The maid squad is too strong, what use is there for me, the Demon King?

"And..."

Upon hearing the deafening roar, Sofia immediately wore a bitter expression.

The vast Emerald Valley is naturally home to far more than just a few monsters; we should have been prepared to face even more monsters long ago.

Judging from the power of that roaring sound, the one that made it must be a huge creature, difficult to deal with.

From the depths of the valley came the crisp sound of branches snapping, and the ground began to tremble unnaturally, as if some enormous creature was awakening from the earth.

A chilling sound of rocks scraping against each other echoed from the forest, accompanied by a low rumble like flowing lava. Rotting trees were pushed over, black sap seeping from their broken trunks.

Its enormous form, towering like a mobile fortress, had an obsidian shell that gleamed with a greasy, blood-red hue in the eerie light. Each time its lava hooves stomped the ground, spiderweb-like, charred cracks appeared, from which thick, sulfurous smoke seeped.

None of the three had ever seen such a creature before, and even Taric, who was the most knowledgeable about monsters, was stunned by its enormous size.

"Such a strong demonic aura...it can't be an ordinary monster..."

Philippa held her sword, her eyes fixed on the lava monster, wary of a sudden attack.

"The devil's retinue..."

Sofia murmured.

Although it was her first time seeing such a creature, as a saint of the church, she still had some knowledge about demons.

Upon receiving Philippa's warning that "the aura of a demon is strong," Sofia immediately concluded that this was a member of the demon's retinue.

Bizarre and hideous, with its demons and retinue, there is nothing more disgusting in the world.

“Emerald Valley must have been polluted by this thing, which is why it has become like this!” Sophia concluded.

"Does that mean if we destroy this thing, Emerald Valley will return to its original state?" Upon hearing this, Philippa seemed somewhat eager to try.

Sofia and Tarik, however, could not share Philippa's optimism.

Are you kidding me?

Judging by its size, aura, and imposing presence, this thing is at least a seventh-tier creature, while the three of them are only fifth-tier professionals.

Are we, three fifth-tier professionals, really fighting a seventh-tier demon's minion?

It must be said that their previous experience of defeating a sixth-tier demon gave them a lot of confidence.

上次是4+4+5，在战斗中突破到了5+5+5，才打赢了那六阶魔族人。

This time it's a 5+5+5 fight against a Tier 7 demon familiar, which involves crossing even more tiers, but it's worth a try.

Since we're already here, why not give it a try?

Who knows, maybe we can fight?

All three are light-attribute beings that are effective against demonic familiars, so they wouldn't be at a disadvantage in a real fight.

But the premise is that it's three against one.

That lava monster wasn't a lone "demon".

Along with them came a vast horde of monsters, far exceeding the previous number and stretching as far as the eye could see.

Screaming banshees with rotting wing membranes hovered in the air. Their twisted humanoid bodies had three pairs of bat wings, and their necks were twisted at impossible angles, constantly emitting high-frequency hisses.

The ground was crawling with scaly lizardmen, these lizard-like monsters whose backs were covered with vesicles that could spray venom, and whose forked tongues had a second mouth at the tip.

Lurking in the shadows are corrupted, rotting creatures with skin that is bluish-gray like adipocere, ghostly green flames burning in their eye sockets, and living weapons covered in barbs.

What kind of ghost are you fighting?

The sheer number of monster corpses piled up would be enough to crush them to death.

Fighting these things isn't called facing difficulties head-on; it's just plain suicide!

The lava monster suddenly stopped, its head, made of volcanic rock, slowly turning, the lava patterns between its shells flashing violently. When it opened its jaws and let out a battle roar, what was revealed was not a tongue, but a ball of purple demonic flame churning in its mouth.

The three immediately made their own moves, attempting to defend against the demon's attack.

Within Philippa's aura, a protective shield enveloped in light created by Sofia, Taric stood ready, axe raised.

The purple demonic flames passed through the first barrier of the aura, but their speed did not slow down at all, and they directly bombarded the shield released by Sophia.

The moment their magic clashed, Sophia felt extremely strained and quickly increased her magic usage, applying it to the shield to maintain a stalemate with the burning purple magic flames.

Soon, Sofia was drenched in sweat and clenched her teeth.

"No, I can't hold on any longer..."

As Sophia's voice fell, the protective barrier shattered as if responding to her, and purple demonic flames surged towards the three members of the hero's team.

Fortunately, after Sophia's protective shield was used up, the power of the purple demonic flames was weakened, and its power was no longer as terrifying as when it was spewed out.

Taric and Philippa were ready, imbuing their weapons with magic and swinging them to block the attack.

They had indeed managed to stop it. Once the purple demonic flames dissipated, Taric and Philippa both breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hot...hot...hot..."

Philippa shook her little hands, trying to drive away the heat transferred to them.

Philippa's weapon is a light sword, which is not very heavy and is easy to wield.

Taric, wielding the giant axe, couldn't do that. Swinging it like that would be too exhausting, and he couldn't just throw the weapon away. He could only endure the scorching heat.

With this attack, Sofia and Taric confirmed their suspicions.

If you can't afford to mess with them, running away is the best option!

But seeing the fighting spirit in Philippa's eyes, Sophia almost choked with anger and shouted, "Aren't you going to run away? Didn't you agree on this? You ran away when there were too many sixth-tier monsters, but now that seventh-tier demon familiars have arrived, what are you still doing here?"

These words seemed to wake Philippa up. A hint of regret flashed in the eyes of the princess and the heroine, but she still chose to respect her promise to her companion.

You oil the road! (Escape!)

Without further hesitation, the three turned and ran.

Seeing the three of them flee decisively, the lava monster roared again.

The demon's minions began to stir with the roar, their limbs twitching unnaturally as if controlled by invisible threads, their movements bizarre as they relentlessly pursued the three.

The roar of the lava shattered the surrounding dead trees, and the decaying bark peeled off like charcoal. Its heavy hooves cracked the ground, leaving burning footprints in the mud with each step, and sulfurous smoke billowed behind it.

And so, the three members of the hero's team were chased by the horde of monsters, not daring to look back even once, for fear that turning their heads would allow the monsters to catch up.

However, Sophia, who was not a melee fighter, did not have the stamina for the chase and was already panting heavily.

"It really is..."

Sofia felt that this was all the exercise she had done in a year.

While running at high speed, Sofia tripped over a stone and suddenly lost her balance...