Chapter 23: Tasting a Little Cake

Rivina looked at Zog, who was struggling to pull himself free from the rock wall, and let out a light laugh.

Her voice carried an excitement that chilled straight to the bone.

“Compared to those three little snacks just now…”

She tilted her head, her eyes glinting with a sickly light.

“You’re just a little cake~”

She slowly took a step forward, the ground beneath her feet faintly scorching as blood-red energy surged.

“Not running into you on the frontal battlefield was such a pity.”

Her tone was gentle, as if lamenting a missed fate.

“Such a huge body, such abundant magic… If I’d torn you open earlier and tasted your organs, maybe I could’ve been happy for a bit longer.”

Zog struggled to his feet among the rubble, his body scorched, the pain in his abdomen still raging.

He stared fixedly at Rivina’s madness-filled face, fear flashing through his mind for the first time.

“Is this really a human?”

The thought crossed his mind, then he forcibly suppressed it.

“No… she’s a monster. Even more monstrous than the Demon King.”

But soon, his gaze steadied again.

He wasn’t here to fight—he was here to carry out a mission.

Rivina slowly approached, her steps light, her face wearing an innocent smile.

“Come on!”

She spread her arms, as if inviting a game.

“Kill me~ As long as you can kill me, you can keep invading human territory, take more cities, and… complete your mission.”

Her voice carried a bewitching lure, tempting him to strike.

But Zog didn’t move.

He knew this kind of madwoman loved provoking her opponents, then crushing them completely once they lost control.

He sneered, slowly clenching his fists as raging flames suddenly ignited over his body.

Crimson demonic fire erupted like a volcano, instantly warping the air, cracking the ground, and reducing grass and trees to ash.

“You brought this on yourself.”

He growled, his voice exploding through the flames.

The next second—

“BOOM!!!”

He slammed his fist into the ground!

Not attacking Rivina, but using himself as the core, pouring all his magic into the earth.

In an instant, the terrain within several kilometers shook violently!

Heat spread like a tidal wave, soil melting, rock evaporating, the ground splitting into countless fissures as crimson magma surged forth, like the end of the world descending!

The entire forest turned into a blazing purgatory within moments, the scorching waves making even the air burn.

Zog stood at the center of the lava like a god of fire, laughing wildly as he pointed at Rivina.

“Now—can you still smile?!”

Rivina merely stood there, letting the flames lick her clothes and scorch her skin.

She didn’t dodge.

She didn’t defend.

Instead—she smiled.

“Ha… ha…”

She laughed softly, then louder and louder.

“Not a bad ability, reshaping the terrain like this…”

She raised her hand and lightly clapped twice, as if applauding.

“But—”

Her gaze suddenly turned cold, her smile unchanged.

“That’s all it can do.”

Before the words even faded—

Her figure vanished into an afterimage!

Not a straight charge, but a twisted, unnatural flash, like a ghost weaving through the sea of fire, completely unfazed by the heat that could melt steel.

Zog’s pupils shrank violently.

“How is that possible?! This temperature would melt even dragon scales! How can she—”

He didn’t have time to finish the thought.

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang—!!!”

A chain of untraceable impacts detonated in the air!

Rivina was already in front of him, her fists falling like a torrential storm, each strike landing precisely on vital points—heart, spine, joints, temples!

So fast that in a single second, she threw hundreds of punches!

Zog’s body was hammered like it was being struck repeatedly by invisible hammers.

He couldn’t block, couldn’t land, his massive frame forcibly suspended mid-air by the crushing pressure.

His limbs twisted, his bones screaming under the strain with sharp cracking sounds!

“Gah—!!”

His scream wasn’t finished before an uppercut smashed brutally into his jaw!

“BOOM—!”

His enormous body shot backward like a meteor, tearing through the air before crashing hundreds of meters away into scorched earth, sinking into a deep crater as dust exploded upward!

He lay there, blood spraying from mouth and nose, limbs twitching, eyes filled with shock and despair.

“This is bad…”

He roared in his mind.

“If this keeps up… I’ll really die!”

At last, he understood—

This wasn’t a battle.

This was one-sided slaughter.

Summoning all his strength, he raised a trembling hand and screamed hoarsely:

“Rivina! Stop! I came to talk cooperation—! Stop!!”

But Rivina didn’t stop.

She walked slowly toward the crater, her steps gentle, as if visiting an old friend.

“Oh?”

She tilted her head, smiling innocently.

“Cooperation?”

Step by step she approached, each footfall staining the ground with blood, as though her very existence corroded the world.

Just then—

“Hiss… hiss…”

Eerie deathly energy crept up from underground, like black vines crawling across the scorched earth.

The ground began to quake, clods of soil bulging and exploding!

“Crack… crack…”

Skeletons burst from the ground one after another, hollow eye sockets igniting with ghostly blue flames, rusted weapons in hand.

They swarmed around Rivina in layers, forming a ring of undead soldiers.

It was Bane’s domain—Call of the Dead.

Though he hadn’t appeared, he had already acted, sealing the area with death energy to restrain the madwoman’s movement.

Rivina looked at the skeletons crawling out endlessly from the ground.

Not only did she feel no fear—she threw her head back and laughed wildly.

“Hahaha! Interesting! How interesting!”

She spread her arms as if embracing a banquet of death.

“Undead techniques? And… a domain-level summon?”

She slowly lowered her head, lips parting to reveal chilling white teeth.

“Bane—so you finally decided to act personally?”

“Or is this… just another test move from you?”

Before the words settled—

“BOOM!!!”

A boundless tide of blood energy erupted from her body!

Crimson mist exploded outward from her center like a blood-red sun rising!

This wasn’t magic.

It was pure murderous aura, accumulated from endless slaughter and consumption.

The skeletons charging at the front were instantly swept away, bones shattering, blue flames extinguished, turning to ash.

Those behind hadn’t even reached her before the overwhelming pressure slowed them to a crawl, as if burdened by mountains.

Rivina stood at the center of the blood mist, her eyes blazing with fanatical divinity.

The next instant, she raised her hand, fingers spread, aiming at Zog, who still hadn’t risen from the crater.

“Woom—”

An irresistible pulling force descended!

Zog’s massive body was wrenched into the air, seized by an invisible giant hand and ripped straight out of the crater, flying toward Rivina!

“No… don’t—!”

He screamed, struggling desperately, but his body twisted and compressed mid-flight.

Muscle, bone, organs—his life force, magic, and soul were stripped layer by layer, refined into a torrent of pure energy.

A red-gold stream of light formed around him, spiraling as it condensed.

“AAAAH—!!!”

His final scream never spread.

His entire existence was compressed into a fist-sized energy core, floating in midair, radiating intense, pure power.

Rivina smiled, opened her mouth, and gently inhaled—

“Huu…”

The core shot into her mouth like a shooting star, swallowed in a single gulp.

She closed her eyes, savoring it carefully, her face filled with supreme satisfaction, as if tasting the finest delicacy in the world.

“Mmm…”

She sighed softly, a thin line of blood trailing from the corner of her lips as she smiled happily.

“Rich magic, abundant vitality, decent soul resilience…”

“Not comparable to a true powerhouse, but… it’ll do.”