The combat prowess of the Lizardman army took Adela by surprise.

As a former centurion of the conscripted legions, now the security officer of Silver Pine Town, he couldn't boast of having been through hundreds of battles, but had beaten the Lizardmen a few times.

Although ferocious in appearance, these creatures were incredibly lacking in organization, not even on par with the thugs of the Underground Street in Thunder City.

In his memory, lines held only by Lizardmen often couldn't endure past the fifth volley before being routed, then either the knights of Duke Campbell would be on their tails, or the brothers of the artillery battalion would be bombarding them from above…

However, he had never imagined that these creatures, who had never won an external battle, would be so difficult to deal with inside the maze!

Bewildered wasn't just the human commander Adela; Morrag, amidst the Lizardman army, was even more perplexed.

In Morrag's recollection, although human firearms were fearsome, they were far from deadly.

Considering the loading speed and excessive penetration power, these weapons were hardly more effective than their bows and arrows.

By comparison, they were more wary of Duke Campbell's knightly order and the mage troops… but obviously, neither of those were here.

What stood before them were just over eight hundred peasants holding fire sticks!

As for Extraordinary Power, there was only an old man in a cloak capable of casting spells, with strength likely at the peak of the Bronze level.

Aside from him, there were several adventurers who knew nothing but this Iron level spell or combat skill… Against his Dragon Language Magic, these tricks were trivial!

As for those five priests in white robes, they were clearly at the Iron level, though perhaps they had the blessing of Saint Sis, which noticeably amplified the range of their spells.

With such combat strength, logically they shouldn't be able to hold back his army, yet for some reason, the young warriors of the Earth Dragon clan just couldn't break through, despite throwing all their might!

The battle stagnated, with casualties on both sides skyrocketing!

Both sides had some regrets, but neither dared to call a halt to the fight.

In this narrow maze, an encounter meant whoever flinched first would die; there was simply no turning back!

Morrag attempted Dragon Language Magic once more, throwing a Dragon Breath grenade into the crowd of humans ahead.

But once again, a holy luminescence blanketed the human soldiers. A barrier of white light stood like a wall, not only engulfing his Dragon Breath grenade but also infusing the front-line human soldiers with sacred power and courage!

Morrag was in total despair, seeing the Earth Dragon clan's young warriors fall one after another, he no longer held back, drawing upon the Magic Power he'd reserved for facing the Demon King.

"You are courting death!"

He chanted a spell in the Dragon language, his eyes emitting a golden glow, and a faint gold light could be glimpsed within his tightly closed mouth.

Witnessing this scene, the complexion of Che'er, the president of Silver Pine Town's Adventurers' Guild, changed drastically, and he shouted out in alarm.

"Dragon Roar! Quick! Use the holy barrier!"

"Do you think my Magic Power is unlimited?!" Priest Matt of the Silver Pine Town church muttered in a pale voice, his face, which had earlier been at ease, now showing signs of fatigue.

It wasn't just him.

The other four priests casting spells in unison all looked breathless, with old faces flushed like reviving from death.

Particularly, one aged priest spit out blood and slumped against the wall to the ground.

The Transcendent Power they were facing was evidently above their own!

They had barely blocked the Dragon Breath grenade with the Holy Artifact housed in the Silver Pine Town church—not expecting the enemy to have enough Magic Power left to cast another spell!

Saint Sis above…

He should never have meddled in these troubled waters!

If it weren't for that damned sheriff's sweet talk, telling him that all he had to do was tag along and easily earn some credit, and then he would be transferred to the bustling church district in Thunder City... he never would have had such a lapse of judgment to enter a labyrinth!

While Priest Matt was cursing some stupid sheriff, that same stupid sheriff wished he could slap himself twice.

Without a doubt.

Things had gone awry!

Adela scratched his scalp raw but still couldn't understand why the Demon King's army was so strong. Why didn't the Lizardmen, who should have collapsed at the first touch, flee when they got here?!

Although the militia currently had the upper hand, the enemy still inflicted significant casualties on them with brute force and foul spells.

Over a hundred bodies already lay on the ground, and the number of injured was countless!

Even if he could win this war in the end, it was bound to be a Pyrrhic victory!

Earn a transfer?

He'd be lucky if they didn't snatch away his sheriff's badge!

"Commander! We can't wait any longer!" the leader fighting in front shouted back, "Ignite it! The brothers can't hold on much longer!"

Adela gritted his teeth, guessing it was time, and finally gave the order to set off their last, desperate resort.

Since its power was difficult to control, he had originally planned to use that thing only when absolutely necessary to escape.

"Ignite it!"

The fuse was lit.

A faint spark quickly followed the feet of the Lizardmen, racing towards the wooden boxes scattered throughout the maze corridors.

In the heat of the battle, nobody noticed the anomaly beneath their feet.

And almost at the same moment Morrag used "Dragon Roar," hundreds of kilograms of explosives immediately detonated, the searing flames instantly tearing apart the surrounding Lizardman soldiers!

The power displayed in that moment far surpassed that of steel-grade magic!

It even reached the level of silver-grade!

Morrag's Dragon Roar was completely overwhelmed in the face of that terrifying force, casually engulfed in the explosion's aftermath!

And that wasn't all—

The boiling shockwave, like erupting lava, swept through the Lizardmen's formation and quickly, disregarding friend or foe, rushed towards the position of the Silver Pine Town militia!

No one had time to dodge and was struck full-on by the scorching shockwave, falling back in swathes like wheat flattened by a storm.

Not just Adela.

All those present, even the gunners who had once served in the artillery, had underestimated the power of the explosion caused by hundreds of kilograms of explosives in an enclosed space!

But there was no helping it.

Compulsory education was a fleeting occurrence in the history of the Ryan Kingdom, and the enlightenment movement along with the liberation of thought was thoroughly suppressed by the theocratic rule and the "Extraordinary Divine Power."

Even though this world had already developed steam engines and even improved them, the vast majority of people merely considered them a "different kind of Extraordinary Power."

Including the explosives bestowed upon them by Isaac IV.

Impulse dynamics?

What the hell is force?

The terrifying explosion swiftly swept through several labyrinth corridors, swallowing not only the warring parties but even a few players who were watching from a distance!

Fortunately, they were standing relatively far away and only suffered minor injuries.

As for those at the center of the explosion, the humans and lizardmen alike, they fared far worse, either buried by the collapsing tunnels or blown to bits, leaving not even a whole corpse to be found.

In the dust,

Adela, leaning on her sword scabbard, staggered to her feet, gazing blankly around, a deep sense of despair washing over her.

Countless were dead or injured.

Priest Matt lay in a corner, barely clinging to life, while guild leader Che'er was unconscious, with eyes tightly closed.

And her subordinates... including the one who had urged her to light the fuse quickly, most of them had vanished without a trace.

Her Adam's apple bobbed as she knelt down on weakening legs.

This place...

Was simply Hell!

"Roar——!"

An angry roar suddenly came from afar, interrupting the sorrow and panic in her heart.

Adela quickly drew her sword and stood up, only to see a murderous lizardman emerge from the shadows ahead, scimitar in hand, his gaze fixed on her intently.

The amber of its eyes glinted with a ferocious light, and its fierce expression seemed as if it wished to devour her whole.

Adela swallowed hard. Although her knees trembled, she mustered the courage to fight.

Bring it on!

It was a matter of life and death anyway.

Perhaps—

For her, who had lost everything, death might be a welcome release...

...

Elsewhere, in the Demon King Territory, Luo Yan was still looking in the mirror.

Or to be more precise, he was pondering over his wildly fluctuating faith points.

The numbers had been behaving oddly since morning, initially shooting up pleasingly before starting to dip unexpectedly.

Why do these things bounce around like the stock market...?

He was internally perplexed.

Though the daily increase in value hovered around 2000, and his expenses remained unchanged, keeping him from dipping below 1000 in net worth,

there were no circuit breakers for this; he couldn't be sure if it wouldn't just plummet back to where it had surged from in the blink of an eye.

Faith?

Loyalty?

Why fall out of love as quickly as they fell in?

Luo Yan was at a loss for answers.

In the brief span of a few hours, he hadn't done anything particularly heinous—

Wait!

Could it be that the fall was because he hadn't acted?!

Luo Yan had an epiphany.

Just as he was plotting whom he might torment today, Youyou's cries had already been erupting intermittently for a while.

"Lord Demon King! Alakdo is here with your servants!"

"Are they all tagged with green names? Please give them names, Your Majesty!"

"Aaaah!! Lord Demon King, something terrible has happened! Never mind the naming, the lizardmen have attacked!"

"Wait, what? The players are saying they've started fighting humans?!"

"An earthquake! Is the labyrinth quaking?!"

"Annoying, can't you stick to one thing at a time?" Luo Yan replied impatiently, then suddenly jolted upright, "Wait, lizardmen? Fighting humans?!"

He had anticipated the lizardmen attacking; he had prepared for them in the grand hall at the labyrinth's entrance, ready to collect their heads as they came.

But humans? What the hell was that about?

Adventurers, perhaps?

But... that didn't make sense.

In his recollection, adventurers would not engage in conflicts with groups of monsters; they were all like Chris, who bullied the weak and feared the strong.

Although he had plans to use the surface humans to deal with the lizardmen, he had not foreseen a direct conflict between the two.

"Yes! According to the players, it seems like a human military force has entered the labyrinth..."

At this point, Youyou paused for a while, continuing in a low, embarrassed tone.

"Uh... things happened so suddenly, it seems it's already over."

As the "land god" of the Demon King Territory, Youyou could only move around within the Demon King Territory and near Luo Yan, unable to personally rush to the frontline to see for herself.

The information it provided to Luo Yan was mostly second-hand news from the official website, and delays were unavoidable.

Plus, sometimes players would exaggerate, which was also a possibility.

While Luo Yan didn't take the lizardmen seriously, he had to be more cautious with the surface humans.

With that in mind, he immediately stood up from the ground and stuffed the mirror he had been gazing into for so long back into his pocket.

"Issue a task to the players in the Demon King Territory to gather at the labyrinth's entrance!"

"Also, have Alakdo wait for me down there!"

"Roger that!" Youyou promptly carried out the order upon receiving it.

Luo Yan poured the newly prepared magic potion into a flask, and then stepped out of his workshop.

Fighting on the territory of this Demon King!

If he didn't collect a toll for this, he would be far too kind for a Demon King!

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