The Author's POV

[Pillar of Sloth] 

SHIIING—!

Silently coming from beneath the ground, Jin appeared behind a demon, and with his daggers crossed behind the demon's neck, a head rolled on the ground. 

Thump! 

Thin black threads emerged from the ground, enveloping the entire head before crushing it into a pulp and revealing a black core. 

After the core was uncovered, the threads eventually worked their way toward it, and wrapped all over it, shattering the core at once. 

Like that, a Duke ranked demon died. 

"Haa…" 

After releasing a soft breath, dark threads emerged from the ground and grappled onto his legs, pulling him beneath the ground, and his figure disappeared into the ground. 

Boom—! 

Shortly after his figure merged with the ground, a foot stomped in the area he was in, forming a large crater. 

"He's gone!" 

A demon huffed, looking around with a menacing glare.

It had only been a couple of minutes since he had made his appearance, but from the moment he had appeared, the situation started to turn more chaotic. 

The great advantage that they had built was slowly starting to crumble, and the other races were starting to recompose themselves 

"Where has he gone!? Damn, hiding bastard!" 

The demon cursed and trashed, looking everywhere for any traces of the human that had appeared from out of nowhere.

It was right when he fixed his gaze in a particular direction that he suddenly felt a chill coming down his back and a voice whispering into his ears. 

"I'm not hiding anywhere." 

"You—!" 

Swoosh—! 

He swung his claws directly behind him, but to his great dismay, he saw that his claws hit nothing. Instead, thin black threads emerged from underneath the ground and slowly grappled and latched onto his hands, halting his movement.

"This! What is this!?" 

The demon tried to rid himself of the threads that were gripped onto his arms, but as he pulled, he found that they didn't budge a single inch and merely stretched a little bit. 

If that wasn't bad enough, more and more threads appeared from beneath the ground, encircling his legs and wings.

No matter how much the demon tried to struggle, more and more threads emerged from the ground beneath, sealing his movements. 

The process moved along rather quickly, and before the demon even realized what was happening, the dark threads had encased every part of his body, with the exception of his head, which protruded from the cocoon.

"Release me!" 

The demon tried to struggle, but it was a futile effort.

Appearing behind him, Jin casually looked at him from top to bottom before bending over and stabbing at his calf.

"There it is." 

Spurt—! 

Black blood sprayed all over the ground as Jin's eyes shone at the sight of a particular object inside the calf.

As Jin retrieved a black core, the demon's face changed drastically, but it was already too late. 

Cr…Crack! 

Squeezing the core into his hand, it shattered into thousands of pieces, and the demon's body dissolved into the air. The threads that were cocooning him loosened, and they obediently returned to the ground. 

"Huu." 

Having dealt with another powerful demon, Jin took a deep breath. 

'It really isn't easy to deal with such strong demons.' 

While he made it look easy, it was anything but easy. Nearly half of his mana was depleted, and he had only killed one of the numerous powerful demons roaming the battlefield.

There was still a lot of work that he needed to do. 

Gulp—! 

Drinking a potion, his figure once again melted against the ground, and he headed for his next target. 

***

The Pillar Master of the Sloth Clan was Prince Letvia. He was a demon with long pinkish hair—a trait belonging to the higher demons within the clan—and his features were extremely pleasant to the eyes.

Behind him were several demons. All of whom were Prince ranked. 

"Hmm. It looks like we've found ourselves a rather talented human."

Prince Letvia commented, his gaze falling on a certain human boy with short blond hair and deep green eyes in the middle of the battlefield ahead. 

The way he danced around the other demons and harvested their core without getting noticed…

He was, without a doubt, talented.

'It almost makes me want to take him.'

Thought the Prince, silently licking his lips and feeling a certain greed. 

It wasn't a secret, but the demons weren't exactly going all out against those of the three races.

While their goal was to win the war, they had another goal.

Convert as many as they possibly could. 

This order…

It was not something that they desired but rather something that His Majesty desired. He insisted that they make an effort to grow their forces even more by converting those who surrendered in battle. 

Many of the demons were confused by the order, but none disobeyed. 

There was no questioning His Majesty in their minds.

Many had tried, and the results were anything but pleasant.

There was nothing that could escape his gaze, and all they could do was obey his orders. 

"What do you suggest we do with the little human? Does anyone want him?"

Prince Letvia questioned as he cocked his head to the side to take a look at the Prince-ranked demons that were still present. There were more than a dozen of them, and for some time they had been standing off in the distance and watching the battleground.

They had been playing a certain game from the very beginning, one that consisted of choosing a certain target to bring over to their side. 

While they did enjoy killing, they had all agreed that letting such talented individuals rot would be a waste.

Especially when they could be useful if there was a conflict with another clan. 

They'd make good cannon fodder or perhaps even main soldiers. 

Eventually, his gaze fell on a particular demon. Out of all the demons, he seemed to be the one who showed some interest.

"Are you interested?"

"…I indeed am."

The demon answered, his voice sounding extremely calm. Such behavior pleased the Prince, who nodded his head.

"What's your name?"

"Valling." 

The demon answered curtly, stepping forward a couple of steps and stopping right in front of Prince Letvia.

"Valling is it?"

The Prince looked down and heavily scrutinized him. This was the first time seeing him, and he seemed to be rather talented. His age and the rank he had achieved were testaments to that. 

Even though this was the first time he had actually seen him, he was familiar with the demon's name. 

He had made quite a name for himself in Ka Mankut, and it had even reached his ears. Especially lately when he heard about the situation over there and how he had managed to gain an upper hand over the other clans. 

Because he had to deal with so many things and demons on a daily basis, only the most important topics would make it to his ears. 

The fact that he had heard about him was a testament to how well he had done over there.

"Good… good…"

The more the Prince observed him, the more pleased he was with what he was seeing.

His strength was adequate and fairly strong.

However, it wasn't his strength that impressed him the most; rather, it was the manner in which he carried himself. 

Such calmness was rare to see these days, and he was extremely pleased to know that there was someone like this in his clan. 

"For now…" 

Prince Letvia's gaze didn't linger over Valling for very long as he returned his gaze to stare at the battlefield ahead. 

His gaze paused over several entities before he ordered. 

"…Since you've all selected your targets, capture the targets you've selected and meet here at once." 

"Yes." 

The Prince's words brought a certain eagerness upon all the demons present, and they all disappeared from where they stood, appearing on all sides of the battlefield. 

The same was true for Prince Valling, who appeared right above a deserted patch of land.

WOOOM—!  Extending his hand, he distorted the space, and Jin's figure appeared.  Turning his head, the two's eyes met, and Jin's expression stiffened. 

"I found you." 

With a smile, Prince Valling beckoned with his hand, and Jin's body floated into the sky. He tried to struggle, but it was no use. There was a huge difference in strength between him and Prince Valling. 

"Stop struggling, I won't kill you." 

Prince Valling said, his gaze calmly glossing over Jin's body. After studying him for quite a bit, he showed a satisfied look. 

"For a human… you're rather talented." 

A rare compliment. Those who knew him knew that he wasn't one to dish out a lot of compliments. The fact that he had complimented Jin went to show that he was truly impressed by his talent.

Sadly, his compliment was only met with a glare as Jin tried to struggle. It was of no use, however. Jin was simply far too weak to oppose someone like a Prince ranked demon. 

"Come, be obedient." 

Beckoning with his hand, Prince Valling returned to where he previously was and greeted Prince Letvia. 

"I've accomplished my mission." 

"Good job." 

Prince Letvia complimented, his gaze falling over Jin and showing a satisfied look. 

"You've got a good seedling." 

"I think so too." 

Their conversation didn't last long, as they merely shared small pleasantries. 

Swoosh—! Swoosh—!

Demons began to reappear one at a time, and each one of them had one particular person in their grasp as they emerged from the shadows. 

Prince Letvia beamed with contentment as the situation on the battlefield began to shift once more.

"Very good." 

He nodded his head and turned to look at his subordinates behind him. More specifically, the people they brought, and he nodded his head once more. 

He couldn't be more satisfied with the choices that they brought. 

They had all chosen good seedlings. 

"Now then…" 

He returned his gaze toward his subordinates. 

"Since you've all taken your share, it's time you get them to j—" 

The Prince's words were cut short. 

Rumble—! Rumble—! 

The pillar began to tremble all of a sudden, and the Prince's expression crumbled. 

"What's going on?"