Supreme Monarch

As Z stared at the Zorak Trio who were running their mouths while laughing at him maniacally, a hobgoblin clad in full plate armor while wielding a large battle-ax came up behind him and knelt.

He had short black hair and a cleanly shaven face and was accompanied by a winged Kobolds floating a few meters behind him and clad in silver light armor while holding a short metal staff.

"Lord Z, should we move to dispatch the remnants of the undead army? They seem to be about ready to attack again."

There was only around a thousand undead left after Nessi's assault but that was still a large number compared to about 400 hobgoblins and Kobolds led by Cresil and Tarka.

"That's the plan. We'll handle this three so make sure you don't let a single undead escape. Don't worry about collector their cores, we'll harvest them when this war is over."

"As you wish"

Understanding their assignment, Cresil, the Captain of the Raven settlement guards, commanded the hobgoblins and Kobolds alongside Tarka, as they swiftly moved out to handle the scattered undead army away from the three demigods.

The nimble beast riders were the hardest to deal with as they could move faster than the hobgoblins so Tarka led some mages to draw them away using a mass flight scroll.

"Oi oi oi oi, just because we're not actually undead doesn't mean we can allow you to just run smock and destroy our recent buds like that! I made some good friends with them you know."

The bald dark-skinned swordsman stepped forward and spoke nonchalantly as he smirked at the masked man and the shadow girl who still stood in place.

"Yeah...! You can't begin to imagine what Gary felt when his wife cheated on him with that ghoul. He was heartbroken. Not that he had a heart though. Kwafufufu..."

Brethal, the female demigod added to Noual's absurd declaration as they both giggled with childlike excitement.

"Hahaha... I don't think I made any friends like that. The Lich next to me was just depressing. Besides, none of the undead was my type but that shadow girl's kinda hot, I like them cold too."

The classically handsome fellow spoke in a weird tone as he eyed Nessi's body while licking kid lips and playing with the ring on his index finger.

"Oh... Levant's got another crush. How bout you just go ahead and crush those goblin trash love, and we can make his love come true."

Noual spoke as he glanced at the multicolor-haired girl beside him with a grin on his face.

"Oh goodie, I love matchmaking. Although I don't like girls that are prettier than me, and her face makes me want to peel it off."

"Ah... don't get jealous love, you know I'll only have eyes for you."

"How sweet. Well if you were to cheat I'll cut it off so no worries."

"Ah, your crazy love turns me on so much, come here."

The two quickly began to aggressively suck each other's tongues while their hands roam ravishingly across their bodies.

"You guys are unforgivable. Don't make me jealous at every opportunity. At least let me get that undead first. I think I have the right artifact to take control of her too, how lucky I'm I."

Levant spoke to the two making out widely beside him as he continuously rubbed the ring on jog finger.

As Z watched the three psychos get lost in their own world, he didn't get annoyed but surprisingly just let them be as this gave the hobgoblins and Kobolds more time to lure the undead army further away so they don't get killed by any stray attacks.

He also took the opportunity to set up various aspects of his plan as he already knew how these three would react so he knew the proper method of dealing with them.

He was someone who always liked to be informed no matter where he was so he naturally had gathered a great deal of information on this trio when he was still investigating the Zorak family.

And that was unfortunate for them.

"Aww cutie pie, we can't go all out right now. We still have some cockroaches to deal with remember?"

"Oh right, they're so insignificant I almost forgot they were here. Lemme just go ahead and take care of the goblins first then."

​ As Noual and Brethal were almost at the point of ripping each other's clothes off and banging right there. Noual suddenly remembered they were on a mission and hesitantly stopped himself from going further.

Brethal then sloppily straighten her outfit and stepped forward even though one of her breasts was almost falling off her blouse as her mage's robe was disheveled.

"Widened Magic - Falling—"

"Looks like you're done fooling around one last time. That's good, then let's not waste any more time and proceed with your execution."

"Huh???"

*Ghahahahahaha...

A round of heavy laughter resounded in the air around them after hearing Z's declaration as even Brethal had forgotten to cast her spell halfway and paused to laugh. A mistake they would soon realize.

Z however, did not take their mocking laughter to heart as he simply just tilted his head slightly and whispered something to Nessi.

"Is this some kind of bad joke—"

*Boom! *Whoooooosh!

Before Noual could even complete his mocking statement, Nessi shot at him with a speed no man could comprehend as though she had broken past the speed of light as he was only barely able to save his life by blocking her attack with his katana as his body was shot back before the two beside him could even react.

Her feet only touched the ground once as she disappeared after him in a flash and no one could believe it.

"What the! What the hell was that! How did Noual not react?"

A look of pure shock and surprise was plastered all across Brethal and Levant's face as they had only barely seen what happened and it defied any logic they could think of.

They were not fools, they had used appraisal and divination on the army that had suddenly shown up before the undead army and also on the shadow girl.

They knew exactly how strong they were and this should not be possible. The masked man was able to hide his name from them but he couldn't hide his power.

He was only a 6th tier Rogue which was a joke to them. His only saving grace was the method he had used to reflect those attacks to the army as they could not identify it themselves. Still, it was unlikely to be able to reflect spell beyond his capabilities so there was nothing to worry about.

The shadow girl was a 7th Tier Shadow rogue, a true demigod, and the only one they had to be mindful of so they had kept their guard up even though they knew they could win quite easily.

Or at least, they were supposed to. Not only did they outnumber and outmatch them but they had a lot of items on them as well. Things were never supposed to happen this way.

With that in mind, there was no way Noual— who was at the intermediate stage of the 7th tier would lose in speed to a Basic Tier 7 undead. So what the hell did she do to him?

"Hmm... why do you both look so confused. Are you curious about how Nessi was able to cross-tie distance before your friend could react? I can tell you if you want. You're both going to die soon anyway."

Z remained standing in the same spot as he casually spoke to the confused duo as though trying to explain something to children.

"You Bastard! What the hell did that tramp do to my husband!? Tell me before I kill you!"

Clearly, Brethal was enraged by his condescending attitude towards his superiors in every way but she could not just attack him without knowing what happen to her husband.

"How scary. Well, I'll tell you anyway. Far from me to miss a chance to honor the glory of my master. You should both be in awe, cause livestock's like you do not even deserve to hear his name!"

At the mention of his master, the masked man's presence seems to get even bolder as it almost made them take a step back. Their mental state was almost a complete mess at the moment.

"What the shit are you talking about brat! Answer her, where did she take Noual!"

Levant couldn't take this bullshit any longer and almost completely snap at Z, prepared to use an item in a panic which Z could not allow to he slightly changed his tone to mellow him down a notch.

"Huh, for psychos like you, I'm surprised you care so much about each other. Well even in a family like that, I do admire some genuine loyalty so I'll get to the point."

"You!"

His words were still harsh but as he said he'll get to the point now, Levant gave up on the idea of using that item and Z just smirked under his mask.

"As I said, I'll tell you. When our master engaged Nessi's core earlier, he attempted to imbue her with his power and succeeded. Not everyone can handle it you see."

"what the fuck does that have to do with this. She was just a Basic, how the fuck did she take Noual by surprise!"

Uninterested in his stories, Brethal yelled at him in frustration as she was almost at her limit herself.

"I was getting to that. Please stop interrupting me you uncultured worms. Like I said. My master imbued her with a single skill. I'll tell you what it is of course. It's called Spatial Distortion. With it, she can practically eliminate the distance between her and anywhere she can see."

"What the— you mean?"

Realizing finally donned on both of them as they realized what had happened and stumped for words.

"Yes exactly. See, even pee brains like you lot can do it if you think a little. Now then. They've moved far enough so let's begin things here. Who wants to die first."

Seeing that the hobgoblins and Kobolds had managed to draw the undead away from them to a considerable distance, Z no longer attempted to engage in talks as he had already achieved his various objectives.

"Hahahahaha... so that's it. Here I thought she used some weird method to kill Noual or something but she just went to fight him on her own. What a fool."

Levant laughed in relief as he had overestimated the situation too much and almost gotten burned for it. There was nothing he needed to worry about if Noual was still able to fight.

"I know right, that bitch is dead in 5 minutes tops. Let's just handle this bastard and be done with it. I'm already sick of this place."

"I feel you."

"Well, are you gonna talk about it all day or what? You're wasting my time."

Seeing the two mental states relaxing as they thought their friend was safe with Nessi, Z could not allow that to continue as he struck their nerves once more.

"If you want to die that badly then DIE BASTARD! Max Magic - Tempest Garrote!"

Raising her staff in the air as she cast her spell, the clouds rotated around Z, and a forceful tornado came down around him as it suck the air from within and began to collapse around Z, almost as though it intended to strangle him.

"We're not done yet. Take this! Greater Magic - Vermilion Dragon Crash!"

As Levant cast this 7th Tier spell to overwhelm whatever the masked man had up his sleeve, a massive vermilion aura windless dragon came soaring out of the clouds as it crashed on the masked man's location with a force beyond one's wildest dreams.

This spell had enough power to tear a hole straight through the planet, all the way to the other side but would not cause an explosion. It was truly his most powerful single-target spell that would ignore all barriers and defenses.

There was no way he could block this.

"Huh, I was curious to see how mages would attack me after witnessing what happened earlier but, is this a joke? Pointless. You lot are even lower than worms."

•Mask of Reflection•