Watching the agonizing death of the Fire Elemental, Liora didn't have the time to feel emotional about defeating her first Lesser Devil-level foe.

Although she had used Silent Domain to erase the elemental's final cry, the battle between the two had lasted for quite some time.

During this time, the fight had spanned a lot of distance, rendering her unable to keep the entire battle within her domain.

As such, there were bound to be some beings that had already noticed what had happened here.

Knowing this, Liora didn't dare to linger for long.

Stepping forward, she picked up what remained of the Fire Elemental's core before merging with the shadows and shuttling away.

Liora's caution soon proved to be the correct course of action.

Not long after she left, several Fire Elementals arrived at the location where the battle had taken place.

Feeling the remaining aura of their companion and noticing its decay, they turned furious.

After they exchanged a brief glance with each other, they all raised their heads in unison and howled towards the sky, as if they were passing a message to someone.

--

Even though Liora had no way of knowing what occurred after her departure, she could roughly guess what happened.

However, she didn't care.

By the time the Fire Elementals arrived at the scene of the "crime", she had already fled, returning to the underground cave she had previously opened.

The moment she stepped into the cave and her connection with the hidden arrays became clear, she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, finally having a sense of safety.

Liora's outing had not lasted for long, but during this short period of time, she had not only faced her first Lesser Devil opponent but had also successfully slain it.

Thinking of this, Liora lowered her head subconsciously and glanced at the fragments of the Fire Elemental's core in her hands.

Sensing the pure demonic energy coursing within them, her instincts told her that as long as she absorbed it, she would be able to take a big step forward in the Lesser Devil stage.

Unlike the core she absorbed earlier, whose owner was only at the Young Devil stage, devouring the core's fragments would not slightly enhance her strength, but would allow it to undergo massive changes.

But, surprisingly, Liora restrained the sudden impulse.

Any other Devil in her position might have been unable to do such a thing, but she, who prided herself on always being cautious and rational, didn't.

"The reason I risked my life to fight that creature was not to devour its core. Although absorbing it might indeed improve my strength, such improvement will not help me escape this valley."

It had been a few days since Liora captured the Young Devil Fire Elemental, and, in that time, she had further investigated the situation of the mysterious valley.

Unfortunately for her, the results of her investigation had been quite grim.

In just a few days, she had sensed the existence of hundreds of Lesser Devils and at least three beings suspected of being True Devils.

Thus, with that information, Liora began hatching her escape plan.

The orb in her hand—the core of a Lesser Devil—was the last object required for her plan to succeed.

"It's finally time.", Liora whispered as she swiftly made her way towards the southeast corner of the cave.

Striking the ground with her right foot, the earth beneath her shook violently, and a gap opened, as a small compartment was revealed to be hidden there.

Liora's mind moved, and her demonic energy rushed outward, shooting toward the compartment and grabbing the objects placed inside.

Once her demonic energy returned, it brought those objects with it and let them hit the ground.

They were said to be objects, but in fact, they were hundreds of crimson orbs filled with pure demonic energy, similar to the fragments she was holding in her hand.

Their sizes varied, with some being tiny while others being slightly larger than the core she had obtained from the first Fire Elemental she ever killed.

Clearly, these crimson orbs were the cores of Fire Elementals, and their owners—when they were alive—had all reached the Young Devil stage.

Looking at the accomplishments she had made over the past few days, Liora's expression became unreadable.

She leaned down and sat beside the pile of cores before taking a deep breath, seemingly in an attempt to relax herself.

After she exhaled softly, her face turned stern and, as if she had made a difficult decision, a trace of ruthlessness flashed across her crimson eyes.

With a cold expression, she raised her right hand.

A black blade fell on her palm as the darkness around her writhed, a blade she slowly brought closer to her abdomen.

Then, she suddenly thrust it toward her own stomach.

The sound of tearing echoed throughout the cave as the sharp blade instantly pierced through her skin and reached into her internal organs.

As Liora let the blade disperse, blood began rushing out of the wound, which quickly dripped to the ground as if a dam had burst within her.

Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to ignore the pain.

Staring intently at her own flowing blood, she lowered her hand and submerged her index finger into it.

Then, using her finger as a paintbrush and her blood as the paint, she began carving intricate patterns on the ground beneath her.

Each stroke of her hand was precise and uniform, something that should have been quite hard considering the soul-tearing pain she was experiencing.

Time slowly passed.

As more and more strokes fell on the "painting", its true identity grew increasingly obvious.

It was a giant array painted using fresh blood, with a peculiar circle-like shape at its very center.

Around it, the Devil Runes were constantly twisting, seemingly revolving with it as their center.

The space within a few meters of the array began to tremble, as if in fear, while the Devil Runes seemed to resonate with the entire Demon World.

When Liora's last stroke fell, and she was finally finished carving the array, those two aspects grew even more obvious.

"It's done.", Liora couldn't help but exhale softly as she lowered her head and admired the fruits of her hard labor.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.