The Flower Is Finished

I immediately ran toward Michelle's house. The scent of blood suddenly reached me from not too far away, and my eyes widened in shock when I saw several villagers lying on the ground, covered in blood.

Without stopping, I rushed past them and immediately helped one of the villagers who was currently being attacked by a man dressed in black.

"Damn it… they're attacking without caring about age," I cursed while clenching my fists tightly.

"Akh… akhh…"

Sreng!

Blesh!

BUGH!

Jleb!

After driving my sword straight into the black-clothed soldier, I quickly helped the middle-aged man. He seemed injured, but fortunately the wound had not pierced any vital organs. Even so, he immediately urged me to leave him behind.

"I'm fine… go save Michelle and Lira," he said while pressing his hand against his stomach.

There was no hesitation in his voice. I glanced at him for a moment before finally standing up and leaving him behind.

I hurried toward Michelle's house, helping several villagers who were being attacked by the demon forces along the way. I tried to save as many people as possible, but more enemies kept appearing, swinging their swords at me from every direction.

Srang!

Srang!

Blesh!

Akhhh!

It took nearly thirty minutes to finally reach Michelle's house. During that time, I fought endlessly while rescuing the villagers, yet every single one of them gave me the same answer—they told me to hurry to Michelle and Lira.

I kept running until I finally saw Michelle surrounded by several soldiers dressed in black. The Elder stood nearby, protecting Lira behind him.

Rain slowly began to fall, and the smell of wet earth pierced my senses. The wind whispered through the night as though trying to break our wings apart. The ground carried a strong metallic scent of blood, while thunder roared violently across the sky as if the heavens themselves were witnessing our battle.

"If you have the courage, then face me!" I shouted while raising my sword.

The enemies immediately charged toward Michelle and me.

"You'll die by my hands!" one of them roared while moving his hand as though controlling them all.

And sure enough, the soldiers who had been fighting the villagers suddenly stopped and turned toward us instead. They attacked together brutally, forcing Michelle and me to struggle against all of them at once.

The Elder quickly ordered me to hold them back while he evacuated the injured villagers.

Wave after wave of attacks came toward us, and one of the enemy blades accidentally slashed my arm. I immediately glared sharply at the attacker.

Under the heavy rain, blood streamed down my arm. I tore part of my clothes and wrapped it tightly around the wound, but the enemies only laughed mockingly as they watched me bleed from a simple sword strike.

"So you're really the owner of the Ancient Fire?" one of them asked while laughing arrogantly.

I remained silent and stared at him coldly.

"Feel this," their leader shouted as he ordered the others to step back.

He raised his hand, and suddenly objects around us began floating into the air before launching toward us with terrifying speed. While I struggled to tighten the cloth around my bleeding arm, Michelle tried desperately to deflect the incoming attacks.

"You're a witch…" Michelle muttered loudly.

The man burst into laughter.

"All of you deserve to die," he snarled with burning hatred clearly visible in his eyes.

My necklace pulsed brightly with a crimson glow. At first I thought it was a small warning, but deep down I knew something far greater was about to happen.

One by one, demons began appearing around us, surrounding us completely.

As we stared ahead, I suddenly felt a massive vibration beneath the ground. I quickly looked around, wondering if a giant beast was charging toward us or if it was merely my imagination.

"Do you feel that? The ground is shaking," Michelle said while still struggling to hold back the flying objects attacking us.

The attacks suddenly stopped, but the tremors only grew stronger and closer. My brows furrowed as I stared forward.

"Is there a giant coming?" I asked, though perhaps Michelle could not even hear my voice over the storm.

Then suddenly—

CRASH!

A massive tree flew through the air from ahead and nearly crushed us. Fortunately, we both rolled to the side just in time to avoid it.

Standing before us was a gigantic demon carrying an enormous axe. Its body towered over us like a mountain. A foul, rotten smell immediately filled the air, making me almost gag. Beside me, Michelle covered her mouth, struggling against nausea.

"Hand over the translated book if you wish to survive," the demon roared loudly through the pouring rain.

But I only glared at him coldly. My spirit did not break simply because of his terrifying appearance. To me, this was merely the true beginning of our battle against the demons.

"I'd rather die than hand over the book we worked so hard to translate!" Michelle shouted fearlessly.

Several enemies burst into laughter after hearing her words. To them, standing against such a giant demon was nothing but suicide.

Honestly, this was also my first time seeing a demon of such monstrous size. Its skin looked unbelievably thick, as though no sword could ever pierce it.

The giant took two heavy steps forward, causing the ground to shake violently beneath us. Then he swung his enormous axe toward us.

We immediately dodged aside, and he glared at us with murderous rage.

BRAK!

The earth split apart from the impact.

At the same time, my necklace glowed even brighter in crimson light, signaling that this demon was far stronger than any enemy I had faced before.

"Can you evacuate them?" I asked Michelle after noticing the enemy leader attacking the Elder and the villagers nearby.

"What about you? Can you handle this?" Michelle asked hesitantly.

I nodded confidently. As long as Michelle remained hidden, perhaps her ice powers would not be discovered yet.

"Alright… I'll trust you," she said before quickly running toward the Elder and the villagers being attacked by the black-clothed soldiers.

My eyes locked onto the giant demon, and the demon stared back at me with murderous intent. I gritted my teeth and tightened my grip on my sword.

The Ancient Fire inside my body finally erupted after being suppressed for so many days. This time, its power felt even greater than before.

The demon swung its axe toward me again. I dodged swiftly and leaped onto its enormous body.

"Hiyaaa!"

I poured the power of the Ancient Fire into my sword. When the demon tried grabbing me, I drove my blade deep into its arm.

The demon roared in pain and violently shook its body, trying to throw me off. Even so, I continued stabbing deeper into its flesh.

But suddenly, it caught me.

With overwhelming force, the demon hurled me toward a tree far from the battlefield.

"Akhhhh…!"

BRUK!

Fortunately, the armor I wore protected my body from serious injury when I crashed against the tree.

I immediately stood back up and grabbed my sword again. Then I rushed back toward the demon, which was still roaring in agony.

My eyes burned with fury, and intense heat began flowing through my veins.

As I walked forward, the plants beneath my feet slowly withered away.

Fearlessly, I faced the demon once more.

It swung its axe at me again, but this time I raised my hand and unleashed flames directly from my palm.

The Ancient Fire instantly engulfed the demon's body.

The demon screamed horribly in pain as the flames consumed it alive. I continued releasing more and more fire until the entire battlefield glowed bright red beneath the storm.

Suddenly, everyone stopped fighting after witnessing the gigantic demon being destroyed by my Ancient Fire.

"What kind of power is that?"

"How is this possible?"

Their whispers echoed clearly in my ears, but I continued pouring flames toward the demon.

The creature screamed one final time. Then I unleashed an even hotter wave of Ancient Fire.

BOOM!

Its body exploded apart, spraying disgusting black blood everywhere.

The foul blood splattered across my body as I planted my sword into the ground to steady myself.

The giant demon was completely destroyed, reduced to scattered remains.

I breathed heavily while the enemies slowly stepped backward in fear after witnessing the demon shatter before them.

"Don't retreat!" their leader roared furiously.

I slowly turned toward him.

"You still want to play with me?" I asked coldly.

"Your power is nothing compared to ours."

Suddenly, birds burst into the sky frantically, signaling that something even worse was about to happen.

Before we could rest, horrifying screams suddenly echoed from the villagers. The enemy leader burst into loud laughter after realizing his next plan had succeeded.

"AAAAAAH! HELP! IT HURTS!"

Several villagers screamed desperately for help before suddenly vanishing before our eyes.

"If demons cannot defeat you… then witches will become your enemies."

After saying those words, all of them disappeared instantly.

I stared in shock before turning toward Michelle, who was desperately protecting Lira and the Elder. Even worse, the villagers had become sacrifices for the demons. Within seconds, their bodies vanished completely as though burned by unimaginable heat.

There were no traces left behind. No bones. No corpses.

They had been erased entirely.

Yet their screams still echoed endlessly inside my head.