Is this really a Game?!



Liara's halberd met with the long spiked mace of the peak Tier IV demon leader who was charging at them. The shockwave from their initial clash was powerful enough to make the soil around them crack and for those around them to be slightly moved to the side.

Neither of the two moved an inch from their position, and the demon laughed as he stared at Liara.

"Incredible, you're able to clash against me and not be blown away, this will be fun!" The demon said with a laugh as Liara scoffed at him before the two pulled their weapons back and initiated a barrage of attacks at the other.

Their weapons clashed tens of times in a matter of seconds and the ground around them had more cracks while the place where the two were standing started caving in a bit.

The others clashed against the demons and fought with all of their might as the demons had a big advantage in numbers, the number of Tier IV combatants they had was slightly more than double compared to the humans.

"What the hell is such a big party of demons doing here, we're not even halfway into demon territory right now?!" One of the Tier IVs who was in Liara's team shouted in anger as he slashed at a demon, creating a large gash on the latter's arm, but the demon simply laughed as he continued attacking the man.

The humans were holding together and fighting against the demons as one as they knew that their chances of winning this were minimal and they had to wait for Reign's party to come to support them. Without reinforcements, they would all end up dying here.

They had previously sent a signal, which was one that would make a crystal that each party had on them shine a bright red light, showing that they were in a dangerous situation and needed backup quickly.

Reign's party was the nearest, as was the party of one of the peak Tier IV combatants that had come together with Liara. Judging from the distance, if Reign's party ran at their full speed, they would arrive in a couple of minutes, but even that was a long period of time for the humans who were fighting against such a large party of demons.

One thing that Reign had been thinking about was the seemingly low number of Tier IV combatants that the humans here had. He understood that starting from Tier IV, most people would either be unable to continue leveling up or would need to wait for periods of time before leveling up.

The same had already happened both in Doncaster and Wilkashere, most of the Tier IVs present there had already felt as if their bodies were breaking apart after leveling up and knew that they had to take it easy from now on.

Of course, there were things one could do to alleviate the condition and make it pass faster. Training your mana control, improving your skills, your weapon proficiencies ... All of those things could help a person out as not all were like Reign and the others who were blessed with great talent and marks from gods that further helped them out.

Aethion had previously told them himself that he believed that they wouldn't face any kind of blockage or bottleneck before reaching Tier VIII or IX, 

as for after that, he had no idea.

The humans here were talented, but they were forced to battle constantly. A mere year ago, each of the three regions had over a hundred Tier IV combatants, but thanks to the constant battles, and the need for fighting and slaughtering monsters in order to quickly improve, most of them had died in battle.

Many were faced with a bottleneck, many had to stop leveling up and keeping the exp they received without using it to level up, just like it was for Reign and the others when they reached the peak of the realm and had to finish a challenge to level up again.

Each region had a Tier V, and that was almost a miracle as reaching that realm was nearly impossible for the humans here, those that had managed to do so were hailed as geniuses amongst geniuses and since they had managed to reach that realm years ago, people had believed that it wouldn't be long until more Tier Vs appeared amongst them, allowing them to finally attack the demons and not only defend, but that time never came.

Each of the Tier V humans had reached the realm more than 10 years ago, and there were even 2 that died but were replaced soon by another that reached the realm. Many theories were put in place as to why nobody was seemingly able to reach that realm, even those like Liara, who had been a peak Tier IV combatant for months or even years, couldn't take the next step.

Many of their top combatants had been murdered by demons who outnumbered the heavily. Even if one human was to kill 100 demons, they would still end up losing in a battle of attrition as not only were there many more demons, but more were still coming, not to mention the fact that the demons were nearly immortal if one didn't destroy their soul, they would be revived later on.

Each region on the planet was large, but what Reign hadn't understood right away was that even though he was in charge of fewer people with his two cities, the combined power of his two territories was enough to overpower an entire region and more.

Demon regions were on average larger, and they had more demons than humans had humans in the region. The region they were in, for example, had over 100 Tier IV demons by itself, and they had already gained the help of two more regions, increasing their numbers to over 200.

The ones that Liara and the others were locked in battle against were merely a small number of them.

The battle continued, and Liara was able to stand her ground and fight the enemy to a standstill, but upon glancing to see how her team was doing, her face dropped as she could see that they were already at the breaking point. Only a minute had passed, and the Tier IVs in her team were already injured, some barely hanging on, and the Tier IIIs fared no better even though they weren't as overwhelmed as the Tier IVs.

She roared and used one of her skills, one that boosted her power for a short period of time, and sent the demon flying back before charging at her team to help them out, only to suddenly be stopped in mid-air and sent back as the demon had used a skill of his own, dragging Liara back before using a boost of his own.

His red and black skin turned completely black as he gained a sort of armor around him. Spikes grew out of his body and he grew a bit taller. His muscles bulged and he laughed heartily as he stared at Liara.

"Now, little human, let us continue, I wish to see just how desperate you shall become once your fellow humans start dying."

Liara's face turned heavy as she stared at the demon. The two were evenly matched, but they were in demon territory and she was outnumbered, so she knew that winning this battle was impossible for her and her team.

'That guy won't arrive with his team for a bit longer, we need to hold on!' Liara told herself as she took something out of her spatial ring, and just as she was about to use it, an explosion took place where her team was fighting against the demons.

"Good, I arrived on time." Reign said as he stared at the sight in front of him. After he and his team received the signal, he decided to let his team follow behind him and had given them the map before speeding off toward Liara and her team.

He knew that his speed was far above that of his teammates, especially the Tier IIIs that couldn't be left alone as there was no certainty that they wouldn't come across a powerful enemy.

One of the Tier IV demons that was fighting against Liara's team was impaled by Reign's spear of lightning and was lying on the ground with a hole in his chest.

Reign held his two swords and charged ahead, lightning flickering around him as he passed the distance between him and the demons, about 70 meters, in a brief second.

The demons got ready to face him, but they came face to face with the harsh reality of being helpless. Reign zoomed past the first two demons, their heads flying through the air as they weren't able to block even one of Reign's attacks before he stopped and swung his swords forward.

Out of the demons present, only 3 were high-grade demons and could defend against him for a brief period of time, as for the others, they were nothing but pigs waiting to be slaughtered.

[ Severing Light and Darkness ]