The verdant green field transformed into a vast wasteland, like a wide valley surrounded by cliffs everywhere, and the once clear blue sky was now dyed in an ominous red colour.
Nevertheless, this young woman paid this no mind as she casually flipped the pages of the book in her hands, as if the change in surroundings was not surprising, to say the least.
After a few minutes of silence, she looked up to find herself surrounded by dozens of people, their numbers reaching nearly forty.
They had assumed a formation composed of front guards, magicians protected by the front guards, and rear guards at the back.
Each of them gripped their weapon tightly as they glared at this young woman, the hatred in their eyes being very visible to the onlooker.
Nevertheless, the young woman only calmly gazed around before asking a question to the man who stood at the forefront.
"Is this, all of you?"
**GASP!
Gasps of surprise and mutters for anger could be heard by the group that surrounded her but she ignored them all, her gaze focused on the being at the forefront, one who was most likely the leader of this group of forty.
With gritted teeth, the man replied to her question while cursing at her in his heart.
"...yes."
"Hmm...Hold on then, let me put this away."
She looked down at the book in her hands, ignoring the dozens of armed combatants surrounding her, and placed a bookmark inside it before closing it and storing it in an extra-dimensional storage artifact necklace she had hanging from her neck.
Her actions were a blatant show of both disregard and disrespect for the combatants, most of which looked old enough to be her grandparents.
Nevertheless, they knew that she had every right to disregard them like so, after all, it was the reason they all ganged up on her in the first place.
They even used their precious treasures to create a special space where they could all battle her with no holds barred, also preventing the surroundings from being destroyed as a result.
All forty of them had no intention of letting her get out of this space alive, their goal was to kill her here, even if it cost them their lives.
The reason was simple, of all the members of the demon race that suddenly invaded their world one day, she was the most powerful of them all.
Behind her young appearance, was a demon who was nearly two centuries old, one who had invaded multiple worlds before and had slaughtered tens of millions.
Supreme Commander of the Demon Army under Demon King Sargon.
The Peak-ranked demon who bore the same name as the deadly sin she represented, Pride.
◇ ◇ ◇
The attack on Pride was something that had been in the works for months on end, all the leaders of the Demon Resistance Alliance in that world came together and planned to lure the Supreme Leader of the Demon Army to some remote place and trap and kill her there.
They wanted to take out the top dog of the army, effectively crumbling the very simple command structure of the army.
However, they understood that doing so would not be easy so they spent nearly a year planning on how to take her down with the least casualties.
The strongest combatants from forty countries were selected to join this elite attack force created solely to take out Pride.
While she had not personally taken action since what she did at the beginning of the war and left all the work to the other members of the seven deadly sins, they knew she was not weak, as the demon army that valued strength above all would not have her as its leader if she was weak.
The other members of the Seven deadly sins which they had met also confirmed that she was the strongest among them all.
Intel also revealed that if she was not defeated, then it was likely that she was going to be the one to pave the way for the leader of the demons, the one who sent Pride and the demon army into their world in the first place to come over himself.
That was something that the denizens of that world wished to prevent at all costs.
And so, the multiple world leaders from multiple races, humans, beastkin, elves, and celestials alike, came together to create a plan to take her down, with the assumption that she was more powerful than all other members of the seven deadly sins combined.
The notion was ridiculous to some but others who were more paranoid accepted this train of thought and planned accordingly.
However, the moment they saw Pride's reactions, they realised that their plans had been leaked. And that was true.
One of the world leaders was ensnared by Lust of the Seven deadly sins and had given up all the details of their plans, as such, Pride had gone to the planned location beforehand to wait for the elite attack force.
◇ ◇ ◇
"We have to finish this quickly and not give the other demons a chance to wreak havoc in our world."
The leader of the attack force, a celestial race hero named Webb said to the rest of them as he unsheathed his blade and took a battle-ready stance.
He was about to give out more commands when Pride's calm voice rang out in the temporarily silent space.
"The fact that you dared to make the assumption that you could defeat me. To dare to even think of the possibility of me losing.
How impudent of you."
She flicked her fingers casually and, in her hands, appeared an ominous jet-black one-handed sword that had red lines running through it like veins, emitting a dark mist that made one hesitate to get close to her.
"Don't get the wrong idea worms."
"What?!"
"I would be the one finishing you quickly,"
Both their large numbers and flexible formation didn't mean anything to Pride.
"I have a new book I want to read it as soon as possible, so hurry up and make your move already."
Nothing mattered when there was an overwhelming difference in the level of power and skills.
"Let me show you the difference in our level."
She planned to end the lives of each and every one of them. Her last line was the trigger that set start of the battle of the group of Heroes against the lone villain.
◇ ◇ ◇
Heroes against a villain.
With a tense atmosphere, the group of heroes held their weapons nervously and glared at Pride.
Nevertheless, to her, no matter how much they glared at her, the final result won't really change in any case.
'Their looks are getting annoying...'
Pride considering depriving them of their sight for daring to glare at her when the heroes side made the first move.
"Shoot the magic!!"
After Webb commanded his fellow heroes, the loud shout resounded inside the space, as rear guards started enchanting their spells.
"Flame!"
"G-Lance!"
"Water barrett!"
"Ice block!"
Pride could only hear some of them being chanted and could not hear the rest of the light, dark and lightning magic.
Various magic attacks were directly aimed at her. A fireball, an earth lance, a tornado, an ice rock, a heavy water splash, and many more other spells. The variation of colours made it look pretty, however, that was it.
To Pride, this barrage of spells was nothing more than a pretty light show to her.
"Contempt of the Many."
Pride activated one of her skills as she yawned, watching all their magic attacks get obstructed by something invisible and change locations one after the other.
"Tsk...Barrier."
Webb clicked his tongue as he instantly figured out the reason for the magic attacks not hitting their mark.
He possessed special magic eyes that let him see the flow of magic and it was with that he was able to see the thin barely noticeable barrier of pure mana Pride had set up.
The celestial hero gazed at the yawning demon and the magic power she emitted and estimated her level.
"At least 750, but not more than 800. All of us here are nothing less than 750 too, we should be able to defeat her with ease."
He sent a message to his comrades, informing them of Pride's estimated level while also increasing their morale.
Pride disabled her barrier and was about to move forward when she suddenly sensed someone behind her.
**SWOOSH!!!
She ducked to avoid the blade of light that tore through the space where her head was a few seconds ago, but was unable to move the moment after as two other magicians had used a combination of Earth and water magic to make the ground around her feet muddy enough for her to sink into it.
They hardened it the second after and succeeded in sealing her movements, long enough for the swordsman who missed his earlier swing to correct his balance and attack once more.
**CLANGG!!!
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