Aldred sat inside a cave. He was told to hide from the detection of other Diamond Ranks. The cave was protected by anti-detection and anti-espionage spells. It would require a Legendary treasure to spy into this cave. That was the case if they could find it in the first place which was harder than looking for a needle in a haystack.
Sitting on a rock, Aldred held a piece of paper in his hand. It was the list of Diamond Ranks that had sword allegiance to the Empress. Suddenly, the paper elongated, and another name carved itself.
"The plan works better than I expected. Edeline told me to kill ten, but apparently one is enough."
What Aldred did not realize was the one he killed was one of the most respected Diamond Ranks in the Empire.
Aldred simply thought the old man was strong, but he underestimated his reputation and influence. Not to mention the scene of which he turned Zunescin Pomeste, Trum Gorelight's disciple, into undead was mind blowing to them all.
The idea of being killed did not scare them, but being turned into loyal undead? Even thinking about it made them shiver.
Now Aldred was hidden in a cave that they could not find. This scared them even more. Everyone that hadn't sword loyalty to the Empress were scared out of their wit.
When would Aldred attack? Who would he attack? The longer he stay hidden the more anxious they became.
Edeline was a master in manipulation. Without this skill, she wouldn't be able to create an overwhelming force under their nose for years. Having power was not just having greater quality of mana, more treasure, and better technique.
True power came from the skill of letting others to do the work for you. Now that was true power.
Aldred kept on waiting in the cave. He was told about the plan, so he waited patiently. In truth, he was a bit excited at the thought of scaring the Diamond Ranks without moving a single muscle.
"Edeline is so smart. All I have to do is sit still and yet people keep coming in one by one."
The paper kept getting longer after every hour or so. One after another, the Diamond Ranks in the Dragons began to give in.
But after a few days, the list stopped growing.
"Aldred," Stella's voice came.
"What happened?" Aldred asked.
"Edeline need you to kill someone."
Aldred laughed. "I was waiting for you to say that. Who is it?"
"Zehmud Dihle. He is Lord Athar's right hand man. The one that has been sending assassins after you was him. He's also the one who convinced the Dragons to not giving in to the Phoenix."
"Is he strong?"
"Not particularly, but he has strange abilities, and I heard he also commanded a massive demon army."
Aldred smiled. "That won't be a problem."
Aldred's sword contain more than 300,000 Demon, although all of them were currently at Gold Rank. The undead that had been turned by his Phantom Doomblade couldn't level up. And when they died, they could not revive.
The advantage, however, was that there is no limit to how much undead it could contain. Basically, the sword was useful to create a massive army of cannon fodder.
Standing up, Aldred stretched his limbs as if he was going to do a routine workout.
Well, killing was a routine for him, so it wasn't wrong.
"Zehmud Dihle, where is he?" Aldred asked.
"I will open a portal for you."
Right after that statement, golden light ripped out the space in front of him, and opened a portal.
Aldred stepped in and found himself standing atop a mountain. Below him was a city which had been captured by the Dragon.
Using his godly eyes, Aldred detected Zehmud Dihle was sitting in his office.
It was night time. A perfect time for ambush.
Aldred raised his hand and created a super massive magic circle in the sky. The magic circle was as wide as the city itself.
With the [Ancient Magician's Earrings (Legendary)], his mana manipulation and elemental spell mastery increased over 1200%. So this was an easy work for him.
Not to mention the condensation of energy would increase his damage even more.
Taking a deep breath, Aldred stared at the city. "Red Meteor!"
A gigantic red meteor came out of the magic circle. It was super massive, wider and bigger than the city itself.
Aldred saw the meteor falling in slow motion, but in reality, it was moving ten times faster than the speed of sound. For something this large and heavy to move at super sonic speed. The damage couldn't be imagined unless it was being shown firsthand.
And in less than a second later, the meteor crashed onto the city with powerful explosion that shot out powerful shock wave, leveling an entire forest, hills, and even mountains.
The flames spread in every direction, and the color of the sky began to turn red. It was like hell was brought down into this earth.
There wasn't a single sign of life, except for one person.
Aldred stared at him from the distance with a grin.
Zehmud Dihle crawled out of the ground. His clothes were tattered, and he wiped the blood on his lips.
"I knew you would survive," Aldred said with a smile. If Zehmud died with a single attack from him, then that wouldn't be very fun. But he could see that the spell already did a huge damage on him.
His feet could barely stood without trembling.
"No wonder they called you the fire monarch," Zehmud said.
Aldred vanished and appeared 10 meters away from Zehmud.
"I heard you have powerful demons under your command. Show me."
"You think I alone isn't enough to defeat you?"
"Of course not," Aldred said.
Zehmud laughed. "Alright, we will see your face of regret. Demon Summon: Garmartin!"
Huge flame came ablaze and morphed into a 8 meter tall demon with huge built and a pair of thick, dark horn.
The demon glared at Aldred and roared.
"Zunescin, come out."
Black fog floated from the ground, and Zunescin stepped out in his undead form. Lightning crackled around his body.
Zehmud frowned. "So it was true. You did transform him into undead."
"And so what if I do?"
"Even though we are enemies, you still need to have manners, young man."
"I will show you manners when you can defeat me. Zunescin kill that demon."
"Yes, Master." Zunescin flashed forward. His movement was instant, and he struck the demon right in the face with a powerful fist covered in lightning.
BOOM!
The demon's head shattered along with its whole body.
In one attack, the demon was completely annihilated.
"Seems like my subordinate is far stronger than yours." Aldred laughed.
"Humph! I still have other demons under my command. Demon Summon: Cusintar."
Another flame came ablaze, but this time, a smaller and leaner demon appeared with two small blade in its hand. The demon cracked its neck, and then flashed forward, his movement speed was invisible to anyone below Diamond Rank.
He slashed at Zunescin only to be blocked by his lightning armor.
And so the two of them fought against each other. Demon against undead. Lightning against flame.
"So are we going to fight ourselves?" Aldred asked Zehmud.
"That is not my style. I prefer to let the subordinates fight for their master."
Aldred laughed. "What a pussy."
The word angered Zehmud slightly.
