The Evolution Of A Goblin To The Peak

Chapter 1168: The Demon: The Appearance of the demons

Swoosh!!

Right now, not a single soul remained in the fortress. The people of Astros were gone—every last one of them.

Suddenly, the core of the fortress pulsed violently, releasing waves of chaotic energy. A blinding light burst forth, followed by a deafening explosion.

Boom!!

Everyone on the battlefield froze as the massive floating fortress detonated. Its fragments scattered in all directions, forcing those nearby to raise their defenses against the violent shockwave.

”What?!”

”What happened?!”

”Damn it! Where’s the Blood Lightning Monster?!”

Confusion spread among the ranks, while realization dawned on a few.

The Hero-rank experts hovering above the battlefield watched the falling remnants of the Guardian Fortress with grim expressions.

They couldn’t sense a single energy signature inside it anymore.

A heavy silence fell over the battlefield. The roaring winds carried the burning debris of the once-mighty fortress, scattering its ashes across the crimson-stained ground.

The explosion had torn a gaping hole through the sky itself, leaving only lingering energy fluctuations to mark where the Guardian Fortress once stood.

Sana narrowed her eyes. ”He’s gone...” she muttered. Her spiritual perception swept across the area, but she found nothing—no trace of Souta, Alice, or the others. ”He destroyed his own fortress to erase his trail.”

...

Involin Forest.

The Guardian Fortress where the other side of the portal resided.

Alice stepped out of the room just as the portal’s glow dimmed completely. She knew then—the other side had been destroyed.

She looked around. The halls were silent. Not a single voice, not even the hum of machinery. The air was still and heavy, thick with an unsettling chill.

Her brows furrowed as she sensed something wrong. The mana in the atmosphere felt distorted, oppressive—tainted with malice.

”What...?”

Without hesitation, Alice vanished from her spot and reappeared outside the fortress. The moment she stepped out, the sharp stench of blood assaulted her nose.

Her pupils contracted. ”What happened?!”

Her heart pounded violently in her chest. Countless thoughts flashed through her mind, but she forced herself to stay calm.

She spread her perception wide...

And felt it. Souta’s energy. The others. They were nearby, somewhere deeper in the forest.

Swoosh!!

Alice disappeared again, reappearing deeper within Involin Forest. The metallic scent of blood grew stronger with every step until it was suffocating.

Her eyes darted around...

Bodies. Countless corpses littered the ground, sprawled among broken trees and shattered stones. The soil was soaked crimson.

Alice’s steps slowed as she moved through the forest. Her boots squelched against the damp soil, thick with blood and ash. The air hung heavy with the stench of death.

There were humans here—soldiers of Astros—and monsters too. Both sides lay motionless, their lifeless eyes staring blankly at the canopy above. It was a battlefield, but one that had ended abruptly, violently.

”What... happened here?” she whispered, her voice trembling.

She crouched beside one of the fallen soldiers. The man’s armor was split open by something sharp—too clean to be a monster’s claws. She touched the wound gently, and her expression hardened.

”This wasn’t a random attack...”

She stood up and surveyed the surroundings again. Trees had been uprooted, the ground split apart. The traces of high-level energy were still lingering, faint but unmistakable.

Souta, Eztein, Franklin, Amanda, Yuko, Isabella, Gragas, Doranjan, Vashno, Erkigal, and Kessa stood in silence, the heavy scent of blood hanging over them.

All around, the corpses of their people lay scattered across the forest floor. Men and monsters alike—those who had fought to protect their escape—were now nothing more than lifeless husks.

Their expressions were grim. No one spoke for a moment.

”Someone anticipated our escape route,” Vashno finally said, his tone low and heavy.

It shouldn’t have been possible. Hundreds of thousands were still fighting on the battlefield. The portal had been kept secret, guarded by only the highest-ranking officers of Astros. Yet somehow, someone knew. Someone had waited for them here.

Souta’s gaze swept the devastation. His jaw tightened. The metallic scent of blood mixed with the faint trace of something else—foul, corrupted, and ancient.

Then, suddenly, he and Kessa raised their heads at the same time.

The others followed their gaze instinctively, but saw nothing—just the overcast sky above the forest canopy.

”I can feel it...” Souta muttered. His crimson eyes gleamed faintly with a sharp, menacing glow. ”Demons.”

”What?!” Eztein and Franklin focused their perception, spreading their senses as far as they could—but they still couldn’t see anything.

Souta said mockingly, ”It’s no use. You demons may hide your presence—but you carry blood in your veins, and I can feel every drop of it.”

He lifted his hand.

The blood on the ground quivered, then rose into the air, twisting into long, wicked spears that hovered around him like a crimson storm.

Then—

He thrust his hand forward.

The blood spears shot upward at terrifying speed.

Boom!!

The air rippled as the spears vanished into the sky—only for a dark, mocking laughter to roll across the heavens.

”Kekekekeke... I didn’t think you’d discover us so quickly, Blood Lightning Monster.”

The space above them twisted.

From the rift in the sky, several figures emerged—horned silhouettes cloaked in black mist, their eyes burning with demonic malice.

The demons had revealed themselves.

The demons had appeared.

So that was why they hadn’t shown themselves in the earlier battle—

They were waiting here.

For them.

’We miscalculated... The demons knew about the portal.’ Saya’s voice echoed in Souta’s mind.

”I know.” Souta’s voice was low, his gaze locked on the figures above. His eyes blazed with killing intent that rippled like heat through the air.

The moment the demons arrived, the atmosphere shifted. The weight of their presence pressed down on everyone—like the sky itself was collapsing.

Dark clouds churned overhead as hundreds of demons descended from the heavens, their monstrous auras spreading across the forest like a suffocating tide.

Eztein and the others tensed. The moment they tried to move, they felt it—an invisible pressure that coiled around their bodies like iron chains. Their instincts screamed run, but their limbs were heavy as stone.

Alice gritted her teeth, her golden eyes flashing. The sight before her was overwhelming—an army of demons stretching across the sky, blotting out what little light remained.

Ohm!!

Ten demons stepped forward, hovering at the front of the vast army. Each one radiated a terrifying power that distorted the air itself. Their combined energy blanketed the entire forest, turning the once-quiet wilderness into a suffocating cage.

Behind them, countless other demons gathered—winged fiends, horned beasts, and shadowed figures wreathed in crimson mist—all standing at attention.

Their arrival was no accident.

This was an execution.

The energy radiating from the ten demons at the front made the air and the land tremble.

Each one of them had broken every shackle within their bodies. They had transcended all limits—

They were Freedom Realm beings, the pinnacle of the Tenth Shackle.

Behind them stood dozens of other demons at the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Shackle Realms, their auras swirling like storms barely contained. Further back, a vast legion of SSS-rank demons stretched across the horizon.

An army like this could annihilate the entire battlefield.

Unstoppable—

save for the power of Gods.

One of the ten Freedom Realm demons shifted his gaze toward the back of the group. His crimson eyes locked on Alice.

”Princess Alicia,” the demon said, his tone cold and absolute. ”It’s time for you to return to where you belong.”

Alice froze. The overwhelming pressure from the demons pressed against her body like an invisible mountain. Her breath trembled as she clenched her fists, glaring at them with pure hatred.

”Come quietly,” the demon continued, ”or we’ll be forced to kill your friends.”

”N-No...!!” Alice’s voice cracked. Even speaking felt like agony under that crushing power.

The demon’s eyes narrowed. He slowly turned his head toward her companions, his gaze settling on the man standing calmly at the front.

”The Blood Lightning Monster...” he said. ”You’re strong, stronger than most, but in the end, you’re merely a fourth stage monster.”

Souta raised his head. His eyes gleamed red, and lightning crawled across his skin like veins of living blood.

”Is that so?”

His voice echoed through the trembling air as his killing intent erupted, dark and suffocating, swallowing the malice of the demons themselves.

Swoosh!!

The intent burst outward, sweeping through the entire horde of demons in the sky.

Low-ranked demons froze mid-flight, their minds drowning in illusion—visions of an apex predator tearing through their ranks, devouring them whole. Their wings faltered. Their instincts screamed at them to flee.

Even the ten Freedom Realm demons frowned. The sheer density of that killing intent... How many lives had the Blood Lightning Monster consumed to forge it?

One of the ten finally stepped forward.

”It’s enough,” he said coldly.

His palm rose and the air itself convulsed.

The demon’s energy exploded, boiling the atmosphere until the sky bled with pressure. From his hand, a torrent of dark liquid materialized, twisting and churning like a living curse. It shot toward Souta at terrifying speed, ripping through space as it went.

Swoosh!!

Souta’s eyes sharpened.

”Erkigal! Doranjan! Kessa!!” he roared, his voice slicing through the chaos. ”Take everyone and get out of here! That’s an order! Run!!”

His entire body erupted in crimson energy. Blood and lightning surged through his veins as he drew his sword. The symbols along the blade flared to life.

[Archetype: Great Blood of the End]!!

He swung.

Boom!!

The two forces collided, blood lightning and cursed darkness. The impact tore the forest apart.

The ground heaved and split open as a shockwave howled outward, ripping trees from their roots and scattering ash and soil into the air. Smoke rolled across the battlefield like a living thing, swallowing everything in its path.

Through the maelstrom, only one sound echoed—the unyielding roar of the Blood Lightning Monster, defying gods and demons alike.