I Refuse to Be a Valkyrie!

As the summoning cards were snapped in half, the two cards turned into motes of light and vanished from Phoenix's hand. Then... the skies above the desert suddenly underwent a drastic change.

First... the temperature in the desert rose by an unknown number of degrees once again, and countless flames even appeared out of thin air. They needed no fuel, simply igniting in empty space.

At the same time... Phoenix felt as though her mind had been affected slightly, though not by much. She immediately erased that trace of influence.

"Is it a Heretic God related to flames?"

Phoenix was a little surprised, but... if it was a Heretic God of fire, then she had even less reason to care.

When it came to playing with fire, Phoenix believed she would lose to no one.

As Phoenix pondered, a strange cry suddenly rang out in the sky.

It sounded like a bird's song, a demon's roar, yet also like the cry of a child. The sound possessed the power to influence people's minds, but it was not particularly strong—at least, not to Phoenix.

Then, flame-red clouds covered the sky, and a gigantic bird seemingly made entirely of fire emerged from the clouds and began gliding downward.

The gigantic flaming bird greatly resembled a phoenix, yet it was not quite the same...

With the arrival of the flaming divine bird, the already scorching desert grew even hotter. The flames and heat it brought caused the temperature here to instantly exceed a hundred degrees, and it continued rising without end. Ordinary humans entering this place would either die of dehydration or simply be roasted alive.

Faced with this insane heat, Phoenix instead found it extremely comfortable. However, it was somewhat troublesome for Erica and Liliana behind her.

They had no choice