The Demon King

"Save me!"

Before the king monster's roar could fade, the shadows in the corner of the hall suddenly surged wildly. A terrifying pressure, far surpassing that of the king monster, abruptly erupted and instantly enveloped the entire hall.

The air seemed to freeze, even the dust hanging suspended in mid-air. The stone slabs beneath Ye Chuan's feet cracked slightly. The playful glint in his eyes vanished instantly, replaced by a touch of solemnity.

This power...

Seems pretty fierce.

In the next second, a pitch-black slash shot out from the shadows. The edge of the slash was entwined with a deep purple, sinister flame. It moved at extreme speed, carrying a sharp screech that seemed to tear through space, aiming straight for Ye Chuan's neck!

Ye Chuan reacted incredibly fast, his body violently teleporting backward and to the side, barely dodging the slash—

That pitch-black energy brushed past his robes and slammed fiercely into the stone wall of the hall. In an instant, it blasted the stone wall and a massive section of the building behind it into fine powder. Amidst the flying rubble, a bottomless, pitch-black abyss was revealed behind it.

The shadows gradually settled as a slender yet incredibly oppressive figure slowly walked out.

She wore a set of form-fitting black heavy armor covered in sharp bone spikes. Every spike gleamed with a cold, piercing light, and faint black mist seeped from the gaps in the armor.

A pair of massive shadow wings unfurled from her back. The edges of the wings looked like torn, ink-black silk, stirring up gusts of chilling wind with every gentle flap. Fine, dark patterns flowed across the surface of the wings, squirming like living creatures.

If he had to compare it to something, Ye Chuan thought it looked a bit like that guy called Gore Magala from the Monster Hunter game he used to play.

The woman's long black hair fell to her waist, the strands fluttering in the wind. The tips of her hair were tainted with specks of sinister flame, contrasting with her pale, almost translucent face.

It was the incredibly exquisite face of a young girl, yet it exuded a heart-palpitating, ultimate evil—

Her pupils were a pure dark red, like coagulated blood. Her gaze was cold and hollow, devoid of any emotional fluctuation. Dense dark magic lingered around her, and wherever she passed, the rubble on the ground instantly decayed and crumbled.

"Interesting. So there's actually someone behind these things?" Ye Chuan narrowed his eyes, and an Appraisal skill silently flew toward the girl.

The next second, information surfaced in his mind:

[Name: Demon King?

Demon King of the Aether Continent, Absolute Lord of Death

Power: Tier 9

Skills—

Demon King's Demise: Applies a 100% lethal effect to all touched entities of a lower tier than herself. Cannot be immunized, cannot be dodged, cannot be restored.

Demon King's Protection: Passively invincible. Can only be damaged by the Hero and Hero-related skills. Immune to instant death.

Demon King's Armor: Absorbs 100% of the vitality and mana from any deceased creatures in the vicinity.

Absolute Domination: Possesses 100% command over Demon Race-related units

...]

Ye Chuan: ?

Ye Chuan's eyes were filled with astonishment.

Tier 9?

?

??

And she can only be hurt by Hero attributes?

To think a Demon King actually exists in this world!

And her strength is so terrifyingly far beyond all the opponents he has faced before!

Holy crap, she's hacking!

He withdrew his Appraisal skill and looked at the Demon King girl in front of him. She remained expressionless, just silently watching him.

Ye Chuan subconsciously glanced at the king monster, then said to the girl,

"You're the Demon King? Why are you helping this kind of parasitic monster? What does it have to do with you?"

The Demon King girl gave no response whatsoever. Her dark red pupils locked dead onto Ye Chuan as the dark magic around her grew even denser. She slowly raised her right hand and grasped the black longsword on her back—

The blade was as black as ink. It had no hilt, only a condensed mass of dark energy. Deep purple sinister flames flowed along the blade's edge. Merely the act of grasping the longsword caused the space within the entire hall to begin twisting and trembling.

"Not going to talk?" Just as Ye Chuan was about to prepare his defenses, the Demon King girl moved.

Her figure flashed, almost teleporting to the center of the hall, and the pitch-black longsword in her hand slashed down violently!

There was no earth-shattering roar, only a pitch-black slash condensed to the absolute limit, crashing down toward the ground like the collapse of the sky itself!

"BOOM—!!!"

A violent explosion shook the heavens and the earth, causing the entire royal capital to rock wildly.

The pitch-black slash landed on the ground, instantly tearing open a massive ravine. The ravine was bottomless, like a rift connecting to the abyss. Its edges burned with deep purple sinister flames. The buildings on both sides collapsed one after another, and rubble rolled into the ravine without producing even the slightest sound.

This ravine extended all the way from the royal palace hall, cutting through the streets and walls of the royal capital, and ultimately stretching to the end of the horizon. It almost cleaved the entire capital in half. Parasites and defending soldiers within the city wailed and plummeted over the edge of the ravine in a gruesome, tragic scene.

Ye Chuan stood in place, feeling the terrifying aftershocks of that energy, his brows furrowed tightly.

He wasn't afraid to fight this hacking Demon King, but there were still countless innocent civilians inside the royal capital. If they fought here, the entire capital would likely be razed to the ground, and those citizens would be reduced to casualties of their battle.

"You, come here." Ye Chuan beckoned with his finger. Hesitating no longer, his figure suddenly shot up into the sky!

His robes snapped loudly in the wind as he flew swiftly toward the outskirts of the royal capital.

He had to draw this battle to an uninhabited area; he couldn't implicate the innocent.

A glint of cold light flashed through the Demon King girl's dark red pupils. The massive shadow wings on her back flapped violently, stirring up gusts of chilling wind. Her body shot out like an arrow from a bowstring, chasing closely behind Ye Chuan!

The pitch-black wings spread out in the night sky like a giant dark beast pursuing its prey. The two figures, one in front and one behind, generated a series of sonic booms in the air, instantly breaking through the clouds and flying toward a desolate valley in the distance.

Ye Chuan could clearly feel the shadow-like sense of oppression behind him. The Demon King's dark magic locked onto him tenaciously, like a maggot in the bone.

He didn't dare slow down, pushing his mana to the limit as he flew toward the desolate Blackstone Valley from his memory—

It was surrounded by mountains and completely devoid of human presence, making it the perfect place for a fight to the death.

The Demon King girl behind him maintained a constant, moderate distance. She wasn't rushing to attack, nor was she giving up the chase. Her dark red pupils held only coldness, as if Ye Chuan was a prey she absolutely had to slay.

As her pitch-black wings flapped, the dark magic around her grew thicker, dyeing even the starry sky along their path an inky black, leaving not a single trace of light.

A little while later, Ye Chuan finally arrived at the valley.

The valley was surrounded by towering cliffs that pierced the clouds. The rock faces were steep and barren. The bottom of the valley was covered in sharp rubble, and the air was filled with the chill of the rocks and a faint aura of darkness.

The moment Ye Chuan landed, the Demon King silently touched down as well.

"Look at you, clamming up again when you run into a tough question." Ye Chuan looked at the Demon King in the distance, momentarily unsure of how to defeat her.

Hero.

Where the hell was he supposed to find a Hero?

And whether a Hero could even beat this thing was another story altogether.

"Whatever, arise." Ye Chuan didn't plan on holding back anymore. Facing a hacking Demon King who suppressed him by two entire major realms, he directly mobilized his Chaos Army.

Thick black mist filled the air as hundreds of Chaos Avatars with Tier-7 combat strength emerged!

"Release!" Ye Chuan then summoned the Human Emperor Flag, instantly calling forth a million undead!