The Demon King's First General
Chapter 150: Sparkle of Fireflies

Chapter 150: Sparkle of Fireflies

Sparks of explosions illuminated the night sky above the lake. If not for the fact that it was happening because of a fight, it would be a wonderful scene to watch.

"Your ice is useless. It will melt before it does any harm to me!" The man shouted, and his laughter followed after.

The swarm of fireflies continued to swirl around him. The sparkle of little brilliance coming from them was a sight to behold, but the destruction they could cause was something not to be underestimated.

"Look at you now; where’s that overwhelming confidence from before?" The man asked, belittling the revenant, who had burnmarks from several parts of her body.

Her gentle black hair was disheveled, and her skin, which was as white as snow, along with her robe, was scorched black with several droplets of blood.

Only a few minutes had passed when their fight began, and Ruq was already reduced to this state. The overwhelming number of fireflies made her stupefied.

’I need to think about how I can reach him,’ she thought, catching her breath while recalling their bouts a while ago.

. . . . .

As soon as Zeno and Sinclair left the frozen lake, Ruq made her move; the chilling mist acted as her cover, and several images of her materialized and attacked the man above.

Shards of ice were shooting upward, and each of her images leaped and used the shards as their foothold to reach the man. However, the endless number of fireflies stood like an impenetrable fortress in front of her.

The ice melted as soon as an explosion occurred, and the swarm didn’t remain still; they surged towards the revenant’s clones and detonated themselves upon contact. However, all of these were only distractions that Ruq prepared as she appeared behind the man. A palm wrapped in freezing energy was aimed at the back of the man’s head.

The revenant was confident that her attack would connect, but the man turned around all of a sudden.

"Close enough, but it’s still a miss," he conveyed, smiling.

Then he grabbed Ruq’s arm, stopping her palm strike. Fireflies came out of both of his ears and flew towards her. With no alternative in sight, Ruq retracted her hand and distanced herself.

However, the swarm of insects detonated even before successfully attaching themselves to her; if not for her encasing herself in ice, she would be a burnt corpse by now. Though she survived, she didn’t remain unscathed; her right hand all the way to her arm was scorched, and some of its muscles and soft tissues were damaged to the point that the bones were fully exposed.

"What a coward," Ruq commented with a deadpan expression.

Then, without wasting a second, she ran, circling around with her opponent at the center. In every flick of her hand, a barrage of ice arrows was sent upward, but they were not enough to penetrate the swarm of fireflies.

"You’re just wasting your energy," the man said, making fun of the revenant’s efforts.

Upon seeing that her attacks had failed, Ruq clicked her tongue and stopped.

"Finally! Have you come to your senses?" The man continued on ridiculing her.

But contrary to his expectations, Ruq’s eyes were still burning with courage and determination. With a single step, a glacier started to protrude from the frozen lake.

Its height rivaled the towering trees, but the man levitating above was still beyond its reach. Though it was not the end of her attack, the giant glacier and the frozen lake shattered into tiny particles of icicles as soon as she stomped her right foot.

It caused the ground to shake, sending tremors and vibrations in all directions.

"A-are you kidding?" The man stuttered as he looked at the countless number of icicles aiming at him underneath.

Then, without further ado, with just a flick of Ruq’s fingers, all of the icicles were launched in the man’s direction.

"Die," she uttered without a single ounce of mercy.

But to her surprise, the already large swarm of fireflies multiplied and matched the number of her icicles, creating an endless blast of explosions above the sky.

For the first time in a while, the revenant’s jaw dropped in astonishment as she stared at the scene that transpired right before her eyes.

. . . . .

Sinclair halted on her steps and turned around. The darkness of the night disappeared for a few seconds as countless flashes of light along with ear-piercing sounds lit up the sky.

Her strong sense of justice wanted her to return and help their companion, even though they were not on good terms with each other. But as she looked at the demon, she was surprised that he didn’t even stop.

"Is he not concerned about her?" She contemplated before resuming her steps.

With her incredible speed, she caught up to him in no time and glanced at his side.

"Are you not worried that she’ll lose and die?" She asked with a serious expression.

Upon hearing the question, the demon smiled and answered. "Then that’s the limit of her abilities."

"You’re heartless; I shouldn’t expect something from a demon," Sinclair replied while shaking her head in disappointment.

Then another huge explosion occurred; it was way bigger and stronger than the last one. It made the ground shake for a few seconds, and the shockwave it created was so strong that some of the trees were uprooted.

Sinclair looked at the demon once again, waiting for his next course of action, but he just continued on his steps as if nothing had happened.

"Are you serious?" She fretted in deep silence.

Unbeknownst to her, Zeno was thinking the same thing: he wanted to go back and help Ruq’oyah. Since the start, he knew that the opponent was a bad match-up for her, yet he still let her face him alone.

’If you fall in here, you’re not worthy of being my familiar,’ he thought.

. . . . .

Ruq was in deep contemplation on how to defeat the man before her.

’I need to get rid of those annoying insects first,’ she said inside her mind.

Despite the large number of explosions that happened, the quantity of fireflies didn’t diminish; instead, it looked like it even increased by twofold.

"Your resistance is futile; these little things are not normal fireflies to begin with; they are especially bred by the professor to better suit my Legacy; having the ability to multiply every time they are caught in an explosion is a guaranteed victory for me," he stated.

Then he extended his hand and looked at the revenant.

"Surrender and help me capture those two; if you do that, maybe I can offer you a rank in our legi—" He failed to finish his suggestion as an explosion occurred due to an icicle that flew towards him all of a sudden.

"Not interested," Ruq articulated without hesitation; her eyes were beaming with disgust.

The man sighed upon hearing the revenant’s rejection.

"Then please die," he said with a straight face.

The next second, some of the fireflies rushed towards the revenant, while most of them lined up and formed a cube with her inside it. The plan was to restrict her movements and lessen her speed.

Upon noticing what the man wanted to do, Ruq summoned an ice wall on all of her sides and used it to push the fireflies away from her; however, in just a few seconds, the explosions reverberated and crumbled the thick layer of ice into fragments.

"Nice defense," the man commended the revenant with an empty praise.

Then he smirked and raised his hand above the level of his chest.

"But you need more than that," he added, clenching his fists.

Afterward, the sparkle of fireflies flew towards the revenant, and all of them exploded at once. The giant explosion shook the vicinity and caused a huge sinkhole to appear in the middle of the lake; it even made the chilling mist disappear due to the extreme heat.

"Wonderful! Remarkable! Truly astonishing!" The man exclaimed, laughing.

The revenant was nowhere to be seen, and the millions of fireflies returned to the man’s body. The insects entered his mouth, ears, and even his eyes and nose until just a hundred remained swirling around him.

During that time, underneath the cold water, Ruq’s damaged body was slowly sinking to the bottom of the lake. Her mind was in a state of blankness.

If not for the igloo that she created to protect herself, her body wouldn’t be intact after that huge explosion.

’He’s too strong,’ she thought, and her eyelids started to close.

However, a voice rang inside her head.

’If you fall in here, you’re not worthy of being my familiar,’ the voice said.

It was not the first time that it happened, and she knew very well who was behind it. For an unknown reason, she could hear his voice, and unlike in the desert before; this time it was vague, but she was sure that it belonged to that man, the demon who stole her first kiss.

’Crazy bastard,’ she thought.

The next second, she rotated herself and swam upward, though she didn’t reveal herself right away. She still had some energy left to fight, but as long as she couldn’t find a way to deal with those light-flickering insects, her defeat was guaranteed.

While moving her arm, she noticed her blood getting mixed into the water, and an idea bloomed in her mind.

’Let’s try it one more time,’ she said in her thoughts.

. . . . .