Hasty Conclusion

"[Tornado Magic]"

"[Gale Inferno Transformation Magic]"

Under the combination of the two spells.

The fierce gale burst with searing flames during its high-speed rotation.

The dazzling red light soared straight up along the tornado, thrusting directly into the firmament, and the sky above the three of them was enveloped in a red lotus vortex.

A wildly scaled pillar of flame stood between heaven and earth, and the entire area appeared somewhat distorted under the baking of high temperatures.

Duncan did not expect to have already mastered these spells in this era, but his control and mastery of magic were still slightly rougher compared to himself over thirty years later.

"You really stirred up quite a commotion."

Reed loosened up his muscles and joints, squatting down abruptly.

He created three stone walls on the ground with his hands, blocking the beams bursting out from the fire tornado. Then he summoned several stone spikes to stab toward the core of the flame pillar.

With prior preparation and the previous consumption, this attack did not hurt the three of them.

Boundless magic power roared in mid-air like a surging tide, and that huge flame pillar was shaken apart in an instant by overwhelming magic power, turning into countless magic particles that dissipated between heaven and earth.

The figure appearing from inside waved a big hand, and the huge stone spikes that had just reached before his eyes collapsed autonomously, turning into a pile of rubble.

"Very interesting magic. Let me understand you better, and maybe we really can become friends."

Charas wore a look of enjoyment, his body suspended in mid-air, stepping step by step upon the void as if walking back to the ground by treading on stairs.

This was still essentially [Flight Magic], and humans in this era had basically deciphered this kind of magic as well, except that it had not yet spread on a large scale.

"We just met, yet your coordination is as if you are very familiar with each other's fighting styles... Humans are truly wonderful!"

A huge stone pillar rose abruptly the moment he touched the ground, squeezing him in the middle as if trying to grind him flat directly.

Yet those boulders weighing thousands of catties came to a distance of less than two steps from him before being blocked by a thick magic barrier.

No matter how hard Reed tried, he could no longer get closer.

"Swish—"

A sharp magic short sword thrust unawares from the dead angle behind Charas.

Galan gripped the short sword tightly in his right hand, emerging from behind the stone pillar, and threw a potion bottle filled with poison toward Charas with his left hand.

This was a highly corrosive poison originally prepared for the Red Mirror Dragon, a major killer weapon he had accidentally formulated when refining medicine.

He did not know how many alchemy cauldrons he had spent to refine such a large bottle, and his heart felt as if it were bleeding when he threw it out.

Clang!

The short sword stabbed into the magic barrier without a surprise and was blocked. Galan stepped hard on the stone pillar that was not yet completely collapsed, leaped backward taking advantage of the momentum, and retreated dozens of paces, widening the distance.

The poison flew in from the gaps of the magic barrier, and Charas seemed unfamiliar with battles among humans. He did not take these petty assassination tricks to heart.

"Hiss—hiss."

The potion bottle exploded on his back, and the highly toxic green liquid flowed over his skin, instantly causing large-area rot.

The originally decent and luxurious attire was also dissolved into fragments under the corrosion of the poison, and this arrogant greater demon finally revealed a disheveled posture at this moment.

"What a dirty fighting style. Don't you feel that you are defiling the honor of a warrior?"

Charas covered his body, which had been dissolved into large black holes, with his hands, and a ceaseless torrent of magic power poured into those wounds, restoring them to their original appearance within a few breaths.

Only the gorgeous clothes on his upper body remained corroded clean away, and he now looked no longer as calm and relaxed as at the beginning.

"Careful!"

Hearing Duncan's sudden warning, Reed raised his head, and several stone steps rapidly formed under his feet to push him backward.

Before he had time to deploy defensive magic, however, he was struck head-on by a powerful magic fluctuation and sent flying, crashing heavily onto the distant ground and coughing up large mouthfuls of blood.

With this direct hit, even though he had always been protecting his vital organs with magic power, he would inevitably pass out.

After a brief loss of focus, his vision went black, and he finally lost consciousness, his life hanging by a thread.

Continuous quality attacks made Charas somewhat disgusted, so he took the initiative to make a move against Reed first.

Although not the primary target, that powerful impact still sent Duncan, who had deployed defensive magic, flying back more than ten meters, and he let out a muffled groan, obviously feeling far from good.

Galan pulled a pitch-black alchemy long sword from his back and held it horizontally in front of him, taking the blow with his robust physical fitness and merely retreating a few steps, but the hidden force transmitted into his body still made him miserable.

"I've decided to change the way I interact with you now, so don't fall so easily."

He still smiled, making the two of them shudder.

His hands lifted slightly, and killing intent permeated his gaze.

Bottomless black magic power rapidly expanded around him as the center, and the trees and other remnants that had previously been destroyed and fallen to the ground were all swallowed up bit by bit by this black ocean.

"It's just like a swamp..."

Seeing Charas display his magic, it involuntarily reminded him of the large swamps he had seen when he first entered the forest.

Another kind of magic of the Demons that humans could not understand?

"Don't get stained!"

Duncan flew with [Flight Magic] up to a large tree that had not yet been destroyed, while Galan flashed past quickly, swept up Reed—who had fallen to the ground—in a tight embrace, and also jumped onto a large tree.

The open flat ground was covered with Charas's Demon Swamp, and the ground eroded by the black magic power gradually collapsed, eventually turning into deep pits, while those swallowed objects completely disappeared after sinking.

It seemed that the soldiers of the Northern Countries had disappeared this way before as well, which was why not a single corpse could be found at the scene.

Duncan looked at the Demon Swamp still spreading underground, his mind thinking at high speed for a way to break the deadlock.

"Hey!"

Suddenly, Galan's shout interrupted his train of thought.

He turned his head to look at this strange man whose name he still did not know, only to find that the other party was already moving rapidly among the tree trunks, running toward the other side of Charas.

"Use [Ordinary Offensive Magic]!"

This sentence threw his thoughts into disorder for a moment. How could using [General Attack Magic] against a greater demon possibly be effective? How could it...

No

Duncan seemed to have remembered something, suddenly comprehending Galan's idea.

His own thinking had previously fallen into a misconception; if the opponent had never encountered it, this move would indeed be effective.

Galan's feet stomped hard on the tree trunk, and the leaves rustled as they swayed.

Behind him, a pillar of black light closely followed his figure, almost hitting him several times.

"I don't want to die here."

Galan felt that his heart rate had skyrocketed to the peak. He did not know whether those potions of his could come in handy, but the current situation no longer allowed him to think much.

Waving his arms, he tossed all the various poisons, anesthetics, and similar items he carried on his body toward Charas.

After the previous lesson, the opponent obviously would not be fooled again, paying no heed to the consumption of magic power and continuously deploying defensive magic to reject these potion bottles outside.

"Hey, don't underestimate human wisdom."

"Human wisdom is just jumping around in the bushes like a monkey and then throwing bottles at me? If you have any other moves, hurry up and use them while I still have some interest in you."

Charas sneered, light beams constantly bursting from his hands to shoot at Galan.

Galan's feet dared not stop and relax for a moment. Just as Charas said, his dodging movements were disheveled and wretched, looking exactly like a monkey with a burning backside, brushing past the light beams several times and leaving several wounds on his body.

Yet he also achieved his goal; at least at this moment, the opponent's attention had mostly been placed on him.

"If you're willing to let me go, I wouldn't mind dancing for you either."

"That won't do. I still want—"

Charas was halfway through his sentence when his pupils suddenly dilated in disbelief.

He looked down at his chest, where there was now an extra smooth hole in his body, the kind that pierced through from front to back.

He had clearly been paying attention to Duncan, who was hiding in the tree, without the slightest negligence.

Yet before he could react, he was still hit.

This attack came with unusual speed, and he only reacted to the fact that he had been hit even after he was pierced.

"How is that possible? What kind of magic is that?... I didn't sense it at all—"

Duncan did not give him time to speak. Flying in mid-air, dozens of magic arrays appeared in the mid-air.

Successive [Ordinary Offensive Magic] followed one after another, streaking across the sky like meteors, piercing completely through Charas's head, heart, and other parts.

This time Duncan did not hold back in the slightest, as if trying to squeeze himself dry, using almost all of his magic power to bombard him crazily without letting go of any vital spot.

Finally

Under the bombardment lasting nearly forty seconds, Charas's body completely collapsed, turning into a pile of magic particles that gradually dissipated in the air.

Just like a grand performance, ultimately drawing a hasty and scrawled conclusion.

This greater demon who had lived for more than four hundred years thus paid the price for his overconfidence.

"I wanted to make friends with you..."

"Go to hell."

Galan kicked his head, which had not yet collapsed, and did not forget to spit a couple of times upon turning back.

The wounds previously inflicted on him were still aching faintly, almost beating him into serious injuries.

All kinds of potions and items originally prepared for herb-gathering were used up to attract Charas's attention.

Fortunately, the initial poison could deal a certain amount of damage to him, which forced him to shift more of his attention onto himself.

When all was said and done, he still died of his own arrogance.

He could clearly have gone all out right from the start to unleash power and annihilate the three of them, but instead he had to run out to put on a grand display and chatter gibberish, which led to him being subdued by the three of them joining forces, allowing these three gamblers to turn the tables.

If he were facing a large group of mages or an army, perhaps he would not have been so overconfident.

Come to think of it, demons really were hopelessly foolish in some respects.