Amber Sword

Brand raised his Sword—

The Long-Horned Demons were among the few high-level melee Demons along the River of Sulfur that possessed extremely high Intelligence. They looked a bit like slick, hairless Werewolves, but their bodies were far larger than the latter. No one knew the exact origin of the Long-Horned Demons; the earliest ones appeared in the Bloodfire Land on the lower layer of the River of Sulfur, and it was said they evolved from Little Demons that had survived hundreds of battles there.

Certain traits of the Long-Horned Demons indeed carried the shadow of Little Demons—whether it was that identical purplish-red skin or those sharp fangs and claws. In fact, they looked exactly like magnified Little Demons, except that their flesh wings had already degenerated and their tails had grown thicker and more rigid to maintain balance.

More importantly, every Long-Horned Demon was proven to possess rich combat Experience. There were almost no juvenile-status Long-Horned Demons; every one found before and after by the Flame Temple was at least an adult individual, and an adult Long-Horned Demon possessed Strength roughly equivalent to Elemental Enlightenment.

Which meant Brand had no choice but to face three monsters with Enlightenment Element strength at the same time. He had no time to think; the three Long-Horned Demons were already charging forward in great strides.

Brand pulled out the Cloak of Concealing All Things of the King of Buni from the Dimension Hole and handed it to Antitina beside him. The Cloak of Concealing All Things only lasted for about four minutes each day; handing it to Antitina right now so she could calmly and swiftly locate the nodes of the Teleportation Gate was clearly the best use of it.

Antitina took the Cloak, biting her lip as she glanced at Brand. Having long since learned how to use the Cloak, she didn’t need Brand to explain anything further. After a brief pause she flipped it back over herself, covering her entire body, and in the next second she vanished into thin air before everyone’s eyes.

Only Brand was left by the Teleportation Gate.

"Antitina, hurry!" Brand shouted into the empty air.

He didn’t know if Antitina could hear him—hopefully she did. In the status of All Things Concealing, Antitina was like she had completely disappeared, which made Brand feel uneasy. But at this point he could only choose to trust that Noble Girl from Brags.

A claw strike out of nowhere cut him off—The three Long-Horned Demons had already reached him. More precisely, what arrived first was their merciless Attack—at least one of the three Long-Horned Demons was tied to the Fire Element, because Brand already saw its snow-white claws dragging three long fiery trails out of the air.

This was the Strength of the Element.

Brand’s eyes even reflected the golden Law Threads extending from that single claw strike, with a wave of scorching heat rushing at him. But he didn’t dare meet it head on; his body jerked backward, the burning airflow brushing past his forehead, and the brown hair at his brow instantly dried out and curled.

After the claw,

came the tail.

Brand indeed instinctively moved to track the Long-Horned Demon’s tail, seeing them twist their bodies as a whipping tail lashed across. He had already prepared, rolling forward to the side and passing beneath the enemy’s tail, then rising with flawless fluidity to deliver a Sword strike to the Long-Horned Demon’s back.

Unfortunately, that Sword strike left only a shallow wound on the Long-Horned Demon.

Defense very high, Attack very high, but movements slightly slow—exactly the same as in Brand’s memories. Of course, "slow" was only relative; to Ordinary Humans this was still a speed completely beyond what could be clearly seen.

Two rounds of Attacks missed altogether. The three Long-Horned Demons were taken aback. They had never fought Humans before, but Brand’s reactions clearly surpassed the normal concept of speed. With their Intelligence they faintly sensed something off, like they were facing a familiar old opponent even though this was supposedly their first clash.

The Long-Horned Demons turned around.

Brand had already rolled with the momentum to stand at their other side, outside their melee attack range, and immediately launched a counteroffensive. He also glanced toward the Teleportation Gate, not knowing where Antitina was, but he absolutely couldn’t let these Demons get away.

After all, the Cloak of Concealing All Things only concealed; it didn’t truly remove one from the Main Material Plane. He had to find a way to keep these monsters’ attention on him—that wasn’t an easy task, but Brand quickly found an approach.

He locked onto the Long-Horned Demon on the left and moved, charging from the flank. That way the other two Demons would at least have a delay if they wanted to circle around and encircle him. Gripping the Earth Sword tightly, he slashed toward that Demon’s horns—those were the very source of a Long-Horned Demon’s Strength.