Just as Theia was sprinting toward the forest's edge with Lin Gui on her back and the bag over her shoulder with all her might.
The hollow deep within the forest had already turned into a bloody purgatory.
Moragus had fully awakened, his heaven-shaking resentment mixing with the terrifying aura of a Legendary Demon to erupt like a tsunami.
The pressure left the remaining members of the knight order nearly suffocated, their teeth chattering uncontrollably.
The face of the guild scout, who had been conscripted into this journey, was as white as paper.
He watched the demons surging in from the surroundings like a tide and that terrifying, colossal entity.
His voice carried a sob as he shouted to Lyon.
“Knight Commander! A demon tide! The demon tide is here! Why aren't we running?!”
Just a moment ago, when he had tried to flee for his life alone, his arm had been gripped firmly by a knight beside him.
At that moment, the assassin within the knight order, who had been silent the entire time, had a flash of resolve in his eyes.
He abruptly pulled an ominous gemstone radiating a faint green glow from his bosom.
As he pressed the gem tightly against his chest.
A surge of pure, dense demon energy unexpectedly erupted from his body!
He endured the trembling that originated from his soul, his legs shaking violently.
Step by step, he walked toward the Legendary Demon that was on the verge of going completely berserk, Moragus.
In the final instant before Moragus’s destructive attack could descend.
With a loud thud, he fell heavily to his knees on the muddy ground.
Using every ounce of his strength, he shouted in a raspy voice:
“Great Legendary Demon! Please lower your wrath! It is I! I am the one who offered advice to you some time ago!”
“Hehehe... Offered advice?”
Moragus’s massive body paused slightly.
That pair of emerald-green eyes, filled with endless malice, locked onto the assassin.
The twisted human faces on the trunk let out mocking voices.
“Oh~ so it is you, little cunning insect~ the little thing who told me where to find more ‘balloons’~”
“Yes! Yes, yes! It’s me! It’s me!”
The assassin kowtowed repeatedly in a frenzy of joy, as if he had grasped his only life-saving straw.
“I am your companion! We are friends!”
“Then just now... was it also you who~~ disturbed my slumber?!”
Moragus’s voice suddenly became bone-chillingly cold.
The terrifying pressure that had momentarily eased exploded once more, weighing down on the assassin like a mountain!
The assassin knew there was no way to explain this away, so he threw all caution to the wind and bellowed at the top of his lungs.
“Great Moragus! I have brought you sacrifices! New and even more bountiful sacrifices!”
“Sacrifices?”
This word seemed to carry a strange magic, and Moragus’s violent aura indeed faltered slightly.
Its giant eyes skipped over the assassin.
It swept toward the knight order behind him, which, despite its reduced numbers, still radiated an extraordinary aura.
Especially Lyon, who was at the front.
Sensing the “delicious” power contained within the bodies of those nearly ten Transcendent experts, it immediately began to scream with excitement.
All the human faces on the trunk revealed greedy and twisted smiles:
“Heavens! Hehehe~ You actually brought me so many bountiful sacrifices!”
“You are indeed my... loyal friend~ How should I reward you? My dear friend~ Hehehe~~”
The ecstatic smile on the assassin’s face instantly froze; reward?
He turned his head abruptly to look at Lyon, a flash of ruthlessness and urgency appearing in his eyes.
Lyon read his gaze in an instant, and his expression turned cold.
His icy gaze locked onto the guild scout, who was still in a state of shock and fear, like a venomous snake.
The scout’s transcendent intuition allowed him to sense the fatal crisis in an instant!
Without a second thought, he jerked to the side.
He avoided the lethal, perfectly coordinated combined strike from the two knights beside him by the narrowest of margins!
“You...!”
The scout was filled with both shock and rage. His blood qi erupted as he turned to flee into the depths of the dense forest.
However, a brilliant and domineering Cross-Shaped Sword Qi, containing the full power of Lyon’s strike.
Had already torn through the air, arriving before he could escape!
Splat—!
The sound of the blade piercing through flesh was enough to make one’s teeth ache.
The scout’s sprinting figure suddenly stiffened, and he looked down in disbelief.
He stared at the blood-stained tip of the sword protruding from his chest.
Exerting his final bit of strength, he twisted his head to look at Lyon, who was expressionlessly and slowly withdrawing his longsword.
His eyeballs protruded terrifyingly as he squeezed out his final question with a rasp:
“It... it was you... you all... who harmed... the Gold Rank group... wh... why...”
Lyon only let out a cold snort and flicked his wrist.
The longsword drew a streak of cold light, neatly and efficiently severing the scout’s head.
Warm blood splattered over half of his body.
Carrying the head that could not close its eyes—its expression frozen in fear and anger—he walked expressionlessly to Moragus and respectfully held it up.
A pitch-black tentacle covered in sharp thorns wound its way out, curling around the head.
It easily stuffed the head into Moragus’s massive, hollow-like mouth.
Crunch... gulp...
The hair-raising sound of chewing was exceptionally clear in the silent forest.
Before long, the scout’s face—filled with despair and terror—slowly and twistingly surfaced on Moragus’s trunk.
It had become a part of its horrifying collection.
Moragus smacked its lips with satisfaction, its voice sounding like grinding rotten wood.
“Not bad~ hehehe~ nice and crunchy, and it's still warm~”
Its emerald-green eyes turned toward the rest of the knight order again.
Its greedy gaze was undisguised, as if it were looking at a series of moving meals.
The members of the knight order immediately felt a bone-piercing chill.
They became restless and agitated, subconsciously huddling closer together.
The assassin hurriedly spoke again, his voice filled with fawning.
“Lord! Them! They all came specifically to escort these sacrifices for you! They are on our side! On our side!”
The members of the knight order immediately forced smiles that looked worse than crying.
They nodded frantically toward Moragus, terrified that they would be treated as snacks if they were even a step slow.
“So...”
Moragus’s voice trailed off, carrying a cruel, playful tone like a cat with a mouse.
“There... is only this one sacrifice???”
Its aura looked as if it were about to explode again.
In the distance, the vanguard of the demon tide was already clearly visible, their roars deafening!
Lyon’s expression instantly became incomparably hideous and crazed.
A decisive, murderous light flashed in his eyes, and he suddenly drew his sword. However, he did not charge toward Moragus, but instead...
He struck toward another member of the knight order beside him who was caught off guard like a bolt of lightning!
“For the future of the Kingdom! For the final victory! Sacrifice your everything!”
Lyon roared like a madman.
An internal slaughter erupted instantly between the former companions!
To become “one of them.”
For that slim hope of survival, they had to offer more “pledges of loyalty”!
When the final member fell with a gaze of unbelievable despair.
Both Lyon and the assassin were covered in blood, gasping for breath.
They had offered the heads and souls of a full eight Transcendent experts!
Moragus devoured them excitedly, and several more twisted and pained new faces appeared on its trunk.
Its aura surged steadily, appearing even more terrifying.
However, its giant green eyes still greedily locked onto the only two remaining people in the field.
The strongest, Lyon, and the assassin who had offered the advice.
Lyon’s heart sank to the bottom of his stomach.
He and the assassin exchanged a glance, and both saw despair in the other’s eyes.
This Demon King had no intention of letting anyone go at all!
In this suffocating confrontation.
Lyon’s gaze inadvertently swept over the top of Moragus’s massive head.
That Umbral Tree Flower, radiating a dim glimmer, was still swaying gently there.
A crazy thought flashed through his mind like a bolt of lightning!
Get the flower! And then... take a gamble!
At the very moment Moragus finished devouring the last bit of soul energy and narrowed its eyes in satisfaction—
“Now!”
Some kind of forbidden power within Lyon’s body burned with a bang!
His life aura fluctuated violently like a boiling pot of oil.
Sinister blood-red patterns surfaced on his skin, and his momentum instantly exploded in a frenzy.
He briefly broke through the boundaries of Transcendent and touched the edge of Legendary!
He kicked off the ground with a sudden burst, blasting a shallow pit into the earth.
His figure shot directly toward the top of Moragus’s head like a blood-colored meteor at a speed the naked eye could barely track!
“Roar?!!”
Moragus clearly had not expected this tiny insect to dare to offend it proactively.
Moreover, the power he erupted with was so bizarre!
In the blink of an eye, Lyon’s hand had already grabbed that Umbral Tree Flower and yanked it out by its roots!
“Ant! You seek death!!”
Moragus let out an earth-shaking roar.
A giant thorn-covered tentacle lashed out toward Lyon with destructive power!
“Soul-Burning Slash!!!”
Lyon’s eyes were blood-red as he swung the strongest strike of his life, burning his life and soul!
The brilliant blood-colored sword light collided head-on with the demon tentacle!
Boom—!!!
A massive explosion rang out, and the air currents surged!
To everyone’s surprise.
That terrifying thorn-covered tentacle was actually split open with a massive gap by Lyon’s life-risking strike!
Even Moragus’s massive head was slashed with a deep fissure.
Disgusting green sap sprayed out!
“Gahhh!!” Moragus let out a pained shriek.
Lyon himself spat out a large mouthful of blood, and his internal organs felt as if they had been shifted.
But using the recoil from the explosion and the momentary hesitation from the demon’s injury.
He gripped the small flower tightly and turned into a streak of blood-light, fleeing toward the forest's edge without looking back!
The assassin was stunned, but his instinct for survival made him react instantly—this was his only chance!
He immediately erupted with his fastest speed, running for his life right behind the streak of blood-light that was Lyon!
“ROOAAARRRR—!!!”
Behind them, Moragus’s completely enraged and frantic roar echoed through the entire forest!
Its massive body twisted frantically as it began to move.
It swore to grind these two insects who had desecrated and harmed it into dust!
The power gained by burning his life gave Lyon a temporary speed and destructive force close to Legendary.
He was like a mad blood-colored bull, knocking over countless low-rank demons trying to block his path.
He forced a path through the demon tide!
The assassin followed closely behind, highly excited by Lyon’s invincible and heroic posture.
He believed that as long as this guiding light of a Commander remained, they would have hope of escaping with their lives!
However, just as they were about to rush out of a patch of dense forest and saw a faint light in the distance.
A sound like muffled thunder came from the ground ahead and to the side!
Rumble!
The ground shook violently, and a massive figure composed of countless ores, metals, and earth—Gorog Ironjaw.
Like a mountain range forcibly awakened from slumber, it suddenly rose from the earth and blocked their path!
Its giant stone arm swung casually, bringing with it a terrifying sonic boom cloud.
It accurately swatted Lyon, who was sprinting at high speeds and could not dodge at all!
“Pfft—!”
Like swatting a fly, the blood-light that Lyon had become instantly dimmed.
His entire person was swatted away like a kite with its string cut.
He crashed through an unknown number of trees and disappeared into the depths of the dense forest.
The assassin stopped in his tracks, looking at this Legendary stone monster that had suddenly awakened and radiated a terrifying aura no less than that of Moragus.
The blood drained from his face, and he fell into total despair.
He understood in an instant.
The sudden awakening of this grand master was absolutely inseparable from that High Rank mage boy who had disappeared so mysteriously!
No wonder the other party had asked that question before leaving.
Who would have thought that a Low-tier High Rank mage would set a trap that killed every member of the Transcendent knight order.
Endless regret and fear overwhelmed him.
He closed his eyes and slumped to the ground.
He gave up all resistance, preparing to meet his fate of death.
...
And Lyon, who had been swatted away, unexpectedly had his direction changed by this massive external force.
By sheer luck, he had actually shaken off most of the pursuers behind him.
He had even deviated from Moragus’s primary pursuit route.
The soul-burning power within his body was fading rapidly.
The agonizing pain from the backfire was like thousands of steel needles piercing his soul and heart.
His arms had long ago become numb and lost sensation, and he was only supporting himself with the sheer will not to die.
He did not know how long he had been running or how many demons he had cut down as they lunged at him.
His consciousness was already blurred; he only knew to mechanically move forward and forward again.
Until a certain moment, when he stumbled out of a thick patch of shrubs, and the view before his eyes suddenly opened up!
Dazzling sunlight spilled down, no longer the mottled points of light through the gaps in the leaves.
But a warm, unobstructed morning sun!
Under his feet were no longer rotten leaves and silt, but soft green grass!
The nauseating smell of sulfur and blood in the air had also been replaced by the freshness of vegetation!
He... he had broken through! He had escaped the Black Demon Forest!
“Ha... haha... hahahaha!!!”
Lyon could no longer hold on; his knees buckled, and he collapsed onto the grass.
He looked at the azure sky and the bright sun above him, greedily breathing in the air of freedom.
The ecstasy of surviving the catastrophe and the inexplicable excitement made him want to shout out loud!
He had done it! He had lived! He even got the...
However, at this moment when his mind was relaxed.
A sense of extreme danger hit him like a bucket of ice water poured over his head!
He turned his head abruptly, only to see a sharp arrow spiraling with green battle force.
It was already silently suspended before his glabella, like a venomous snake!
The icy killing intent of the arrow’s tip made his skin crawl with a shiver.
Looking down the length of the arrow, he saw an incomparably beautiful elven ranger with silver hair and red eyes.
She was expressionlessly holding the longbow, her gaze looking at him with absolute coldness.
And beside the elf, the High Rank mage Lin Gui, whom he had thought was already dead in the mouths of demons.
Was sitting comfortably on a rock, swinging his legs leisurely with a mocking smile on his face.
“It seems just as Theia said; there are only these three exits out of the Black Demon Forest.”
Lin Gui said with a light chuckle, his tone as relaxed as if he were discussing the weather.
Lyon’s pupils contracted suddenly, his parched lips trembling, and his voice was beyond hoarse.
“You... you... how... are you here...”
Lin Gui jumped down from the rock and slowly walked toward him.
He looked down at the miserably disheveled Knight Commander whose aura had dwindled to the extreme.
The smile on his face grew even brighter:
“Is it not because I believe in the Commander’s peerless heroism? You were bound to break through the encirclement, so I specially came here to welcome your triumphant return.”
“Pl... please... let me go...”
Lyon’s eyes were filled with fear and pleading, and not a trace of his former arrogance and dignity could be seen.
The backfire from Soul Burning and his severe injuries had already caused him to lose all ability to resist.
Lin Gui smiled at him, a smile that was clean but cold.
“If our positions were reversed right now and I were the one kneeling here begging you, respected Knight Commander, would you let me go?”
Lyon’s expression instantly froze.
“So.”
Lin Gui’s smile faded as he said tonelessly.
“Farewell, Commander.”
The moment he spoke.
Whoosh!
The arrow that had been suspended for so long instantly pierced through Lyon’s glabella!
The shock and fear on Lyon’s face were completely frozen.
His body swayed for a moment and then, with a thud, he fell heavily onto the soft grass.
His wide-open eyes looked emptily at the blue sky and white clouds he had just been celebrating.
Lin Gui walked to Lyon’s corpse, leaned over, and easily pried open the palm that was still gripped tightly.
He obtained that Umbral Tree Flower that was still radiating a dim glimmer.
He weighed the small flower that had caused so many bloody incidents in his hand and blew a whistle:
“Ho! There’s even an unexpected harvest.”
Rate on N.U.
