CHAPTER 235: TO THE CAPITAL

Still, the demons’ information system was weak, very weak indeed. The world was not as weak as it had been a few weeks ago. Every day, hundreds of people were being blessed, and even though these blessings were low-level and, for some, even mid-level, the powers sent by the gods and goddesses were exponentially increasing everyone’s strength.

This showed that the world was not what it used to be.

Even if the demons opened many gates, and even if these gates were so large that they could not be closed, the fact that dozens of empires and kingdoms within the forty-two continents of the world had a few people who could defend themselves changed the fate of everything.

Perhaps many kingdoms and even empires would fall again because hundreds of billions of demons from that false hell, the demon realm, were trying to invade the world against the billions of people on it.

This was the real danger.

The gods and goddesses were trying to find every person who showed certain acts of courage and had a good heart so that they could bestow blessings upon them. Of course, this required a lengthy search, even for the gods and goddesses themselves.

Still, one thing remained unchanged:

Epioles’ words had truly sparked a revolution. The actions of the Great Oneiroi would be written in gold letters in the history of the world.

Atlas had noticed that the demons passing through the gates were no longer low-level demons but had begun to transform into mid-level demons.

These demons still did not pose a threat to Atlas. Even pure vampires could kill them as long as they stayed together, but the real problem was that hundreds of these demons were emerging from the gates every second.

When Atlas ran the last half kilometer and reached the seventh gate, he immediately began placing the Strike and Obliteration runes on the gate.

He had done this so many times that he had truly grown accustomed to it. His hands moved swiftly, channeling the mana from his heart to his arms and then to his fingers with greater focus, allowing him to draw the runes much more quickly.

Within mere seconds, he had managed to create a full twelve-rune formation.

This was a set of twelve runes, six of which were Strike runes and the other six were Destruction runes.

When the Destruction rune closed over the passageway, a Strike rune closed directly over the Destruction rune, causing the passageway to crack.

Then the next one, then another, and within two minutes, the passage had shattered into pieces, fallen to the ground, and then vanished into dust.

Atlas didn’t wait even a second and carefully looked at the demons approaching him. Somehow, despite all of Atlas’s thoughts and knowledge, there was a High-Ranking demon among them.

Just one.

Atlas didn’t want to take any chances, so he gripped the Holy Sword Delusion in his hand more tightly and said, "Night’s Step."

His steps quickened, and he began swinging the Holy Sword Delusion as if his targets were already determined.

With each swing of the sword, he severed the head of another demon and ripped out the heart of another, separating it from its body.

When the High-Ranking demon began to approach Atlas at high speed, Atlas did not hesitate for a second and dodged the demon’s attack with simple movements.

Another demon somehow managed to jump on Atlas without him noticing and tried to grab his arms.

When Atlas realized that the High-Ranking demon in front of him had started moving again and that his own movements were restricted, he didn’t wait even a second and then said, "Unbreakable Body."

Atlas’ eyes suddenly flashed, his skin became incredibly hard, and his muscles became more defined.

This showed that his Strength and Endurance stats had nearly doubled.

When he lunged forward, he jumped directly onto the high-ranking demon.

The high-ranking demon didn’t even have time to react before taking a slashing blow to his arm, which was severed from his body. But that wasn’t all—with a single move, or rather, with a single clenched fist, Atlas delivered a punch straight to the demon’s abdomen.

The high-ranking demon had a fist mark on his stomach, and he fell to the ground right there.

The high-ranking demon who fell to the ground was instantly struck on the head, and Atlas’s Holy Sword Delusion killed him right there.

With that, Atlas started running again.

The remaining five gates were destroyed in less than an hour, and the city had already begun to be cleared.

The pure-blooded vampires and Emma’s advancing army had managed to kill nearly a hundred thousand demons in just half an hour.

Still, the losses were not insignificant.

Nearly two thousand civilians had died, thirteen vampires from the army had lost their arms or legs, and one of Emma’s soldiers—a former member of the First Imperial Regiment—had passed away.

In short, everything hadn’t been won so easily. The victory was great, yes. That was an undeniable fact, but it was merely the victory of a great city within a vast empire.

Atlas did not rest for even a moment. After issuing specific orders, he returned to the Throne Hall of Shadowfall Palace and issued dozens of commands to the messenger vampires present in the hall.

Atlas had stated that he wanted the entire defense system to continue and had issued an order not to avoid the attack.

The Church of the Night, located hundreds of kilometers away in the mountain ranges, was the first region to directly hear these orders.

The pope of the church and his subordinates distributed the news to a system of nearly 200 million church members around the world.

In short, the Church of the Night had accepted the orders of Atlas, whom they considered their master. This moment could be seen as the turning point in the course of the war.

The Church, which was scattered across the world and had at least ten million magic and aura warriors on one continent and at least twenty million on others, had announced that it would give its full support.

This ensured that every remaining church and everyone under the command of the gods and goddesses would take action in full.

This had mobilized an enormous army of nearly three billion people under Atlas’s commands.

Atlas waited for all the commands to be disseminated and then acted again. He entered the teleportation circle Cassandra had drawn inside the Throne Hall and, without pausing for even a second, said, "Sun Palace."

This was the very palace located in the capital of the Epsilon Empire, which was exactly two hundred thousand years old.

With just a single blink of his eyes, the image before Atlas’s eyes changed, and he found himself in the Throne Hall of the palace.

Aether and Aelia couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw Atlas. Both Emperor Aether and Empress Aelia were wearing their battle armor, and their bodies were covered in blood.

They were two lovers who had just returned from battle.

The explosions, screams, and other sounds from within the capital could be heard even in the Throne Room, one of the highest points of the palace.

"Atlas!" said Minerva Epsilon, the crown princess herself. She had not seen Atlas, whom she regarded as her brother, for a long time, and both Atlas and Minerva herself had grown up a lot.

"Minerva," said Atlas, and in an instant he stroked the head of Minerva, who was still a little girl in his eyes, and then turned to Aether and said, "Uncle, let me destroy the gateways. I destroyed the gateways in Shorekeeper City. I have given orders to the Church of the Night and its two hundred million soldiers, as well as to every remaining church, to take action. The time has come to change the course of events."

As soon as Aether heard these words, he took a deep breath and asked, "Is there anything you desire from us?"

Aelia was about to ask Aether what he was doing when Atlas’ voice was heard:

"Come with me, go outside, and continue fighting."

With Atlas’ words, all the nobles in the throne room rose to their feet, each looking at Aether and Aelia with great hope.

Aether hesitated for a few seconds. Even though he knew that his daughter Minerva and his son Lars had grown up and were strong, he was still a father who worried about their safety. So if Aether went outside, the two of them should follow him along with their mother.

Still, he realized it at that moment. When he saw his daughter Minerva and his son Lars looking at Atlas with shining eyes, Aether immediately turned to his wife Aelia, who was standing next to him.

"Are you willing to come with me to the hell outside, my wife, either to live or to die?" Aether asked suddenly.

As soon as Aelia heard these words, she smiled and wiped the devil’s blood from Aether’s cheek with her fingers, saying, "If you wish, call me to defy the gods and goddesses, Aether. I will always be by your side."

These words sealed everything.

Atlas immediately opened one of the windows in the Throne Room all the way and said, "I’m going ahead."

Before Aether and Aelia could understand what was happening, Atlas had already leaped out of the Throne Room, which was nearly seven hundred meters above the ground.

His body was enveloped in his aura, a majestic, brilliant color that seemed to shine like a star as he began to fly toward the battle within the capital.

The capital needed to be cleared quickly. He had seen the first demon gate; he had to act fast.