"Phew... I'm so lucky... Thank goodness it is 'checkmate' not 'defeat'."

Aya's keen intuition prompted her to sprint forward without hesitation for a few steps, only to turn around and witness Mimi on the ground with the metallic whip deeply pierced into the ground, soft in her hand yet sharp like a spear.

Suppressing the flames on her body, Aya gave herself the illusion that she had gone to find Chirp, a simple trick she hadn't thought of herself... It seemed making mistakes was inevitable.

"Really, can't you just honestly admit defeat?"

As Mimi raised the whip again, obscuring the view momentarily with a swirl of dirt, the blazing flames reignited, and a pillar of fire surged towards Aya.

"Sorry, I don't plan on surrendering so easily."

Aya made a playful face at Mimi, dodging the fiery blast before circling around Mimi to continue escaping up the mountain.

Speaking of which, that expression was reminiscent of Prince Tiran, truly infuriating. Despite feeling provoked by Aya, Mimi couldn't help but feel like laughing for some reason.

"Well then, I won't hold back either."

Mimi retracted the whip, clapped her hands, and sparks of flame scattered, numerous glowing sparks akin to fireflies rose behind her, shooting towards Aya like fireflies in flight.

Not aiming for power, a pure wide-range attack, aiming only to end the game.

But it seemed Aya had no intention of giving Mimi that chance; agilely dodging among the layers of trees while using shrubs to conceal herself from Mimi's sight, not a single firefly had a chance to hit its target.

"Intend to keep hiding until time runs out?"

Exhaust the time?

Aya glanced at the hourglass in her hand.

Impossible, there was still some time left in the second hour, and the skirmish between her and Mimi could take place several times within a short period. If they fought until the time ran out, either she would collapse from exhaustion or Mimi would tire out first.

A battle of attrition had no appeal, and besides, Mimi herself had mentioned that her goal was to teach Aya a lesson. Winning through such underhanded means would definitely not achieve what Prince Tiran wanted in terms of "solving the problem."

"My scales are almost restored now, so bring it on!"

As if determined, Aya suddenly leaped behind a tree and used its trunk to block several fireflies before guiding her Qi to her feet, transforming it into an invisible Qi blade to viciously kick the unfortunate tree.

With a cracking sound, wood splinters flew as the tree, after many years of growth, toppled towards Mimi.

"This level is useless!"

Mimi decisively raised her hand and delivered a punch. Even though a Demon's physical strength was much stronger than a human's, coupled with the compressed flames on her fist, the punch shattered the trunk that needed to be hugged by several people to encircle it.

Amidst the floating leaves and scattered earth obscuring her vision, Mimi precisely sensed Aya's presence behind her and directed the flames towards Aya, creating a bursting fireball with a diameter of a meter.

The direction was just right, no need for adjustment, but she couldn't directly withstand the attack.

"Sorry, old tree."

Aya picked up a semi-grown laurel tree beside her and assumed a baseball swing posture, smashing the incoming fireball with a home run hit.

Mimi's expression turned icy.

"The money for new tree saplings will come out of your salary."

"Hey! You clearly launched that fireball! And do I even get paid for my maid work?"

"Yes, but Prince Tiran has taken all the previous payments to enrich his treasury."

"Tiran?!"

"Hehe..." The familiar voice sounded embarrassed from the contract.

What the heck! Aya had a wry expression as she threw the laurel tree at Mimi.

"I told you, this level is useless…?"

The weight of a laurel tree sapling was just too negligible, effortlessly shattered by a punch, but after the explosion in the cracked trunk, Mimi suddenly lost sight of Aya.

Where did she go?

Mimi quickly scanned around, the surroundings still shrouded in shadows among the dust, fallen leaves, and wood chips kicked up in their battle, but Aya's figure was nowhere to be seen.

Almost simultaneously, the sound of the wind changed.

Qi liberated, triple speed.

From the first round of exhausting her Qi to now, Aya had quietly awaited its natural recovery, purely relying on her physical abilities to dodge and counter any attack, all to accumulate for this decisive strike.

This speed seemed even faster than what Mimi had seen before.

Despite the smoke and dust enveloping the area from their back-and-forth combat, Mimi felt Aya's presence behind her and decisively detonated the equally high-density compressed magic flames.

Aya made no attempt to evade.

"I've been waiting for this moment. Finally, an opportunity!"

An opportunity? Mimi suddenly felt uneasy, but her instantaneous reaction wasn't enough to do much. She could only focus on defense as best as she could.

But in this state, did Aya have any abilities that could threaten her? Even the Dragon's Breath, compressed air cannon, would have a hard time breaking through her full defense.

So what was her chance?

"Dragon's Breath!"

With the cry came the howling sound of the rapidly released compressed air, a draconic roar that erupted at such close range.

The force not only blew Mimi's body away but also swept the obscuring dust into the air.

"What... Aya, you little...!"

Seeing the clear surroundings again, Mimi finally realized what she had overlooked.

"Hehe, sorry, couldn't let you hit me or touch you, couldn't use Chi and Magic, the only way to win is this, right?"

Aya released her fist, rubbed her nose, and smiled.

The gloomy forest suddenly brightened, and as Mimi felt the sensation of falling, she heard the sounds of ocean waves crashing against rocks.

So there was still this move... something so simple that she had overlooked?

Her plan was to have the castle maids force Aya towards the garden hills behind the castle, but it had unexpectedly given her opponent a chance to win.

Using the battle's aftermath to raise dust and obscure her vision, while Mimi's attention was focused on her, Aya covertly moved herself towards the cliff at the mountain top before ultimately pushing herself off the cliff with a long-prepped air blast.

The power of the Dragon's Breath was certainly not enough to harm her, but in forcing her movement and pushing her off the cliff, she had already lost.

"The game's boundaries were within the castle... Tch, quite a cunning move."

"You just called me a 'silly dragon' a moment ago; can I take that as a compliment?"

Aya sat at the edge of the extending precipice, watching the falling head maid with a displeased expression.