“Aaargh! That’s annoying, I should have killed that bastard first!”

All movement was restricted. She couldn’t even flap her wings at will. Was that it? She was being chased. She was being chased, pushed to the point of ridiculousness by the magic of a mere mortal. Even as she realized that the fire dragon was pushing her further and further out of her comfort zone, she couldn’t muster a single protest.

She had no choice. Time and time again, the tireless dragon opened its jaws to devour her, and when she dodged its attacks, electricity spread out like a barrier in front of her. When she dodged the electric shock, the fire dragon bit her again. It was an infinite loop.

The fire dragon was not easily struck by the demonic energy-infused attack. No, it recovered immediately. The magician’s endless supply of mana was too much. At first, she tried to defend moderately until he ran out of mana, but that thought didn’t last long.

‘Yeah, I remembered him. The two-attribute magician I fought a long time ago. That sort of thing.’

It was the first and last time Sellev had ever faced a multi-attribute magician, but it had left a lasting impression on her. The combination of two-attribute magic had been unimaginably powerful, annoying, and persistent. And now this arrogant human was wielding a whopping three attributes of magic.

‘His mana doesn’t decrease for crying out loud!’

Still, magicians were rat poison. You dealt with one, and a more terrible one sprung out.

Sellev looked down at the ground, her eyes wide. The magic circle. Somehow she’d made it all the way down to the magic circle, and Cadel was sitting proudly on top of it. She didn’t have to watch to know what he was going to do.

“That’s a valuable magic circle. Do you think I’m just going to let it get destroyed?”

It must never be destroyed. This was no ordinary magic circle. It was the essence of the Demon Realm engineering, a revolutionary tool that would upend the world order, and the only hope of the demons.

And most of all. Without that magic circle, she would have no means of returning to the Demon Realm!

Sellev has maximized the demonic energy on her body. There was no escaping this insane magic. The only way to avoid it was to kill its caster.

The resolute Sellev descended, piercing the fire dragon with her fierce momentum.

* * *

It was impossible to maintain [Thunderflame Dragon], clear the circle, and control Sellev at the same time. If he focused on one, he would have a gap, and that meant death.

It was something that could not be done without sacrificing one’s life, and it was something that could not be succeeded even if one did. Cadel knew that better than anyone else.

So when he didn’t stop working on dismissing the magic circle even as the [Thunderflame Dragon] was broken through and Sellev was ready to kill him, it wasn’t a momentary lapse or mistake.

“Die……! Huh? What, what is this? This is?”

Sellev’s fist struck Cadel’s head with precision. The punch, delivered from above, was stained black with condensed demonic energy. Ordinarily, a mere brush would have ripped his skull off.

But Cadel’s head was intact. Sellev couldn’t take her eyes off the blow, even as Cadel’s cold gaze turned to her.

A purple crystal perfectly wrapped around the area of the strike. The crystal was uncomfortably hard, and it emitted a surprisingly intense demonic energy.

“Hit me as many times as you like. You’ve seen it for yourself, it never breaks.”

That was one of Cadel’s tricks up his sleeve.

[Immortal Heart]

It was a spoil obtained by killing Ergo, and it was the demon’s heart that would guarantee Cadel’s life for 20 minutes.

“This bastard…….”

Sellev gritted her teeth. She didn’t know how the human had gotten his hands on such power, but the mere thought of demonic energy’s help made her blood run cold. Sparks flew across the blue reversed eyes.

“I’ll make you regret it.”

A creepy voice rang in his ears. His fingertips tingled at the smell of killing intent, but Cadel ignored it.

‘20 minutes. I have 20 minutes to figure this all out.’

While the [Immortal Heart] protected him, he needed to dispel the magic circle and render Sellev incapacitated. Cadel brought the [Thunderflame Dragon] to the center of the magic circle. As the [Thunderflame Dragon]’s hot flames and electrical currents raged like a storm, purple crystal coated Cadel’s body.

Sellev wrapped the demonic energy around her body to minimize the damage, but she couldn’t ease all the pain. Still, she didn’t back down and attacked the crystal that enveloped Cadel.

“Let’s see how long you can use this cheeky power!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll use it until you die.”

Jeriel suffered a mana rampage while disarming this spell, which meant that the intricacies of the spell’s formula were fraught with deadly traps. If he was not careful, tragedy would strike. Cadel had to do this delicate work while keeping the [Thunderflame Dragon] alive.

‘I don’t know if I have what it takes.’

It was a minute gap he had felt since dealing with Sellev. The gap, which seemed to narrow but could not be narrowed, continued to unnerve Cadel. However, if he was not prepared to jump over that deep chasm, even trying was pointless.

‘I’ll do it no matter what.’

There were no options. If it was to protect his precious subordinates, if it was to continue the journey with them.

He had to do it no matter what.