Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

The warhorse true to its demonic nature utterly stomped on the hopes of its enemies and showed them a nightmare straight out of hell. Its appearance was burned inside their memories before their very being dissipated.

In one corner of the eastern region of the Ghastly winding Forest, one patch of land was engulfed in a ring of fire that spanned for hundreds of meters and from which disturbing screams echoed out occasionally.

Before long everything was pervaded by a stifling silence and only the galloping sounds of the warhorse could be heard. The Bloodthorn Demonic warhorse had made its presence known to the world of Althaea.

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RUMBLE'¦ RUMBLE'¦ flames and lightning wreaked havoc and in the sky, devastating a few kilometres of land.

Desolation filled the area as far as the eye could see and everything was in total chaos.

The perpetrators behind all of this were currently tangled in a life or death battle with none gaining an edge over the other. With a flap of wings, Simon quickly spun his body and dodged the lightning attack aiming towards his chest and swiftly delivered a roundhouse kick packed with all of his strength towards his enemy.

BOOM'¦ the force behind the kick was strong that it created a sonic boom nonetheless, the attack didn't connect as the enemy swiftly flipped his body back in the nick of time before the attack could even touch the edges of his clothes.

Both the parties have been tanged in a series of back and forth battles for hours and it could be seen from the condition of their bodies that they were quite exhausted as they took hurried breaths of air.

Traces of wounds covered each of their bodies evident of the fierce battle that they were having and the atmosphere between them was so intense that even a slight mistake could decide the outcome of this battle.

'Huff'¦ huff'¦ this damn demon should be nothing more than a stepping stone. I can see that he is full of openings but why is it that he still wouldn't go down after all those injuries' Laris took hurried breaths of air, his facial features were twisted in anger and annoyance.

He couldn't believe that the demon he thought would be no match for it after he used his skills was still clashing with him neck and neck. Not only that, Laris could feel the demon was improving as they fought even while suffering all those injuries.

Suddenly a bad premonition struck him and he felt he shouldn't give any more time to this demon who was going through a transformation in front of his eyes.

Gripping his [C] tier Twin Blades, he inputted more of his manas and the channelled lightning magic was stronger than ever. "It's time you go down demon'¦ [Hell Lightning Fierce Slash]".

With a loud roar, Laris dished out a series of lightning imbued slashes that made countless sword shadows as flew towards Simon from all directions targeting his vital points.

Similar to Laris, Simon was very exhausted from the battle and even up until now he couldn't get any edge over his enemy. It could be seen from the state of their bodies that in terms of combat experience, Laris was far superior to him. Whenever he moved, he only used minimal movements to dodge his attacks and used the remaining time to dish lightning-fast counters to give no time to his enemies.

From the state of his body, which was laden with injuries, one could see how fierce their battle was.

Blood continuously seeped out from those wounds and dyed his fair skin red. However, the expression on his face denied all the serious wounds he suffered.

Wild joy and ecstasy to battle more was currently fueling every part of his body and even while being the one at the disadvantage, he didn't want this battle to end soon.

It wasn't like Simon was going insane after suffering all those wounds to have an ecstatic expression on his face even while going through a difficult battle. It was precisely because he was going through a difficult battle that he could feel that he was growing at a fast rate.

He could feel the void of combat experience filling a drop at a time and knew that he was making progress. The distant silhouette that was always in his mind, the peerless beauty who was standing on a tall pedestal, to catch up to her he has to put his body through all this bloody battle. And only like this will he be able to someday bridge that gap between them.

If Simon wanted to end this battle, he could have just used his [A] tier Crimson Blazing Flame Blade which provided a huge buff to his stats and using the skill bestowed by the sword, he could have ended his enemy a long time ago.

However, Simon decided not to do so as he knew that stats and skills bestowed by the weapon were secondary and he couldn't rely on it all the time. The weapon might help the gap between his enemies at a critical time but relying on it too much would instead hamper his growth.

What was important was honing his skills and stats which was permanent unlike the temporary benefits provided by the sword. He could always depend on his own strength during dire times and that he would also be able to survive in this world and protect the things he held dear.

Nevertheless, the path Simon chose was filled with perils and he knew that he would have to brush through death many a time but if he couldn't even do that, it would just be a dream to catch up to Irene.

What Simon hated the most was the idea of him relying on her strength to pass through all the dangers he might encounter in the future. He abhorred the thought so much that he would instead put his body through all the dangers so as to one day he could be strong enough to shoulder all the burdens.

He knew that the world wasn't kind enough to those who didn't have enough power to protect their rights and that is why he wanted to, no he had to get stronger to make sure that those around him never get bullied again.

Suddenly a thought arrived in him, a thought about him protecting Irene one day. Though he didn't know why he would think of such an idea at a critical time like this, but he didn't dislike the idea.

He never thought about Irene needing his protection after all, since the moment they met she was able to do all the things by herself and even defeat enemies much higher level than her. Not to mention her ridiculous stats that was so unbelievable that he still wasn't able to get past the shock.

He couldn't see a future where Irene would ever need his help; however, if destiny ever decided her needing his aid,  he would help her no matter the dangers.

With a coarse roar, Simon confronted all the attacks thrown at him. Compared to earlier where he was fazed by the attacks and was full of openings, this time however he was able to deflect most of the attacks targeted at his vitals and endured the ones that were off their target to dish out his own attacks.

Unlike earlier where he would just conjure the flame magic and throw it towards his enemies, this time he conjured the flame magic and compressed it to the point where it was many times smaller than its previous size.

Even the colour of the compressed flames started glowing a faint golden and the intensity of heat was swiftly approaching the advanced level of magic.

The space around him violently distorted from the conjured flames and the lightning which up until now maintained an equilibrium against his flames showed faint signs of being suppressed.

'What is happening? Why do I feel pressured whenever I look at those flames'¦ what are those flames?' Laris thought. As soon as Simon conjured the compressed flames, a pressure like never before enveloped the surrounding making the atmosphere heavier than before.

The wind that was blowing before suddenly stopped and an eerily silence settled everywhere. "What did you do demon?" Laris who could no longer endure this presence asked in a hurried tone.. One could even feel a trace of wariness from his voice which he failed to conceal.