Nox woke up abruptly, his face glistening with sweat.
Jared looked at him with a worried expression, as Nox looked like someone who had just had a terrible nightmare.
Even the demon lord had a pale expression on his face.
"What is it?" Jared asked in a somewhat concerned voice.
Nox didn’t reply immediately, his thoughts were racing. Astral Vision had just deactivated by itself after what felt like the demon staring into his very soul.
He activated it once more, and the first pair of eyes that met his was that of Emerald.
"Welcome back," she smiled seductively. Nox looked around and realized Blazy had been put inside a metal cage.
Blazy opened his mouth and spewed flames on the bars, hoping to melt them with his powerful breath. However, there wasn’t even a dent.
"If I were you, I’d save my strength for later," Emerald chuckled, watching Blazy’s effort.
Seeing that there was no way out, Nox disconnected Astral Control.
"And he’s gone," Emerald sighed.
The version of Emberhawk that was in front of her was no longer calm and composed.
It was spewing flames all around, trying to get away from her clutches.
"Poor little birdy," Emerald murmured with a faint melancholy.
Meanwhile, back at the outskirts, Nox hurriedly jumped to his feet and turned to Jared.
"Come on, let’s go!" As he said this, a pair of dark demonic wings sprawled out from his back, casting a shadow on the ground.
"Go where? What is even happening?!" Jared shouted with a lost expression.
Nox responded urgently, "My pet has been captured, and I think the demon lord of this floor already knows our whereabouts."
"Shit! Not Emerald!" The demon lord felt his legs tremble when he heard this.
"What... What?!" Jared was confused. "When did all this happen?!"
"Stop the questions! We don’t have enough time!" Nox shouted back, but then his expression changed when he noticed the sky suddenly darkening.
Then a dark voice boomed across the demon realm.
"If you think you can destroy me like those weaklings below, then you must be joking! Die!"
Following those words, the sky above seemed to split open. A massive spear—easily over thirty meters long and several meters wide—split the air as it came crashing toward Nox’s direction.
"Ice Wall! Earth Wall! TitanRock Barrier!"
Nox activated three Ultimate Tier skills at once. The destructive Miasma Spear smashed into them.
The reinforced walls trembled, but not even a crack appeared on them.
Above, Grenth—whose massive wings flapped behind him—frowned.
"How did he...?" The demon general’s ego was hurt. That skill had consumed two-thirds of his entire miasma energy.
Just like the humans had mana, the demons also had miasma. It was the fuel for all their attacks.
The demons believed their energy was several times more powerful than human mana—until today!
"Tsk... Stupid human. You got lucky!" he sneered, raising his hand as the miasma slowly came together again.
A fist smashed into his face out of nowhere. Grenth was sent flying mid-air, his eyes glinting with confusion because he couldn’t see anyone.
Then another hit slammed into him again, this time sending him crashing directly to the ground.
The demon hit the ground, forming a deep crater.
At the same time, Nox deactivated his skill Phantom Cloak, Glacier End glinting in his grasp. With his large pair of wings and dark, ominous eyes, he appeared like a demon.
Even more demonic than Grenth himself.
From the crater, Grenth looked up. At first, he could only see a vague silhouette, covering the sun with a pair of wings behind them.
"Is that a demon?" he thought, as those black wings were only associated with demons.
After rubbing his eyes and getting rid of the debris, he finally saw the figure clearly—and his eyes widened in disbelief.
"A human!" Grenth shouted, stunned. He tried to push himself up out of the crater, but then noticed a deep purple flaming spear hovering in the air.
Even before he could stand on his feet, Nox’s voice echoed.
"Celestial Starlight Inferno!!"
The spear—made purely out of the upgraded version of Valkor’s purple starlight flames—struck Grenth inside the crater.
The entire demon realm shuddered as a flashbang rose from the spot, catching the attention of everyone.
Emerald, still naked, walked toward the window and looked outside, her eyes glinting strangely.
Meanwhile, feeling the flames slowly chipping his health away, Grenth cried out in pain. He tried to coat his body with miasma, but the celestial flame was just too powerful.
"He’s really going all out this time around," Jared murmured when he saw the fierce and cold look on Nox’s face.
Nox calmly waited until the flame died down and Grenth crawled out of the pit, looking weak and battered.
The demon general—who was Level 100—couldn’t believe his eyes at how easily he was being overwhelmed.
The fight hadn’t even lasted a full five minutes, and he was already barely hanging on.
Finally, Nox called out—and this time, another pillar materialized. Not of ice, earth, or flame...
Rather, it was the demons’ worst nightmare.
Not one, but about a dozen of them.
Boom! Boom! Boom boom!
Nox watched as all the light spears smashed into the target. He only stopped after confirming the kill notification.
He didn’t linger and directly bolted into the demon settlement.
Meanwhile, right at that moment, several demons appeared on the scene.
Jared cracked his knuckles and charged toward them. Of course, the demon lord joined in behind him.
With the help of a demon lord, Jared easily took out over forty demons, dyeing the ground with blood.
He glanced into the distance, watching as Nox tore through the air like a comet heading toward the castle.
"Fast! I need to be fast!" Nox’s thoughts raced. He was moving at top speed, blasting any demon that tried to stop him with a single slash of his sword.
Soon, his eyes fell on the location. Without a moment of hesitation, he flew directly through the window where Blazy had been taken.
Nox landed inside and rolled a couple of times before standing up, locking eyes with the demoness.