It's so hard being a hero!

“Let’s go,” she said.

Sofia followed beside Leila, neither of them walking fast, nor did they stop.

Behind them, the walls of Zhenmo Pass were trembling with a dull sound.

Over there, the light screen above the city wall was completely shattered.

Only a few sections of the golden protective wall remained, glowing faintly like a candle flickering in the wind, ready to be extinguished at any moment.

Dark energy seeped in through the cracks, flowing down the surface of the city wall, leaving the bricks and stones charred, peeling, and shattered wherever it passed.

The dozen or so Saint Realm experts on the city wall were still maintaining their final magical output; none of them left beforehand.

Frey stood at the forefront, the golden-red flames had become very thin, but she still did not retreat.

Sophia paused, then looked back.

She saw Frey's body sway slightly, but then regain its balance.

Seeing fine cracks appearing on the surface of the Grand Commander's armor was a sign of excessive output of battle aura.

They saw that some of the other powerful figures had blood seeping from the corners of their mouths, and some had trembling arms.

After the two walked out of the city gate, a long line had already formed on the road to Tianqian City, and the retreating team was moving rapidly eastward.

Sophia saw a pure white unicorn standing on the grass by the roadside, waiting for them not far ahead.

That's twilight.

Lyra strode over, climbed onto Twilight's back, and then reached out her hand to Sofia.

"Come up."

Sofia took her hand and used it to leap onto Twilight's back, sitting behind Lyra.

Twilight let out a low growl, pushed off with its four hooves, and soared into the air.

The official road below gradually narrowed in the field of vision, and the figures became smaller and smaller, turning into a moving gray-brown thin line.

Sofia sat behind Lyra, her hands loosely supporting Lyra's waist, her gaze passing over Lyra's shoulders and landing on the city wall behind them, which was being swallowed by darkness.

The golden light curtain shattered completely.

It shattered into countless tiny, invisible fragments of light, which drifted for a moment under the dark purple sky before completely disappearing.

Instead, a surging dark aura, like a flood bursting its banks, overflowed the city wall crenellations, the top of the city gate tower, and flowed down the cracks in the bricks and stones, swallowing the entire Demon-Suppressing Pass bit by bit.

At the same moment, more than a dozen figures on the city wall flew away from Zhenmo Pass.

Sophia saw one of the golden-red streaks of light chasing after them at great speed, getting closer and closer.

Moments later, Frey landed to the left of Twilight and flew alongside it at the same speed.

Her face was a little pale, and her lips were almost bloodless, but her eyes remained clear.

A trace of blood lingered at the corner of her mouth, which she casually wiped away with her sleeve, acting as if nothing had happened.

"Are you okay?"

She asked a question.

"It's nothing, it's just that I used up too much energy."

Leila replied.

Frey nodded and said nothing more.

Sophia noticed that she never looked back at Zhenmo Pass from beginning to end; her gaze remained fixed on the direction of Tianqian City ahead.

Twilight continued its flight.

The wind swept past the three of them, carrying the dry scent unique to the plains, dispelling the lingering smell of blood and burnt armor.

After flying for about fifteen minutes, the dark energy behind them indeed slowed down.

It began to gradually slow down its advance after leaving the Zhenmo Pass for about four or five miles, and finally stopped completely about five miles away from the ruins of the Zhenmo Pass.

The swirling, dark purple mist remained still, no longer moving forward, but showing no sign of dissipating.

They stretched across the plain like a living boundary line, completely sealing off the area where Zhenmo Pass was located.

Sophia looked back for a while, making sure that the dark energy could no longer spread, before finally turning her gaze away.

She could sense that power being suppressed by the laws of the Starfall Continent itself.

It was a very difficult suppression, like a person trying to hold down a raging beast with both hands; they managed to hold it down, but their arms were shaking.

The outline of the city walls of the City of Heaven's Punishment appeared at the edge of the horizon.

The gray stone walls gleamed with a warm hue in the afternoon sunlight.

Twilight slowly descended on the open ground outside the walls of the City of Wrath.

Layla jumped down first, then turned around and helped Sophia up.

After landing, Sofia took a deep breath.

Behind them, scattered retreat teams were still arriving one after another.

Some rode horses, some walked, and some helped each other. Everyone looked exhausted, but at least they all came back alive.

Frey landed to the side, stood there, gazing at the distant horizon, her expression somewhat lost in thought.

The Demon-Suppressing Pass has fallen.

This steel fortress, which had stood in the western border of the Starfall Continent for hundreds of years, was completely swallowed up by the dark energy.

Now, Tianqian City has become the first line of defense, and its defensive capabilities are even stronger than those of Zhenmo Pass.

Chapter 133 Holy Domain

The news of the fall of Zhenmo Pass spread like wildfire throughout the entire Starfall Continent in just a few days. The five great human empires, the elven kingdom, the orc empire, and even the sea monster tribes deep in the North Sea all heard of it.

Wherever the news spread, a sense of oppression descended upon the place.

The demon god himself broke through it.

These words are even more chilling than the collapse of the Demon-Suppressing Pass itself.

For centuries, the reason humanity has been able to maintain this stalemate with the demons on the border is due to an unspoken rule: gods cannot directly intervene. Both sides must rely on mortal armies and powerful warriors to fight for every inch of land, all under the constraints of the laws of nature.

But now, the Demon God has not only intervened, he has also torn open a spatial rift, pouring dark power into the Starfall Continent.

This rule has been broken.

On the walls of Tianqian City, when the soldiers were on duty in shifts, their eyes couldn't help but glance westward.

On that distant horizon, which was originally the direction of Zhenmo Pass, now only a dark purple mist remains, a sight that sends chills down one's spine.

The fog did not advance any further.

But everyone knows that it's not that it can't get here; it's just waiting.

Inside the city lord's mansion in Tianqian City, the atmosphere was even more somber than on the streets outside.

This is a very spacious meeting room, with more than a dozen people sitting on both sides of a long oak table.

Sitting in the first seat was a middle-aged man with gray hair. He had an old scar above his left eye that ran from his brow bone to his cheekbone, and he was wearing a faded dark blue military uniform.

He is Hawke, the city lord of Heaven's Wrath City, a Saint Realm warrior who has been guarding the Western Frontier for over forty years.

To his left sat Frey, her golden hair tied in a low ponytail. She had changed into a dark red mage's robe, and although her face was still a little pale, she seemed to be in pretty good spirits.

On the right is the Grand Commander, the last Saint Realm general to leave during the retreat from Zhenmo Pass. He hadn't even changed his armor yet, and the shoulder armor still bore the charred marks of being burned by dark energy.

There were seven or eight other people sitting on either side of the table, including liaison officers sent by the military, high-ranking members of the Adventurers' Guild, and powerful representatives who had come from other empires to provide support.

The house was so quiet you could hear the crackling of the embers in the fireplace.

Hawke finally spoke first.

He put down his teacup, the bottom of which tapped softly on the table.

"Everyone, you are probably all aware of the current situation. With the Demon Suppression Pass gone, our Heavenly Punishment City is now the first line of defense. That dark aura is currently stopped five miles outside the pass, neither advancing nor retreating. The demon army is stationed in that mist and could regroup at any time."

He paused for a moment, his eyes scanning the faces of everyone around the table.

What do you all think?

No one spoke beside the table.

After a while, the president spoke first.

"The Demon God has personally taken action; this is the first time in hundreds of years. The infiltration speed of the dark energy is much faster than I expected. Although the power of the laws is still suppressing it, no one can say for sure how long it can be suppressed."

He paused after he finished speaking, as if he was thinking about what to say next.

"If it happened again, Tianqian City might not be able to last as long as Zhenmo Pass."

This statement made the atmosphere in the room even heavier.

A middle-aged female military officer sitting diagonally opposite Frey pursed her lips and asked, "What about the Sanctuary? Can we ask them for help?"

Hawke shook his head.

"Someone has already gone; His Holiness the Pope himself made a trip to the Sanctuary."

Several pairs of eyes immediately turned to him. Some looked surprised, while others frowned.

"His Holiness the Pope went to the Sanctuary? When did this happen?"

"On the day the Demon-Suppressing Pass fell, Lady Frey rushed back to the capital overnight. After discussing with His Holiness the Pope, she decided that he would personally go to the Holy Land to seek help."

Hawke spoke in a flat tone, as if stating a fact that was already set in stone.

There was a few seconds of silence around the table, then someone asked in a low voice:

"Your Holiness... can you persuade the Holy Land to send someone?"

No one has answered this question.

Because everyone actually knows the answer to this.

The beings in the Holy Land, though ancestors of humankind, have not concerned themselves with matters on the Starfall Continent for far too long.

Frey remained silent.