Virdiga and Bask, the executives of Demon King Army, appeared before Allen's team, staring down at them from the top of the destroyed golem. Bask's expression was twisted in a grin, seemingly convinced they would fold them with no difficulty.

Allen swiftly had his S-rank summons, and the summons with growth level 9, spread out in fan shape. 

Subsequently, the 8 spirits stepped forward while making sure to cover any dead spots for their master Sophie and Luck respectively.

(Wow, these guys sure got beefed up huh?)

Bask had always been imposing---larger even than Dogora by a fair margin---but now his size had nearly doubled. On his shoulders, he carried two broadblades; an orichalcum greatsword and the demonic blade Onuba, both well over three meters long.

Standing next to Bask was Virdiga---and while he also used to sport an impressive physique---now as tall as 5 metres, sharing the resemblance with rhinoceros beetles but with a metallic sheen. The other striking changes about him was his appearance that were more in line with scarabaeid beetles or pill bugs. 

Overall, he appeared more rounder, and robust. 

Allen narrowed his eyes, his instincts flaring with caution at the sight of their transformed appearances.

"Would you mind explaining the situation?" Allen asked Space-Time God while extending his support to get him up, however his, and every of his summon's gaze never left the two demon king's army executives. 

(Are these two the only ones here? They mentioned something about the upper levels... Is their objective linked with Magic God? Are they trying to steal the results of his research?)

A torrent of possibilities flooded Allen's mind.

The Demon King Army he had imagined from Lupto's explanation was absent, saving only the two executives.

«Ah, thank you there. They're really formidable, huh. I would've never expected myself to fall into disadvantage.»

"Don't sweat over it. We just acted on the words of Lupto-sama. It appeared... they're targeting the territory of Magic God, are they? Are they the only ones here?"

«I can't say, but it does seem like they're here for Isiris's research result. These high-ranking demons are the only ones here so far.»

It appeared the assault on Space-Time God was a force majeure. Since their objective was to break into Magic God's territory, Space-Time God made his best attempt to harass and halt them while sending SOS to Lupto sneakily.

«Hmph, this is only a barebone explanation. Make no mistake; we're not the high-ranking demon chimps. We're now the "Fiend Kings". Gehehe.»

"Fiend King? Never heard of them."

«Kikiki. It's because I have been reborn with the power of the Great Demon King. Now you should refer to me as Fiend King. Isn't it so, Onuba?»

«Your yapping really has no end, eh? Well, I have gotten strong too... all thanks to Demon King Zerdias. I must say, he's quite an enigmatic person.» Magic Sword Onuba---a jet black broadsword with glowing red veins like crimson blood pulsating on its surface---curtly replied at the behest of Bask.

(Kuwataro. Appraise both of them.)

«......»

With their vision synchronising, Allen promptly had Kuwataro use «Appraisal» to find out their status. And following was the result he found---

Name: Bask

Age: 51

Race: Fiend King

Strength: 200,000 + 100,000

MP: 190,000

Attack: 180,000 + 150,000

Endurance: 180,000 + 100,000

Agility: 190,000 + 50,000

Intelligence: 180,000

Luck: 150,000 + 50,000

Element Proficiency: Dark, Earth

Resistance: Dark, Breath Resistance (Breath), Magic Resistance (High), Evasion Chance (High), Abnormal Status Resistance (Extreme)

Name: Virdiga

Age: 1,289,995

Race: Fiend King

Stregth: 190,000

MP: 180,000

Attack: 200,000

Endurance: 250,000

Agility: 250,000

Intelligence: 160,000

Luck: 150,000

Element Proficiency: Nil; +50% Critical Rate

Resistance: Physical Attack Negation (Extreme), Breath Resistance (High), Magic Resistance (High)

(Oh? So, nothing blocked appraisal? But they sure got beefed up after advancing from a high-ranking demon. They're just a bit inferior to Andrey, but their resistance does make up for it enough. And Bask is really always equipped with the best gears, huh. We really would need to pierce through their resistances to defeat them.)

Overall, their initial stats that had hovered around 50,000~70,000 were increased by 3-fold. Their resistance improved from 'mid' to 'high', some even 'extreme.' 

[Resistance & Buff Strength Chart]

Weak: Boosts resistance and buffs by 40%

Mid: Boosts resistance and buffs by 60%. Most equipment without specific labels usually falls into this category.

High: Boosts resistance and buffs by 80%. Applying debuffs against this resistance requires significantly higher intelligent stats.

Extreme: A staggering 99% boost. Virtually immune. Don't even bother trying to land a debuff---it's not worth the effort.

Bask might appear completely naked, saving the trunks style pants, but his equipment was all top of the line. His stat and buff bonuses were off the charts. 

The opponent's power up had pushed even Merus---he had been checking on the information too---to tense up. 

«Hey, Bask. You're running your mouth more than needed.»

«Kikiki. We're here to break through territory of Magic God, right? I haven't forgotten it.»

«For crying out loud, shut that trap of yours. You are teaching them our plan. ...Why am I stuck with this...haa.»

The expressionless Virdiga promptly remonstrated Bask, but realising Bask was a chatterbox, he gave up and shook his head. Though his movements were subdued, perhaps because the connection between joints was less mobile. 

"Their objective is... research room, huh. I wonder if it's something to do with the research result?"

Allen asked Space-Time God in a whispering tone. 

(So, they had been interrogating him to know how to pry open Magic God's territory.)

«I'm not sure, but this seems to be a thing. Alright, I will be revoking all access permissions to every floor of both my domain and the Magic God's. Cecil is currently in a personal space I prepared---she'll be safer there. It won't take long to finish the lockdown, so please bear with me.»

"That will be great. Then we will handle them."

Once they'd figure out the details, Allen and team begin to finalize their strategy, while Space-Time God turns to invoke his authority. Apparently he was unable to go through it until now because he was having a hard time against the duo of Fiend King, making it impossible to focus.

«Administrator privileges invoked. Requesting revocation of all access to Magic God Isiris's domain... Revoking entry to the Trial Space of Space-Time God... Activating a unique barrier. Nullifying physical attacks. Nullifying magical attacks...»

With hands pressed together at her chest, the Space-Time God began weaving divine energy through his body, invoking his power to cast a multilayered barrier---sealing off Isiris and Cecil from any possible intrusions.

But no one had the luxury to pay attention to her efforts. Right beside him, the air was thick with tension, a huge clash just a moment away.

Luck, Formar, and Sophie slowly retreated in perfect sync to take their respective position in formation while keeping their eyes on Fiend Kings duo, making sure to give their opponent no chance of exploiting any weakness.

The two sides stood locked in a silent standoff, each calculating how to bring the other down amidst the tense air dominating the place.

«Tch. There's no opening, damn it!»

Luvanka pressed onward, his six arms joining each other in cross-guard formation, and tanked Bask's offense. 

When in confrontation, and was facing an attack, one either dodge or tank it. It was easy to avoid taking damage at a successful dodge, but in a formation, it would mean the damage could be passed to rearguard too.

(He lost 20% of endurance even with absolute defense? Is it a skill, or... I may have to bring out Brown it seems.)

The prevailing tension intensified as Allen confirmed the outcome of probing from their initial contact. It was clear the opponents were superior by quite a margin.

Promptly, Allen turned to invoke «Sacrifice»; the awakened skill of his Stone C summoned beast with growth level 8. It was possible the damage could reach Sophie at backline, which would spell instant death for her, so any damage to her now would be transferred to Stone C.

«Heh, you stand your ground? Now you piqued my interest. I was sure my single attack would've dusted you! Since it's not so, what about it---Berserk!»

BAM BAM BAM

Bask's muscles swelled grotesquely, his face twisting into something monstrous as his body powered up even further. He was layering on ongoing buff---a skill that constantly enhanced his stats---pushing his strength past its limits.

"You better dream! This skill takes a long time to activate. Everyone, open fire!"

«Freeze Canon!!»

»Extreme Flame!! Haaaaa!!"

Makris, expert in long-range techniques, fired its attack as soon as Allen's command resounded. 

«I am still here. Spiral Destruction!!»

---Whrrrrrrr!!

---Crackle-Crackle!!

But before it could strike Bask, Virdiga, who had been quietly watching the exchange, curled himself, turning into a ball, his lustrous exoskeleton covering the surface and starting spinning. 

In an instant, the stone beneath him turned red-hot, melting from the sheer friction. With a burst of speed, he launched forward.

He barreled between Bask and the incoming ranged assault, intercepting the ice blast from Makris with explosive force, scattering it completely.

(So even Makris can't slow him down? Wait... what!?)

The skill that was enough to obliterate a high-ranking demon failed in leaving even a single scratch on Virdiga.

In the meanwhile, Virdiga continued and jumped into the flames brought forth by Magla's «Extreme Flame».

Even as his massive, heat-seared body turned a glowing red from the friction, Virdiga charged forward without hesitation---this time redirecting his path straight toward Allen.

Allen presumed Virdiga covered himself in flames to get into the blindspot of their party. And now, in a party with few vanguards, Allen wasn't left with much to dodge. 

Rearguard was just behind him, and it was clear even mid-guard would fall behind in escaping.

The desperate situation dulled Allen's decision for a split second. At the end, he chose to slash at the incoming enemy with his double-edged orichalcum sword---Allen Sword that he had in his clutches.

"Haaaa!!"

The sword clashed against the exoskeleton of Virdiga's in his ball form, and despite boasting foremost performance as crafted from sacred orichalcum, it only left spark behind in collision. 

The momentum of Virdiga remained unstoppable and the result of the clash instead forced the sword to aim toward Allen himself, helpless to do anything.

The premonition of death filled Allen's head entirely as he imagined himself being split in half by his own sword. 

And just as the fate of death came nigh close, Luvanka suddenly hammed himself between Allen and Virdiga's ball form. 

Relying purely on battle instinct, Luvanka had realised Allen was Virdiga's target. 

"Allen-dono---!! Hmph!---Gah!?"

With a single powerful arm, he struck upward into Allen's side, pushing him clear of the deadly path.

"Rgh!? Luvanka! Everyone---!"

And then, before Luvanko could follow up with a counter attack, having being blown away, Virdiga chased up to him and squarely struck him, turning him into a light bubble.

However, the time frame between Allen's attack and Luvanka's sacrifice granted Sophie and others a precious moment to settle on their next action.

«Everyone---now! Hit him with everything you've got!»

«You got it!»

The Great Fire Spirit raised a hand above, manifesting a giant fireball and fired it toward the approaching spinning ball---Virdiga. 

The other spirits followed within the same moment and blasted off their offense in a stream of consecutive attacks, gradually killing the momentum of Virdiga. 

The barrage continued even after and under the onslaught of everyone---party members, spirits, and summoned beasts---Virdiga was blown away.

«Grrrhh.» Frustrated groans escaped out of Virdiga, now out of his ball form, as he got himself up.

«Don't get too cocky, you blasted!!»

Seizing the opportunity while everyone's attention was on Virdiga, Bask leapt into the air---both of his massive swords raised high.

(They do need to get close to deal substantial damage after all. Do they think they can get much better despite being melee combatants against us, who're more proficient in ranged battles?)

"Summon Luvanka."

Allen re-summoned Luvaka, and drawing on everything he'd observed---enemy stats, skills, past encounters---he composed himself and formulated a counterplan. 

«Too predictable! Hell Thrust!!»

«Gah---!?»

Already expecting Bask to jump at them, Allen had Luvanka ready to counter. And as soon as he manifested, Luvanka buffed himself with the «Blood of the Beast» technique, and awakened skills «Phantom Beast-ification» and «Tempest Beast Form». 

Luvanka hoisted his three right arms, and slammed into the waist of Bask.

The wind of the battle gradually lifted up the mast of Allen's party.