But this distance was impossible to alert the other party.

And the red dot sped up a bit, becoming more distinct.

What to do?

Right, that's it—the phone! She could use the phone to notify Yezi!

Silvie slid down the sliding pole from the top of the watchtower into the underground conference room, shouting at Dawnlight, "Quick, call Yezi and tell her to leave her current location immediately!"

Realizing that something major was probably happening, Felin picked up a phone without asking why and vigorously cranked the handle. "Leave...go where?"

"Anywhere! Neverwinter City, the south of the forest...the further away from the terminal, the better!"

At this moment, everyone in the conference room focused their attention on Silvie.

"Did you discover something?" Edith asked.

"We guessed wrong—the enemy is targeting Yezi, and there's only one!" Silvie anxiously looked southwest. "Yezi needs to concentrate her mind when controlling the forest, which is equivalent to having a physical presence. As long as the enemy can see the flow of magic, they can pinpoint her location! Setting fire to the forest was also for this moment!"

"What?" Edith frowned. "Could it be that you can observe the demons' actions from here?"

"Because the other party's magic...is simply too powerful," she murmured.

"But Lord Yezi is also very strong," Felin interjected. "If they don't rely on fire, even a large army of Mad Demons wouldn't be able to do anything to her in a short time, right?"

"But since the enemy has done this, they can't be unprepared—" Silvie clenched her fist. The red dot in her vision had begun to rise sharply, its trajectory resembling the head of a snake rearing high. "Has the call gone through yet?"

"It...no one is answering on the other end."

As expected, Yezi had been completely distracted by the fire? At this rate, they would make contact in at most a minute or two!

"Switch to the terminal's phone," Edith ordered. "Have the First Army stationed there notify Yezi, and have them prepare for reinforcements at the same time."

"Yes." Felin turned and cranked another phone.

During this anxious wait, Silvie clearly saw the red light cross the apex and fall straight down, like an ominous meteor.

Breaking through head-on from the sky without any regard...

She vaguely guessed the worst possible answer in her heart.

The enemy was probably—a Demon Slayer!

...

"That should do it," Yezi said, clapping her hands and exhaling a sigh of relief.

The trees on the edge of the camp had been completely separated from those in the north, so no matter how the fire burned, it wouldn't threaten the safety of the terminal.

However, seeing the branches withering and twisting in the flames still made her feel a little uncomfortable.

If the burning forest was under her control, how much memory would she lose? How much of it would be important and precious?

Just thinking about such questions made her feel bad.

Cheer up, Yezi!

Next, she had to prepare to put out the fire!

She silently encouraged herself a few times, and was about to walk around the camp and see if there was anything she could help with when a whistling sound suddenly attracted her attention from above.

Yezi looked up. It was almost night, and the sky was dark purple, making it difficult to see what was making the sound.

"Be careful, get out of the way!" someone shouted.

Without looking to see who was speaking, Yezi instinctively hid in the trees. At the same time, a dark shadow fell from the sky, almost brushing past her face, and the surrounding branches instantly turned to dust.

The black shadow didn't make a earth-shattering roar when it landed. It could even be said that it was silent. This bizarre scene gave Yezi a strong sense of unease. However, before she could take any action, a twisted ripple spread out from the black shadow.

The smoothly flowing magic instantly

Froze—

Then shattered like a mirror!

"Ah——————!"

Yezi only felt a whirl of dizziness and was forced out of the tree trunk by an irresistible force.

After falling heavily to the ground, she felt a sweetness in her throat. She opened her mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Only then did Yezi see the true face of the shadow.

It was a demon with a tall figure and extremely sharp features. Apart from its deep blue skin and strangely styled clothes, it was almost indistinguishable from a human. It simply stood there, giving people an unspeakable pressure.

It was as if the air had become viscous.

Yezi propped herself up, panting. No matter how she called out in her heart, the forest didn't respond to her will.

This wasn't the first time she had been forcibly cut off from the connection with the Heart of the Forest.

"Demon Slayer..." Her heart sank to the bottom.

The other party didn't sneer or howl. It simply stretched out its five claws, as sharp as blades, and pounced at her.

Yezi gritted her teeth and closed her eyes.

However, the expected sting didn't come.

"Clang!"

A greatsword with a special design was horizontally in front of her, blocking the other party's claws. The blade was as thick as a door panel, and the golden sun mark on the blade wouldn't be forgotten once seen.

"Ashbringer."

"Your opponent is here, monster!" Ashbringer stood in front of Yezi after parrying the Demon Slayer's claws.

"Ash...Ashbringer?" Yezi stared with wide eyes in surprise. "Didn't you return to Neverwinter City with Princess Tilly? I saw the Seagull—"

"Ah, that's what was supposed to happen," Ashbringer said without looking back, "but I thought this fire was a bit strange, so I volunteered to stay. After all, I can help if something goes wrong, right?"

So that was it. The warning was also from her!

"So, this is the Demon Slayer you've encountered before?"

"Yes, but you have to be careful. It's much stronger than that Advanced Demon in the past!"

"I can see that," Ashbringer said, holding the greatsword horizontally in front of her chest. "Don't worry, we might not be able to win, but we can hold out until reinforcements arrive."

The demon glanced in the direction of the camp, then looked coldly at the two of them. "Extraordinary...?"

Although the pronunciation was very clumsy, it was undoubtedly a language that humans could understand—this was even more incredible than the Demon Slayer itself!

In the long years of the Divine Will War, no demon had ever communicated with a witch!

"You...can speak our language?" Yezi couldn't help but ask.

"Learning is the foundation of evolution. Only you would be surprised by this." The Advanced Demon spread its hands. "Centuries can change countless things, but you still live as if you're stuck in yesterday—demons, extraordinaries, unchanged titles, it's simply...pathetic."

"What did you say?" Ashbringer said in a deep voice.

The answer was a gust of wind!

Ashbringer advanced instead of retreating, and violently swung the greatsword at the opponent. The magic vortex shattered in front of the God's Punishment Stone, but the demon had disappeared.