Chapter 75

Chapter 75: Beaten into a Pile

Seeing how things suddenly turned out, Duncan, who had been about to stand up openly and confess that “the mole is me”, quietly stepped back again instead. He switched to the mindset of a bystander watching a show and looked at the situation in the hall.

So he was not the only mole here after all—the girl in the black dress had felt out of place to him from the start. At first Duncan had only thought her quiet, very young air did not fit this cult gathering, and that was why she gave him that feeling. He had never expected it to be like this.

He noticed two terms the leader had just used: Abyssal Hound, and Cult of Annihilation.

The Abyssal Hound obviously meant the huge black skeletal dog the girl had summoned. The Cult of Annihilation, on the other hand, did not sound like some lively civic group that could be registered openly at City Hall. This girl really was not a follower of the Sun at all. She belonged to some other cult?!

Just how many strange dark cults were still hiding in the gutters of this world?

While Duncan’s thoughts were turning, the girl who had summoned the Abyssal Hound had already lifted the black chain on her arm a little. She kept a guarded stance while her eyes swept over the hall. There seemed to be a mocking smile at the corner of her mouth: “Cult of Annihilation… Sorry, I don’t have much to do with them. Unlike you bastards who have to be some Eldritch God’s lapdogs to sleep at night, I only work for myself!”

“You can’t fool anyone with that excuse. Only the Cult of Annihilation knows how to summon the horrors of the Abyssal Deep and the Deep Sea. I advise you to give up, heretic. You are standing on the Sun God’s ground. Even the Abyssal Hound’s spells can’t save you here!” The leader in the center of the hall stared hard at Shirley. His voice was low and full of threat. “Speak. What are you people trying to do?! Annihilation and the Sun are not allies, but we have never been enemies either. Why did you disguise yourself and sneak into our holy gathering?”

“I only wanted to dig a bit of intel out of you mutts’ not-so-bright heads, that’s all—” Shirley’s mouth curled up. The chain linked to her body suddenly gave off a series of clanking sounds. The strange metal links writhed slowly like living things. “And I said it already, I’m not from the Cult of Annihilation…!”

Before the girl could finish, a series of crackling sounds suddenly rose all around them. The oil lamps set in every corner of the room seemed driven by some unknown power and burst into blazing flames all at once!

The bright flames from the oil lamps lit the whole basement as bright as day. Above each lamp, a small fireball rose and floated up. Each fireball looked like a tiny Sun, and they began to radiate a vast power. At some point, the leader in the center of the hall had also gripped his Sun charm amulet with all his strength. The amulet’s sharp, flame-shaped spikes cut into his palm. Blood seeped into the charm amulet and burned like oil, setting his entire hand ablaze as he held it. The fire on his hand echoed from afar with the suddenly changed oil lamps.

Clearly, this seasoned cult priest had only been stalling with a few sentences. While Shirley was not paying attention, he had already activated some kind of supernatural power.

“Give up and surrender, heretic.” A threatening voice came from under the golden Sun mask. “The power of the Sun God has already sealed this place. I know the abilities of you Annihilators. You can borrow spells from the demons you summon and use those spells to harm others. The Abyssal Hound’s own Shadow Breath is indeed fearsome—but this place is sealed now. You and your dog cannot borrow any power from the Abyssal Deep or the Deep Sea!”

Duncan’s fingers moved slightly inside his pocket. He wondered whether he should step in to help. It might look like two groups of cultists tearing at each other’s throats, but the girl named Shirley might know some things. And right now she clearly seemed outnumbered.

Just then, the leader wearing the golden Sun mask stretched toward Shirley the hand that gripped the Sun’s burning emblem. The voice from under the mask was low and tempting, as if some unseen power was mixed into his words: “Give up your resistance. Convert in the Sun God’s domain and then tell me everything you know. The merciful Sun will forgive your sins… Kneel, young sister… You cannot use your spells…”

Yet Shirley seemed deaf to the Sun priest’s threat. She only turned her head to glance at the burning oil lamps, then at the Suntists around her who had already drawn short swords, daggers, and even revolvers. She asked calmly: “It must be pretty hard for you to keep this Warding Field up, right?”

The Sun priest gave a cold snort: “Hmph, this is the power granted by my Lord…”

Before he could finish, the girl in the black dress suddenly moved!

Shirley suddenly took a big step forward. Her right arm, wrapped in black fire, swung up. The black iron chain howled through the air, and the Abyssal Hound at its end was lifted high as she whirled it around. The giant dog, several times larger than an ordinary hound, was swung in a full circle with monstrous strength and then crashed down with a terrible boom, slamming into the Sun priest’s chest.

The crisp sound of breaking bones rang out. The Sun priest had been focusing all his strength on maintaining the barrier, so he had no time to react at all before being hit by the flying dog. He shot backwards like a ragged sack and slammed into the wall opposite, then stopped moving.

Duncan: “…”

He really had not seen that coming.

It all happened in a flash. The sudden turn left every cultist there stunned. The Suntists were still waiting for their leader’s order. In the next second they saw their boss flying away, and right after that, the howling of the chain in midair tore through the air again!

Shirley raised her arm again. The black chain clattered. With another burst of monstrous strength, she swung the Abyssal Hound up like a meteor hammer. The giant dog traced a terrifying arc through the air. After several loud crashes—bang, bang, bang—several more cultists spat blood and flew backward!

This time, the cultists finally reacted. Ignoring their shock, they all roared and rushed at the girl who was lifting the chain again. More than a dozen daggers and blades swung through the air. In answer, Shirley spun the Abyssal Hound in a full circle and cursed at the top of her lungs: “Go to hell and keep your damned god company! You mongrel trash!”

The giant dog tore through the air. Every cultist it hit flew back with snapped bones and torn muscles. Shirley’s skill with this living meteor hammer was almost supernatural. For a while, all Duncan could see on the field were chains whipping through the air, the giant dog howling, and the girl darting and spinning among them, her hand rising and the dog crashing down again and again…

Right then, several gunshots suddenly rang out!

The Suntists who carried revolvers had finally found an opening. After realizing that there was no way to take down the brute-strength girl in close combat, they pulled their triggers without hesitation.

Brass bullets cut through the air. Two hit the chain, bursting into brief bright sparks. The others drilled one after another into Shirley’s body.

“Ugh…” The girl’s body suddenly swayed. The impact and pain of the bullets tearing into her made her lose her footing for a moment. Yet in the very next second, just as the cultists thought the tide had turned, the howling of the chain rang out again.

“A-Dog! Block my sense of pain!”

The Abyssal Hound spinning through the air let out a chaotic roar. In the next instant, it smashed straight into a cultist with a gun and sent him flying. His head hit a pillar in the distance, and he instantly turned into a fresh mini version of Alice…

In the center of the hall, the whirling “meteor dog” grew even more fierce than before!

Duncan quietly took two steps back, lowering his presence as much as he could while he waited for it all to be over.

Right now he mainly worried about blood splattering on him—he had changed into these clothes only today. It would be hard to explain things to Nina when he got back.

As for that woman warrior who wielded a fine “meteor dog”…

She probably did not need his help.

She was in great shape.

The entire fight did not actually last very long. The black-dressed girl’s whirling hunting hound hit hard and moved fast. This basement, where there was no way to escape, was like her own private killing ground. Duncan just stood in the corner silently reciting the multiplication table a second time. Before he finished, the battle was already over.

When every cultist had been beaten into one big pile, the basement finally grew quiet.

Shirley finally stopped. She held tight to the iron chain that bound the Abyssal Hound and stood in the middle of the room, panting hard. Suddenly, her eyes caught the figure standing in the corner by the wall.

She had finally noticed Duncan, the last “cultist” left in this gathering.

Even though she felt stunned and puzzled by this strange “cultist’s” calm look, Shirley still did not hesitate. She dragged the dog along and walked toward her last target.

Her hostility was plain to see.