Chapter 386: Hunting Rank A Demonic Beasts

At that moment, the young girl turned around.

The adventurers finally got a clear look at her face.

Young—far too young.

She looked barely old enough to be considered an adult.

And yet, in that instant, she seemed to embody the very image of the legendary witches written about in history.

“Witch......”

Someone whispered the word unconsciously, their voice soft as a breath. Though it was barely audible, it echoed the thought on every single adventurer’s mind.

Hulim Heyerar had no idea what the adventurers were thinking. She glanced down at the sea of eyes fixed on her, then lifted her gaze toward the city wall not far behind her.

She waved her silver wand upward.

BOOM!

The entire sea of flames below roared to life, churning violently like a storm-tossed ocean.

“I’ll take care of the tough ones up front. The rest is yours to handle.”

Her voice, carried by the wind, reached every ear on the battlefield.

“O-Oh......”

The adventurers nodded instinctively, their eyes still fixed on her figure in awe.

BOOM——!

In the next heartbeat, a deafening sonic boom exploded before their eyes. The girl who had been hovering there a moment ago was gone without a trace. The sea of flames that had blocked their path surged forward like a tidal wave, crashing into the oncoming demonic horde.

Eventually, both the girl and the flames vanished beyond the horizon......

SWOOSH!

Hulim streaked deep into the heart of the demonic tide, her gaze locking onto a single, highly threatening target.

She raised the Seven Luminaries in her hand.

HUM——!

A dazzling light erupted from the wand, piercing through the darkness like a beacon.

ROAR——!

The first Rank A Demonic Beast to reach the western battlefield—a Shadowstalker Direwolf—sensed the immense danger descending from the sky. It immediately melted into a wisp of shadow, attempting to slip away unnoticed.

But Hulim had it locked in her sights. There was nowhere for it to run.

Realizing this in an instant, the Shadowstalker Direwolf shifted its form again, oozing into the ground like liquid, hoping to burrow deep beneath the surface to escape the incoming attack.

Yet Hulim had anticipated this exact maneuver. The spell she wove was none other than——

“Ninefold Magic Array—Meteor Shower!”

BOOM——!

The earth shuddered violently, as if struck by a series of earthquakes.

One by one, massive meteors crashed down from the sky.

When the dust settled, a colossal crater gaped open in the ground.

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At the bottom of that crater, the Shadowstalker Direwolf lay on its side, on the verge of death.

“First one down.”

......

On the other side of the battlefield.

With the sea of flames gone, the few demonic beasts that had survived by hiding underground poked their heads out cautiously. They glanced up at the sky, relieved to find that the terrifying figure was nowhere to be seen. But then they froze, staring blankly at what lay before them.

Rows of eyes glinted hungrily at them from the other side of the battlefield.

“......”

The adventurers and the demonic beasts stared at each other in dead silence for three long seconds.

“CHARGE!”

“ROAR?!?”

Another battle cry shattered the stillness. The fragile peace was broken. The adventurers surged forward as one, swarming toward the bewildered demonic beasts.

A chaotic melee erupted at last.

At first, the demonic beasts were routed, fleeing in disarray. But with an endless stream of reinforcements pouring in from behind, the tide of battle quickly turned against the adventurers.

Yet——

BOOM!

Their hard-won advantage didn’t last long. A massive mushroom cloud suddenly rose up on the distant horizon. Seconds later, a violent tremor rippled across the ground from far away.

BOOM! BOOM......

Then another mushroom cloud. And another...... As each fiery cloud bloomed in the distance, the demonic horde suffered catastrophic losses. The adventurers soon noticed that the number and strength of the beasts charging toward them had dwindled dramatically.

“Is she really holding off most of the horde all by herself?” Lucian murmured in awe, gazing at the distant explosions. He thought back to the figure hovering above the sea of flames, and his voice trembled slightly. “Just how powerful is Hulim?”

Time and time again, they had thought they had glimpsed the limits of her strength. But every single time, they were proven wrong. What they saw was never the full extent of her power.

Meanwhile.

Far from the adventurers, deep in the heart of the demonic tide.

Countless beasts roared as one, charging madly toward the lone figure who had brought them such devastation.

Demonic beasts were not mindless—when facing a threat alone, they knew fear, and they would run. But now, swept up in the frenzy of the horde, their individual instincts were suppressed to the breaking point. They were nothing more than mindless instruments of destruction.

All reason was drowned out by primal instinct.

So even as their shattered bodies flew through the air, even as rivers of crimson blood poured down like rain, pooling into streams on the ground, they did not falter. Their blood-red eyes blazed with nothing but cold, unyielding killing intent.

“Ninefold Magic Array—Great Funeral Pyre!”

Nine blazing fireballs, bright as stars, materialized in the air around her.

Hulim waved the Seven Luminaries downward.

The nine star-like orbs plummeted toward the earth.

BOOM——!!!

Nine terrifying shockwaves rippled across the ground, flattening everything in their path.

Countless demonic beasts were incinerated into ash before they even had time to scream.

ROAR——!

At that moment, an enraged howl split the sky.

A colossal Rank A Flying Demonic Beast, its aura crackling with immense magical power, had set its sights on Hulim. It let out a deafening roar and dove toward her like a meteor.

“A Rank A Flying Demonic Beast.”

Facing the rapidly approaching beast, Hulim’s expression remained calm as still water. She lifted the Seven Luminaries steadily.

HUM... HUM... HUM...

A flurry of glowing orbs materialized around her, floating in mid-air like a swarm of starlight.

In the blink of an eye——

WHOOSH——!!!

All the orbs streaked forward as beams of light, piercing straight toward the diving Rank A Flying Demonic Beast.

ROAR——

A shrill, agonized cry tore from the beast’s throat.

Its massive body was riddled with dozens of gaping holes, blood gushing from every wound.

A rain of blood fell from the sky. The beast’s colossal form plummeted downward, crashing into the ground with a thunderous impact.

CRASH——!

The force of its fall crushed dozens of smaller beasts that hadn’t dodged in time. It lay motionless on the ground.

But it was not yet dead. Hulim’s attack had gravely wounded it—but Rank A Demonic Beasts possessed terrifyingly resilient vitality. Such injuries were not enough to kill it.

Hulim understood this perfectly. She raised the Seven Luminaries once more, and a brilliant light erupted from its surface.

HUM——!

A magic array unfolded directly above the fallen beast.

The beast sensed the overwhelming danger descending from the sky, and panic exploded in its eyes. It struggled frantically to move, desperate to escape. But its wings had been completely shattered by Hulim’s attack, robbing it of flight. Even crawling was an agonizing, impossible task.

ROAR——!

In a last-ditch act of desperation, it chose to fight back.

A blinding light gathered in the depths of its throat. A moment later, a searing beam of energy erupted from its mouth, slamming directly into the beam descending from the magic array above.

BOOM——!

The two beams collided in mid-air, erupting in a violent explosion. A shockwave rippled outward, sending countless demonic beasts flying like ragdolls.

Seeing its attack lock into a stalemate with the descending beam, the beast’s eyes lit up with a flicker of hope. It thought it had bought itself a moment’s reprieve.

But its relief lasted less than a second.

HUM——!

Another identical magic array unfolded directly above the first one.

“???!!”