The thrown Night Owl traced a parabola towards the oncoming crowd.

Whether it was knights or adventurers, everyone's gaze was focused on the distant Shadow Demon. Nobody cared about the currently weak and helpless Night Owl falling into the crowd.

Except for her three teammates.

Tier Three Magic - Wind Surge!

A gust of wind, wrapped with grass leaves, lifted the Night Owl high into the air just before she hit the ground.

Gall, who was lunging forward, lept up and caught Night Owl in mid-air. His muscles bulged under his armor as he curled and arched his back, his greaves plowing two deep trenches into the grass at the edge of the square, stubbornly preventing Night Owl from receiving any further harm.

Nova dashed over, placing his overlapping palms on Night Owl's severed hand. A healing, emerald glow seeped from between his fingers.

Night Owl, seeming not to have lost consciousness, managed a wry smile when she saw her teammates.

While stabilizing her injury, Nova scolded angrily, "Are you an idiot? With so many experts around, you need to show off? For what?"

Night Owl weakly explained, "I... never encountered one before. I thought if I could detect it, it wouldn't be too strong..."

"You should have at least told us!"

"No time, he was getting ready to move..."

"Sigh—" Nova couldn't say more and focused on healing Night Owl.

Ivan floated up, looking towards the direction of the summoning array.

The fog, formed by the Shadow Demon, suddenly accelerated, with countless twisted faces emerging amidst the thick black mist.

A Holy Knight had just raised his tower shield and edged forward, but the mist, like a living snake, slid past the edge of the shield.

Three archers in the royal city hastily shot anti-magic arrows through the fog, but they were pulverized by the surging demonic qi before they reached the core.

"Holy Light Barrier!"

Brilliant golden light erupted in front of the priests, yet the Shadow Demon suddenly split into seven ghostly figures, wrapped in black smoke, cutting into the array from different angles.

The nearest young priest suddenly clutched his throat and fell to his knees, his shadow on the ground was strangling his own neck, trying to kill the body.

The barrier maintained through their combined efforts broke down. Before others could intervene, the Shadow Demon drilled through.

The Archbishop, who was still working on the final fluctuations of the array, couldn't spare any attention. A gray-robed mage standing beside him took action.

The Oak Magic Staff studded with golden Demon Crystals burst with a blinding light.

Tier Eight Magic - Light Prison!

Twelve giant swords formed from light pierced through the clouds, pinning the Shadow Demon's true body to the ground with thunderous might.

From the boiling fog came layered voices of mockery from the Shadow Demon, "Futile resistance!"

The restrained black fog suddenly collapsed inward and then exploded.

The shockwave of magic energy shattered the light swords into stardust, and the five nearest priests fell backward with blood spurting from their ears and noses.

Even the gray-robed mage staggered and took a half-step back.

"Hahaha!" Having broken through all obstacles, the Shadow Demon laughed wildly as he swung his claws toward the person inside the array, "Die, human Hero!"

Clang—

A giant sword clashed with the Shadow Demon's claws, remarkably withstanding his power.

"You... you..."

He had studied the summoned Heroes in detail.

The newly descended Hero should only be Level 1.

Even with some powerful divine gifts, there was no way they could master them so quickly.

Not to mention this guy blocking him with the greatsword, it looked like he was taking the attack purely with physical strength rather than any ability.

The Shadow Demon's brain, made of elements, raced frantically.

"Trap...?"

"Yo! You dark mass, didn't expect you to be quite smart, huh?"

Duke Alama revealed an excited smile.

"Too bad it's not just an old bat; I've been itching to tear them apart."

By now, the Shadow Demon had no interest in further banter and shrunk his body, trying to escape.

The Archbishop finally completed the last step in front of the array.

As the scepter struck the ground heavily, a circular light curtain rose from the array, leaving no blind spots and trapping the Shadow Demon within.

Now the Shadow Demon finally understood he had fallen into a big trap.

Summoning the Hero was clearly a trap mixed with a teleportation array!

Worse, yet another full-level powerhouse who had been hiding in the knight's ranks burst forth at this time.

Three out of the United Kingdom's seven top combat forces appeared here!?

All just to get rid of him!

"Eleanor! I know you're here! Help me! There's still a chance to escape!"

Duke Alama laughed wildly as he swung the greatsword in afterimages, repeatedly striking the Shadow Demon.

The Shadow Demon, now solely focused on escape, fell further behind.

He could only hope Eleanor, who had accepted the mission with him, would help destroy the array from outside, allowing him to escape at a certain cost!

But no matter how much he roared, the Vampire never appeared—it's an outcome he had predicted...

"Eleanor! You (elemental expletive)…"

Amidst the chaos, no one noticed a priest named Mei Na quietly retreating against the crowd toward the edge of the square.

She then slipped into an alley.

Lucky I lagged a step behind!

Or else, I'd be the one trapped to death!

As for saving the Shadow Demon?

Why risk my life saving him, didn't you see how well-prepared the humans were!

I'd rather take punishment later; nothing is more important than my life!

Eleanor turned back for one last glance.

What she saw was the Shadow Demon, trapped in the light curtain, struggling alone against four equally powerful opponents and finally getting caught in a flaw.

The restraint bracelet on his left arm was shattered to pieces, his whole form struggling to maintain coherence.

Feeling no guilt, Eleanor transformed into a bat and, enduring slight weakness under the sunlight, flew away rapidly.

The four strong combatants noticed her presence during her transformation, but none pursued.

Even if they tried, they wouldn't catch up; the urgent task was to devour the current prey!

-----------------

On a small uninhabited island near the Continent in the Western Islands, a few small ships were docked at the shore.

Few people knew that within the island lay a concealed underground chamber.

At this moment, a Priest, together with nine other priests, had just completed the final arrangements.

Upon the blue stone floor, using rare materials, a relatively uncomplicated array was drawn considering its purpose.

One of the priests asked uncertainly, "Is this really okay? Isn't the array a bit too simple?"

The Priest shook his head, "The array itself isn't difficult; what's hard is always gaining the Lord of Light's permission. After all, summoning a Hero relies on divine power."

The explanation cleared up the priest's doubts, and it was also spoken for the others to hear.

To prevent them from becoming unrestful during the upcoming prayer, causing additional trouble.

The Priest was the first to prostrate on the ground, and devout prayers emerged from all mouths.

The summoning array glowed with a pale golden light as the prayers gradually rose.

When the Priest completed the prayer, and the moment he looked up, two figures appeared within the light—

A tall blonde woman with sapphire eyes held a bloodstained dagger, frowning as she surveyed the surroundings.

And a middle-aged black-haired man, trousers half-off, sitting on a toilet, stared blankly at his crossed hands in contemplation.

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