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As one of the guards that was personally selected by Princess Lesiah to participate in this expedition to the Ancient Ruins, Coleman naturally had his own talents.

In fact, he was one of the ‘talents’ selected by the Royal Knights of the Macedonian Empire when he was just a young boy. However, he never managed to break through to the saint realm as he approached the age of seventy. Due to spending over a few decades in rank nine, he had developed numerous ways of overpowering foes of the same rank.

Therefore, Coleman was confident in his ability to protect himself against experts who had just stepped foot into the saint realm.

But since no saint-level experts could enter these ancient ruins, who else could possibly pose a threat to him?

Even if Golden Demon Htilil was originally at the peak of the saint realm, how different could she be with her reduced cultivation realm compared to an ordinary rank nine expert?

In terms of experience, Coleman definitely had the upper hand.

Hence, he was certain that he could protect the princess and be rewarded with a promotion for his contribution. Then he would find a perfect bride for himself and reach the pinnacle of his life.

It pleased him to just think about it.

Unfortunately, his confidence was completely destroyed after encountering this monster named Golden Demon Htilil.

“Don’t run, little brother… Come play with me…”
“I’ll be damned if I don’t run! Put down that mountain first and we’ll talk!”

Coleman’s flying speed far exceeded that of an ordinary rank nine magician and nearly matched up to a saint-level expert. By right with this speed, he should be unstoppable in this world where no saint-level experts were present. But…

How did that monster manage to catch up to him with a hill on her back?!

“How rude! Who is carrying a hill on her back? You made it sound like I’m a brute when I’m just elegantly taking a walk after a heavy meal for better digestion.”

“That sounds even more terrifying!”

Coleman gritted his teeth as he watched the fast-moving hill getting closer and closer to him. “Hey little girl. Since there’s no bad blood between us, how about you let me go? I’ll offer you something in return.”

“There’s no hate, I’m just here to pay you hush money.”

“Hush money? I see, you’re here to silence us, right?”

Coleman stopped in his tracks. Although he knew he couldn’t escape, it wasn’t wise to turn his back on his enemy either.

“Come. Even if I can’t defeat you, I’ll make sure you won’t get your way so easily for the sake of Her Royal Highness!”

Magic elements gathered on Coleman. Countless fine silk threads started spinning around him at high speed, with black threads hidden among them.

“My divine strings are counterfeit artifacts gifted by the princess herself. They’re so sharp that they could split even the space. Coupled with my magic, I’m sure even you, the infamous Golden Demon Htilil, will have a tough time!”

“Is that so?”

“Of course! These divine strings couldn’t become a sacred artifact due to material limitations, but they’re no weaker than ordinary sacred artifacts. With my magic on top of it… Hehe, I really can’t imagine how a flat-chested shorty like you can stand a chance against them… W-Wait, wait, let’s not resort to violence! What are you planning to do?!”

“ARRRGHHH!!!”

Looking at the unconscious Coleman who was foaming at his mouth under the hill, Lilith snorted coldly and dusted her hands. “Fool.”

Counterfeit artifacts are hardly worth anything to Lilith. Yet this guy dared to show off in front of her just because he had one in hand. Not only that, he dared to call her flat-chested?! How was she flat-chested? This was called ‘having a lot of room for growth’, alright?

It was then, Lilith heard beeping noises coming from Coleman’s waist. She searched around there for a while and found a blue spectrum stone. As soon as she opened the spectrum stone, a text message appeared in her sight.

“Lost Golden Demon Htilil. Come meet up at once.”

Lilith’s lips curled into a smile. Lost her? She dared to say that she had lost her when she wasn’t even out of her sight yet? What a naive little cutie. Now, who would be the next lucky person to win her attention? How exciting.

………

………

Lesiah leaned against a huge rock on the highest ground in the area where they were observing their surroundings earlier, and anxiously stared at the spectrum stone in her hand.

“Strange, everyone has responded except Coleman. Did the Golden Demon get him?”

The princess shook her head at the thought. She wouldn’t be surprised if anyone else got caught, but Coleman was known as the best non-saint-level expert in the Macedonian Empire.

Coleman held the record of withstanding more than ten exchanges with saint-level experts and had a counterfeit artifact that she personally gifted. She just couldn’t imagine him falling into the hands of that Golden Demon, whose cultivation realm had already been reduced.

The thought of that Golden Demon made her grit her teeth again.

She wasn’t even a human. Why did no one share such an important piece of information during the square table conference? Could it be that the people of St. Caroline were actually waiting to see them make a fool out of themselves?

Lesiah frowned in confusion at her own suspicion.

No. No matter what, there was no way the academy would disregard the overall situation and deliberately hide such important information. In that case…

[ The most terrifying part about Golden Demon Htilil is neither her peak saint-realm cultivation nor her unbelievable luck, but her persistent patience and shrewdness. ]

Lesiah suddenly remembered Professor Marlin’s words. She then felt a chill down her spine. So, it would seem like this was also the Golden Demon’s hidden trump card.

No wonder she dared to be the first to strut into these ruins. She even foresaw the situation where other nations would send rank nine warriors and magicians after her life.

Even so, she wasn’t intimidated at all.

Lesiah didn’t know what the Golden Demon’s true form was, but if everyone was on the same rank, then non-humans would still have the upper hand due to their powerful physical bodies.

Therefore, dealing with a peak saint-level human expert and a non-human expert with a reduced cultivation realm would definitely be different.

And most importantly, a reduction in cultivation realm didn’t mean that one would physically weaken.

Golden Demon Htilil must have thought of this and deliberately misled everyone into thinking that she was a human.

The trouble that she stirred up in Aeria back then and becoming the first on the Slaughter List were all part of her plan.

Would a terrifying person, who only had her own goal in her eyes and kept her identity as a peak saint-level expert hidden, stir up trouble for no reason?

Of course not.

I stirred up trouble in a human city. I got onto the list of criminals created by humans. I am evil. I am human.

Golden Demon Htilil’s behavior was deliberate. This was so that if a murder took place somewhere, the first thing that would cross everyone’s mind would be…

‘Who killed him?’

Instead of…

‘What killed him?’

It was also the same reason for getting onto the Slaughter List. Because apart from Golden Demon, the rest on the list were humans.

So naturally, people dealt with the Golden Demon as how they would deal with a human.

But the Golden Demon wasn’t human.

If it took a small group of five to deal with a saint-level human expert with reduced cultivation realm, then just how many were needed to deal with a saint-level non-human expert with reduced cultivation realm but was still physically powerful?

Although Pope Novak from Shadow Theocracy dared to take Pope Delance of Luminous Theocracy who was similarly a peak saint-level expert like himself head-on, he wouldn’t dare to even fart in front of Taylor the Aurora Dragon.

Thinking up to this point, Lesiah couldn’t help but tremble with fear. It seemed like they weren’t the hunters. They were just prey to that demon from the very beginning. So it wasn’t actually impossible for Coleman to fall into the hands of that Golden Demon.