“Bastard!”

“You’re looking down on us?!”

“Let’s go! Let’s teach this Orc a lesson!”

With Pazuzu’s taunt, the three Barbarians jumped to the arena and took out their weapons. Although they had no intention of fighting Pazuzu 3 to 1, his arrogant words made them want to give him a good beating.

Einar, who was watching this scene, couldn’t help but cover his face in embarrassment. This was supposed to be a one-on-one battle, and yet, his comrades had decided to gang up on the Fortress Defender 3 to 1 because of just a few words.

“So the three of you want to fight me?” Pazuzu smirked. “Good! Let’s see what the three of you can do together!”

Truth be told, Pazuzzu had a lot of pent-up frustrations. He had always fought creatures who were many times stronger than him, with some of them able to kill him in two blows.

The more he died, the more Pazuzu’s resentment grew. But he also learned a lot of things, like how to properly meet an attack head-on and how to keep his calm even if death was staring at him in the face.

Right now, the Fortress Defender was learning to effectively deflect blows instead of taking them head-on. This would give him an opportunity to counter-attack and deal as much damage as he could to his enemies.

Although his role in Lux’s Army was to be a Tank, that didn’t mean that he couldn’t use his defensive skills as an offensive strike.

The three Barbarians spread out and encircled Pazuzu. Even though they were very angry at how their comrades were defeated, they weren’t dumb.

They were specifically chosen to accompany Einar to the Sacred Dungeon, which meant that they weren’t weak.

Still, they couldn’t understand how the Summoned Monster, who was actually weaker than them, defeated their two comrades.

Pazuzu was only at the Initial Stage of the Initiate Rank, which was slightly lower than theirs.

All of them were Peak Initiates, and they had faced many challenges together.

Right now, they were treating Pazuzu as a Boss Monster that needed to be taken down as a team, so they didn’t feel like what they were doing was against the rules.

Well, in a way, they weren’t wrong. Although Pazuzu was indeed at the Initiate Rank, his equipment, with the exception of his weapon, were all Legendary Items, raising his overall strength to that of an E-Ranker.

In short, Lux had cheated from the very beginning. Pitting mere Initiates against a Pseudo-Ranker that had died countless times on the battlefield.

“Madlad Rush!” Pazuzu shouted. “Shield Bash!”

As if he was injected with two liters of steroids, the Fortress Defender ran like a Madlad and slammed his shield into one of the Barbarians, which sent the latter skidding out of the arena.

“Shield Throw!”

The Fortress Defender then made a backhand throw, making his shield fly into one of the Barbarians who had targeted his backside.

“Fool! You let go of the only thing that protects you from us!” The Barbarian thought that he could smash the shield aside with his weapon and follow up a counterattack on Pazuzu.

However, as soon as his weapon hit the spinning shield, it instantly bounced off, leaving him unable to react before the shield smashed into his chest, making him groan in pain.

“You’re open!” The third Barbarian, who managed to close the distance, hacked his weapon upwards with the intention of decapitating Pazuzu, who had lost his shield.

“No,” Pazuzu replied. “You’re open!”

As if waiting for that exact moment, Pazuzu raised his golden gauntlets and blocked the Axe, sending sparks flying in every direction.

After the attack had been successfully deflected, the Fortress Defender wrapped his arms around the Barbarian’s waist and did a suplex.

The latter’s head was slammed onto the ground, shattering the floor of the arena.

Lux winced after seeing such a brutal scene, not expecting that his Fortress Defender would use the Barbarians as tools to vent out his frustrations for always dying on the battlefield.

The reason why he summoned Pazuzu instead of his other Named Creatures was because he thought that Pazuzu was the least aggressive of the bunch.

But now that he had seen how the Fortress Defender used wrestling techniques to body slam his opponents, he felt the need to give Pazuzu a paid vacation, so that the latter could do some soul-searching.

In the end, the Half-Elf was forced to intervene and stop the fight because Pazuzu was treating the two Barbarians who were still in the arena like punching bags. Their faces had already turned black and blue due to his Named Creature’s punches.

Truth be told, Pazuzu didn’t need to use his shield. His golden armor was enough to repel any attacks that came from Initiates and below.

Once the fistfight was over, the Barbarians were all taken to the infirmary, while those who watched the “sparring match” looked at the Half-Elf with complicated looks on their faces.

Zarazel’s, as well as the Barbarian Ranker, Kavan’s, expressions were solemn because this fight alone told them many things.

Although they were both High-Rankers and Lux was no match for them, they understood that very few among those of the same rank as the Half-Elf could beat him.

The fact that his one Summon could beat five Peak Initiate Barbarians was more than enough to let them see the red-headed teenager in a new light.

It was not only them who learned a lot of things from this fight. The Elves, who were led by Prince Enlil, all quieted down after the match was over.

They knew that the Barbarians didn’t use their Trump Cards in the battle, but that didn’t mean that they hadn’t fought against Pazuzu seriously. Because of this, they all decided to listen to the Half-Elf, as was decreed by their King and the Elven Council.

Only Alexander, who was watching this battle from within his office, shook his head helplessly.

He knew that Lux cheated, but he was fine with that.

‘With this one move of his, he managed to make his peers acknowledge him as their temporary leader in the expedition,’ Alexander thought. ‘However, the news I received from our spies in the Vahan Empire is quite troubling…’

According to the men he had stationed in the Vahan Empire, aside from Malcolm, Nero, and Prince Cyrus, Emperor Andreas was able to recruit some other powerful individuals who would act as their representatives inside the Sacred Dungeon.

He knew that his stepson was strong.

But, being strong wasn’t enough to deal with the unexpected guests that would make their appearance at the entrance of the Domain of the Fallen.

“I just hope they don’t do anything stupid,” Alexander muttered as he placed the documents he just finished reading on top of the table. “This is not the right time for conflicts.”

Right now, all the Factions only wanted one thing, and that was to successfully conquer the Gate of Famine, which would be the key to unlocking the final Gate of the Apocalypse.

————–

Vahan Empire…

“We are truly honored that you have graced us with your presence, Your Excellencies,” Emperor Andreas said with a smile.

“As you should,” a person wearing a black robe replied. “You and your people are very lucky that someone of my standing is wasting my precious time talking to lowly beings such as yourself.”

Emperor Andreas’ smile stiffened, but he kept his smile, knowing that this was an important moment for him and his Empire.

“Are you sure that this Domain you spoke of is truly the Domain of the Fallen?” the black-robed figure asked.

“Yes,” Emperor Andreas answered. “We have already sent representatives to challenge it repeatedly, and now, we are facing the Gate of Famine.”

The black-robed figure nodded. “It seems that you people are not as incompetent as you look. Very well, I will accompany your son on this expedition, but I will not follow any of his orders. I and my servants will move separately.”

“Understood,” Emperor Andreas replied. “Thank you for your graciousness.”

The black-robed figure snorted before walking out of the throne room, accompanied by his two servants.

He moved as if he owned the place, making even the arrogant Emperor of the Vahan Empire take a step back and do his best to flatter his guests that came from a very far away place.