Chapter 172: Chapter 169: Raid on Taiwan

“The banquet hall was attacked?”

Quai looked puzzled at the news that the banquet hall where President Zhao had gone to receive state guests had been attacked by terrorists.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“That’s a big one.”

The hostages had been taken to constrain Leon’s behavior, as he had invited a large number of heads of state for the National Day celebration.

‘I can’t believe they’re taking hostages.’

The question is, would the high-ranking demons we had infiltrating the ballroom have been seen by them——

‘They’d do it because they were confident.’

Can we leave the high-ranking demons inside as castaways?

“This is a problem, but what’s more annoying is——.”

Reports from across Taiwan of gas attacks and demons being gassed and unmasked.

Whatever the means, it’s a full-blown attack of the status quo.

It would not be out of place to declare emergency martial law at this point but the Commander-in-Chief, who has the authority to do this, is being held hostage in a ballroom.

“Who are the remaining senior officials?”

“The Ministry, the Deputy President, the General Staff, and the Gendarmerie Command are on the move.”

“The Naval Land Forces, made up of fallen, can be mobilized at a moment’s notice.”

A surprise attack on civilian targets had robbed them of their players, but this was their home turf.

The military units deployed across Taiwan would soon be at their beck and call, and there were plenty of demons in their midst.

And if they’re willing to give up everything you’ve worked for, there’s nothing stopping them from making a “last resort” move.

This island, Taiwan, is a swamp that will bury the Lionheart. From the moment they entered this place in small numbers and without much power, they had fallen into a trap.

“Archduke—!”

It was then that henchmen who had been in real-time contact with the State Security Bureau, military units, and even the police station reported urgently.

“Beheader—! The Butcher has appeared!”

Beheader of the War God. There is no demon who does not know of its prestige.

The Lionheart King, the Orc High King, and the Butcher were monsters in that world that even the Archdukes could not defeat.

“How could he have missed the timing of the demon’s appearance in the city?”

But he’s alone. No matter how much transcendent power he possesses, he is still an individual.

“Mobilize all the forces we can. We have to control the situation.”

They still have a point. No matter how much they regard the entire Taiwanese government as a den of demons, the demons hiding in this country are only a few.

Even the most fanatical of them won’t be able to get away with slaughtering all the innocent soldiers and police officers.

They are, after all, a people of high-minded legality.

Is this a Lionheart stereotype? Or is it prejudice?

It’s just that this stereotype doesn’t include the Holy Knights.

“grararararara──!!”

A great violence was coming.

* * * * *

The whole of Taiwan was reeling from the gas attack and the appearance of demons.

“It doesn’t look like there’s any harm in inhaling it——.”

Despite wearing the fire suits and masks provided by the army, the white gas did not harm the public, as evidenced by the citizens walking around unharmed.

“It seems like the only ones being harmed are the demons?”

“Demons were hiding in my country——”

The city was gassed and demons appeared, while the banquet hall for state guests at Honbi Bai Mountain was occupied by terrorists.

Has there been a state of emergency of this magnitude since the founding of Taiwan?

“A militant group is engaging the demons? Who are they? What, the gas attackers?”

“Deal with the terrorists—! No, the demons first! What? Deal with the terrorists first? What do you mean?”

It was pandemonium.

The Vice President’s declaration of a state of emergency set the entire 160,000-strong Taiwanese army into motion.

Not only the Taiwanese military, but also private hunters. In effect, the full power of the island was being mobilized.

With emergency sirens blaring, key generals huddled together to take command of the situation at the Taiwanese Army General Headquarters.

“Commander, the Navy says they’ve mobilized their land forces.”

“The Northern 6th Corps has also reported that they can send vehicle units first. With Lanyang’s 51st Division joining them, I don’t think we’ll have a problem stabilizing Taipei.”

“That’s right, but what about the guilds, what happened to the Lan Fang guild leader who was guarding the banquet hall?”

Liu Wei, a senior officer (colonel) in the Taiwanese Army, looked somewhat uneasy at the appearance of the commander-in-chief, Lu Xianzhu.

He had been breaking out in a cold sweat since he received the news from the President’s secretary and was wiping it off with a handkerchief.

‘What’s wrong with him?’

The general was normally a competent man. Usually, those connected to the political upper echelons rise through the ranks on merit, not ability, but Lu Xianzhu is a case of both ability and background.

Always cool and seemingly beyond humanity, it’s unnatural to see him fidgeting.

“Huh? What is he doing here?”

Liu Wei was puzzled when he spotted “Armor” arguing with a gendarme at the entrance to the General Headquarters.

At Liu Wei’s words, the assembled generals checked the CCTV footage.

“Lord Vulcanus?”

The Holy Knight of the TTG Temple who had arrived in Taiwan less than a week ago was entering the base, ignoring the gendarmes at the entrance to the General Headquarters.

“Is he looking this way?”

On one of the cameras Vulcanus’ gaze is eerie as he makes direct eye contact with the CCTV. He fidgeted as if searching for something, then strode forward.

Creepily, it was in the direction of the General Staff.

“Uh, don’t you think he’s coming this way?”

Someone said and Chief Lu Xianzhu ordered.

“Ma, stop him! Stop him!”

Mr. Lu Xianzhu freaks out as if the executioner is coming but in the next moment, Vulcanus disappeared from the camera.

“Uh, where did he go──!”

-Quang!

The outer wall of the command center collapsed with a loud crash. After smashing the missile-proof outer wall of the military base with his torso, he dusted himself off and stepped through the opening he had created.

The words “You’re a monster” didn’t come out of Liu Wei’s mouth. However, with a desperate soldier’s spirit, he blocked Vulcanus as he strode toward him.

“Lord Vulcanus, what the hell are you doing, this is a military base!”

“I know!”

Liu Wei and the other officers in the base tried desperately to stop the behemoth, but it was no use.

“Sir, Commander, the order is—!”

Liu Wei waited for orders from the top commander of the position, Senior General Lu Xianzhu.

Since they had already raided the military base, there would be no point in shooting them, but the status of the opponent and their terrible strength made it difficult to react.

But if he gave the order, everyone here would draw their pistols and turn against him.

“——Commander?”

Liu Wei and the other soldiers looked for the commander, who didn’t answer.

And they weren’t the only ones. Most of the generals and officers in the General Headquarters were gone!

‘They ran away?!’

These bastards, so-called soldiers, ran away?

He was about to curse at the absurdity of it all when a blast of heat came from Vulcanus, his fiery gaze, rumored to be the Inferno Eye, leaking out of his armor!

“Stop!”

“I do not take orders from those weaker than me!”

“What are you talking about?”

“I don’t listen to orders from someone weaker than me!”

Liu Wei pointed his pistol at him, but Vulcanus didn’t seem to mind in the slightest; he was the only one in the room with the will to resist.

“Damn it—!”

Liu Wei’s finger trembled as he pulled the trigger.

-Bang!

-Ting!

Only a hollow sound echoed, plunging everyone into silence.

‘Damn, am I going to die?’

If Vulcanus snapped his fingers, his head would explode like a tofu.

As a soldier, he expected this since he refused to give up resistance.

“GRARARARA──!”

But what came back was a roaring laugh.

“Yes! That’s what a warrior should do, even if it’s not the wisest thing to do under the circumstances!”

Vulcanus, who had been pounding Liu Wei’s shoulder, chased after the fleeing generals without inflicting any harm on him.

“——.”

With no one thinking to stop him, another transmission came into the dumbfounded General Command.

“Reports of ‘knights’ emerging from bases all over the place!”

“The Knights of the Burning Sword!”

“Three under Laihar Dever have appeared at the Tenth Legion Command! They have also appeared at the Air Specialties Command. Sir Galatan, leading four knights, raiding the Special Forces Command!”

“43rd Artillery Command neutralized! The Knights of the TTG Temple have appeared with the Man-At-Arms!”

That was it. The lights in the command center went out, along with all the other devices.

“What, the power’s out?”

“Why aren’t you running the auxiliary generators?”

“No comms! Jamming, strong jamming!”

The base was neutralized in an instant.

“Cyber warfare?”

The Taiwanese Commander-in-Chief–the country’s leading semiconductor industry–had its cyber warfare support units crippled?

The gas attack coincided with the hostage-taking of state dignitaries. Highly sophisticated hacking and raids across the country at that time.

Liu Wei assumed the worst.

“—against us——.”

All-out war.

* * * *

“Damn it, damn it, damn it!”

Liu Xianzhu, Balbazar, the High Demon of Pleasure and Decadence ran desperately through the corridors of the base.

‘He’s noticed me! How the hell?!’

Balbazar realized that Vulcanus had pinpointed him.

He didn’t know what he did, but he must have gotten information about him!

-grararararara──!

His doomed laughter rings out, and with every step he takes, he can almost hear the bell of his doom ringing.

“Damn it!”

He no longer kept his disguise on. I, revealing the hideous pleasure demon Balbazar.

“Ugh, ugh!”

“Ah, a demon?!”

The officers and soldiers at the base were stunned, but he didn’t care. This was the end of the matter. He must create an opening for himself to escape.

“Wake up—!”

At that moment, a certain officer he encountered blurted out something.

He was a member of the Pleasure Cult, a secret society within the Taiwanese military.

He was a member of a secret social organization within the Taiwanese army enslaved by the demons of pleasure and depravity, reveling in the endless pleasures they offered.

And there were more such degenerates.

“Oh, no.”

“Oh, Lord Balbazar, what have you done—!”

The human flesh melted away, revealing their hideous forms. They rejoiced that they had escaped mortality and gained immortality, but panicked when their true identities were revealed at this time.

“Stop him! Buy me a second!”

At the High Demon’s command, the Fallen rushed against their will toward the fiery knight across the hall.

One second for each of them. If I could stop him in his tracks, even for a moment-─

“Ah——.”

It was an ignorant thought.

Not even the magic of the Archduke of Glacier could stop that knight’s footsteps, let alone a bunch of fallen who had just become demons.

-Kaaaaaah!!!

With a terrible heat, the Fallen are devoured, they could not last a moment before his boundless fury.

“Aaah——.”

Here he comes.

Here comes the apostle of the War God.

The Lionheart’s right-hand man, a man who had survived the Lionheart King thirteen times.

His very existence is proof of his strength.

Vulcanus, a terror of the ages who tore through countless demons with no last name, no title, only the force of his two arms.

“No one can stop Death.”

He is Death.

* * * *

“The bait is gone.”

“It’s Quai’s fault. He must have known the information had already been compromised by the time Zhao was toyed with by the Queen.”

“A small price to pay, I suppose.”

At the entrance to the site of the hostage crisis, three elderly men stood looking out over the quarantined hotel.

“Do you think they’ll succeed?”

“I don’t know. He’s the Lionheart King.”

“But he’s still a human. It’s not impossible if he shows a little bit of vulnerability.”

Since the fall of Lord Dothraddon, the Lord of Pleasure, the demons of pleasure and corruption have been led by the current Archduke of Pleasure, Quai.

He could have succeeded to the throne, but he refused, saying he had better things to do.

That’s basically how he is, unchecked by the Lord.

“Ever since that war, we have been in decline.”

“If the Hundred Years’ Great Line failed, we must make progress here.”

“The last thing we need is to lose to ‘them’.”

The demons clad in the old man’s skin reveal themselves, their transformation different from that of the other demons.

Unlike other demons, whose hides are limited only by the total amount of flesh they possess, their hides are made from magic.

In an instant, they revealed their true form, each one a giant monster over several meters tall.

[Prepare for them. Isolate this place from them.]

[Come, my legions, it is time to work.]

In the center of Taipei City a giant gate has been created in the space where the parade used to be.

Countless demons poured out of it. It was a legion of powerful demons, with the most notable Old Archdemons, that began to fill the city.

-The discovery of the Asteroid Threat.

A stealthy strategic satellite observing Taiwan from geostationary orbit has revealed itself.

A large number of S-class enemies. A “legion-sized” demonic horde emerged, with certain individuals believed to be SS-class or higher.

The Yakt Spinner armed platform of the TTG Temple Strategic Space Force Satellite was sending real-time observations and Yappy noted the enemy’s increase.

-We need to scramble.

They’ll be exposing their power, but he had no choice. Leon has given him permission to do this, so his only concern should be the eradication of the enemy force.

-TTG Temple. Rally.

It was time to show the world the power of the TTG Temple.