Stray

Aurorae really wanted to kill them.

The murderous aura came. It wasn’t sharp but was incomparably firm and heavy, like the cold rain mixed with ice on a winter’s day.

The dragon breath stone flying props were extremely valuable, and there was heavy surface magic condensed in them. In this kind of place full of abyssal magic fluctuations, it was like a small campfire lit in the dark night. The mages could barely suppress the aura of one by adding layers of shields on it, and always paid attention to adjustments. Carrying two at the same time was tantamount to a nightmare.

It wasn’t unreasonable for Aurorae to choose it as the first target of attack— Without its support, the dragon couldn’t take off so close to the bottom of the Abyss. Now the difficulty of their return to the surface had jumped several times.

Nemo clenched the staff in his hand, subconsciously took a step forward, and guarded the reconnaissance team behind him.

Things were a lot clearer now. Telaranea once mentioned that this generation of demons were extremely dangerous, and that was “what he and his companions saw with their own eyes”. Considering that the two superior demons weren’t the type who like to engage in demon parties on the surface, the “companion” from the mouth of the Sage of the Abyss was most likely Aurorae

According to his contact with Telaranea, it seems that the Sage of the Abyss obviously didn’t have any so-called “sense of responsibility.” If he wanted to find out the mastermind of this huge plan between the two of them, Aurorae clearly fit the role better.

The shadow shield rose up shielding everyone behind it. Nemo raised his head slightly and looked in the direction of where Aurorae’s voice came from.

Looking at Aurorae’s reaction just now, the ancient demon slayer decided to take action after the leader of the Mooney Sect proposed to spy on the Demon King.

This made no sense at all.

No superior demon would want to shelter the Demon King, and now Nemo was keenly aware of this. Not to mention whether their power was qualified or not, their only recorded affection to the Demon King was “fear”. In all the information he had come into contact with, there had never been records of a Demon King’s “subordinate”, “partners”, “relatives”, or “friends”. But if he thought about it from another perspective…

If Aurorae wanted to stop the expedition from the beginning, why did he do his best to train Flint Lopez into a powerful swordsman enough to kill the Demon King?

If Aurorae had always hated the surface, why did he kill those compatriots who wreak havoc on the surface for centuries?

If Aurorae was on the side of the surface, why did he spend more than ten years destroying the teleportation array, and now he wanted to obliterate the surface reconnaissance team here?

[Your body is rotting at the bottom of the abyss, isn’t it? Only this piece of flesh can still barely “move”. If I fail to provide an eyeball every month, you’ll lose your energy source, and even this piece of flesh will rot.]

Of course Nemo remembered the information he had overheard when he was at Clementine Academy. Telaranea didn’t exaggerate.

As a superior demon, Aurorae’s state could even be described as “dying.” At least at this distance, Nemo could clearly feel— In terms of magic strength alone, Aurorae wasn’t as good as the gray parrot carrying a piece of flesh. He must have consumed a lot of the flesh that Teleranea provided him.

The grey parrot could still draw strength from its own body, and Aurorae’s body has already…

Yes, leaving aside all doubts, Nemo also didn’t think Aurorae had the ability to keep them here. Even if he was limited by cognition and his strength wasn’t complete, he didn’t think that Aurorae would be a match for him.

But because of this, they need to be more cautious— Aurorae wasn’t stupid enough to come to his death empty-handed.

The members of the escorts obviously had similar ideas.

Godwin clenched his Breaking Dawn while Debby held her breath. Oliver exhaled lightly, and the gray mist surged on the soles of his feet. Whether it was the Laddist or the Moonies, the knights all put up a defensive posture.

The first person to take action was the leader of the Mooney Sect.

There wasn’t much time left for the other party to react. The old man squeezed out a twisted smile on his face that could hardly be identified and raised his thin hand. Countless spells surround the cobalt blue cone of light, and the speed was like the blade of a guillotine that has lost its hanging rope. The beautiful blue brilliance broke through the darkness and poked straight in the direction of the sound.

They hit something that fragilely shattered. It wasn’t a pure magic shield and Aurorae’s body wasn’t that strong.

After the dull noise, the color of the cone of line that was like the evening sky shattered into powder. A loud rumbling noise rose from under his feet and the world in the dark was rudely torn in half. The ground shook frantically as smoke and debris poured down like waterfall. In the collision of hard objects, there were countless sticky soft noses mixed in.

Like a thick soup boiling, the bubbles on it burst one by one.

The round milky white eyes of the lantern blind bugs were opening one by one.

Unlike before, at this moment they were close enough to the reconnaissance team, and those eyeballs that emit milky white light were no longer similar to stars, but closer to the size of ordinary ponds on the surface.

The mountain-like lantern blind corms uncharacteristically somehow managed to get stuck in a large crevice that was too narrow for them. Dozens of giants struggled hard, twisting their stout legs together as they pushed the rift on either side.

The lantern blind bugs were extremely slow and wouldn’t take the initiative to attack or even learn how to resist. They were so stupid that they only understood basic survival instincts, but on the strength level, they were real superior demons.

Their only talent was defense; born with a strong skin attached with defensive magic that was almost unbreakable. With the starry sky in disarray and fluctuating, even Nemo couldn’t weaken them.

The demon slayer stood alone in front of the glowing giants, and the white eyeballs without pupils behind him projected a moonlight-like brilliance. Aurorae took off the helmet of the armor, and his long gray-white hair floated in the wind. He looked blankly at the reconnaissance team struggling in the collapse, so he turned his back to the blind insect race, standing alone in the void.

Aurorae didn’t even need to take action by himself. The collapse of the big crack in front of him and the squeezing of the lantern blind bugs were enough to be considered waves of destructive attacks.

He didn’t know if it was his own illusion, but Nemo felt those orange-red eyes looked a bit sad.

Godwin’s first reaction was to guard the two large teleportation arrays. The beautiful brilliance of the Breaking Dawn lit up. His speed was extremely fast, leaving a string of swearing warm-colored light. The holy sword easily could easily cut off the stone platform where the teleportation arrays were. Debbie instantly matched his action within a second.

Before Nemo could make a move, the mercenary woman turned her rod in her palm a few times.

Light green light lit up on the edge of the stone platform. The entire platform was held firmly in the air by wind, dexterously avoiding the falling boulders.

“Go ahead. I’ll stabilize here!” Debby’s voice was sharp and steady. The knights spontaneously set up a defensive formation beside her, and the mages in the team, led by the leaders of the two religions, quickly smashed the huge boulders that couldn’t be avoided.

The red-brown dragon was mad for some reason. From the moment the dragon breath stone prop was destroyed, its breathing rate began to become abnormal. Right now, it was frantically spewing red fireballs with cursed halos at the enemy. Regardless of returning to its original size, the dragon protected the reconnaissance team on its neck, and rudely kicked the lantern blind bugs’ outstretched legs.

Unlike the Preceptor Bishop who was obsessed with protecting his followers, the leader of the Mooney Sect had no intention of defending himself.

It could be seen that the old man before wasn’t arrogant and presumptuous. His strong murderous spirit and fighting aura gradually spread. Blue spells bombarded the lantern blind bugs that crowded around. Although it didn’t substantially hurt these rough-skinned giants, each of his spell hit the pupilless eyeballs directly.

The impact and pain of the bombardment made the lantern blind bugs wailed, and it slowly squeezed its limbs crooked and staggered indiscriminately, failing to crush the stone platform.

Nemo and Oliver took the opportunity to step into the void and rushed towards Aurorae.

Relying on the Demon King’s ability, Nemo tried to communicate with the surrounding lantern blind bugs mentally, hoping to stop this troublesome battlefield that was being created by the monsters’ limbs.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t get through.

Those things were so stupid that they had no thoughts at all. They usually react simply to their own kind at most. How could Aurorae manipulate them?

Wait, the same kind…

Absurd conjectures flashed by, and Nemo almost dropped his staff. He subconscious cast down the dark shadows and bound the huge limbs of the bugs together. His lover took the opportunity to rush in front of him and used his Rest and Peace to slash against Aurorae’s giant sword.

Sparks splashed everywhere.

“Flint Lopez’s son and nephew.” Aurorae’s voice was very soft. He glanced at Godwin who was attacking a lantern blind worm with his sword from the corner of his eyes. Every word was dipped in hatred. “Today is really a holiday.”

“Mr. Vance.” Oliver’s voice was polite and detached. His movements didn’t stop, and the Rest in Peace stabbed in different angles. “Please tell those things to stop attacking. If this is directed at me and Godwin, at least spare the reconnaissance team.”

“Aurorae.” The demon slayer spoke his name slowly. “Unfortunately, this isn’t for you. Ah, but one of them is more special… Mr. Light.”

Nemo, who had just bound the two lantern blind bugs who were trying to crush the reconnaissance team with their bodies, couldn’t help but stiffen his back when he heard Aurorae spoke his name.

“I can understand Telaranea’s dissatisfaction with the Demon King.” The demon slayer waved his giant sword skillfully, shaking off the sticky mist. “But as a creature of the same kind, why do you stand on the side of the surface?”

Godwin’s sword movement paused.

Nemo didn’t know how to answer.

Aurorae obviously believed that the one wandering at the bottom of the Abyss at this moment was the Demon King, and his certainty even made Nemo a little unsure of his identity. The mystery he faced was too large and complex, or rather, he couldn’t bear to reach out to the glimmer of hope that he “wasn’t actually the Demon King”…

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” he responded in a dryly, directing the dark shadow to attack Aurorae.

“Able to withstand the Demon King’s power, the attack that carries the Demon King’s aura.” Ignoring the dark shadows that penetrated into his flesh, a blood-red glow floated on the surface of Aurorae’s giant sword, directly slashing at the Rest in Peace. “Telaranea can do the former, but you obviously could do even better. A normal born demon cannot do this.”

The red light intensified. The ominous brilliance spread from the giant sword to Aurorae’s body, and the aura felt a bit familiar.

It was abyssal magic that Ann activated during the Black Chapter test. Nemo remembered very clearly. It burned one’s own flesh, squeezing their own potential, but Ann was still able to recover. Aurorae’s body shouldn’t allow him to use such a dangerous spell.

Oliver was strong. The gray mist almost solidified as it danced around him. Compared with Aurorae, Oliver, dressed in black armor, looked more like a demon, but the combat experience accumulated by the demon slayer for thousands of years was terrifying that it resolved all of Oliver’s attacks easily.

Not to mention that the limbs wielded by the lantern blind bugs kept interfering with Oliver’s movements. At this moment, coupled with the power of Aurorae burning flesh, the leader of Tumbleweed lost his advantage.

Godwin was still fighting, and the amazing speech of the demon slayer obviously disturbed his mind. Nemo could feel the change in Godwin’s movements— The leader of Horizon no longer turned his back unconcernedly this way.

Indeed it had come to this so there was no need for Aurorae to lie.

“I don’t remember anything.” Nemo’s voice was hoarse. “We’re just here to investigate the teleportation array—”

“The fact you let that bug from the Mooney Sect approach the Demon King is enough to prove everything.”

Aurorae sneered. The spell that stimulates his potential was devouring his body, the demon killer’s skin was cracking like Ann’s. Blood was slowly oozing out, but he didn’t seem to care.

“If it weren’t for you, if it weren’t for Lopez, they wouldn’t be still struggling now, thinking they had caught hope. It’s happier to die obediently. Come here, Light. it’s not too late to return to the Abyss.”

“Talbott Vance.”

Until now, Nemo didn’t intend to hide it anymore. He simply raised his voice while sharply shielding Oliver’s back with his shadow shield, flicking away the sharp tip of a blind bug’s foot. The uncomfortable scent from the ground was getting closer, something was wrong, but Nemo couldn’t catch the sense of disconnection in this moment.

“You don’t want anyone to touch the Demon King? To say that you let the strongest person on the surface approach the Demon King, you did a much better job than me— As Flint Lopez’s teacher, you personally trained the person who killed the Demon King.”

Aurorae smiled. He laughed untimely on this chaotic battlefield, and the laughter sounded extremely sad.

“It seems you really don’t remember anything, Light,” he said calmly, his voice full of ashen death. “But that’s okay.”

“Since the Demon King sent you to the surface, he must have his intentions. You are destined to return here. If I guessed correctly, your power should have begun to be disturbed.”

Nemo held his breath, his heart sank.

“I will say it one last time.” Aurorae even sounded as if he was at peace with himself. “Return to the Abyss. Let the humans die here, and I can take you away.”

“Don’t listen to his nonsense!” Oliver yelled. “There’s no such thing as destiny!”

“No, Ollie, that’s not the problem.”

Nemo was very calm, and it was precisely because of his calmness that worry made his entire body tingled. The underground “Ulysses” was attracted by the nose and was getting closer…

He suddenly realized the source of that sense of violation.

“…That guy is stalling for time!”

Using the slow-moving but difficult-to-kill lantern blind bugs as a tool, burning his own flesh to create a stalemate with Oliver; even if the battle fell into a stalemate, realizing that he couldn’t win decisively just with himself and was exhausting his life-supported flesh, Aurorae didn’t seem at all flustered.

Their enemy was too calm and even deliberately talk to them, and for some reason, he firmly believed that it was impossible for them to leave the abyss.

[Since they claim that the Demon King will not come to the surface, why does an expedition exist?]

The followers of the Abyssal Church once said this.

But how did the surface race determine that “the Demon King will not come to the surface” before? Why would they feel comfortable building a large teleportation array so close to the bottom of the Abyss?

The dangerous aura belonging to the surface magic suddenly pierced into the tangled abyssal magic and quickly became stronger.

The Demon King who only survived by instinct, and Aurorae who didn’t want humans to go to the bottom of the Abyss now, but at this time had no scruples to make loud noises to attract the Demon King…

“Debby!” Nemo roared so loudly for the first time that he almost tore his vocal cords. “Take the teleportation array up, now! Ollie, Lopez, get out of here and try to go up—”

“It’s too late.” Aurorae raised the corner of his mouth. “I’m really getting old that I can’t believe I haven’t managed to kill even a single one.”

“Farewell forever, everyone.”

The author has something to say:

Red dragon: I was about to get off work soon!! Now at the last second, I have to risk my life and work overtime!!! (Angry)