Second World



Jack and Jeanny received the good news from John that the Liguritudum army had retreated. The invasion had been repelled, but they didn't have the time to rejoice. They were not out of the woods yet, they still had to survive the demon horde brought out by their disaster item.

The two with the support from Jack's clones, Therras, Grace, and Paytowin had been battling the demon lord boss while everyone else kept the other demons at bay. Jeanny was fighting the demon lord in the air using a wings tool. It was another thing she had acquired from the Council of Elpo.

The demons had managed to push deeper into the palace courtyard. The defenders tried to maintain their formation, but none of them was a tactician at John's level. As the battle progressed, the situation became very chaotic and it was pretty much a free-for-all state.

The only spot that was still coherent in terms of formations was where the demon lord boss was. Everyone knew the boss had to be taken down due to the danger it possessed, so they maintained their positions and halted the demon horde so Jack and the others could focus on the boss.

It had already passed five hours since the disaster item was activated. Demons had stopped spouting from the gate an hour ago, but they still had another hour before these demons were recalled.

Before, Jack didn't call his royal agents because they were needed in the battle outside. After receiving John's news, he asked if it was okay for him to call them over.

John told him to go ahead. With the ancient champions debuffing the demons out there, John wasn't having a difficult time. Too bad he couldn't send some of these ancient champions to the palace.

Jack disengaged from the boss before he used his king badge to summon his royal agents. Nine new combatants appeared. Jack gave them a brief instruction before he returned to engage the boss.

He told all his royal agents to keep the demon horde at bay except for Howard and Laurent. These two would be helping him with the boss.

His royal agents spread out. Eyrene flew to the gate. She had the Fly spell but she cast a spell that gave her a better flying speed. The spell gave her two icy wings on her back. With her naginata, she smacked any demons that tried to bar her way.

After arriving near the gate, she cast one AOE spell after another. The gate was a chokepoint. Casting AOE spells there ensured she hit the most concentration of demons. It also slowed down the waves of new demons coming into the palace courtyard. This reduced the pressure on her allies.

While everyone was doing their parts, Jack, Jeanny, Grace, and Paytowin resumed fighting the demon lord. With Laurent in charge of keeping them alive, the other healers could focus on healing those who kept the demons at bay.

Howard became their artillery who bombarded the demon lord with continuous damage as Jack and the others kept the demon lord busy. Howard used his Lightning Destroying Arrows. His firing speed increased. He didn't even need to pull an arrow from his quiver. He directly pulled his bowstrings once an arrow was launched. Another arrow made of pure lightning was created when he did that. This increased his firing speed even further.

The lightning arrows were very fast and they hit with deadly accuracy. The demon lord was helpless as the arrows kept on landing on its body. The damage was mitigated though, it had cast a spell where a bone suit covered its body.

Howard also learned another skill, Soul Penetrating Arrow. It was a single-target skill that dealt high soul damage. The cooldown of this highly damaging skill was only two minutes. This helped him deliver the highest DPS on the boss.

The demon lord was enraged. It tried to send ranged attacks or get to Howard but Jack and the others prevented it from doing that.

The bottled rage forced the demon lord to unleash a powerful attack. The revolving ring of black flame behind him turned at high speed before exploding. The explosion sent a shockwave that pushed Jack and the others away. The revolving flaming ring behind the demon lord was gone after that.

Its hand lifted and it drew the black flame from its crown this time. The black flame formed into a long javelin. He threw this javelin at Howard.

Paytowin, who was near Howard after getting pushed by the shockwave, flew directly into the javelin's flight path. He activated Unyielding Hope before the black javelin struck.

The javelin broke when it touched Paytowin's body. The invulnerability from Unyielding Hope negated any damage from the Javelin.

"Huh? Do you feel that?" Jack asked.

"Yeah… There is a light on you," Jeanny replied. There was white light shining on Jack's chest.

The two of them had already used Hope's sanctification for a while. Jack was using the Strength of Hope and Jeanny was using the Beacon of Hope. The thirty-minute duration of the two skills was coming to an end soon.

"You also have the light," Jack said.

"Paytowin too…" Jeanny pointed at Paytowin a distance away.

Jack had a brief thought before he called Jeanny to follow him.

"Mihos, Garuda, help cover this boss for a while," Jack called. Those two were among the ones halting the demon horde from interfering with the boss fight.

The two companions looked over. 'Who the hell are you?' Their faces said. He was not their companion, why did he give them command as if he were the boss? But they still carried out the request. Mihos flew to meet the demon lord using a wings tool. Something he had acquired from Ghost Callan. The two engaged the demon lord joining Jack's clones and Therras. Paytowin instructed Brave King to help them.

Jack brought Jeanny and approached Paytowin, who was still confused when his chest started glowing. The glow on their chests turned brighter when the three got together.

"Do you feel that?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, I think we can…"

"Wait, let's go to Grace first," Jack cut Paytowin's words. The three went to Grace.

Grace was just about to fly back to face the demon lord. She was wondering why the three came to her, but she was more puzzled by the glow on their chests. "Why are the three of you shining?" She asked.

"I have a theory. Use your Generosity of Hope," Jack said.

"Why? None of you are near death. It will be a waste to use it now," Grace replied.

"Trust me on this," Jack said.

Grace looked at Jeanny and Paytowin who nodded. She used her Hope's sanctification then.

The Generosity of Hope covered everyone in the vicinity, including Mihos and the others who were fighting the demon lord. At the same time, Grace also started glowing. The glow on the four turned even brighter than before.

"This…," Grace felt it then. The link between the four of them. She felt as if their mana was pulling them to come together.

"Put your hands on me!" Jack commanded.

Jeanny, Grace, and Paytowin did so. They laid their hands on Jack's shoulders. Their lights fused into Jack then.

"Holy…!" Jack felt the rush within him. It was as if limitless energy was coursing through him.

He pointed his hand at the demon lord above.

"Take this, sucker! Hope's light, fireee…!!!"