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

The miasma of the Bone Rot Swamp, like a thick, grayish-green curtain, obscured the already dim light of day.

The twisted, grotesque tree was rooted in a foul-smelling swamp, its branches resembling the arms of a dying man.

In this deathly silence, the only sound was the sticky sloshing of the seventh-tier monster, the Rotten Poison Swamp Dragon, as it moved and stirred the mud.

Although it is called a dragon, this monster only has some dragon blood and cannot be considered a true dragon. However, the little bit of dragon blood it possesses is enough to put it in the ranks of seventh-tier monsters.

Its massive body was covered in dark green, decaying scales, its thick limbs were mired in the mud, and its ferocious head on its long neck spewed out a ghastly green poisonous mist. Wherever it passed, even stubborn rocks sizzled and corroded. Its scarlet vertical pupils locked onto the intruders—the giant axe warrior Taric and the saintess Sophia.

"Watch out for the poisonous fog and the swamp!" Taric growled, launching the first attack to create space for Sofia to cast spells.

He burst forth with platinum light, his heavy battle axe tearing through the viscous air, cleaving towards the swamp dragon's relatively vulnerable lateral joint with the force of splitting a mountain.

The swamp dragon reacted extremely quickly, its long tail covered in barbs sweeping across like a battering ram, carrying with it foul-smelling mud and highly toxic gales.

"Boom!" The axe tails collided, and Taric was shaken by the enormous force, causing his blood to surge. His feet plowed deep furrows in the slippery mud. The holy light attached to the axe blades clashed violently with the corrosive energy, emitting a piercing "sizzling" sound. He barely resisted the corrosive effects of the poison, but could not break through the hard scales.

The swamp dragon opened its massive maw, and a concentrated, almost tangible, pale green poisonous breath gushed out, engulfing Taric like a waterfall. Its speed and range were so great that it almost blocked all his escape routes!

Before the poison even arrived, its terrifying corrosiveness caused Taric's protective aura to fluctuate violently, and his skin to feel a burning pain.

"Sacred Barrier - Purification!" Sofia's clear chanting was like sunlight piercing through the gloom.

She stood on a relatively dry pumice stone, the sacred emblem she held in her hands bursting with brilliant light.

A massive wall of light, inscribed with intricate purification runes, instantly rose from the ground, stretching between Taric and the poisonous breath.

The torrent of poisonous breath slammed into the wall of light with a "whoosh—!!!"

The deafening sound of corrosion was accompanied by thick smoke rising into the sky, a mixture of ghastly green and pure white.

The wall of light trembled violently, the runes on its surface flickered wildly, and large swathes of it were corroded and dissolved by the poisonous breath.

Sophia's face turned deathly pale instantly, and her body swayed slightly, but she gritted her teeth, and the Holy Emblem shone even brighter, continuously pouring pure holy light into the wall of light, struggling to resist and purify the deadly poison that could melt gold and iron.

Taric felt a sudden relief from the pressure, knowing that this was an opportunity Sophia had obtained by using immense magic.

A fierce glint flashed in his eyes. He stopped retreating and instead roared as he unleashed all his strength and light-attribute magic to the limit.

"Break through!" He held the axe in both hands, the platinum light on the axe burning intensely, and he charged into the edge of the aftershocks of the fierce battle between the light wall and the poisonous breath like an arrow released from a bow!

Holy light enveloped him, temporarily resisting the dissipating poisonous mist, its target being the relatively soft lower jaw and throat exposed by the swamp dragon's venomous breath!

Sensing the deadly threat, the Swamp Dragon tried to close its massive jaws or shake its head, but Sophia's "Holy Barrier," though teetering on the brink of collapse from the poisonous breath, stubbornly prevented it from making any large head movements, buying Taric that fatal moment!

"Holy Light - Earth-Splitting Slash!" Taric's roar echoed through the swamp. His giant axe, imbued with all his will and power, transformed into a beam of judgment that tore through the dim space, striking with pinpoint accuracy the area below the swamp dragon's throat that wasn't covered by its thick scales!

"Pfft——!"

The dull thud of a blade piercing flesh rang out! The blazing holy light, like a red-hot iron, cut into the rotting flesh, instantly unleashing an even stronger "sizzling" sound of purification! Dark green, foul-smelling blood gushed out like a fountain, but upon contact with the holy light on the axe blade, it was immediately evaporated into billowing black smoke.

The swamp dragon let out a deafening howl of pain, its massive body writhing wildly in agony, stirring up mud and spreading poisonous mist.

Sophia seized the moment when the monster was injured, its defenses were weakest, and its attention was most vulnerable!

She suppressed the dizziness from near-exhaustion of her magic power, raised the holy emblem high above her head, and poured all her spirit and remaining magic power into it without reservation. Her voice, imbued with sacred majesty from the concentrated power, proclaimed: "Sanctuary - Light of Judgment! Descend!"

The Holy Emblem burst forth with a radiance like the sun! An immense beam of light, incredibly condensed and pure to the extreme, like a divine spear of judgment, disregarded the distance of space and pierced with unparalleled precision into the enormous wound that Taric had cleaved in the throat of the swamp dragon, a wound still being burned and purified by holy light!

"Boom——!!!"

The moment the beam of light entered, it was as if a light bomb had exploded inside the swamp dragon's body.

Its wildly twisting body suddenly stiffened, and its scarlet vertical pupils were instantly filled with blinding white light before bursting open.

Countless blazing beams of light shot out violently from the gaps in its scales, its seven orifices, and even from the huge wound on its body.

The stagnant, corrupting energy and dark core within it melted and disintegrated rapidly, like snow meeting the blazing sun, under the purification and annihilation of this ultimate holy light.

The swamp dragon's enormous, mountain-like body convulsed and shrank violently amidst the endless bursts of light, finally letting out a low, mournful cry filled with endless pain and resentment, before crashing down into the putrid swamp, stirring up a sky full of filthy mud waves.

Its dark green scales quickly lost their luster, turning gray and fragile. Under the continued purification of the remaining holy light, its massive body, like rotten wood being ignited, emitted billowing smoke and eventually turned into a huge, charred pile of remains, slowly sinking into the depths of the mud.

The air was filled with a complex mix of a strong, burnt smell and a strange, refreshing scent, as if purified by holy light.

Taric leaned on his battle axe, which was stuck in the mud, and breathed heavily.

After resting for a while and regaining some strength, he spoke:

"It's resolved. Although we can now work together to kill a seventh-tier monster, we still can't kill it as easily as Philippa could."

Sophia disliked the filthy environment surrounding the secret realm, and even with her staff in hand, she refused to touch the foul-smelling mud.

"There's nothing we can do, she's already at level seven..."

"No, that's just making excuses. Princess Heroine was already able to easily kill seventh-tier monsters long before she even reached the seventh tier."

This is the harm of comparison. Not only is Philippa far stronger than Sophia and Taric combined when they are at the same level, but she also advances in magic rank faster than them.

Being completely outmatched in every aspect, even if the opponent is a hero and you are a member of a hero's team, you will still feel somewhat resentful.