Chapter 19: The Enemy
The evening Fog City felt like another world. The already thick fog, combined with the descending night, cast an eerie atmosphere over the streets. However, the warm yellow lights spilling from windows on both sides dispelled most of the gloom.
Although it was only seven in the evening, not a single pedestrian could be seen on the streets. This was a tradition in Fog City—once the heavy fog descended, unless there was urgent business, no one went out after six o'clock.
Su Xiao held a shovel in his left hand and a direction pointer in his right. He wasn't familiar with Fog City, but fortunately, he didn't need to reach a specific location. Tonight, Baha was responsible for negotiating with the pianist.
Su Xiao needed to find a place suitable for battle. The basement from before was decent, but this time he planned to head to the cemetery on the west side of the city. After the fight, there would be no need to wait for the logistics team—he could dispose of the Dark Demon's body on the spot. That was also why he brought the shovel.
Several hundred meters away, Nightmare was tracking Su Xiao. She floated in the fog, her eyes clearly showing confusion, unsure why Su Xiao had brought a shovel.
After following him for a while, the fog grew thicker. When Nightmare left the city proper and vaguely saw the rows of tombstones in the distance, she understood why Su Xiao had brought the shovel—he was here to dig up graves! The Hunter's relics were in these graves!
In reality, Nightmare had misunderstood. Su Xiao brought the shovel to bury her, and it had nothing to do with grave digging.
Inside the eerie, ghostly cemetery, the scene was so grim it could scare actors half to death even during a horror movie shoot. The original plan was for Bubu Wang to act alongside Su Xiao, scouting to see if the Dark Demon was nearby.
But after Bubu Wang scouted the cemetery in the afternoon, it felt it couldn't handle this task. Coming here at night, it would be scared out of its wits—it couldn't scout at all.
In the cemetery, where the temperature had dropped to freezing, a few half-dead old trees were sparsely scattered. Su Xiao sat under one of them and began to wait. A nearby fresh grave caught his attention—it had been dug just a few hours ago.
Several hundred meters away in the thick fog, Nightmare was also waiting. She was puzzled as to why Su Xiao hadn't started digging yet.
After waiting a full half hour, Nightmare grew anxious. She decided not to wait any longer and risked investigating the graves nearby. Today, ten Third Stage Dark Demons had already died in Fog City. These were the backbone of the Dark Prison. With so many casualties, it would be hard to explain to Hao Gui and Soul when she returned to the Dark Prison.
Thin white mist seeped from every part of Nightmare's body—this was her true form. After separating, Nightmare's combat power would drop by over 90%, but she would become extremely difficult to detect. She had tested it before: in this state, even Hao Gui couldn't find her unless he got within three meters.
The scene before Nightmare's eyes turned black and white. She looked toward Su Xiao's location and could clearly see a "sphere" about a dozen meters in diameter—that was the enemy's perception range. As long as she didn't enter it, she was safe.
Nightmare began to work, weaving between every grave, searching for any possible Hunter relics.
Sitting under the tree, Su Xiao lit a cigarette. He was waiting—waiting for Baha to finish the negotiation. Once the God Hunter's relic was secured, he would proceed. This was safer.
Over ten minutes later, Nightmare emerged from a grave mound. She felt she had been tricked. She had searched every grave here and found nothing but bones.
Nightmare returned to her host body, and her eerie green eyes opened. Suddenly, the ornament on her ear lit up with a faint glow, and she began to listen intently.
The more she listened, the worse her expression became. Through someone's account, she learned one thing: she had indeed been tricked. The relic she had seized wasn't left by a God Hunter at all—it was from an old hunter. The World Force within it was nearly a hundred times weaker. It wasn't worth losing ten Third Stage Dark Demons over, let alone even one.
Anger surged in Nightmare's heart, but it quickly dissipated. What she was doing now wasn't without value—she was holding back the enemy's strongest fighter. At least, that's what the person contacting her said, and she was told to keep stalling him, no matter the cost.
Time ticked by. Another ten-plus minutes passed, and Su Xiao stood up from under the tree. According to the plan, Baha should have taken over the Hunter relic within an hour, but there was still no news from that side.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Wearing a white robe and hood, Nightmare stepped out of the fog. Behind her, a faint, enormous creature let out a raspy breath.
[Tip: Your follower, Bubuteni, has obtained the "Soul Echo Relic." This item can be sold for 1,280 World Reputation Points.]
Seeing this notification, Su Xiao knew his plan hadn't failed. Baha and Amu had likely been held up. Bubu Wang, who had been acting freely, took on the crucial task and, with Baha and Amu's cover, successfully obtained the Hunter relic.
Nightmare walked toward him. As she advanced, the massive creature behind her revealed its true form—a giant Dark Demon. It stood over six meters tall, each hand gripping a serrated blade sword stained with dried blood and flesh.
These two serrated blade swords were obtained by Nightmare years ago, originally the weapons of some God Hunter. They were unique: as long as they devoured enough Dark Demon flesh, their size, weight, and toughness would increase.
As for the giant Dark Demon wielding these swords, it had formed just minutes ago, at the cost of twelve Dark Demons. The hardest part of creating such a fusion was getting all twelve Dark Demons to willingly agree.
Normally, this was impossible, but Nightmare could do it. In her view, these twelve Dark Demons were no match for Su Xiao. The last ten had been cut down like vegetables. Adding two more wouldn't make much difference.
This made Nightmare resolve to use her ability to fuse the twelve Dark Demons into a short-lived composite. The cost was high, but the gain was enormous—the composite was very strong, at least in a short battle. She had done this before, once when she fell out with Hao Gui, using this method to hold him off for a long time, though she didn't win.
In reality, Nightmare overlooked a key issue: in Hao Gui's mind, even if they had conflicts, it was an internal matter among allies—no need to go for the kill.
In the fog, the giant Dark Demon let out a low roar, its eyes, formed from multiple pupils, fixed on Su Xiao.
"Alright, assist me."
Nightmare tapped the ornament on her right ear. It seemed to be a supernatural item for long-range mental communication.
Crack!
A bolt of lightning struck with unbelievable speed, landing directly on Su Xiao. The lightning was absurdly fast and appeared without any warning—this was definitely not Nightmare's ability.
Electric arcs surged all over Su Xiao's body. He slowly raised his left arm and looked down. Sparks danced on the metal guard of his arm.
"Roar!"
The giant Dark Demon bellowed and charged toward Su Xiao with heavy strides.
Nightmare watched Su Xiao, now covered in electric arcs. The lightning strike was vicious enough that she felt she could kill him right here.
The giant Dark Demon charged forward, the thunderous sound of its footsteps growing closer. Su Xiao tried to contact Baha and Amu through the team channel, but there was no response—either the distance was too great, or they were in trouble.
A serrated blade sword cut through the fog, whistling as it swung toward Su Xiao, aiming to split him in two.
Clang!
Sparks flew. Su Xiao held his blade overhead with one hand, a faint red gleam appearing in the center of his pupils.
...
In the sewers of Fog City, Amu held the Dragonheart Axe, and Baha stood on its shoulder. Electric arcs flickered across Baha's body. It had tried to teleport through space but was electrocuted, nearly losing consciousness for a moment.
In the sewers ahead and behind them, a horde of monsters with exposed flesh and four-clawed limbs blocked the way.
"Not good."
Baha looked toward a corner in the distance. In the darkness there stood a figure—its features were unclear, and its aura was undetectable, but Baha had a feeling it had seen this person before.
"Not good? These Soul-Stripping Hounds can't hold you off for long. Nothing to worry about."
The figure in the darkness spoke. The voice was somewhat muffled, but it was clearly male.
"Don't misunderstand. I messed something up, and part of our plan failed. If we're delayed too long and don't get back, that would be very bad. Don't misunderstand—I mean it would be very bad for you."
Baha, its eyes glowing red, laughed loudly. Its wings spread, and it vanished in an instant.
...
At the cemetery, the fog drifted.
A figure stumbled through the graveyard, leaving faint, translucent red bloodstains along the way.
"How... how is this possible!"
Nightmare staggered along. She could no longer float—a third of her true body had been severed, making it hard to keep her balance.
A whooshing sound came from behind. A large, spherical object flew through the air. Hearing the noise, Nightmare lunged forward with all her strength.
Thud!
A massive head, full of sharp teeth, crashed into the ground, half-buried in the dirt. On the head were several horrifying slash marks, one of which had sliced off a large chunk of the skull.
Nightmare sat on the ground, her face covered in blood. She tried to retreat but was blocked by a tombstone behind her.
Footsteps echoed from within the fog. The first thing Nightmare saw was two red glows in the mist—they seemed to be a pair of eyes.