The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

　The "Rock Armor Giant Bear," standing upright and reaching a height of fifteen or sixteen meters, materialized from the sacrificial summoning circle beneath the city walls and before the moat.

　The power of the earth surged into its body the moment its feet touched the ground.

　Its body was covered with rock armor as hard as steel.

　Professor Jones once again drew a magic card called "Gigantify" from his card pack!

　"In the name of Power Jones, magical summoning—'Gigantification'!"

　A massive amount of magical power surged into the "Gigantification" magic card in his hand like a flood, taking a full half minute to completely fill it.

　A crimson circular array appeared beneath the feet of the "Rock Armored Giant Bear".

　The enormous energy was poured into the body of the "Rock Armored Giant Bear" through "giantification", causing its already enormous body to expand even further.

　Sixteen meters, seventeen meters, eighteen meters... all the way up to thirty-six meters!

　The "Rock Armor Giant Bear" has more than doubled in height and its size has increased several times. From a distance, it is no weaker than the "Earth Bear" opposite it!

　Both are giant bears with ground-based attributes, making them "evenly matched".

　Professor Jones resisted the urge to personally charge into battle and fight the behemoth. He merely extended his right hand and gave the order to charge to the "Rock Armored Giant Bear"!

　"boom--"

　The "Rock Armored Giant Bear" slammed its hammer down on the ground, its attack power exceeding 10,000 points after "Gigantification" tearing the ground apart. However, the earth's power, rapidly converging from it, quickly repaired the crack.

　It roared with excitement, just like its master, and launched a head-on charge towards the "Earth Bear" opposite it!

　"Gigantification" multiplies its attack power, while reducing its defense by the same amount.

　However, with the "Rock Armor," the reduced defense will be compensated, and the continuous power of the earth will also give it the ability to heal itself at high speed.

　While it may not have as much health as the "Earth Bear," it is by no means weak in terms of toughness.

　"call--"

　The wind howled.

　The "Thunderous Giant Roc" hovered three thousand meters above the ground, flapping its wings and suddenly letting out a long cry.

　Suddenly, thunder rumbled in the night sky, and a fierce wind swept back.

　The wind from the "Pillar of Gale" was neutralized, and the horde of monsters regrouped under the pressure of the two giant beasts, once again rushing towards the city gate.

　Going against the seemingly irresistible tide, the "Rock Armor Giant Bear" charged forward, crushing countless magical beasts before finally intercepting the "Earth Bear" two thousand meters from the city wall.

　The two giant bears collided violently, disregarding everything, like mountains crashing together, causing the sky to collapse and the earth to split. The thunderous sound unleashed by the "Thunderous Roc" was completely drowned out.

　The resulting energy ripples ruthlessly devoured the life force of the nearby magical beasts.

　The earth's power crashed onto the ground, causing energy tides like ocean vortexes.

　Instantly, a clearing was created within a radius of several hundred meters around them, leaving no living creatures.

　……

　Meanwhile, atop the wall, the airflow from the holes in the "Pillar of Gale" suddenly stopped and began to be drawn inward.

　Above Professor Sylph's head, a vortex of wind was visibly emerging.

　The energy fluctuations of the wind element gradually spread, becoming increasingly terrifying.

　She floated above the wall, facing the "Thunderous Roc" from afar, and slowly raised her right hand.

　Wherever the fingertip pointed, the element of wind suddenly gathered, and a golden-haired elf, seemingly a carbon copy of it, slowly opened its eyes in the vortex of wind.

　The wind stopped flowing.

　……

　The Twelve-Star Magical Spirit – "Wind Spirit Queen Sylph"!

　……

　The Wind Spirit King, floating above Professor Sylph's head, had bare, jade-like feet, and a gentle breeze swirled around him, radiating a bluish-white light.

　It was dressed in the traditional clothing of the elves, but the size of its chest area showed no trace of tradition.

　Its long hair was a pale gold, and its long ears, which protruded from its golden hair, were even longer than Professor Sylph's, making it look like a pure-blooded elf.

　But apart from her ears, her facial features were exactly the same as Professor Sylph's, delicate and beautiful.

　Between its brows, a blue wind rune shone.

　Her expression was gentle and graceful.

　From the outside, she looks like a pure-blooded, gentler version of Professor Sylph.

　But that impression was instantly overturned when it raised its right hand and pointed its palm to the sky!

　A gun, purely formed from wind elements, took shape instantly amidst a sudden storm.

　Without any further gathering, the spear, which was over ten meters long, shot out!

　"boom!"

　The sound of a sonic boom exploded on the spot.

　Suddenly, a bloody hole appeared in the chest and abdomen of the "Thunderous Roc".

　Blood didn't even have time to flow out.

　"Roar--"

　The intense pain, which took a moment to penetrate the nerves, caused the "Thunderous Roc" to let out a shrill roar.

　The adventurers and soldiers watching from the city walls were unaware that the "Thunderous Roc" had been severely injured; they only sensed that the "Thunderous Roc" was about to pounce after its roar.

　However, to everyone's surprise, just as its roar reached the sky, it suddenly turned around and fled in panic!

　At this moment, the second "Wind Elemental Spear" had already been formed at the fingertips of "Wind Elf King Sylph".

　It frowned slightly, glanced at the "Rock Armor Giant Bear" and "Earth Bear" fighting hand-to-hand in the center of the herd, and then its slender fingers changed direction again, gently flicking towards a more distant place.

　The rapidly spinning "Wind Element Spear" vanished once again amidst a sonic boom.

　……

　A hidden place where no one can see it.

　The towering demon stood suspended in mid-air, its toes off the ground.

　Its skin was dark and glossy, its long, loose hair was black and smooth, and its face was extremely rugged.

　The demonic horns extending from the sides of its head resemble ram horns, a pair of bat wings hang half-open and half-closed behind its back, and a long tail like a lizard is wrapped around its waist, exuding a faint sense of awe.

　Aleister Eldridge.

　That was his name during his lifetime.

　……

　Everyone who guessed its existence had a different idea.

　Aleister Eldridge knew perfectly well that he was dead.

　The word "death" originally meant nothing to it.

　But it is indeed dead.

　Because it is a demon king born from a corpse.

　……

　No one could have imagined that Aleister Eldridge knew perfectly well that he was not the original owner of this body.

　It is a demon king "created" from the original corpse by the Holy Church through a special ritual.

　Aleister Eldridge was certain that he had never considered this possibility during his lifetime.

　Several months ago, it completed its "rebirth" in a container hidden in the territory of the demons.

　Because it was "created" from a corpse, it was pulled into the gates of the underworld—and died a second time!

　It must be said that this was a way of dying that Aleister Eldridge had never anticipated.

　But it did indeed come back to life, and after sensing the existence of its original self, which was thousands of miles away, it further clarified its "identity".

　It is a demon king born from a corpse, the shadow of the true demon king.

　No, nor can it replace the true Demon King.

　……

　So it named itself "Number Two".

　Of course, this is the name it uses only for itself when it is thinking.

　In the presence of outsiders and his few remaining subordinates, he was still Aleister Aldridge, a demon king who had successfully reincarnated.

　It is a shadow, a shadow known only to "Number One" and "Number Two".

　……

　Therefore, after sensing that "Number One" had come from thousands of miles away to the Free City in the Demon Realm, it knew that it had a new mission.

　Number One's aura was very weak, unlike it, which had recovered to a relatively complete state.

　Although it differs from Number One in some ways for unknown reasons, and even falters in the most crucial aspect of "demon breeding," its current condition is clearly much better than Number One's.

　So, it turns out that Number One wasn't accumulating, hiding, or plotting in those distant places, but was captured again?

　With this thought in mind, today's events unfolded.

　As "Number Two", it must rescue "Number One" at any cost!

　……

　Behind Aleister Aldridge stood a total of eight demons.

　These eight demons differed in appearance and aura. However, they were all dressed in black robes and wore masks, completely concealing any potentially exposed parts of their bodies.

　This wasn't Aleister Eldridge's request, but rather a habit they had developed over the past decade.

　They were very cautious, so they have survived to this day and have finally waited for their king.

　The next step, naturally, is to build high walls, store up plenty of grain, and delay declaring oneself king.

　The city of freedom has ready-made walls and a constant supply of food.

　Therefore, they need to plan for a free city, attempting to erode and engulf the mixed-race homeland surrounded by high walls through "replacement" without the smoke of gunpowder.

　Occupying the City of Freedom is a crucial step in the Demon Race's path to revitalization.

　On this point, their king and they reached a complete consensus.

　Although for some reason, their king forgot many things, and the demons cultivated with the blood of the Demon King also had great flaws.

　However, they regarded it as the price of the Demon King's reincarnation and the negative impact of insufficient resources.

　"As long as we occupy the City of Freedom, we can obtain sufficient resources to make up for those deficiencies and allow the noble demon race that was wiped out by humans to once again rule the world."

　Thinking this, they pledged their loyalty to Aleister Eldridge.

　……

　But all of this has suddenly changed until today.

　The sudden and abrupt change caught them off guard and caught them completely off guard.

　At noon, their king proposed that their spies in the City of Freedom be mobilized, and even that the humans replaced by the demons be mobilized to search for someone with no information.

　For the first time, they contradicted their king.

　Because once such a large-scale personnel relocation occurs, their painstaking planning will be in vain.

　Even if the lord of the City of Freedom can't do anything to them, they have actually been paying attention to the City of Freedom for many years. They are well aware that this city, which appears to be isolated and helpless on the surface, has actually always been at the center of the attention of various major powers.

　Therefore, they have always been very careful when planning.

　Unfortunately, the demons bred by Aleister Aldridge had an inherent flaw, which caused their scheme to be exposed, and the lord of the Free City discovered clues.

　However, those oversights are still within an acceptable range under the current circumstances.

　Moreover, the plan is actually progressing very well.

　Even the two legion commanders of the Sun and Moon Legion have been parasitized by the "Brain Fluid Demon" and have been subtly influenced by it.