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

"Philippa, help me!"

As it turned out, challenging opponents of higher levels was still too difficult for Sophia. Even with the restraining effect of light-attribute magic, it couldn't make up for the gap of an entire magic level.

Sofia was probably genuinely afraid that Philippa would be heartless and not save her, so she stopped jokingly calling her "wife."

Seeing how obedient Sophia was, Philippa couldn't bear to see the saintess in her team being beaten by the monster, so she intervened and stopped the monster's attack, taking Sophia away from the battlefield.

Next, Taric came on.

"Tarik, take over!"

Seventh-tier monsters are extremely rare in this area; encountering even one is not easy, and encountering two in one day is already a sign of a hero's aura.

It would be even harder to encounter another one, so the hero team decided to repeatedly use this seventh-tier monster. Sophia tried but failed, so they switched to Taric.

Anyway, Sophia was defeated after only a few rounds of fighting the monster. Even though she had consumed some of the monster's stamina and magic, Taric was practically fighting a seventh-tier monster at its peak.

Seeing that Sophia couldn't defeat a seventh-tier monster in a one-on-one fight, Philippa knew that Taric, whose light-attribute magic was even weaker, had even less hope.

Could they lose even faster than Sofia?

However, Taric quickly proved his manhood with his actions.

Although he still couldn't take on a seventh-tier monster single-handedly, he could last much longer than Sophia, long enough for Sophia to reflect on her actions.

Should I have held on a little longer before collapsing?

Although he's still far from being able to solo a level 7 monster, Taric has far exceeded Philippa's expectations.

Seeing that Taric was about to be defeated, Philippa spoke again: "Let's move on to the third phase."

Sofia asked in confusion, "What third phase? Are you going to go again? Wait..."

Philippa demonstrated to Sofia what the third stage was through her actions.

Sofia was forcibly pushed back into the battlefield.

The third stage involves the two of them working together to deal with a seventh-tier monster.

That makes sense. If you can't beat them in the first two one-on-one phases, then you have to switch to the third phase, 2v1, in the Ganges.

The monster is a seventh-tier Shadow Wolf.

Taric growled, channeling platinum light into his heavy battle axe, and charged headlong into the terrifying seventh-tier Shadow Wolf.

A fierce glint flashed in the wolf's crimson eyes, and its massive claws, covered in thick shadows, swung forcefully, striking the axe with pinpoint accuracy.

With a dull thud, Taric was struck as if by a heavy hammer. His arms trembled violently, and he was sent flying uncontrollably, crashing into a boulder before coming to a stop. Gravel fell down in a flurry. He felt a sweet taste in his throat and forcefully suppressed the surging blood in his mouth. His tiger's mouth was already cracked and bleeding.

The wolf did not pursue, but instead opened its mouth and unleashed a viscous, pungent, and foul-smelling dark breath, like a black torrent bursting its banks, carrying a strong corrosive force, straight at Taric who had not yet regained his footing.

"Holy Light Barrier!" Sophia's clear and urgent chant rang out just in time.

She stood on a slope not far away, the holy emblem she held in her hands shining brightly.

A thick, pure white wall of light, woven from countless divine runes, instantly appeared in front of Taric, barely blocking the surging shadow breath.

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle—!" The ear-piercing corrosive sound sent chills down one's spine. The wall of light trembled violently, its surface rapidly being eroded and peeled away by darkness, and the holy light dimmed at a visible speed.

Sophia's face paled slightly as she struggled to maintain the output of holy light, barely preventing the light wall from collapsing instantly, though it was clearly a very difficult task.

Seizing this precious respite, Taric roared and swung his giant axe once more.

This time, he no longer sought to attack; the light on his axe blade coalesced into a smaller but more solid platinum shield. "Holy Light Shield!"

He stood behind Sophia's light wall, sharing the terrifying impact. With their combined efforts, the collapse of the light wall was slightly slowed, but the shadow breath continued to assault the double defenses like endless waves.

"Shackles of Light!" Sophia's forehead was covered in a fine sweat as she activated the Holy Symbol once more.

Several slender chains of light shot out and wrapped around the wolf's limbs and joints.

As soon as the light chain touched the shadow energy on the surface of the demon wolf, it immediately emitted a sizzling sound and wisps of black smoke.

The wolf's movements visibly faltered, and it let out a displeased growl. The shadow energy on its body, like boiling swamp, began to actively erode the light chain.

The light chains flickered violently. Although they failed to truly imprison the dire wolf, they successfully interrupted its continuous breathing, buying Taric and Sophia valuable time to adjust.

The pressure eased slightly, but the crisis was far from over. The demon wolf's crimson eyes were locked on Sophia, clearly regarding her as the greatest threat.

Its massive body lunged forward with astonishing speed, its shadowy claws tearing through the air as it grabbed at Sophia with a suffocating pressure.

Taric's pupils contracted, and without hesitation, he abandoned his defensive stance, rushing towards Sophia like a cannonball, and thrusting the Holy Light Shield, which was gathering its last bit of power, towards the demon's claws.

"clang!!!"

A deafening crash was accompanied by a burst of blinding light.

The ground beneath Taric's feet cracked inch by inch. He groaned, a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. His arms, holding the shield, trembled violently. The platinum round shield was covered with spiderweb-like cracks, its light dimmed to the extreme, as if it would shatter completely at any moment.

The wolf's claws were also slightly smoking from the scorching holy light. It let out a low growl in pain and its attack slowed down.

Sophia suppressed the dizziness caused by the depletion of her magic power and seized this fleeting opportunity.

"Holy Sanctuary!" She raised the holy emblem high above her head, and a soft yet resilient hemispherical shield of light quickly spread out, just enough to envelop her and Taric.

Pure holy light flowed across the surface of the light shield, radiating a peaceful aura and temporarily isolating it from the intense magical erosion from the outside world.

The wolf did not launch another attack.

It paced slowly around the holy light shield that emanated a light it loathed, its scarlet eyes flashing with ferocity, and its low, threatening roars echoing across the wilderness.

The areas on its body scorched by the holy light only had shallow scorch marks, and the binding marks left by the light chains at the joints of its forelimbs were rapidly recovering under the surging shadows.

Clearly, Sophia's light magic did inflict some considerable damage on it, effectively restraining it. However, this was relative to other sixth-tier attribute magic. While light magic had a certain degree of destructive power, it was far from posing a substantial threat or causing serious injury.

Sofia and Taric's combined efforts resulted in a stalemate with the Shadow Wolves. For the time being, it seemed that one side had no way to defeat the other, but the two were ultimately at a disadvantage.

Even if the two of them team up, it's still a bit too difficult to fight a monster that's a level higher than them.