The winged demon burned, so it left a faint scorch mark where it walked. Some of the dead wood was consumed by the flames, leaving only charcoal black embers. But these insignificant traces gradually fade away, they find less and less, and finally disappear completely.
The flame dies down and the devil appears.
Without the most obvious marks, the pursuers had to scatter through the woods, searching everywhere for the footprints and scratches of the devil, their torches barely illuminating the surroundings, but more places in the distance sank in the endless darkness, making people uncomfortable to see.
Shire approached one of the attacked camps, which was set up under an old fir tree, a good place for shelter from the wind and rain, and quite secluded, far from the path of beasts. Anyone who camps in the woods has a lot of experience. However, he saw that the dark green tarpaulin tent had collapsed, the fire beside it was extinguished, and Shire touched it, and the warmth was still there. There was a cast-iron pot lying nearby, spilling all the liquid from it, and two unused buckskin blankets lying on the floor next to it.
He searched the area with his torch and soon found the body of the dead man, for there was a lot of blood on the ground.
A man lay on his stomach in the bushes a dozen paces away, his back gouged open with blood, and Shire could imagine the scene before, the devil clawing open the victim's back and eating everything worth eating. The dead man was wearing a thin leather jacket, his head was shaved, his eyes were looking aimlessly to one side, his mouth was wide open, and a lot of blood came out of his mouth, which stained the ground red.
There's two blankets. There should be another one. Char searched for a long time, and finally found a child-sized straw shoe on the ground.
I want ordinary, ordinary people to live their lives without fear of being killed by demons. Shire felt a pang of pain. But can my powers help everyone?
"What's the matter with you? Rocher rode up from behind. She glanced at the attacked camp. "Winged demons passed here."
"It wasn't 'passing,' the devil was coming at them." Shire clenched his fist. "Our souls are food in the eyes of the devil, and the more it eats, the stronger it gets."
Rocher rode a little farther, then turned to look at the Shire.
"I am not quite sure, but I would venture to judge that your Excellency is in some sort of distress."
"I can't save them."
"It is the duty of gods and saints to relieve suffering." Rocher said, "In my opinion, I'm afraid to bother with this will only hinder thinking, so it is better to focus on the task at hand. After killing the demon, we can all go back to Grey Tree Hall and sleep the night away."
"You're right." Char nodded.
As they passed through the forest, they saw several soldiers standing on horses. The horses were restless and neighed at the wood ahead, refusing to go any further. The soldiers behind heard the noise of the horses, and they came over, and for a time the team of people gathered one after another.
The Shire saw the horses and realized that they were so close to the devil that the animals dared not go any further. Then came the stage of the fight between man and devil, Char took a deep breath, knife in hand.
"Graddiu, are you awake?" Char called to himself. "I need you."
The Blade Demon remained in a passive and silent state and did not respond to Shire. The devil in your heart is an enemy and an ally. Hunter and demon dual identity so overlap, he gradually used to, and the mood is also changing.
Don't think too much. Don't think too much. Shire murmured. Without Gladius, you're on your own, using the blade in your hand, a magic blade forged with the power of evil, a vile creature with winged demons, just cut it off. Besides, he now possesses more than one spell, the Flame of Yafen, the Phantom Power, the Nuin edge, the banishment of heaven... With varying degrees of mastery, they're all pretty powerful hunter spells.
He had a crossbow... But the wooden crossbow doesn't seem to be able to Pierce the winged demon's shell, and it's really head-spinning.
In general, Shire was uneasy because he was not absolutely sure of defeating the devil.
But at some point, everyone's eyes fell on Shire.
"Should we continue?" One of the soldiers asked, "Mr. Hunter, do you think we should go deeper into the woods?"
"What now?"
"Shall we stop and wait for daylight?"
"Should we send someone to spy on it?"
People talk in tongues, but more or less vaguely looking forward to Shire, hoping that he can make a decision and command everyone to complete the crusade against the devil.
They looked at Shire with nervous eyes, silently waiting for his reply.
"Listen up." Shire thought for a moment and decided to tell them some tips, "Firm in your belief that if you see the true face of the devil, you must avoid it, do not directly look at it, as far as possible from its back or side attack."
"Huh?"
"How can we fight like this?"
"Can you kill it if you can't see it?"
Shire pointed to the anxious horses. "Why are these horses afraid? Because they can sense the psychic and psychological stress of demons from a distance. If you look the devil in the eye, you will only be worse off, with a serious mental breakdown. I am not being alarmist. You have seen the power of the devil during the day."
The soldiers had to be silent.
"If you think of God's true name, you may be able to prevent evil from invading you." Roach thought, "But I'm afraid it's too bad to fight on foot. I must try to ride in."
Shire looked around and did not find the mercenaries of the Van Shan crossbow team.
"Where are the mercenaries? What about Tibert and them?"
"They pushed the crossbow in by hand." 'said a soldier on horseback.' They say they must get the devil's bounty. '
"I must go and find them. Where have they gone?"
"Huh? Are you alone? ... They went in that direction." The soldier was a little stunned.
Shire know this war is absolutely dangerous, once the support is too late, things do not know how to develop, quickly ran into the forest.
The trees and bushes passed by him, and he heard his heart beat, the trampling of the grass, the faint wind. Soon he began to sweat, his legs a little heavy, and he gasped, the torch shining down the road ahead to keep him from tripping over rubble and branches.
On the bark of a tree, he saw a bright green mark, which Char approached warily, and when he had moved a certain distance, the mark suddenly dislodged and was replaced by a sound, which seemed to be some kind of technique for transmitting information.
Low, husky, the voice of a winged demon.
"Only you can see this, Demon Hunter. I made it especially for you. Are you trying to kill me? You want to kill me, like you did the rest of my kind? Come, I have tasted torture, torture, and humiliation, and you had better kill me with all your might, without hesitation or foolish tactics, or I will slowly return to you what I have suffered."
The marks dissipated like smoke.
You don't have to tell me, I'll kill you quick. Char frowned and walked on.
From the front came the noise and Shouting, Shire saw the people of the crossbow team, who were pushing their crossbow car "blood bride" hard, no horse, but by four people to advance in the forest, slow, rather clumsy look.
"Whew... Whew..." The people in the cart were gasping for breath, and Tibert was Shouting orders to them, looking over his shoulder to see the Shire coming, somewhat unexpectedly.
"Oh -- the demon Hunter has arrived." "Just in time," said Tibert. "We're about to catch the winged demon."
"You're walking so slowly. You can't possibly catch him." Shire was surprised.
"He's hurt, and he's walking slower than we are." "Our men saw his shadow before. He ran away like a lost dog, exhausted."
A worn-out demon doesn't have time to leave me a message. 'thought Shire.
"Don't be careless, or you'll all die." Char scares them.
A mercenary glanced fearfully at the Shire, glanced around, and swallowed.
"We've been very careful." Tibert complained. "It's just that it's dark out here, and it's late, and my men need a rest."
"You can't camp under the devil's eyes. Keep going." Shire urged, "still thinking of rest."
'Fortunately, we have sentries ahead. Ajax has gone to find the way.' "We are professional mercenaries," Tibert boasted.
They had gone about fifty meters before they saw a dead body, the mercenary had been bitten off his head, and only his body was lying limp on the ground, bleeding everywhere, and the men of the Fanshanu team looked liven at the death of their companion.
"..." Tibert stared at the dead head of his companion on the ground, the vertebrae leaking out of the neck where it had been broken.
'That's Ajax? 'asked Shire.
Tibert nodded.
"He's a fellow countryman, and we must --" He was about to say, when Ajax's body suddenly receded.
As if haunted by ghosts, the headless corpse of the mercenary moves rapidly and unnaturally into the distance, as if sorcery were manipulating his remains. This surreal scene left many mercenaries stunned and at a loss for a moment.
"Catch up! Chase me!" Tibert cried out, and his men awoke from their dreams and hastened to push the crossbow, its wheels rustling over the earth.
How is that possible? Char wondered uneasily, why did the body move on its own?
Suddenly, in front of their eyes, Ajax's body quickly moved upward and dropped into the open space far away, where a dark and enormous monster seemed to be waiting.
"The devil! Shoot!" Tibert roared.
Baaaah!
The crossbowman operating the Blood Bride whirled his ballista and pulled the trigger on the giant creature, piercing its back and making a sound like an embedded stone.
"It was done! One more!" Tibert threw a hard punch into the air.
Whew - Tibert's body suddenly lifted off the ground, lifted upward by some inexplicable force.
People looked up in horror to see winged demons squatting on the high trees, staring down at them.
A faint despair rose in Shire's heart.
He saw the devil take his rope in his left hand, and use it to strangle Tibert by the throat, and hang him alive, and Tibert kicked in the air in agony, gripping the rope around his neck with both hands in great anguish.
"Welcome." The winged demon grabbed the lower edge of his mask and pulled it off.