Demon King: Hero, don’t run away!

The sound of the Shield shattering stabbed into his eardrums, and a bright scarlet line pierced through [Broken Cocoon Butterfly] and stabbed into Yang Yu’s eyes.

Yang Yu clenched his teeth, as if he could already hear his own arm snapping and burning.

The Legendary Equipment he had finally obtained actually cracked under Ammonval’s Attack.

At the last possible moment, a pale golden Shield enveloped Yang Yu, cutting off all Attacks.

Ammonval’s follow‑up Attacks splashed raging flames across the golden Shield, dyeing Yang Yu’s vision blood‑red.

[Broken Cocoon Butterfly] fell to the ground, shattering into two halves, the cut edges melted by scorching heat.

Yang Yu lifted the arm that had been holding [Broken Cocoon Butterfly]. His left hand had not been split in two; instead, a black mark inlaid not far from his wrist sent out an ant‑bite‑like sting.

Ammonval’s blistering heat, while severing [Broken Cocoon Butterfly], had also slammed into Yang Yu’s arm.

If Bai Jin had been even a little slower in activating [Goddess’s Smile], Yang Yu might have lost his left hand forever.

The effect applied by the Flame Hammer vanished, and Yang Yu’s left hand trembled uncontrollably, as if shivering at what had just happened.

Clenching his fist, Yang Yu forcibly stopped his left hand from shaking, endured the stabbing pain from the black wound, picked up the two‑halved [Broken Cocoon Butterfly], and sprinted at top Speed toward the other edge of the protective shield.

”Bai Jin! Put some distance between you and him!

He’s popped his must-kill Skill!

Don’t take him head‑on!”

Seeing that Yang Yu was fine, Bai Jin secretly let out a sigh of relief, tucked [Goddess’s Smile] back into her chest, and followed Yang Yu toward the opposite edge.

After sensing a massive amount of Flame Magic rapidly converging toward Ammonval, Bai Jin felt something was wrong. She shut down the Water Curtain and did not try to interrupt Ammonval; instead she ran straight for Yang Yu, and finally reached his side just before Ammonval’s Attack fully landed.

By the time Yang Yu and the others reached the edge, the Golden Shield happened to shatter and contract.

Blazing flames spewed into the area that had just been covered by the Shield, turning it completely into a sea of fire.

Yang Yu and Bai Jin abruptly accelerated, leaving the surging tongues of flame behind and opening up distance from Ammonval.

Stepping into the sea of fire, Ammonval’s whole body still radiated bright light, but the glow on the various weapons in his hands was gradually fading.

The last weapon Ammonval held revealed its true form.

A turquoise Long Spear was wrapped in layers of flame, its spearhead like a piece of iron heated to red‑hot.

The fragments of the Shield scattered as Holy Light. Ammonval raised his head, looking toward the fleeing Yang Yu and Bai Jin, muttering under his breath:

”You actually… blocked it.

That thing should be the Elf Clan’s Secret Treasure, [Goddess’s Smile].

The miraculous Secret Treasure said to be able to block any Attack.

…They weren’t exaggerating at all.

But don’t think that just because you blocked my Instant Kill, you’ll walk away alive!”

Ammonval stepped forward, turning into a shooting star streaking across the ground, leaving a dazzling trail behind him.

[Burning Star Hexagram Slash] not only unleashed a single, overwhelmingly powerful Attack, but also boosted a person’s capabilities for a short time, granting them the power to decide victory or defeat in one breath.

Unfortunately, powerful Skills always come with a massive price.

Like any powerful must-kill skill, [Burning Star Hexagram Slash] had its own limits.

Not only was its cooldown extremely long, [Burning Star Hexagram Slash] also burned away the user’s Life Value, Magic Power, and stamina, drastically weakening their fighting ability afterward.

On top of its base burn cost, [Burning Star Hexagram Slash] allowed the user to pour in extra ”Fuel” to further enhance its might.

Generally speaking, the more ”Fuel” that was burned, the greater the power.

But very few of the Blazing Fire Clan would add extra ”Fuel” on top of the original consumption.

If they poured in too much, what would be burned out was their real life itself.

The Blazing Fire Clan had once produced a Demon King as well, and [Burning Star Hexagram Slash] had been her must-kill Skill back then.

In her final battle with the Hero, the Demon King [Burning Star Witch] poured all the Magic Power she could wield as Demon King into this Instant Kill, nearly burning the entire world to ash.

Ammonval was not the Demon King, and obviously could not use this move to burn the whole world, but he believed that even against an opponent of Yang Yu’s Level, this Skill could easily topple him and strip him of his fighting ability.

Unfortunately, Ammonval had failed to account for [Goddess’s Smile].

The buff duration of [Burning Star Hexagram Slash] was not long; Ammonval had to decide the outcome before the buff expired.

Yang Yu and the others firmly carried out their strategy of avoiding direct confrontation, running at full Speed to widen the gap from Ammonval.

However, since it was not Iyas using it, the effective range of [Goddess’s Smile] had not been increased.

Even if Yang Yu and the others leveraged information asymmetry to open some distance from Ammonval, closing that gap was a trivial matter for Ammonval, who was going all‑out.

Smearing Potions onto his charred wound and drawing [Shadow Blue Shattered Ice], Yang Yu slowed his pace.

Black spurs sprouted from the Shield, and Yang Yu met Ammonval’s meteoric charge head‑on. In an instant, sparks flew everywhere.

His feet sank into the earth as the brutal impact blasted Yang Yu dozens of meters away, while Ammonval stabilized himself at the point of collision, adjusted his stance, unleashed a Skill, and launched another assault.

Without a moment to catch his breath, Ammonval appeared before Yang Yu again.

Ammonval whipped the six weapons in his hands, easily slicing off all the magical spurs on Yang Yu’s Shield.

Yang Yu narrowed his eyes and focused. Everything around him once again slowed in his vision.

Holding his breath and observing Ammonval’s every move, Yang Yu used his Shield and Sword Blade to parry the flurry of Attacks from Ammonval’s six arms.

A flicker of surprise flashed through Ammonval’s heart; Yang Yu was fending off the vast majority of his Attacks with Reflex alone.

Ammonval did not relax. He knew that maintaining this stalemate favored him.

[Shadow Blue Shattered Ice] let out a wail. It was only an Epic Level weapon, while every weapon in Ammonval’s hands was Legendary Level.

In such violent clashes, the two simply weren’t of the same tier at all!

[Shadow Blue Shattered Ice] was enduring brutal Attacks far beyond what its quality should have borne. Tiny cracks spread out from its ice‑fine patterns as it gradually approached the limit of damage it could withstand in such a short span.

Yang Yu also heard the ”wail” of [Shadow Blue Shattered Ice], but there was nothing he could do.

The brightness covering Ammonval’s body was gradually fading, and his Attacks weakened along with it. At last, Yang Yu found that one‑in‑ten‑thousand opening.

A Sharp longsaber cleaved down; Yang Yu used [Avoidance Acceleration] to dodge Ammonval’s Attack, his figure flickering as he vanished from in front of Ammonval’s eyes.

Ammonval could feel Yang Yu’s presence vanish from around him. Yang Yu had used the same Skill he’d used to arrive here to move again, escaping the wall of fire and landing beside a massive Silver Wolf.

A Demon Clan cadres lunged at Lotcar with bared fangs and claws, but Yang Yu controlled thorns to surge up and bind the attacking Demon Clan cadres.

Transformed into a giant wolf, Lotcar showed no mercy, pouncing on the bound Demon Clan cadres, slamming him to the ground, and tearing out his throat.