Chapter 418: Threat Neutralised

Back when Fruder and Vexi retreated toward Uraan to catch their breath, he instantly realised something was wrong. Their retreating pattern was strange—two moving toward him and two toward Lyra at the same time.

Thus, he moved in the nick of time, catching sight of them drawing needle-like daggers—he darted straight toward Lyra, who was still oblivious. Without hesitation, he used wind magic to accelerate, swept her up, and leapt upward, only to see the two men by her side slash through empty air where Lyra had just been standing with the same dagger.

As for why Lyra allowed Uraan to pick her up—it was simple. She hadn’t even been able to react to the sudden turn of events.

She was about to scold and snap at Uraan when she caught sight of the missed attack and realised something was wrong.

"Thank you," she said, her voice steadying as Uraan lowered her behind him onto the tree branch he stood on.

"Get ready. It seems the demons have made their first move on us after the trial," Uraan said in a serious tone, his eyes fixed on the four figures before him as they began to transform.

At Leo’s location, after half of the neck was severed, the demon disappeared.

"Oh crap!" Leo muttered in frustration. "The life bracelets work on them too."

At that moment, Brant’s voice echoed in everyone’s mind.

"Don’t worry about the life bracelets, just deal with them here. When they’re transported to the temple, the authorities will catch them," he said calmly.

"Defeating 1 demon grants 100,000 AC," Brant added casually.

Hearing that, Uraan’s eyes lit up. Lyra’s did too—though not as much as his. She wasn’t broke like him. Uraan had already spent most of his resources buying slaves and life bracelets, leaving him short on money. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"Lyra, if you’re really thankful and want to show it, don’t engage with the demons. I’ll deal with them," he said with a slight smile, his sword already drawn.

Lyra raised a brow, almost mockingly.

"Go ahead. But I bet you’ll come crying for my help once you get overwhelmed."

Uraan didn’t even respond. He had already leapt down toward the demons.

By now, except for the one who had attacked Leo, all of them had transformed. Their bodies grew bulkier, skin turning ash-grey, two straight horns protruding from their foreheads, and razor-sharp teeth lining their mouths.

Their armour and shirts had torn to accommodate their heavy builds, and each held a needle-like dagger in hand.

"Jejejeje, our King ordered us to kill the strongest person from the recent trial in this academy for being promoted to a Baron in the Abyss. We cannot let this chance go to waste!" one demon cackled as they charged simultaneously at Uraan.

Uraan, who had been charging forward, suddenly halted mid-step—then dashed in the opposite direction.

"Fuck! All are Low 3-star. I can’t defeat them without getting injured!" he cursed, suddenly recalling both of his beasts were missing, and demons’ bodies are way sturdier than their ranks suggest.

The thought of money had temporarily blinded him.

When he glanced toward Kaelion, he froze in shock.

"Get out of my sight, you filthy demon," Kaelion growled, his claws sinking deeper into the demon’s chest. The demon’s hand uselessly struggled against his arm before Kaelion clamped around the heart, and the body vanished.

The other two were already heavily injured and had retreated some distance after witnessing Kaelion’s strength. They were disarmed, their needle daggers lying far away—swatted from their hands effortlessly.

"Our intel was wrong! He wasn’t supposed to be this strong!" one demon shouted, clutching his abdomen where a deep claw gash bled.

"That boy too! How can he slice through a demon’s neck so effortlessly!?" the other yelled, pointing at Leo, who was currently holding Lily back from acting rashly.

"Lily! Don’t let those daggers touch you. I can feel the sinister energy in them," Leo warned, tightening his grip as he scanned for his next target.

Lily nodded, locking onto the two demons that had been thrown aside earlier by Kaelion before their transformation. She blurred forward—and in the next instant, both men disappeared.

As for the ones chasing Uraan, Leo dealt with all four in a single swift motion.

Not long after, Kaelion was seen picking up a fallen needle-like dagger, examining it silently. Apparently, he had already finished as well. No matter how sturdy a demon’s body was, no Low 3-star could stand against Low 4-star, Mid 4-star, and High 4-star opponents.

Up on the tree branch, Lyra was left dumbfounded.

Everything had happened in less than half a minute, and she had still been contemplating whether she should engage any of the demons. Yet the situation had already been resolved.

"This..." Lyra felt her footing falter.

"Just who was I planning to attack?" she muttered nervously, pulling out her phone and quickly deleting the message she had sent to Leo and Lily about their mistake in not allying with her territory.

It wasn’t just her—others deleted their messages too. Only Uraan didn’t, because he had already forgotten he had even sent one after witnessing today’s events.

On the other hand, Lily’s hands itched with frustration. She wasn’t truly satisfied and wanted to go to the temple and kill them with her own hands.

How dare they launch a life-threatening attack on Leo, that too right in front of her?

"You will be getting a mission soon enough. At that time, you can have your way with the demons. But right now, you are simply not experienced enough to deal with them," Katherine’s calm voice echoed in her mind.

"But teacher! I can easily strangle them to death with my left hand!" Lily protested.

"No. If I say you aren’t experienced enough, then listen. Do you know that demons don’t care about their lives? They can plant something in their bodies that will haunt their killer for a lifetime. And trust me—you would not want to fight a suicidal person, even if they are a whole major rank below you. And demons are thousands of times more crafty than such a person. Because? Tell me, why?" Katherine pressed.

"Because they can’t be killed unless their real body in the Abyss is attacked..." Lily muttered through gritted teeth.

At that moment, something shifted inside her.

It felt as if something opened in her mind—like her sea of consciousness was responding, whispering something to her. Almost as if it was possible to kill them, even without targeting their real bodies.

What is it? What is it?

She searched for the answer, feeling like she was only a step away—

And then—

Blank.

"Huh?"