Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Just as Simon reached for the door, he glanced back at Irene one last time. She was still nestled under the quilt, her breathing steady and calm. A small smile appeared on his face.

Stepping outside, Simon found Annette waiting for him, as always. Her ever-dutiful presence never changed be it a holiday or not.

"Good morning, Master" she greeted him with a respectful bow.

"Yes good morning" Simon nodded. She and the others arrived the day before yesterday and celebrated the Spiritus Fortuna Festival with all of them.

"Master, I have prepared the bath for you"…

"Yeah, thank you. By the way, where are the others?" he looked around. Other than Annette who was all ready for her duties for the day, the other four maids couldn't be seen.

"Alice is keeping an eye on the prisoners. Bianca is with her. Emma is helping the Forest Spring Spirits and as for Bea, she drank too much last night and is still out of it" Annette reported pressing her forehead in frustration.

"I'm very sorry master. I will discipline her strictly once she wakes out of it" the maid added.

"Never mind, let her rest. She has been a great help to me all this time. She deserves some rest. In fact, tell everyone to take some rest today" Simon ordered in a good mood.

Annette could tell that he was in high spirits and knew the reason why once she took a good look at him. Smiling, she left to carry out her duties.

Back in the room, as the door clicked shut, Irene slowly opened her eyes. She had been awake the whole time and was aware when Simon kissed her forehead but she was just too embarrassed to reveal it.

The memory of his affectionate actions made her heart flutter and the warmth of his presence lingered on her skin. She couldn't help but feel a mixture of contentment and shyness.

"So last night really happened" Pulling the quilt closer, she relished at the quiet moment.

Scenes from last night flashed in her mind, making her quite flustered. Something that the previous her would never imagine was possible.

The Icy queen whose heart was like a millennium old frozen ice had finally been conquered and the man to do that was an upstart demon.

After a few more moments of basking in the afterglow, Irene sat up, allowing the quilt to slide down slightly, revealing more of her rosy skin to the morning light.

The dream that bothered her from the previous day had completely disappeared leaving her all refreshed. She quickly donned on her clothes and headed outside.

.

.

"Level 648 huh, I'm still a long way from reaching the Demon Duke realm" Simon muttered inside the bath.

Ever since the day he made that agreement with Aldebaran his primary focus was on reaching the Demon Duke rank, that is to say, level 700+.

At that time, he was only a low ranking Demon Baron but little by little, he climbed his way and had now become a Demon Marquess a being who was seen as the representative of fear and terror in the world.

If seen from another perspective it would seem inconceivable, a mere Demon Baron rising to such a rank.

However, to Simon, his growth was nothing special. The reason being that— as he climbed higher, the enemy he faced also became stronger and more tougher to beat.

Considering the latest event where he had to face three of the seven kings who were all late stage level 700+ beings.

Had it not been for the many tricks and cards up his sleeves, facing beings of such level would be impossible for him. Especially that Ogre King, even until the end, he managed to surprise him.

Simon didn't want to think what would have been the consequences had the ogre king really managed to grasp the full strength of space and mutation magic.

Even for him right now, these two powers were an unknown territory that he only had little knowledge about. That said, from what little he did know, he was sure that even with his preparations and trump cards, he wouldn't have been the ogre king's match.

Call it a good fortune or fate that the ogre king was still a level away from reaching 800. He might have glimpsed into the next level and gotten some form of epiphany.

However, the powers he utilised in the last battle was far from being mastery. Or else given all his methods he wouldn't have been able to defeat him.

It wasn't just him willingly yielding to a higher power or the knowledge he procured from the [Memories of the World] but his personal intuition.

And he was right, the mastery of Space was a realm that belonged to a higher plane. Someone who had stepped onto this level, could manipulate space and create space locks so powerful that anyone below level 800 could not break through unless one possessed Lost Legendary grade skill or mastered the space themselves.

Only Lost Legendary grade skill or Spatial strength can counter spatial strength. From this one could understand how enormous the gulf between the two levels was.

Even the ogre king who was just a level away from reaching it was nowhere close enough when it came to the strength possessed by someone who had actually stepped into that realm.

"Stronger, I have to get much stronger" Simon clenched his hands steeling his mind.

The enemy he would face in the future would be much stronger so much so that the likes of the Ogre king could not even compare.

It was not the distant enemy he was talking about, but the ones who were lurking behind the shadows and manipulating the scene.

Just recently in the conflict against the Blackthorn Kingdom, a new and powerful enemy who was much stronger than anyone he had faced until now and who was an incredible schemer, was revealed.

They were not only hiding in the shadows, manipulating from behind the scenes, but they were also quite strong.

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