Fierce Battle Against the Demon-Slaves

Three members of the team practiced the Fire Element — Mo Fan, Song Xia, and Zhao Mingyue.

All three ignited Fire Burst: Bone Scorch at the same moment, releasing it against the black vines spreading across both flanks. The burning tore through them at remarkable speed...

When the last of the black vines had crumbled into charred powder, everyone noticed with a jolt that two cave openings lay concealed along both sides of the group's formation.

The waves of Cave Demon-Slaves pouring from the passages ahead and behind were terrifying in their own right, but they were at least something magic could hold back. These ambushers materializing from point-blank range were another matter entirely — the worst possible threat. They would throw their seventeen-person team into chaos in an instant, making friendly fire all but inevitable.

"Middle-formation members — clear the Demon-Slaves on both flanks, now!" Lu Zhenghe's voice cut through the clamor like a blade, sharp and commanding, with an unmistakable edge of authority.

Mo Fan was mildly surprised. *Insufferable as he is, the man actually knows how to command.* The order to burn the black vines just now must have come from him as well.

The flanking Demon-Slaves were the immediate priority — they could not be allowed to punch through the formation. A Mage's greatest weakness compared to Demon-Beasts had never been a lack of destructive power; it was that Mages were nearly helpless in close combat.

Swung hard, those bone clubs hit with the force of a warhammer.

Elite as they all were, no one was immune to being blindsided by a sudden crisis. Xiao Feng, the Imperial Capital Magic Academy student, found himself in dire straits — two Cave Demon-Slaves bearing down on him at once.

"Mirror Shield!" In the desperate moment, Xiao Feng activated his Shield Enchanted Gear.

But the Cave Demon-Slaves were not as dim-witted as he'd hoped. One bone club crashed against his chest and was deflected cleanly — yet the second came swinging straight at his unprotected right shin.

**Crack.**

The blow connected squarely. Xiao Feng's leg had no time to move, and what came out of it was a sound that turned the stomach — the wet crunch of shattering bone.

"Aaah! Help — aaah!!" His screams tore through the tunnel, but before he could retreat, his left leg caught a full blow as well. Both legs, perfectly healthy moments before, were simply crushed flat — pulped flesh and burst vessels collapsing inside his pant legs.

A pool of blood spread across the ground. Everything below both knees was flattened. He lay on the floor crawling toward his allies on pure instinct, nothing left in him but the animal need to survive.

Releasing magic was out of the question. That he hadn't blacked out from the pain alone was proof of a Mage's extraordinary mental fortitude — those were two shattered shins.

"Ice Vine!"

Everyone had seen Xiao Feng straying from the formation and about to be finished off — hands were already moving to intervene — but Mu Ningxue's Ice Element magic arrived first.

White frost swept across the floor in a rush, coating the entire area where the two Cave Demon-Slaves stood in pale ice. Cold mist curled into their eyes...

"Ice Vine won't save him..." Peng Liang had already sprinted toward Xiao Feng, because he knew Ice Vine's mechanics: wide-area deceleration and freezing, but it needed time to build before it could set. By that point, Xiao Feng would be in pieces.

But the moment Peng Liang reached him, those two ferocious Cave Demon-Slaves abruptly slowed.

Barely a second had passed. Frost was already crystallizing over the Cave Demon-Slaves' stunted hind legs — first biting into skin and flesh, then locking their hindlimbs in solid ice.

The pursuit stopped dead. They thrashed and screeched, unaware that Ice Vine had already climbed their bodies, swiftly encasing them from head to foot...

Within moments, the only parts of them still capable of movement were their powerful arms. They had become ice sculptures.

Peng Liang's mouth fell open. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Ice Vine normally needed at least four seconds before the freeze kicked in — Mu Ningxue's hadn't even taken two. That freezing speed was staggering, far beyond what even a Mage with a Spirit Grade Ice Seed could manage.

"Aaah — aaaugh!!" Xiao Feng was still screaming. Peng Liang used Shadow Fade to haul him clear.

"Leave him to me." Bai Tingting stood at the very center of the formation — the best-protected position in the group.

As Peng Liang set Xiao Feng down — his legs below the knee a ruin of mangled flesh and blood — Bai Tingting had already completed her Healing Element Star Trail. Pale green light-liquid trickled from between her fingers and spilled gently over the wreckage of his lower legs.

The pale green liquid spread slowly, seeping into the mass of shattered bone, ground flesh, and ruptured skin. When the fluid had reached every ruined fragment, Xiao Feng's screaming finally stopped.

"I can ease the pain for now, but healing you properly will take some time," Bai Tingting told him, his face chalk-white.

Xiao Feng wiped the mess of snot and tears from his face. He'd nearly died — dignity was the last thing on his mind.

"Help the others first. I'm... I'll manage." With the healing liquid working through him, it was like being buried under heavy sedation.

"Xiao Feng, you okay?" Mingcong asked, voice tight with worry, still casting Lightning Seals without breaking rhythm.

"Almost didn't make it. Lucky Ningxue was quick." Xiao Feng wiped the sweat from his brow. He knew this was no time for talking — the priority was clearing the Demon-Slaves from both flanks as fast as possible, or things were only going to get worse.

**Bang——**

Up at the front, Zheng Bingxiao's Stone Golem — stone body and all — proved no match for the bone clubs of the Cave Demon-Slaves. The ferocious creatures had beaten half its body to rubble.

"Zheng Bingxiao, recall your Summoned Beast," Zhao Manyan called out.

Zheng Bingxiao quickly pulled the half-ruined golem back. At the same moment, a dense curtain of water mist rose around the group. She turned to see Zhao Manyan releasing an Intermediate Water Element spell — surging waves like a dam suddenly thrown open, roaring down the tunnel ahead.

Tidal Surge rolled through, filling nearly half the passage's height. The leading wave of Cave Demon-Slaves was swallowed entirely by the torrent, which continued thundering forward.

One Intermediate-tier spell, immediate results. With the densest concentration of Cave Demon-Slaves blocking the front, the Tidal Surge smashed into them and broke the advance cold.

"My turn!"

Song Xia's shout rang out as Intermediate Fire Element magic coiled and blazed around her wrist.

Zhao Manyan's Tidal Surge had barely begun to recede. Seven or eight Cave Demon-Slaves, soaking wet and barely standing with bones rattled loose from the impact, were met by a roaring pillar of fire that had even those formidable monsters scrambling in terror.

Scarlet firelight blazed through the entire tunnel. The creatures that had no time to retreat into the side caves were consumed beneath that inescapable, massive fist of flame — their shrieks rising in a chorus, the thick reek of charred flesh spreading through the passage.