“Don’t be ridiculous.”

The bandages on the Heavenly Flame Greatsword slowly unraveled, revealing those ancient scarlet-gold runes. Surging flames rose once more around Ariel, lifting her up until she looked like a solemn, imposing valkyrie.

“Abandon the beauty and run off by myself?”

Ariel glanced back slightly, looking at Miss Muse’s breathtakingly beautiful face that could make a person’s mind go soft. The corners of her mouth couldn’t help curving into that familiar, unruly arc.

“I, Ariel— even if I have to spend my whole life getting bullied by a yellow-haired brat— I still wouldn’t do something like that!”

Of course, [N O V E L I G H T] the “yellow-hair” here referred to the adorable Miss Muse!

“Heavenly Flame—unsheathe!”

Flames, carrying sword intent, instantly swelled into a blazing dragon-tornado that devoured everything!

The cave lit up like broad daylight. Every Flayer charging in instinctively stopped and raised their weapons to block.

In Kadosh’s eyes, that firelight was reflected—his expression filling with shock.

How was that possible?

The intel said she’d already been beaten into serious injuries by Lord Zagu. So why could she still unleash such terrifying combat power?

But in the middle of a crisis there was no time to think. As he retreated with everything he had, he grabbed a subordinate beside him—one who’d been running a little faster—and shoved him in front of himself.

Boom!

Flames and scorching currents slammed again and again. The heat that erupted in an instant could melt rock, and the entire cave thundered with violent tremors.

Just like the earlier explosion—when Ariel’s flames condensed and detonated, in a cramped space like a cave they could always display even greater power.

The only two downsides were that it was easy to blow the entire cave down... and to hurt herself.

Ariel pressed out a tiny spark on her bangs. Looking at that slightly curled strand of hair, she silently waited for the smoke and dust to clear.

More than a dozen figures slowly emerged again through the haze. Aside from the unlucky one who’d taken the hit for Kadosh—who never got back up—the others didn’t look like they’d suffered much damage.

As expected.

To wipe out all these hounds—carefully trained by the Enchantress Grand Duke—with a single move...

Of course that was impossible.

Even if she often daydreamed about fooling around with beautiful girls in a crystal palace, she still couldn’t be having a fantasy this childish in broad daylight.

But this was enough...

“Kill you... I’m going to kill you with my own hands.”

Kadosh’s right arm had been blown clean off. Trembling, he picked up the boning knife from the ground. His face was twisted so hard it looked like the veins on his forehead—jumping like little snakes—were about to burst at any second.

His rage was like a volcano.

But before that volcano could erupt, in the thinning smoke he saw that figure—actually charging at him.

“What...?”

It was beyond his expectations again.

In this situation, she still dared to take the initiative?

No.

If it was a beast forced into a dead end, of course it would fight to the death.

“Haha... kill her! Kill her for me—she’s at the end of her rope!”

Kadosh ducked behind another subordinate again, watching that man get stabbed straight through by Ariel while he screamed in exhilaration.

At the same time, he swung his knife at Ariel.

To be the leader of this squad, his strength was naturally the greatest here. He’d only looked pathetic because Ariel had tricked him twice in a row.

But even with just one hand left, his attack could still threaten Ariel.

“Tch.”

Ariel twisted her blade and directly ground the heart of the demonman in front of her into pulp.

Then she bent at the waist, planted her feet lightly on his body, and as she yanked her sword free she slid backward—dodging Kadosh’s slash.

Damn. Missed killing that leader again.

This guy kept using his subordinates as meat shields. He didn’t have a shred of that demonman “fearless to the death” look at all...

But it didn’t matter.

Because... if she couldn’t run, and she couldn’t afford to stall too long...

Then here, she would finish all of them.

Not one left.

Ariel bit lightly.

The pill she’d hidden beside her teeth early on was crushed.

Along with an intense bitterness, dense medicinal power poured into her body at once, and with her breathing it seeped through her limbs and bones.

Ariel’s spirit jolted. The stamina that had been squeezed dry again during the chase and counterattacks finally filled up a little.

Just a little.

Not even enough to give her the margin to use that move.

“If I’d known, I should’ve made Teacher prepare more medicine before I went to sleep...”

You only realize you don’t have enough medicine when you need it—though she’d never had any to spare in the first place.

Ariel sighed, then—

“Boiling Blood.”

She murmured.

And her blood boiled.

“Beast Heart.”

She murmured again.

And her heartbeat thundered.

Right now, these were the only two buffs she could put on herself. But it was enough to make her exhausted body straighten again, enough to squeeze out the strength she’d hidden in the very deepest place—bit by bit.

And so the flames blazed again!

“Come!”

Ariel swung her sword—no fancy tricks at all—only the simplest, most direct slash toward the demonman closest to her.

The demonman scrambled to dodge, but he found that no matter what he did, he couldn’t escape the reach of that strike.

So he panicked and raised his knife to block—yet the moment he lifted it, he realized in confusion that the bone knife in his hand had already been burned away by the raging heat.

The Heavenly Flame Greatsword cut cleanly into his body. That powerful demonman physique offered no resistance at all to the massive blade, and he was split in two.

Scalding blood splashed across Ariel’s face—and was immediately evaporated by the flames.

“First.”

Ariel didn’t even spare the corpse she’d instantly killed a glance. With the tip of her foot, she hooked half the body and flung it at someone rushing in, while the greatsword in her hands turned to meet the other side.

“Second.”

The power of Divine Favor exploded violently. Before that demonman could react, surging flames had already swallowed him whole.

Then Ariel turned again, blocking three attacks that came in at the same time.

Clink. Clink. Clink.

All three strikes were aimed at her back. By the more rational method, she should’ve forced Miss Muse behind her to take them, so she could get a better opening to attack.

After all, Miss Muse was wearing magic armor—blocking those three hits shouldn’t be difficult.

But Ariel still chose to turn back.

Using a beautiful girl as a shield didn’t fit her nature.

Much less when that beautiful girl was Miss Muse.

So she met them head-on.

“Third, fourth, fifth...”

Sword and blade crashed together. Terrifying heat and swordlight sprayed again and again through this narrow cave.

With every collision, a demonman took heavy damage—or was directly buried under Ariel’s blade.

But there weren’t only three, four, five demonmen here...

And they weren’t ordinary demonmen. They were Flayers—a special demonman unit personally selected and trained by the Enchantress Grand Duke.

They were powerful, coordinated perfectly, and the weapons in their hands were no common items.

So every time Ariel left a wound on a demonman, a wound also appeared on her.

Every time Ariel killed one, a bone knife or spear also pierced straight through her body.

She no longer had the strength to use healing magic. Each time a new wound opened, Ariel only hastily stopped the bleeding, preventing excessive blood loss.

Her clothes were soaked red all the same.

After that fierce battle, Ariel now looked like a walking corpse that had lost its soul. Every step she took swayed, as if she might collapse at any second.

“Again!”

But Ariel’s eyes were still bright.

Her steps staggered, her whole body covered in injuries—forget mana, aura, and stamina; she might not even have the strength left to grip the sword handle.

Yet even so, she didn’t stop swinging.

She didn’t need to hold the sword, because the sword was tied to her hand.

She still hadn’t fallen.

...

“H... how is this possible...”

Watching his subordinates drop one after another before that staggering human woman, even Kadosh—who had once seen mountains of corpses and seas of blood on that battlefield—couldn’t help taking a step back.

This was a completely different kind of terror.

Mountains of corpses and seas of blood, no matter how horrifying, were still just gore.

But the thing in front of him...

What kind of monster was this, exactly?

He’d thought this would be a fairly easy mission. Even the fiercest beast, surrounded and hunted by so many well-trained hounds, should’ve exhausted itself and died long ago.

Just in terms of realm alone, there wasn’t a single one here below her.

So why...

Why was the beast clearly at the end of the road, yet refusing to fall—while one hound after another was being killed by her?

Krrk—

Krrk—

The scarlet-gold greatsword dragged along the ground, grinding against stone. Firelight flickered on and off, occasionally illuminating that figure—wrapped in blood and filth—no longer resembling any valkyrie at all, but rather an evil ghost from hell.

Step by step, she walked toward Kadosh.

And Kadosh could no longer shove subordinates in front of himself.

Because besides him, every single Flayer here was already dead.

“Nineteenth...”

The evil ghost spoke slowly in a voice gone hoarse:

“Next... it’s your turn.”