Life is just like that, always running away.
At least, that was the case for the Flame Demon.
At the dawn of creation, he fled from the pursuit of the Giant Gods, living in a desolate world of only lava and flames.
He managed to survive until the world stabilized and the Giant Gods died.
Then, new Gods were born, and he spent his life being hunted all over again.
With the blessing of the Gods’ power, the ground once filled with fire, lava, and rock became brimming with Mana and life.
The Flame Demon and a host of other monsters were driven underground just to survive.
He then survived the slaughter among many ancient monsters, winning a literal battle royale to eke out a living until the previous era.
However, that era was shattered by an unknown man named Atiste.
Be it Gods or monsters, even humans were no match for him.
He was the strongest being truly standing at the top of the world, an absolute powerhouse capable of crushing everything.
Perhaps in the eyes of others, this evaluation was an exaggeration.
Only the Flame Demon, who had survived from ancient times and witnessed countless experts, knew the truth.
Only Master Atiste was not to be defied!
“Atiste’s words are the will of heaven! If Atiste says go east, I’ll never go west! Hero! I will definitely protect you!”
The Flame Demon accelerated further, fleeing from the tenth floor to the fiftieth floor of the underground.
Along the way, no monsters dared to approach them.
The further down they went, the higher the temperature rose.
Although Rena was merely an Awakened One, with the protection of the Flame Demon’s top-tier fire, she was not affected by the heat.
The berserk maid, Eileen, possessed Level 10 Body Strengthening.
She crashed through everything in her path, pursuing them relentlessly.
Any monster blocking her way was either crushed or squeezed to death.
In short, the scene was tragic.
Rena no longer had the capacity to wonder why things had turned out this way.
But she guessed that this underground cave had a bottom after all.
If they fled to a dead end, both she and the Flame Demon would end up being killed by that berserk maid.
‘I can’t die here.’
Atiste did not dare to get too close.
He maintained a position where Eileen could not detect him, but he could precisely observe the state of Rena and the Flame Demon.
The System began to malfunction.
*[Time remaining until Hero’s death: &%… seconds]
[Time remaining until Hero’s death: 987%4& seconds]
*[Time remaining until Hero’s death: …&1 seconds]
[Distance… System Error]
Atiste felt inwardly smug.
Adding the variable of the Flame Demon was indeed the right move.
Although the Flame Demon’s strength was inferior to a Demigod, his vitality was incredibly tenacious.
He was nearly impossible to kill.
This was a fact confirmed by both Atiste and Eileen.
After killing the Demon King, the two of them had nothing better to do, so they explored the Underground Demon Cave.
They fought their way to the bottom and stayed in the Lava Hell, each killing the Flame Demon 30,000 times.
How could the Flame Demon have known back then that these two “parents” were so powerful?
The human in the maid outfit was fine; at first, the Flame Demon could fight her to a draw.
But the other guy, who looked like a human but didn’t feel like one when scanned, delivered a fatal blow every single time.
The Flame Demon resurrected 30,000 times, and the man used basic Ice Magic to instant-kill him 30,000 times.
‘Is there no justice anymore? Is there no law! Lord God! Save this Flame Demon!’
The maid was also terrifying.
She grew stronger as she fought, essentially using the Flame Demon as a training dummy to level up.
When they first met, she was just a top-tier Transcendent.
After killing the Flame Demon 30,000 times, she evolved into a Demigod, one of the few in the world.
Who could he even complain to?
So, after dying 60,000 times, the Flame Demon also grew; he learned how to play dead.
Using this move, he successfully waited until those two lost interest and left the bottom of the cave before he dared to quietly resurrect.
He didn’t know why those two monsters had appeared here again today.
He just wanted to stay alive!
At that moment, Rena suddenly said, “Mr. Kind Fire Giant!”
“Huh? Me, kind?”
The Flame Demon was shocked.
“I have a way to deal with that maid!”
“You’re too young and haven’t seen the world! Don’t talk nonsense!”
“But we can’t keep going down. If it’s a dead end, we’ll both die there!”
“You’re a pretty smart little girl, aren’t you? But she’s chasing us relentlessly. If I get close to her, I’ll definitely be killed in an instant!”
Eileen was as violent as a beast and no longer looked human.
At this moment, adjectives like elegance, cultivation, or restraint could not be applied to her.
Instead, she was only powerful, wild, bloody, irritable, and ruthless.
“Break through upward! You accelerate, and I’ll use the Rock Breaking Technique!”
The Flame Demon questioned her while fleeing.
“Are you serious? The hardness of the rock here is completely different from the shallow ground. A simple Rock Breaking Technique won’t break it!”
“I have the Holy Sword Paladin!”
The Flame Demon had almost forgotten that this silver-haired girl with the short, capable hairstyle was the Hero!
“At this point, I can only believe in you. A path to survival can only be forged by ourselves! Let’s go!”
The Flame Demon changed the direction of his flame propulsion.
The jet of fire immediately turned from parallel to the ground to a vertical ascent.
Rena mobilized the Mana in her body, condensing the earth elements from deep underground onto Paladin.
The pure white Holy Sword Paladin suddenly glowed with an earthy yellow magical light and became incredibly sharp.
Earth elements were inherently hard, the Holy Sword itself was extremely sharp, and the blade could absorb natural elements.
Furthermore, the earth elements deep underground were several times, or even dozens of times, more concentrated than those on the surface.
This made the sword in Rena’s hand both hard and extremely destructive.
It could easily slice through the high-strength rocks of the deep underground.
Rena held the Holy Sword high, and the Flame Demon pushed upward with all his might.
The combination of a human and a demon actually soared into the sky!
Breaking through layer after layer of rock, they burst from the fiftieth floor of the Underground Demon Cave to the surface in just dozens of seconds!
They didn’t stop!
They were still flying!
The monsters on the surface looked up one after another to watch this spectacle.
It was like a rocket piercing the heavens, or a giant flaming rock bursting from the ground, trailing a long and brilliant tail of fire that lit up the entire night sky!
Atiste used a displacement skill to keep up with Hero Rena and the Flame Demon’s movements, only to realize with a shock that it was already night.
Had he been looking for Eileen for that long?
It felt like the System had just issued its normal commands a few minutes ago.
But he couldn’t worry about that now.
The System was no longer making any noise.
Did this mean that Rena’s death crisis had been averted?
Far from it!
Eileen was still chasing them!
Today, she would not stop until the Hero was dead!
She even intended to kill the Flame Demon along with her!
‘She’s crazy! That woman is absolutely insane!’
Once the Flame Demon left the Underground Demon Cave, his Mana was no longer infinite.
It would eventually be exhausted until he died, at which point he would be reborn in hell and return to his peak state.
But if the Hero Rena lost the Flame Demon’s protection, she would surely be killed by the berserk maid!
If the Hero died, Atiste would definitely not let the Flame Demon off the hook!
So now, there was only one choice!
Go back to the Underground Demon Cave! Replenish Mana!
The Flame Demon turned around and headed back, carving a brilliant oval in the night sky like a shooting star—unbelievably beautiful!
Rena said nervously, “Buddy! What are you doing? Going back? Won’t we be forced into a dead end again?”
“I’m begging you, Lady Hero! I must protect you! But I can’t stay too far away from the underground cave! Think of another way!”
Rena was stunned.
How could she solve this?
But she glanced at the berserk maid who was pursuing them relentlessly.
Her killing intent was overflowing, and her overbearing aura was even stronger than the flames of the giant…
They couldn’t win!
It was absolutely impossible to win!
Even if there was no solution, she had to find one!