Theia gripped Lin Gui’s hand tightly, fine beads of sweat seeping from her palms due to tension.
She pushed her ranger concealment techniques to their absolute limit.
Several low-level spells—Breath Concealment and Light and Shadow Distortion—were skillfully applied to the two of them.
In the Akara Continent, it was common for warriors to learn some practical auxiliary magic.
Just as it was not rare for mages to train their physical bodies and learn close-quarters combat techniques.
Her figure flickered in and out of the shadows of the trees.
Like a phantom, every step she took was as light as a feather.
She carefully avoided any dry branches or fallen leaves on the ground that might make a sound.
They were getting closer and closer to that sleeping behemoth.
The smell of sulfur permeating the air and the unique pressure of a demon were almost suffocating.
Theia’s heart pounded so hard it felt like it would burst out of her chest.
The terrifying memories of her last encounter with this demon surged back like a tide.
That sense of near-death despair made her limbs go weak.
She knew that one more step might break that invisible boundary and wake this terrifying Legendary Demon.
Just as she was about to be crushed by fear and her footsteps faltered, a hand firmly grabbed her.
She turned her head in astonishment to look at Lin Gui.
To her surprise, there was not a trace of tension on Lin Gui's face; there was only a calmness that bordered on indifference.
It was as if what stood before them was not a Legendary Demon, but merely a stone blocking the path.
“Alright, this is close enough,” Lin Gui said softly, his voice incredibly steady.
“Now, perform your strongest concealment technique, and then... trust me.”
Theia instinctively did as she was told, adding her ultimate elven concealment spell as well.
At the same time, Lin Gui drew his seemingly plain oak staff.
A low and rapid incantation began to sound.
The spell was complex and bizarre, its syllables tongue-twisting.
The ripples of magic power that flowed out were obscure and difficult to grasp, completely unlike any common magical system.
In the distance, Lyon, who had been staring at them intently, furrowed his brow and asked the Transcendent mage beside him in a low voice.
“What spell is he casting? Can you tell?”
The mage focused his perception for a moment, an extremely odd and confused expression appearing on his face.
He opened his mouth and spoke with as much difficulty as if he were suffering from constipation.
“The... fluctuations are very strange... It somewhat resembles the Third-Circle Darkness spell...”
“But it is mixed with the structure of Shadow Concealment, and... I cannot say for sure. I have never sensed a magic construct in this form before...”
He eventually shook his head helplessly, unable to reach a judgment.
Just as Lin Gui’s chanting reached a sharp peak and suddenly stopped, he abruptly turned his head.
His expression was more serious than it had ever been as he spoke quickly to the pale-faced Theia.
“Hold me tight!”
“What?” Theia did not react for a moment.
“Quick! Hold me! As tight as possible!” Lin Gui’s tone carried an unquestionable urgency.
Although she did not understand the reason at all, out of trust in Lin Gui’s eerie calmness, Theia gritted her teeth.
She reached out her arms and tightly hugged Lin Gui’s waist, pressing her entire body against him.
Feeling the softness and slight trembling of the delicate body in his arms, Lin Gui took a deep breath.
He leaned toward Theia’s ear and said in a very low but clear voice.
“Theia, do you trust me?”
Theia buried her face in his shoulder and nodded vigorously, letting out a shaky, “Yes!”
“Good. Hold tight and do not resist. I am taking you out of this godforsaken place.”
With that, Lin Gui suddenly raised his staff.
It was no longer an obscure incantation; instead, he fluently and rapidly recited another spell chant that both Theia and the mage in the distance were very familiar with.
It was the initiation syllables for the Wind Blade spell!
“Wind as the blade, rend asunder—”
The Transcendent mage in the distance immediately underwent a drastic change in expression.
Horrified, he lost his composure and roared.
“Not good! He is crazy! That is Wind Blade! He is going to attack that demon!!!”
The faces of all the knights instantly turned deathly pale.
Lyon had the fastest reaction; in a mix of shock and rage, he could no longer care about anything else.
Radiant battle qi instantly condensed on the blade of his sword.
A peerlessly violent Cross-Shaped Sword Qi tore through the air, carrying a destructive aura as it slashed toward the backs of Lin Gui and Theia.
He wanted to completely crush these two lunatics before the wind blade hit the demon.
However, in the very instant before that terrifying sword qi could touch the two of them—
Whoosh!
A faint emerald-green wind blade, so weak it was almost negligible, shot out from the tip of Lin Gui’s staff toward the sleeping Moragus.
Lin Gui was a Low-tier High Rank; his Wind Blade was powerful, but against a Legendary Demon, it amounted to nothing.
It did not even touch its body before dissipating several meters away.
But this insignificant provocation was enough.
At almost the exact same moment the wind blade was released, the figures of Lin Gui and Theia suddenly vanished without a trace, as if erased by an eraser.
Lyon’s terrifying sword qi, which he had been certain would hit, only slashed through the afterimages they left behind.
It struck the ground violently, blasting mud and grass clippings everywhere.
“ROAAAARRRR—!!!”
The Legendary Demon, disturbed by the magic fluctuations, had awakened.
In the center of the hollow, that massive and distorted body shook violently.
The countless agonizing human faces attached to the trunk distorted and deformed simultaneously, letting out silent wails.
The largest face snapped open its vivid green eyes, which were filled with endless malice and rage.
A giant wooden mouth opened, releasing a piercing screech capable of tearing the soul apart.
The terrifying soundwave, mixed with the majestic demonic pressure, swept through the entire forest like a tsunami.
Trees shook violently as fallen leaves flew everywhere.
Lyon and all the knights were shocked by this sudden, terrifying roar; their blood churned, blood seeped from their ears and noses, and they nearly collapsed on the spot.
“No—!!!”
Lyon let out a desperate and unwilling roar, but his voice was instantly drowned out by the demon’s roar.
...
High in the sky, a biting wind swept past her cheeks.
Theia held Lin Gui for dear life, her heart still pounding wildly.
She had not even fully recovered from the soul-stirring turn of events that had just taken place.
She looked down.
She saw Lin Gui controlling his oak staff, carrying the two of them as they flew unsteadily through the air toward the northwest.
That was the direction of the Ironclad Sovereign, Gorog Ironjaw, whom the scout had mentioned earlier.
“We... we are flying?” Theia’s voice trembled with disbelief.
A Levitation spell? And carrying an extra person? This was simply...
“Hold on! We are not completely safe yet!”
Lin Gui’s voice interrupted her shock.
He was maintaining the Levitation spell with all his might.
At the same time, the effect of the Shroud of the Gloomy Night covered the two of them again, making them invisible once more.
They had not flown for long before a massive expanse of mine ruins came into view below.
A mountain-like, gargantuan figure made of countless pieces of dark metal and rock sat quietly in the center of the ruins.
It looked as though it had existed since time immemorial—it was Gorog Ironjaw.
Lin Gui’s eyes narrowed.
Without hesitation, he dispelled the Shroud of the Gloomy Night and waved his staff.
Another Wind Blade shot out, accurately striking the heavy, rocky back of the Ironclad Sovereign.
There was a soft thwack, and it did not even leave a white mark.
But that was enough.
“Roar?!”
The Ironclad Sovereign, disturbed, let out a dull and confused low growl, its massive body stirring slightly.
Almost at the same time the wind blade was fired, a flying demon that happened to be patrolling nearby discovered the two of them as they manifested in the air; it screeched and lunged.
Lin Gui did not even look at the flying demon as the Shroud of the Gloomy Night covered them once more.
He controlled the staff into a rapid, plunging change of direction, narrowly avoiding the lunge.
Then he pulled up again.
He left behind the bewildered flying demon and the slowly turning Ironclad Sovereign.
He adjusted his direction and boosted his speed to the limit, flying back toward the direction they had come from without looking back.
Far behind them in the forest hollow, Moragus’s furious roars and the desperate voices of the Lyon Knights faintly drifted over.
Eventually, they were gradually swallowed by the howling of the wind.
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