A scorching hurricane swept through, as though it could ignite everything it encountered. Unfortunately, there was nothing normal here — only fire and molten magma in every direction.
Due to the differing air distortions caused by the extreme temperatures at various locations, the sunlight streaming down from somewhere above refracted at different angles, sending hazy, mirage-like shimmers rippling through the sky.
The "Lord of Fire," the Ancient Flame Demon, lurked at the heart of the "Boiling Ocean," drifting back and forth in restless, violent agitation. His mind was perpetually consumed by the urges to destroy, slaughter, and burn, and he was desperate for an enemy to appear before him so he could vent these feelings.
His subordinate Flame Lords, Fire Elemental Elders, and giant Fire Elementals had long since retreated far away from him, terrified that a momentary lapse in his temper might cost them their lives!
Under normal circumstances, the "Ancient Flame Demon" — whose temperament burned as hot as the flames he commanded — would have already rallied his demonic legion and launched a fresh assault against his mortal enemy, the "Ice Lady," in order to quell his rage.
The "Ice Lady" was the ruler of the 328th floor of the
"If Gornheim hadn't ordered me to stay here and block that damned Arcane Magic mage, I would have already destroyed that icy creature with not a shred of warmth!" The Ancient Flame Demon gripped a longsword forged from condensed flame in his massive hand. With every swing, it sent terrifying waves of magma surging skyward and unleashed roaring firestorms.
He felt his patience had reached its absolute limit — though, truth be told, patience had never been among his virtues. His two eyes, each blazing like a miniature sun, fixed on the Flame Lords cowering in the distance: "Why don't any of you dare come closer to me?"
"Because we fear you and revere you, Your Excellency!" The thirteen Flame Lords surrounding him immediately sensed the danger and answered in near-perfect unison.
This answer satisfied the "Ancient Flame Demon" — but only for a moment before his fury erupted again. "Answering from so far away means you fear me, loathe me, and wish to betray me!"
The Flame Lords' bodies trembled, the flames wreathing them flickering wildly. Encountering such an irrational, volatile, and tyrannical Sovereign was nothing short of a tragedy. Of course, in the Infinite Abyss, such rulers were the norm — Demon Sovereigns like the "Dark Lord" and the "Lord of Death" (master of the undead), who didn't arbitrarily annihilate their subordinates, were exceedingly rare.
Suddenly, a blast of frigid wind swept through, and the Fire Elementals hovering in midair froze solid into red blocks of ice, tumbling one after another into the magma below.
The surface of the ceaselessly churning, bubbling Boiling Ocean seemed to have been frozen in time itself — a vivid, intricately detailed painting in which even a half-popped bubble glistened with crystalline clarity.
At the entrance to this layer of the Abyss, a terrifying blizzard began to rage. Icy gales howled and tore across the land, while strange snowflakes laced with ice crystals drifted ceaselessly downward. And within the whiteout of the blizzard, a woman's face gradually took shape — her features sharply defined, her beauty refined and precise, yet utterly devoid of any living warmth, like a sculpture crafted by a human artist: beautiful, but lifeless.
"ROAR! You dare come to throw away your life?!" The "Lord of Fire" felt a surge of mingled fury and elation at the sight. He had only just managed to restrain himself from attacking her, and yet she had the audacity to come and assault the "Boiling Ocean"! At least now, his rage finally had an outlet!
The powerful being who had summoned this blizzard was none other than the master of the "Aurora Plains," the Demon Sovereign known as the "Ice Lady"!
The Ancient Flame Demon raised his colossal fire longsword, two plumes of blue-green smoke curling from his nostrils. Behind him, wings woven from flickering embers beat down with tremendous force.
BOOM!
The entire magma ocean erupted into full, violent eruption, as though countless volcanoes were detonating beneath its surface. The sea heaved, pillars of fire roared skyward, and the temperature skyrocketed — melting the ice and snow and tinting the blizzard itself with a fiery red hue.
Such a plane-wide upheaval alone would have been enough to vaporize any mage or knight below Legendary rank.
Amid the "welcoming" salvo of fire pillars, the "Ancient Flame Demon" soared to the Ice Lady's position and slashed out with a devastating strike of his greatsword.
The massive flame longsword — carrying temperatures hot enough to incinerate anything and a force beyond imagination — tore through the white mist generated by the surrounding cold and cleaved through the swirling snowflakes and ice crystals.
At that moment, the woman's face opened her mouth and uttered the chaotic syllables of Demonic Tongue. A beam of deep blue light emerged with leisurely precision, striking the flame longsword dead on.