The Natives of This World Are Fierce

However, the fiery monster suddenly froze the moment it raised its long whip.

Qin Xiaoxia felt like a frog suddenly stared down by a snake; his entire body went rigid, rendering him unable to move.

"Uh, heheh... Hi, I’m not actually a Sea Siren..."

The monster naturally couldn’t understand him. An expression akin to confusion appeared on its face, which resembled flowing, dark-red magma.

This was the first time Qin Xiaoxia had observed it from such a close distance.

It was strong, tyrannical, and oppressive. Although its appearance differed somewhat from the Demons in Earth’s movies and books, considering the name of that World Fragment, it was no exaggeration to call it a Flame Demon.

After a few seconds of silence, as if waking from a dream, the fiery monster raised its head and looked at the sky, then at the surrounding skyscrapers.

Although also a native creature from Magson, Doudou was completely ignored.

The downpour was so heavy it was like a curtain of rain, yet it couldn’t even penetrate the fiery monster’s body, preventing Qin Xiaoxia from enacting his follow-up plan.

His mind was a storm of curses.

Thankfully, the big lug seemed to have short-circuited, as if it had fallen into some kind of philosophical state.

In his head, Qin Xiaoxia found he was actually still in the mood to give it a funny voice-over.

’Where am I? What the hell is this place?’ Things like that.

The sounds of gunfire and cannons from the ground hadn’t stopped, but missiles were likely either ineffective or depleted, so they appeared less frequently.

Some artillery shells sparked on impact with the fiery monster’s body, and the kinetic energy from some of the larger-caliber rounds could even make it sway a little.

As the white mist grew thicker, the attacks became sporadic before gradually ceasing altogether.

The Flame Demon was a bit dazed. Everything in this world seemed eternally noisy, making it difficult for it to hear distant sounds.

It shook its head to focus, only now realizing that this place was completely unfamiliar.

This wasn’t Magson World, nor was it any known world from its memories. This vibrant aura was repulsive to it, yet it also instilled a deep, strange sense of crisis.

Mogalons World had been shattered. The World Fragment where it had been hiding and wandering had also vanished, seemingly swallowed by this strange new world.

It turned its gaze back toward the legs of the red Sea Siren’s phantom.

To think it had just been deceived by an Illusion Realm of this level. Even with the slight interference from the Secret Realm’s barrier, and even after losing the support of Mogalons and being set adrift, its true sight shouldn’t have degenerated this much.

One was an Elf with a faint aura. The other looked just like those fleas down below. The Flame Demon stared intently at Qin Xiaoxia.

"Gongluo Duo~Ning Mo?"

In response to this question, Qin Xiaoxia had originally planned to say that he was, of course, a native Elf of this world. But before he could speak, the monster before him raised its long whip again.

’It’s as if it’s saying it has no interest in my answer and is just going to kill me first.’

Qin Xiaoxia’s Magic Power was currently overdrawn. He still couldn’t retract the Secret Realm, but even if he could, he didn’t have enough controllable Magic Power to transport himself and Doudou back to Qingzhen.

And now this monster had him in its sights. He didn’t even dare crush the single Magic Energy Crystal he had left clutched in his hand.

The situation had been deteriorating at an unimaginable speed ever since he stepped onto that building’s rooftop.

"WHOOSH—"

With a sound that tore through the wind and rain, the flaming whip, trailing an afterimage, lashed out at the Shadow of the Red Demoness.

SHATTER—

Like soft jelly being ripped apart, the Shadow of the Red Demoness instantly disintegrated.

Qin Xiaoxia felt as if his entire body were being slashed by sharp blades. The sensation was like a brief death by a thousand cuts, so painful he nearly blacked out. He only began to recover after two seconds.

With bloodshot eyes, he stared at the giant Flame Demon, watching as the downpour gathered into small rivers on the ground, only to be vaporized at its feet.

It seemed he and Doudou would be the ones smashed to pieces next.

To conserve Magic Power, he let the rain drench him. It was as if he were taking a bath while sitting down, the water washing the blood from his body again and again.

"Heh, heh heh heh heh..."

Qin Xiaoxia suddenly burst out laughing, spreading his arms as if stretching.

Although he was beaten half to death, his connection with the environment—no, with the world itself—had never felt so strong.

"Mogalons, Di Liasmos!"

The Flame Demon was already on the verge of death and didn’t even know it, but Qin Xiaoxia "saw" it.

Invisible shackles had long since bound its body. In Qin Xiaoxia’s eyes, the Flame Demon, having lost its Hell Fragment, was like a strong frog trapped in slowly boiling water.

It had already missed its chance. Now, it couldn’t escape!

Flame, scorching heat, Law, power... So tempting and delectable!

This was the information this fragment of the world was relaying to Qin Xiaoxia—or rather, it was the information he had managed to sort from a stream of chaotic feedback into a form human understanding could grasp.

Does the world have feelings? Does the world have a consciousness?

Even now, Qin Xiaoxia still couldn’t answer, but one thing was certain: the world had its own instincts.

This was the first time Qin Xiaoxia had felt a sliver of true, psychological fear toward the world he inhabited.

The feeling made his scalp tingle. It sent a chill down his spine.

Hunger! An incredible hunger!

But after just a moment, Qin Xiaoxia reined in his mind and shook off the feeling, which had seemed like an illusion. Now wasn’t the time for such thoughts; the strong frog could still devour a bug like him before it was boiled to death.

But this process could be accelerated. All it needed was an opening!

The pure Magic Language was a miraculous power that could not lie. Beyond its basic meaning, the message it conveyed was controlled by the speaker’s Magic Power.

Because of that sentence, the Flame Demon paused.

It could feel that its power remained, yet it couldn’t ignore the sense of crisis. More than that, it couldn’t fathom the source of this unknown magical creature’s confidence.

It wasn’t an Elf, nor was it some kind of remnant creature, and it was certainly not an incarnation of a Law.

Confidence? Earth might have it, but Qin Xiaoxia himself had none. The Flame Demon could crush the current him with a single toe.

He had been laughing just now, but that didn’t mean he was safe. He was just stalling.

At that moment, the faint drone of helicopter rotors approaching put Qin Xiaoxia’s heart at ease.

So helicopters really could fly in a downpour. Seeing this group of temporary teammates—who had accomplished nothing of substance earlier—rush back to the fight, he felt his desperate plan might just have a chance of succeeding.

Sure enough, the information his senses relayed about the large canisters slung under the helicopters was one of intense cold.

’You’re already a spent force, and you still shattered my Shadow of the Secret Realm. If I don’t trick you to death for this, then I’ll be damned!’

...

"Increase altitude! Increase altitude! That whip is extremely long! We need to be careful not to get hit!"

A helicopter formation, a mix of military and firefighting choppers, began to increase their altitude as they approached.

Despite the torrential rain, the temperature in this area was incredibly high, which actually guaranteed the aircrafts’ lift. The only problem was that the rain and the mist formed by its evaporation obstructed their vision.

The moment they got close enough to see the Flame Demon clearly, the people in the lead aircraft watched as the Shadow of the Red Demoness was shattered.

The beautiful figure was like the mermaid from the fairy tale who turned into seafoam. The image of such beauty perishing made the hearts of all the Soldiers tighten.

"Sir... that faint-red female Spiritual Creature has been shattered!"

When Norton heard this report, he slammed his fist against the side of the command vehicle in frustration.

"Is the fiery monster trying to escape?"

The commander of the helicopter squadron looked at the Flame Demon, which seemed to have fallen silent, completely ignoring the aircraft.

"Sir, with all due respect, I don’t think it feels any need to escape..."

"Excellent. First wave, drop fifty percent of the liquid nitrogen canisters!"

There was no need to set them to explode or worry about them hitting the ground; the high-temperature aura around the Flame Demon would naturally incinerate the canisters’ outer shells.

"Squads One, Two, and Three, approach with me! All other formations, spread out!"

A total of nine helicopters quickly ascended to a high altitude.

The Flame Demon was in the middle of hearing Qin Xiaoxia’s Magic Language prophecy about its impending doom. Hearing the annoying buzzing sound, it subconsciously glanced up.

’These little bugs are back?’