The delicate mechanism slid into the keyhole.

The surface, threaded with roaming magic patterns, spun without stopping, making the miniature array engraved within it shift in the blink of an eye. Very soon, after changing roughly a hundred times, the miniature array finally interfaced with the restriction inside the door lock and found the core that triggered it.

Click.

Ariel gave a light twist, and the lock opened with ease.

For a door specifically used to confine elite human adventurers daring enough to operate in the Abyss, this method of cracking it was far too effortless—no different from pouring a special corrosive solution straight into the lock cylinder and melting the core.

But in truth, this was an extremely exquisite cracking method.

Without a cracking tool made by a veteran grand archmage like Ariel’s teacher, you could only do what Nian had done just now—use homemade alchemical tools to trial-and-error bit by bit, carefully prying the lock open without triggering the entire restriction.

"Five minutes. No one’s faster than me, right?"

Ariel smugly glanced at the clock on the wall, then looked into the room. Only after confirming that the pitiful, pessimistic-type pretty girl Julia was still sleeping under Feifei’s magic did she quietly place her hand on the doorknob.

"Don’t worry. I’ll come back to save you. But right now, I have someone even more important to rescue!"

Ariel pressed lightly, and the door slowly pushed open.

With two people already having broken out ahead of her, Ariel originally thought there was no need to be overly cautious. If you could escape so easily after opening the door, that meant security here wasn’t tight.

Thinking about it, it made sense. In the Enchantress Grand Duke’s eyes, she obviously didn’t like too many irrelevant people lingering in her “pleasure harem,” so she’d rather go through the trouble of creating a place like this than assign more people to guard it.

And from another angle, the demonfolk really were short-handed right now. After all, even capturing human adventurers outside already required a demon general and the Enchantress Grand Duke’s most trusted direct subordinates to take action.

Even so, the instincts honed through countless crises still made Ariel clamp down on full alert the instant her hand tightened on the doorknob.

"Goddess above, I hope my luck is as good as ever... let me find the person I want to find, as fast as possible."

Ariel murmured a few words to herself and slipped through the crack in the door.

The grand fullness on her chest made this movement—one she’d long been extremely practiced at—unexpectedly sluggish for a beat. Even she froze for an instant, but Ariel adjusted with extreme speed, then spread her perception outward, instantly covering the entire corridor.

Just as expected—empty, empty air. Only the mirror at the end of the corridor reflected half her face, faintly excited.

"So there really isn’t anyone guarding this place?"

Ariel was just about to let out a breath.

But right then...

Creeeak—

The sudden sound of a door opening made Ariel’s nerves tighten. She whipped around, and her hand simultaneously reached behind her, ready to draw her sword at any moment.

Creeeak—

The door slowly opened, but after wobbling in place a couple times, it seemed to lose all pushing force and slid back the way it came, gently tapping shut.

Other than that, nothing.

"So it was the wind?"

Actually, even in the room just now, Ariel had been feeling a faint breeze from who-knew-where. It was probably a ventilation array built into this structure, so a door being blown was not strange.

But the premise was—

Ariel’s faintly furrowed brows gradually relaxed as she walked to the room right beside her, the one whose plaque—though written in demonfolk script—could, by the decoding method for ancient characters, vaguely be read as “Thirteen.”

She gave a light pull. The door opened easily.

"Not locked?"

Ariel murmured in surprise.

She remembered this room. This was the room the Enchantress Grand Duke had graced last night, wasn’t it?

Did the Enchantress Grand Duke simply not have the habit of closing doors behind her?

Ariel tilted her head, cautiously peering through the crack into the room.

The familiar orange-yellow candlelight was still there. The entire layout was exactly the same as the room Ariel had been in—so much so that aside from the number on the door, there was no difference at all.

But the only problem was...

"Where are the people in this room?"

An empty room, dead silent to the point your hair stood on end. There wasn’t even a trace of it having been used. Even the bedsheets on the big bed behind the pink gauze canopy were neat and flat like new.

Not only was there no one—there was nothing, as if no one had ever been here.

"Did they escape too?"

Ariel stroked her chin, starting to consider what the odds were that the girls who had been in this room could still have the strength to flee after being “played with” by the Enchantress Grand Duke for an entire night.

She had no real combat experience yet, but based on what she’d learned from books, after a battle that intense for a whole night, even an iron man should be as soft as a pretty girl’s lips right now.

"Something’s off."

Ariel didn’t rashly step in to check. Instead, she raised her guard even higher and kept her attention on her surroundings.

If this really was some kind of trap, then by experience, what should happen next was...

Still nothing.

The entire corridor was so quiet she could only hear her own breathing.

"It’s getting more and more wrong. Even if these doors really have some soundproofing, with this many people imprisoned here, it shouldn’t be..."

Ariel muttered under her breath.

Then, suddenly—

Creeak.

Another door being pushed open.

Ariel’s gaze snapped to the door marked Fourteen.

"Wind again?"

Another door opening—someone inside escaped?

Damn it, is this a prison or a hotel for tourists? How is it that anyone can just leave whenever they feel like it?

At this rate, tonight the Enchantress Grand Duke will come over all excited and find no one left—wouldn’t she explode on the spot? If she realizes someone’s escaping this early, that’ll be—

"No!"

Ariel’s realization hit her like a jolt.

"This isn’t that the person inside already escaped. It’s that..."

The door slowly pushed open.

But unlike before, the do(bp)orknob was clearly being pressed down.

Wind couldn’t do that.

Not already escaped—about to!

Ariel’s eyes lit up. Someone who could break out of here on their own was definitely not simple. And most importantly—maybe it was another pretty girl right in her strike zone!

The door finally opened to a gap wide enough to see inside.

Ariel hurried to look, and as expected, the first thing she saw was a delicate, dignified face without the slightest flaw, making her thrilled. Having a beauty like that alongside her wasn’t a bad thing at all.

But the next instant, her heart clenched hard.

Because on her second look, in those calm eyes, she saw... a vivid scarlet.

A demonfolk’s red pupils!

Ariel’s gaze flicked upward, and sure enough—within that meticulously pinned black hair, a pair of small demon ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ horns poked out like spring bamboo shoots newly sprouting after rain.

A demon?

But why would a demon be coming out from inside?

A sneak attack?

That empty room earlier really was a trap?

There was no time to think. In this lightning-flash instant, a moment’s hesitation meant the difference between life and death.

Ariel didn’t hesitate at all. She drew her Heavenfire Greatsword in one smooth motion and slashed straight at that high-ranking demon!

Flames erupted from gaps in the wrappings, woven together with razor-sharp sword aura. In an instant, the bright blaze turned the whole corridor a scorching white.

It was a hurried slash, but Ariel didn’t hold back. The violent heat and keen sword aura were enough to turn an ordinary high-ranking demon into ash and scraps in an instant.

But...

Ariel didn’t feel the real sensation of flesh tearing and burning.

Instead—

Screee—

She heard the sharp shriek of metal striking metal. Her hand trembled slightly. That sword had felt like it had hit a slab of raw iron!

The surging flames crashed into some obstruction and could not advance an inch, forced to diffuse into a wall of fire spreading outward.

Ariel’s pupils tightened. Sensing something, she tapped her toe against the ground. Her attacking posture changed in an instant as she flipped back with nimble speed.

Clang!

Another piercing metallic shriek.

From behind that still-roaring wall of fire, dozens of intertwined metal bars surged out, turning into a thorn-forest with a savage kind of beauty. Scraping the walls and throwing off blinding sparks, it swept toward her with terrifying momentum!

It was like some man-eating demon flower. Each steel thorn bloomed outward in its sharpest posture. Even a casual stretch made the walls crack. In a blink, the entire corridor was covered—there was nowhere to dodge.

At the same time, metal spikes spread with wild, violent growth, rapidly covering every inch of ground beneath Ariel’s feet, constantly compressing her footing!

"Metal magic?"

Ariel jolted. "So fast!"

She had thought her own strike was already extremely quick, but she hadn’t expected the other side’s counter to be even sharper than hers.

"If that’s the case..."

At the final moment before the floor was completely filled with metal spikes, Ariel landed one last time.

But this time, she didn’t retreat.

"Heavenfire..."

Ariel tightened her grip on the greatsword.

The wrappings coiled around this ruler-like blade fell away on their own, revealing a sword body engraved with dazzling red-gold patterns.

Ariel lifted the blade high. Fire surged skyward. Then the raised blade spun violently and slammed down!

"Judgment!"

Boom!

Flames condensed into an exploding cyclone that swallowed all the steel thorns and spikes in an instant. The unimaginable heat could melt metal in the blink of an eye. The wall that had blocked Ariel’s earlier slash turned into red-hot molten metal, flowing along the cracked ground.

A massive breach was blasted through the metal bulwark by Ariel’s strike, revealing that high-ranking demon’s silhouette once more.

In the scorching steam, her black dress swayed slightly. Her beautiful face—half-hidden, half-seen—still seemed calm and dignified.

A flash of light flickered in her scarlet eyes, and she suddenly stepped forward.

Metal condensed again, forming into a huge, vicious scythe in her palm.

The high-ranking demon leapt lightly, gripped the massive scythe, and spun with elegant ease.

Her skirt flared like fluttering butterfly wings. She moved as if she were dancing—jump, spin, jump, spin.

Every spin, every leap, felt as if it had been carefully calculated and measured. There was not the slightest difference between motions, beautiful to the point of making you sigh.

Her whole body seemed to lose weight.

Yet the huge scythe clenched in her hands let out a howl that grew more and more terrifying!

"Want to smash straight into me head-on?"

Ariel bared her teeth and swung up to meet her. "Come on!"

Huh?

Suddenly, Ariel felt the greatsword in her hands tremble slightly, as if affected by something. For a moment, her strength even scattered a little.

But she steadied it again in the blink of an eye.

Boom!

In the next instant, scythe and greatsword crashed together. The shockwave shattered the walls on both sides into powder, and the pink gauze curtains turned to flying ash in the leftover heat.

But Ariel had no time to care about so many strange things. Her eyes widened violently. Both hands braced the greatsword, her arms trembling, and under the scythe’s suppression, her whole body was forced down little by little.

So heavy!

The ground was already shattered beyond shattered, and under that vast, crushing force, even Ariel’s knees began to bend. Anyone could see she was at a disadvantage...

A head-on clash—and she was being suppressed by this high-ranking demon? The other side’s realm seemed to be only around the fourth tier, even slightly lower than hers...

This had never happened. Even that hateful Muen Campbell couldn’t do this!

Wait... no!

"It’s the scythe!"

Ariel reacted at once. What was heavy wasn’t the force—it was that enormous scythe!

When that scythe condensed, it had been given a weight so terrifying you couldn’t even imagine it.

But...

With that kind of weight, how was this demon swinging it so lightly?

Ariel thought of her movements just now—so light, so elegant, like a dance...

"I get it."

Ariel’s gaze fell on the demon’s hands.

She wasn’t gripping it—she was controlling it! Just like those steel thorns earlier that had had no casting wind-up at all, she wasn’t casting a spell. She was simply controlling it!

"This isn’t metal magic at all. This is... Metal Divine Favor!!"

A Metal Divine Favor bestowed by the legendary deity who governed metal and smelting!

That was why she could control metal so easily, and could even exert a certain influence on Ariel’s Heavenfire Greatsword, an ancient relic.

Everything clicked into place.

But...

"I’ve never heard of demonfolk abandoned by the gods receiving a god’s blessing."

Ariel stared at those scarlet eyes. "Who are you?"

"..."

The tremendous weight vanished in an instant.

The high-ranking demon drifted back. The scythe in her hand turned and became liquid, spilling between her fingers, then flowing somewhere beneath her feet.

She habitually folded her hands over her lower abdomen. Her dignified face lifted slightly as she examined Ariel with a faintly appraising look.

"So that’s how it is."

The “high-ranking demon” said coldly:

"I was wondering why I smelled a familiar stink. So it’s you, Ariel Bugaard."