Chapter 134

Chapter 134: Feast in the Fire

Shirley’s way of fighting was the same as always.

It was simple, rough, and effective, with a wild, carefree air, like a hound running free across the sky. In the whistle of the iron chain, all beings were equal.

The eerie figure that had jumped here through the shadows clearly had not expected that the “Summoner Maiden” in front of him, the girl who carried Abyssal demons with her, was actually a close-combat fighter. By normal logic, the best move on seeing a spellcaster was to rush in at once and start a brawl. But if, after you closed the distance, the caster suddenly pulled out a meteor hammer, that was another matter entirely. So the scene Duncan had seen once before played out again:

The iron chain creaked. Shirley swung the dog down, and the dark figure was hit square on the spot. With a loud bang, he was sent flying backward, almost with a whistle in the air as he went.

With a boom, the figure crashed straight into a nearby building where the embers had not yet gone out. Dust and sparks burst upward, and then there was no more movement.

“Is that it?” The fight had gone so smoothly that Shirley herself had not reacted yet. She held Dog in one hand and peered into the distance, tense and wary. “Why did the impact feel…”

Before she finished, Dog suddenly cried out from the other end of the chain: “Watch out!”

Shirley’s muscles tensed all over. The next second, she finally noticed that the shadows at her feet had somehow grown a little darker than before. Then a blurred “whip” with no clear outline snapped out of the shadows!

The black whip sliced through the air with a vicious ripping sound, lashing straight for Shirley’s neck. At the last critical moment she twisted aside and jumped back, but it still struck her arm. Blood sprayed at once.

Shirley clicked her tongue and did not care at all about the pain. She backed off fast, and only then saw that part of her shadow had been left where she had just stood. From that slice of shadow, the strange tall, thin man holding an umbrella quickly rose up. She also finally saw what that “whip” that had hit her really was—it was a “limb” stretching out from the hem of his coat!

The shadow around him looked as if it carried a thick smoke. Inside it, flesh kept writhing and changing shape, rolling over and over, as if it was always in a state of constant rotting and rebirth. It was both disgusting and terrifying.

Shirley had only glanced once at that tentacle-like limb when a wave of nausea rose from deep in her chest. The next moment she heard the strange man under the umbrella give a low, muffled mutter. The bizarre “limb” that stretched from his coat hem turned into a whip again and lunged straight at her face.

She raised the chain in her hand on instinct, ready to swing Dog again. But at that moment, a ghostly green flame suddenly appeared at the edge of her vision.

The instant that green flame appeared, she noticed the tall, thin figure opposite her suddenly freeze, as if some fear from his deepest instinct had stopped him. In the next second, the figure quickly backed away. Thick black smoke churned under the black parasol, and low, blurry hisses kept coming from within. The green stream of fire spread outward, almost brushing the edge of that smoke. In the faint glow of the spirit flame, the black smoke under the big umbrella was dyed with a pale, sickly color.

Shirley instinctively glanced toward Duncan. She saw that he was just standing quietly where he was, but phantom-like flames kept spreading out from him as the center. Wherever the flames reached, the buildings around them, the sparks drifting in the air, even the silhouettes of far-off structures, all slowly took on a ghostly green hue.

It was like some spreading plague. Wherever that strange fire went, everything was steadily being infected.

So this was the power of this big shot? Or was it only the tip of his strength?!

Shock and doubt rose in Shirley’s heart, but she had no time to think. The attacker, now retreating as fast as he could, was clearly being suppressed and cowed by the spirit flame that filled the surroundings. Following the rule that you never hold back in a fight, Shirley took advantage of her weakened enemy, swung the chain again, and hurled the dog with all her strength at the attacker!

An even stranger feedback than before came up through Dog’s senses. Shirley felt as if she had smashed into a puddle of rotten meat. She saw the figure with the black umbrella shatter under her blow. With a disgusting tearing sound, its black “coat” split apart. Several shapeless chunks of meat wrapped in thick smoke fell out of the clothing, then began to scurry all over the ground as if each piece had its own will, splitting into even smaller fragments as they ran.

The overlapping shrill cries of countless voices sounded from inside every fragment!

It was an utterly horrifying and bizarre sight. Charred, twisted alien limbs were torn to pieces and crawled, split, and fled in all directions across the street where the embers had not yet died. The shrieks were so sharp they seemed able to pierce mortal sanity. They rose and fell one after another, growing more and more numerous and more and more warped as the fragments kept splitting. In the end it felt as if the whole world were filled with their harsh, wailing screams.

For the first time since the fight started, Shirley felt a chill run through her. She gripped the chain in her hand, but had no idea how to use her usual “tactics” against these screaming fragments that kept splitting and writhing. Soon, though, she noticed that the scattered pieces were not trying to fight anymore—they were all fleeing.

Fleeing from the green flames that were still spreading.

By now they had split into hundreds, even thousands of pieces, like a swarm of black insects crawling and rushing along the street. They scrambled madly for the far end of the street through the gaps between the green flames. Again and again, some fragments were “caught” by the nearby spirit flame—one careless brush, a glancing touch from a spark was enough for flame to spread over them and burn them through in an instant.

But that burning was not the end. It was only the beginning. The fragments burned by the spirit flame did not die. Instead, they suddenly turned around and began to chase, attack, and gnaw on those chunks of flesh that had not yet escaped the fire zone and had not yet been touched by the green fire.

It all happened very fast. In barely half a minute, half of the scattered, fleeing chunks of flesh in the street had already been burned and tainted by the spirit flame. The pieces corrupted by the green fire hunted and devoured the “companions” that had been one body with them only a second before. At the far end of the street, a faint wall of green fire had already closed together, sealing off every route of escape.

The burning street had become a hunting ground. The countless fragments split from the same black-clad attacker turned into a swarm locked in a death match. The shrieks that had risen and fallen without end finally began to fade, replaced by an even more horrifying sound—

The sound of chewing, spread across the whole street.

The attacker had tried to break himself apart to flee. Now he had become his own feast.

Goosebumps broke out all over Shirley’s body, and she could feel Dog trembling as well. She shivered a little on the street littered with hot ash. Then, in the next second, she felt a warm hand press down on her shoulder.

“Don’t be afraid,” Duncan said softly, trying to comfort her. “Bugs are most afraid of fire.”

Shirley’s shoulder twitched. A very strange feeling rose in her heart. The comfort of being watched over and soothed by a powerful being mixed with the chill of being stared at by something unspeakable. She forced herself to look up at Duncan by her side, only to see him frowning.

“To be fair, it is a little disgusting,” Duncan said, watching the “swarm” devouring one another. He spoke to Shirley from the heart: “Even I didn’t expect it to end up like this.”

[Who would believe that?!]

“Y-yeah… it is,” Shirley said weakly, pretending she believed him. Whatever the big boss said was right. “It is a little disgusting…”

“At least it’s almost over,” Duncan said, sounding a little more relaxed.

Almost over.

The sound of spreading fire and feeding along the street was fading. Both the hunters and the hunted were finally running out of life and turning into heaps of ash that the wind blew away. The strange attacker thus faded into nothing. The spirit flame that had spread everywhere also began to draw back and die down.

Only then did Shirley finally swallow hard. She looked at the small drifting piles of ash and, gathering her courage, asked: “Is… is it over?”

But Duncan shook his head: “…Not necessarily.”

Shirley looked at him in surprise and confusion. She saw him walking forward. From a nearby mound of ash, the last chunk from the attacker crawled out. The shapeless, hateful flesh wobbled and squirmed. It still seemed to want to flee, but after just a few steps it stopped.

Duncan stopped in front of the fragment and bent down. A point of emerald flame danced between his fingers.

“I’ve heard many strange and creepy stories,” Duncan said slowly, explaining to Shirley. “Those stories taught me one thing. If you ever find that your enemy can split apart, you should assume the first one you met is only a split-off piece. You always have to assume there’s a main body hiding behind the split, waiting there so hack authors can write sequels.”

He tapped his fingertips and set the little green flame onto the surface of the last fragment.

“I don’t much like sequels,” he went on. “And I like it even less when some inexplicable main body hides behind the scenes and only jumps out to stab people after the ‘heroes’ have all let their guard down.”

The emerald flame flared up. The foul fragment gave a sudden shudder. Then many insect-like legs sprouted from its underside, holding it up as it wobbled to its feet.

Duncan slowly straightened and fixed his gaze on the attacker’s last remaining fragment.

“Go home,” he said. “Take my gift with you.”