Iver's Clever Little Butterfly

Four Demon Scholar and three demons—except for the Lash Demon, which was naturally dispelled without participating in the battle, Iver gained all the remaining experience.

Although the "quality" of his experience was still inferior to that of the Deformed Limb Demon and the Assassin Miss, the "quantity" had been fully compensated for. These experiences added up to a total of 140 points... Iver's experience reserves officially exceeded 500 points.

His natural leveling speed now matches the cooldown time of advancement perfectly, so Iver doesn't need to use experience to level up. After all, levels gained through experience are ineffective; although the cultivation level increases, the corresponding knowledge is lacking.

Once his energy level is higher and his leveling speed slows down, Iver can make up for the time lost through experience.

After all, he needed to evenly improve both paths, otherwise the Shepherding Method wouldn't work. Both Isabel and Lily only had a single path. Sherlock, although he had two paths, had stopped improving his authority, effectively making him a single-path individual.

They are all very talented and their promotions are very fast.

Iver's accumulated Free Experience was intended to make up for this period of time.

The Paradox Flame Butterfly transformed back into its Follower Form, becoming an ordinary flame butterfly that landed on Iver's shoulder.

Iver gently touched her butterfly wings. The wings, burning with flames, didn't sting when he touched them, but felt like warm silk. It was like the warmth you feel when touching someone's skin through a silk nightgown.

"You're quite clever..."

That way I won't have to give you instructions.

Iver sighed softly, took out a blood-red apple from his pocket, took a bite, and then offered it to the Paradox Flame Butterfly for her to suck on.

After the leader died, the curse that had been affecting him ended. However, the damage he had sustained remained.

After taking a bite of the apple, Iver's bleeding wounds began to heal at a visible speed.

The Blade Demon, that iron-headed brat with the iron helmet, can withstand all mechanics, which is truly remarkable—after all, if it were even slightly fragile, it would have died long ago. It's incredibly tough.

If it's Iron Hook Demon, it would probably be defeated before it even finishes spitting out the first round of [Guiding Flame Stream].

Of course, if it were an Iron Hook Demon, it would probably dodge...

Blade Demon is all about head-on confrontation—it's clearly used to using its toughness to bully others, but it didn't expect the damage from the Paradox Flame Butterfly to be so high.

What surprised Iver even more was that the Paradox Flame Butterfly's combat intelligence was actually quite high.

Even though she had never been in combat, her actions were perfectly flawless.

At first, when she used the impact of "Guiding Flame Stream" to forcefully repel the Blade Demon, Iver thought it was a coincidence. Therefore, when she later used "Butterfly Sacrificial Fire" to heal herself on the spot, Iver was a little worried that she might be killed by the Blade Demon in one strike because she was focused on healing.

As a flame, the Paradox Flame Butterfly is immune to paralysis. "Butterfly Sacrificial Fire" is the second stage that activates when the Paradox Flame Butterfly is on the verge of death—that is, when its life force is reduced to one-third.

"Butterfly Sacrificial Fire" is a self-healing ability possessed only by level 50 Paradox Flame Butterfly. During this resting state, the Paradox Flame Butterfly will continuously regenerate health. If attacked slowly, it will be fully healed. However, if attacked hastily, it may trigger a counterattack.

If the mechanics are handled correctly, she will enter the third phase after the weakened phase ends—that is, the skill "Fire Meteor" that turns her into a meteor and charges around the entire field.

In this state, the Paradox Flame Butterfly will target the enemy with the lowest percentage of health, dashing three times and leaving a burning mark. If it misses all three times, it will enter a weakened state; if it hits at least one enemy, it will dash three more times. This continues until it misses all three times in a row.

In other words, Blade Demon reduced Paradox Flame Butterfly's health to half with a single strike.

Iver was suddenly startled—he worried that after the Paradox Flame Butterfly activated "Butterfly Sacrificial Fire," it would be instantly killed by the Blade Demon. At that moment, Iver was already considering whether to detonate the Paradox Flame Butterfly directly.

However, the Paradox Flame Butterfly's combat intelligence is quite good.

Instead of launching a furious counterattack after being attacked, she proactively ended "Butterfly Sacrificial Fire" without Iver's command, using the strong knockback effect caused by the burst of flames to block the Blade Demon's attack and knock the Blade Demon away.

Before the Blade Demon could land, the Paradox Flame Butterfly didn't say much and immediately activated the "Doomsday Ray".

That's a full-area AOE attack that fires three rays for every wing that remains.

Because if "Butterfly Sacrificial Fire" isn't interrupted, she will automatically regenerate health. So usually, players won't destroy all four wings, but rather destroy two to trigger her active berserk mode—the two wings produce six rays that sweep across the entire area.

This damage can be dodged. With slightly better positioning, you'll probably only take two hits at most.

The berserk attack from the two wings is generally not fatal unless you dodge it well.

As a result, the Doomsday Ray of the Paradox Flame Butterfly was precisely focused on the Blade Demon, causing the Blade Demon to suffer twelve sweeping attacks in a row!

It's truly remarkable that you can survive with only a sliver of health after consuming all the available resources.

No wonder he's a demon branded with the Great Sin Imprint.

Although it doesn't have any special abilities, it's incredibly tough. And its damage is quite high; it almost killed the Paradox Flame Butterfly with a single strike.

—But their deaths were worthwhile!

After all, the Paradox Flame Butterfly wasn't a real-world beast in the game, and Iver didn't know how much power the Paradox Flame Butterfly BOSS template would retain after becoming his summoned creature. However, with these people as targets, Iver understood just how powerful the Paradox Flame Butterfly truly was.

After being fed by him using the Shepherding Method, the Paradox Flame Butterfly is now level 30, just shy of entering the Fourth Level.

Blade Demons are typically level 29. The Paradox Flame Butterfly is somewhat fragile, but its damage output is definitely not an issue.

If the timing is right, unleash a burst of "Doomsday Ray"—if half of them hit, instantly killing Fourth Level superhuman wouldn't be a problem. If you calculate it this way, the daily maintenance cost is only five mana points—it's practically a steal!

Furthermore, the "Fire Meteor" skill of the Paradox Flame Butterfly doesn't necessarily require low health to be used.

If she's at full health and usable, Iver can have her launch a charge as soon as she lands, and then Self-Destruct after the charge. That's one way to use her.

Although the ordinary Flame Butterfly Iver only used two types, she probably had a general idea of what to expect.

Not particularly high, but at least it's not a loss.

The power of the High-Temperature Flame Butterfly is roughly equivalent to a spell cast by a mage with two levels of Flame Affinity Fire Attribute mana; while the effect of Dispel Flame Butterfly is similar to a priest's Dispel Undead of undead spell, which consumes five Fire Attribute mana.

The numerical values are normal, but the mechanism is very strong - you can choose any of the four effects when summoning, and because it is instant, you don't even need to draw the card.

The downside is that butterflies fly extremely slowly, about the same speed as taking a walk. Also, they can be blocked and detonated by people.

Its advantages are that it can fly for a full minute and can even turn corners. Compared to spells of the same level, it makes very little noise and will not induce a sense of danger in superhumans just before it explodes.

Moreover, the Flame Butterflies can be released instantly and automatically seek out enemies, requiring minimal effort from Iver. They can also be temporarily recalled, and if Iver has the energy to manually control them, it can prevent them from being detonated by others— Iver can recall them to his side at any time before they are about to be detonated by the wrong enemy.

It truly lives up to its reputation for being able to transcend two versions.

Iver was very satisfied.

"Did you see that, Shadow Fiend?"

Iver, half boasting and half warning, "Little Butterfly is very strong, isn't she?"

"Very strong. Although it's still in its infancy, it's already very strong..."

The Shadow Demon beneath him then emerged and responded softly in Chloe's honey-sweet voice, "If you develop a bit more, you probably won't need me anymore, right?"

"That won't do, we're partners. How can I abandon you?"

Iver said with a smile, putting the Paradox Flame Butterfly in its Follower Form into his sleeve. "You see, isn't it going to be our turn to fight together next?"

Then Iver turned and ordered, "Lily, clean up the ritual; Shadow Fiend, leave your scent in the house. The battle was quite loud; we need to prepare to run away—"

"To what extent should it be left?"

The Shadow Fiend didn't throw a tantrum as it had said; instead, it asked very seriously.

Instead of responding directly, Iver told a story, "Aleister had been lurking in the shadows, following the four of them to 14 Ronin Street. When he saw me use my trump card to defeat them all, he crept out of the shadows and into the house. As I relaxed and used the Sacrificial Fire Art to heal myself, he suddenly attacked, knocked me down, and took me away—leaving traces of this magnitude."

"Understood," Shadow Fiend replied. "Give me two minutes."

Although Iver's requirements were tedious, they were at least very precise.

"I'll wait for you in three minutes."

Iver leaned against the doorway, tilted his head slightly, and said with a soft laugh, "Good job, Shadow Fiend."

There's still a little bit left, just a little bit more before the second chapter is released~