The Female Demon Ape's gaping mouth was less than half a meter from the Black Man's head. He could clearly see the blood and scraps of flesh stuck to its two rows of sawlike teeth, and smell the foul stench pouring from deep in its throat. His battle axe was still lodged in the ape's shoulder blade, and he couldn't pull it free. He had already been flung away, and the wound across his back was deep enough to expose bone. Blood soaked his entire back. There was nothing he could do to dodge. He could only watch helplessly as death descended.
"No—" The Black Man let out a desperate roar.
At that critical moment, a figure rushed in from outside the cave.
Smith's War Blade flashed like a streak of silver lightning, striking the Female Demon Ape precisely in the neck. The blade cut through flesh and severed half its cervical vertebrae. The Female Demon Ape's head jerked sideways. Its jaws snapped shut beside the Black Man's ear, missing him and biting into the rock wall instead, shattering a large chunk of stone.
"Y-you..." The Black Man stared at Smith in disbelief.
"Shut up! Run!" Smith shouted. He grabbed the Black Man by the collar and hurled him toward the cave entrance.
The thirty-second time limit had long since passed. Smith could have left this burden behind and escaped on his own. But after the two Advanced Lords had fought each other to the point of exhaustion and lay on the verge of death, he had changed his mind. The Mighty Force Ape and the Seven-Colored Poison Python had both lost their ability to fight, and the two Primary Lord Demon Apes guarding the entrance were no longer a threat—he had just killed the last two Primary Lords with