Chapter 433 - 432: Minor Lords

Chapter 433: Chapter 432: Minor Lords

Destroying them only meant they would be recreated again in the future.

With that thought, Alix no longer paid attention to the countless explosions occurring around him.

Whether it was one hundred demons...

Ten thousand...

Or several hundred thousand...

None of it held any significance.

To someone who had once battled beings capable of shattering continents and bending the very Laws of existence, the horde before him was no different from raindrops falling into an endless sea.

Without changing his pace, Alix continued walking deeper into the ruined city.

His footsteps echoed softly across the blood-soaked streets.

Behind him, countless corpses littered the ancient roads, only to gradually dissolve into black mist as the dungeon began reclaiming them. Before long, the remains would completely disappear, waiting for the time when they would be reborn once more.

The deeper he ventured, the more magnificent the city became.

The ruined buildings surrounding him grew increasingly grand.

Towering fortresses rose into the crimson sky.

Massive bridges connected colossal towers suspended hundreds of meters above the streets below.

Ancient statues depicting horned beings with majestic wings stood proudly along every avenue. Although countless years had passed, their expressions still carried an undeniable aura of authority.

The architecture no longer resembled a city built for ordinary inhabitants.

It resembled the capital of an empire.

A civilization that had once stood at the pinnacle of the world.

The stronger the city became...

The stronger its guardians became as well.

The number of Lesser Demons gradually declined.

Instead, Alix began noticing increasingly familiar figures.

The intelligent demons with black wings.

The ones the System had identified as Tempters.

At first, he only encountered one every few streets.

Then two.

Then five.

Soon, nearly every ruined district housed several of them.

Unlike the Lesser Demons, the Tempters did not recklessly throw themselves at him.

Many stood atop towering buildings, silently observing him from afar.

Some remained seated upon broken pillars as if guarding their assigned territories.

Others hovered in the sky, their enormous black wings spreading wide enough to cast shadows over entire streets.

Their glowing golden eyes followed his every movement.

Each possessed a level of intelligence far beyond the mindless Lesser Demons.

Several even communicated through strange, low-frequency sounds that resembled a language rather than beastly growls.

Alix noticed the subtle difference immediately.

"They’re organizing themselves..."

he muttered.

The Tempters no longer behaved like wild monsters driven purely by instinct.

They maintained formations.

They observed.

They waited.

Only after one of them gave a command would nearby Lesser Demons launch another suicidal assault.

As he crossed into another district, the atmosphere suddenly became noticeably heavier.

The mana in the surroundings condensed.

An invisible pressure lingered in the air, enough to make even ordinary Tier 5 cultivators instinctively retreat.

Alix, however, remained unaffected.

His gaze slowly shifted toward the center of a massive square.

Unlike the surrounding ruins...

This plaza remained remarkably intact.

Towering obsidian pillars encircled its perimeter.

Ancient crimson runes were carved into the ground, faintly glowing despite the countless years that had passed.

Thousands of Tempters stood around the plaza in perfect silence.

None of them moved.

None of them attacked.

They simply lowered their heads toward the center, as though showing respect to something.

Then, a figure slowly rose from an enormous black throne carved directly into the stone.

It stood nearly five meters tall.

Its physique was perfectly proportioned, possessing neither the excessive bulk of the Lesser Demons nor the lean frame of the Tempters.

Dark crimson armor covered its entire body, appearing as though it had naturally grown from its flesh.

Two long obsidian horns curved backward above its head.

Behind it hung four massive wings instead of two, each feather possessing a metallic sheen that reflected the crimson light overhead.

Its golden eyes were calm.

Sharp.

Filled with unmistakable intelligence.

The surrounding Tempters instinctively stepped back, creating a clear path before it.

At that moment, another translucent blue screen appeared before Alix.

The System quietly completed its analysis.

[Minor Lord]

[Tier: 6]

Alix’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"A new rank... It’s also a peak tier 6"

he murmured.

He calmly studied the demon standing before him.

Compared to the Tempters...

Its aura had undergone a qualitative transformation.

It wasn’t simply stronger.

Its control over demonic energy had become significantly more refined.

Every movement was restrained.

Every breath caused the surrounding mana to ripple.

It no longer resembled a monster.

It resembled a commander.

A ruler entrusted with governing a portion of this ancient city.

The Minor Lord slowly descended from its throne.

Its armored footsteps echoed throughout the silent plaza.

Clang.

Clang.

Clang.

The surrounding Tempters immediately knelt on one knee as it passed, lowering their heads without the slightest hesitation.

None dared meet its gaze.

The difference in status was absolute.

Seeing this, Alix became even more convinced.

"So that’s how their hierarchy works..."

"The Lesser Demons are the foot soldiers."

"The Tempters are officers."

"And the Minor Lords..."

He looked directly into the demon’s unwavering golden eyes.

"They’re commanders."

His gaze swept beyond the plaza, extending far into the heart of the ancient city.

From that distance, he could already sense several more powerful auras awakening one after another.

Some were comparable to the Minor Lord before him.

A faint smile slowly appeared on Alix’s face.

"So there are more."

His voice was calm, almost amused.

He took another step forward.

The instant his foot touched the ancient stone, every Tempter within the plaza simultaneously raised their heads.

Thousands of pairs of eyes locked onto him.

The atmosphere instantly became suffocating.

The surrounding demonic energy churned violently, gathering into a massive crimson vortex above the plaza. Dark clouds rolled across the blood-red sky, while violent winds howled between the towering obsidian pillars.

Then, the Minor Lord slowly raised one hand.

Its voice echoed throughout the square, deep and commanding.

"Graa..."

Although Alix couldn’t understand the language, the meaning behind the order was unmistakable.

Attack.

BOOM!

The plaza erupted into chaos.

Thousands of Tempters shot into the sky simultaneously, their black wings tearing through the air with explosive force. They formed countless formations overhead before diving toward Alix like a rain of black meteors.

At the same time, the Minor Lord disappeared from its original position.

The stone throne behind it exploded into fragments.

A sonic boom echoed through the plaza as the five-meter-tall commander crossed hundreds of meters in an instant.

Its armored fist descended toward Alix’s head.

The surrounding air collapsed beneath the sheer force of the strike.

It was powerful enough to reduce an entire mountain into dust.

Unfortunately...

Its opponent was Alix.

The moment the Minor Lord entered the invisible domain surrounding him...

Its charge came to an abrupt halt.

The demon’s intelligent eyes widened ever so slightly.

It instinctively realized something was wrong.

But it was already too late.

Boom!

Its entire body exploded.

Not shattered.

Not cut apart.

It simply burst into countless fragments as though reality itself had rejected its existence.

Its black armor disintegrated into crimson dust.

Its four wings were torn into thousands of pieces.

Dark blood erupted like a fountain before raining across the plaza.

The shockwave from its destruction swept through the battlefield, causing hundreds of nearby Tempters to lose control of their flight.

Before they could recover...

They entered the same invisible boundary.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The sky became a continuous chain of explosions.

Every Tempter that approached suffered the exact same fate.

Some exploded into clouds of blood before reaching him.

Others burst apart in midair, scattering feathers, flesh, and broken horns across the ancient city.

The scene resembled fireworks made of blood.

Within minutes, the sky itself had turned crimson.

Corpses fell endlessly from above.

The streets became buried beneath mountains of shattered demonic remains.

Yet Alix never stopped walking.

His pace remained steady.

Each step he took claimed dozens... Sometimes hundreds, of lives.

Wherever he passed, nothing survived.

The intelligent Tempters attempted to reorganize their formations countless times.

Some attacked from above.

Others launched coordinated assaults from every direction.

Several even remained far away, releasing torrents of demonic energy capable of flattening entire districts.

The attacks never reached him.

The moment the demonic techniques entered his domain...

They collapsed into nothingness.

Even the laws woven into the attacks were effortlessly erased.

Hours gradually passed.

The once-glorious capital had become eerily silent.

The endless roars had disappeared.

The skies no longer swarmed with winged demons.

Only rivers of black blood remained, flowing through the ancient streets.

Alix eventually arrived at the heart of the city.

An enormous obsidian citadel stood before him.