Elion didn’t hesitate.

The moment her lips formed that word, his body moved on its own.

His leg muscles tensed as he pushed off the ground in a sharp burst of motion, his figure blurring as he shot past Zenith and the towering demon in a straight line toward the door at the end of the corridor.

"...!"

The demon’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second, then they narrowed violently as killing intent erupted from his body.

"IMPUDENT!"

His roar shook the hall.

Boom!

The ground cracked beneath his foot as he moved, his massive frame surging forward with terrifying speed, moving far faster than someone his size should have been capable of.

Elion’s eyes sharpened.

’Fast.’ He thought as he felt a presence burst into motion behind him. Way too fast. He didn’t dare to look back or slow down.

His feet pounded against the stone as he poured everything into his speed, the distance between him and the door shrinking rapidly, but at the same time, he could feel the pressure behind him grow.

A shadow loomed right behind him.

"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING!"

CLANG!

A deafening metallic crash rang out behind him. Elion’s eyes flickered briefly as he caught the aftermath at the edge of his vision.

Zenith had intercepted him just before he had reached Elion.

Her figure had appeared between Elion and the demon in an instant, her arm raised as she blocked the massive broadsword that had come crashing down toward him with nothing more than her bare hand.

"!!!"

Sparks exploded from the impact as her body slid back slightly from the sheer force.

"Zenith, what are you doing!" The demon roared in anger.

"Go!" she snapped toward Elion.

He didn’t need to be told twice. He pushed harder. The door was right there, just a few more steps, and he would reach it...

Boom!

He burst through the door, bringing it down, and breaking the wooden bars to pieces with his powerful body.

The space beyond opened into a large circular chamber. The air was thick with mana, and right in the center, there was a glowing formation engraved into the stone floor.

’The teleportation circle!’

Elion rushed toward it without slowing his pace.

His hand tightened around the black crystal Zenith had given him as he leapt into the center of the formation, dropping to one knee as he slammed his palm down toward the intricately engraved lines.

"Come on... Come on!"

Mana surged around him as he poured it into the crystal. For a split second, nothing happened, and his expression soured.

"...!"

Then—

The circle lit up in a brilliant and blinding flash of light.

Energy surged through the formation as ancient runes flared to life, the entire chamber trembling under the sudden activation.

BOOM!

The wall and what was left of the door exploded inward. Debris flew everywhere, and dust filled the air as the towering demon stepped through the destruction, his eyes locked onto Elion, fury burning within them.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN ESCAPE—"

A blur of blue flashed behind him.

Zenith.

She reappeared instantly, her hand slamming into his side with explosive force, redirecting him just enough to throw off his momentum.

"Enough," she said coldly.

Elion and Zenith’s gazes met for a split second. The unspoken goodbyes passed between them as they both nodded to each other.

Then the light consumed him. The world twisted violently, and he vanished.

Elion felt his body stretch and compress at the same time, like he was being pulled through something far too small to contain him, his senses warping, his vision twisting into streaks of white and violet as the world around him shattered and reformed in an instant.

Then less than a second later...

Thud.

He hit the ground painfully.

Air rushed into his lungs as he rolled once, twice, before stopping on his side. His body trembled slightly from the aftereffects of the teleportation.

"...Fuck..."

He pushed himself up slowly, one hand on the ground as he steadied his breathing, his vision still swimming for a second before it finally settled.

The first thing he noticed was that the air felt cleaner in this new space. He lifted his head, and his gaze met a sea of familiar towering trees.

The dense canopy of the great forest stretched above him, faint rays of natural light filtering through the leaves, a stark contrast to the oppressive darkness of the demon castle.

He was back.

’Hopefully, I wasn’t teleported too far away from the closest camp,’ he thought.

Elion exhaled slowly, brushing off the dirt and leaves that clung to his clothes. His grip tightened slightly around the now dimmed black crystal in his hand before he tucked it away in his pocket.

His gaze lingered on the ground beneath him for a moment as he walked around the plain clearing.

"...Zenith..."

He didn’t know what would happen to her after she so openly acted against one of her own. He had looked like someone who was a powerful and highly regarded demon.

He could only hope that she knew what she was getting herself into by defending him like that.

His steps slowed slightly as the thought lingered in his mind, his expression turning a bit sour.

"I hope her punishment isn’t too great..." he thought as a brief silence settled over the clearing he had been dropped into. He shook his head lightly. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about that.

He straightened his posture and spread his perception outward, scanning his surroundings carefully.

He did not sense any immediate threats in his vicinity, which was a good sign, but that didn’t necessarily mean he was safe from harm, though he allowed himself to relax a bit and think for a moment.

His expression hardened slightly as his thoughts shifted toward what Zenith had said about Liora. Zenith’s warning echoed faintly in his mind.

’Don’t trust Liora.’

Was her having a dream affinity really all it had taken for her to so quickly brand him a demonic existence?

He would have really liked to have her before him so that he could ask her straight. But then again, maybe from her perspective, her actions were more than justified.

He ruffled his hair in frustration. He still couldn’t wrap his head around Zenith’s whole existence, and that was what troubled him the most.

No matter how many times he told himself that he shouldn’t ask questions or keep pondering on it if he didn’t have any useful information, that was easier said than done. His curiosity refused to be suppressed so easily.

’Fuck.’ He exhaled slowly through his nose. He realised that he was getting lost in his own thoughts again.

"...What a terrible habit to have."

His thoughts settled as he finally decided to take a look at how many system points he had managed to milk from his session with Zenith.

[System Points: 132 000]

He hissed sharply.

’Just how powerful is this woman...?’ he thought in shock.

Sure, he probably got a bonus because she was a virgin, and then there was the race multiplier that the system had told him about the first time he was with Esme and Ophelia.

But he had not gotten nearly this much from not one but two powerful succubi, after multiple rounds of sex no less!

Wasn’t this a bit too much!?

He had obtained almost 130 000 system points from one round with her... counting what he already had!

"This is ridiculous..." he muttered under his breath.

He tried to think through all the possible reasons why he had gotten so much, but nothing made sense to him, other than the fact that she was just that powerful. She was the perfect point farm.

If he had more women like her around, or if he could have had more time with her, maybe the dream of having multiple powerful bloodlines was not so distant after all!

He had recovered more than half of the points he had lost, just like that. Unfortunately, he hadn’t received a quest or any bonus rewards from it.

’Maybe the system’s active functions don’t work here...?’ he thought, ’or is it being suppressed by the trial somehow?’

At least the passive functions, like storage and the point reward system were still working.

The amount of points he had gained was something though, even without any bonus rewards.

No...

That was more than something. With this, he might be able to raise his level a bit and improve his chances in the trial.

If he ran into someone like that hulking demon again... or Zenith on the battlefield, he would be dead in a matter of minutes.

No question about it.

"Hopefully the trial doesn’t ask us to defeat the demon king or something..." he chuckled lightly.

If that happened, they might as well just give up.

His eyes sharpened in concentration as he looked around in a circle, then he turned in a direction he instinctively felt was the right one.

He took a step forward, then another, and soon he was running south.