Chapter 403 The Great Demon King, Unhumiliated! - Socially Anxious Witch in the Apocalypse

Su Miao was indeed excited, but her fear was equally genuine. The Great Demon Blackhoof was overwhelmingly powerful, so much so that Su Miao worried whether her magical town's domain could withstand his strength. Last time, when she used “Starlight Bloom” to defeat the Demon King of Hell, the town barely held itself together, almost wreaking unimaginable havoc outside. This time, she hoped it would endure. With a wave of her alloy staff, Su Miao summoned thousands of mechs into the void. The Great Demon Blackhoof witnessed this and laughed, "Hahaha, little girl, you dare to plot against me? Do you know who I am? Do you actually think this pathetic space can trap a Great Demon King?!" Despite his words, he felt increasingly astonished by the space around him. Everything here seemed astonishingly real. His gaze fixated on Su Miao. Regardless of the issues with this place, he planned to eliminate Su Miao first. As for the mech combat group summoned by Su Miao, the Great Demon Blackhoof paid them no mind—until they collectively opened fire. Boom! The Great Demon Blackhoof raised his hand to release a barrier, blocking a wave of concentrated fire. In an instant, he felt as though he was being attacked by no less than ten demon kings, the force blasting him away. What were these mechs? How could they unleash such horrifying destructive power? If it were a typical demon king, they might have been severely injured by that barrage alone. Hiss. The Great Demon Blackhoof felt a sting in his hand. He glanced down to see demon blood trickling—he was actually wounded. In a split second, the wound healed, and the Great Demon Blackhoof charged towards Su Miao's position. The mech battle team near Su Miao formed a combat formation, furiously firing at the Great Demon Blackhoof. Countless meteors were instantly shattered into ashes by energy blasts. With a cold snort, the Great Demon Blackhoof manifested a giant axe, swinging it forward horizontally. In that moment, it was as if the cosmic void was cleaved open, and more than thirty mechs failed to escape, being directly obliterated. Over a hundred mechs were caught in the aftermath, plummeting into deep space. This strike contained the power of laws. The mechs couldn't withstand it. Su Miao blinked, contemplating how to weaken him. Her ultimate move was “Starlight Bloom,” which required a stationary or unavoidable target for release. However, given the Great Demon Blackhoof's strength and cunning, he wouldn't foolishly stand still for her attack. Following her original plan, Su Miao hoped to use these upgraded battle mechs to weaken him. Unfortunately, the plan failed. With a few more swings, the Great Demon Blackhoof would decimate her entire summoned mech army. What to do? There was no time for further thought or hesitation; the Great Demon Blackhoof was already before Su Miao. "Worm!" His massive hand, like an eclipsing sky, reached for Su Miao. Startled, Su Miao instinctively pointed her alloy staff towards the heavens, launching a purple flame spear imbued with the law of fire. Boom! The Great Demon Blackhoof's palm exploded. He quickly retracted it, wiping away the purple flames clinging to his palm. Eyeing his scorched right hand, the Great Demon Blackhoof felt a chill; the hand reaching for Su Miao was not his real one. Had it been, it might have been rendered useless. That was the law of fire. An otherworldly god? No, he perceived no divine aura, and Su Miao showed no signs of a god's essence. A magic girl? No, he detected none of those special barriers, nor the typical idealistic frenzy. Simply a human who mastered laws and domains? Such cases were rare, but they existed; if true, it seemed unreasonably formidable. The Great Demon Blackhoof observed Su Miao, noting the witch's robe she wore, and realized something, "What exactly are you?" It wasn't his fault that he hadn't recognized Su Miao's witch identity; typically, such knowledge was unnecessary for him. Moreover, Su Miao's witch's robe was a modified version. Unlike the traditional conservative witch gowns he knew, her attire with a short skirt and over-the-knee white stockings was an anomaly for a witch, akin to a magic girl, something the Great Demon Blackhoof deemed heretical. Without waiting for a response, the Great Demon Blackhoof charged again with his giant axe in hand. Having learned from prior encounters, he decided against attacking barehanded. His speed was immense; with a few swings, several nearby asteroids shattered into cosmic dust. Yet, each time, Su Miao evaded the giant axe and launched multiple purple flame spears in return. Explosions reverberated across the void, turning shattered asteroids into chaotic fields. Ice spikes, heart-piercing curses, purple flame spears, magical beams, arcane bursts… Su Miao constantly swung her alloy staff, unleashing magic imbued with laws, yet all were blocked by the Great Demon Blackhoof. For now, neither side could overpower the other—the battle reached a stalemate. "Witch, heretical witch!" Through ongoing combat, the Great Demon Blackhoof discerned Su Miao's identity. Simultaneously, he grasped Su Miao's intentions. Her summoning magic circle was a trap: summoning demon kings and evil gods to exploit them. If possible, luring them over to slay them. Despicable, shameless, clever, and treacherous human! How infuriating! No wonder she appeared so naive and foolish during the summoning—it was all to deceive him, the Great Demon King. Demons have always toyed with ants, never the other way around. Realizing all this, the Great Demon Blackhoof grew ever more enraged. Moreover, Su Miao seemed to be gradually escalating her strength in their confrontation. Particularly, the laws embedded in her attacks were increasing in intensity; had she been powerful from the start, he might have underestimated her and suffered grievous harm. What did this signify? It indicated that he, the Great Demon King, was not deemed a significant threat by her, even though she feigned fear. Damn it! Additionally, the Great Demon Blackhoof sensed that the space contained traces of unassimilated demonic energy. Besides the laws, it seemed the entire space was forged from demon energy. He thought he understood what the witch was testing. Was she evaluating the strength of this space? He, a noble Great Demon King, was being used as a test subject?! Realizing this, the Great Demon Blackhoof felt he could explode with anger; he would rather have been deeply wounded initially than suffer such humiliation. Since the witch wished to incrementally raise her strength, he decided to unleash his full power to shatter this space directly. "Witch, die!" The Great Demon Blackhoof roared, unleashing his full might. Instantly, the space confining him visibly warped, seemingly on the brink of catastrophic collapse. Continuing his outburst, a normal space would have long since fractured under the strain. Simple spatial distortion wasn’t sufficient. As for whether the witch might attack during this, the Great Demon Blackhoof remained untroubled. In such a state, he was invincible—breaking his defenses was deemed impossible. Su Miao hurled several purple flame spears, each detonating in the void. The Great Demon Blackhoof remained unscathed. He glared at Su Miao, anger and disdain in his eyes. Su Miao observed the Great Demon Blackhoof entering a charging state, her expression peculiar. There was no denying that the Great Demon Blackhoof was formidable, managing to evoke such phenomena within the space, seemingly on the verge of its collapse. But this level hadn't even caused a ripple in the stabilized magical town's space laws. This indicated that her optimization of the town's domain was highly successful. Moreover, she had been pondering how to get the Great Demon Blackhoof to remain still, providing her the opportunity to use “Starlight Bloom.” Unexpectedly, the Great Demon Blackhoof handed her the chance himself, and at his peak no less. Such an opportunity was exceedingly rare. So delighted was she that Su Miao involuntarily shivered with excitement. Up next was testing whether the fully potent “Starlight Bloom” would shatter the magical town's domain. Focusing her spirit, Su Miao gripped her alloy staff with both hands. Layer upon layer of magic circles unfolded as radiant magical energy converged at the staff's tip, compressing and recompressing until the mana was condensed to its utmost limit. In an instant, the starlit sky dimmed as though every light had been devoured. The Great Demon Blackhoof paused in shock. As a demon, he was accustomed to darkness, yet he found this blackness distinctly unsettling. More terrifying still was the mana gathering before the witch Su Miao. One glance brought a sting to his eyes. Instinct urged him to flee immediately. However, his ultimate move was already at its peak, and abruptly halting it would backfire on him. Besides, he might yet withstand the witch's attack. "Witch, perish!" The Great Demon Blackhoof shouted. The universe began to collapse, and the Great Demon Blackhoof simulated a sphere resembling a black hole, devouring everything and hurtling towards Su Miao. Su Miao's "Starlight Bloom" erupted. She wanted to channel a bit more mana, but this time, she felt almost unable to control the "Starlight Bloom." In that instant, it seemed as if the cosmic star river was drawn forth, transforming into a torrent of starlight, crashing forward. Boom! Time seemed to freeze in that moment. The simulated black hole at maximum power began to devour the explosively released "Starlight Bloom." The Great Demon Blackhoof held on with all his might, but in just 0.00001 seconds, his heart sank. He watched as the simulated black hole was pierced by the torrent of starlight, causing an unimaginable explosion. Engulfed by the torrent of starlight, the Great Demon Blackhoof was battered by the explosion's shockwaves. He let out a silent scream. He struggled fiercely, desperate to salvage the situation. But only now did he realize the nature of the starlight torrent—it was imbued with numerous terrifying laws. Laws of light, darkness, destruction, gravity, attraction, repulsion, fire, and more… What kind of being was this witch, exactly? How damned! Somewhere amidst this, the Great Demon Blackhoof heard a distinct cracking sound. As it resonated, his soul shattered along with it. It was the shattering of his demon king core. Broken. The Great Demon Blackhoof, frozen in his struggle, succumbed to the relentless torrent, disintegrating into ash in the blink of an eye, meeting his end. The dreadful explosion continued to ripple, sweeping across the entire magical town's domain, inciting countless laws to quiver and nearly causing the domain to collapse. Yet, this time, the magical town’s domain withstood the strain without crumbling. However, the starry sky at the battle's center was slightly damaged and required minor repairs. Suddenly, a torrential blood rain fell within the town's domain, rich with energy, facilitating rapid self-repair of the domain. Seeing the blood rain, Su Miao realized that with this power, the repaired magical town domain would certainly grow stronger. After all, Blackhoof claimed to be a Great Demon King, far more powerful than the average demon king. While the blood rain fell, Su Miao quickly deployed magical phantom clones to patch up the various breaches. Yet, even so, she was a bit delayed. Blood rain also began to fall in the surrounding areas of the magical town. Nourished by the blood rain, numerous mutated plants emerged from the darkness, thriving with vitality. Many mutated insects hatched, born with formidable abilities. Whether this was a boon or a bane remained uncertain. Su Miao paid little mind to the happenings outside the town. Repairing the breaches alone was enough to keep her occupied for a while. After mending a major rift, she unexpectedly found she still had enough mana for another “Starlight Bloom.” Nevertheless, to be cautious, Su Miao poured herself a glass of strawberry juice and downed it in one gulp. The juice would replenish some of her mana. "Let's take a short break." Glancing at the recovering magical town, Su Miao yawned. During the break, she needed to record the data from the recent experiment and further optimize the areas where breaches occurred. Once everything was complete, she'd conduct a new summoning, hoping for a stronger demon king or evil god to test next. A new summoning circle was necessary as well. Using the same circle repeatedly in a short span might arouse suspicion among otherworldly demon kings and evil gods. Once word spread, future summoning attempts would likely be far more challenging. So much to do next! Hmm? Suddenly, a special disturbance emanated from the world passage on the Si Chen platform. Su Miao turned her gaze, seeing a ship styled with otherworldly demon aesthetics emerge from the passage. Could such a massive ship traverse the world passage? How did the demons manage this? … In the underworld, at Demon Quelling Ridge. Eight million demonic troops were systematically entering the world passage in various warships, ready to invade the 16th otherworld. According to the plan, the Chizhu Demon King, Dark Poison Demon King, and Shadow Demon King were the first to enter the passage. The Great Demon Raka stood in the void, overseeing the vast legion. It wasn't his reluctance to enter first; being a Great Demon King, his early arrival would trigger a series of phenomena and changes, potentially hindering the subsequent invasion and even leading to losses on their side. Moreover, professionals within the demonic legion were needed to repair and stabilize the space passage connected to the 16th otherworld, ensuring his stable descent. Once he successfully descended, the 16th otherworld would fall into the demons' grasp. Just the thought of it was exhilarating. However, due to the Great Demon Blackhoof temporarily leaving to act on his own, Raka was thoroughly displeased. "Damn fool, die in the otherworld." Checking the time, Raka noted it was nearly time for him to descend into the 16th otherworld. "Blackhoof, since you won't make it back in time, don't blame me for taking everything in the 16th otherworld for myself, hehe." He gazed at the world passage. A signal came through—it was his time to descend! (End of the chapter)