Thinking about how Kayn was always firing spells from afar, and even setting up an elaborate attack, such as detonating his own barrier to prevent the demons from getting close to him.
It made sense that the wind demon thought that Kayn would be helpless in close-range combat, just like the ice demon that Kayn had fought before.
"This is now do or die! Force him to go into close combat! It is his weakness."
Kayn had been holding his mouth shut whenever the wind demon shouted anything to his subordinates, just to make sure he didn't jinx anything or accidentally let his plans spill out.
But after all his preparations were complete, he finally let go of the words that he had been holding on the back of his throat this whole time.
"Who the fuck said I can't fight with my fist godamnit!? Do you think my 4 arms and claws are just for show!?
If you wanted to be decapitated with my claws so much, then here I go!"
Kayn then cast ice armor and ice claws simultaneously, encasing his whole body in ice.
Knowing there was wind above his and the other demons' heads that prevented them from flying, Kayn didn't worry about having to fly on his own, as he couldn't do that with the heavy ice armor.
The wind demon had just given his command, and the demons were all just preparing themselves to charge forward, as it wasn't something that they did.
But before they could make their move, they were left confused about what to do as Kayn ran forward on his own.
"He must be bluffing! Don't be afraid and charge!" The wind demon shouted as he himself stayed on the back of the demons charging forward.
Seeing the 6 demons running in front of him, Kayn didn't budge as he ran straight forward, not afraid of fighting against multiple demons at the same time.
Kayn knew that these demons didn't usually fight in close range, and their build wasn't anything that would give them an advantage in hand-to-hand combat.
Hence why Kayn didn't even bother as he slashed his claws, slashing two demons at the same time with his four hands, and letting the rest of the demons' attacks strike against his armor.
If they had used their spells instead, then it might really put cracks in his armor.
But since their physical combat ability was too weak, these demons did nothing other than leave a superficial cut on the ice armor while they froze their own hands.
With their hands going numb and the pain of having a limb frozen starting to crawl up their arms, the demons were left screaming as Kayn continued moving his claws.
The 5 demons that were sent to overwhelm Kayn successfully failed in their task, gloriously as they were the ones getting a one-sided beating instead.
Kayn even got time to pull out souls to eat while he cleaned up the remaining demons.
And in less than half a minute, the 5 minutes were no more as Kayn had added 5 more souls to his belly.
The wind demon had sensed something when he saw Kayn's ice claws and ice armor, hence the reason why he had bailed out in the last second and didn't continue charging forward.
And right now, he was left rooted in place. Staring at all that had happened in disbelief.
He thanked his own head for being able to notice the ice demon's strength, but he cursed his luck as his own fortress was close enough to the location of this fortress to be the one who received the distress call.
He turned his head to look at the 5 soulless corpses in front of him, then to the dozens of lifeless ice sculptures on the ground outside the castle.
The wind demon then realized that there wasn't really any chance at all from the start.
The ice demon just played with them from start to finish.
The wind demon also knew that even though he was faster than the ice demon, he still wouldn't be able to win against the ice demon.
All his hopes had been frozen away along with his army.
Hence, the reason why he decided to undo the wind domain spell above his and the ice demon's head and spread his wings instead.
'I won't be dying here!'
The wind demon was ready to abandon his position in the earth region and his chance to descend, having committed to staying alive.
If he tried to run away now and come back later, then he would maybe die for real if Lord Ignavar had found him.
The only way for him to stay alive was to go to another region completely and get as far away as possible from the Earth region.
'Wait! There's still a way! But I need to get out of here first…'
Kayn didn't even try to do anything when he saw the wind demon flapping his wings and flying off the ground.
He knew that for now, he wouldn't be able to do anything against him.
The plan that he had thought of before to fight against the wind demon's speed would only work if the wind demon was fighting him.
And Kayn had missed his chance, as it was already too hard to dodge against the attacks of 11 demons while sending attacks of his own.
He knew that demons had semi-unlimited mana, but Kayn began worrying as he finally started to feel his heart had begun pumping less mana than before into his body.
It was an instantaneous process before unless he cast a very strong spell that cost almost all the mana that could be stored in his body, but now, Kayn could even feel a slight delay in his mana regeneration as he cast the ice armor and ice claws before.
'I guess turning dozens of rigid ice spears into explosives really does cost that much mana to make my demon heart a little constrained…'
"But it's sure as hell worth it."
Kayn opened up his wings and brought himself to the icy grounds, and began plucking out souls from the ice sculptures that were made by the bodies of the wingless demon.
There were dozens of them, and Kayn could feel his strength rising every time he ate more souls.
Not only did his mana pool increase, but he also had a better grasp of mana the more his body was saturated with souls.
On the other side, quite a distance from the fortress, the wind demon was flying in a different direction from where he had come from.
And only after flying for a few minutes did he finally find what he was looking for.
"With this, then the ice demon would be no more. And I would be spared from Lord Ignavar's punishment…"