Fighting his way up to the eighth floor, the number of demon-possessed individuals he faced was essentially equal to the number of residents in the apartment building.
As a result, the ammunition he brought this time was not as plentiful as before.
The MK14 revolving grenade launcher, already expended in a confrontation against seventeen demons, was rendered useless after being smashed against one of them.
With his resources depleted to this extent, he was left with only six grenades, ten .50 holy bullets, and ten bottles of holy water.
Click!
Father York loaded the last bullet into the cylinder and inserted it back into the gun.
Now only five bullets remained.
Looking upwards, Father York once again generated a real-time three-dimensional map in his mind and fired a shot towards the second segment of the staircase above.
Bang!
Just then, a bizarrely shaped demon appeared in the air, coincidentally being struck by the .50 holy bullet.
It seemed not to expect such significant damage from a regular bullet, resulting in its left shoulder and chest exploding into rubble.
The demon fixed its gaze on the priest below, who continued to pull the trigger, and let out a roar.
"Damn the god..."
Before it could finish, its head and upper body were blown apart, turning into smoking lava rubble.
Father York remained expressionless, his mental power effortlessly pushing aside all the airborne lava rubble,
Seamlessly, he continued to fire three more shots at the fire door ahead.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The door burst open, and three demons charging at him were hit mid-air, their movements momentarily halted.
Two of the demons, their heads shattered, fell on the staircase, turning into dust, while the last one, with half its head missing, still lunged at him, its face contorted with rage.
Father York clenched his left fist, his mental power intertwined with divine force spreading within.
Against these demon-possessed beings, only holy powers proved effective; anything else was futile as they could continue to regenerate.
Such was the unreasonable nature of their existence.
Yet, he was equally unreasonable, his upward punch exploding the attacking demon's remaining head and upper body into scattered rubble.
"Four down, two to go..."
Recalling the residents' data he had seen, Father York reloaded his gun while making his way to the ninth floor.
Stepping over the smoldering rubble, he halted his reloading to pull out a holy grenade, twisted the pin, and threw it into an open apartment door.
Hearing the grenade hit the floor, he returned to the stairwell.
Boom!
The three-dimensional human figure he had conjured in his mind vanished as he looked up the stairs, emotionless, and loaded a full cylinder into his gun before proceeding to the tenth floor.
This was Bridget's floor, and he had just generated a complete three-dimensional map of it.
Every still or moving object was rendered in his mind, a capability granted by surpassing a mental strength of one hundred.
He knew all movements and presences in real-time, like a seer.
A large monster capable of absorbing and merging with all corpses in the hallway was moving towards him with a crackling sound.
However, Father York's attention was fixed on a small space where two small human figures huddled together.
"Bridget..."
He breathed a sigh of relief.
From the first to the ninth floor, despite some residents armed with shotguns, none survived. He feared Bridget on the tenth floor had already...
"A stroke of luck amidst misfortune."
Father York shook his head, pulling out another holy grenade as he advanced.
Facing a large entity, the holy grenade was his best tool, at least until he resorted to using his mental and magical powers.
In no time, he reached the tenth floor, facing a grotesque mass of limbs and bodies, with a dominant upper torso and a youthful face at its center, resembling an ant queen composed of various limbs but with densely packed hands and feet, filling the four-meter-wide hallway.
"Sss!"
The leading upper body hissed menacingly, like a wild beast.
"So, a priest! The one Bridget mentioned? Also in that fool Morse's memories."
It closed its eyes, savoring the scent.
"Delicious! A beautiful soul! No, you're somewhat peculiar!"
Hearing this, Father York narrowed his eyes, deducing that this upper body likely belonged to Danny from apartment 1032.
Ding! The pin of the holy grenade was pulled at that moment.
"Your essence..."
The demon-possessed Danny, staring at the priest from over ten meters away, only saw the grenade appearing suddenly before him.
Unlike the demons below, it sensed the holy power emanating from the grenade.
"This is futile against me!"
As Danny spoke in his beastly tone,
The limbs he had merged with surged forward, forming a seemingly sturdy shield of flesh around his upper body just as the grenade exploded.
Boom!
The explosion, powerful enough to demolish a floor, illuminated everything with holy light, revealing the fused corpses that formed the shield, now blasted apart.
Roars of pain echoed as the massive flesh mass, unsupported, fell to the lower floors.
Boom!
A cloud of dust rose from below, reaching up.
Father York, noting the quick reaction and countermeasure, knew this foe differed from those on other floors.
Yet, what of it? He prepared a second holy grenade, tossing it lightly towards the dusty, debris-filled breach ahead.
Boom!
Fire and holy light erupted, scattering debris and widening the breach, with cracks spreading beneath Father York's feet.
Ah! The creature's agonized howl indicated it had fallen yet another floor.
Using his magical sight and the real-time three-dimensional map generated in his mind, Father York advanced towards apartment 1032, now exposed by the gaping hole.
The map allowed him to track the falling monster, now down to the eighth floor, and pinpoint Bridget's trembling hiding spot.
"The aftermath of the battle is too dangerous. I'll evacuate them first."
Father York's thought process was clear. Upon encountering the dark, corpse-merging monster, he knew this battle wouldn't be as straightforward as the previous floors, potentially risking the entire building.
This monster, akin to a queen and also the primary target of this random mission, represented a unique challenge...
"Thanks to the generous support from Empty Sword Ascension and the Elegant Typeface! Your contributions are appreciated!"
___________________
(Support with power stones, comments or reviews)
If you guys enjoy this story, In support me on Patreon and get access to +200 advance Chapters
Read Ahead
Patreon.com/INNIT