The Creators: From Night City

Page 278

Not far away on the flat riverbed, a twisted and obese 'demon' was engaged in a fierce battle with a human.

With each swing of its hammer, bursts of viscous, red, magma-like chaotic flames would spurt out from its grayish-white stone body and the hammer itself.

At the same time, the faint smell of sulfur in the air, which was usually imperceptible to the average person, finally became strong.

Of course, Hawkwood couldn't smell it.

"There's even a living demon here." Hawkwood was more surprised to find a living demon here than to see any trace of humans in this deep underground space.

It's important to know that, as monsters born from the flames of chaos, the demon race initially became rampant in Lordran for quite some time after the Cataclysm of Izalith.

Chapter 543 The Weak Demon

However, as the 'Breath of Chaos' that the old witch had transformed into was defeated by an unknown ancient hero, the Chaos Flame was extinguished, and the demons lost their ability to reproduce. From then on, the number of demons in this world decreased with each death.

After a long period of frenzied killing by the Black Knights and numerous heroes of Noyardroon, who dedicated themselves to the extermination of demons, and the fact that Lorian, the eldest prince of Lothric, once organized a massive expedition to fight demons in a group-based manner, demons have now become a rare species, as rare as giant pandas.

Jiang Bing watched as the undead struggled against the massive demon's attacks and beckoned Hawkwood to come and help.

Unexpectedly, the other party was unusually proactive in fighting the demons. Before Jiang Bing could urge them, they rushed forward quickly.

The demon appeared to be extremely weak.

The chaotic flames on his body had weakened to the point that they could only be forced out of his body at the very moment he launched an attack.

The original body had degenerated into a white, rock-like material over the long course of time as the chaotic flames weakened.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not a deadly threat.

It wielded a hammer that matched its imposing size, its movements slow yet powerful, relentlessly striking the enemy.

With each attack, the heavy hammer shatters the ground, sending stone chips flying, while the constantly erupting chaotic flames further expand its already wide-ranging attack range.

However, its enemies paid no attention to the flames flying everywhere, focusing only on dodging the flying debris.

This is mainly because the other party is a sorcerer from the Great Swamp.

Sorcerers are a group of mages who study, explore, and use various types of fire in combat. Relying on the sorcery fire they cultivate, they can unleash a variety of spells, most of which are fire attacks in various forms. How could they, who are skilled at playing with fire, possibly fear the corrosive effects of fire?

However, this sorcerer, dressed in the distinctive attire of an Onuma sorcerer and wearing a hood, still dared not relax his guard.

This is because, as the Chaos Flame weakened, the demons, in order to conserve their power, no longer relied primarily on fire in their attacks; instead, their massive hammers, carrying immense force, became their main source of damage.

Although he had cast the 'Intense Sweating' spell, which was specifically designed to protect against fire damage, and the Ouma sorcerer's attire also had excellent fire-resistant properties, neither of these offered much resistance to physical damage.

If she were to take a single blow, given her frail physique, she would be instantly reduced to a pile of mud.

Of course, the reason why the battle was so intense was also because, as a sorcerer, her signature techniques were mostly fire magic, while demons born from chaotic flames had almost maximum resistance to fire.

This rendered most of her attack methods useless.

Fortunately, she had also studied spells other than fire.

Taking advantage of a gap in the opponent's attack, she clenched her fist and summoned her own magical fire, then puffed out her cheeks and blew out a cloud of dark green poisonous mist.

This gas is not merely a poisonous mist targeting flesh and blood, nor does it rely on respiration to penetrate the enemy's soul; its true effect is on the enemy's spirit.

This is the poison of the soul.

Enveloped in the mist, the demon's body, which was not made of flesh and blood, instantly showed signs of poisoning.

Taking advantage of the fog obscuring the demon's vision, the sorcerer raised his multicolored whip and lashed it across the demon's body, causing several stone-like fragments to fall off, and allowing the deadly poison on the whip to continue to seep into the demon's body and soul.

However, as creations of chaotic flames, 'demons' naturally possess their own strengths.

Despite the poisonous fog, the opponent advanced instead of retreating, charging towards the sorcerer with heavy steps. Before he even arrived, the stone club in his hand, accompanied by a fierce gust of wind, pressed down on the opponent's head.

The sorcerer had no choice but to roll around a few times in a rather undignified manner to dodge the opponent's attack before getting up and running away.

The 'demon' won't just attack once.

However, the subsequent attack did not come. The 'generous and fat' demon did not continue to pursue the sorcerer. Instead, it suddenly let out a terrible howl.

It was Hawkwood who made the move.

Don't be fooled by his seemingly idle days filled with sighs and lamentations; he is actually quite capable.

Instead of using a shield, he wielded his greatsword in a mid-air spin, slashing it down onto the 'demon's' short, powerful tail. After slicing off a large chunk of flesh, he moved like a nimble wolf, crouching and spinning. With a precognitive aura, he dodged the 'demon's' desperate, spinning counterattack with a hammer, slashing past its groin. He then pushed off the ground again, using one hand to brace himself and his body to propel his other arm in a beautiful spin, accelerating his greatsword to its limit. With a backhand, he delivered a powerful, inertial spinning slash to the 'demon's' ankle.

The sword penetrated deep into the opponent's body, but the force that could cut down a horse was only a superficial wound to the demon, who was five or six meters tall.

With a single, decisive strike, Hawkwood immediately sheathed his sword and rolled away, dodging the opponent's massive, weightless 'buttock-slam' with practiced ease. In a bizarre half-squatting, half-kneeling posture, he managed to maintain his balance amidst the earth-shaking tremors while keeping his distance from the demon.

The sorcerer, who had completely concealed his face under his wide hood, tried to take advantage of the demon's ascent to attack, but was stopped by Hawkwood, who had come to the rescue.

"Hmm~?"

The other party couldn't help but question this.

Hawkwood, who had already sheathed his greatsword, shrugged, signaling her to calm down.

The main reason he did this was because Jiang Bing's figure had already appeared behind that 'demon'.

He had personally witnessed Jiang Bing's ferocious fighting style and knew clearly that his joining the siege would only be a hindrance, and it would be more comfortable to stay on the sidelines and watch the show.

The demon, who resembled a small hill, had just clumsily gotten up from the ground when he suddenly felt a great force coming from between his hands, causing the two-handed giant hammer involuntarily to slip from his grasp.

Jiang Bing snatched the giant hammer, twice the size of himself, from his opponent and began to lash out at the 'demon'. The hammer, which seemed to be made of wood but was far harder than ordinary steel, directly slapped the 'demon's' protruding 'beer belly' back. Amidst flying stone chips, the opponent couldn't help but stagger back several steps, his heavy body collapsing to the ground like a mountain of gold and a pillar of jade being overturned.

Amidst the earth-shaking tremors, Jiang Bing delivered another powerful "full moon strike" to the opponent's large belly, successfully helping him lose weight.

The 'demon' couldn't help but drool, but what seeped out was a scalding liquid as red as magma.

That was its blood, the materialized chaotic flame.

Chapter 544 The Sorcerer of the Great Swamp

The demon was not a mindless beast. In this life-or-death situation, it could no longer care about conserving the energy of the chaotic flames within its body. It roared to the sky, and as the sound waves rippled through the air, the heavily wounded demon was suddenly engulfed in flames, and a scorching heat spread rapidly in all directions.

It slammed its two claws into the ground, smashing two clumps of viscous magma from nothingness, forcing Jiang Bing, who had rushed close, to retreat. Then it raised its head and, as if sneezing, spewed out a high-speed lava ball from its mouth.

Although the dark red lava ball failed to hit Jiang Bing, it exploded into a pool of equally scorching magma at the point of impact, effectively sealing off the area.

Having failed to achieve their goal with their first attack, the 'devil' attempted to repeat the same tactic.

However, the same move cannot be used twice by a Saint Seiya, and the same applies to Jiang Bing.

But just as it raised its head, its calf was struck hard by the stick, causing it to lose its footing and balance, and its entire body crashed heavily to the ground.

This fall was no less than a collision between Mars and Earth; the ground trembled violently.

Just as it was about to roll over its heavy, massive body to adjust its position and launch a powerful attack, Jiang Bing took three steps in two, stepped forward, and delivered a side kick to its waist, sending it spinning away.

Immediately following was the aerial smashing of the opponent's weapon.

This blow shattered the hard giant hammer into several pieces, and also caused the opponent's right arm and half of his body to crumble like rock.

Large swathes of 'magma' surged from the opponent's body; these chaotic flames were an outward manifestation of the 'demon's' blood, which to some extent represented the opponent's life force.

The wailing grew weaker and weaker. The demon tried several times to stand up, but its severe injuries rendered all its efforts futile.

It could only fall to the ground, and as the chaotic flames within its body dissipated, its white body gradually began to turn into the dark brown of real rock.

"Indeed, every demon contains the flames of chaos within its body." The Great Swamp sorcerer's voice was extremely high-pitched; she was actually a woman.

Ignoring the scorching heat, she braved the sweltering heat to stand before the still-flowing magma and blood, gazing at the dazzling red with fascination, wishing she could sink her eyes into it.

“Every single one of these sorcerers has a morbid obsession with fire,” Hawkwood explained as he walked over to Jiang Bing and saw him staring at the sorcerer with a probing gaze.

“This is the Chaos Flame, the power that the witches of Izalith gained from the Great First Flame. It is the closest thing to the First Flame,” the sorcerer retorted without turning his head.

She squatted down with her back to the two people and extended her left hand in full view of everyone.

A tiny flame suddenly ignited in her hand.

That was the sorcery fire that belonged to this sorcerer; it was the source of all her power, her lifelong pursuit, and all her understanding of fire.

She gazed at the flowing 'chaotic flames' on the ground, bringing the faint light closer, attempting to decipher its essence. She wanted to extract a wisp of chaotic fire from the 'blood' of the demons on the ground, adding the power of one of the world's greatest flames to her spellfire.

But she failed.

Even after the flowing, fiery magma solidified into solid magma rock, the opponent still failed to unravel the mystery of the chaotic flames.

Fortunately, the sorcerer was not discouraged, as if all of this was within her expectations.

If chaotic flames were so easy to control, then the Chaos Fireball would no longer be the ultimate skill of sorcerers.

The demon finally died completely, and a large amount of grayish-white soul power overflowed from its body. However, neither Hawkwood nor the sorcerer had any intention of absorbing it. After all, in this cold world, maintaining good relationships between people requires more emphasis on distribution according to work.

Those who don't care about this are either solitary individuals or have long since died from the betrayal of their righteous companions.

So Jiang Bing made another cameo appearance as Thresh.

Just like the one who had slaughtered his way through, Jiang Bingqing took out the feathered serpent lantern that he hadn't used in a long time, lit it with a gray-white flame, and absorbed the soul of the 'demon' into it.

There is no law of reincarnation in this world. After a creature dies, its soul will directly seep out of the body, either be collected by an opponent, condense into a solid soul crystal to exist in the world, or simply dissipate into the world.

"Thank you both for your help. I am Kacalus from the Great Swamp. I have come here to search for the birthplace of sorcery—Izaris. I believe that the most primitive and ancient sorcery must be hidden here." The sorcerer was very cheerful, the complete opposite of Hawkwood. He made his purpose clear as soon as they met.

Jiang Bing and Hawkwood then exchanged names.

Next, it was Jiang Bing's turn to ask questions.

"Hawkwood, you're quite adept at dealing with demons." Instead of questioning the sorcerer, he inquired about Hawkwood's performance in the battle earlier. That couldn't be explained simply by having rich combat experience; it required a thorough understanding of the demon's attack style.

In other words, Hawkwood definitely fought demons, and many times at that.

“You shouldn’t have killed it, Lord Sabur,” Hawkwood replied, seemingly ignoring the question.

"All demon races share the same Chaos Flame. Killing it will only make the remaining demons in this world stronger. It is better to let them stay here quietly and wait for the Chaos Flame to go out and perish together with it."

Hawkwood stepped forward, poked at the 'demon's' corpse with his longsword, and quickly found a square red gem inside.

"Ha, I didn't expect there to actually be one." Hawkwood picked out the fist-sized gem, tossed it in his hand, and then handed it to his nominal employer without hesitation.

"Flame Gems can imbue weapons with the power of fire. These things weren't very valuable in the past, but now that 'demons' have disappeared, they're not so common anymore."

Although the gemstone is square, its surface is not smooth; instead, it has many large and small edges and corners. It shimmers with a fiery red luster and feels warm to the touch, like a hand warmer.

It contains the power of chaotic flames; although it is only a faint remnant, it is still a precious item.

“We’re also heading to Izaris.” Putting away the gem, Jiang Bing noticed Hawkwood’s excuses and didn’t press the matter further. Instead, he inquired about information about the area from Kacherus.

After all, judging from the other party's ragged clothes and travel-worn appearance, they must have been in this underground space for quite some time.

"Did you discover anything?"

Chapter 545 The Altar of the Gollums

"certainly"

The reason why the Undead can maintain their rationality even as their humanity is constantly eroded is because of their 'obsession', and Karcharus's obsession is obviously to explore the origin of sorcery and find the oldest sorcery power.

So she got very excited when this was mentioned.

“This way,” she said, leading the two toward one side of the Smoky Lake.

"After Izalith was destroyed, the fire that began with the Chaos Flame burned for tens of thousands of years. When it died down, the site of Izalith became the home of demons, who lived and slept there, waiting for the day when the Chaos Flame would reignite."

“But Lothric launched a great expedition against the demons, slaughtering most of the demons living here, turning this place into a demon ruin.” Perhaps it was the familiar surroundings that stirred Hawkwood’s enthusiasm, and he interjected.

“No wonder. I was just about to say that I discovered a battlefield ahead, along with a large number of demon corpses, and something else you would never expect.” The sorcerer chattered away, his liveliness unlike that of an undead who is generally taciturn due to the loss of humanity; instead, he seemed like a chatterbox.

Without Kacharus needing to explain further, the two who descended together into the heart of Smoky Lake discovered the corpses of the fallen demons beside a magnificent stone pillar.

Some of these rock-hardened corpses were incomplete, with obvious wounds from being hacked or chopped, while others were intact, yet they too had died here. Jiang Bing guessed that they had most likely exhausted their chaotic fire in the fierce battle and died.

Surrounding the corpse were many knives, spears, and lances. These weapons had long since decayed and were rotten, but their shape and design revealed them to be standardized weapons.

“These are the weapons of the fallen Lothric knights,” Hawkwood explained.

"Their bodies will be collected by their comrades after the battle, but their weapons will be left on the battlefield to honor their masters' achievements; this is a custom of the Lothric people."

“There are more corpses ahead,” Carcharus said, turning back.

Sure enough, the three of them followed the stone pillar around to its back and discovered an 'ancient battlefield'.

Several tattered Lothric banners were crookedly planted in various parts of the battlefield, and a large number of broken engineering machines were also scattered around the battlefield. Judging from the wreckage, it was clear at a glance that these machines had been destroyed by demons during the war.

The weapons that had lost their masters were also densely packed, scattered throughout the battlefield, silently telling the story of the war's brutality.

However, the Lothric people ultimately won the war, so no bodies were left behind.