"I know you're strong. Join us."
Upon hearing these words come out of the earth demon's mouth, Kayn felt that it might be a trick, a possible scenario of backstabbing and bamboozlement.
"I'm sorry? What?" Those were the only three words that came out of Kayn's bewildered mind.
"I repeat, join us. I know you have completed the trial in the ice temple. There was a very small number of ice demons since the trial was rumored to be very hard. You must be a strong demon if you have succeeded."
Realizing that the earth demon didn't misspell his words and really meant it, Kayn answered,
"Join you in what? Playing Fortress? Why should I?"
The earth demon shook his head and began explaining,
"You are not joining me, but joining the mighty lord Ignavar, the one who is the lord of this region and all the fortresses built in this land."
Kayn raised his eyebrows when he heard there was a ruler of a region since he had never heard of that concept before in the knowledge that he gained, so he questioned the earth demon more.
"Alright, once again, why should I join him? I don't need anything from him. I just wanted to go to the Tower to descend to the next level. I don't want to waste my time here."
The earth demon answered once more, "Anyone who has stepped foot inside this region must pledge their loyalty to Lord Ignavar. And no one could go to the tower without Lord Ignavar's permission.
Anyone who went against his command or refused to join will be executed.
If you are just any random weak demon, you will be killed immediately, but I know you are strong.
And it is Lord Ignavar's command to invite any strong demons into his ranks.
Of course, you would still be able to go to the Tower and descend as long as Lord Ignavar gives you his permission.
But if you refuse to join, then we will have to execute you immediately."
Hearing the earth demon's answer, Kayn couldn't help but think to himself,
'What in the fucking dictator shit did I just hear?'
The earth demon saw Kayn remain silent and waited for Kayn to give his answer.
But Kayn didn't make the earth demon wait for long.
"After a very long, thoughtful, and thorough consideration, I humbly declare that my answer is, fuck no.
Are you crazy enough to believe anyone with a working mind would believe that!?"
The earth demon shook hid head. "Then we will proceed with the executi-"
The earth demon's words were cut off as Kayn jumped forward, flapping his wings to make his dash even faster, and slashed two of his icy claws.
Without enough time to cast a spell, the earth demon raised his hand and blocked the claws with his bare forearms.
The ice claws moved at an incredible speed, but it was blocked by the two bare forearms.
But Kayn wasn't done, his two other hands, which didn't participate in the attack, had finished drawing the runes for the ice bullet spell and another spell..
The scrawny demon, who had begun flying away the second he saw Kayn charging forward, was suddenly struck down as a hail of bullets showered him from behind.
The bullets pierced holes into the scrawny demon's body, rendering the wings useless and freezing his body.
As the scrawny demon crashed against the ground, almost unable to move due to the ice mana invading his body, an ice spear materialized above the demon's head before descending downward.
The ice spear easily pierced through the demon's skull, turning its head into a block of ice, killing the scrawny demon in an instant.
Kayn then backed off when his claws failed to eliminate the earth demon, and then he shouted,
"You want to execute me? Good luck with that! Let's see whether you can do it before you turn into a block of ice!"
The earth demon saw how quickly and easily the scrawny demon, the second strongest demon in the fortress, was killed by Kayn, and then he looked to his own forearms.
The cut that the ice claws made reached his bones. Not only that, his hands began becoming numb as the ice mana started spreading from the cut.
His skin, muscles, and bones had become several times stronger than the ordinary demons ever since he gained the earth affinity, and no ordinary claws could even cut his skin more than a superficial cut.
But the ice demon had almost amputated both of his arms.
'I can't do this alone.'
The earth demon then opened up his mouth and shouted, "Execute this demon! He refused to join Lord Ignavar!"
With his command, all the demons inside and around the fortress turned their heads and charged towards Kayn, trying to fight him with numbers despite themselves knowing how powerful a demon with an elemental affinity was.
"What the hell? You took one hit, and you called for backup? That's a weakling if I was ever told to identify one!"
Kayn then cast more ice bullets, using all four of his hands this time, as he had just realized that he couldn't easily kill the earth affinity demon.
'What the hell was that body? These claws, even before the ice enhancement, had never failed in dissecting a demon!'
When Kayn's claws met with the earth demon's forearms, he felt his claws strike against a boulder as the impact traveled from his claws to his body.
'Well, anything brittle enough would be destroyed easily, so enjoy this!'
Kayn continued casting the ice bullets, aiming two of his hands at the earth demon, while the other two aimed towards the incoming tens of demons.
The earth demon had cast his own spell, erecting several earth walls between himself and Kayn, causing the bullets to crash onto the walls instead.
He had thought that the several walls of earth would be enough to deal against Kayn's attacks, but the hail of bullets never stopped, and his first and second earth walls had crumbled from the barrage.
'I can't stand right here.' The earth demon decided.
He then cast a stronger spell, erecting a huge earth wall, several meters in thickness, as he began running back to the fortress.
Using his wings to fly and see behind the earth walls, he saw that the earth demon had cowardly run back to the castle, leaving all the other demons to attack Kayn.
'Now that's not something someone with an immovable mountain-like strength would do.
But I thank you.'
Kayn released more ice bullets, not aiming them towards the earth demon, but instead towards the other red-skinned demons that were charging at him from all directions.
'I'll gladly take these delicious souls!'