Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

Just when Mary thought she had reached the end of her road, suddenly, a sword slashed into the pelvis from behind the enemy who attacked again. The soldier only had time to scream before a matte harp smashed open the back of his head. Daisy, covered in dust and dirt, didn't bother to check if the incapacitated man was really dead. She quickly reached out and pulled Mary out of the pit of corpses she had created.

"Honestly, I'm starting to regret not learning swordsmanship properly back then!" Daisy forced a smile and made a face at Mary. "At least it was enough... cough cough cough!"

She covered her mouth, and when her coughing subsided, Mary saw another bruise on her already dusty and blood-stained palm: "Daisy, you—"

"My throat, cough!" The poet tried to restore his original singing voice, but failed, and could only say hoarsely, "It's nothing serious, we're still alive!"

"The only problem is, it might not be easy for us to keep surviving... Mary, can you gather some more people? I'll see if I can give you another buff—all the people I brought before are dead!"

Mary patted her on the shoulder and immediately turned away. When she returned with the scattered soldiers who had become disorganized on the battlefield, she saw Daisy sitting on the pile of corpses, talking to herself and singing something.

That must have been Daisy's native language, but since the bard's voice was temporarily gone, Mary couldn't even make out the number of words. Fortunately, the bard seemed to be able to use magic even without the lyrics, and new power brought life and vitality to the withered bodies of Mary and the other soldiers, as if they had undergone a thorough rest.

What a pity. Daisy looked at the people who had formed ranks around her and were starting to fight again, and couldn't help but curl her lip inwardly. She had prepared this song hastily and hadn't had time to translate it into the language of this world—it wasn't even an alphabetic script.

But what more could she ask for? Let it be.

Daisy paused for a moment, and the next second, a more intense piano melody than any of the previous passages began, accompanied by a hoarse voice that was almost no longer her singing:

"How can a prince in his fallen state bear the taste of dew and willow branch?"

I disregard worldly glory and fleeting life and death; what do I have to fear?

He taught the Xiongnu chieftain to break his arrows, and the six armies retreated in disarray; this roused the wrath of heroes!

As the final beat fell, it was as if some kind of barrier had been broken through, and powerful magic followed the melody of the music, flowing around the poet so that it could eventually manifest as any kind of arcane magic—even divine magic!

Immediately afterward, holy light descended from the sky, shining upon every friendly soldier around them, banishing all the suffering of mortal flesh and making them agile and incredibly brave! Some were still struck by the swords of the emperor's soldiers, but instead of blood flowing from their wounds, a dazzling holy light that could burn the eyes of the assailants flowed out!

“I don’t have a little treasure chest with a thousand gold coins…” Daisy’s face contorted in pain as she coughed up another mouthful of blood, which dissipated into a crimson glow in the air. “But! Holy light!”

Chapter 781 Reinforcements

"Your Highness, shall we continue watching like this?"

On the other side of the battlefield, an army quietly bypassed everyone's sight and arrived at the chaotic flank. In front of this fresh force, a short-haired man wearing a large cloak was staring intently at the battlefield. His adjutant cautiously spoke up to remind him to come back to his senses.

"If we don't intervene, I'm afraid Her Highness's army will not be able to achieve victory."

“No, you are wrong,” the Grand Duke shook his head. “Victory will surely belong to her and the Kingmaker. Based on the intelligence we have and the intelligence we can deduce, they still have methods they haven’t used yet—not that they can’t use them, but that they can’t use them first.”

“They will surely win…but not easily,” the adjutant muttered, then suddenly remembered something, “Your Highness, do you intend to win all the victories?”

If the emperor and the princess fight to the death, then the Archduke of Reims, who was originally Richard VII's greatest enemy, will have the opportunity to seize the greatest benefit—or even all the benefits.

The question is, does he want to?

Grand Duke Lance did not answer; he silently asked himself the same question. He couldn't help but think that many years ago, perhaps the first emperor of the Matt family had also asked himself this question, and that ancient man's answer was "yes."

Will he come to the same conclusion?

“No,” the Grand Duke shook his head. “If I were to take over, the empire would be nothing more than the empire it was before. I am confident that I can do a better job than Richard, but at most, I would only reach the level of His Majesty Henry.”

“But if it is Her Highness the Princess… it’s not just that.”

He turned to his army: "Gentlemen, I know that intervening now will be a difficult choice, and we may suffer heavy losses. But don't forget, we did not rebel for our own selfish interests, so—it is time to swear allegiance to our princess! For the future of the empire!"

"For Her Highness Angelita!"

When the Imperial reinforcements appeared on the flank of the battlefield, shouting slogans of loyalty to the princess and charging into the fray like tigers descending from the mountain, the Imperial Guards, who had initially held a slight advantage, were once again suppressed.

As long-time rivals, although the Grand Duke's troops were not as good as the Imperial Guards in terms of quality, this army had long been adept at dealing with those unstoppable heavy cavalry and the eagle cavalry in mid-air, and the two sides were once again evenly matched.

Angelita rode her horse through the crowd, wielding her sword despite her nearly shattered shield. If it weren't for the crown on her head and Veruna constantly replenishing her energy, she would have been exhausted long ago. Even so, in the gaps between the spells of Thunderclap Sword and Emerald Flame Sword, many soldiers still found openings and tried to pull the princess off her horse.

Among these people, the most threatening one is undoubtedly the heavily armored knight who is coming towards them.

"Whoosh—" The knight showed no respect for the princess of the empire. As the two horses passed each other, and Angelita narrowly dodged his lance, the knight immediately drew his warhammer from his waist. The small but heavy hammerhead whistled through the air and slammed down on Angelita's back.

All the magic power of the Balanced Breastplate had been exhausted. Just as Angelita was about to be hit, Raslaufer, riding Nightmare, instantly appeared beside the knight. Without any fancy solutions, he simply wielded the King's Greatsword, which danced in flames and instantly severed the knight's outstretched arm.

At that very moment, an arrow, whistling deadly, pierced the clouds and struck the knight squarely between the eyebrows as Raslauver severed the enemy's arm. The cavalryman, still clutching his lance, didn't even have time to cry out in pain before he fell backward from his horse. The terrified mount dragged its already dead master for hundreds of meters before finally being brought down by several soldiers working together.

Raslaufer and Anne looked in the direction the arrow had been fired at the same time, where Grand Duke Lance, holding a short bow, rode on a black horse and nodded to them.

Angelita, of course, had met the Grand Duke before, and immediately returned the bow. But soon, Raslaufer heard the girl mutter with some dissatisfaction:

"That old fox, he must have arrived a long time ago, but he delayed until now to make his move!"

Reslaufer chuckled: "At least he chose the right time to save his head. If it had been any later, the Empire would have lost two important figures."

But in any case, now was not the time to communicate with the other side. Leslaufer escorted Angelita to a relatively safe location, then turned back and charged into the chaotic battlefield once again.

"They say the Kingholder is unstoppable, and if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, it would be hard to believe," Grand Duke Lance said, clicking his tongue in admiration as he watched Dople sweep across the battlefield like a meat grinder. "While individual strength has its limits, when it comes to this, then..."

He wanted to say something more, but suddenly seemed to sense something. He turned around and saw a small green sprite with two pairs of transparent wings sitting on his shoulder. When the Duke noticed him, the sprite gave an exaggeratedly big smile.

"Could it be that the elven reinforcements have arrived?" The Grand Duke's heart leaped with joy. All his requests had been ignored until now—

"They have no choice but to come because of that crown and that sword," the fairy chuckled at the Grand Duke. "Don't think that just because you've been studying in the east for a few years, they'll necessarily help you—this princess is the real deal. She has the approval of the Elf King of Corazond, even his relics and mount!"

Grand Duke Lance raised an eyebrow in surprise, but Angelita was nowhere to be seen in his spot. In fact, just two or three minutes later, the crowd around him began to shout in a cacophony, followed by a buzzing sound from the sky. He looked up and saw arrows raining down like dark clouds, tearing through the sky and covering half of the battlefield.

"Our eastern neighbor has come to support Her Highness the Princess in ending the turmoil in the Empire!"

Looking up, a forest of trees, seemingly alive, seemed to surge forth from the earth. The largest tree bore a human face, its branches and roots serving as limbs, and it was now shouting loudly. Within its canopy, which was no less massive than the Shinmu Puppet, countless elven archers were drawing their bows and aiming at the Imperial Guards on the battlefield, whose ranks were distinct from the others.

With the addition of the Grand Duke of Lance to the battlefield, and now with the powerful support of the elves, Richard VII's defeat seemed to be beyond doubt. However, at this moment, a leader of the Imperial Guard suddenly let out an exaggerated and shrill laugh. As if influenced by him, many soldiers around him also moved. The next moment, these originally living human bodies suddenly exploded, and pairs of twisted claws tore through flesh and blood, bringing new bodies out of their cocoons.

With their appearance, rifts connecting to the abyss suddenly appeared on the battlefield!

Chapter 782 The Demon's "Pursuit"

"A demon? Is that a demon?!"

A chorus of exclamations and whispers rose from the treant's body and its surroundings.

"Which king made this? How could he—"

When they were ordered to come from the East, they thought it was just a conflict within the human empire, and that they would be able to easily win it over. But now they see that the situation is far more complicated than they imagined!

"Brothers and sisters! We must hold back against these villains of the abyss!" an elf cried, raising his bow. "Let's go together and drive them out of the material world!"

As they spoke, the treants had already stormed into the ranks of the Imperial Guard, who had transformed into demons and were still summoning them. Several freaks resembling gorillas with flat faces and fangs attacked, and the elves hurriedly used their weapons and innate magic to defend themselves. However, against these hunchbacked demons who were two and a half meters tall and weighed over three hundred kilograms, their strength seemed incredibly weak. Although the treants could help remove the demons clinging to them, they were truly "a lone tree unable to support a single enemy."

"Get out of the way!" Grayish-white flames, accompanied by the scorching winds of purgatory, rushed in. Wherever they passed, demons fell to the ground, without any chance to resist. Raslaufer once again came to the rescue, wielding his sword to kill the Bagula demons that were climbing up the tree one by one.

After his journey through Purgatory, Raslaufer had become an expert in slaying demons. Even though the types of demons were incredibly diverse and even if there were some patterns to follow, he was still able to accurately find their weaknesses and completely crush these vigorous demons.

"Go to the back, the treants stay here!" After clearing away the surrounding demons, Leslaufer removed his mask and frowned at the slender, lightly armed, pointed-eared creatures. "Also, go tell Amansa to come find me!"

Raslauver had always had a good impression of the elves, largely thanks to the one-eared mercenary, but the elves' reckless charge into the battlefield made it difficult for Raslauver to rate them highly.

He turned to look around, and saw demons everywhere. This couldn't have happened out of thin air, and the mastermind behind it was most likely the emperor hiding in the palace, not daring to show his face.

Solving the problem at its source is the only real solution. With the Grand Duke and the elves joining the fight, the situation here should stabilize. His repeated charges won't play a crucial role.

Raslaufer never imagined he would think this way, but that's exactly what he was thinking, and he planned to leave immediately.

Dople's figure glided across the battlefield, the flames of his Nightmare Horse's hooves flickering in and out, sifting through corners to find companions still capable of fighting and continuing his march. Bella and Mary were essentially beyond fighting; forcing themselves would only harm them. Raslaufer paused briefly before Angelita; the blood-stained girl looked at him with slight surprise at his sudden appearance, a knowing smile spreading across her face.

“I’ll go with you, Uncle Leslaufer,” she said, mounting her horse again. “I deserve a chance to see him.”

“Veruna, if you can’t continue to protect her, your cousin from Purgatory can help.” Leslaufer looked at the unicorn, whose head was bowed in pain. The next moment, a bright light shone from her horn once again, forming an indestructible shield.

She could not back down. From the goddess, this celestial being already knew of Raslaufer's hesitation; if she stopped, then most of the Tranquil One's previous efforts would likely be in vain.

“Very good,” Raslaufer nodded. He immediately led Angelita forward on horseback, grabbing the bard who was resting to the side and tossing him onto the back of the Crimson Nightmare that had appeared nearby.

"Wow, Mr. Lei, you—" Daisy, who was almost asleep, was jolted awake. She could barely make a sound, but she still exclaimed exaggeratedly, "You think too highly of me!"

Even so, Daisy clung tightly to Nightmare's neck, sprawling most of her body on the horse's back. This position was disastrous for a rider, but fortunately, Nightmare was no ordinary horse; no matter how Daisy rode, she wouldn't be thrown off.

Meanwhile, Raslaufer looked towards the distance, where a small squad of Dopplers was fighting the demons as they approached. The leader, and the only one not wielding a greatsword, was One-Eared Amansa.

"Is this the team you prepared?" The elf gathered the stray strands of gray-gold hair from his forehead, his brow furrowing slightly. "It seems you're planning to dump the hardest task on me."

Despite the harsh conditions on the battlefield, Amansa surprisingly maintained remarkably good physical strength; in fact, she was in much better condition than some of the elves who had just entered the fray.

“We can’t leave too many people here, and we can’t easily give back the advantages we’ve gained,” Raslaufer said. “If I go looking for trouble with the Emperor, the demons here will definitely come after me, and someone needs to help hold them off.”

To stop those demons? Amansa?

Angelita and Daisy both glanced at Leslaufer, thinking he was joking. However, Amansa nodded without hesitation, "That's fine. But I'd like Miss Daisy to come with me. I'll be even more confident if there's music."

“Alright.” Without further hesitation, Raslaufer spurred his horse forward, charging towards the city gate with a clear objective. The surrounding demons seemed to anticipate his intentions, surging towards them relentlessly, determined to halt their advance. Although Grand Duke Lance and his troops launched a flanking attack from the rear, the demons, in both numbers and individual strength, far surpassed the mortal soldiers. On this battlefield, their power was rapidly diminished, rendering them utterly inadequate to contain these evil creatures of the abyss.

The center of the battlefield once again returned to the direction where Reslaufer was located.

"Your Excellency Kingmaker, demons are blocking the way!" The few Dublers who were barely keeping up with the crowd shouted when they saw that the city gate was right in front of them, but then they found that two minotaur monsters nearly four meters tall had completely blocked the drawbridge.

Raslaufer transferred the greatsword to one hand, the infernal flames burning brightly in his right, the Hellfire Lance once again in his grasp. Facing the colossal bull demons whose shoulders still bore other demons, there was only one solution.

"Charge!"

Before Leslaufer could finish speaking, a dazzling flame descended from the sky, instantly striking the head of one of the giant bull demons. The demon raised its hand to drive the attacker away, but a magical rope rose into the air, binding the thick arm tightly together. The winged being, who resembled more of a devil than an angel, was not wearing a mask. She raised her head, meeting Leslaufer's gaze as he charged forward.

“Reslaufer!” The sinister Muse’s voice was serious, but she showed no intention of attacking the man. “Since there are demons causing trouble, the arrest should be postponed. The priority should be to expel the abyss!”

"Crush these maggots with me!"

Chapter 783 Breaking Through the Barrier

Upon seeing a new enemy, and even a demon at that, the four small eyes of the two giant bull demons instantly turned crimson, howling as they charged towards Museco. Behind them, the demons on the battlefield also noticed Reslaufer and the others' movements and turned to pounce.

"Go!" The Withering Blade swept through the air in a deathly silence. The Sin Demon flapped its wings and flew into the air. After dodging the demon's claw, it swooped down again, bringing with it the flames of vengeance, and shouted loudly at Raslaufer and the others.

“Reslaufer, she is—”

The sudden appearance of the demon startled both Angelita and Amansa. Although they knew that Raslaufer had returned from Hell, such a return was not permitted by the laws of Purgatory. But judging from the manner of this high-ranking demon... it didn't seem like he was here to hunt him down at all!

“My superior over there.” Raslaw didn’t want to explain too much. He turned his horse around, deliberately bumping into a group of newly emerged demons who had fought their way out of the city, in an attempt to escape this difficult question. Fortunately, his two companions understood that now was not the time to dwell on these matters, so they did not press the issue. Only Daisy, who had heard some rumors from Zhengling, showed great interest, as if she couldn’t wait to know the details.

However, she probably won't have that chance.

The accompanying Dobles were quickly engulfed by the seemingly endless army of the Abyss, but their sacrifice was not in vain. Under their cover, Raslaufer and his men broke through at least three or five more city blocks of blockade, and the magnificent palace belonging to the Imperial family was now before them. Protected by defenses no less robust than the outer city walls, magical barriers pulsating with blasphemous arcane magic rose and flowed, continuously releasing demons while blocking any attacks or influences from the material world outside.

Upon witnessing this scene, aside from the influence of magical control, even the most loyal to the emperor should understand that their Richard VII is probably no longer on the side of the empire or even the material world.

“I can’t break through this defense!” Veruna looked up at Leslaufer pleadingly. “Your Excellency, I’m afraid I need to beg the Queen’s mercy, but that will take time…”

“No need for all that trouble,” Raslaw interrupted her. What they needed most right now was time; they had no time to wait for a unicorn to break through the barrier. “Montgomery! Smash it!”

Without warning, a gigantic hand emerged from the void, enveloped in raging magma and lava—or rather, it was part of the Balrog's body, its boundless rage and hatred forming a separate entity. The Balrog that descended upon the world no longer wore the disguise of humanity, revealing its true form. A whole legion of demons belonging to Raslaufer, not Richard, followed it, passing effortlessly through the barrier and blocking the demon soldiers within.

Even in the material world, wars between people of the same race are commonplace, let alone these demons who are completely different in appearance. Their battles are not at all out of place, but rather seem more like a matter of course.

"Buzz!" The crackling lightning sword, controlled by the fire demon, slammed into the blasphemous barrier, but the barrier only hummed and showed no sign of collapsing. Montgomery then took out his fire tongue whip, but the effect was still not obvious.

“My lord, the power of this barrier likely comes from an existence far more powerful than myself!” Sparks fell from the Balrog’s face as he spoke. “Even if you are a complete demon lord, it will probably take you some time.”

He had no intention of deceiving Leslaufer at this time. In fact, according to his perception, the source of the barrier's power was likely an extremely powerful demon lord, one who was quite well-known throughout the multiverse. He was a Balrog, but only a Balrog.

"Is there any solution?"

Montgomery pondered for a moment upon hearing this: "I can temporarily lend my power to someone so that they can be recognized by these barriers without being corrupted by the abyss. However, the price for doing so is that I need to separate a portion of my power and will no longer be able to assist you. Everything about that mortal will also be temporarily suppressed—I can only let her move around inside."

This was almost tantamount to asking Raslaufer to cut off his own two arms, but the Balrog still chose to propose this possibility because he fully believed that although his lord had lost his half-body with profound arcane knowledge, he still had the ability to solve the current situation!

“That’s enough,” sure enough, Leslaufer agreed without even thinking. “Annie and I are coming. Amansa, you can take care of things here.”

“Leave it to me,” Amansa nodded, turning to Verunara. “You just continue trying to crack it; you don’t need to worry about the rest.”

The unicorn hesitated, then nodded without saying a word. She pressed her horn against the outer edge of the barrier, her entire body radiating a bright, moonlit glow. This light, penetrating through her horn, began to erode the barrier—divine power from a higher plane. Even if the barrier's creator was indeed a demon lord, he couldn't stop or repair it. However, at this rate, it would take at least half an hour to an hour to carve out a hole large enough for a medium-sized humanoid creature to pass through.

Meanwhile, Raslaufer and Angelita did not linger. The Balrog imbued the latter with his power, helping her slip through the barrier that only allowed abyssal creatures to pass.

“So, Uncle Raslaufer, you really are…” Angelita looked at Raslaufer with a complicated expression. This man didn’t need any pretense; he just swaggered into the palace behind the barrier as if he belonged there.

“Say what you want to say,” Leslaufer looked down and chuckled softly. “I insisted on bringing you in so that you could say whatever you want.”

Angelita paused for a moment, then chuckled, "If that's what you mean, then I have to correct you on this: it was I who insisted on bringing you here; this is my home."

Demons continued to emerge from all directions, from the shadows and darkness of buildings, gardens, and palaces. Raslaufer brandished his greatsword, and the Kingmaker roared in his hand. Angelita gripped the Long Poem of Guardianship tightly, and beams of light cascaded down from the elven crown above her head, enveloping the two in a mysterious protective aura.

Chapter 784 Amansa's Sword Chant

"They just went in like that..."

Watching the backs of that couple—anyway, what kind of man and woman—disappear behind the barrier, the bard coughed twice, stood behind Amansa, and turned to look at the abyssal demons that were pressing in like a siege of zombies.