the laughter was like that of a demon, echoing off the cliffs. the rose mercenary squad clenched their weapons as they looked up, shocked.

  there were seven figures on top of the cliff. although sivir couldn’t see their faces clearly, she could still make out that they were a team of demons, orcs, and forest trolls.

  the one in the middle, who was tall and covered by green flames, was giving off a terrifying aura.

  “prepare to fight!” said sivir gravely. she held the boomerang tightly in her hand, her eyes never leaving her foes.

  among the mercenaries, there was an old saying: “magical beasts are not nearly as fearful as mercenaries”.

  a weak mercenary group’s days were numbered once it got targeted by a strong one.

  fortunately, under the management of the city lord’s castle and the gray temple, mercenaries rarely fought with each other. if two mercenary groups had a conflict over a magical beast, it was often settled by a fair duel.

  clearly these guys were not after their newly caught golden scale deer, though.

  “who are they? what do they want?” eva asked, her face pale and voice shaky with fear.

  evan couldn’t hide the terror in his eyes. “they want to kill us.”


  fear enveloped the rose mercenary squad as they remembered the horrible bodies carried back to the city.

  mag looked up. his vision was much better than that of normal people. he looked at the demon that was aflame. “he is an 8th-tier demon, i think.” then his eyes swept the rest of the group. most of them were at level six or seven.

  a group as this was unstoppable, unless they ran into someone at level 9 or above.

  judging from what the demon had just said and how powerful they were, they were undoubtedly the ones responsible for the slaughter of mercenary groups. they were an evil group hunting elves.

  “could you not laugh? it hurts my ears!” amy called up, covering her pointy ears with her hands.

  the laughter stopped abruptly. the ghost light demon glared down at amy with blood-red eyes, the flames enveloping his head dancing violently.

  “and do you mind covering your face? i’ve never seen anything uglier,” amy continued, her voice full of distaste.

  the ghost light demon was furious. “i like you, kid, but i’ll make you wish you were dead if you make me angry.”


  with that, the demon took a step forward and jumped down. shrouded by flames, he looked like a ball of fire.

  the rest of his group charged down as well.

  sivir didn’t panic. “monkey, signal flare!” she ordered calmly, her hand clenching tighter around the boomerang.

  monkey fumbled in his clothes with his shaky hand and drew out a small device made of a length of bamboo. it had the gray temple’s crest on it. he pulled the string underneath and fired the flare.

  a fireball shot up into the sky and exploded with a loud bang, producing a bright red flame.

  “are you out of your goddamn mind provoking him like that?” evan yelled at amy, his face twisting in anger. “now we’re all dead!”


  mag stepped in front of his daughter. “don’t you talk to her like that! she’s not a coward, unlike you!” he shouted, contempt in his eyes. this elf was worse than he had thought.

  “f*ck you!” evan raised his magic staff, shining blue on the top.

  sivir looked over her shoulder at evan angrily. “shut up, evan! prepare to battle!” picking a fight with a teammate when facing dangerous enemies…… he was not only a coward, he was as stupid as stupid could be.

  “would you like a taste of my fireball, old man? or maybe my icy flames?” amy asked, smiling.

  evan put his staff down reluctantly. he looked at the ghost light demon coming down from the sky. the fear was so overwhelming that his will to fight was completely gone.

  “boom!”


  the demon landed dozens of meters away from the rose mercenary squad, shaking the ground, sending rocks flying off the cliffs, and raising a cloud of dust. sivir swayed a little before steadying herself. the golden scale deer had literally been scared to death.

  dennis was standing before everyone else, holding his shield. the shock wave smashed into the shield, sending him falling back two steps. he coughed up a mouthful of blood. it was all he could do not to fall down.

  stones cracked under his feet as the demon made his way to them slowly. they couldn’t see him because of the dust cloud, but their fear was growing more intense with every step he took. given the fact that he had jumped directly from the cliff hundreds of meters high, he was at least at level seven and his body was strong.

  the rose mercenary squad never thought today would be the day they died.

  at last, the footsteps stopped, and there, in front of the rose mercenary squad, stood a demon covered by green ghost flames, his body dry and dark as a mummy. the blood-red eyes in the skull covered by a layer of skin were staring at them. “you’re fools to think that the gray temple will save you. they’ll find nothing but bodies when they come here.”


  the situation couldn’t have been worse.

  “you’re weaker than the old man we captured the other day. apparently chaos city has nothing but weaklings, but you guys have balls, i’ll give you that.”


  “that male elf may not be worth a lot, but that small one will definitely fetch a fortune. let’s get her to an auction and make a killing!”


  “and we’ve got ourselves two broads! i like the well-endowed one, and by the look of her, she’ll be more durable than the ones we found the other day. but that one won’t last a day, i think.”


  the orcs and trolls smiled lasciviously at sivir and eva after arriving at the scene.

  the rose mercenary squad were angry and scared, but they stood their ground. scott and skol stared at their enemies, swords in their hands. dennis stood in front, holding his giant shield.

  eva edged closer to evan and clutched at his clothes, her face pale as paper.

  however, evan, who was surrounded by his team members, shoved eva to one side, ran to the ghost light demon, and knelt. “please! don’t kill me!” he called out in a scared voice. “i surrender! they are all yours, but please don’t kill me.”