After a few minutes of intense focus and concentration, Damon opened his eyes. He was no longer sitting on the random dirt road on the path to the commoner's mountain. Instead, he was on a cliff this time.

The elven girl was still next to him, but everything else had completely changed. Of course, just as luck would have it, they were not exactly alone. Baring its teeth at them was a massive beast, a hulking lion-like creature the size of a wagon.

Its fur looked like dried blood, and black veins pulsed across its body. Its eyes burned a dull amber. Steam rose from its flaring nostrils. It stood with its hackles up, low growl vibrating through the rock.

[Ding! Level 180, Demonheart Ferocious Lion, Elite Rank]

Damon's eyes widened. Just like that, they had been thrust smack dab in front of an elite rank demonic beast. Normal demonic monsters were harder to handle as it was, and now an elite demonic beast was staring down at him with a level 180 to boot.

The elven girl became pale with fright. All blood drained from her face as she felt the wrath and the murderous aura of the monstrous beast. However, Damon only let out a casual sigh. He did not care about the lion so much. He was more disappointed that he was still cursed.

Also, dodging this thing locked in a single spot was going to be a tad challenging, especially with the elven girl on his side.

He started with a blood barrier around the elven girl. The lion snarled and charged at him. Its paw came crashing down at him. Normally, he would have dodged this attack, but now he had to face it head-on.

No problem. He allowed the beast to draw blood. Just a small scratch. The lion roared with delight at the scent of its enemy's blood and prepared to strike again, but all of a sudden, its movements became slow and sluggish.

Demonic fire erupted around it as it roared in anger. It realized it had been poisoned. But Damon did not give it any time to rest. He sent out a barrage of poison needles at the beast. The lion was fast. Unlike Damon, it had the ability to move, and it evaded most of the needles, and what struck it was not enough to deal signification damage to it.

However, Damon was not done just yet. Right after the needle attack, he sent several juicy divine blades back-to-back. Divine swords, one after the other, fell from the sky. They struck the lion mercilessly, and the huge beast staggered from the damage.

The lion had a whopping 10 million health, and each divine sword that landed chipped away almost 100,000 at a time. The damage was extra amplified thanks to its weakness against divine and holy attacks. At this rate, the lion realized that it was going to go down swiftly.

It let out an enraged roar and activated its ultimate attack without holding back. Dust and rock flew up. Then it slammed both front paws into the ground and let out a sound like a mountain breaking.

A wave of dark fire and shock hit at once. The cliff shook. Loose stones tumbled. The elven girl screamed and tried to curl into herself behind the little barrier Damon had cast. A scorching wave of dark fire erupted and rushed straight for them like a tsunami.

Even with Damon's high fire resistance and affinity, he could still feel the attack's intensity. He instantly knew why it was the case. Hellfire! The lion's attack contained traces of hellfire!

Damon slammed the Bastion of the Condemned up around them like a brick wall. The dark fire hit it full force. The barrier shuddered.

Damon poured everything into it. His hands shook. Mana burned through him like cold fire. The barrier held long enough for the worst to pass, but it was cracking. Hairline fractures spidered across the surface.

The lion didn't stop. It leapt forward, claws aimed at the barrier. Damon did not give it a chance. He followed it up with Divine Bladestorm and Radiant Wellspring. Radiant Wellspring weakened the already sluggish beast, and Divine Bladestorm tore through its huge body, draining away the rest of its health.

The divine blades kept falling until the lion could no longer stand. It staggered, muscles twitching, then folded. A cloud of dust and a shower of black blood covered the cliff. The beast lay still.

Damon let out a long breath, immediately absorbing all of the blood essence that he could. Several system notifications flashed in front of him.

[Ding! You have killed a Demonheart Ferocious Lion.]

[Ding! You have gained experience points.]

[Ding! Bloodline extraction successful.]

[Ding! You have extracted the ability Roar.]

[Ding! You have gained +1 Strength.]

"What shitty luck." Damon's face twitched. He was pretty sure that the beast had a lot more powerful skills, but it looked like he got the worst of it. On the plus side, at least he did not meet anything powerful enough to slaughter him. Then, suddenly, something struck him as odd.

"Hmmm… Shouldn't the crimson mountains only contain low-level demonic beasts? What's with this lion? Where did it come from?"

He thought about it for a while and shrugged. "Well, whatever. There is probably one or two of these guys around. I don't need to think about this. I should be working on this fucking curse. I can't believe it's still stuck with me, even with the rune formation of the crimson mountains. Just how strong is this curse?"

Damon was about to try to reach his soul one more time just to get a feel of it when his senses prickled. He instantly summoned a rain of poison needles and sent them out in all directions. However, it was of no use.

The next second, ten Demonheart Ferocious lions appeared, roaring loudly. They spread out in a circle and charged towards Damon and the elven girl.

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