Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Bianca after slamming Brutus with her shield, swept her broadsword towards the side and deflected the tip of the spear that was aimed at her heart.

CLANG… the two weapons clashed, Dalton felt a shocking force spreading from the tip of his spear to his hand and hurriedly retreated back.

Just like Brutus, he too had a shocked expression written all over his face. As warriors who had breached level 600 and touched heights unimaginable to ordinary people, they hardly met any people in the kingdom that could overpower them in a frontal clash.

Yet the feeling they had when they clashed against with that maid who looked so delicate and looked mismatched holding those equipments, told them that what they felt earlier was not false.

"I will get her attention on me, during that time you guys take care of the demon and that other maid"

Roberson Rangel, the guild leader of the Ten Mountain's valley spoke. He was a level 620 [Mountain Gladiator] with most of his stats and skill specialised in defence. Also, he was one of the top tier tanks of this kingdom.

Roberson opened his mouth and was about to use his taunt skill called the [Savage Roar] to attract Bianca's attention to him when suddenly he felt the mana circulating within his body become unsettled and wild leaving him unable to use any skill.

[Essence Mana Disruption]... Annette pointed her staff at the tank and stopped him from casting any skill. She then turned around and parried a dagger from a person that materialised behind her like a ghost.

"Oh?! So you can dodge that huh" Cassius muttered after his failed attempt to kill Annette.

"Everyone get away…. we are about to let lose a big one" Elrod Dome shouted as he finished conjuring his powerful magic.

"[Tectonic Magic Mastery- Violent Epicentre]… [Tempest Magic Mastery- Tempest Lock" He and Florence targeted their enemies with their most powerful advanced magic.

The land and wind raged while the guild leaders fell back. The ground underneath Simon and the others were torn asunder and powerful quakes generated all around dealing massive damage to everything and anything around them.

To stop them from evading the attack, Florence had also used her mastery in Tempest magic to lock them inside a small prison of razor sharp wind.

BOOOMM… the magic connected and a powerful blast loud enough to drown every sound on the 48th floor erupted from the point of contact.

Elrod and the others looked at the location which was covered by a thick layer of dust. Although they knew a single attack magic wasn't enough to take down their enemies, they hoped the magic was able to deal some damage.

However, when the dust was swept away, they were shocked to see their enemies come out unscathed from that magic.

A bronze coloured barrier surrounded the pair of maids, shielding them from any attack. [Impenetrable Tectonic Wall]… the class specific skill of Bianca's Imperial Aegis Knight. The skill blocks all kinds of physical and magical damage based on the user's defence stats.

"[Infernal magic Mastery- Infernal Blast array]… [Thunder Magic Mastery- Teravolt Strike]" right after the barrier came down, the temperature around the surrounding was raised to a frightening high degree as flames and thunder wreaked havoc.

Thanks to the skill [Chant Annulment] and [Chant Connection], Annette was able to cast two advanced tier magic swiftly and without any delay.

Flame clouds loomed over the heads of the adventurers before dropping on them in a column of fire. That was not all, thousands of tiny red sparks floated around the adventurers like snowflakes. These tiny sparks contained a massive voltage of lightning and scorched anyone that came in contact with it from within.

Perfect attack and defence, there was not the slightest gap in Annette's and Bianca's teamwork that the adventurers could take advantage of. Worse, each of these maids was so powerful that several of the guild leaders had to work together just to face one.

Shock was apparent in their eyes with which they observed the maids. They were somehow able to survive through that magic that came out of nowhere thanks to Roberson, Elrod and a few other guild leaders who had defensive skills in their arsenal. Without it, they would have suffered massive damage.

"These maids… they are not normal. We need to work together to defeat them"…

"I agree… there is also that demo—wait where did that demon go?".

It was only now that the group of guild leaders realised that the master of the dungeon, the demon who should have been with the maids, was nowhere to be seen.

Near the centre of the 48th floor, the land covered area, a large apparatus made a continuous humming noise as the core stone on top of it glowed with every pulse.

The grey haired man who was operating it, suddenly turned his head and fired off a holy magic deflecting the infernal spear that was targeting the machine.

"So you came for me huh? Why am I not surprised demon?" the grey haired man spoke as he turned his attention towards the demon flying in the sky.

"Do we know each other?" Simon couldn't help but ask after hearing the other man's overly familiar manner of speaking.

"Ah, I guess now that it has come to this, there is no point in hiding my identity" the grey haired man muttered as he took off his mask.

Immediately, his presence and the colour of his hair changed. The aura that was being suppressed by the mask up until now, was released along with a familiar face that came to light at this moment.

"Do you remember me now demon? I used the same tactic you used back then" the man whose grey hair turned black, spoke with a smile.

How could Simon not recognise that face, that person who had revealed his identity in front of thousands of people and humiliated him by making him kowtow on the ground with his aura?

There was no way Simon would forget the face of the special officer that came from the headquarters of the adventurers association to watch the tournament in the capital. Davis Hall, a powerful foe and one of the humans he hated the most.

If not for Adalinda helping him out at the end, he would have been captured and his fate would have been far worse than miserable.

To think that one of his most hated enemies would come to his dungeon all the way from the Mainland… Simon felt a burst of emotions surging inside him.

There was anger, hatred, frustration, resentment and also excitement… basically, all kinds of negative emotions threatened to overwhelm him at this moment. He did not suppress these emotions, and let them run rampant.

He embraced all his desires and allowed them to engulf him, for that is what a demon noble was, the incarnation of desires. And so…

[Ding… the Fragment of pride has been activated] the fragment that was part of him, beckoned to him.

Simon took a deep breath, his crimson eyes along with the complex markings on his body started glowing.

[Ancestral Symbol Ignition], [Body Enhancement], [Ultra Enhanced Strength], [Ultra Enhanced Endurance], [Ultra Enhanced Agility], [Ultra Enhanced Magic], [Ultra Enhanced Defence], [Pain Resistance]… every augmenting skills in his arsenal, was activated at this moment.

That was not all, he also summoned forth his [A] tier Crimson Blazing Flame Blade and drastically increased his overall stats.

Without wasting a second, Simon sent forth a series of attacks towards Davis Hall.

"I expected you to react more violently but anyways… have you forgotten how weak and powerless you were when we fought the last time? Did you really think these attacks would have any effect on me"

Davis remarked as he conjured a barrier of holy magic around him that blocked all the incoming attacks.

"Let me refresh your memories… [Multi Cast] [Shadow Chant] [Astral Prison] [Holy Magic Mastery- Light Strike Pillar]".

A magic circle appeared above Simon's head and a beam of light more than five meters in diameter dropped down on him.

Hmph… Davis smirked seeing the demon get caught in his magic. Holy magic was the bane of all beings with an affinity to darkness, it was what you can call a super effective. Getting hit by it, the demon of his rank would die in an instant or at the very least receive massive damage.

Davis had purposefully regulated his power, he did not want to kill the demon so soon. He wanted to toy, crush the willpower of this demon and return back all humiliation that he suffered on that day before slowly taking his time to kill him.

"Huh?" the smirk on his face didn't stick for long when he saw the demon walk out perfectly fine after taking that magic head on.

For a second there, Davis felt like he saw some kind of golden barrier surrounding the demon which disappeared before he could see it clearly.

"What was that?" he asked the demon. An attack of this calibre was enough to bring the demon down to his knees before in the capital. However, now it did not even faze him.

"It looks like you got a little stronger since the last time we met but if you think that gives you the qualification to stand in front me, then you are wrong" Davis mocked.

Simon did not reply, after using the Golden Guardian Stone to protect himself from the magic, he weirdly came to halt. He looked at Davis for a second before throwing his sword towards the magic circle that was still rotating above his head.

The sword easily penetrated through the magic circle and reached the second magic circle that was hiding behind the first.