In that moment when the second prince activated the demon summoning array, practically everyone – even those locked in combat – paused in their tracks and began to look around at their surroundings tensely. They tightened their grasp around their weapons nervously. Everyone could sense the arrival of a foreboding presence.

This unanimous sense of danger arose from the most primal part of their senses. The fear of what was soon to come sent shivers down their back. Their limbs grew stiff, and their breathing grew shallow and cold.

In the next moment, a hair-raising shriek broke up the tense atmosphere in the air. This shriek was so shrill that it threatened to burst their eardrums, and everyone reflexively turned to where it came from, only to be greeted by a dreadful, blood-curdling sight –

A two-storey high monster towered over them, brandishing its thin, sharp claws that were dripping with fresh blood as it swished its spiked tail about threateningly. Then, it gnarled viciously at the guards and swiftly lurched towards them.

What…what in the world is this?!

Their pupils shrank in fear and their eyes slackened in despair. The last thing some of the less fortunate guards saw was their own headless bodies fall onto the ground, before everything faded away.

The guards no longer thought about standing their grounds to resist this monster. Earlier, these guards had sized up the first prince’s abilities, and they thought that it might be possible to defeat him if they were to wear him down. However, when faced with this monster that seemed to possess traits and abilities completely outside any of their imagination, all thoughts of resistance immediately went up in smokes, and the only alarm blaring in their mind was that of escape.

Immediately, the guards began to scatter in all directions. The ones who reacted quicker than others managed to escape the clutches of this monster, while the others ended up as ...