Chapter 72: Chapter 76: The Dog Understands Human Nature
Watching Sherry walking over with murderous intent, Duncan couldn’t help but sigh, thinking that this trouble would inevitably fall on his head after all.
He wasn’t particularly nervous. To be fair, he knew he had almost no combat experience, and the girl in front of him looked like a female warrior who could charge in and out seven times at Changban Slope, but he wasn’t panicky at all.
Firstly, he had a pigeon skilled at delaying cuts; Ai Yi’s ability was effective immediately within its range, activating faster than a bullet. If Sherry really swung her dog at him, it was likely to be defeated by the pigeon’s high ping, then die from a lost packet.
Next, he controlled the Spectral Flame, which was highly effective against all transcendental things; this flame could even control the Homeloss. The Abyssal Hound before him probably wasn’t more troublesome than the demons and ghosts on the Homeloss, right? In the worst-case scenario, he would just wrap himself in a fiery possession, and then it would be his area of expertise: my dear girl, I see that this dog has a connection with me…
Lastly, and most importantly, this body wasn’t his real one.
At this moment, he was merely using an incarnation; from a physiological standpoint, this incarnation seemed alive, but in essence, “it” was still just a corpse driven by ghostly power. Duncan didn’t need the body to remain physiologically intact to move it, just like that heartless “incarnation” in the sewers earlier. He just needed this body to “exist,” and he could keep using it.
He even suspected that if his current incarnation was chopped into pieces, he could still control it to return home in batches…
The only worry was, if he ended up with a broken body from Sherry’s meteoric hunting dog, how would he explain his amazing skeletal condition to Nina after going back…
So, he just stood there calmly, leisurely watching the girl in the black dress approach him, watching the black iron chain in her hand swaying in mid-air, while the strange and terrifying Abyssal Hound followed slowly at its master’s side with unfathomable steps.
Due to the fierce battle earlier, the girl’s arms and cheeks were smeared with blood, completely destroying her initially quiet and obedient impression, instead highlighting a sinister danger.
“You’re not scared, there must be something fishy,” Sherry stopped two or three meters in front of Duncan, frowning at the “Sun Cultist” in front of her, while her right hand was already stealthily, slowly lifting, “Have you decided to give in?”
Duncan thought for a moment, “What if I said I’m not with them, would you believe me?”
As he spoke, he surreptitiously rubbed his fingers in his pocket, allowing the ethereal Spectral Flame to slowly travel between his clothes and skin, in case the girl decided to smash him with the dog without a word.
Sherry paused, an expression of “Are you f*cking kidding me” slowly emerging on her blood-stained face, “You think I…”
Before she could finish, the Abyssal Hound beside her suddenly spoke human language. From its intertwined bone throat came a hoarse, deep voice, “I believe.”
“Ah… Ah?” Sherry looked at her summoned creature in astonishment, “A-Dog, did you hit your head? This…”
“Hold on a second,” the Abyssal Hound shook its head and then walked to the side under Duncan’s wooden gaze, stretching its neck, “Vomit—”
The loud sound of vomiting echoed through the bloodstained basement; the horror demon from the Mysterious Deep Sea turned the river upside down, throwing up countless choking, stinging black flames, ashes, and pitch-black pollutions that resembled acid. The concrete ground hissed as it was corroded by those pollutants, quickly forming a depression.
Duncan watched emotionlessly, wondering if he had discovered Sherry’s weakness in combat—although the girl was strong and ruthless, with a strange and unpredictable fighting style, she clearly lacked stamina.
The key was her fighting style; people could take it, but dogs couldn’t.
So there was an awkward silence on the scene for two or three minutes, until the Abyssal Hound’s vomiting finally subsided. Duncan couldn’t help but glance at it and asked, “Are you okay?”
The dog immediately lowered its head, with its tail, coiled from bones, tightly tucked between its legs, “I appreciate your concern, I hope my rudeness hasn’t offended your eyes. Do you have any further instructions? If there’s nothing else, we’ll be leaving…”
Before Duncan could figure out what was wrong with the dog, Sherry cried out in alarm, “A-Dog, are you really okay? Did I really damage your brain?! You’re never this polite when talking to humans, whoever stands opposite you won’t be able to keep their mother safe for…”
Duncan already had a vague understanding, suddenly looking at the ferocious Abyssal Hound with a profound gaze.
Based on the bits and pieces he overheard from the mouth of that Sun Priest, it seemed that this “Giant Hound” was indeed a demon summoned from the Mysterious Deep Sea. Without considering what the Obliteration Sect was all about, or what strange things there were in the Mysterious Deep Sea, or why it was possible to summon dogs, one thing was clear:
The “dog” feared itself, the demon from the Mysterious Deep Sea, it… likely had a “vision” different from ordinary humans.
“Do you know who I am?” Duncan asked indifferently, “Do you recognize me?”
“No, no,” the Abyssal Hound replied without even raising its head, “Really don’t recognize… but you must be a big shot, no doubt about that…”
Duncan frowned and asked again, “In your eyes, I don’t look like a human, do I?”
The Abyssal Hound hesitated for a moment, carefully raised its head to glance at Duncan, and then said hesitantly, “You… look like… or do you not…”
Duncan withdrew his gaze and looked towards Sherry.
The black-dressed girl was watching this side with uncertainty—she had finally put away her initial hostility, replaced instead with deep astonishment and caution.
This girl seemed a bit reckless, but obviously not a fool. After her “pet dog” showed such abnormal behavior consecutively, even the most headstrong character would cool down at this point and start to sense that something was amiss.
She quietly tightened the chain between her and the Abyssal Hound, while stealthily stepping back half a step, watching Duncan carefully, “You just said that you’re not with them…”
“Yes,” Duncan spread his hands, “You might not believe me, but I also sneaked in to gather intelligence…”
“I believe you,” Sherry said crisply.
This time it was Duncan who was a bit surprised; he suddenly found that the impression the girl gave him kept changing. At first glance, he thought she was a quiet and obedient child, but then she showed a violent and bloody side. Just now he thought she was recklessly single-minded, yet now her speed in adapting to the situation and conceding to the slope was even faster than he had imagined…
What kind of family could raise such a child?
With strange thoughts in mind, Duncan was also a bit thrown off by her overly crisp attitude. He gathered his wits before posing his question, “Why did you look at me twice during the gathering just now?”
“It was ‘Ah Dog’ who kept paying attention to you,” Sherry answered reluctantly but still cooperated, “I was just curious and followed its gaze…”
“Ah Dog? Is that this one?” Duncan frowned and glanced at the pitch-black Skeleton Hunting Dog, “I just heard that Sun Priest mention the Obliteration Sect—is that a church worshipping the Mysterious Deep Sea? What’s your relationship with this Obliteration Sect?”
“I have nothing to do with them!” Sherry immediately asserted emphatically, “They worship the Mysterious Deep Sea; that’s their business. Ah Dog and I know each other for a different reason!”
Duncan’s gaze landed on the chain between the girl and the Abyssal Hound.
According to the intelligence he had just received, worshipping the Mysterious Deep Sea, being able to summon demons from the Mysterious Deep Sea, and under normal circumstances, using the power of demons to cast “spells” in battle seemed to be the hallmark of the “Obliteration Sect.” The Sun Priest had also made this judgment because of the Abyssal Hound that Sherry had summoned—although he suffered a heavy blow due to his misjudgment, Duncan believed that at least under “normal circumstances,” this information should be correct.
The only problem was the quirky girl in front of him.
She seemed very resistant to being associated with heretics—even though she owned a hound from the Mysterious Deep Sea.
“Well, if there’s no relation, then there’s none,” Duncan shook his head, then asked, “So why are you here, what are you investigating?”
Sherry pursed her lips; she seemed to not want to answer this question, but incessant tense signals released by the hunting dog beside her made her realize that this seemingly unremarkable middle-aged man could be extremely dangerous, and that it would be best to cooperate with him.
“I…”
Sherry opened her mouth, but just as she was about to speak, a loud boom suddenly erupted in the basement, and a blazing fireball came flying from the side!