"Let’s move."
The bodies of the three demons flared with power as they surged forward, plunging deeper into the continent.
Yet despite the fact that countless individuals had entered at once ..
Crimson and his group encountered nothing.
No matter how far they advanced, nothing stood in their way.
It was as though the land ahead had no end.
As though it were—
"A maze... or an illusion."
Crimson halted suddenly after advancing for a long time without result.
No matter their speed, the scenery ahead remained unchanged.
"What’s wrong?"
Marvas asked, turning toward Crimson after his abrupt stop.
Crimson did not answer.
Instead, he drew his weapon and drove it violently into the ground.
Without warning ..
A deafening pressure exploded outward, forcing both Marvas and Agares to their knees.
"This... this is the King’s presence!"
Agares shouted, struggling to endure the overwhelming pressure Crimson had unleashed.
Crimson possessed a presence and aura equal to that of the Demon King himself—
standing before him alone was already an unbearable ordeal.
Crimson expanded his power relentlessly, flooding a vast area around them.
The pressure intensified, shattering the ground beneath their feet.
"Just as I suspected," Crimson said calmly,
"something strange is happening here."
He continued destroying everything around them.
"This land is not the true continent.
It’s merely a cursed maze—designed to keep us away from whatever this place is hiding."
To keep them away...
or to keep them occupied.
The seemingly endless terrain was not what it appeared to be.
In truth, it was a limited space ..
but each time someone reached its edge, they were returned to the beginning.
Even worse, the terrain itself changed every second, making it nearly impossible to discern the mechanism.
No one could realize they were constantly being reset ..
because nothing ever looked the same.
But Crimson saw through it almost immediately.
Then he released his full power, annihilating the maze entirely.
The illusion shattered.
And at last ..
They entered the true continent.
...
This time, the three found themselves within something far more complex.
They were standing upon a simple staircase.
Everything seemed ordinary ..
Except for the fact that they were standing upside down.
Around them stretched countless stairways and platforms, interwoven endlessly ..
extending far into the distance in chaotic, incomprehensible patterns.
With every step taken upon the stairs, one’s state changed.
Sometimes they were upside down.
Sometimes they walked along walls.
Other times, everything felt normal.
"Damn it... another maze,"
Marvas cursed.
Crimson’s expression darkened further.
"There’s something wrong."
Hearing this, both Marvas and Agares turned toward him at once.
"What do you mean?" Agares asked.
Crimson remained silent for a moment, expanding his perception until it covered an enormous area.
"This place feels... engineered," he said slowly.
"As if it’s actively trying to keep us away—trying to trap us."
He turned toward the endless, tangled stairways.
"But that’s not what concerns me most."
The First Seat clenched his fist, his expression growing grim.
"From the beginning, this was supposed to be the place the Great Ones would gather."
He paused.
"And yet, since we arrived..."
"I haven’t sensed a single one of them."
Crimson spoke coldly as he walked forward at an unhurried pace, his weapon firmly in hand.
"The Great Ones cannot escape my senses," he said flatly.
"Only one or two among them are capable of concealing themselves from me... yet I was unable to find a single one."
Hearing this, the expressions of Marvas and Agares shifted as well.
Crimson’s intuition was terrifying.
For at the very moment they breached the mysterious continent ..
The world was on the brink of witnessing something unprecedented.
Something that had never occurred in recorded history.
Something no one had anticipated... and no one was prepared for.
...
...
It began while the Demon King Agaroth was still seated upon his throne at the summit of the Tower of the End in Helmond.
The Demon World was as it had always been.
A bleak, dead planet ..
teeming with an overwhelming number of those filthy creatures.
The demons had split into two factions:
one that departed for the mysterious continent,
and another that went to confront the Shadow Sect on Earth.
As a result, very few powerful beings remained in Helmond.
Yet the Demon King himself was present.
And because of that...
no one expected what was about to happen.
On that day ..
The Demon King rose from his throne.
He walked slowly toward the edge of the towering Tower of the End.
Agaroth gazed toward the distant horizon.
Then, slowly ..
A terrifying smile formed upon his face,
while his eyes ignited with a dreadful glow.
"I must admit..." he said quietly,
"I never expected this."
The Demon King laughed, clenching his fist as a rare surge of excitement coursed through him.
From afar, the powerful beings of Helmond began to realize it ..
one after another.
From within the tower, the Seventh Seat, Izalith, rushed out,
a grim expression carved into her face.
The crimson sky of Helmond trembled ..
And then, without warning ..
The first strange wave descended.
It spread across the sky as an invisible force,
sweeping over the entire region.
A wave accompanied by a sinister sound—
like the blaring horns of a terrifying war.
Slowly...
All demons began to hear them.
Sounds that did not belong to this world.
The Demon King Agaroth was the first to see them.
Standing at the summit,
he perceived them clearly.
Strange shapes ..
overwhelming, transcendent beings that appeared only on the rarest of occasions.
Yet now, they had all emerged from nothingness.
Some were so colossal that they blotted out the sky itself.
Others bore simple forms, vaguely resembling demons.
But what they all shared ..
Was their aura.
And their crushing, absolute power.
Unlike the smiling Agaroth ..
Izalith felt only terror.
"We’re... being invaded," she whispered.
Before that overwhelming sight ..
those beings that eclipsed the crimson heavens ..
Everyone finally understood what was happening.
For the first time in its history—
Helmond was under invasion.
Invaded...
By the Great Ones.