Chapter 78: Asher Vs Hell Maiden

The only reason he easily vaporized the slime was that he dispersed its mana body using his own mana breath. But that was because it was too small and weak.

There was no way the same method was going to work against someone like the Hell Maiden. If it was indeed a 'she', she would be too powerful for him to vaporize her. Or maybe that was the solution indeed. But for that to work, his flames should overwhelm hers. Otherwise, he would simply make her stronger since she had the same elemental power as him. That was another annoying strength of a slime. It could gain strength by feeding on weaker flames.

But the dominance of his flames depended on his bloodline.

Now he realized why it was said that the 7th summoning would truly determine the bloodline quality. He felt there was no choice but to gamble all in, though he was glad he took 1 month to prepare for this.

But there was no more time to think as the dark rune circle finished summoning the Hell Maiden.

Most of them standing outside gasped as they saw a 7 feet tall stunning and alluring figure made out of a soft, slimy orange-reddish flaming body manifesting in the Chamber of Hell. Her entire figure shimmered and danced with light, and she had a slender and curvaceous figure with huge fiery mounds that were both elegant and sensual.

Her flaming hair was long and lustrous, flowing down her back in waves, and flames on her body seemed to dance within their depths.

She also had four slender arms and four glowing scarlet eyes that seemed like they could burn anyone's soul with just a simple glance. And on her back, there were two fiery devilish wings that seemed to resemble that of a wyvern's.

Who would have ever thought that someone with a slime body could look so sensual? She didn't even have to attack but could steal someone's soul just with her charms. Yet none of the demons standing outside dared to hold any indecent thoughts...they just couldn't, even if they wanted to.

Most of these demons had never seen the Hell Maiden with their own eyes but only heard stories since no one had challenged her for centuries! Those who challenged her didn't return alive to tell their personal experience.

And the moment they saw her, they felt their very soul shudder at the sight of her terrifying might. Something about her made her seem far different from the previous spirits. She seemed like she was indeed from a whole nother dimension.

Some of them were already on their knees, prostrating before this mythical spirit. To not only them but to everyone here, the Hell Maiden was a higher being from a different dimension.

Even if she was contained within the chamber, they could feel the heat of her indomitable aura, causing goosebumps on their skin. They didn't even dare to look into her eyes lest they turn into a molten statue.

Still, even if they knew the royal consort was going to die, they had to hand it to him for having the guts to face her and not collapse from fright even after she manifested.

Rebbeca held her breath upon seeing the Hell Maiden. The last time she saw her was when Rowena's grand-aunt challenged her, but she died within a couple of seconds without even standing a chance. She was a genius among geniuses but died miserably. That was a dark day for House Drake since her death was a heavy loss. Even the late demon king held great respect for her.

And now, seeing Asher stuck inside the chamber with the Hell Maiden, she was already feeling gleeful about his imminent death.

Asher immediately closed his eyes upon feeling the presence of the Hell Maiden, "I hope you can give me what I am looking for."

The Hell Maiden looked at Asher and curved her lips into a subtle smile, though the others didn't see since her back was turned towards them.

However, she didn't say anything and simply opened her mouth as her killing intent suddenly spiked through the roof, causing Asher's hair to stand on its ends.

Asher felt the heat in the chamber suddenly increase to the point he felt like he was about to melt and knew she was going to attack.

But he dispersed all distracting thoughts in his head as he gathered the mana in his body and channeled them towards both his palms.

This time there was no need for any convoluted way to deal with it. This time the only thing he could do was attack the old-fashioned way.

And so, without holding back, his mana surged like a raging volcano and coursed through his veins before coming out of both his palms in the form of dark green flames.

At the same time, the Hell Maiden's mouth was glowing with fiery light as she unleashed a stream of deadly scarlet fire from her mouth, filling the air with a wall of flames that threatened to engulf Asher.

However, he was not deterred by her attack and stood his ground as he summoned the power of his dark green flames to meet her flames.

*BOOOM!*

His wave of dark green flames slammed into Hell Maiden's ferocious scarlet flames. The two flames collided, creating a fierce and intense inferno that filled the chamber with heat and light, making it quite hard for those outside to see what was going on. Not even the experts could use their keen senses to sense what was going on inside since the glass chamber blocked everything.

The glass floor beneath Asher's feet trembled as the two flames continued to clash while the air was filled with the sound of thunder and the smell of smoke.

Hell Maiden's attack was so domineering that Asher's feet were immediately pushed back till his back slammed against the glass wall. Having the strength of Doomfall was no joke, and the scarlet ball of flames that formed in the middle upon the clash was closing in on him, threatening to engulf and devour him. Her flames were definitely far from ordinary and, unlike any other flame he had faced off against.

He grimaced as he held out his hands while continuing to blast his flames at her. He realized the huge gulf between his and her power. No wonder no demon would dare to go up against her.

The ball of flames was barely inches away from turning his hands into ashes. He could already feel the skin on his fingers getting burned and the ends of his clothes getting singed. But he was surprised that his flames were actually managing to hold up against her flames, though he was sure her flames would overwhelm him anytime soon.

Everybody on the outside was shocked because he actually didn't die within a second. They had never seen such strange dark-green flames and wondered if this had anything to do with his unknown bloodline.

But they were sure these flames weren't ordinary since it was actually holding up against the Hell Maiden's flames!...At least for now.

They could feel the floor underneath their feet vibrate, which was proof of how intense this showdown was.

To avoid getting killed within the first second of her flames was a tremendous feat in itself.

Now they had no doubt that the royal consort's bloodline was far from an inferior one. Still, it didn't really matter since he was going to die anyway. Even if the chamber was filled with blinding light, they could see that the ball of flames was about to engulf Asher's figure. Maybe some of his flesh must have turned to ashes already.

Some were already thinking of sad poems to write about the demise of the genius royal consort who fell to his own greed. Some were rejoicing that the queen would have to take in a new consort or perhaps a king!

Most of them were nobles from powerful houses which were already trying to act suave in the presence of the queen, hoping they might catch her eye.

Rowena didn't even see how hard they were trying. Instead, she furrowed her brows upon seeing Asher's state. Why was he trying so hard for her sake when he didn't have to? She couldn't make sense of what exactly was motivating him.

"Urghh..." Asher grunted as even the skin on his forearm began to get burned.

'No way in hell am I going to get burned to death,' Asher mumbled inwardly as his eyes shone with a dark green light.

'Hellbringer...' He inwardly mumbled with a smile as he lowered his arms, letting the ball of scarlet flames engulf him.

"EH?!!" The demons standing outside were baffled, wondering did he just give up after realizing how futile his struggle was? They saw his skin and flesh getting turned to ashes right before the scarlet ball of flames swallowed him.

Rowena closed her eyes as she pressed her lips together.

'Ha! This is what you get for being so presumptuous,' Rebecca inwardly snickered and felt as if all the frustrations she had experienced before were worth it.

"What a pity...tsk, tsk," Sabina clicked her tongue as she shook her head, feeling that it was truly a pity to see him go down like that. She had so many plans in mind.

Edmund finally released his breath with a grin and snickered, seeing the chamber getting filled with scarlet flames.

The scarlet ball of flames had engulfed entirely Asher's figure that they had no doubt not even a speck of him was left.

Just as they were about to wonder why the Hell Maiden was making it an overkill by not stopping,

*BOOM!*

An ear-crushing explosion suddenly went off in the chamber, followed by a volcanic surge of dark green flames which pushed back the scarlet ball of flames.

Everyone had their jaws slack when they suddenly saw the big, glowing ball of flames suddenly getting pushed back toward the Hell Maiden!

And as if they weren't shocked enough, they saw a charred black skeleton in front of the ball of flames, its entire body blazing with dark green flames with only one of its palms out, preventing the scarlet ball of flames from getting closer!

At first glance, it seemed like a lich, but when could liches survive with flames all over their body?

What happened to the royal consort? Or was this really the royal consort considering the color of the flames was the same.

Rowena had opened her eyes, and seeing what was going on, her eyes were transfixed on the skeletal figure wreathed in ominous dark green flames.

Rebecca's face lost even more color than the last time, especially after seeing Asher getting turned into an undead creature with flames on its body. At this point, she was feeling that this brat was indeed a monster all this time, and seeing him stopping the ball of flames with just one hand made her eyes quiver.

Asher was stopping the scarlet ball of flames from touching him using only his bony left palm. He then raised his head and looked at Hell Maiden with his hollow eyes, "I didn't realize it before, but your flames contain a lot of darkness, Hell Maiden..." Asher said in a low voice though the Hell Maiden only squinted her eyes without responding.

He lowered his left palm as well and began to slowly walk forward, pushing back the scarlet ball of flames with his own skeleton body while some of the scarlet flames brushed past his skeletal body without even causing any damage.

The royal consort actually managed to push back the Hell Maiden with his own body?! They couldn't process what they were seeing. How could someone actually overpower the sheer elemental power of the Hell Maiden? It shouldn't even affect her in the first place unless his flames were actually more potent than hers?

At this point, they couldn't even tell if this was Asher or some other monster who had replaced him.

And what was even more astonishing was that the scarlet ball of flames seemed to become smaller and smaller while the flames on Asher's body began to grow even wilder.

The Hell Maiden furrowed her brows as she spread all four of her palms. Terrifying waves of scarlet flames surged from them and shot toward the ball of flames to push it back toward Asher.

Asher got pushed back by a few steps but stopped as he began to walk towards her again, causing yet another shock to those standing outside.

Hell Maiden's eyes narrowed as she increased the intensity of her attacks even more, making her scarlet flames glow with even more fervor. But the more strength she put into her flames, the more Asher's flames became stronger while hers became weaker.

Everybody standing outside also noticed this strange fact. His flames seemed to be devouring hers, growing in strength and power with each passing moment. And within the next few moments, Hell Maiden increased the intensity of her attacks by so much the entire glass chamber was a dazzling display of light and heat, making it hard for people to see what was going on.

They could feel tremors passing through the floor under their feet. But what stupified everyone was how the scarlet light filling the chamber was rapidly weakening and fading until it was no more than a faint flickering glow.

And what replaced it was an ominous dark green light that became brighter and brighter, followed by a sound of an ear rendering explosion.

*BOOOOM!!!*

Most of them unconsciously cowered upon hearing the explosion and saw that it was the sound of the ball of flames exploding.

As the air inside cleared up, everyone had their jaw fell wide open upon seeing the royal consort clutch Hell Maiden's neck and even looking right into her eyes.

"Your strength is mine now," Asher said as he looked straight into her glowing fiery eyes, and the next moment his cursed flames spread over her entire body like a pool of oil catching fire.

He didn't know if he was seeing things, but he saw her smile before his cursed flames engulfed her entire body.

*Whishh!*

And the next moment, a loud sizzling sound echoed, making some even stagger backward in utter shock. How could they stay sane upon seeing huge vapors escaping into the air right where the Hell Maiden was standing. She was completely vaporized...just like that!

They gulped upon seeing the charred skeleton enveloped in dark green flames, slowly turning his head to look at them.

"Anyone here wants to question my bloodline now?..." Asher asked in an unsettling voice as his hollow eyes stared into their souls.