After being forced to step down, the once-annoying nun eloped with me.

They raised their shields high to withstand the demon's ranged attacks, and in the next instant, soldiers with worn-out shields immediately took their place with their comrades behind them. With each relatively new shield appearing, the juvenile demon's next burst of energy did not gain much advantage in the Bayern phalanx.

Not only that, the Bayezid archers in the rear also drew their bows and launched them at the commander's order. With a volley of arrows, those made of animal bones or demon bones, while not causing much damage to the enemy, were enough to keep the demons busy and harass them.

Afterwards, the elves, who were aiming from a high ground made of shields by some soldiers, gave their due reward to the Brotherhood through their actions.

"boom--!"

Gunshots rang out one after another. The Bayern people exclaimed in surprise at the strange weapons on the ground, while the demons in the distance suffered enormous losses as a result.

Because elves don't shoot at worthless demons. The enchanted bullets they carry are specifically for high-ranking demons.

A volley of fire pierced the eyes of the two fire-breathing demons that had launched the charge. Severely wounded in the head, the demons staggered and nearly fell to the ground, but a high-ranking demon, hovering in mid-air and resembling a geometric shape of an octopus and a rooster, suddenly plunged a tube into the wounded demon's body.

With a burst of purple light, the high-ranking demon's wounds were healed. The elves stared in disbelief, exclaiming, "Demons have healers too?!" as they turned their fire on the high-ranking demon who was performing the treatment.

boom--!

Another volley of fire followed. But this time, the bullets only managed to pierce a few cracks in the barrier erected by the demon. The demon looked somewhat weak, but it was a true spellcaster.

"Don't attack that demon! It has no ranged combat abilities, and it heals other demons by consuming its own life force! Attack the others, attack the others!"

A female Bayern noblewoman brandished her short sword and shouted:

"Shoot those fire-breathing demons in the eyes! Don't let them in! Our warriors' shield wall can't hold the lava!! Hurry!"

The elves nodded. Having identified the demon's weaknesses and objectives, they were now even more adept at dealing with high-ranking demons.

The reason is simple: if these demons were as large as their ancestors, the Japa 1404 rifles in the hands of the elves might not be able to cause much damage, or even break through their defenses.

But these demons are less than half the size of their ancestors, and may even be a third as powerful!

Such a weak, starving high-ranking demon was just a target for the elves—but even as a target, they were incredibly tough!

As the shield wall began to engage the juvenile demons and larvae that broke through the stone net, the elves fired more than five volleys. However, these volleys not only failed to kill the fire-breathing demons outright, but also allowed other high-ranking demons to get close enough to threaten the phalanx soldiers while the fire-breathing demons were receiving treatment.

A giant, toad-like demon howled and spat out acid, but halfway through its flight, a tall golem blocked its path.

Nourishes—

Even on a battlefield filled with the sounds of battle cries, the sound of acid corroding stone and earth was still too jarring. Under the watchful eyes of the elves, Naruja's golem had actually had half its body corroded away?!

"If that phlegm gets spat directly into the shield wall, the Bayer Zans won't be able to hold on! Change target! Change target! Attack that toad that the healing demon can't reach!"

The elves shifted their target, and the instant the toad's throat emitted a bright green light, they launched another volley of fire.

This time, far from the healing demon, the elf's bullets proved effective: they pierced through the toad demon's magical barrier and, in the next instant, pierced the flesh of its throat.

Thick acid leaked directly from the rupture. The toad demon roared angrily, trying to spit out its mouthful of phlegm, but the acid was still accumulating and poured directly down from the rupture in its throat.

This time, the bright green acid didn't spray onto the golem, who only had half a body left to move. Instead, it sprayed into the demon's own army! The acid directly corroded small holes in the ground. Even the demon's larvae would have half their bodies corroded if they passed through the thick green smoke, let alone the mortal Bayerzans!

Thankfully, these high-ranking demons didn't launch an attack on the position at this stage. Thankfully, these demons don't have the firearms found on the nut-covered ground, so they haven't evolved a structure to resist being shot. Thankfully, our Regent King has brought us reforms!

The elves breathed a sigh of relief.

Then, in the next moment, other high-ranking demons rushed into the shield wall, leading the demons in an attempt to create a breach.

The noblewoman was gone. The screams of the Bayern people before their deaths echoed endlessly. And it was then that they finally heard the words they had longed for:

"The roots have been cleared away! Send the signal quickly, send the signal quickly!"

The elevator is now ready to descend!

The elves exchanged glances, and one of them immediately put down his rifle and transmitted the message from underground to the surface using maximum magical output.

On the ground, however, it was already dawn.

Sunlight shone on the surface of the elevator platform, where the allied forces of elves and golems stood ready.

Yang Hao and Teresa stood in front of the elevator control panel. Finn, standing beside them, said that the signal had been sent and they could descend.

The princess in purple nodded and placed her hand on the control panel. She had confirmed her ownership of the panel with her own blood, and now she issued the command to lower the elevator.

The elevator, long dormant, eventually needed time to descend. As the earth trembled and a series of increasingly loud booms echoed, the purple-clad princess spoke in a voice only Yang Hao could hear: This is Yang Hao's last chance.

"...This is your last chance, Yang Hao. I don't want you to make a choice because of me...I hope this is what you truly feel, just as you told me back then."

This is your last chance. This is your last chance to transform me from the "Princess in Purple" back into the "Mother Teresa" you know.

The elevator hasn't descended yet... I can stop it at any time. Naruja and the elves have a divine spell I secretly cast using the power of [Light] on them; they will return to the ground the moment I stop the elevator, so you don't need to worry about their safety...

What are you planning to do?

I... I can give up my country, the millions of people below, and their trust for you. I... just want you to make your own choice from the bottom of your heart.

Because after becoming Basilisk, I really can no longer love you without any ulterior motives like before... you know that?

Princess Purple felt the shaking caused by the elevator's operation, while the warriors underground anxiously watched the rumbling dome. Seeing this, the demons launched a futile and reckless charge.

"At that time, I will use you for the sake of the Bayern Empire. I will exploit your love for me, I will love you selfishly, and I will betray you for my country!"

Is this really okay...? Is this really alright? Yang Hao, my little puppy... please think about this seriously... do you really want me to betray you even once? Like the little witch, like the little saintess, do you really want me to betray you like they did one day? You really...”

Before the purple-clad princess could finish her murmur, His Majesty the Regent gently put his arm around her shoulder and said:

"Then Theresa, with your schemes and love, bind me to a place where the Bayern Empire will not betray me, okay?"

The princess in purple remained silent for a while.

The elevator finally started operating, carrying thousands of elves equipped with rifles, dozens of golems of various kinds, and several elven archmages as it slowly descended.

She sighed loudly, raised her head, turned around, and gently slapped Yang Hao across the face, under Fen's astonished gaze:

“Then prepare yourself, my Caesar, my Bartholomew. I, Theresa Justinianina, swear... I will never let you escape my grasp, never... never.”

Do I need to kneel down and pledge allegiance to you right now?

"You knelt down and pledged allegiance the moment you uttered those words. Don't be naive, Caesar. Be prepared. What's coming is going to be tough."

High and mighty, arrogant and haughty.

The purple-clad princess will always be the nun the Regent knows well.

And at that very instant, the elevator began to descend.

For the first time in thousands of years, sunlight from the Earth's surface shone underground.

This will be Bayer Zans' final battle against the demons of the past.

Chapter 11: Bayern's Victory, Your Barcellius 8K -4

When the first golden rays of sunlight from the earth shone down through the gaps in the descending elevator, all the Bayer Gems employees wept.

They fought hysterically against the demons that were within arm's reach, desperately trying to maintain the stability of the shield wall, swarming over the high-ranking demons like ants.

They knew they had won. They knew their children could now live in a sunlit paradise on the surface, but before that, they needed to utterly annihilate the demons in the underworld.

"For Baselle, for Bayern!"

The warriors of Bayez shouted, and instead of being pushed back by the demon's charge, they pushed forward a few steps.

The moment they advanced forward, the machine gun Golem and the elf archers on the elevator opened fire.

The deafening gunshots echoed throughout the underground space. If the rifles in the hands of the elves only had a non-lethal effect on ordinary high-ranking demons, then the massive weapon in the hands of the machine gun golem was a sure way to take the lives of high-ranking demons.

The 30mm gold-plated shell was engraved with numerous enchanted patterns, and the explosive ore encased in the warhead caused a violent explosion the moment it pierced the demon's body.

The high-ranking demons suffered heavy casualties under the Golems' fire, while the elves' fire instantly created a blank area in the middle of the demon army.

The shield wall of Bayez fought side by side, following the old rules and the brotherhood of their predecessors. They carved a clearing in the demon army, using the corpses of their own men to secure a safe firing zone for their elven allies.

All the Bayer Gems employees are saying, "We won. We won."

Those with spare capacity turned around to look at the slowly descending elevator.

There, the white-haired princess in purple was watching them. The elf Fen was watching them, as was the man standing beside the princess.

They were all watching, all waiting.

The Bayern people took a deep breath, raised their shields high, and thrust their short swords through the gaps in the shields.

"Advance! Advance!"

The phalanx army advanced, while the elves, slowly descending on the elevator, used their decreasing height advantage to launch successive volleys of fire at the demon army.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Gorem the grenade launcher fixed the trailing incendiary bomb directly on the elevator and smashed it behind the demon.

Not all demons are immune to the burning effects of fire. Even a fire-breathing demon only has extremely high resistance to flames. Its body surface can still be burned by excessively high temperatures, let alone being directly doused with scalding oil.

Even so, the demons did not stop their advance. They continued to push towards the human lines, inflicting wave after wave of casualties on the Bayrzens while also striving to secure a glimmer of hope for their own lair.

Unfortunately, the elven mages would not give them that chance.

The instant the magic on the ground flowed downwards through the opening, the ancient elven tree on the ground released elven magic, stuffing a vine gushing with countless magical powers into the ground.

The moment the vines entered, the archmage slashed open their bark. After the magic filled the entire space, they chanted a strategic spell from thousands of years ago with Finn.

Perhaps demons are terrifying, perhaps every high-ranking demon possesses the ability to withstand strategic magic—but those appearing here are not true high-ranking demons. Those present are merely nameless minions among ten emaciated, starving "high-ranking demons" who can barely use their abilities frequently!

Under the vines summoned by the elves, these high-ranking demons quickly became a breeding ground for the spreading vines.

But even this method is still not enough to completely kill these high-ranking demons who are still putting up a last-ditch resistance.

"Kill that floating octopus!" The elf, who had been fighting underground for a long time, reminded his newly arrived companions. "That demon has the ability to convert its life force into healing! If we kill it, the other demons won't be able to hold on!"

"I know! But the problem is, where is this floating octopus you're talking about?!"

"It's there...wait, where did it go?!"

The healing demon, considered a thorn in the side by the elves and the Bayrzans, hid behind the other high-ranking demons. Its body was no longer as massive as before.

If the healing demon was a mature and powerful beast at the beginning, it is now a withered branch that may be blown away by the wind at any time.

It has already provided far too many lives for its kind. Even for a demon, it has weakened to the point where it can no longer regenerate.

It was destined to die, but before it died, the healing demon transferred its last bit of life force to its defeated kin!

With a high-pitched shriek and visible fluctuations, the elves and Bayerns saw purple light appear behind the high-ranking demon in the sunlit underground!

The healing demon sacrificed everything that had ever existed. Accompanied by purple light, surging magic and life force poured into the bodies of all the surviving demons.

In that instant, all the larvae instantly grew into juveniles, and all the juveniles wailed as they became half-high-level demons. In that instant, all the high-level demons also healed all their wounds and roared once again, ready to fight.

A rare demon, appearing only once every few centuries, is desperately trying to prolong the life of an ancient demon race! But alas, the demons have been far, far away from the surface...

Underground, not only did the Bayrzen Empire exhibit an ancient evolutionary pattern, almost exclusively adapted to the underground environment, but so did the ancient demon race.