As Liora stood unmoving behind a blazing tree, the land a few meters around her had turned pure white in her field of vision.
Although the flames of the trees raged, they did not produce any cracking sound. Even her faint breathing was silent, not leaving behind any echo.
This was because of Silent Domain—her new ability.
It not only allowed her to erase the sounds in her surroundings but also helped her conceal her presence, making her an excellent assassin.
This was especially crucial to Liora at the moment, as her eyes were focused on the humanoid creature standing not far away.
That creature was slightly taller than an ordinary human—about 2 meters in height—while, like everything else in the valley, its entire body was composed of gray flames.
Its black eyes shone brilliantly, like two obsidian gems, revealing the deep predatory nature hidden beneath its unusual appearance.
While Liora was inspecting it, the creature casually waved its powerful hands and tore apart a nearby tree, before grabbing its flaming bark and throwing it into its wide mouth.
Low cracking sounds echoed in her ears as the being’s sharp teeth ground the tree’s remains into pieces and gulped it down.
"What a peculiar creature..."
Watching the creature’s strange actions, Liora found herself surprised.
She recognized the race of the being before her—it was an elemental creature.
Elemental creatures, born out of rich elemental, magical, or even demonic energy, were a relatively famous race in the Heavens.
According to the environment they lived in and the energy they were made of, elemental creatures were divided into many types, such as Water Elementals, Fire Elementals, Wind Elementals, etc.
Beyond that, each of these types could be further subdivided into countless other groups, big or small.
Liora’s inherited memories included information regarding several elemental creatures, but as she went through them, she discovered that she could not find anything matching the creature’s appearance.
Thus, she didn’t rush to charge forward, but instead continued observing it.
It was only a few minutes later, when she became certain that the Fire Elemental’s strength only reached the Young Devil stage, that she decided to take action.
After she carefully placed Alpha’s head at a safe location, she took a look at it and launched herself at the Fire Elemental.
Her figure flashed through space, but she did not produce any sound.
The white domain always accompanied her, swiftly erasing any sound from existence.
In the blink of an eye, Liora had already arrived in front of the Fire Elemental.
It was only then, when her appearance became clear, that the elemental finally noticed her.
But by then, it was already too late.
Liora didn’t choose to fight in close quarters but instead calmly raised her right hand.
As if responding to her call, the shadows beneath the elemental grew and writhed as if they had transformed into snakes.
Immediately, they shot upward like splashing ink, coiling around its limbs and torso as if they were a bunch of bloodthirsty vines tightening around their opponent.
The Fire Elemental struggled instinctively and tried to move in an attempt to break free from the shadows binding it.
Unfortunately, with Liora’s current strength, a creature at the Young Devil stage had no power to resist her.
The darkness continued crawling along the elemental’s body like countless black ants, engulfing its entire body.
When only its head remained uncovered, the Fire Elemental’s obsidian eyes shone with hatred, resentment, and unwillingness.
It opened its mouth wide and tried to let out a thunderous howl at its opponent, only for nothing to come out of its mouth.
This was because, from Liora’s perspective, the elemental creature stood right at the edge of her Silent Domain.
Unable to even let out a final cry, the Fire Elemental was soon completely dyed in darkness, rendering it unable to move, speak, or even think.
Watching this scene unfold, Liora’s expression remained the same.
She showed no happiness to have so easily dealt with her opponent, knowing that the difference in strength between the two was massive.
This Fire Elemental might have been an overlord if it had been born in the Crucible or in some low-level worlds, but facing a Lesser Devil like her, it was unable to put up any resistance.
Liora wouldn’t be excited to have dealt with such a weakling.
With an unreadable expression, she stepped forward and arrived before the shadows that were encasing the Fire Elemental.
Leaning forward, she put her hand beneath them and raised it up, picking up the bound elemental.
Then, she turned around, grabbed Alpha’s head, and hurried away.
She knew that this was not the right place to conduct her research.
Even though the fight between the two had been brief and the Fire Elemental had been unable to produce any sound, Liora didn’t know whether these beings had any other way of communication.
--
Half an hour later, in a newly-opened underground cave, Liora sat on the ground with a red orb dancing within her palm.
This orb was the Fire Elemental—or rather, what remained of it—after her careful research.
"Similarly to the magma golems I encountered in the Crucible, the body of this Fire Elemental also contains a core. In fact, my research shows that its true body is exactly this core."
"Its external body is merely an extension of this core, taking up a humanoid appearance in order to better assist in battle."
"Its core is also where its soul resides. As long as the core is broken or suffers a soul attack, the Fire Elemental will instantly drop dead."
As Liora digested the results of her own research, she slowly gained a better understanding of these elemental creatures.
Unfortunately, despite her rich gains, she had been unable to find what she was seeking the most—information about the valley.
"These creatures do not seem to be rational. Just like Little Devils, they are born for destruction and destruction only. Communicating with them is impossible, and the same is true for extracting information from them."
Liora was slightly disappointed, but she did not feel too shocked about this.
Although the Fire Elementals were born in the Demon World, they were not Devils but merely natives of this world.
Their birth might have been the result of a series of coincidences, the experiments of powerful Devils, or even a random action of the Will of the Demon World.
In the Demon World, even creatures at the level of Greater Devils could be irrational and unconscious, much less an ordinary Fire Elemental at the Young Devil stage.
While Liora was constructing her next plans, part of her attention turned to the orb floating in her hand.
She had previously discovered that despite its unassuming appearance, it contained dense, pure demonic energy, and as long as she wanted, she could choose to absorb it.
Thinking of this, the demonic energy within Liora’s body boiled and turned into a whirlpool before approaching the orb.
Instantly, cracks began forming across the core’s surface.
Only a few moments later, it suddenly exploded with a bang, transforming into ashes and being carried away by the wind.
Liora didn’t pay heed to this. Her focus was on her own body.
She could sense that although the increase in her demonic energy had been small, there was indeed an obvious improvement, both in terms of quantity as well as quality.
Seeing this, Liora realized.
This valley might indeed be dangerous and contain countless hidden threats, but for the powerful and the daring, it might also be an opportunity to make progress.
Tasting the sweetness of quick improvement, faint murderous intent flashed in Liora’s crimson eyes.
She had the urge to break out of the cave and begin slaughtering Fire Elementals.
A whisper in her ears was telling her that as long as she obtained enough of their cores, she would be able to advance and become a True Devil, Greater Devil, and even an Archdevil.