Way of the Devil

“What’s that sound?!”

Luo Di suddenly paused. He was about to take a drink from the bottle, which was now at his mouth. His ears twitched slightly as he listened intently for the faint sounds from outside.

“Sounds like something was shaking,” Esseinro replied hesitantly.

The two of them stood at the window and looked outside.

There was nothing outside the building. Their surroundings were silent.

“Could it be from the inside of this building?” Luo Di was slightly worried about his son, Luo Sang. Although Luo Sang was powerful, he was not too familiar with this town. He did not understand the various monsters’ weaknesses as well as he did. If he encountered the most troublesome Executioner by any chance…

Also, it would be an Executioner that had been enhanced by this town…

Luo Di’s chest tightened.

“Shall we go have a look?” Esseinro suggested.

Luo Di was silent for a moment. “I’ll go. You should stay here without making a noise. Remember to use this.” He took out a small vial and gave it to Esseinro.

“It’s alright. I have this.” Esseinro smiled. He stretched out his right hand. There was a clear black vein on the back of his hand.

“Anti-Sella Mark?” Luo Di was stunned. Sella was the enemy of the True God whom Esseinro’s religion, the Crapemyrtle Cult, worshipped. It was a legendary devil. Since this mark was an anti-Sella Mark, this meant that it was divine.

“Well then. I wish you luck.” Luo Di instantly understood what he meant.

In truth, the mark was only a way to comfort himself. The main thing was that Esseinro had his own preparations, and did not need his help.

“I’m going out.” Luo Di took out his short crossbow, and covered himself completely with his cloak and hood. Then, he dashed out from the room.

Esseinro stood by the window and looked at his receding back. Then, he scanned the empty room again. He suddenly felt a hint of regret.

“An old fart like me can be useful as well…” He endured the pain as he squatted down. He fished out a red chalk from his pocket and started drawing on the floor.

….

“Clang!”

Lu Sheng’s blade clashed heavily against the Executioner’s chains. The two of them were comparable in terms of physique. Lu Sheng was slightly more robust, while the Executioner was slightly taller.

However, they were practically evenly matched in terms of strength.

Lu Sheng clearly felt that his opponent had an unceasing source of power surging from within. As his opponent swung with increased force, the brutal force increased as well.

‘I’m surprised that it’s able to keep up with the speed of my blade. I’m really getting more and more interested in this place…’ He did not expect that there would be a monster capable of matching his power under his normal mode ever since he’d improved himself to his current level.

“Sonte Pierce.” He flicked his arm, and the blade slid along the chains. It slipped through an opening in the chains and thrust forward mercilessly. The tip of the blade precisely stabbed into the chink in the Executioner’s armor at the neck.

“Pcchht.”

The sound of blade piercing flesh could be heard.

With a swoosh, the Executioner suddenly disappeared.

Lu Sheng was stunned. He barely had time to register shock when he felt a huge impact from behind.

“Bam!”

He struck backward into his opponent’s chains with his elbow. The Executioner had appeared behind him without him noticing, and swung its chains at him.

He barely had the time to reciprocate when the other end of the Executioner’s chain came at him from the other direction. It wrapped itself around his waist.

“Swoosh!”

The chain was instantly tugged taut by some great force. It seemed to have intended to tug on Lu Sheng until he lost his footing.

“Bam!”

Lu Sheng was sent flying by the tug, and crashed heavily onto a door. The wooden door shattered, and black air spread from within the room. A monster tendrilled durian scampered out and vanished among the black mist in the blink of an eye.

“Not bad…” Lu Sheng slowly got back to his feet amid the mist. “You’re strong… Seems like…”

“Bam!”

Another chain lashed out at him from the darkness. It whacked the side of his waist.

Lu Sheng felt as if he was struck by lightning. He reeled at an angle, and crashed through a wall into the next room.

The Executioner chased after him with great strides while pulling its chains with it. It barely reached the broken wall when an arm as thick as its head suddenly shot out from the darkness and grabbed its head.

“Bam!”

The Executioner’s body staggered forward. It was pulled along by a great force, and crashed into the edge of the wall.

Rubble and soil dropped down and scattered all over the floor.

Amid the scattered dust, the mist slowly dissipated. An immense figure that was more than five meters tall and more than three meters wide appeared.

“Since I can’t beat you in my normal mode, I might as well unleash one percent of my strength…” From the mist, Lu Sheng’s fierce muscle-filled face surfaced. His eyes had a cold glint with a hint of cruelty.

Currently, his body was full of tumor-like lumps that were actually his muscles. It was similar to his appearance back in Great Song.

However, the only difference was that a thick flesh-colored tube had grown out of his back. It connected his back and brain.

“I was told that the monsters here can’t die. Well, let me see if they really can’t be killed…” Lu Sheng grabbed the Executioner with a single hand, and lifted it high in the air.

“Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!”

The Executioner desperately slugged the big arm which held its head with its arm and chains. However, it was all in vain. Lu Sheng’s unleashed strength was too terrifying. In terms of body size alone, the two of them were no longer in the same class.

He grabbed the Executioner’s torso with one hand and grabbed its head with another. Then, Lu Sheng jerked his hands.

“Pop.”

Streams of blood gushed out. The Executioner’s head was forcibly detached from its body.

Huge amounts of blood sprayed on the walls and the floor.

With the spraying of blood, Lu Sheng clearly felt the Executioner growing lighter in his hands.

‘By the looks of things, this blood is the real factor?’ Lu Sheng seemed to have realized something.

He quickly noticed that the Executioner’s corpse in his hands was quickly evaporating and turning into puddles of black water before it vanished.

With no enemies around him, he started to shrink his own body and restored himself to his original form. More precisely, his current form was the product of Yin Extreme Mode’s secret Art suppression. It was a special form that was compressed in size. Compared to his actual body’s strength, this form was much weaker.

He walked over, squatted down, and inspected the Executioner-turned-black-water. The puddles of black water were also quickly evaporating and vanishing.

‘Forget it. I’ll study them later. I should sweep the other places as well.’ Lu Sheng snapped back to the present, and continued walking down the corridor. He quickly cleared the entire building.

“What’s wrong?” Luo Di had reached his floor at this moment. When he’d heard the noise just now, he hurried over, but was still one step too late.

“Were you fighting some monster?” Luo Di inspected Lu Sheng carefully. He noticed that Lu Sheng’s clothes were torn. Other than the large cloak, there were no other fitting clothes.

“Nah. I encountered a fatso and killed him,” Lu Sheng said with a smile.

“By the way, where’s the she-monster you dragged with you?” Luo Di scanned their surroundings. Finally, he saw the bound she-monster behind Lu Sheng. It was missing a leg from being dragged about.

Luo Di could no longer bear the sight. He turned to look at Lu Sheng.

“You should rest after cleaning this place up. We’ll go out and look for wood together in a moment. We don’t have much time. We must hurry.”

“Alright.” Lu Sheng nodded. Of course, he would not actually go in search of wood with Luo Di. The reason he came here was to take drastic measures and completely destroy this town.

“How about this. Father, you and old man Esseinro stay here. He’s an injured person, and needs someone to look after him. I’ll go find us some wood. I can bring all the necessary materials back over several trips. We might be slowed down if we move together,” Lu Sheng suggested.

“But—” Luo Di wanted to say something, but Lu Sheng quickly raised a hand to stop him.

“It’s decided. I can see that you’re very tired, Father. I’ll go.” Lu Sheng smiled. “Besides—”

He had not finished his sentence when the two of them heard some muffled footsteps. It was as if some people had entered the building from the main door.

“Shh… Quietly…” someone whispered.

Lu Sheng and Luo Di crouched behind the bend of the head of the stairs. They could hear everything clearly.

“This voice, Fran?” Luo Di was immediately happy. He pulled on Lu Sheng, who almost called out. He inched closer to the head of the stairs and slowly peeked outward.

Amid the darkness, a few familiar figures were walking into the hall of the small building lit by the moonlight. The final person was the impressive big, tall, and fit Mera.

Luo Di and Mera were too familiar with each other. He immediately recognized her from that stature alone.

‘Why are they here? This… isn’t a place that can be easily entered.’ Luo Di quickly thought of the possibilities. He quickly understood that they had to have been forced to come in here by the torrent.

“It’s them.” Lu Sheng recognized Mera and the others as well.

“Mera?” Luo Di was the first one to call out.

“Luo Di? You’re here?!” Mera did not respond. Instead, it was Fran who cried out with surprise. She quickly hopped over, and attempted to throw herself into Luo Di’s arms. Then, she was quickly pushed away by him.

“Luo Di, Luo Sang…” Mera’s gaze was first directed at Lu Sheng behind Luo Di. Her expression was focused.

“Father, you guys can reminisce together. I’ll go carry the wood now.” Lu Sheng did not waste time on idle talk. After obtaining Luo Di’s permission, he quickly walked out of the small building.

The faint sound of conversation reached him through the main door behind him. Lu Sheng increased his pace. After killing the Executioner, he vaguely felt that some peculiar change had come about in this town.

Something seemed to be rolling in the mist. Something seemed to have its eyes fixed on him.

He walked along the deserted streets. A big and tall black figure clad in a great cloak slowly walked out from an alley on his right.

“Hm?”

Lu Sheng looked up and sized the newcomer up carefully.

The figure moved very slowly. It walked by swaying its heavy body. If Lu Sheng had not waited for it after he stopped walking, the figure would have only been slowly dragging its feet behind him.

“Hiss, hiss… Hiss, hiss…”

With a swoosh, the windbreaker opened wide. A peculiar monster which seemed to be comprised of three greenish-purple corpse vines appeared before Lu Sheng.

“Fuh!”

The monster’s more than three meters tall figure lunged at Lu Sheng.

…..

A minute later.

Lu Sheng tightened the windbreaker on his body, and tossed away his own torn clothes. He continued forward.

The further he walked along the black streets, the thicker the mist became. His tapping footsteps constantly resounded throughout the empty streets.

Lu Sheng decided to tour this place.

With his stride, he could cover the entire town in a dozen minutes.

There was a total of 21 buildings in the entire town. There was a school, a church, two shops, and a warehouse. The others were civilian houses.

Lu Sheng loitered around the church for a while. He did not notice anything strange. Then, he went over to the shops. The peculiar thing was, he did not find anything strange there, either.

He went around the houses, and encountered a few creatures that were similar to the woman who had no facial skin. Other than that, he saw nothing else.

He spent less than 20 minutes doing all this. On his way back, Lu Sheng found a dozen logs, which he bound and brought back with a sprint.

In the school, Lu Sheng tossed the logs into the ground floor. He immediately heard footsteps coming down.

He wanted to go and meet them, but he suddenly caught something in the corner of his eye. There seemed to be something gleaming and moving inside a black classroom along the corridor.

He narrowed his eyes, and crept over to the classroom.

He walked up to the classroom’s window. He saw a lone boy inside the classroom with his back turned toward him. The boy was watching a monochrome television in the classroom.

The television was playing some blurry monochrome program. He did not know what kind of program it was. Only vague figures could be seen moving about on the screen.

The little boy had thick, black hair that was kept short. He seemed to be watching the television intently as he sat on the stool.