The Adventures of an Overpowered Knight in Another World Chapter 723- Battle of Blacktide (7)

Without even needing to deliberately release his power, the arrogant aura around him naturally gave away his identity. An existence standing at the very apex of demonkind. The ruler of countless legions and one of the Twelve Heavenly Kings.

The Kingdom Destroyer, Seventh Heavenly King Mammon, had personally descended upon the Northern Front.

The moment the Seventh Heavenly King descended, silence swallowed the battlefield. Not a single knight moved. Not because they lacked courage, but because every instinct born from years of war screamed the same warning.

Death.

The being in front of them was death given form.

Far above the fortress walls, the demon slowly spread his arms. His voice echoed across the land as his scarlet eyes swept across the thousands of knights below.

"So... This is the famed knights of Solaris. I expected more since you all call yourselves humanity’s finest and have managed to survive my army so far. However, looking at you all now, it seems those claims were misplaced. All I see here are frightened insects."

BOOOM...

The pressure exuding from the Heavenly King suddenly intensified. The stone beneath countless knights’ feet shattered, and several younger knights were forced onto one knee, veins bulging across their foreheads under the unbearable weight. Even their breathing became laborious.

Seeing this result, Mammon smiled.

"Good. Know your place, insects."

Then, without warning, his body dissolved in front of countless astonished eyes. No, not dissolved. It melted into a pool of darkness, and the shadow beneath him expanded unnaturally, spreading across the sky like spilled ink.

"What the..."

Before a nearby knight could finish his sentence, the darkness beneath his feet suddenly swelled. A black hand burst from the ground and seized him by the ankle.

"Behind you!"

A warning sounded out. But it was too late.

At that moment, before anyone could react, dozens more shadowy arms erupted across the battlefield. Some dragged knights underground. Others burst from walls, and some descended from shadows cast by tents and towers.

There was no pattern. Shadows swelled, and shadowy arms appeared from anywhere and everywhere.

In the blink of an eye, the fortress became chaotic.

"Keep your formation. Don’t be intimidated by the enemy. Every power has its weakness. Carefully observe where the shadowy hands are coming from."

Vice Commander Drsytan roared, handing out commands one after another.

However, no matter what they did or what skills they used, they could not destroy the shadowy hands at all. Even if they were destroyed, they grew back again.

"What kind of power is this?"

A high-ranking knight unleashed a brilliant flaming slash. The heat enveloping his sword had reached over 2,000°. The other powerful knights also showcased their formidable skills and swordsmanship.

Instantly breaking free from the shadows.

However, as if the shadowy hands had minds of their own, they instantly transformed into numerous inanimate objects like whips, thorns, and spikes before attacking the knights.

The attacks were relentless, and they came from every shadow. Even if they avoided the walls and the shadows around them, how could one avoid one’s own shadow?

At this rate, they would be entangled forever, and their stamina would eventually be depleted.

A few high-ranking knights instantly made a decision. Instead of targeting the strange shadowy hands, they attacked the demon flying above them. As long as they could take him out or distract him, these attacks should stop.

Dozens of powerful attacks that could seriously injure even a high-ranking demon rushed toward him.

But to their astonishment, forget about harming him, they could not even touch him. All their attacks simply phased through the demon’s body without making any contact.

"What is going on?"

"How can that be?"

"Does that demon not have a physical body?"

At that moment, the Holy Knights of the Temple of Light joined the battle. White auras erupted from their bodies one after another, infusing their swords.

Holy Energy burst forth.

The black hands evaporated wherever the sacred light touched them.

Ssssshhh...

The shadows emitted shrill screams before dissolving into smoke.

Noticing this, Mammon tilted his head.

"Oh? Interesting."

A smile appeared on his face.

"So this... is Holy Energy, huh. Let’s see how you counter this."

The shadow beneath a Holy Knight suddenly elongated, and a dark spear erupted upward. The veteran knight reacted instantly.

His blade ignited with brilliant radiance and intercepted the sneak attack.

Clang...

The shadowy spear shattered into smoke. The remaining holy power continued forward, carving through the surrounding darkness and heading straight for the demon.

Mammon’s pupils contracted. Instead of resisting like before, his body vanished from the spot.

The slash harmlessly passed through empty air.

Several hundred meters away, another shadow rose and took on a humanoid form. Mammon casually stepped out from it.

"Hm... your holy light can erase my shadows? This is a troublesome power."

He muttered to himself.

Then he chuckled.

"Still, if you can’t hit me, it’s useless."

With that, his body disappeared again and appeared somewhere else.

The battlefield exploded into chaos. One moment the demon emerged behind a squad of knights. The next, he surfaced from the shadow of a burning campfire.

Then from beneath the waving flags.

Or from the shade cast by the fortress wall.

He could appear from anywhere and everywhere, and every appearance was followed by slaughter. His movements were impossible to predict.

Like a nightmare that couldn’t be tracked down.

Even experienced Holy Knights struggled to keep pace because they couldn’t be everywhere.

"Don’t chase him. Protect the others."

Bob shouted.

The Temple of Light immediately adapted. Instead of pursuing the elusive demon, they formed overlapping circles with the other divisions. Holy Energy spread wildly, illuminating the darkness and shrinking every available patch of shadow.

The chaos was quickly brought under control, and the situation settled down.

Mammon observed this with growing curiosity.

"They learn quickly."

He had just appeared through a shadow when a veteran Holy Knight lunged toward him. The sword layered with Holy Energy shone brilliantly.

Facing the attack, Mammon merely watched.

The blade descended... and then sliced through empty darkness.

There was nothing there. His body had already dissolved before the strike landed.

Several meters away, he casually reformed again.

And spoke mockingly.

"Such a scary attack. I think... I’ll avoid that."

The Holy Knight’s attack had completely vaporized a section of shadow large enough to swallow several men. There was no regeneration.

His shadow powers were completely suppressed and purged.

It was a hard counter.

Realizing this, Mammon narrowed his eyes. No matter how weak these ants were, he couldn’t become careless.

While he was having such thoughts, a warm radiance spread throughout the battlefield and engulfed everyone. A brilliant golden pillar of light soared toward the sky, blasting away the gloomy clouds and bringing light upon the land once again.

The suffocating demonic pressure weakened, and the knights who had collapsed slowly regained their footing. Their wounds slowly closed.

Even the creepy powers of Mammon that had latched onto every shadow in the area were forcibly purged and dissipated into streams of black smoke.

Reinhardt lowered his raised hand, and his vast healing field covered the fortress.

"Steady yourselves, my soldiers."

His calm voice echoed across the battlefield.

"We have fought despair before. We shall endure this one as well."

The familiar voice instantly steadied countless hearts. The knights of the Temple of Light stabilized all the formations.

The fear brought by Mammon’s sudden presence gradually transformed back into resolve.

Mammon looked toward the golden-haired knight with the most powerful aura.

"So... this is the Divine Paladin. I was wondering when you’d finally stop hiding behind your soldiers."

Reinhardt remained unfazed and slowly stepped forward. Holy light gathered around his armor and sword, disintegrating all darkness.

With every step he took, the surrounding darkness recoiled violently.

Reinhardt fixed his attention on the flying demon and stared directly into his scarlet eyes.

"I am Commander Reinhardt Arcknight. And you?"

Although he could more or less guess the other party’s identity from his vast aura, he still needed to ask.

The demon laughed arrogantly and boldly introduced himself.

"You asked my name?"

His enormous wings slowly unfolded. Darkness spread behind him like an endless abyss.

"I am Mammon. The Seventh Heavenly King. The Lord of Endless Shadows. The Kingdom Destroyer before whom countless kingdoms have fallen."

His gaze swept across every knight below.

"You insects should consider yourselves honored. You are about to witness... true despair."

The next moment, the shadow beneath the fortress suddenly expanded once more. This time, the scale and power were far greater than before.

The fortress walls were swallowed by darkness.

Countless twisted silhouettes began climbing from within it.

Shadow soldiers.

Beings born from his power.

Hundreds of humanoid figures with no facial features and bodies completely covered in darkness crawled out soundlessly from the shadows and surrounded the knights.

The reason he was given the title Kingdom Destroyer was because he alone was an army.

Mammon spread his arms proudly.