The atmosphere fell silent the moment Jyu uttered those words. Sizhi seemed deeply moved, only able to stare without saying anything. Like it or not, what Jyu said was the truth. As long as the dimensional portal remained open, humans would be brutally oppressed by demons. Death would come swiftly, and humanity's extinction would soon become reality.
Meanwhile, in the human world, the situation was completely chaotic. Mystical creatures kept pouring in through the dimensional portal. Although many of them had been killed, their numbers were still far too great for the DV Army to handle. The DV Army forces were overwhelmed, and as a result, many humans fell victim to the ferocity of the cursed demons.
Wirtz led a squad, but it consisted of only 10 people. He stood guard right beneath the dimensional portal, ambushing every mystical creature that appeared. Many of them were killed, but some still managed to slip through. Those who escaped would be intercepted again by another unit led by Master Felix. If any still got past, they would be dealt with by other DV Army troops.
This strategy was chosen to ensure that no mystical creature could reach humans. It sounded simple, but in practice, it was extremely difficult.
This was because Arabai accompanied the lower-level mystical creatures. Even Wirtz had to struggle to defeat a single Arabai, splitting his focus. As a result, the mystical creatures that appeared every minute in the hundreds managed to break through.
On top of that, their stamina was rapidly declining. Exhaustion had already taken hold of all DV Army soldiers. Now, only sheer determination kept them fighting.
"Damn it! Are Taffie and her squad still far away?" Wirtz grew increasingly frustrated as the dimensional portal showed no sign of closing.
Now, in front of him stood 200 newly emerged mystical creatures. Meanwhile, he and his squad were already exhausted from fighting. The moment they appeared, Wirtz and his demon dashed forward like lightning, striking them down until they could no longer stand. The same went for his subordinates, who attacked every demon that appeared despite the severe wounds covering their bodies.
One by one, they succumbed to exhaustion, eventually making fatal mistakes. In the end, they were struck down by the attacking demons and died.
Wirtz realized that if this continued, it was only a matter of time before he too would die.
He kept striking down every mystical creature that appeared. But due to his fatigue, he became careless, unaware of an enemy behind him. A snake-headed monster lunged to devour him.
"Watch your back!" shouted one of his subordinates who saw the monster.
Wirtz could no longer dodge, as a monster in front of him was already attacking.
"I guess this is the end of my journey," he said with a smile to the Arabai before him.
Unexpectedly, someone appeared behind Wirtz. With a single punch, the snake monster was destroyed without a trace.
"Fufufufu! Are you ready to die, Wirtz?"
It turned out that the one who appeared was Master Jenna. She had personally descended to assist the front-line troops in this endless battle.
"Luckily, Master Jenna came. Now I can get a bit of rest."
"Fufufufu! Rest well, I want to devour those demons."
---
Sizhi truly felt the suffering occurring in the human world as long as the dimensional portal remained open. The longer it stayed open, the more humans would be killed. There was no other choice but to close the portal.
Amidst her turbulent thoughts, Sizhi had to face Taffie once again, who now truly stood as her enemy. Taffie suddenly appeared, her entire body covered in serious wounds. The fierce battle she fought with Karakura had completely drained her energy.
Staggering, she slowly walked toward Jyu. "Why haven't you killed her yet?" she asked as she reached her junior's side.
"There's no more compromise. Now we are enemies. So let's finish this now," Taffie said firmly to Sizhi.
Jyu immediately grabbed Taffie's hand, trying to stop her from attacking. "Trust me, let me talk to her first."
"Sizhi, show a little kindness to the innocent humans who are now being hunted by those demons. They know nothing about this chaos. Don't let them carry the same hatred as us, Surcy."
Sizhi seemed to reflect on those words, and in the end, she softened.
"I don't know about the relief you mentioned, but I once saw a monster relief behind the throne," Sizhi said while pointing behind her.
Jyu immediately ran behind the king's throne. He smiled widely upon finding Kuma's relief engraved there. However, he still didn't know what to do with it.
"Taffie! How do I open this relief or lift Kuma's curse?"
Taffie slowly walked over to follow Jyu.
"Prepare yourself! After this, we will fight to the death," Taffie said as she passed Sizhi.
Now standing beside Jyu, she carefully observed the relief. There were no signs of a key or anything to open it. The only suspicious thing was a small hole in the centre of Kuma's mouth.
"Grrr"
Kuma, who had been following Jyu all this time, seemed to understand the relief.
"Do you know how to open it?"
Kuma stepped closer to the relief. Shockingly, he bit his finger until thick blood slowly dripped out. It was this blood that he inserted into the small hole.
Slowly, the demon palace began to tremble, and the relief emitted a bluish light. The relief opened, revealing a hole about 1.5 meters wide. Jyu and Taffie exchanged glances.
"We're going in!" Taffie declared.
Without hesitation, Jyu jumped into the hole, followed by Kuma and Taffie. They slid down rapidly like on a slide. Annoyingly, the path twisted and turned, causing Jyu to repeatedly slam into the walls. Eventually, they reached the bottom and landed hard.
"Where are we?" Jyu asked in confusion.
But both Jyu and Taffie were immediately stunned to see a place of worship. Several statues of people bowing surrounded a stone platform.
They approached while observing their surroundings. Everything was dark, except for the worship area illuminated by a blue light coming from beneath the platform.
"What does this mean?" Jyu was confused again. He had no idea how to lift Kuma's curse.
Taffie circled the area, then found a smaller platform placed on top of the larger one. Eventually, a mural of Kuma was revealed clearly on the wall—a massive bear-like monster with sharp fangs and claws.
"We need a sacrifice."
Jyu was shocked to hear that. "What do you mean? Who will be the sacrifice?"