The handsome face of the Third Prince, Elvin Red Maple — once hailed as the “Ice Prince” — was now pressed contorted against the cold porthole.
His violet eyes reflected the soaring flames and the rampaging demonic shadows outside.
His gaze was fixed intently on the star-blue light fighting side by side with the black figure.
Emotions of jealousy and resentment coalesced in his heart.
He, the dignified Third Prince of the Red Maple Kingdom and a powerful contender for the future throne, was currently forced to flee in panic like a stray dog, surrounded by guards.
Meanwhile, that woman he was determined to possess and that mysterious Mo Yuan had become heroes saving the world under the watchful gaze of the masses!
This stark contrast, this sense of humiliation from being stripped of all glory, caused the resentment and malice in his heart to grow wildly, nearly consuming his last shred of sanity.
At the same time, the chaos on the deck of the floating fortress reached its peak.
The instinct for survival overwhelmed everything else.
The nobles, who usually fussed over their demeanor and grace, finally saw a sliver of hope in their despair.
“Look! That is… the Royal Family’s airship!” An experienced old noble screamed in a hoarse voice.
This cry ignited the final hope in everyone.
The group of nobles became a flood that had found its outlet, rushing recklessly toward the airship docked at the edge of the deck.
This elegantly lined airship was their only hope of escaping this aerial hell.
Furthermore, His Highness the Third Prince was on board!
Following the prince could not be wrong…
His Highness would surely save these loyal subjects!
However, the cruelty of reality far exceeded their imagination.
Elvin Red Maple did not display even a hint of the responsibility or mercy belonging to the Royal Family as they had hoped.
On his face, which was distorted by extreme fear, only the most primal and selfish desire for survival remained.
“Block them!”
“Quick! Take off immediately! I command you, take off right now!”
The sharp voice of Prince Elvin was filled with unquestionable hysteria.
He did not want to stay here for even one more second!
The nobles who finally managed to rush to the front of the airship still had expressions of relief from surviving the disaster and infinite gratitude toward the prince on their faces.
But what greeted them was the heavy hatch, shimmering with a cold metallic luster, slowly closing.
Then came the deafening roar of the airship’s magic engine being pushed to its limit.
Symbolizing the dignity of the Royal Family and their last hope, the airship slowly ascended under the gaze of countless pairs of despairing, shocked, and incredulous eyes.
“No! Your Highness! Don’t leave us!”
A richly dressed young noblewoman, her ornate hair already disheveled and her expensive jewelry losing its luster in the firelight, screamed shrilly…
“There are still many empty seats inside! Save us! I beg you!”
Another obese, middle-aged noble knelt on the ground regardless of his image, tears and snot flowing as he roared at the receding airship.
Watching the airship depart resolutely, the expressions on the faces of all the abandoned nobles on the deck shifted in just a few seconds — from begging to shock, and then to extreme anger and malice.
“Elvin! You coward! You hypocrite!”
“You aren’t fit to carry the bloodline of the Redmaple Royal Family! You are a disgrace to the royalty!”
“We curse you! Even if we turn into vengeful spirits, we will never let you go!”
Unbearable curses rose one after another, sounding so pale and weak amidst the explosion of demonic flames and the wails of the injured.
They never imagined that the prince they had sworn loyalty to and placed their high hopes on would abandon them so easily and coldly at the most critical moment.
***
Meanwhile, the main battlefield had already turned into a meat grinder.
The air was filled with the burnt stench of demonic blood and the strange, pungent sizzling sound of Holy Light purifying demonic energy.
As Su Nian and Chu Tian joined the fray, the originally one-sided collapse was forcefully reversed.
One soldier after another stood up again under the bath of Holy Light, the flames of revenge and hope burning in their eyes as they raised their weapons once more.
The once-arrogant Demon Race warriors were becoming fewer and fewer under the attacks of starlight sword beams and long-range magic!
At this moment, a Demon Elite Captain who had dodged a lethal sword beam from “Master Mo Yuan” saw his comrades being turned into fragments one after another by that strange longsword and the precise strikes from the female mage in the rear.
He couldn’t help but let out a heaven-shaking roar.
His crimson beastial pupils were bloodshot from extreme anger and despair, nearly dripping blood, as he locked onto Su Nian, who was chanting healing spells in the rear.
‘This woman is the key!’
She was constantly healing the human soldiers, channeling life and strength into the human defensive line!
The pitch-black demonic energy on the Demon Elite Captain suddenly surged, condensing into substance and forming streaks of ominous black lightning.
The set of heavy bone armor he wore, which had weathered many battles, made “clacking” sounds as it reached its limit.
Fine cracks opened, revealing a dark red light from within, as if the lava inside his body was about to erupt.
If he killed her, the human defense line would collapse in an instant like a sandcastle!
“Die! Human!” The demon captain let out a roar saturated with killing intent.
The voice was hoarse and crazed, like a piece of frosted iron scraping against a soul, tearing through the chaotic air.
He recklessly abandoned all defense and other targets.
His massive body turned into a distorted black afterimage, carrying a thick, inseparable aura of death as he lunged toward Su Nian’s position at high speed.
The weapon in his hand — a pale bone spear polished from the spine of some giant beast — had a tip shimmering with ghostly green poisonous light.
It cut through the air during the charge, leaving a pitch-black vacuum trail behind.
Su Nian sensed that suffocating, bone-chilling killing intent the moment the opponent moved.
‘So fast!’
That extremely long bone spear seemed to leap across space, pointing accurately at the heart in her chest where she wore the Star-Moon Embrace.
In the pupil of her left eye, the glazed hourglass pattern suddenly lit up and began to spin rapidly.
[Time Sand Peeking] had automatically triggered.
In her vision, countless translucent “possibility afterimages” emerged like ghosts, clearly predicting the trajectory of the bone spear.
She saw herself rolling awkwardly to dodge, only for the bone spear to graze her arm and draw a string of blood…
She also saw herself forcing a sidestep, only to be hit by the subsequent horizontal sweep and sent crashing into her companions behind her.
Having grown accustomed to the comfort of long-range spellcasting, even with a Holy Knight Physique, her experience in close-quarters combat remained her shortcoming.
Especially after continuously killing several demon soldiers, she had become somewhat overconfident.
To dodge this strike would be unsightly, and she might even get hurt.
Although the Holy Light could heal her, it would still be a bit painful.
‘It would be better to use absolute power to crush him head-on!’
The pride of a Saint Mentor made her reach a decision in an instant.
Su Nian set her mind, and her fair fingertips began to gather surging magic power.
She prepared to use a defensive spell to let this overconfident demon witness what true despair looked like.
However, in the eyes of the others on the battlefield, Su Nian seemed to be frozen in place with fear, not moving an inch in the face of this thunderous, lethal assault.
“Watch out!”