Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

[Super Enhanced Strength], [Super Enhanced Magic], [Super Enhanced Agility]… all of his augmenting skills were activated at once and channelled into the infernal magic bestowed by his sword.

"You will not be swinging that sword once again" but before he could even dish out an attack, a white ray surpassing the speed of light, penetrated his left hand forcing him to drop the sword.

Davis Hall who had seen the might of his sword, swiftly knocked it out of his hands. The pressure on Simon increased fourfold and he couldn't help but crash into the ground headfirst.

The curtain of white light on top of putting extreme pressure on him was also gradually drained him of his energy. Simon tried reaching for the sword but it was knocked away by the latter who was looking at him with eyes of indifference.

Anger, humiliation, hatred, self-loathing, a wild influx of emotions raged inside Simon. The other party was so strong that he did not even have the strength to raise his head. In front of absolute power, every other trick was useless.

At this moment, he was once again reminded of words that Irene and Adalinda had said him once. In this world, only strength recognises strength. If you are weak, your fate will be controlled by someone else. Power reigns supreme, that is the law of this world.

Simon knew that there was another demon Noble other than him and they were the ones who had attacked the participants. However, since he was weak, he did not even have the right to prove his innocence.

Simon looked at all the indifferent eyes currently observing him from a distance. What did he expect coming to a human kingdom without having sufficient strength? He had no one to blame for this other than himself.

"Remember that feeling from before, try recalling it again" pressed face-first into the ground and unable to move an inch, Simon tried recalling the time when he activated the fragment of pride himself.

'Let your feelings flow, stop trying to restrain them instinctively' he allowed himself to be overwhelmed by them and just like that…  [Pride has been activated].

Simon was able to activate the fragment of pride. The moment the fragment was activated, he felt the pressure on him lessen by a whole lot; however, it was still not enough for him to completely resist the curtain of light which was swiftly depleting his strength.

'[Ancestral Symbol Ignition]' since even activating the fragment of pride wasn't enough, Simon also activated the ancestral symbol. Igniting the ancestral symbol on top of activating all those augmenting skills would put a huge strain on his body and would leave him unable to battle after the duration ends.

Nonetheless, he had no leeway to think about what would happen later since his current situation was worse enough to force him to use any and all skills in his repertoire.

The moment the ancestral symbol ignition skill was activated, Simon felt his body heating up and every cell and muscle in his body started trembling. The tribal-like golden marking on his body that was covered by his clothes, started shining with a brilliant light and his powers rose to a whole new different realm.

The change was so drastic and extreme that Davis and Vouves who were the closest to him, couldn't believe what they saw.

<strong>BANG…</strong> crisscrossing cracks appeared all around the stage and for the first time the demon Noble stood straight without being forced to kiss the ground by the curtain of light.

The audience that were watching all of this from the gallery, exclaimed. They could feel a wild and arrogant energy burst forth from the demon.

Feeling this unusual energy, Vovues to his surprise felt a sudden sense of dread and couldn't help but narrow his eyes.

"This Demon Viscount is not ordinary. Let me help you suppress him… Tempest Magic Mastery- [Hand of Zephyrus]". As soon as Vovues thumped his staff in the air, an invisible ripple passed through the space and in front of many gobsmacked eyes, a huge green hand penetrated through the clouds and fiercely pressed down on the demon noble on the stage.

Wild winds generated across the whole coliseum or perhaps the whole district. Those that knew about the magic, widened their eyes and at the same time realised that the ranker and the court magician of the sanguine empire was finally serious.

"Gramps.." Denzel called out. At this moment, he had a complicated look in his eyes that seemed uncertain of what he should do.

Alice and Vovues who knew him the best, were surprised by his unusual behaviour; nonetheless, the latter did not stop his magic that kept pressing down on the demon.

In one corner of the coliseum where the members of the Sea God's trident guild were present. Benny Beckerman squinted his eyes in realisation after he heard the report from Scott Green. He turned towards the man beside him and confirmed.

"Is that true Eleven? Was that demon one of them who entered inside our base and used the coordinates?".

He kept his voice low enough so that other than the members of their guild, nobody else would be able to hear them.

"That is true my lord. That brat from the sanguine empire along with that demon were the ones who ambushed me at the exit point".

Eleven reported with a face filled with grievance. Because of them, he had to face such humiliation.

Benny Beckerman nodded his head before glancing back towards the demon.

"If what you said is true, then doesn't that mean that they have been to that place? Sigh… it's a pity that demon won't be able to escape the grasp of those two old monsters today or else I would have liked to capture him myself and torment every information out of him" he said with a tone of regret.

Other than that, he was also amazed by the fact that a member of the Sanguine empire and a prince no less, was involved with a demon.

"Find out everything you can about that demon. I want to know how he entered the capital and if he has any accomplices inside" He ordered.

Scott nodded his head before adding "About that, I think I have met the demon when he was masquerading as a human back in the city of Mountmend…".

"I cannot believe that young man was a demon noble? He was right under our nose and we could even recognise him" Duke Montford stated angered that he had been taken advantage of by a demon.

"It's not your fault your grace, that demon must have used an artefact to deceive all of us. He must have also used something to fool the princes or else how could he become her escort".

Lucas said, internally though he was smiling gleefully knowing that after today he wouldn't have to worry about the princess developing any feelings for the other party during their month-long travel.

<strong>BAMMM…</strong> with a loud crashing noise, Simon who got back on his feet, was slammed deeper inside the stage once again. The huge hand made of berserk wind, made hundreds of cuts on his body until blood leaked out of those cuts.

"Hmm? He doesn't have a demon core. Don't tell me…" Vovues noticed that the Demon did not have the core on his chest and couldn't help but comment.

"What?!" Davis was similarly surprised by those words of Vovues and observed the demon carefully. Seeing that the other party indeed did not have a demon core, a peculiar glint flashed inside his eyes.

Low ranking demons like a demon viscount usually did not make their own dungeons since it was easily conquerable and worked mostly under higher-ranking demons. It came as a surprise to Davis and Vouves to see a demon viscount foolish enough to create their own dungeon.

"What do you plan to do with him now?" Vouves asked, now that they know that the demon had created a dungeon, it changed everything.

Davis smiled, a never before seen glint on his eyes "We are not breaking the treaty if the demon came to us himself. Now I have all the more reason to take him back to the headquarters".

Vouves nodded but did not comment further. There was no pity in his eyes even while knowing what future awaited the demon.

<strong>ROOAARRR…</strong> Simon roared in frustration, even after activating the pride fragment, [Ancestral Symbol Ignition] and every skill he has, he was still not able to resist the pressure from the two people in front of him.

Cracking sounds repeatedly came from his body as every bone in his body was being cracked by the pressure he was under. Since the two in front of him did not bother to keep their voice quiet, Simon was clearly able to hear what they were discussing.

However, at the same time due to being under the effects of the fragment, all emotions other than pride was suppressed. Now that it had come to this point, he did not care what method he had to use to get away from here.

Simon opened his inventory and his eyes went towards one of the items, a peculiar black hexagonal rock was sitting in one of the slots. The black hexagonal rock was none other than the Return Transit Rock that he got from the treasury after clearing the third trial.

According to Lucine, if he used the item again, he would be able to return to the forbidden trial grounds. This item currently was one of the things that could currently help him in his predicament.