First Move, Checkmate: How Will You Respond?

The sky over the Royal Capital plunged into darkness, like a brooding abyss in reverse.

“What… What’s happening?!”

The crowd watched as the spreading ink gradually filled the sky, devouring their hope.

Some mages within the academy tried to release sparks from their hands to illuminate the surroundings, but no matter how hard they tried, not a single spark came forth.

“Damn it! Mana disruption!”

A mage suddenly cried out in alarm.

More terrifying than before, a strong wave of negativity surged towards the mages.

Those who could still stand before, now, were all unstable.

They fell one after the other, and a sense of unease began to rise in Gwen’s heart.

Perhaps the entire Royal Capital was about to fall into peril.

“Look over there! What is that?!”

Several students pointed to the hill behind the academy and exclaimed in horror, a fearful atmosphere quickly spreading among the crowd.

The gradually transparent barrier already allowed them to see the outside world,

But the sight that met their eyes was one they would never forget in their lifetime.

The demon’s form began to expand rapidly, devouring everything it touched.

The hill behind the academy could not withstand the intense pressure and began to crumble, but the rocks did not fall. Instead, they were wrapped by the tongues on the demon’s body and sent into its bottomless mouth.

Even the sky was bitten off by it, shattering like glass, revealing a void with a hissing sound.

“That… Is that the demon?”

“The demon…that rescued Professor Devon?”

Panic spread throughout the academy.

Even the outside world had a clear view of this natural disaster-like chaos.

The Royal Family paid serious attention to this catastrophe for the first time, the army was dispatched, and a large number of mages rode in carriages, charging towards the academy to provide support.

For a while, screams, the sound of carriages, and the sound of the mountain collapsing filled the entire Royal Capital.

…

Caifla was thrown out like a kite with a broken string, breaking several stout trees, and then fell silent.

Looking at the fallen Demon Hunter and its rapidly growing body, the demon chuckled:

“Thanks to you, little girl.”

“Although it’s still not enough, I can’t be too greedy.”

The little girl the demon was referring to was naturally Hennie.

It never imagined that a randomly chosen ordinary person would have such a deep knowledge of magic.

This was a huge gift for the demon.

Under its manipulation, Hennie borrowed a massive power from it.

And set up a magic absorption array in the human academy that even it could not have imagined.

Comprised of countless different magic arrays, even a Fourth Order Mage would need a lot of time to analyze it.

Hennie used this array to absorb enough mana to complete her own revenge.

However, all of this benefited the demon.

As long as the magic array does not disappear, those mages can keep serving as its mana source, allowing it to grow continuously.

At this moment, the demon didn’t even want to consume Hennie anymore.

The knowledge in Hennie’s brain made the demon feel incredibly greedy for the first time.

Demons generally would not kill traders easily, especially excellent traders like Hennie.

At this time, its body occasionally emitted faint light.

That was the mana of countless mages in the academy being continuously absorbed, constantly providing it with mana recovery.

The mana in its body was continuously filling up.

Several dozen times more than it had given to Hennie.

In a sense, Hennie had repaid all her debts; it no longer needed to consume her.

Suddenly, a bright white light flashed, and Caifla emerged unscathed, her hands holding a silver blade, charging towards the Demon.

Demon Hunters gain a boost when facing Demons, but correspondingly, they lose some of their sanity.

However, when dealing with Demons, it’s clearly more beneficial to rely on instinctual combat.

The massive mouth on the Demon’s body was torn open in an instant, and countless black tentacles spewed out from between its fangs.

Impatiently, it swung its hand, slapping Caifla hundreds of meters away.

Yet she remained unyielding, assaulting it again and again. Each time, she was able to inflict some damage with the weapon made of special metal in her hand.

Although the damage was not high, it was extremely insulting.

The Demon gradually began to get irritated. The opponent was so weak, but like a fly, it was buzzing around its face, just couldn’t be swatted dead.

At this moment, a glimmer of magic suddenly lit up.

A purple formation gradually formed between Erica Duquois’s hands, each line, each rune was perfectly engraved.

Her hands came together, and the space around the Demon instantly tore apart. Clouds of stars appeared out of thin air, from which dozens of purple chains erupted, plunging into the Demon’s body.

“2nd Order magic: Nebula Lock!”

“It worked!”

Erica was both surprised and delighted. Thankfully, she had learned this magic from Victor. She didn’t expect that the first time she used it, it would be against such a formidable opponent like the Demon.

The Demon immediately felt a certain obstruction in its Mana. It couldn’t help but turn its attention to the chains that were breaking its Mana channels.

“Ugh, annoying Mage.”

It struggled violently, and the surrounding mountains shook with its movements, causing astonishing rocks to fall one after another.

Not long after, the chains shattered.

But being able to lock it down for a while was enough.

During this brief time, Erica drew several smaller magic circles.

Without exception, these circles were all adding magical enhancements to Caifla.

“Speed, attack, resistance, toughness…….all need to be added!”

Erica quickly formed the circles, chanting continuously.

She had thoroughly studied these magics, even Victor had given her quite a few suggestions for improvements.

Erica used these small enhancements like it was second nature.

With enough buffs added to her, Caifla’s movements became even quicker.

She seized the opportunity when the Demon was breaking the chains. In the blink of an eye, a white light flashed, passing through countless tentacles and fangs, and she fiercely hacked at the Demon’s neck.

The Demon reared its head in extreme pain. The special silver blade caused a unique wound, and it felt its Mana continuously leaking out.

It struggled crazily, countless tentacles began to fall from its body.

Professor Devon, who had fallen to the ground, looked up at the horrifying sight before him. He couldn’t help but tremble all over, writhing his body, rolling away with all his might, barely avoiding the falling tentacles.

The Demon became irritated, the sharp teeth on its body gradually retracted, and countless tentacles also calmed down.

Only the head with a massive mouth began to voraciously consume its large body, and blood and a foul smell sprayed out all at once.

The foul smell corroded most of the surrounding forest, and Erica also felt a piercing pain on her skin.

She quickly lay down on the ground, avoiding the evil aura drifting in the air.

The more it consumed, the more the Demon’s head swelled. When it had completely swallowed its body, the head, oozing with mucus and blood, seemed about to explode any second.

The last of it, only a constantly wavering head remained, spewing out a sky-covering, earth-blanketing ink.

Bit by bit, it fell to the ground, raising countless tendrils, like so many immensely towering pillars reaching for the sky.

With a single stroke, a hundred-meter-high wave of Ink engulfed everything in its path.

Erica Duquois was swept away by the Ink, crashing heavily against the residual rocks, her arm pierced by sharp stones, pain spreading throughout her body.

Caifla was submerged in the Ink, struggling incessantly, yet constantly sinking.

The Demon opened its astonishingly large mouth, and its tendrils curled around Caifla, preparing to feed her into its maw.

Suddenly, Caifla started to smirk oddly.

She flicked her finger, and shards of silver blades emerged from the Ink, piercing the sky and landing directly onto the Demon’s massive skull.

The Demon cried out in pain. Caifla seized the opportunity, broke free from the Demon’s restraint, and with a flip, several silver daggers followed her movement and pierced the Demon’s head.

“Die, Demon!”

The daggers embedded in the Demon’s head started to glow with scorching white light, and metallic hums echoed across the sky.

The daggers exploded one by one on the Demon’s body like bombs.

Visible waves of shock spread outwards.

The Demon screamed in agony, its skull exploded violently, turning into an extremely dense black fog.

The intense scent ground the remaining trees in the vicinity into dust, and the sky was obscured by smoke and dust.

Caifla’s body softened, and she fell back to the ground, panting heavily.

“We won…”

Suddenly, a voice seemingly originating from the abyss echoed from the sky, making Caifla shudder.

“Have you had enough fun?”

She raised her head, endless black fog gathered again, transforming into a disgusting, filthy head.

It opened one of its eyes, like a light bulb, staring at her, filled with Greed and madness.

Caifla stared blankly at the scene before her, her eyes full of disbelief.

The Demon’s hundred-meter-long tongue shot out from the Ink on the ground, sweeping her and Erica Duquois hundreds of meters away.

This terrifying blow made their bodies feel loose and filled with unbearable pain.

The Demon’s tongue slowly approached the two.

But suddenly, a horrifying sense of weakness came from within its body, stunning the Demon.

Its Mana was fading!?

“No, what’s happening? This is not right!”

The Demon focused its mind, trying to absorb the Mana from the academy.

However, no matter how much it absorbed, there was no Mana entering its body.

All it felt was the continuous loss of Mana.

It turned its head and looked back at the academy.

Unbeknownst to it, the black barrier above the academy was gradually dissipating, becoming transparent.

Someone had broken the formation!

But this shouldn’t have been possible.

Even if the formation was broken, there shouldn’t be such a backlash of Mana.

The Demon’s deficient mind couldn’t support it to think any further, it lowered its head, casting a glance over Erica and Caifla.

It had no time to savor these two humans.

Enraged, it vented all its anger on the two, lashing out its tongue with tremendous force, sending them flying until they disappeared in the mid-air, leaving no traces.

The troublesome insects were dealt with in an instant, it dragged its body, step by step, slowly walking towards the academy.

It planned to use the entire academy as a stronghold, summoning a Demon’s Gate here, letting its offspring take over completely.

To transform this place into an empire belonging solely to it.

“Hmm?”

Suddenly, it lowered its head, sensing a life force beneath.

It was Professor Devon, trying to curl his body up, shivering in fear.

And so, the Demon opened its mouth, laughing maniacally.

—

“Ha, ha, ha, ha! So, you haven’t died yet, you foolish fellow.”

“Are you the enemy of that young girl?”

The Demon wasn’t sure what was going through Hennie’s mind, but for now, it could spare this fellow’s life and leave him for Hennie to handle.

Consider it a token of gratitude for the infinite knowledge Hennie had provided.

With that, its tongue coiled around the trembling Devin, and like a missile, it flung him towards the academy.

…

Meanwhile, all the Mages within the barrier looked visibly relieved.

“Yes! That’s the place.”

Under Veega’s guidance, Victor inserted the final magic rune.

Quickly, the magic array began to fade.

Numerous Mages felt their mana beginning to flow back, they were overwhelmed with excitement, bursting with joy.

Victor was also somewhat moved.

Hennie, she was indeed gentle.

After dispelling this magic array, he noticed a Reversal Array left by Hennie.

Once someone successfully broke the array, the effect of mana flow reversal would occur.

The mana drained from the person would begin to flow back at the same speed, returning to the caster.

Hennie seemed to have foreseen that the Demon would use her knowledge to gain more power.

So, she left a flaw in the array beforehand.

If the Demon was truly uncontrollable as she suspected, then, breaking the array could become the only chance for the Mages to turn the tables.

This was the last chess piece left by Hennie, the final killer move from someone who possessed knowledge but lacked magical talent.

While everyone was celebrating the slow return of their mana.

They were complimenting and thanking Victor.

Yet, they didn’t notice a dark shadow gathering from all directions.

The stone slabs of the academy began to crack, countless buildings were devoured and teetered on the brink of collapse.

Several Mage Towers swayed and shattered under the Demon’s convergence.

The towering teaching building was as frail as mud, and it collapsed with a loud crash.

In just a few seconds, the academy underwent earth-shattering changes.

The once glorious academy became dilapidated in an instant.

Many people couldn’t help but look up at the figure, towering like a giant.

“A Demon!”

It seemed to bring infinite terror, casting gloom over everyone’s heads.

It flung Professor Devin onto the ground with its long tongue, as if tossing aside an innocent dead dog.

At this point, everyone fell into sheer terror.

This terrifying aura, along with the horror that had just disappeared on the mountain top.

Everything was a clear sign.

The Demon had come to the academy.

The greedy Demon, drooling with filthy saliva, seemed ready to swallow everything in the academy.

Just then, a large, luminescent blue magic array rose from the ground again, bathing everyone within it.

“3rd Order Magic: Realm of Magical Power”

Effect: Greatly restores mana within range, significantly increases magic damage.

Victor’s calm voice echoed in the background.

“Well then, it’s time for the group attack.”

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