The battle armor covering Shirley's back could no longer withstand the force and shattered.

Fragments of her scarlet-red armor fell from her body, but instead of hitting the ground, they dissipated directly into the air.

The Rapier of the Starry Night, which had been embedded in Shirley's back, was also mercilessly destroyed by that blow.

This destroyed weapon would no longer be able to exert its original power.

It was the sacrifice of both the battle armor and the weapon together that prevented the blow from piercing through Shirley's body, leaving only a mark on her back.

The beats of her heart were already visible...

"Ha..."

The person who let out a soft laugh wasn’t the mysterious man, but Shirley.

Because, at that moment, she was holding the last chain binding Karina with her teeth.

Yes, the previous attack was truly terrifying, powerful enough to cause serious injuries even at Shirley's strongest state.

But it was precisely because of the force contained in that blow that Shirley used it to free Karina from her shackles.

With a sudden movement, Shirley bit down and broke the chain along with her teeth, and Karina’s body was finally freed.

"Shirley..."

Karina's body trembled, and uncontrollable tears streamed down her eyes.

However...

She could do nothing...

But that was expected, right?

Her teeth were pulled out, the bones of her arms, hands, legs, and feet removed, aside from moving her head, what else could Karina do?

Moreover, the man’s goal wasn’t just to remove Karina's bones but to take the power within her.

For him, taking the power simply meant extracting the bones.

Now that her body was immobilized and nearly all of her strength was gone, even an ordinary person could easily take Karina’s life.

"I’ll take you home now."

Shirley's monstrous mask began to shatter, revealing a bitter smile on her face.

"Really? Thinking you can just leave like that is underestimating my power, don't you think?"

The man appeared behind Shirley, surrounded by beams of previously condensed light.

Although his power wasn’t as strong as before, Shirley and Karina, now completely weakened, how could they withstand such an attack?

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The beams of light shot mercilessly, aiming for Shirley’s vital points all over her body...

"Transfer!"

In the instant before the beams hit Shirley’s body, she and Karina disappeared.

"Oh? You still have a way to escape like that?"

Seeing this, the man didn’t seem surprised.

He merely looked around as scenes passed before his eyes.

"Found you!"

The man smiled, and his body disappeared from the spot...

This was a seemingly endless dark space, and Shirley, who had just been transported there, took a moment to realize where she was.

— The bottom of the Canyon of Despair.

"Was there an error in the transfer?"

Shirley not only felt confused but also a little melancholic.

Her last emergency resource was a teleportation to the closest object she had "marked."

Originally, she should have been transferred to her home, where, with the castle defenses, she could confront the man.

She would then summon all the allied races, and Shirley believed that with their help, they could deal with that cursed individual.

But she didn’t expect something like this to go wrong.

"What’s this?"

A glimmer caught Shirley's attention, and looking at it, she smiled.

— It was her communication ring.

When she was young, she had fallen to the bottom of the Canyon of Despair, where her body was completely shattered.

Because of this, the ring had stayed there, peacefully slumbering ever since.

"It seems we're destined to die here..."

Shirley said, holding Karina’s body, with a relaxed tone.

"Shirley..."

Karina snuggled into Shirley's body, with a calm expression.

She wanted to hug her but couldn't, feeling a bit of regret.

"Shirley, can we really not survive? I still wanted to go back and eat meat."

"Hm, all you think about is eating. You don't even have teeth; how do you plan to eat?"

"Ah... you’d feed me then?"

"Ha, would I have to chew for you? Not a chance!"

"Ah? So what will I eat?"

"You want to eat? Warm water is enough for you!"

While the two of them conversed, the man’s body also appeared there.

"You made me come all the way here... such a waste of my time."

The man shook his head and slowly approached.

"But this ends now!"

From the man’s eyes, two beams of light emerged, aiming at Shirley’s body.

"Zzzz—"

The space trembled, and the man’s gaze suddenly grew serious.

He stepped back a few paces, maintaining a safe distance from Shirley and Karina...

What happened?

They both wondered at the same time and then saw before them a gray-white claw intercepting the beams.

Behind them, heavy footsteps made the ground tremble.

They turned to look...

It was a demon, a gray-white demon emerging from a black rift.

With large curved horns on its head and blazing eyes, its gray-white body was covered in scars.

It seemed that these scars were its wounds, from which magma-like blood flowed.

Holding an immense gray-white axe, it passed by Shirley and Karina, heading directly toward the man.

"Is this some kind of native creature?"

The man looked on with doubt.

He had felt threatened by the aura of the black rift, but the creature that emerged didn’t seem all that powerful...

As for the demon’s exaggerated appearance...

To someone of the man’s level, that was irrelevant.

"So much grandeur for a failure?"

The man shook his head with disdain, lunged at the demon, and punched its chest.

"Kid, you’re too arrogant!"

A wave of heat came from the demon’s nostrils as it swung its axe with incredible speed.

The man didn’t have time to react...

Or perhaps he didn’t even know what happened.

His body was sliced in half and fell to the ground.

Crystal-clear blood dripped from his divided body.

"Something like an incarnation of an apostle? No, it seems... a foreign god?"

The demon turned, looking at Shirley and Karina, who were stunned.

They both had always thought they had a high level of power, perhaps not as strong as the elders, but still formidable.

But today, they saw that many could easily end them.

"Little one, more powerful enemies will come soon. Next time, you won’t be so lucky..."

The demon’s heavy voice sounded.

"So I..."

Before Shirley could speak, the demon interrupted her, piercing her left eye with its claw, reaching directly into her brain.

"When you return, prepare yourself well..."