The Seventy-Two Demon Gods clearly hadn't been killed earlier—otherwise, the Papiyas wouldn't have said they "ran away."
And now, King Solomon was summoning them once more? Wasn't this just leading them to slaughter?
Wait—perhaps he wasn't summoning the Seventy-Two Demon Gods.
For instance, could it be Belial, the Great Demon King of Hell?
But could Belial stand against these Papiyas?
Maybe he intended to summon multiple beings of Belial's caliber.
At this thought, both gods and humans felt a flicker of anticipation.
"Lord Zeus, do you think Belial can win?"
"Who knows?"
Zeus shrugged in response.
Though he said that, he didn't believe Belial stood a chance against the Papiyas.
Against two or three, perhaps—but twelve?
No, eleven now. Even that would be impossible, especially since these eleven seemed slightly stronger than before.
In fact, why did they feel even more formidable than the original thirteen?
What if these eleven continued devouring each other until only one remained?
The thought made Zeus's expression darken.
These things were truly too dangerous. If they ever spiraled out of control, catastrophe would follow.
Hades had already sent him a message—these creatures had nearly destroyed the Underworld in ancient times.
And Beelzebub had somehow recovered fragments of them and replicated their existence. What was that guy thinking?
Did he want to annihilate the entire Heavenly Realm?
Given Beelzebub's history, it wouldn't be surprising if that was exactly his goal.
So Beelzebub also had such vast resources to research various things. Was Odin the sponsor behind this?
What is Odin scheming?
"This is really bad."
The two ravens grew somewhat panicked. Beelzebub's current performance was undoubtedly making some chief gods feel threatened.
And Odin's nomination of Beelzebub to fight would certainly make those chief gods overthink.
Just as they were about to continue their chatter, they saw the utterly emotionless indifference in their master's eyes and immediately fell silent.
Their focus returned to the arena. With King Solomon's summoning, the figures that emerged were—the Four Great Kings.
But the others didn't appear?
Could it be they were too terrified by Papiyas to answer the summons?
That would make sense, given how they had just been overwhelmingly crushed by Papiyas.
If they came again this time, they likely wouldn't escape with their lives as they had before—they'd probably die for real.
Huh?
Something was wrong with the summoning of the Four Great Kings too.
Their figures flickered unnaturally—not trembling in fear, but as if the image on a TV screen had inexplicably distorted, making them appear as multiple overlapping layers.
Wait, it wasn't just their figures—even the summoning magic circle was shaking, seemingly splitting into multiple overlapping circles.
"Are they resisting the summons?"
The Norse God of Mischief frowned.
"That makes sense. They got lucky last time and didn't die. But if they're summoned again without the sandbox artifact, they'd really be killed."
Ares had no doubt they were genuinely resisting King Solomon's summons.
After all, wasn't this practically suicide?
Why would the Seventy-Two Demon Gods obediently accept the summons? They must be resisting.
"No, that's not it!"
Hades, the God of the Underworld, narrowed his eyes slightly. He noticed the expressions of the Four Kings—they didn't look like they were resisting.
Instead, they seemed startled and bewildered.
And that expression wasn't due to being summoned again, but because something unexpected had happened.
His pupils contracted. Was King Solomon's mana output unusually excessive?
"Lord Zeus, the mana being released far exceeds what was used to summon the Seventy-Two Demon Gods before—even more than during the struggle for their reverse-summoning. What is he doing?"
Hermes couldn't understand why King Solomon was expending so much mana to forcibly summon the Seventy-Two Demon Gods.
Hm? Lord Zeus didn't respond or acknowledge his question. Instead, he leaned forward slightly, eyes wide as he watched the scene.
Could it be he had noticed something?
Suddenly, the flickering stopped, and all the overlapping illusions snapped back into place.
In the end, only the Four Great Kings of the Seventy-Two Demon Gods were successfully summoned.
The moment the summoning completed, the Papiyas on the opposite side reappeared beside the Four Kings at an astonishing speed that left afterimages.
Three against one—they were about to tear through the Four Kings' chests in an instant.
"Wha—!"
Hermes' eyes widened in shock.
He had expected the Four Kings to be instantly annihilated.
That doesn't make sense either. King Solomon wouldn't be that foolish. In other words, King Solomon might have resumed his old tricks—visual deception—to provide support for the Four Great Demon Kings.
However, this time, there was no such mirage-like deception.
This time, each of the Four Great Demon Kings blocked the attacks of three Papiyas on their own.
In the next instant, before Hermes could figure out what was happening, his vision blurred, and four Papiyas were annihilated.
One body was split vertically from top to bottom, another had a basin-sized hole blasted through its chest, a third had its head exploded, and the last was twisted like an empty soda can.
"W-what kind of development is this?"
Even Heimdall, the commentator, was stunned.
Earlier, the Seventy-Two Demon Gods had been effortlessly crushed by the thirteen Papiyas.
Yet now, after being summoned again—this time only the Four Great Demon Kings—the tables had turned, and the Papiyas were the ones being overwhelmed.
Had the Papiyas suddenly weakened?
No, it was the Four Great Demon Kings who had become unnaturally strong.
This situation must be related to King Solomon, as he was still channeling vast amounts of magical energy into the summoning circle.
Wait—King Solomon wasn't just operating one magic circle. There was another above his head.
Heimdall looked up in shock and saw a massive magic circle operating in the sky outside the arena.
Upon closer inspection, the seemingly simple pentagram in the sky was actually composed of countless smaller magic circles.
"So that's it! This guy has done something astonishing yet again!"
Zeus, who had been leaning forward, straightened up and remarked with interest.
He had figured out why the Four Great Demon Kings had become so powerful.
Well, anyone with eyes could see that King Solomon was empowering them.
But Zeus had discerned the true nature of their enhancement.
King Solomon had performed this astonishing feat—summoning Demon Gods from different points in time and forcibly merging them together.
This was the real reason the Four Great Demon Kings had suddenly become so strong.
Hmm?
Zeus sensed that King Solomon's released magical energy had increased slightly again, though to many gods, it might seem unchanged.
It was like adding a single drop of water to an already full cup—no visible difference.
In other words, King Solomon's magical energy had increased marginally, but not due to his own will.
Had the opening finally begun to loosen?
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