NOVEL WEB Chapter 223: An Army Of Demons
"There are more of them than I expected," Daniel muttered as he stood on top of the walls of the Holy City, frowning while staring into the distance.
Thousands of demons had surrounded the city. All of them were armed and armored, and their intent was clear.
He let out a sigh. He already knew he was going to fight a noble demon, but he hadn't expected a full demon army to show up.
And worse—their numbers were massive. At least ten thousand demons.
He turned and looked at Evangelin and the three Paragons standing beside him. Their expressions were also grim and tense.
Clearly, they were worried too. After all, aside from the overwhelming number of demons, they also possessed a kind of immortality that made killing them extremely difficult.
"How many guards do we have inside the city?"
"Huh? I think around... five hundred?" Evangelin was pulled out of her thoughts by his voice.
"Only five hundred? We don't stand a chance like this." Daniel's frown deepened.
He had his Fallen with him, and even had seven Rank B individuals among them—but in this army of ten thousand demons, there were countless Rank B and Rank C demons.
The city's five hundred guards would be slaughtered within minutes—before they even understood what was happening. It would be suicide.
"What should we do?" Paragon Evern asked with a deep frown and clear concern.
"Is there anything we can do? We have no chance against them," Paragon Velmiran grumbled darkly.
Evern glared at him, but even he knew deep down that the bastard was right. They really didn't have a chance.
After taking one last look at the demons, Daniel turned and walked back into the cathedral.
The four of them glanced at each other before following him into the main hall of the church.
There, they saw their new leader sitting on the throne, lost in thought.
"You're the leader now. Shouldn't you at least do something?" Evern said with a sarcastic tone.
"Hmph. I bet he's so useless he can't even come up with a plan," Velmiran mocked.
"Shut up, you useless old men! Why don't you do something? Aren't you supposed to be Paragons? Can't even fight a demon army? Freeloaders." Evangelin snapped at them, yelling as she glared at the two.
The two Paragons wanted to say something back—but no words came. She was right. They were Paragons. They'd lived for centuries—and even so, they were helpless in this situation.
On the other hand, Daniel ignored all the noise and was deep in thought, trying to figure out a way to save them from this crisis.
It wasn't like he had no idea at all. After all, the main goal of the mission was to kill the noble demon. If he could locate and kill the noble demon, the mission would be considered complete, and this entire floor would be cleared.
Saving the Holy City from a demon army—or anything else that happened between the first and second phases, or even now in the third—was just a bonus. The Mother System might even completely ignore it.
So why should he waste his time fighting an entire demon army?
Still, there were complications. First of all, he didn't even know who the noble demon was. Judging by the difficulty level of this floor, he doubted the noble demon was among the demon army.
After all, from what he sensed, the strongest demon in that army was only mid-Rank B.
But even so… it didn't make sense. A Rank B demon army shouldn't be able to destroy the entire Eternity Faith.
All three Paragons standing in front of him were peak-Rank B after all.
'Now that I think about it… they're too weak to even be Paragons. Which means my suspicion was correct. Everything happening here is just part of a historical simulation—but the Mother System has severely reduced everyone's actual power. These Paragons probably had real strength around Rank S—but the Mother System capped them at peak-Rank B,' Daniel thought.
One of his doubts about the second floor had always been about the strength of its characters. After all, how could people who had lived for centuries still be stuck at Rank B?
Now he understood the truth—this was all just a simulation of something that happened in the past, and the Mother System adjusted the power levels of each floor according to the strength of the participants.
So these people were designed to be powerful—but still remain within a reasonable limit for Floor Two.
'Anyway, that's not important right now. What is important is figuring out how to find the noble demon,' his gaze shifted once more to the Paragons.
According to the information given to him by his newly converted Fallen—the players he had turned—someone had ordered them to create chaos during the sermon between the Endurers and the Ashbounds yesterday. That person was a middle-aged man who claimed to be a Paragon.
Among the three Paragons, the only middle-aged one was Abraham. Which meant he was the traitor.
But Daniel had already examined him thoroughly and doubted he was actually a demon noble. The man didn't give off any aura or vibe that made him feel like a demon.
To be sure, he had asked the Fallen who once served the demon if Abraham was one of them—and they had denied it.
'Maybe he has some kind of item that lets him fully hide his identity?' Daniel wondered.
If he attacked Abraham without any proof, the other two Paragons would definitely defend him—and Evangelin might even step in and support them.
Well… killing all three Paragons at once was possible using his Transcendent skill. And very tempting. If he did, he would gain three peak-Rank B Fallen under his command.
At that point, he would have four peak-B Fallen. He could literally call himself a one-man army.
But it was extremely risky. What if none of them were actually the noble demon? What if Abraham had done all of this just to get the position of successor?
Besides, if he attacked without proof, they would act like the victims and call on all the guards—and maybe even the believers—to capture or kill him. No matter how powerful he was, he wouldn't survive in that kind of situation.
He thought about it more—and eventually, he came up with a plan that might allow him to draw the noble demon out… although it would involve wiping out the demon army first.
'Ugh… So in the end, I do have to protect the Holy City. I just hope the system at least counts it as an achievement and gives me a good reward.'
Then he turned toward the Paragons and Evangelin.
"I have a plan."