The maid squad is too strong, what use is there for me, the Demon King?

The battle broke out abruptly and ended even more swiftly and silently.

The waiters' teamwork was breathtakingly seamless. Defense, early warning, attack, and backup—they functioned like the components of a sophisticated killing machine, operating with incredible efficiency.

Sita occasionally intervenes, using her magical imprisonment abilities to control enormous or strangely powerful monsters, creating opportunities for the servants to kill them in one blow.

No monster could get within three steps of the inner circle of the party.

The old village chief and the hunters, initially tense, gradually became dumbfounded. They watched as these black-robed figures effortlessly cleared away the terrifying monsters that had terrified their people and even cost them their lives. Their awe reached an unparalleled level. Was this the power of His Majesty the Demon King? Even his warriors were so formidable!

Gray didn't make a move from beginning to end. He didn't even slow down. All the attacks that rushed towards him, whether physical or energetic, vanished silently as they approached a certain range around him, as if hitting an invisible, absolutely isolating wall, not even enough to make his clothes flutter. His very existence was like the absolutely calm eye of this killing storm.

The team advanced deeper into the forest in this efficient and ruthless clearing process. The remains of the monsters and the dissipated energy were quickly absorbed and decomposed by the forest's active ecosystem, leaving only brief traces of the battle before being covered by new light mist and vegetation.

This path to the heart of the forest was forcibly carved out by this silent yet powerful team through the annihilation of monsters.

Gray's gaze remained fixed on the direction indicated by the map, oblivious to the carnage behind him. His goal was singular.

They had wandered for an unknown amount of time through the bizarre and treacherous Mystic Forest; time had lost its meaning here. Beneath their feet, a thick layer of moss, oozing blood and energy, lay the remains of countless vanquished monsters.

The lower-ranking attendants maintained a steady aura, but the frequent attacks and resistance against the omnipresent energy pressure still caused the muscles beneath their black robes to tense slightly.

Sita's gaze remained cold as she calculated the magic consumption of each fluctuation.

Aita's orange hair seemed to have dimmed a bit. She licked her slightly chapped lips and flicked a sticky stain off her claws.

The old village chief and the hunters were already numb, mechanically following behind with only loyalty to the Demon King and belief in their ancestral teachings. Their hearts clenched again and again for the sudden terrorist attacks, and then temporarily settled again and again because of the servants' thunderous elimination.

In the midst of this endless slaughter and advance, Gray's steady forward pace began to pause noticeably for the first time.

A clear ripple stirred within the seemingly timeless aura surrounding him. He slightly raised his heavy hood, gazing ahead at the area shrouded in an even denser, almost tangible, blue-purple mist.

“We’ve arrived.” His deep voice pierced through the forest’s continuous, subtle hissing and humming of energy.

Everyone tensed! The waiters instantly tightened their formation, glancing warily around, anticipating the possibility of even more powerful guardians appearing. The old village chief and the hunters also gripped their weapons tightly, breathing heavily.

However, the anticipated final guardian did not appear.

The fog of light ahead seemed to be slowly parted by an invisible hand, revealing the scene that had been obscured—

Those were not naturally formed mountains or giant trees.

That's a building!

A magnificent, ferocious, yet deathly silent behemoth!

It seems to have grown from the depths of the earth, or fallen from another world, deeply embedded in the core of this secret realm.

The architecture is completely different from the village's rounded naturalness, full of sharp edges, jagged spikes, and a huge, suffocating sense of oppression.

The entire piece presents a somber, dark tone, as if it can absorb all the light around it. The material is neither stone nor iron, but more like some kind of solidified shadow or a crystallized abyss.

Its main body is a majestic, enormous castle that resembles a twisted crown, with towering towers piercing through the hazy light and mist, and the spires seemingly connecting to the chaotic energy flow of this secret realm.

Scattered around the castle are several low-lying, similarly styled outbuildings, like menacing guards protecting the throne. The entire complex is vast, far exceeding the size of the village visible in the distance, resembling a miniature demon king's castle born for war and domination.

But what is most unsettling is not its magnificent and ferocious appearance, but the aura it exudes.

Dead silence.

Absolute, eternal silence.

There was no sign of life, no light, no sound, only a chilling emptiness that froze the soul. It formed an extreme and eerie contrast with the wild, restless life energy and the rampant monsters around it, like an absolute realm of death existing in a world of life.

However, above this desolate landscape, there was a visible and extremely powerful energy barrier.

The barrier was not a uniform eggshell shape, but rather a massive chain composed of countless constantly appearing and disappearing, profound and complex purplish-black runes, which coiled and hovered around the perimeter of the entire complex like living things, slowly flowing.

The runes shimmered with a deep, eerie light, emanating an ancient, resilient, and terrifying energy fluctuation, far exceeding the intensity of the simple crystal pillar barrier surrounding the village by tens of millions of times.

It was the existence of this barrier that completely isolated the inside from the outside and suppressed most of the unsettling, deathly aura that leaked out from within.

Gray's gaze pierced through the mist of light, fixing firmly on the silent Demon King's city, especially the runic chain barrier. He could clearly sense that the source of the bloodline's call lay beyond that barrier, in the deepest part of that desolate royal court.

At the same time, he also keenly sensed that the powerful energy fluctuations of the barrier resonated deeply and mysteriously with his own demon king bloodline and the ancient patterns on the demon horn between his foreheads.

The old village chief knelt down with a thud, gazing at the magnificent, deathly silent building and the terrifying barrier. Tears streamed down his face as he spoke incoherently with excitement: "Found it... It really exists... The 'Silent Royal Court' recorded in the ancestral precepts... The final bulwark guarding the 'Secret of the Fire Seed'... Your Majesty... Your Majesty!"

Needless to say, everything before them confirmed the ancient legend. This desolate royal city, hidden deep within the core of the secret realm, was their destination, and the true legacy left by the ancient demon king.

Now, the only question is how to enter this gate, which has been sealed by a powerful barrier for countless ages. All eyes are focused on Gray, on the runic chains that resonate with his bloodline.