Chapter 141: Miserable Screams

Deep Castle.

Boom...

Boom...

...

Two transcendent sixth-rank experts were locked in a fierce battle.

Neither had any intention of taking the fight outside, nor did they want to destroy the castle hall.

Each strike made the building tremble slightly, but not enough to bring it down.

Both combat-type experts clearly had an extremely high level of control over their power.

At this moment, Betler was the one suffering.

In a corner of the eaves outside the castle, a fist-sized clump of dark red flame burned.

Betler, pulled back from the brink of death, had jumped from the indoor flame to this small flame outside, using its power to recover from his injuries.

The damage Gune had inflicted on him was too severe.

Even after several minutes of recovery, he could barely manage to凝聚 his human form.

As for the Flame Demon form, without a period of rest, it would be difficult to master.

Boom, boom...

Another violent clash.

Snow on the roof began to fall in clumps.

Blood splattered, and many snowflakes landed in the dark red flame.

This made the already dim flame even more languid, as if it were on the verge of extinguishing.

"I can't stay here too long. I need to leave quickly, or if the building collapses, the consequences will be disastrous..."

The flame surged, and Betler's human form emerged.

What appeared was a handsome young man with light purple short hair, in his early twenties, completely naked.

The only downside for transformation-type transcendents was that it was hard on clothes.

Without transcendent clothing that could change shape with the body, every transformation ruined a set of clothes.

Quickly taking clothes from his transcendent ring and dressing, Betler dashed toward the location of his companions, Somaya and Kuta.

Earlier, he had heard Kuta's roar coming from there.

Just as he crossed the snowy courtyard and reached the roadside shelterbelt,

"Bang!" followed by the sound of shattering glass, came from diagonally across the street.

Betler quickly looked over.

The one who had broken through the glass window and escaped was Somaya, someone he knew all too well.

After all, he and Somaya had spent many intoxicating nights together.

Then he saw the terrifying demon blade—over a meter long, sharp, heavy, and lethally powerful.

Initially, when he saw Somaya, he had wanted to go over.

But when he saw that fearsome demon blade, with his strength reduced to less than ten or twenty percent and unable to transform, Betler immediately hid behind a thick stone pillar.

The fear of death from before had gripped his throat like the hand of the Grim Reaper, dragging him into endless darkness, filling him with a dread and trembling that came from the depths of his soul.

Now, having barely survived, Betler could not muster the courage to charge at the terrifying demon blade that had nearly killed him.

That spellcaster's methods were too ferocious and bizarre.

Somaya, who had fallen, was in a miserable state, as if fleeing in panic.

The demon blade flashed and caught up to Somaya mid-fall, delivering a tearing slash at her serpentine tail.

Throughout the process, Somaya had no power to resist.

It wasn't that she lacked shields, but they were broken by Gune's demon blade in one go.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle...

The sharp sound of cutting rang out rapidly.

Segments of the serpent tail were continuously severed.

Hiss, hiss...

Still in the air, Somaya let out a sharp and painful shriek.

Thud, thud, thud...

Bang!

The serpent body, cut into several pieces, along with Somaya's upper torso, fell onto the road, blood splattering everywhere.

Hiss, hiss~~

In pain, Somaya suddenly raised her head and looked toward a corner in the distance. She seemed to have spotted something, and her previously gray, despairing eyes suddenly blazed with urgent desire.

The direction Somaya looked was exactly where Betler was hiding.

"Betler... save me."

Somaya cried out for help as she crawled toward the direction of Betler.

Her crawling body dragged a trail of blood seven or eight meters long on the ground. The powerful vitality of a transcendent kept her alive even after being cut in half.

"Betler? Who? Another accomplice?"

At that moment, Gune, inside the attic, silently watched the snake demon clan contractor below.

Once discovered by Gune, the contractor was doomed.

The backlash from the powerful spell patterns had drastically reduced his strength, making him no match for Gune.

Following the snake demon contractor's gaze, Gune looked over.

"Oh? Betler is that third-rank Flame Demon?"

"These guys really are in cahoots. They all deserve to die." Gune's blood-red eyes blazed with murderous intent.

Hearing Somaya's call, Betler, trembling, jumped up in shock.

Since he had been discovered, he could no longer stay hidden. A spellcaster's attack range was extremely long.

"I will avenge you."

With a roar, Betler fled at top speed, and Gune couldn't lock onto him in time to attack.

"He runs fast enough," Gune muttered to himself.

"Next time I see you, you won't be so lucky to escape alive."

The severely wounded Somaya on the road, seeing Betler stand up, was filled with hope, but the next moment her face turned pale and ghastly.

Betler had abandoned her and fled alone.

"You... how could you..." The last trace of despair spread across Somaya's face.

Whoosh—

A sharp whistle sounded as the demon blade easily severed the snake demon's head.

The third-rank snake demon contractor was dead.

After killing the snake demon contractor, Gune looked at the fleeing Betler.

After a moment's thought, he gave up the idea of pursuit.

Not only was that guy's speed no slower than his own,

but also the direction the third-rank Flame Demon fled likely led to a place with powerful protectors.

If he were strong enough, he could chase after and wreak havoc.

But dealing with these two third-rank transcendents had already risked a mishap.

If he encountered someone stronger, the loss would outweigh the gain.

For now, it was better to play it safe.

Finally, Gune's gaze fell on Deep Castle across the street, which was still rumbling with explosions and seemed on the verge of collapse.

The gloom in Gune's brow grew heavier.

Tonight, there would be an extraordinary number of enemies in Sog City Ruins, and Gune needed to conserve his strength and energy.

"At least I've taken care of a few tough ones."

Gune quickly walked down the wall and approached the snake demon contractor's body, which had been cut into many pieces on the road.

At this moment, the street was eerily deserted, with no sign of passersby.

On this Winter's End night,

the bizarre and mysterious sea of blood poured into the sky, filled with inexplicable fear and danger.

The continuous explosions and the blazing fires made the source energy of the entire Sog City Ruins tremble.

Naturally, no one would venture out casually.

Using a blood pool, Gune extracted a small amount of the snake demon's blood and tasted it.

He raised an eyebrow slightly.

"The transcendent properties of this snake demon's blood are quite peculiar. After all, it's a creature with naturally strong soul transcendent traits; the blood is extraordinary."

Then, Gune pressed his palm against the dead snake demon's body, and the large amount of spilled blood was drawn in like a whale drinking water.

He collected all the blood into a medium-sized dragon's blood wood bottle and quickly stored it away. Then he began to search the snake demon's wrist.

After a moment, he found a silver-gray transcendent storage bracelet.

Gune opened it slightly and saw quite a few good items inside.

After all, as a third-rank expert, he had some possessions.

After stripping the snake demon of his staff and transcendent necklace, and confirming nothing was left behind,

Gune took out a bottle of blue liquid.

This was a potion called "Blue Soul-Destroying Water." It was originally invented to corrode and burn anomalous corpses.

For example, those infected by a "Living Corpse Leader" who died from the infection would resurrect as "living corpses" even if buried in the wilderness.

Or corpses killed by certain plague memes might retain the source of infection.

Alternatively, humans killed by necromancers through necromantic rituals could turn into skeleton soldiers within one to three years, crawling out of graves to cause tragedies.

The "Blue Soul-Destroying Water" was originally created to conveniently dispose of such special corpses that might undergo mutation.

In Gune's hands, its purpose was naturally to destroy evidence.