Desperate Counterattack

Rhode ran at full speed, the Demon behind him in hot pursuit.

The good news was that there was only one of them—it seemed the enemy had sent most of their forces to deal with Serie.

The bad news was that even against this single Demon, Rhode had no certainty of victory.

His body was burning with pain right now, every breath carrying the taste of blood. Just being grazed by the explosion's shockwave had left his body in tatters.

Thankfully, he had managed to push Serie out of the way in time. Otherwise, against such a terrifying attack, her defensive barrier might not have held.

He wanted nothing more than to stop, catch his breath, and rest, but he didn't dare.

The farther he ran, the safer Serie would be.

Without this Demon's control, neither the Monsters nor the stitched-together flesh abominations should be able to do anything to her.

"Stop, you nameless fool. You can't escape." The Demon's voice echoed through the darkness, thick with craving.

"Your blood smells delicious!"

Rhode's bloody scent drifted through the forest, only making the Demon hungrier.

Hearing the Demon's words, Rhode just found them a bit twisted.

It suddenly hit him—Demons were said to eat humans. But back in the Mythical era, humans were so scarce that most Demons might never encounter one in their lifetime, so the concept of eating people never really came up.

Now this Demon was chasing him relentlessly, probably driven by pure instinct.

In other words, it craved his body.

Literally. Pure appetite.

Rhode gritted his teeth. This was no laughing matter—he had become the prey instead.

He pushed himself to run faster, but the terrain ahead made his heart sink.

A cliff!

In front of him was a sheer drop, with a river below. Looking down from the edge, the distance to the water was at least thirty or forty meters.

At that height, even landing on water would feel like hitting concrete.

"Heh, nowhere to run now, is there?" The Demon slowly closed in, a grin spreading across its ashen face.

The closer it got to Rhode, the harder it became to suppress the craving deep inside. It could barely contain its eagerness to taste what he was like.

It had devoured many races before—even Elves and the Winged race—but never had any creature stirred such a fierce hunger in it as the one before it now.

Rhode looked down at the cliff bottom, then turned back to the Demon, and suddenly smiled. "Who said I was running?"

Time to go all in.

Fight with his back to the wall—victory or death.

The Demon froze for a moment, not yet reacting, when Rhode suddenly raised his hand, mana surging wildly.

Dozens of vines shot up from the ground, instantly binding the Demon's limbs.

"Pathetic tricks!"

Even with its body restrained, the Demon could still cast magic. And unlike ordinary Demons, it was stronger—it could not only control Monsters and use spells, but its physical prowess was no less than the Dwarven race.

With a burst of force, the vines binding it began snapping apart one by one.

Blood trickled from Rhode's lips as he sneered. "Of course that's not all."

This Demon was terrifyingly powerful—capable of magic, controlling Monsters, and even tearing through his vines barehanded. It was a true all-rounder fighter.

Good thing he had lured it away.

Having fully broken free, the Demon charged straight at Rhode, clearly intending to capture him alive.

Seeing how confident the creature was in its own defenses, Rhode fired off a barrage of Light Arrows. But to his surprise, the Demon was so agile that it dodged the ones it could and blocked the rest with a magical barrier.

A close-combat mage was just unfair!?

With the Demon already upon him, Rhode had no choice but to pull out his trump card.

This was a spell even Serie had never seen. He had planned to show it to her once it was fully perfected.

He thrust out his palm, and a strange magic circle appeared at its center.

The Demon felt as if darkness had suddenly swallowed everything—even the moonlight and starlight vanished, as though all the light in this space had been drained away. Then, just as quickly, everything returned to normal.

Rhode stood a few meters ahead, a tiny point of light glowing in his palm.

Here it comes—Buddha's Wrath Light Lotus!

Even though casting a spell didn't require naming it, Rhode did it anyway. Call it a tribute.

Though it was a little cringe.

The point of light touched the Demon's body, and magical energy erupted violently. The corresponding part of its form was blown to pieces.

Half the Demon's body was nearly obliterated. It had never suffered such severe injury—in that moment, it truly felt the threat of death.

Across from it, Rhode's mana was almost completely drained. He staggered back a few steps, loose stones crumbling beneath his feet.

He looked up at the wretched Demon, regretting that he hadn't managed to finish it off, then lowered his head to glance at the river at the bottom of the cliff.

"It seems... this is as far as I go."

The enraged Demon raised a hand and launched an attack, intending to kill Rhode outright, but instead its own strike sent him tumbling over the cliff's edge.

Seeing its prey slip away and suffering such severe injuries itself, the Demon let out a roar—but a figure was rapidly approaching from behind.

"Where is Rhode?"

Serie hurried over, her body stained with all kinds of blood, most of it from Monsters.

Just moments ago, she had slaughtered every Monster that surrounded her, even completely annihilating that stitched-together abomination. But when she followed the trail left by the Demon, she found no trace of Rhode.

"An Elf's Secret Art, is it? That means you won't be able to use magic for a while."

"That's not something a dead man walking should worry about. Where is Rhode?" Serie's golden pupils flickered with a dangerous light.

"So that guy's name is Rhode, huh?" The Demon writhed on the ground, stalling for time to create an opening for a counterattack.

But Serie wasn't about to give it that chance. A single light wheel

sliced off its limbs, completely cutting off any thought of casting magic.

Serie's voice was ice-cold: "Answer me, and I'll give you a quick death."

"Hahaha! He fell down there. You'll never—"

Serie didn't wait for him to finish. Knowing Rhode's whereabouts was enough.

A pillar of light descended from the sky, enveloping the Demon. Its body began to twist and disintegrate. In its final moments, emotions it had never experienced—pain, fear—began to overwhelm its mind, but it had no time left to savor them.

Serie watched coldly as the Demon gradually turned to ash within the pillar of light.

She turned and walked to the edge of the cliff, looking down at the river shimmering with silver-white moonlight.

Rhode had once told her that when jumping from a great height, if there was something to break the fall, you wouldn't die. Water counted as one such buffer.

"Wait for me."