Way of the Devil

“Swoosh.”

Lu Sheng walked out of the flames. He left charred footprints on the floor as he walked toward the little boy in the ruins.

“Resenting everything because you feel pain is the signs of a weakling.”

“Swoosh!”

A red shadow suddenly flitted past a few houses, and appeared before the little boy.

Lu Sheng grabbed at the paralyzed boy on the floor with his hand that was still emitting a high temperature.

“Ah!”

The little boy opened his mouth and let out a scream. Countless pitch-black bugs surged out from his eyes and flew at Lu Sheng’s face.

“Imbecile!” Lu Sheng allowed the bugs to crash into him. These bugs were not afraid of fire. However, they could not even break through the top layer of Lu Sheng’s skin. They were shaken off by a great vibrating force, and were burned to ashes in midair.

He lifted the little boy up with a single hand.

“Is there only hatred and despair left in your heart?” Lu Sheng looked at the two bloody holes without any eyeballs in them.

The little boy started struggling desperately.

The sounds of clinking chains started to fill the mist as well. It seemed as if the Executioners which Lu Sheng had encountered before were coming at him in huge numbers.

…..

Luo Di pulled Mera away, and sidestepped to dodge the great black blade that came down toward his head.

As he rolled away, he dodged the whips from two other monsters. He stood up and shouted at Fran, “This way!”

Fran was also fighting another Executioner nearby. Her movements were agile and extremely swift. She seemed to dodge the assaults of the Executioner every time.

However, she was the only one who knew that everything would be over in an instant once she was hit.

She heard Luo Di’s shout, and lunged to dodge the incoming iron hammer. She then gathered with Luo Di and Mera.

The three of them stood with their backs to each other before the iron gates outside the small building. They were just about to leave the school when they went under the attack of a horde of monsters. Fortunately, Luo Di brought his special bait which created noise and light which attracted a large number of them away. Only a few slow-moving ones were left.

When they came out, they only needed to deal with the remaining five monsters.

There were four tentacle trees with human heads hanging at the end of their tentacles and a big fat man whose huge belly was always exposed.

The big fat man wielded a machete and an iron hammer. They were both spattered with blood. It was unknown how many lives they had claimed.

“Where’s Ah Sang?”

“I don’t know,” Luo Di answered in his haste.

“Let’s get out of here first. Luo Sang is definitely safer than us!” Mera said in a deep voice.

The three of them managed to evade the monsters’ attacks, and quickly dashed out of the school’s main gates.

“Bam!”

Suddenly, a black figure shot out of a room on the school’s third story. After crashing through a few houses far away, it landed among black ruins.

“What was that?” The few of them were slightly stunned. Then, they instantly saw that the monsters’ movements before them stopped in unison. The monsters turned around, roared, and charged toward the black ruins.

They did not even have the time to react when the fire broke out and cast the entire building in a red glow.

The scorching heat made them move further away from the building.

“Now what?” Fran looked to Luo Di and Mera.

“I’m going to find Ah Sang,” Luo Di said calmly. He thought very lightly about his own life and death. However, he could not allow Luo Sang to come to harm. He was still young, and he still had hope. He had an extensive future ahead of him.

“The raft is gone. It was half-built, and now it’s destroyed. Even if we want to leave, we can’t,” Mera said helplessly. “I’ll go get Esseinro and see what the situation over there is.” She looked toward the faraway black ruins.

******************

The church.

Urus’s black army boots paced along the floor. His footsteps clacked crisply.

11 of his remaining personal troops were scattered about the church. They were keeping an eye on their surroundings.

Urus suddenly stopped pacing, and shouted at a blonde girl nearby, “Why did you follow me here?! Do you know that there’s no way you’ll be able to get out from here after getting in?!”

The girl had waist-long hair. Her face was as exquisite as a doll’s. She wore a purplish-red one-piece dress that was girded at the waist. With the addition of the slender white lace and little red boots, she gave off a youthful air that was pure with a hint of playfulness.

“If you’re dead, I won’t continue living, either.” The girl’s beautiful blue eyes looked calmly at Urus.

“You’re out of your mind! The family needs you! It’s meaningless if you die here! I’m destined to die here, but you’re different. You carry the future of our Ludis Family!” Urus shouted irascibly. He sat down on the ground and pulled on his hair strongly.

“I must think of a way to get you out of here. I must! There must be a way…” His eyes were dazed as he muttered to himself.

“I don’t want you to die.”

“Yuya…” Urus held his daughter’s hand. “I’ve promised your mother that I’ll make sure you live a happy, peaceful, and stable life.”

“It’s alright. You’ve worked hard enough.” Yuya looked at Urus with gentle eyes.

“No! There must still be hope yet!” Urus suddenly shouted again. He pushed Yuya away, and stood up irascibly to pace around the church.

“General! There’s a fire there!” one of the guards suddenly reported loudly. The other soldiers had already crumbled under the pressure, fled, and were killed by the monsters. However, as the general’s personal troops, they were different. No matter what Urus did, they would stay by his side unfailingly. They would fight until they shed the last of their blood.

This was their will, and also their raison d’être.

It was precisely because of his personal troops that Urus dared to bring so many men here in an attempt to destroy the town.

However, there was no doubt that he had failed.

“Fire?”

Urus ran up to the window, and looked at the red glow that lit up half of the skies far away.

“I think that the only ones capable of starting a fire in the town are the people from the White Eagle…” Urus quickly organized his feelings. The peculiar occurrence in the town had lit up the final light of hope within him.

“Let’s go and have a look! Maybe things will take a turn for the better,” Yuya suddenly interjected, and gently locked arms with Urus.

“There are enough casualties tonight.” She thought of the soldiers who’d been brought here by her father and died. She immediately felt sad.

“Alright.” Urus had the same intention all along. When he heard this, he swung his arm.

“Everyone, pack up. Get ready to close in on the fire!”

*******************

“Swoosh!”

Two Executioners appeared beside Lu Sheng and swung their chains at him. The chains did not even have the chance to hit their target when a silver light flashed across the air and cut them into pieces.

Lu Sheng had barely sheathed his sword when dozens of monster branches flew out from the black mist. They covered the sky and the ground as they whipped at his entire body.

Black arms protruded out of the ground and grabbed his feet.

The little boy screamed. An invisible sound wave spread out in all directions. More and more monsters gathered around them.

In the beginning, Lu Sheng was still able to deal with them. However, with the increasing number of monsters, he was finally pinned to the ground after an Executioner that was clearly bigger than the others tackled him from behind.

Shortly afterward, a huge throng of monsters pounced on top of it as if they were making a human pyramid.

In the blink of an eye, the spot where Lu Sheng was had turned into a blackish, ferocious, strange-looking hill.

The little boy stepped closer to the hill. He wanted to personally kill the powerful man who had toyed with and trampled him.

“Ah Sang!” A sudden shout from far away caught his attention.

Luo Di, Mera, and the others rushed to the scene. They were standing far away when they saw Lu Sheng being drowned out by the horde of monsters.

“No! Ah Sang!” Luo Di’s eyes reddened. His body started shaking uncontrollably.

Mera, on the other hand, fixed her eyes on the little boy with a grim expression. She looked at the monsters gathered around them as well.

When Fran saw that the situation was bad, she started taking a few steps backward. She intended to run away at the first sign of trouble. If the powerful Luo Sang was killed by the sheer number of the monsters, they would not even stand a chance.

Just when the little boy was about to give the order to have them killed, another group of people started walking over slowly.

“That boy must be the key! All the monsters are gathered around him. As long as we kill him, we’ll be able to break out of this place!” Urus saw the little boy the moment he arrived. He was immediately delighted.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Seemingly without hesitation, he fired a few shots at the little boy.

The bullets instantly blew holes in the little boy’s forehead. However, the wounds instantly closed up and healed. It behaved like melted wax. His flesh flowed and restored the damaged parts.

When Urus fired his gun, his personal troops behind him started firing as well. They swept their bullets across the group of monsters.

Some of the weaker monsters instantly had their tentacles broken off and turned into black water. However, more of the monsters attempted to lunge at Lu Sheng to get closer faster.

Orange-red barrels shone and went out amid the black mist. The metallic bullets only managed to create small ripples among the black monsters that seemed to have formed an ocean. The ripples disappeared as quickly as they appeared.

“Ah!”

The first soldier was attacked. They were personal troops, and were also the most elite warriors under Urus’s command. After getting used to their enemies’ monstrous appearance, they were not afraid. Even on the brink of death, the soldier quickly detonated the explosives he carried with him.

“Boom!”

Balls of flames erupted in succession.

Urus gritted his teeth and shouted. He howled as he saw his personal troops being torn to pieces by the monsters before him as they tried to protect him. He was trembling. These were trusted soldiers he had gathered over the years of his service. He had put hard work into training them.

Yuya stood behind him. Her beautiful face was ghastly pale, but she showed no signs of backing off.

“Crack.”

Another bolt of lightning flashed. A huge group of monsters started to merge together; the writhing mass of flesh started building on top of each other. They gradually formed a humanoid monster with ram horns that was two-stories tall.

“Rargh!” It lowered its head and roared at Urus and the others.

“My God…” Urus was also shaken by the roar. His spirits were slightly dazed. He had never thought that he would be going up against a being of such a stature.

The people on Mera’s side were also shocked. An ice-cold aura that was completely different from before spread throughout an area of a few hundred meters instantly like a white ring.

This aura directly froze everyone’s legs. They could not even move their bodies.