While Rale hid himself, Ryder continued towards the Great Hall at his full speed.

Ad Ryder reached the Great Hall; he saw a few Skeletons standing before the entrance of the Great Hall.

Last time he hadn't noticed it, but as he used <All-Seer> this time, he saw a barrier before the entrance. Ryder realized that it was probably the barrier that was preventing the outside sound from entering the inside the Great Hall.

As Ryder was looking towards the Skeletons, he had already started accessing his storage.

He pulled out his Moon Scythe from the inventory.

Without wasting a single second, he used Transformation to change his Moon Scythe into a Shield as he turned back.

Ryder protected his body using the shield, which was hit by someone's attack. Fortunately, just like last time, this time as well, the Shield took most of the Impact. Ryder was tossed back like a stone, ultimately crashing on the ground.

His HP started lowering, but his Ruler of Nature activated again, recovering all his lost HP.

Ryder stood up as he patted his clothes while he looked ahead.

There was a girl standing in front of him, but she was not the one that had attacked him. Right beside the girl, a middle-aged man was standing. The middle-aged man was the one that had attacked him just like last time.

"Interesting. I never knew that you would still survive after taking a hit from Master Mao," the Girl let out as she smiled while looking at Ryder.

The girl was none other than the Second contender for the Crown of Death Domain. She was in a race against the Bloodline Inheritor because she had inherited the Weapon of the Death Emperor somehow. 

"Did you think I was as weak as you? You were the one that ran away last time, not me. Give me some credit," Ryder let out mockingly as he changed his time. Last time he had mocked the Middle-Aged man, but this time, he was mocking the girl for running away in their previous confrontation in the Forest of Duke Devilia. He had conveniently forgotten that he had run away himself to the past a few hours ago.

"Interesting. Not only did you survive, but you also have the courage to mock me? Master Mao is as strong as a Duke from your Demon Realm. To take his attack without dying and still mocking us, you're really brave, aren't you, Prince Hades. Do you really think that I don't know what the shield you used is? Everyone knows that the Moon Scythe of the Demon Emperor can transform. I never knew you would gain enough control in it that soon but still, do you really think a Shield would be enough to save you?" the girl asked mockingly.

The girl expected Ryder to look towards the entrance of the Great Hall in hesitation, but she was surprised as she saw Ryder smiling comfortably instead.

"Don't you want to scream for help? The High Dukes are right in that great hall. Why aren't you calling for help?" 

As the girl saw Ryder not doing what she expected, she was shocked. She had already prepared herself to see Ryder's anxious expression. She was waiting to reveal to Ryder about the barrier she had cast around the great hall to give him more despair, but he wasn't doing what she expected.

"Why should I call them? Would that even do anything? The barrier that you guys have cast around the Great Hall will prevent my voice from getting inside anyways," Ryder let out casually as he raised his hand.

"W-why, do you know that?!" Ryder's words thoroughly shocked the girl. She didn't expect Ryder to know about this. On a more critical note, she didn't expect him to still look so comfortable even after knowing that he had no chance of getting help. Why was Ryder so calm? Where was his confidence coming from? Did he really have something up his sleeve? The girl couldn't help but wonder as she frowned.

" Little girl, You're the Crown Candidate of the Death Domain, fighting for the position of the Prince, not me! I'm the Prince of the Demon Realm! I'm the ruler here! What I can do is beyond your imagination, so don't even try," Ryder let out with a smirk.

"Hah, such big words for a guy who's about to die. Without help, you're nothing, and let me remind you, no help is coming for you today. Everything we did was planned. Your Royal Commander is busy, and the others are inside the Great Hall, unaware of anything that's going on outside. Don't bother with us," the girl fired back, trying to break Ryder's confidence.

"I wouldn't be getting any help? I wouldn't be so sure about that if I were you," Ryder let out as he smiled. 

****

A few minutes before Ryder had used his Shield to protect himself from Master Mao's attack, High Duke Mila inside the great hall had stood up. 

She looked at High Duke Eston that had his eyes closed.

"Stop pretending. It's time to get to work," High Duke Mila told High Duke Eston.

Devilia looked at High Duke Mila in confusion, wondering what High Duke Mila was talking about. Since High Duke Eston's mind was linked to thousands of soldiers, there was no way she should have broken his concentration. She knew that once Dreimaia was broken unintentionally, it couldn't be cast again before 24 hours. She wondered why High Duke Mila was trying to disturb High Duke Eston.

The Vampire King didn't know about the basics of this spell, so he wasn't as shocked as Devilia about Mila disturbing Eston; what he was more interested in was her words. What plan was she talking about?

Devilia looked at High Duke Eston's eyes. She believed that High Duke Eston's concentration was broken. He was probably going to be really angry at High Duke Mila.

Devilia's expectations turned upside down as she saw no anger in High Duke Eston's eyes. Instead, she saw a smile on his face.

"Oh? So it's finally time. I was getting bored," High Duke Eston let out as he smiled.

"What is happening here?" Vampire King asked High Duke Eston as he stood up.

Devilia also stood up.

"What's happening is really simple. We are under attack from the Death Domain. The Black Skeleton King is in the palace as well.  Let's just step out of the Great Hall and see for ourselves," High Duke Mila told the Vampire King casually as she stepped towards the door of the Great Hall.

She tried pushing the door open, but it didn't even move.

"As expected, it was true. There's a barrier around the Great Hall," High Duke Mila let out as she smiled.

She raised her palm towards the door of the great hall and fired an energy ball.

****

"Stop acting smug! No one will come to save you. You're just trying to delay us by confusing us with your false confidence! I've seen enough of this idiocy! Master Mao, let's not waste any more time. Kill our dear Demon Realm Prince so that we can leave," the girl let out as he smiled while looking at the middle-aged man beside her.

"Right away," The middle-aged man let out with a smirk as he started walking towards Ryder.

Ryder watched the man coming towards him, but he didn't bother stepping back.

'The timing couldn't be more perfect. Just a few seconds more,' Ryder thought as he saw Master Mao reaching near the door.

Just as Master Mao was in front of the Great Hall door, a loud blast happened. The Great Hall door came flying and crashed on Master Mao, making him fly back in return.

High Duke Mila and the others stepped out of the Great Hall.

High Duke Mila looked to the side and saw a girl standing there.

"So you're the Second Candidate of Death Domain Crown. I thought that you would be smart but to infiltrate our Demon Realm under our watch? You're not much smart, are you?" High Duke Mila let out as she shook her head.

"You!" the girl was horrified as she took a step back in fear. She instantly got a talisman out of her storage space.

"Rale now!" Ryder let out in a hurry.

The girl was shocked as she heard Ryder's road, but her face turned pale as she saw Rale appearing before her out of nowhere. Rale took the Talisman from her and threw it away before he caught both her hand and placed them behind her back.

"Did you really think the same trick would work twice? I already saw you escape though that the last time we battled. Of Course, I'll take precautions," Ryder smiled as he looked at the girl.

"High Duke Eston, there's someone called Master Mao in that rubble. Can you take care of him? He really likes hitting people. I think he'll really like a battle partner," he continued as he glanced back at High Duke Eston.

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