Percy moved around the three Lesser Demons like a whirlwind. They attacked him relentlessly, but their claws, fangs, and paws never hit him. Percy twisted his body, evading several attacks simultaneously without responding with a counterattack until the perfect opportunity appeared before his eyes.

He located a weak spot in the Demonic Gnoll’s defense and struck. The Silvron Sword whizzed past the Gnoll’s claws and pierced deep into the Lesser Demon’s chest. Percy’s mana churned and was drained quickly as he activated [Frostbite] to freeze the Gnoll’s chest as he pulled out. The Gnoll roared in pain and tried to attack, but the strength left its body. Sensing his opportunity, Percy closed in again and slashed the Demon’s throat.

A fountain of dark, almost black blood spurted through the surroundings and on Percy’s face, but he spun around and zig-zagged around the other attackers. The two Lesser Demons facing him were already injured and slower than their dead companion. Percy relied on his combat experience and personal strength to sever the head of one Lesser Demon and cut off the other Gnoll’s arm before he drove the Silvron Sword deep into the Demon’s chest.

Several interfaces popped up around him, but Percy focused only on the Lesser Demons he’d been hunting. They were dead and wouldn’t cause death and destruction anywhere anymore.

Why are there so many of them? Did Melissa guess wrong, and is the Demon Ward weaker than expected?

Percy took a few deep breaths while looking left and right. The situation was worse than expected as the number of Lesser Demons emerging from the mansion kept increasing. It had already crossed 100, which was bad, but the streams of dark figures weren’t decreasing. It didn’t seem like it would decrease anytime soon.

This will be a long fight.

He looked down at his belt, where he’d attached several potions Melissa had given him.

I should put enough Prosperity points aside to upgrade some potions. I might need them later.

Percy swallowed hard but jumped into action. It would have been great if he could use his Monster Cards more actively, but maybe that was for the best. There were too many Demons, and they would tear his summoned Monsters apart. Percy couldn’t afford to lose their Augmentations. That would weaken him too much.

He cursed himself for wasting too much precious time and activated [Consume]. The Lesser Demons in his proximity slowed down and turned to Percy. To be precise, they eyed the massive abomination as it burst out of his palms. His hands cracked, and it was more painful than usual to use [Consume] and control the abomination. Still, the abomination behaved like always. It split into more than a dozen streams and shot toward all demon corpses that his Ego considered Percy’s property.

There were more than expected, but that was for the better. The abomination’s streams of utter darkness smashed into the corpses, swallowed them, and retracted.

[8 Archyeas, 4 Gnylds, and 5 Minos have been consumed. 219,945 Prosperity has been added.]

Only after the abomination disappeared inside Percy again did the surrounding Demons start moving again. But something had changed about their approach. The Demons further away from Percy turned away while those closer to him charged at the Glacia Knights and Melissa.

Melissa and the others are stronger and thus bigger threats, but I’m standing here alone. Why…would they not attack me first?

Percy frowned, and his confusion intensified as one of the Minos charged past him after he inched closer to Melissa and the Glacia Knights. He spun to the side, activated [Sharpness], and cleaved through the Minos’ neck, killing the Lesser Demon easily.

“Did you just get ignored?” Igor shouted through the formation, only for Percy to shrug.

“I think they’re afraid of my Ego,” Percy shouted back, recalling his fight with the Adventurers and how afraid the other Adventurers had been when the abomination of [Consume] went wild.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

The abomination is scary, but it doesn’t harm them. Are the Demons too stupid to understand that?

Percy didn’t know, yet he knew how to take advantage of the situation. He kept the Silvron Sword’s enchantment active, stayed in the background, and attacked the Lesser Demons once they reached the Glacia Knights.

“Stay guarded! A pair of Pleacis and Doomfeeder emerged on the battlefield!” An unfamiliar voice reverberated through the surroundings.

Percy’s head flicked to the side to a middle-aged man, probably one of the vice captains of another Knight Order. He was leading his Knight Order and two more Orders into the battle against two Pleacis – fortunately not mutated ones – and a pair of massive bulks of black meat, the Doomfeeders.

Doomfeeders were also Elite Demons, terrifying creatures who fed on the emotions of their enemies, mostly fear, the sensation of impending doom, and so forth. They were close to three meters tall, looking like humans with hunchbacks and massive pillars instead of hands. The massive meat pillars were too heavy, forcing the Doomfeeders to walk like gorillas, just that their meat pillars were more dangerous than the average gorilla punch.

This is going to cost lots of liv–...

Percy couldn’t even finish his thought when something whizzed through the air. Even with the [Hawk Eyes] Augmentation, Percy barely saw something black flash before his eyes. It came from somewhere around the mansion and hit its target – the vice-captain charging the four Elite Demons – square in the chest.

The unfortunate man was hurled around and landed hard on the ground, where he didn’t get up. He remained on the ground, unmoving, something black sticking out of his chest. The object, sizzling loud enough for the Knights around him to hear, was a bolt of compressed lightning, eerily black and bubbling like boiled water.

A shudder crawled up Percy’s spine when he realized what, or rather who had attacked the vice-captain.

The shadowy figures standing amid the masses of Lesser Demons had made their first move. One of them lifted their hands, and black electricity currents swirled playfully around their gloves.

Percy’s eyes widened. Under normal circumstances, the lightning current’s power would have shocked him – it still did –but his focus lay on another fact.

How can he wield an element if he’s a Demon? Didn’t Igor say the demonic essences of all Demons were drained and blocked to maintain the Doom of Power? How is that possible?

Percy heard legends of Demons capable of wielding Monster Cards, but even if that was the cause, it wouldn’t matter.

Demons don’t have any mana. They control demonic essence. Even if they have Monster Cards with Augmentations like this, they wouldn’t be able to activate them under the influence of Doom of Power.

His eyes widened in surprise as the only obvious conclusion came to his mind.

Humans.

“Humans…” Melissa cursed under her breath, thick droplets of sweat trickling down her temples.

She came to the same conclusion as Percy but couldn’t pay too much attention to it. Lady Reeze had already killed more than a dozen Lesser Demons with her Ego and was out of breath. Her mana boiled as it churned through her veins, yet she was ready to keep going.

Nonetheless, her mana was too drained to fight recklessly with her Wand Artifact. The wand returned to her spatial storage, and a familiar sword appeared in her hands instead.

“Focus on protecting each other. I do not want to lose anyone to these demonic bastards. Try to strike down as many as you can without exposing yourself,” Melissa glanced at Percy and nodded once, “And surrender these god-forsaken corpses to Percy. Once the Doom of Power is lifted, the corpses will infest the Moonlight Forest, and I don’t think anyone wants that!!”

Several interfaces popped up right after Melissa’s words reached the Glacia Knights, but Percy was more invested in two points.

First, the interfaces appearing near the four Elite Demons and the Knight Orders near them increased quickly. Percy didn’t kill any creature over there, but interfaces popped up. The specific timing for that was the biggest problem. Whenever a knight died, some interfaces of the Lesser Demons popped up.

Did my Ego claim possession of them even though I never got close to the corpses? Is my Ego…evolving?

Percy was unsure about that, but his Ego and the abomination he’d revealed earlier were part of the second point attracting his attention.

The shadowy figures, most likely traitors of the human race, were looking in their direction.

They were looking at him.