the stronghold.
The stronghold was spread outward in rings, and Simon could see the separation between each ring because of the roads.
From where he was, he could also see that on the north, south, west, and east part of the stronghold, there were two watchtowers mounted on the walls of the stronghold.
The stronghold also had two gates on the western and eastern part of the city.
Collapsed buildings littered the streets of the city, and their remains were crushed into jagged heaps.
Some were burning, flames hungrily across shattered walls and broken beams.
Others had been completely reduced to rubble, leaving behind uneven terrain and pockets of debris that turned movement into a risk.
The narrow streets between the structures had become death traps, and alleys were filled with corpses.
Simon’s eyes shifted.
To the north, he saw a towering watchtower still standing in place, though half of its upper structure had been blown apart.
Flames locked at its sides, and yet, Simon could see faint outlines of figures still moving in it.
His gaze shifted again.
To the south, he saw another tower, and this tower was completely intact.
Its surface glowed faintly with inscriptions of chaos runes, and from its peak, pulses of dim red light flickered at intervals, spreading outward like signals across the battlefield.
Simon’s gaze shifted again to the tower he was the closest to.
The west.
The western wall and gate had been breached.
A massive section of it had caved inward, and there were collapsed stones scattered across the ground below.
This was where the Shadowgrave Clan had forced their way in, and the remains of the gate lay twisted and broken, barely recognizable as something that once stood tall and unyielding.
He was a little bit far away from the wall, but he could see how the clan was fighting against hundreds of Bulwark demons.
Simon spent more time observing the western wall, then he shifted his gaze to the eastern wall where the second gate still stood.
It was closed and untouched, and it was heavily guarded.
He could see the faint outline of rows of Bulwark demons lining the area, their massive forms standing still with precision.
Their goal was to guard the eastern gate.
Simon’s eyes flickered when he saw this, and the gears in his mind spun.