Chapter 125 - 122: Holy City Flame Demon

Chapter 125: Chapter 122: Holy City Flame Demon

"Ma~g~so~n~~~!"

The roar was filled with incandescent resentment. The moment it saw the Shadow of the Red Demoness, it swung its long whip, attacking the conspicuous figure.

"WHOOSH~~~"

The whistle of the air was enough to make one’s scalp tingle.

As Qin Xiaoxia screamed ’Holy shit!’ in his mind, the whip struck a nearby skyscraper with a "BOOM~," gouging a long, deep crater into the building.

It wasn’t that the monster had missed. The Sea Siren’s illusion ability had created a momentary distortion in the monster’s Visual Sense and perception, causing it to strike the wrong location.

’Son of a bitch! This is Earth! If you hate Magson so much, go find Magson!!!’

’If it attacks again, I doubt I have enough Magic Power to trick a BOSS-level invading creature like this a second time.’

’Do I really have to give up the Red Demoness?’

Below, all firepower was aimed at the flame monster.

Watching the super-mutated monster being "held in check" by the red figure, Norton roared into his now-functional communications device.

"Fire! Fire! Don’t save your ammo! Full power on the one that’s on fire!!"

BANG~ BANG~ BANG~ BANG~...

FWOOSH FWOOSH FWOOSH FWOOSH...

Countless rounds of heavy ordnance and artillery shells were fired from the combat vehicles.

A massive number of missiles, trailing plumes of fire, launched from the ground, from skyscrapers, and even from the distant sky, converging on the flame monster from all directions.

Just as it was retracting its whip, before it could swing a second time, a mix of armor-piercing and high-explosive heavy artillery shells landed on the target and detonated first.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM~~~

Amidst the roaring explosions, the converging missiles arrived the next moment.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM~~~

The even more violent explosions shattered all the remaining glass on the surrounding buildings. The shockwave blew against the nearby Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou, forcing their eyes shut.

It also caused both the Shadow of the Red Demoness and its controller, Qin Xiaoxia, to perform the same human-like action of shielding their faces with their arms.

A cry resembling a shriek of pain rang out intermittently from the center of the explosion, as if to announce that the target had been hit.

Next to Norton, a lieutenant colonel’s voice trembled slightly with nervousness.

"No one could survive that kind of firepower!"

Norton stared intently up at the point of impact, replying without turning his head.

"Yes, no one... but that thing isn’t human!"

As if in response to Norton’s words, before the smoke from the explosions could dissipate, a furious roar rang out again, making the people below instinctively cover their ears.

A Flaming Whip broke the sound barrier, smashing toward the ground with a piercing shriek trailing behind it.

Some Soldiers who saw this scene as if in slow motion would later recount it.

The whip, which had seemed to be only a few dozen meters long, extended to at least several hundred meters at that moment.

CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH.....

Numerous vehicles, including combat vehicles, were sent flying by the whip, many of them bursting into flames and exploding in mid-air.

Several Soldiers had been maintaining fire from the rotary machine gun on an armored vehicle. The next moment, they saw the whip of fire appear before them.

"Bail out!"

"Run!"

In truth, they were already jumping from the vehicle before the words even left their mouths.

With a "CRUNCH~," the armored vehicle was crushed flat.

The Soldiers leaped away just in time, but they couldn’t escape their grim fate.

"AHHH~~~"

"Help me~~"...

As if the superheated air itself had ignited them, they screamed as their entire bodies burst into flames.

Countless Soldiers and police officers nearby suffered the same horrific fate.

"Put out the fire! Quickly, put it out!"

"Fire extinguishers! Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

Dry-ice extinguishers and cold water were sprayed on the burning Soldiers, but many continued to burn, quickly turning into charred corpses.

One Soldier was being sprayed by three extinguishers at once, and the flames on his body were clearly put out.

"AHHH~~~ Put it out!!! AHHH~~~"

But the Soldier continued to writhe and scream on the ground, leaving the people holding the extinguishers at a loss. They tried to hold him down, only to get burned themselves. With ice and water having no effect, they could only watch helplessly as he died from a "fireless burning."

Norton, holding an extinguisher himself, helped the others spray down the burning Soldiers while roaring into his communicator.

"Report damage assessment! Get the fire-fighting helicopters in the air! Drop liquid nitrogen! Drop liquid nitrogen! If they aren’t loaded, load them now! Move it!"

The smoke gradually dissipated, revealing that the flame monster was not unscathed. Its body was marred with craters, and a dark-red, magma-like substance, like blood, burned as it dripped off.

However, compared to its massive body, those seemingly horrific wounds were far from fatal. Furthermore, its rapid regeneration speed was beyond the scope of conventional medicine.

The scorching heat in the air grew more and more intense. The area nearly a hundred meters around the monster was cast in a crimson glow, as if the air itself was burning.

The assault hadn’t ended. Shells and missiles still struck it from time to time, but now, aside from some small-caliber kinetic-only rounds, all large-caliber shells and missiles with explosive fuses were being detonated prematurely in mid-air.

In a skin-crawling display, the flames and heat from the explosions flowed into the monster’s body.

"Sir, you need to leave this area immediately!"

A Soldier came forward to pull at Norton, trying to forcibly remove the supreme Commander with the help of other Soldiers.

"Let go of me!"

"All units, cease fire with thermal weapons! Cease all incendiary and explosive thermal weapon attacks! Switch all artillery to penetrator rounds! The kind without explosives!"

...

Up on the building, Qin Xiaoxia had just been feeling elated by the dense net of firepower, but he was quickly proven wrong by these idiot teammates.

In reality, calling them idiot teammates was just something he came up with out of fear and anxiety. The soldiers below were already doing a fine job.

And right now, Qin Xiaoxia knew perfectly well that there was absolutely no way he could handle the flame monster before him on his own.

His only chance was to rely on coordinating with the soldiers below.

He had been hoping they might have some kind of ultimate weapon, like a cryo-bomb or something, but unfortunately for him, it seemed such weapons only existed in video games for now.

’To hell with it! You want me to give up my property? Not a chance!’

In his pocket, another precious Magic Energy Crystal was crushed. Taking the place of Qin Xiaoxia’s nearly depleted Magic Power, a tri-colored Magic Fire began to emanate from the Shadow of the Red Demoness.

The Shadow of the Red Demoness struck a graceful pose, supporting its right arm with one hand while extending the other toward the sky.

The Magic Power converted from the Magic Energy Crystal scattered like a savage beast, raging across the sky. Although extremely wasteful, it was nonetheless efficient.

A moment ago, the sky had been cloudless, even glowing red from the intense heat. But now, in a short span of time, a mass of dark, oppressive clouds had gathered.

The rapid darkening of the sky immediately drew the attention of the personnel on the ground, causing everyone to once again focus their sights on the faint, illusory, crimson figure that was a size smaller than the flame monster.

’This is it!’

Norton and some members of the 19th Division almost instantly recalled the mysterious, torrential downpour from the "Crystal Ore Incident."

"ROAR~~~~"

A Flaming Whip flashed past, striking the Shadow of the Red Demoness in an instant.

CRACK~

A huge chunk of the rooftop beneath Qin Xiaoxia’s feet shattered, and he was sent flying along with the Shadow of the Red Demoness by the powerful impact.

The barrier of the Secret Realm appeared at the very moment of impact.

A dreamlike, woven net was pierced by the red-hot iron rod, creating a large hole and shattering it. But it had blocked the blow, preventing the Shadow of the Red Demoness from dissipating completely. Instead, it was sent crashing to the ground like a physical body, taking Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou with it.

Doudou was knocked silly by the fall, but having been picked up and shielded by Qin Xiaoxia at the critical moment, it was mostly unharmed.

Qin Xiaoxia himself, however, was in a miserable state. His whole body felt like it was falling apart, and he couldn’t stop coughing up blood.

Even though his body was much stronger now, and even with the protection of the Secret Realm Power, being whipped from the thirtieth floor to the ground by that monster had nearly cost him his life.

However, that blow also brought out a savage ferocity hidden deep within his bones.

Madness began to overwhelm his reason. His body, already drained of Magic Power, squeezed out even more strength. His eyes now held not only a wild purple, but also a frenzied crimson.

As he forced himself to his feet, the Shadow of the Red Demoness also pushed itself up from the ground like a person.

"BOOM~"

The whip once again struck the phantom with precision, shattering a row of storefronts just a dozen meters or so from the Shadow of the Red Demoness and Qin Xiaoxia.

...

A dumbfounded Norton suddenly slapped himself across the face and roared madly into his communicator.

"Covering fire! Covering fire!! Quick! Fire everything you’ve got!"

Missiles and shells—even automatic rifles, regardless of whether they could pose a threat—every weapon fired madly at the monster.

Not to kill, but to distract.

"Hades~~ Gillian Doya~~~"

The clear, melodious Magic Language, like a song, echoed throughout the area. A Magic Silk Thread flashed from the arm of the Shadow of the Red Demoness and vanished.

At the same time, in every corner of the dark clouds in the sky, countless sharp-edged, white symbols flashed into existence.

CRASH~~

A torrential downpour fell from the sky as if being dumped from a bucket. It seemed as if half of Saint Louis was filled with the "TSSSSSS" sound of cold water dousing a hot iron.

THUD~ THUD~ THUD~

The heavy footsteps continued. Even in the downpour that severely hampered visibility, the unquenchable fire on the monster’s body still made it incredibly conspicuous.

White steam, kicked up by the collision of rain and extreme heat, swirled for a hundred meters around it, rendering this Purgatory into something like a wonderland.

"Ancient Salaman!"

Qin Xiaoxia knew that this Magic Language, spoken with contempt, meant "Sea Siren."