A Demon's Journey

While Sophie and Azaroth were dashing towards Mesenana City, the Capital City of the Sinyalian Kingdom.

Fortunately, Wrihull City was in the same direction, so it was natural for them to go along this path.

The howls and the roars from the beasts soon stopped as they dashed towards the encampment's outer edges.

Sophie thought that this was because the beasts had killed her guards and finally vented the last bit of their hatred.

However, it was Azaroth who knew the actual reason behind those final howls by the beasts.

'Looks like that final attack did the trick. All the beasts should be dead now.'

But just as Azaroth thought of this, he suddenly sensed a faint aura bursting with energy.

'What was that?'

He didn't understand just how the aura of a beast near-death could suddenly burst with such Ardor.

Suddenly, that burst of energy increased once again. This time, nearly doubling in Ardor.

Sophie looked at Azaroth's face and noticed a worried expression on his face, "What happened? Why do you look so worried?"

Azaroth didn't answer her question. Instead, his mind continued to focus on that beast that was steadily growing stronger.

He increased his concentration to check which beast it was, and he soon received an answer to that question.

'That's the aura of that Golden Ape! But even it shouldn't possess such quick healing. How is it growing stronger so quickly?!'

This question puzzled Azaroth and worried him immensely. He felt as if he was missing something in this riddle.

"I hope we are out of the range of the 5 Star Beast," Sophie dryly spoke those words as she saw how worried Azaroth was.

Suddenly, the answer clicked in Azaroth's mind as he understood what he was missing. And this answer didn't please him one bit.

"Shit! We need to run!" Azaroth uttered as he grabbed Sophie's hand and used one of his quicker skills to dash forward.

"Eh? What happened?" Sophie was confused by Azaroth's words, but she didn't resist him.

Meanwhile, at the center of the encampment, the Golden Ape had an ecstatic look as he ate the Three-Eyed White Wolf's corpse.

His hunger was sated, and he felt as if he had enough energy to go and fight an army alone.

This sudden energy truly made his battle instincts go crazy as his body demanded a fight now!

To have a fight, the Golden Ape's senses, sharpened to their limits, searched for another warrior in the vicinity.

Soon, after 10 or so seconds, the Golden Ape had a bright smile on its face as it sensed the aura of the warrior who he had wanted to fight the most.

The man he had been searching for the last few days to have that rematch against him!

Once the Golden Ape sensed Azaroth's location, it immediately jumped high in that direction.

Naturally, this high leap covered an awfully lot of distance for the Golden Ape but reaching Azaroth's location was still next to impossible with a single leap.

Even for this Golden Ape, he would have to take multiple leaps similar to this since Azaroth was running at a relatively quick pace while taking Sophie with him.

However, fortunately for the Golden Ape, he had no lack of stamina, while Azaroth's stamina couldn't be considered good by any means.

After the exhaustion of his Ardor, he would be forced to take a break to recover it.

Meanwhile, the Golden Ape utilized low Ardor while taking leaps like this. He could go on and play this game with Azaroth for a month without getting tired.

So, it was easy to see that Azaroth fighting against Golden Ape in reserves was just a losing battle from every angle.

According to Azaroth's calculations, if they went on to run like this, it would take the Golden Ape nearly an hour to catch up to them.

And Azaroth was well aware of the cold truth that he won't encounter any assistance from some warrior capable of fighting against this Golden Ape within this hour.

The farther and faster he tries to run, the quicker his Ardor would be exhausted. If he fought the Golden Ape at that point, it would genuinely be a losing battle.

Once he had calculated his chances against the Golden Ape, Azaroth stopped moving.

"Why did we stop? Is the beast not following us anymore?" Sophie asked Azaroth with a confused expression.

Azaroth heaved out a long sigh and explained, "A beast is after us. As far as I can sense, it's a 4-Star Beast with an exceptional bloodline."

Sophie observed Azaroth's facial expression and then spoke, "It seems this beast is strong."

"Yes. It's a rather troublesome one. This was the beast that beat me to a pulp when I had gone to inspect the Alpine Gerbil Woods' Inner Area. As far as I remember, its main ability was its exceptional strength and speed. I am unclear about its elements, though…" Azaroth patiently explained his words.

"I see…This must be a beast sent by the Beast Lord to pursue after us. We need to make sure to slay it quickly and run or else that Beast Lord might pursue the trail and reach us." Sophie solemnly spoke to Azaroth.

Azaroth couldn't tell Sophie that the Three-Eyed White Wolf was dead now. In return, they had an even more annoying enemy in the form of this Golden Ape.

Although this Golden Ape had ingested the Three-Eyed White Wolf's corpse. The Three-Eyed White Wolf was massively injured, and only half of its energy could be absorbed by the Golden Ape.

However, this was still more than enough energy required by the Golden Ape for its next breakthrough.

Breakthroughs didn't occur suddenly, though. They needed time. And in the case of beasts, they needed to hibernate for a period that varied depending on the bloodline.

The stronger the bloodline was, the less time required for its breakthrough.

For a Golden Ape, it would probably need only a week at most to become a 5-Star Beast.

"You are right. If we continue to run ahead and the beast catches up to us, I won't be in the peak condition to fight it. At that time, we will probably die without a chance to resist." Azaroth solemnly spoke as he turned towards the encampment's direction.

It would take another ten minutes for the Golden Ape to reach their location.

During this time, Azaroth calmed down his Ardor and peaked to fight against the beast brimming with energy.

Naturally, Azaroth had his own worries against this Golden Ape.

'I can't use the Demonic Transformation Mode in front of Sophie. If she knows of it, this woman won't hesitate to turn on me. The Hell Flames or Demonic Ardor is also no go. That means I got the Humanely Ardor or the Celestial Ardor in my arsenal. My Celestial Ardor training isn't as good as the Demonic Ardor, so it wouldn't be helpful against this Golden Ape. It seems I can only rely on my Humanely Ardor.'

'The only element I can use in front of Sophie is wind. I am forced to hold back too much ahead of this girl. Let's hope that the gains are superior to the injuries I suffer today.'

Sophie continued to stare at Azaroth's back while she pulled out something that appeared to be a wooden doll.

She clenched it tightly as she was at a fair distance away from Azaroth.

Azaroth didn't want to get her caught up in his fight…

Nearly 7 minutes later, Azaroth lifted his head, and his eyes flashed with Purple Color as he saw a Golden Dot slowly enlargening in the sky.

"It is here…"

As the Golden Ape was diving down from the sky, he also knew that its awaited opponent was waiting for him on the ground.

'Monkey King's Fist!'

No words were spoken, but the Golden Ape raised his arm, and it began glowing with a fierce orange light.

This was the Monkey King's Fist attack!

When Azaroth saw that attack, he saw some flashbacks he wished to forget.

In his previous life, he had suffered not a few times under the hands of the Golden Ape. As a Beast God, it was one of the strongest beasts in the world.

Its divine abilities easily made it superior to any beast on its level…

"It's a pity I won't be able to fight you to my heart's content today," Azaroth whispered as he saw that battle-thirsty intent in the Golden Ape's aura.

"Aero Blades!"

Suddenly, as the Golden Ape was diving down while reading a strong punch, Azaroth countered with a wind elemental attack that attempted to not only slow down the Golden Ape but slice it as well.

The Aero Blades were successful in slowing down the Golden Ape but as for slicing it? Other than a few scratches on its body, there were no significant injuries on its body.

Such a result was in Azaroth's calculations as he moved from his spot to dodge the Golden Ape's punch.

Sophie just saw Azaroth blur away right when he was about to be struck by the Golden Ape's punch. She understood that he had probably left behind an afterimage using the Wind Element and his quick speed.

The fact that Azaroth knew such a skill shocked Sophie.

She was now sure that he had definitely encountered something special.

Meanwhile, the Golden Ape was far from happy to see his adversary dodge that attack. He had believed that his adversary would meet his blow head-on.

It was as if he was the same as those weak humans who would try to dodge his attacks. The ones with no nerve or power!

Currently, in this dire situation, Azaroth couldn't be bothered to act according to his ego.

He was just going along the flow.

The Golden Ape's punch caused the entire ground to rumble as if some sort of Earthquake was occurring.

Even Sophie, far away, felt this Earthquake as she held her wooden doll even more tightly.

She knew that this was not the perfect time to utilize it. She didn't possess any more than one of these things, and it was the only thing strong enough to neutralize her target, so she couldn't afford to waste it.

As the dust clouds rose, that prevented Sophie from having a perfect vision for this battle, but it was good enough for her to know what was happening and who was winning.

The Golden Ape had just stood up after punching the ground, and suddenly he felt someone's appearance behind him.

As soon as the Golden Ape turned around, he felt a brisk wind.

This time, before the Golden Ape could react, a strong cutting edge of the wind suddenly targeted its throat.

This was Azaroth's attack on the Golden Ape's throat as he congealed his hand with a sharp blade-like wind.

He had used quite a bit of Ardor in it and was surprised to see that it had barely scratched the Golden Ape's throat.

'Is it using more Ardor in its entire body now?'

The Golden Ape quickly rotated and punched Azaroth's body, but it was empty air.

Azaroth already ran away and was planning his next sequence of attacks.

While Azaroth was trying to use the dust cloud as his cover, the Golden Ape had different plans.

With its sharp senses, the Golden Ape found out Azaroth's correct position. And without waiting any longer, it leaped at Azaroth.

Azaroth had more or less expected the Golden Ape to attack at any moment. He had already begun to utilize the Mystic Eyes of Perception, which gave him some idea of how the Golden Ape would attack.

Azaroth jumped on his left while dodging a punch from the Golden Ape. The Golden Ape was far from pleased, so it kept on rotating in Azaroth's direction and began to give out quick blows successively.

These successive blows were becoming faster as the Golden Ape was getting accustomed to Azaroth's movements.

After nearly a minute or so, Azaroth knew he would have to fight back, or else this Golden Ape would just demolish him.

As soon as he found the opening, Azaroth struck the Golden Ape's left side of the chest with a palm. Moreover, that palm also held a Wind Sphere that was now grinding as it was pressurized against the Golden Ape's chest.

After a momentary pause, the Golden Ape grabbed Azaroth's hand.

'This guy… is too strong. I really need to be in the Demon Transformation Mode to beat him.'

The Golden Ape pounded Azaroth on the ground so intensely that the floor broke apart, creating a gigantic crater.

Azaroth saw the glint in the Golden Ape's eyes and knew that it didn't have any good plans ahead for him.

'Oh damn! Best to use that attack now, or I won't be in a condition to take advantage of it!'

"Wind Tornado!"