The Author's POV

"They have started their attack." 

Duke Kammala's voice reached the Prince's ears, and his eyes came to a gradual close. His thoughts were unknown, and everyone's attention focused on him. 

The humans had made a dash for the tower, and they were now all waiting for the Prince's orders. 

"Should we…?" 

"No, not yet." 

The Prince shook his head, putting the orb away.

Now that he knew where they were, he no longer needed to pay them any attention. The orb consumed quite a bit of demonic energy, and he needed to conserve it as much as possible.

Even though their opponents were trapped, they weren't individuals they could make light of. Each and every one of them was strong. Especially the boy called Ren. 

He was very dangerous. 

With that being said... 

"Get into positions. We will start out attacks soon."

He wasn't scared of him.

Although Ren was strong, so was he. He was rather confident in his strength and didn't think he'd lose out to that human. 

In fact, he was confident he could beat him even without the need to ambush him. 

Last he'd heard, the human wasn't even Prince ranked yet. 

'Still, it's best to be careful. You might never know what might happen.' 

Though Prince Plintus was confident, he wasn't one to let confidence get the best of him.

He was a meticulous individual and wasn't one that let anything slip his mind. 

Thinking of something, he took the orb once again and injected demonic energy into it. Instantly, images appeared on the orb, and he flipped through them. 

"Good, it looks like they are still there." 

What he was currently looking at were the human forces that were waiting outside of the city. He wanted to see if they were making any strange movements, but it looks like he had worried too much. 

They were still there doing nothing. 

"Good." 

He put the orb away, casting one of his worries away. After that, he returned his attention back toward the tower and smiled. 

"I think enough time has already passed; how about we greet our guests?" 

His words immediately stirred the minds of the demons, and they all smiled.

Following this, their wings expanded, and they disappeared from the spot they were in, reappearing right in front of the tower. 

"Have the others block the other entrances and get ready to set up the mana disruptors." 

Prince Plintus ordered. 

"Understood." 

There were a lot of things he had planned out for this moment.

Since he was dealing with tough opponents, he made sure to spare nothing for the current trap. From mana disruptors to all sorts of artifacts that could impede their movements and attack them from the distance… he spared nothing. 

So long as he managed to defeat them… the war was as good as over.

Perhaps, he could even be rewarded by his majesty… if that was the case… 

'Hehe.' 

Prince Plintus laughed to himself before casting a glance toward the demons behind him. 

"Wait for me here. Once I give out the signal, you can come in." 

He didn't wait for their replies and made his way into the tower. 

His steps were leisurely, unbefitting of someone that was about to ambush someone, and when he passed the gate and looked at the broken shards that laid on the ground―remnants of the cores of guards―his expression crumbled a little. 

'Useless.' 

They were supposed to be special elites that they had trained arduously over the years, but for them to die such deaths… he could only feel disgusted. 

A pity that they had gone up against a powerful foe. 

'A small sacrifice to pay for the greater good.' 

It didn't take long for his expression to return to normal, and he entered the tower.

The insides of the tower were dimly lit by torches that rested by the side of the dark walls, and following a narrow corridor was a magnificent hall. 

Unlike the corridor, it was well lit by the enormous black windows that stood above and the large torches that hung beside the enormous black pillars that supported the structure.

A red carpet enveloped the entire floor, and what stood out the most about the room was the throne that sat in the middle of the hall.

It was made out of obsidian and was adorned with rubies and emeralds that gleamed menacingly under the lighting of the hall. 

It was a throne Prince Plintus was all too familiar with… After all, it belonged to him. 

At the moment, however, it was occupied by a certain someone.

With his legs lazily resting on the armrest of the throne and his cheek supported by his fist, he fiddled with a small black orb in his hand. Beside him were four other humans, and Prince Plintus's feet came to a sudden pause.

His nose wrinkled at the sight. 

"You finally came?" 

A leisurely voice reverberated through the hall, and Prince Plintus's body stiffened. He had a bad feeling about the situation. 

Without thinking, he took out the orb and channeled his demonic energy into it.

Images surfaced within the sphere, and he quickly looked through them. Seconds passed, and hundreds of images flashed across the orb. 

It wasn't long before Prince Plintus's expression relaxed, and he put the orb away. 

"For a moment there, I thought you had me fooled." 

Prince Plintus's gaze fell on the human that sat on the throne.

From how leisurely his expression had been, he had mistakenly assumed that he had done something, but when he checked with the orb, he found that everything was still as it was before. 

The humans were outside of the city, and his forces were blocking every entrance. 

"It looks like you've figured out the situation that you're in?" 

Prince Plintus smiled.

It was a smile that hid the nervousness that had previously been displayed and one that was filled with rage. 

He had made a fool of himself. 

"Hmm." 

He calmly observed the human that was still leisurely lying down on his throne. From his expression, he didn't seem quite to understand the situation he was in… 

'That's fine.' 

Prince Plintus's smile grew, and his hand raised. 

Rumble―! Rumble―!  The hall shook, and the air started to twist. Immediately, the mana that lingered in the air vanished out of thin air, sucked by a small vortex above the room.

The expression of the humans opposite him changed, and Prince Plintus looked even more pleased. 

If that wasn't all… 

Swoosh! Swoosh! 

One after another, demons started to appear beside him. Their entire aura covered the room, and the room trembled even more. 

There were over a hundred demons present in the room, and their presence overwhelmed the ones that belonged to the humans opposite him.

…Even Ren, the one that gave off the strongest presence.

The sight pleased the Prince as his smile grew even wider, and his gaze fell on Ren. 

"Do you finally understand what situation you're in? …How is it?" 

The Prince looked at the demons around him. 

"…Are you impressed by what you're seeing?" 

"…" 

The human didn't answer.

He just looked at the demons with an expressionless look. He was still lying down on his seat, but to Prince Plintus, his silence meant a lot of words. 

"You didn't expect to be fooled into a trap, did you? From the very moment that you arrived here, I knew your every movement. For someone that's supposed to lead the humans, you're quite careless."

How was it that someone who was known to be meticulous and careful did not suspect a thing when coming into the city and noticed just how easy it was to infiltrate the place? 

The fact disappointed the Prince to no end, as he thought he'd be smarter than this. 

"Although your plan to destroy the mana compressor isn't unreasonable, do you really think you would've made it this far if it wasn't for us making this easier for you?"

He laughed. 

"…You fool, the only reason you even made it this far is because we let you!" 

It was his laugh that set off a chain reaction of laughter from the other demons, who all laughed in response.

"Fools, we knew everything from the start." 

"hahaha, these fools. Only now do they realize that we were watching their every movement from the start?"

"They believed they were clever, but in reality, they are nothing more than rats falling for our traps."

The entire hall was filled with waves of laughter and ridicule as it spread throughout the room. Demons continued to make fun of the situation while the Prince stood back and smiled broadly as he watched the show.

But just as he was about to speak again, a soft voice echoed within the ears of everyone present. 

"…I fell for your trap?" 

Cr..Crack! 

He clenched his hand, and the orb in his hand shattered. 

Instantaneously, a deluge of mana engulfed the space, and it immediately began to congregate in the area close to him. 

WOOOM―! In a matter of seconds, thin threads of mana began to twirl and twist in front of everyone's eyes, and it wasn't long before something that eerily resembled a portal appeared.

The space twisted, and then, much to the surprise of all the demons who were there, a portal appeared in the region that was adjacent to him. 

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! 

On top of that, one figure after another began to materialize from it, making the situation even direr.

They were figures they were all familiar with, and the expressions of the demons present changed for the worse. 

This was especially so for Prince Plintus, who looked as if he had swallowed a bug. 

A crushing pressure that was many times more powerful than what the demons let out permeated the hall, which had previously been filled with laughter and ridicule from earlier in the day.

"Th.. that…" 

After taking a step back, Prince Plintus was startled to find that he was unable to continue forward. When he turned around, he saw that he was standing with his back against one of the pillars in the hallway.

"Thank you very much." 

A whisper made its way into his ear, sending shivers down his body. Before he had a chance to say anything else, the whisper reached his ear once more. 

"…Thank you for being so easy to predict."