Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

"He was one of them, I am sure of it" the person who said those words to Scott, was not wearing a mask but if he was, Simon would have immediately recognised him as the guy he had met back at the rundown shack of a restaurant.

"It's not Avrox? So there was another Demon Noble here?" Oman made an amused face and watched with interest as to what was going on.

"So you have been hiding amongst us all along? Hmph if nothing I praise your guts for not trying to run away already. Your cover is already blown, there is no point in putting with this façade. Vouves…"Davis asked.

"I know. [Dispruption]" the royal court magician said invoking one of his skills that made the mana around the surroundings go into a frenzy.

The artefact trinket of Grimlock on Simon's neck started trembling and making unusual noise before going off. The effect that was keeping his appearance as a human dissipated off.

In front of everyone's stunned eyes, Simon's body turned taller, grew horns and became more muscular. The features exclusive to demon nobles appeared on his body.

"I-It's a Demon Noble…" nobody knew who said it first, but the moment someone shouted that, people started running away from Simon and in the blink of an eye, the area around him had become completely empty.

Simon's eyes were grave as he looked all around him, everywhere he saw, soldiers surrounded and blockaded the place. It wouldn't have been a problem if it was only those soldiers; however, the ones he was most alert of were the two old men hovering in front of him who released a vast ocean like aura just like the Ancient Titan Treant.

"There is no way for you to escape, give up willingly and come with us" Davis Hall said. His tone was condescending as he measured Simon. Even without his analysis just purely based on the aura that the Demon Noble was releasing, he could tell that the latter was not very strong.

"A Demon Viscount?".

Vouves furrowed his brows, he could tell that something was wrong, the presence that he felt yesterday indeed matched the Demon Viscount in front of him. However, the aura he felt was far more pure than this.

As his thoughts reached till this point, from the corner of his eyes he saw Denzel looking somewhat unusual.

Give Up? There is nothing more stupid than doing something like that. Even while knowing the difference between him and his opponents, Simon did not willingly surrender because he knew that once he gets caught by them his situation would only be worse.

<strong>WHOOSH...</strong>

In front of everyone's astonished eyes, Simon unfurled his wide bat-like wings and rushed towards the sky with all his strength. The soldiers have blockaded every other exit point of this city leaving the sky the only path he can escape through.

However, the sky above the capital was a no flying zone for a reason, the hundreds of magic cannons placed on the city walls, would target and shoot down any flying object that tries to do so. Though Simon knew it, he had no other option but to take his chances.

The demon noble was flying away yet the two old men did not take any action and simply saw it happening from a distance. Everybody who was present inside the coliseum was astonished by their actions.

"Shall we do something father?" Marcus asked.

Brutus shook his head and simply told his son to watch. Amongst the two old men, one was a ranker renowned across this region while the other an officer of the headquarters of the Adventurer's Association.

There was no way they would allow a mere Demon Viscount to get away from this place in front of their presence.

Simon was careful of the magic cannons; however, he was more bothered by those old men who weren't trying to chase him for some reason. While thinking about that in the back of his head, he increased his speed even further. whatever it was, he must get away from this place as soon as possible.

Simon with the help of his skill [High-Speed Flight], quickly became a dot that was disappearing at the horizon.

Davis Hall who was watching all of that from the skies above the coliseum smiled at this moment and stepped forward. The moment he did, an invisible ripple passed through the air as if it was water and the figure of the man disappeared.

The next time he appeared, he was directly a few meters in front of Simon who was almost about to escape the confines of the city.

"Now now, if we allowed a single Demon Viscount to escape in front of our presence, will we still have any face left to show in public?" Davis stated, he stretched his fingers and pointed behind him.

"Well you can try passing through that place and see if you can escape or not for yourself".

Right after saying that Davis pulled his hands back and assumed a carefree posture but other than that, he did nothing else.

Simon glanced at the man, for some reason, the words that he said, was giving him a bad premonition. Nonetheless, he did not slow his speed and swiftly passed by the man.

Simon utilised all the strength in his body to increase his speed even further, he became a black shooting star cutting through the dome of blue sky. Just when he reached the edges of the city walls and was about to leave its confines, he knocked into something cold and solid.

<strong>BANG…</strong> the force from his flight, rebounded Simon back.

Hurriedly stabilising himself, he looked in front of him only to be surprised to see nothing there. Earlier when he crashed there, he definitely felt like there was something akin to a wall there.

Simon flew forward and stretched his hands only to realise that he was right. There indeed was a wall solid and sturdy to the touch and at the same time invisible to the eyes.

"The wall that you are touching is the holy barrier [Gladius]. Others might be able to pass through it as they wish; however, you the denizen of darkness aren't allowed to. The Holy barrier [Gladius] repels darkness and is one of the strongest magic against the dark attribute of mana".

"As long as you have an affinity to it, you will not be able to get past the barrier. Do you get it now? No matter what you do, from the start, it was already predetermined that you won't be able to escape" At some point, Davis Hall appeared behind him and leisurely explained.

Simon's eyes became grave as he heard the explanation of the other party. Was this the reason why the two old men did not bother to chase after him when he tried to escape through the sky?

In the first place, when did he cast this spell? Simon recalled that the man was casting the holy magic [Eye of Luminesce], there was no indication of any other magic. What was going on?

Davis hall glanced at the perplexed expression of the Demon viscount and smiled. He knew what the latter was thinking; he was indeed casting [Eye of Luminesce] but it didn't mean that it was the only magic he was casting.

The holy magic [Eye of Luminesce] was the magic that he was casting in front of everyone's eyes but simultaneously in the background, he was also casting the Holy barrier magic [Gladius]. Something which is only possible because of the skills [Multi-Cast] [Shadow Chanting] and a few other skills in the mix.

However, there was no need for him to tell that to the Demon Noble in front of him. It wasn't simply the difference between their levels, but also between their experience and skills. He who was above level 700, an existence like the demon viscount was no match for him.

<strong> BANG… BANG…</strong>

Simon did not simply give up, although he did not know when and how this barrier magic was evoked, he did not believe that he wouldn't be able to pass through it.

<strong>BANG…</strong>

Simon activated all of his augmenting skills and punched the invisible barrier real hard. Nevertheless, other than creating some small ripples, his attacks managed to do nothing.

Did he have no choice other than to give up willingly? Simon refused to believe that, he attacked the barrier with all of his might a few more times only to be rebounded back by the barrier every time.

"It seems that you really are a foolish demon. Did those self-centred superior ranking demon nobles teach you nothing?" Davis sighed at the sight of the Demon Viscount butting heads with his barrier.

A demon Viscount was a powerful demon noble capable of destroying cities on their own. They are usually the subordinates or one might say the hands or legs of high ranking Demon nobles who mostly sit inside the safety of their dungeons and show their faces very rarely.

From Davis's perspective, the latter looked like a subordinate of some high ranking Demon Noble who was the brain pulling the strings from the shadows.

As long as he captured the one in front of him, he could slowly squeeze all that information out of him.

Little did Davis know that Simon was a low ranking Demon Baron who was borne from the ample mana of this world who evolved to the rank of Demon Viscount. He was not a subordinate of some high ranking demon noble.

Though the cases of someone like that appearing are so rare that most people of the Central continent aren't even aware of it. Davis Hall couldn't be blamed for thinking so.