It was a far more massive existence, standing nearly three meters tall. Its torso resembled a giant clad in dark red bone armor, and its four thick arms ended in razor-sharp bone blades.
Its head lacked facial features, save for a massive mouth filled with spiral, serrated teeth that split from the top of its head down to its chest.
Most bizarre of all was its back, where over a dozen thick bone spikes grew. At the tip of each spike was embedded a fist-sized blood crystal, within which a crimson light pulsed as if it were alive.
【Blood Demon Type Unlocked: Bloodblade Butcher】
【Rank: 2nd-rank peak】
【Characteristics: Power-type Blood Demon with extreme physical destructive power. The bone spikes on its back can fire blood crystal blasts, dealing area-of-effect damage. Devouring flesh allows for rapid wound regeneration.】
Jiang Lin looked at this new Blood Demon and nodded with satisfaction.
The crimson claw-wings were essentially the light infantry of the Blood Demon army.
The Cursed Blood Bone Dolls leaned toward support and mage-type units, capable of debuffing enemies and dealing damage from a distance.
Now, this Bloodblade Butcher served as the heavy cavalry, capable of drawing significant fire while dealing massive area-of-effect destruction and high damage.
Compared to the havoc it could wreak, the damage from the crimson claw-wings and Cursed Blood Bone Dolls seemed like minor scratches.
With a thought from Jiang Lin, the Bloodblade Butcher stepped forward, the ground trembling slightly with every stride.
It walked to the floor-to-ceiling window at the end of the corridor and raised its four arms simultaneously.
Crack!
Glass shattered and the window frame twisted as the Bloodblade Butcher physically tore a massive opening over three meters wide in the wall.
Fresh air rushed in, carrying the scent of vegetation unique to the purification zone.
Jiang Lin stepped through the gap and stood in the air outside.
Without wings or flight skills, he simply stood there, his feet resting on solid steps condensed from blood-colored energy.
One hundred and twenty Blood Demons followed closely behind, pouring through the gap and hovering in a dense formation in the sky behind him.
Their crimson eyes glowed like ghostly fires, painting half the sky in a dark red hue.
The entire headquarters fell into a dead silence at that moment.
Every Emberflame member, every combatant, and every ordinary person looked up at the sky, staring at the dense swarm of blood-colored figures.
They looked at the youth standing at the very front, his blond hair fluttering in the wind.
The bone wings of the crimson claw-wings vibrated, letting out a low whistle. The Cursed Blood Bone Dolls’ bones ground together, making a faint clicking sound like the whispers of a reaper. The Bloodblade Butchers’ four arms hung low, their bone blades reflecting a dark red luster in the sunlight.
Jiang Lin stood at the vanguard, his golden eyes calmly overlooking the Ember Headquarters below.
The silver-haired woman stood by the broken window, her lips trembling slightly.
Ed leaned against the wall, her legs so weak she could barely keep from kneeling. she stared fixedly at Jiang Lin’s back, her amber eyes reflecting those terrifying blood-colored creatures.
Leah’s wheelchair had been pushed to the window at some point as well.
Though she could not see, she could “perceive” the changes in the sky.
That thick, pure scent of blood—completely different from anything in this world—was like a raging flame in her “vision.”
“Is this... the power you bring...?”
she murmured softly, a faint smile touching her pale lips.
Jiang Lin turned his head and asked, “Which of you will lead the way?”
The silver-haired woman stepped forward and handed Jiang Lin a device similar to a locator.
“I won’t follow and hold you back. This locator works anywhere with a signal. The signal is broadcast by the headquarters’ base station, and one hundred and twenty kilometers is well within its range. Once you’ve captured the gathering site, we can build a new temporary base station to expand the locator’s range. Of course, you can also just use the map to confirm your position.”
Jiang Lin nodded. “Good.”
He raised his right hand and pointed toward the southeast.
“Depart!”
One hundred and twenty Blood Demons let out a heaven-shaking screech simultaneously!
The screech was sharp and piercing, a mix of countless overlapping tones that sounded like the horns of hell, tearing through the silence of the purification zone.
The crimson claw-wings were the first to rush out, their wings flapping as they turned into streaks of blood-colored light, cutting across the horizon.
The Cursed Blood Bone Dolls followed, floating through the air as the blood runes on their bodies flashed wildly, crimson cursed light condensing in their small skeletal palms.
The Bloodblade Butchers took massive strides, sprinting across invisible blood-colored steps in the sky, each step making the air hum.
One hundred and twenty Blood Demons, like a blood-colored torrent, surged toward the southeast!
Jiang Lin withdrew his hand, his figure flickering as he vanished from the spot.
In the next second, he appeared at the very front of the Blood Demon army.
With his blond hair and clothes fluttering, he stood before the blood-colored torrent like an emperor commanding ten thousand troops.
He selected the largest crimson claw-wing with a back wide enough to serve as a platform, letting it carry him.
A moment later, one hundred and twenty streaks of blood-colored light, like a reverse meteor shower, sped toward the southeast.
Back at the Ember Headquarters, the silence lasted for ten full breaths.
Then, like a lake into which a stone had been tossed, it suddenly boiled over.
“What... what was that?!”
“Who on earth is he?!”
“Those monsters... are his summons?!”
Exclamations, questions, and heated discussions broke out one after another.
The silver-haired woman took a deep breath and turned to face the Emberflame members rushing toward the intelligence room. Her voice regained its usual composure.
“From this moment on, Ember Headquarters is on high alert. All personnel are to remain at their posts; no one is to leave without authorization.”
She paused, her gaze sweeping over the crowd.
“As for that person... he is our ally.”
“An ally?!”
Someone spoke in disbelief. “Since when did we have an ally like that?”
The silver-haired woman did not answer, only looking out the window at the gold and red light that had already vanished over the horizon.
...
Jiang Lin led over a hundred 2nd-rank peak Blood Demons, tearing apart and devouring every Aberrant that appeared along the way.
They cleared the roads that had previously been haunted by wandering Aberrants.
This was also why he had chosen to summon these Blood Demons in advance. By sweeping away the Aberrants along the route, it would be less dangerous for the Ember organization members to follow later.
After about an hour, Jiang Lin led his hundred-plus Blood Demons to the Aberrant gathering site.
Rusty Town, one hundred and twenty kilometers southeast of Ember Headquarters.
It had once been an industrial town with a population of three hundred thousand, filled with factories and chimneys that spewed smoke day and night.
Now, only ruins remained.
Twisted rebar protruded from collapsed buildings like the skeletons of the dead. Rusted vehicles were piled haphazardly in the streets, their frames covered in thick layers of dark red moss.
The air was thick with the smell of rust, rotting flesh, and a sickly sweet stench—the characteristic scent of a pollution source.
Aberrants. Countless Aberrants.
They wandered, crawled, and devoured one another amidst the ruins, their torsos embedded with eyes that constantly opened and closed, their long limbs ending in sharp crystal claws.
Some were as massive as mountains, making the ground shake as they walked. Others were as small as rats, darting through the shadows.
They were all minions of the evil god Mozos, the cancer cells of this world.
And now, these cancer cells were meeting their scavenger.
When the blood-colored torrent appeared on the horizon, all of Rusty Town seemed to come alive.
Countless roars rose from the ruins, overlapping in layers like a chorus from hell.
Aberrants poured out from their hiding spots, climbing to the tops of ruins and packing every corner of the streets. They raised their heads, staring at the sky with thousands of eyes.
Three thousand.
No, more.
Five thousand. Perhaps even more.
Jiang Lin stood atop a crimson claw-wing, his golden eyes scanning the dense mass of Aberrants below.
The corners of his mouth curled slightly. “Quite a lot,” he said softly. “Perfect.”
On the horizon, streaks of dark red light suddenly appeared.
The first crimson claw-wing dove down, its bone wings folding as its body became like a cannonball, slamming into the most densely packed area of Aberrants!
Boom!
The ground shook and dust exploded as the shockwave sent over a dozen Aberrants flying.
The crimson claw-wing stood up, its dark red eyes scanning the surroundings as it let out a piercing screech.
That screech served as a signal.
In the next second, the sky was torn asunder.
One hundred and twenty Blood Demons descended from the sky like a torrential downpour of blood!
The crimson claw-wings pounced into the Aberrant swarm, their bone claws tearing through flesh and their wings slicing through limbs.
They were covered in blood but fought with increasing ferocity. As they devoured flesh, their wounds healed at a rate visible to the naked eye.
The Cursed Blood Bone Dolls hovered behind them. As their small skeletal fingers made contact with the Aberrants, those creatures would suddenly freeze, strange blood-colored runes appearing on their bodies.
As the runes flashed, the Aberrants' flesh began to boil and burn, making a sizzling sound.
Meanwhile, the Bloodblade Butchers arriving from the ground finally joined the fray.
They charged into the enemy ranks, their four arms swinging like wheels. Wherever their bone blades passed, Aberrants fell in rows like wheat.
The bone spikes on their backs occasionally fired, blood crystals exploding within the enemy ranks and tearing everything around them to pieces.
One hundred and twenty Blood Demons seemed small in the face of several thousand Aberrants.
But for Blood Demons, this wasn't much of a problem.
After all, their extraordinary regenerative abilities were no joke.
In the continuous slaughter, they all devoured enough flesh to sustain themselves, with plenty to spare.
After consuming more flesh than was needed to maintain their existence, the excess was stored within them, allowing them to persist for longer.
Jiang Lin sensed that each Blood Demon could store enough flesh to sustain itself for about three days.
Unfortunately, it was difficult for these already summoned Blood Demons to level up. After all, if devouring flesh allowed for infinite growth, Blood Demons would have become the strongest race long ago.
The Shadow of Blood possessed such an ability, which was why it was specifically marked as a “special Blood Demon” by the system.
Even for the Shadow of Blood, it could only grow by devouring its own kind, not just any creature.
As for how these Blood Demons were born and how they grew naturally, Jiang Lin wasn't entirely sure.
Jiang Lin stood in the air, his feet on the broad back of a crimson claw-wing, his golden eyes overlooking the battlefield of blood and fire below.
The battle had only just begun.
One hundred and twenty Blood Demons slammed into the ruins of Rusty Town like blood-colored meteors.
The crimson claw-wings were the sharpest daggers, diving down with folded wings to tear open the Aberrants' torsos, plowing blood-colored furrows through the dense enemy ranks.
Before the torn Aberrants could even fall, the curses of the Cursed Blood Bone Dolls descended.
Eerie blood runes appeared on the Aberrants' bodies, writhing and spreading like living things.
The Aberrants eroded by the curses let out piercing shrieks as their flesh began to boil and dissolve, turning into thick black pus that poured from the cracks in their bodies.
In just a few breaths, dozens of Aberrants collapsed, turning into pools of foul-smelling blood.
The Bloodblade Butchers were mobile fortresses on the battlefield.
They moved with heavy steps, their four arms swinging like wheels. Wherever their bone blades passed, Aberrants fell in rows.
Occasionally, a massive Aggregate would try to ram them, only to be blown apart by a blood crystal blast from the Butcher’s back spikes, sending flesh flying in all directions.
For the first fifteen minutes of the battle, the Blood Demon army held the absolute advantage.
But there were simply too many Aberrants.
They poured out from every corner of Rusty Town.
The remains of the torn Aberrants that hadn't been devoured writhed and merged on the ground, standing back up in a very short time in even more twisted and terrifying forms.
A crimson claw-wing was tackled by three Aggregates simultaneously.
Dozens of twisted human faces were embedded in the torsos of those Aggregates. They opened their mouths and let out a piercing mental shriek at the same time.
The crimson claw-wing’s movements instantly stalled, the blood-colored halo on its body fluctuating violently.
In the next second, dozens of crystal tentacles stabbed in from all directions, piercing its body.
Screech!
The crimson claw-wing let out a mournful cry, its bone wings struggling desperately. Its claws tore apart the two nearest Aberrants, but more tentacles wrapped around it.
They pierced into its flesh and sucked greedily. The crimson claw-wing’s body shriveled and withered at a visible rate.
Finally, it turned into a pool of dark red blood, seeping into the cracks of the ruins.
The first Blood Demon had fallen.
Jiang Lin’s golden eyes narrowed slightly.
This was the first time he had seen a Blood Demon die.
In previous battles, although Blood Demons had suffered severe injuries, they had always been able to recover quickly by devouring flesh.
But this time, this crimson claw-wing hadn't had the chance to devour enough flesh to support its recovery to peak condition before being controlled and having its life force sucked dry.
And this was only the beginning.
More Aberrants poured out from the depths of the ruins.
The commotion of the battle here had disturbed even more of them.
They smelled the scent of the living—a pure scent of flesh completely different from this world.
To them, this scent was like the only lamp in the darkness, drawing them in a mad rush.
Three, five, ten...
More and more Blood Demons were being overwhelmed by the Aberrants.
The crimson claw-wings’ claws tore through countless enemies, but they were falling one by one under the sheer weight of numbers.
The Cursed Blood Bone Dolls hovered in mid-air, their cursed light flashing continuously, but when dozens of flying Aberrants threw themselves at them without regard for death, those fragile skeletal bodies could not hold out.
The Bloodblade Butchers continued to rampage through the battlefield, but the wounds on their bodies were increasing, and their recovery speed was gradually failing to keep up with the damage.
Within fifteen minutes, the one hundred and twenty Blood Demons had been reduced to fewer than eighty.
And the number of Aberrants still seemed endless.
Jiang Lin stood in the sky, his long blond hair fluttering in the wind.
His expression remained calm, as if the tragic slaughter below had nothing to do with him.
“That’s enough,” he whispered to himself, raising his right hand.
His palm faced downward.
This time, it was no longer a simple spread of blood-colored energy, but a true surging sea of blood!
...
Rate on N.U.
