A torrent of black-and-red magic surged from the formation. Fangsheng gripped his heavy sword with both hands, staring fixedly at the center of the array. His Nameless intuition told him that something huge was inside—an entity that might be entirely impossible to resist.
The air grew scorching hot, heavy with the stench of sulfur. Lewan frowned and whispered, "It's a fire demon! Most likely a Balor!"
The Administrator's eyes widened, and he stammered, "Miss Witch, are you sure your perception isn't mistaken? A Balor?"
Lewan shook her head, her voice trembling. "No. I've seen the Church's knights hunt down a Balor before."
The Administrator swallowed hard, offering a dry, nervous joke. "What if you just remembered wrong, Miss Witch?"
Ignoring the still-joking Administrator, Lewan opened the Mithril Scripture and began to pray: "Goddess of Radiance! Hear my prayer, and grant us the holy light to vanquish evil!"
Radiant light descended, enveloping the weapons of both Fangsheng and the Administrator in a brilliant white glow.
Finishing her prayer, Lewan bit her lower lip as she felt the meager remaining power of faith within her. She crossed her hands over her chest and prayed once more to the Goddess of Radiance.
"I never thought I would set foot on the mortal realm again!" A harsh, grating voice echoed.
Fangsheng looked toward the magic circle. The initial torrent of magic had dissipated, leaving only a humanoid figure over two meters tall standing in the center of the array.
Fangsheng stared at the towering figure. Atop its head were the demon's signature massive goat horns, and it sported leather wings resembling those of a bat. The mane on its back flickered with burning flames, wisps of steam drifting upward, and its long, muscular arms bulged with dense power.
Was this a Balor? Fangsheng licked his dry lips. In the records left by the big shot Wang Ming, he had briefly skimmed through the various types of demons, and fire demons had ranked near the top, naturally drawing his attention.
Fire demons were one of the oldest demon races in the Endless Abyss, and the Balor was universally the most powerful among them.
Recalling the records on fire demons, Fangsheng stared hard into the demon's burning yellow eyes. Strangely, though, he couldn't shake the feeling that this particular demon looked somewhat familiar.
Beside him, the Administrator let out a bitter laugh, saying pessimistically, "A Balor on the verge of Tier 4—that Demon Warlock has incredible luck!"
Yet, hearing the Administrator's words, the Balor actually spoke up in retort: "Human, it's not that lowly warlock who has good luck. I responded to the summons of my own accord!"
He looked at Fangsheng, who was glaring right at him, and a ferocious grin spread across his face, filled with delight. "Fangsheng, I never expected it to really be you!"
Fangsheng froze. He hadn't expected this demon to recognize him, let alone know his name.
Seeing that Fangsheng didn't speak, the Balor's face twisted slightly, and he roared in anger: "You were just as arrogant when you were powerful in the war, and you're just as arrogant now that you're so weak! I honestly have no idea what you're relying on this time!"
A Flame Whip materialized and lashed fiercely toward Fangsheng. The speed was so fast that Fangsheng couldn't even raise his sword to defend before he was sent flying!
Fangsheng crashed hard against a building and tumbled to the ground. He coughed up a mouthful of blood, feeling the Holy Radiance within him diminish slightly. He thought to himself that if it weren't for the Holy Radiance, he probably would have been done for.
A blur flashed right in front of him. Fangsheng immediately snapped to attention, channeling the Holy Radiance in his body to generate a protective barrier over his skin.
The Balor looked at Fangsheng, who was protected by the milky-white shield. His expression was one of intense disgust mixed with terror—it was the Holy Radiance of the Goddess of Radiance. Back in his prime, he had been stabbed to death by Fangsheng using this exact trick. He never expected that when he specifically came to exact revenge this time, he would run into this damn thing again!
The fire demon made a grasping motion with his right hand, and a giant sword wreathed in flames appeared in his grip. He looked at Fangsheng behind the barrier and flashed a cruel smile.
While the Balor was dealing with the barrier, the Administrator had already engaged the youth. The youth remained completely at ease, trading blows while taunting him: "I really didn't expect that your Nameless would have a blood feud with the great Balor—to the point where the Demon Lord actively responded to the summons. The Goddess of Fortune is truly on my side."
From his perspective, his side had already won. All the Balor had to do was smash that damned barrier and casually wave a hand, and these two weaklings would be reduced to dust!
Though the Administrator understood his own predicament, it didn't stop him from trading barbs with the youth: "Heh, hearing you say that reminds me—during the Abyss War, the great Fire Demon Lord you worship was beaten black and blue all over the floor by the knights of the Radiant Church.
"A squad of knights even stepped foot into the Endless Abyss and slaughtered the soul origins of quite a few demons, making it impossible for them to even resurrect!"
Lewan watched the tiny crack that had just appeared on the barrier. She drew her crossbow, pulled an arrow from her cloth pouch, and channeled the Holy Radiance within her to coat the shaft.
Aiming straight for the heart, she steadied her mind and breathed out, then pulled the trigger. The arrow shot forward at high speed.
*You have to hit!* Lewan prayed.
Unfortunately, the moment the arrow was released, the Balor's instincts screamed danger. He swung his flaming greatsword horizontally in front of him, blocking the strike.
Then he teleported right to Lewan's side. His muscular hand clamped around her fair neck, lifting her into the air and forcing her to meet his gaze. Staring into her eyes with his burning yellow sockets, the demon mocked playfully, "Priest! Do you really think you can hurt me?"
"How will you know if you don't try?" Seeing Lewan stubbornly putting up a front, the demon increased his grip, intending to strangle this overconfident priest right then and there.
"Cough, cough." Lewan let out a muffled grunt.
Hearing the priest's painful groan, the demon smiled with malicious cruelty. But the next second, his laughter turned into a scream of agonizing pain.
The demon clutched his face with both hands and shrieked. The extreme pain inflicted by the Holy Radiance forced him to loosen his grip, allowing Lewan to break free from his hold. Seizing the opportunity, she used the power of faith—converted from the Holy Radiance—to cast a healing prayer toward Fangsheng in the distance, helping him recover.
The Balor quickly reacted. With his eyes blinded by the Holy Radiance, he could only rely on his senses to locate Lewan. He truly hadn't expected this priest to be so despicable as to coat her own blood in Holy Radiance to ambush him!
Retreating backward, Lewan taunted, "Doesn't feel too good being blind, Mr. Fire Demon?"
The Flame Whip cracked, creating a sonic boom as it lashed fiercely across Lewan's body.
Instead of channeling the Holy Radiance, Lewan chose to endure the blow head-on and kept mocking him: "Is that all? You didn't even rip my robe!" Even though Lewan's black robe didn't look like armor, it was actually an Epic-grade piece of defensive gear!
The Balor let out a cold snort, then drew his flame sword and spun around to parry a sneak attack from Fangsheng, who had lunged in with his sword raised from behind.
Seeing this, Lewan sighed, though it was well within her expectations. After all, if her long-range sniper shot hadn't succeeded, how could Fangsheng's clumsy sword-swinging ambush have possibly worked?