Chapter 532: Act 280 – The Demon
Brendel had just shouted when he suddenly realized that the knights who rushed out of the room were not running towards him; instead, they screamed and scattered outside. Stunned, he wondered what was happening. Turning around, he felt the entire manor tremble violently, as if a giant beast was pacing on the ceiling—the wooden boards groaned under the stress, and dust fell around him.
“This is bad!” Knight Captain Rong Ning’s face changed; the sound had already reached the staircase. “Keep an eye on him!” Brendel uttered a quick remark and dashed into the corridor, looking towards the stairs. The manor, built in an ornate style reminiscent of the era of Emperor Anson the Eleventh, was shaking violently as if the art piece itself was gasping for air. The fake masterpieces hanging in the hallway fell to the ground like hail.
Before he could lament the loss of these valuable fakes, a blinding light suddenly surged from the dark staircase. Golden flames erupted, instantly turning the paintings on the floor to ash, and the temperature in the corridor rose sharply, as if a waterfall of fire poured down from the second floor, engulfing the hallway. Several knights caught off guard were engulfed in the sea of flames, their screams quickly morphing into heartbreaking wails in the night.
In an instant, the whole corridor was bathed in a crimson glow, the flames casting a red hue on Brendel’s face, but the flames seemed to avoid him, swirling around and forming an elliptical hollow. “Magical flames!” Brendel recognized the nature of the fires immediately, knowing that such a waterfall of flames could only be produced by one thing. He narrowed his eyes without changing his expression, gently resting his hand on the hilt of his sword.
Then came a deafening roar as a raging monster burst forth from the flames. This creature had a massive head resembling that of a bullfrog, with long horns atop its head. Its skin was a bloody red, muscles rippling, and it supported its body on the ground with its arms while its small hind legs were filled with explosive power.
However, what drew the most attention was the blazing flames on its back and arms, its eyes shooting fire, and smoke with a pungent sulfur smell spewing from its gaping maw. This was a lord of the abyss, a vile creature from the hell of molten heat, a far cry from the low-tier demons controlled by the Black Flame cultists. This one was a true heavyweight, possessing high intelligence and strength at the peak of gold.
How could such a thing appear in the core region ruled by the Temple? Brendel was perplexed, but at the moment the demon spotted him, it let out a deafening roar and swung its flaming claw down towards Brendel.
The monster’s claw was almost the size of a round table. Brendel didn’t dare to hesitate and quickly stepped back, avoiding the claw as it slammed down explosively onto the ground. A circle of flames erupted from the center of the monster’s palm, instantly turning the wooden floor of the manor’s first floor into smoldering charcoal dotted with red embers. The abyss lord missed its target, pushing off the ground with its claw and lunging towards Brendel.
The demon from the sulfur river was ablaze, its size nearly four times that of Brendel. As it lunged forward, its sides erupted with flames, squeezing the wooden partition walls of the corridor, which let out horrific cries before splintering into pieces, consumed by the flames as if caught in a fiery world behind the demon. Brendel found himself with his back against Rong Ning’s room; if he retreated even a step, the helpless Flour and Husher would surely be in danger. With no other choice, Brendel raised his sword with both hands and took a step forward, swinging it toward the monster’s chest.
In terms of raw strength, Brendel was slightly inferior to the abyss lord, but after amplifying his power with the crystal of strength, this strike would be enough to harm the suddenly appearing monster. The lord of the abyss had a weakness, and the creature’s high intelligence kicked in as Brendel swung his sword; it immediately extended its long claw to grip Brendel’s sword tightly.
Its movements were astonishingly quick; Brendel barely had time to retract his sword before it was firmly grasped. The abyss lord’s claws felt as if they were made of metal, and as Brendel’s steel sword slid across one of the demon’s claws, it let out a sickening screech, sparks flying everywhere.
Brendel’s assault stalled; he felt a slight numbness in his hands as the monster’s strength exceeded his by at least a hundred points. Fortunately, his own base strength was over two hundred points, or this strike could have sent him flying. He couldn’t help but take a deep breath, the intense heat almost making his lungs burn—though he knew this sensation wasn’t real, he still found himself holding his breath.
This monster was by far the trickiest enemy he had faced since Andisha. The eagle, Dejyar, was indeed far stronger than this cursed beast, but in their duel, he had taken shortcuts. Truth be told, if Dejyar had exerted himself fully from the start, Brendel would have struggled to win even with the traveling mage system. However, demons from the sulfur river were not like a human swordsman trained in noble etiquette; they were born for battle and would unleash two hundred percent of their strength once engaged.
At this moment, Brendel felt as if his eyebrows were about to catch fire. A flash of thought crossed his mind, but he didn’t slow down. His left hand decisively abandoned his sword, raising it to deflect the abyss lord’s claw while simultaneously stepping forward, delivering a right punch. “Fool’s Frenzy! Get down—” Brendel roared, unleashing all his power. His right hand seemed to pierce through the layers of space, landing directly on the monster’s chest. There was a dull, tearing sound, and the hulking demon had barely managed to lift its head when the expression on its enormous, grotesque face was frozen in that moment before it was blasted backwards with a loud crash.
“Ah!” Flour, Husher, and Medephis, who had never seen Brendel use his Frenzy talent, couldn’t help but gasp. Rong Ning looked pale; he had recognized what the monster was. He had thought they were doomed, but to his surprise, this golden-tier young man had punched the creature away.
Who was the true monster here?
However, Brendel himself didn’t feel very good either. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. The demon’s resilience was indeed notable; the abyss lord inherently had a retaliatory ability. He didn’t have time to dwell on this, and as a result of that punch, he was also injured, his status dropped below the warning line into the yellow zone, losing more than 300 points—over half of his total life, even after his physique had been enhanced by activating Frenzy.
“Lord, your hands!” Medephis suddenly covered his mouth. Both Brendel’s hands that had touched the abyss lord were ablaze with hellfire, looking as if he wore flaming gauntlets. An ordinary person’s bones would have turned to ash by now, but Brendel had an extremely high resistance to magic, and the flames felt merely warm to him. He shook his hands, and the flames faded like a gust of wind.
Now Knight Captain Rong Ning looked at Brendel with even more awe. He was definitely a monster. Rong Ning had already planted his feet on his sword, ready to escape with the Lord Earl when the moment arose. Although he was a knight, his loyalty to the Lord Earl always came first. But seeing Brendel’s actions, he couldn’t help but sigh, abandoning this unrealistic thought.
He watched as the terrifying demon, after being punched away by Brendel, crashed through the wall at the back and was buried beneath the rubble. The flames on its body weakened significantly. Moments later, smoke suddenly billowed from the debris, and embers rose, forming a hexagram formation on the ruins of the manor that quickly faded into darkness, turning into a pile of charred remains.
That demon had actually been killed by his punch.
However, Brendel did not find it surprising. The power behind his full-strength punch had reached the stage of voluntary elemental manifestation; hitting the abyss lord’s weakness was just right. Moreover, it was not a boss, so dying from a single punch was entirely reasonable. The demon had likely been overconfident, assuming that humans wouldn’t dare to engage it in close combat, thus Brendel had seized a tremendous advantage due to his high resistance to magic.
Brendel stared at the pile of ashes, took a breath, and turned to Flour. “Demons cannot be easily killed outside the sulfur river. When they take lethal damage, they transform into another form and are transported back to the hell of molten heat. However, the transport array doesn’t take away any items they carry. Go see if it has any loot.”
“Why does it have to be me again?” Flour couldn’t help but ask.
“Because you’re lucky.”
Flour stared at him, puzzled.
But Brendel didn’t care, turning his attention back to Rong Ning. The explosion from the second floor earlier had changed Rong Ning’s expression, and coupled with the knights’ reactions outside, the people in Yān Fortress must know something about this demon. Brendel did not believe that a high-level demon would appear for no reason in the core region controlled by Erluin. Fixing his gaze on him, his expression turned serious:
“I doubt there’s a spatial passage leading to the hell of molten heat in this manor, Knight Captain. I believe you know something, don’t you?”
Surprisingly, Rong Ning, who had softened his attitude earlier, now seemed exceptionally firm, pursing his lips and shaking his head without a word. Just then, a series of soft footsteps echoed—Brendel turned as he heard the footsteps coming from the half-burned, precarious staircase.
“I’m sorry, sir. I accidentally summoned that demon…”
A weak voice replied.
……
(PS: I have been feeling short of breath and anxious for a week; tests showed respiratory infection and myocardial ischemia. After two days of infusion, I still haven’t improved. It’s the first day of May, and I still managed to write a chapter. I feel terrible…) (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation.)
