Chapter 25: The Last Obstacle

Chris and Azreon flew high above the forest, waiting patiently for the demons to arrive.

It didn’t take long.

One by one, demons began appearing around the area where Azreon had evolved, searching through the forest for the source of the enormous burst of energy they had sensed. Chris remained high in the sky with Azreon, watching them gather below while making sure neither of them was noticed.

After a while, around fifteen demons had gathered.

Chris waited for several more minutes, but when no others appeared, he finally decided it was time.

"Let’s go."

Azreon immediately folded his wings and dived toward the demons.

Chris prepared to jump from his back, intending to attack the demons himself, but the scene below left him completely stunned.

Azreon opened his mouth, and a massive stream of flames erupted from it.

Unlike before, the fire was enormous, spreading across a wide area and completely enveloping all fifteen demons at once.

There was no struggle or resistance.

The demons didn’t even have enough time to react before the flames consumed them, reducing their bodies to ash within seconds.

Chris remained on Azreon’s back, staring at the destruction below.

’What the hell?’

He had expected Azreon to become stronger after reaching Level 40, but this was far beyond what he had imagined.

’I’ve underestimated him again.’

Azreon continued flying through the forest, and Chris quickly realized just how ridiculous the dragon’s improvement had been.

His speed had increased dramatically, making the surrounding trees blur as they flew past. More importantly, his flames had become terrifyingly powerful.

Whenever they found other demons, Chris would simply point them out.

Azreon would dive down, release his flames, and turn them into ash.

There was almost nothing for Chris to do anymore.

After an hour of flying around the forest, they had already circled through most of the area. The number of demons they found was surprisingly low, and once they finished hunting the last group, Chris realized there were no more demons roaming through the forest.

This gave him the perfect opportunity to put his plan into action.

"Azreon, drop me near the demon gathering, then fly high into the sky so nobody sees you. Don’t show yourself until I call you."

*ROAR!*

Azreon roared in response before changing direction.

They soon reached the rocky cliffs surrounding the massive crater where the demons had gathered around the space crack.

When they were close enough, Chris jumped from Azreon’s back and landed silently near one of the openings between the rocks.

Azreon immediately climbed higher into the sky, disappearing among the crimson clouds.

Chris entered the opening and began moving through the rocks, carefully making his way toward the demon gathering. He moved slowly and quietly, making sure not to attract attention.

Eventually, he reached the edge of the massive crater and hid behind a large rock. From there, he could see the entire gathering.

Around a hundred demons remained in the area.

Chris’s eyes immediately moved toward the center of the crater.

The space crack was still there. It was slightly larger than before, but the difference was barely noticeable.

’They’ll need many more explosions.’

Chris wasn’t completely certain, but judging by how little the crack had expanded after the previous explosion, it seemed that the demons would need to repeat the process many more times before they could actually break the space apart.

His gaze then moved toward the pile of blue crystals. Another large collection had been gathered beside the crack.

The pile was almost as large as the previous one the demon leader had detonated.

Chris narrowed his eyes.

’Let’s see if my plan will work.’

He stepped out from behind the rock and immediately started running toward the crystals.

However, he wasn’t using his full speed. Instead, he deliberately slowed himself down, moving only slightly faster than the average demon.

Several demons immediately noticed him. Their heads turned toward the approaching figure, and within moments, the entire gathering became alert.

The demon leader suddenly released a deafening roar.

*ROOOAR!*

Several demons immediately rushed toward Chris.

The first one reached him and swung its claws toward his chest.

Chris jumped over the attack, landing smoothly while continuing to run toward the crystals.

Another demon attacked from his side.

Chris twisted his body and sidestepped the claws by only a few inches, allowing the attack to pass behind him without slowing his movement.

A third demon rushed directly toward him.

Chris spun around the demon’s side, narrowly avoiding its claws before accelerating slightly.

More demons joined the chase.

Soon, several of them were attacking him from different directions, but Chris remained calm, carefully controlling his speed so they wouldn’t realize just how much faster he actually was.

He ducked beneath one attack, jumped over another, and twisted his body to avoid a third while continuing forward.

The crystals were getting closer.

’Almost there.’

Chris pushed forward, avoiding another pair of claws before finally reaching the pile.

He raised his hand and activated his storage ring. The blue crystals immediately began disappearing as they were stored inside.

More and more crystals disappeared. But before he could store the rest, the ring stopped accepting them.

’It’s full.’

Chris cursed internally. He had only managed to store around half of the crystals.

Still, there was no time to hesitate.

’Hopefully, this is enough.’

He immediately turned around and ran toward one of the openings in the rocky cliffs.

The demon leader roared again.

The remaining demons immediately chased after him.

Chris ran through the rocky passage while keeping his speed deliberately controlled.

Dark energy suddenly flew toward him from behind.

He heard the attack coming and quickly shifted to the side.

A dark projectile slammed into the ground where he had been standing a moment earlier, exploding and sending pieces of rock flying.

Another spell came from behind. Chris ducked beneath it and continued running.

A third attack passed dangerously close to his head.

’Interesting spells, and they’re fast.’

Chris kept moving, carefully avoiding the spells while making sure he wasn’t moving so quickly that the demons lost track of him.

If he showed his true speed now, they might realize they had been deceived.

He finally reached the end of the passage, and the forest was just ahead.

Chris lowered his body and pushed himself forward, narrowly slipping through the gap between two large rocks as several demons reached the opening behind him.

They immediately chased after him.

Chris continued running until he had created enough distance from the rocky cliffs. Then he stopped.

He turned around and placed two fingers in his mouth.

A loud whistle echoed through the forest.

*FWHIIIIIIST!*

A moment later, a powerful roar came from above.

*ROOOAR!*

Chris looked up. Azreon was diving toward them.

The enormous dragon folded his wings and descended at terrifying speed before opening his mouth.

A massive stream of flames erupted from his jaws.

The fire swept across the ground directly toward the pursuing demons.

*BOOOOOOM!*

A massive crater was carved through the forest as the flames tore through the demons.

Half of the group was instantly reduced to ash.

Chris turned around and stared at the destruction with his mouth hanging open.

’What the hell...’

Azreon’s evolution was far stronger than he had expected.

Under normal circumstances, Chris couldn’t imagine Azreon becoming strong enough to kill so many demons with a single attack simply because he reached Level 40.

There had to be something else.

’There is still so much I don’t know about dragons.’

Azreon circled through the sky before turning back toward Chris.

As he flew over the remaining demons, another stream of flames erupted from his mouth.

The fire swept across the ground and consumed several more demons.

The remaining demons finally panicked. They abandoned any attempt to pursue Chris and began running in different directions, desperately trying to escape.

Azreon flew directly toward Chris.

When he was just about to pass over his head, Chris crouched slightly before jumping from the ground.

He landed perfectly on Azreon’s back.

"Chase!"

*ROOAR!*

Azreon accelerated immediately.

The dragon chased after the fleeing demons while Chris activated Dragon Vision, allowing them to track every movement through the forest.

Whenever they caught up to a group, Azreon would release his flames and turn them to ash before immediately changing direction and chasing another group.

The demons tried hiding among the trees and rocky terrain, but there was almost nowhere they could escape to.

With Azreon’s speed and Chris’s enhanced perception, hiding was practically useless.

One after another, the demons were foundand they were burned to ash.

It didn’t take long before nearly a hundred demons had been killed.

The System appeared before Chris’s eyes.

[Level Increased.]

[Level Increased.]

[Level Increased.]

[Level Increased.]

He and Azreon had already reached Level 44.

A huge smile appeared on his face.

’This is incredible.’

He had never gained strength so quickly before. Finding this dungeon had truly been like striking gold.

But Chris also understood that this wouldn’t last forever. The higher his level became, the harder it would be to find monsters capable of giving him meaningful amounts of experience.

He already had one more place he could farm for experience, and that was the Horned Serpent territory.

Those beasts had nearly killed him and his companions before, and Chris had no intention of forgetting that. Once he finished with this dungeon, he would return there and crush them.

After that, however, things would become much more difficult.

High-level monsters were usually intelligent enough to understand the dangers of fighting unnecessarily. Many of them formed large groups, established territories, and even cooperated with other species.

Most of the larger monster territories also had a leader that was ridiculously powerful and governed multiple beast territories at once. Chris wouldn’t dare attack those territories without being certain he could win.

He would have to travel much deeper into the Wilds and search for isolated groups of powerful monsters instead.

But that was a problem for later. Right now, there was one final enemy standing in his way.

Chris turned his head toward the rocky cliffs in the distance, where he demon leader still stood.

The strongest demon in the dungeon. Chris couldn’t help but think that the leader had made a stupid decision.

’If you had come after me yourself instead of sending those weaker demons, things might have been very different.’

The leader had given him exactly what he needed.

It had allowed Chris to separate the demons by stealing half of their crystals, and destroy nearly a hundred of them without ever having to fight the leader at the same time. Now, there was nobody left to interfere.

Chris looked forward with a calm expression. Earlier, he was ready to gamble.

Even if the demon leader chased him personally, Chris was confident that he and Azreon could escape if necessary. The leader was powerful, but Chris was much faster than before, and Azreon’s new strength had exceeded his expectations completely.

But the leader was stupid enoughto send weaker demons after him, giving Chris exactly what he wanted. There was only one enemy left.

Chris turned toward Azreon and smiled.

"Azreon, let’s go and kill that last demon."

*ROOOAR!*

Azreon released a powerful roar and spread his enormous wings. The dragon accelerated toward the rocky cliffs, carrying Chris directly toward the final battle.