Chapter 130: Chapter 134: Feast in the Fire
Sherry’s fighting style was as it had always been.
Simple, brutal, effective, with a sense of freewheeling boldness—the iron chains whistled through the air, proclaiming equality among all beings.
The shadowy figure that had leaped through the shadows seemed not to have anticipated that the girl accompanied by Profound Demons—a “Summoner”—was essentially a close combatant. According to normal logic, closing the distance at first sight of a spellcasting profession and initiating a melee would definitely be the right choice. But when the distance was closed, and it was suddenly discovered that the caster had whipped out a meteor hammer, the situation became a different matter entirely. Thus, the scene Duncan had seen before replayed:
The iron chains creaked, Sherry smashed down, and the shadowy figure was solidly hit on the spot, emitting a thunderous “bang” and almost whistling as it was sent flying backward!
With a “boom,” the figure was directly smashed into a nearby building, still ablaze with lingering fires, kicking up a cloud of smoke and sparks, followed by silence.
“Is that it?” The smoothness of the fight was unexpected; even Sherry herself hadn’t had time to react. She held her chain in one hand while warily surveying the distance, “Why do I feel the impact…”
Before she could finish speaking, a cry of alarm suddenly rang out from the other end of the iron chains: “Watch out!”
Sherry’s muscles instantly tensed, and the next second, she finally noticed that the shadow at her feet had somehow become a bit darker than before. Then, a vague “whip” that couldn’t be clearly seen sprang out from the shadow!
The black whip, carrying a vicious air-splitting sound, headed straight for Sherry’s neck. In the nick of time, she sharply dodged backward but was still struck on the arm, blood spraying everywhere.
Sherry clicked her tongue, seemingly indifferent to the pain; she quickly retreated, and that’s when she noticed that part of her shadow had stayed in place, and the strange, tall, thin man holding an umbrella rapidly emerged from that shadow. She had now seen clearly what had struck her—”whip” was actually a “limb” extending from beneath the man’s clothes!
The shadow seemed to swirl with thick smoke, containing undulating, deforming flesh that seemed to be constantly rotting and regenerating, a grotesque sight that was nauseating and chilling to behold.
Sherry only glanced at the tentacle-like limb, feeling a wave of nausea well up inside her, and in the next instant, she heard the strange umbrella-holding man utter a low, muffled murmur. The weird “limb” extending from his garment’s hem transformed into a whip once more, sweeping towards her face.
She instinctively lifted the chains, ready to swing her dog again, but just at that moment, a ghostly green glow suddenly appeared at the edge of her vision.
With the emergence of this eerie green glow, she noticed that the tall figure across from her suddenly froze, as if some innate fear had abruptly halted his movement. In an instant, the figure swiftly moved backward, and a thick black smoke churned beneath the large black umbrella, with low, indistinct roars coming from within. Meanwhile, the green flames almost grazed the edge of the smoke, casting a ghastly color over the smoke under the light of the Spiritual Fire.
Sherry instinctively glanced in Duncan’s direction, and she saw him standing quietly in place while phantom flames spread from him in all directions. Wherever the flames reached, from the buildings nearby to the fire sparks floating in the air, even the silhouettes of distant buildings, everything began to take on a shade of ghostly green!
It was as if some spreading plague was infecting everything touched by those bizarre flames!
Was this the power of this great being? Or was it merely the tip of an iceberg of his strength?!
A surge of surprise and suspicion arose in Sherry’s mind, but she had no time to ponder. The rapidly retreating Assailant was clearly suppressed and intimidated by the Spiritual Fire in the surrounding environment. Following the principle that one shouldn’t hold back in a fight, Sherry took advantage of the opponent’s weakness to swing her chain again, putting all her strength into smashing her dog on the Assailant!
The feedback, weirder than before, traveled up through the dog’s senses. Sherry felt as though she had smashed into a pile of rotting flesh. She saw the figure with the black umbrella shatter directly under the impact, accompanied by a nauseating tearing sound, the black “coat” burst apart, and several shapeless chunks of flesh wrapped in thick smoke fell from the clothing. They started to scurry around like they had wills of their own, all the while continuing to split into smaller fragments as they ran.
Countless overlapping, piercing cries came from within each piece!
It was an absolutely terrifying and bizarre scene—twisted, black, alien limbs split apart, moving, dividing, and scurrying across the street still covered in embers, with sharp cries that seemed capable of piercing the sanity of mortals, echoing incessantly, growing more numerous and stranger as the pieces kept splitting until it seemed that the entire world was filled with their ear-piercing, mournful screams!
For the first time since the fight had begun, Sherry felt truly horrified. She gripped the chains in her hands, uncertain how to counter these continuously splitting, squirming pieces with her usual “tactics.” But soon she noticed that these fragmented pieces had no intention to keep fighting—they were, in fact, unanimously fleeing.
Escape from the still-spreading green flames.
Now they had splitted into hundreds of pieces, moving like a swarm of black insects through the street, frantically escaping through the gaps in the green flames, toward the far end of the street. Among them, pieces were continuously captured by the nearby Spiritual Fire—a mere careless brush or just a spark touching them would immediately allow the flames to spread over, burning through them in an instant!
But the burning was not the end, it was merely a beginning—the fragments engulfed by the Spiritual Fire did not die, but suddenly turned around and began to hunt, attack, and devour those chunks of flesh that had not yet escaped from the blaze and had not been touched by the green flames.
Everything happened so quickly that within half a minute, half of the fleeing, bloodied fragments in the streets had been consumed by the Spiritual Fire’s corrosion. Those that were corroded by the green flame preyed on their “brethren” just a second before, while a faint green wall of fire closed in at the end of the street, completely blocking all escape routes.
The flaming scene had become a hunting ground, where thousands of fragments from the same black-clad Assailants turned into a fray of battling swarms. The ongoing screams finally subsided, but they were replaced by an even more spine-chilling sound—
That was the sound of chewing that filled the entire street.
The Assailants attempted to disassemble and flee, now they had become a feast for themselves.
Sherry felt goosebumps rise all over her body, and she could feel the trembling of Ah Dog beside her. She quivered slightly on these ash-strewn streets, but the next second, she felt a warm hand rest upon her shoulder.
“Don’t be afraid,” Duncan soothed Sherry in a soft voice, “Insects fear fire the most.”
Sherry’s shoulder twitched, and a bizarre mix of emotions surged within her. The comfort of being safeguarded and soothed by a mighty presence combined with the chilling sensation of being watched by an indescribable entity. She mustered her courage to glance at Duncan beside her, only to see his brow deeply furrowed.
“To be honest, it is a bit disgusting,” Duncan said to Sherry as he looked at the feasting “swarm,” his remark resonating with sincerity.
Who would believe that!
“Indeed… indeed…” Sherry meekly agreed, accepting whatever the boss said, “It is a bit revolting…”
“Luckily it’s almost over,” Duncan said with a slightly relaxed tone.
It was almost over.
The sounds of flames spreading and feasting on the street began to dwindle, and both the predators and prey were finally exhausting their life force, turning into heaps of ash that scattered in the wind. The strange Assailants thus turned to nothingness, and the spreading Spiritual Fire also began to gradually retract and fade away.
It was only then that Sherry finally swallowed, looking at those tiny drifting heaps of ashes, and asked with some courage, “Is it… all over?”
Duncan shook his head, “…not necessarily.”
Sherry looked at Duncan with surprise and confusion, only to see him walking forward. The last fragment of the Assailants emerged from a nearby heap of ashes, that shapeless, abhorrent flesh shuddered and wobbled as if attempting to flee but stopped after moving just a few steps.
Duncan stopped in front of that fragment, crouched down, his fingertips alight with a hint of green fire.
“I’ve heard many thrilling and bizarre tales, and these stories taught me one lesson,” Duncan began to explain to Sherry, “If you suddenly discover that your enemy has the ability to split, then you better assume the first one you encounter is just a fragment—always assume there’s an original hidden behind the fragments, kept as a device for lazy authors to write sequels.”
With a light tap of his finger, he ignited the green flame on the surface of the last fragment.
“I’m not a fan of sequels, even less so of an inexplicable original lurking behind the scenes, waiting to jump out and strike when the heroes let their guard down.”
The green flame blazed fiercely as the filthy fragment suddenly trembled. Following that, it sprouted many insect-like appendages from its base, which propped it up as it shakily stood.
Duncan slowly stood up, quietly observing the last remaining fragment of the Assailants.
“Go home, and take my gift with you.”