When Chu Tian’s tall figure vanished from sight, heading to rendezvous with that streak of purple lightning, a faint vibration suddenly radiated from the necklace around Su Nian’s snow-white neck.
Immediately after, a voice that only she could hear echoed in her mind.
“Don’t die, my little slave. If you die, who will ‘repay’ me?”
Su Nian grit her silver teeth in anger.
A flush of shame and indignation instantly surfaced on her exquisite face, which was already slightly red from the continuous spellcasting.
‘This horned demon bastard! He’s a total pervert! What time does he think it is!’
‘He actually has the leisure to tease me in such a vulgar way…’
The mana within her body surged.
She wished she could immediately turn the direction of the [Lingyuan Flame Barrier], condense her strongest [Illusive Flamewater Break], and smash it ruthlessly into that bastard’s back.
However, she couldn’t.
She knew very well that without the cooperation of this horned demon bastard and Little Violet, once that ominous space portal opened, it would be impossible to close.
The only end awaiting everyone would be to be swallowed by the demon tide.
‘As for this bastard… I’ll settle the score with him properly after this is all over!’
Just then, Little Violet’s youthful voice, which carried a hint of urgency but still could not hide her leader-like demeanor, rang out clearly in Su Nian’s mind via their soul link.
‘Master, that guy’s spatial expertise is actually decent…’
There was a trace of imperceptible surprise in Little Violet’s voice, along with an instinctive wariness and rejection of Chu Tian.
After the previous battle in Blackstone Gorge and seeing Su Nian’s usual attitude toward the Horned Demon, Little Violet clearly had a terrible impression of this man.
‘With his help, the time needed to close the portal can be shortened to within thirty minutes!’
Thirty minutes.
Su Nian’s gaze swept across the scene before her.
The black demon tide was boundless, surging frantically from all directions.
Every impact caused her defensive barrier to tremble violently.
‘I should be able to hold on if I find a way!’
***
The Floating Fortress.
As Chu Tian withdrew from the frontline, the starlight sword light that had been harvesting the lives of the Demon Race like a scythe of death suddenly vanished.
The pressure sustained by the human camp abruptly increased several times over.
The demon overseers and elites, who had been suppressed by his single sword to the point where they couldn’t even lift their heads, were instantly liberated.
They poured all their attacks toward the only remaining light on the battlefield — Su Nian.
“Kill this human female!”
“She’s a human mage! As long as we get close, we can kill her!”
The roar of the One-Horned Overseer shook the heavens.
Su Nian had no choice but to push the power of the [Lingyuan Flame Barrier], which stood like an elemental goddess descended to earth, to its absolute limit without reservation.
The phantom of the goddess, dozens of feet tall, radiated a brilliant light.
The deep blue water membrane flowing on its surface fluctuated violently.
With every ripple that spread, dozens of low-level demons pouncing forward were directly vibrated into blood mist.
The scorching flames beneath the water membrane burned wildly, spitting out tongues of destructive fire that forced the approaching War Trolls to retreat repeatedly while letting out agonizing howls.
She, alone, was a defensive line.
An indestructible, holy bulwark protecting all the survivors behind her.
However, the consumption required to maintain such a massive Saint Level spell was terrifying.
With every energy collision, the sea-like mana within her body was violently stirred and rapidly depleted.
The smooth golden hair on her forehead had long been soaked by fine beads of sweat, clinging tightly to her full, fair forehead.
A few strands of hair hung down, obscuring her focused and cold gaze.
Her world-toppling face was flushed with an abnormal red hue due to the high-intensity mana circulation, yet her lips were slightly pale from the tension, creating a heart-wrenching sense of fractured beauty.
The mana of a Saint Level Magic Mentor was as vast as the ocean, but even now, she clearly felt the danger signal of her mana reserves dropping below half.
***
At the same time, on the other edge of the Floating Fortress.
Chu Tian had already joined up with Su Nian’s contract beast, Little Violet.
The Purple Domain Spirit Cat, usually lazy and noble, had now ballooned in size several times over.
Purple lightning coiled around her elegant body as her four paws stepped on empty air, radiating the terrifying pressure of a Saint Level Magic Beast.
Her purple vertical pupils were locked onto the portal in the sky, with countless spatial runes appearing and vanishing within them.
Chu Tian stood by her side, one hand behind his back while the other traced patterns casually in the air.
He did not chant, nor did he perform hand seals.
But with every stroke of his fingertips, the surrounding space produced visible ripples.
Profound and complex spatial laws were easily drawn by him and forcibly injected into the spatial interference array that Little Violet was constructing.
However, his gaze would occasionally bypass the chaotic battlefield and cast toward the magnificent phantom of the elemental goddess in the distance, which was currently being besieged by the demon tide.
He knew Su Nian still had a trump card.
That adorable Azure Dragon had yet to make a move.
She was far from being at her wit’s end.
‘But if… If that proud and stubborn girl truly ends up in a life-threatening situation…’
In the depths of Chu Tian’s eyes, a flash of cold madness appeared that even he didn’t realize.
He would not hesitate to give up on closing the portal to rush over and shield her beneath him.
This city could be destroyed.
But he would never allow his woman to be harmed.
***
The frontline battlefield of the Floating Fortress.
Just as Su Nian began to feel a sense of despair and exhaustion…
“Screee — !”
A loud, high-pitched eagle cry filled with holiness and majesty suddenly pierced through the dark sky shrouded by billowing demonic energy, like a clap of thunder.
This sound penetrated the roars of the demons and the wails of the humans, clearly reaching the ears of every survivor on the fortress.
Everyone instinctively looked up.
In the distance, a Knight Order clad in shining Mithril armor and riding extraordinary, divine gryphons arrived on the battlefield like a silver arrow tearing through the endless darkness!
They were the elite troops of the Red Maple Kingdom, the final defense guarding Academy City — the Gryphon Knights!
The Knights held long spears in their hands that shimmered with the light of sharp magic runes.
They sat as steady as mountains on the backs of the gryphons, diving down from the high sky and throwing their spears with precision.
“For the glory of the Kingdom!”
“For the survival of the human race!”
Every spear trailed a dazzling elemental light, falling as densely as a meteor shower.
They pinned themselves ruthlessly into the bodies of the low-level flying demons below, exploding into one cloud of foul blood mist after another in the air.
The aerial defense line on the fortress’s perimeter, which had been in jeopardy and could have been torn apart by the demon air force at any moment, finally gained a precious moment to breathe.
Immediately following them, several figures arrived on the wind, hovering behind the Gryphon Knights.
They wore various gorgeous magic robes and held staves of different designs.
They were the famous Great Magic Mentors who had rushed over urgently from the Red Maple Magic Academy.
“Ice Path!”
“Roar of the Fire Dragon!”
“Blade of the Wind God!”
“Spear of Thunder!”
Ice spikes, fireballs, wind blades, and lightning… various elemental spells bloomed in the hands of the Great Magic Mentors with an unprecedented, gorgeous, and lethal brilliance.
The scene was like a grand firework display set against the backdrop of the apocalypse.
Ranged spells wove together in the air to form a dense, precise, and powerful fire support network, temporarily suppressing the tidal advance of the demon army.
***
Inside Academy City.
Seeing these sudden and powerful reinforcements through the massive magic imaging crystals in the plazas and on the screens of countless magic phones, the citizens who had fallen into silence and despair instantly erupted into thunderous, deafening cheers.
“It’s the Gryphon Knights! It’s the Gryphon Knights of our Academy City!”
“And the mentors from the Magic Academy! They’ve come!”
“We’re saved! We’re saved!”
The flames of hope were reignited at this moment.
They burned fiercely in the hearts of every survivor on the fortress with an unprecedented intensity.
The addition of the Gryphon Knights and the mages acted like a shot of adrenaline, instantly turning the tide of the precarious battle.
Their precise and efficient attacks forced open a precious safe area within the infinite demon tide.
“Roar — !”
Accompanied by several clear gryphon cries, several knights guided their divine mounts through the whistling gales and landed swiftly on the deck of the swaying Floating Fortress.
They began to quickly organize the evacuation of the surviving nobles and the performers from Magic Feather Fantasy, who had already been scared out of their wits.
One rescue scene after another was broadcast through the magic imaging crystals, instantly igniting the long-suppressed emotions of the citizens in Academy City.
The mountain-collapsing cheers and applause nearly broke the heavens.
For Su Nian, this was undoubtedly great news.
When she saw Amy and Lise being helped onto the backs of the mounts by a reliable Gryphon Knight and disappearing into the distant night sky, her tense shoulders finally relaxed ever so slightly.
The heavy burden that had been pressing on her heart was suddenly lifted.
In the previous battle, she had been forced to divide a significant portion of her mind and mana to maintain the defensive barrier protecting her companions.
She had always been restricted.
Now, she could finally cut loose.
In the next second, Su Nian deactivated the [Lingyuan Flame Barrier].
This spell was powerful, but… it consumed too much mana.
The barrier wouldn’t last for thirty minutes.
Therefore, she needed to fight using physical techniques!
The next moment, a slender knight’s sword appeared in the hands of the beautiful girl wearing the [Star-Moon Embrace].
This was supposed to be a prop longsword used for “performing” the “Dance of Victory” on stage.
Of course, as a sword meant for performance, its appearance was very handsome and gorgeous.
But at this moment, when Su Nian infused her vast Saint Level mana into it, this piece of ordinary iron transformed into a weapon that was both beautiful and lethal.
At the same time, three pitch-black shadows glided silently out of the shadows on the flank of the demon tide.
Their figures flickered in and out of the corners the firelight couldn’t reach.
They moved without making a sound, as if they were a part of the darkness itself.
Shadow Demon Assassins.
They were the deadliest hunters in the demon army, specifically tasked with harvesting the backline casters who thought they were safe.
Their target was clear: this human female mage who had deactivated her defensive spell.
In the understanding of all demons, no matter how powerful a mage was, once a physical assassin got close, there was only one path — death.
With the three Shadow Demons in position, they moved.
In the next second, their speed reached the limit.
Coming from three different directions, they pulled out three blurry afterimages.
The poisoned daggers in their hands traced eerie, dark-green arcs in the air, sealing off all of Su Nian’s escape routes.
‘This human female is dead…’
‘We won!’