24 Superpowered Individual vs. Fallen Demon Hunter 2

The residential complex was deep in the dead of night. Heavy clouds obscured the moonlight, plunging the surroundings into a profound darkness. The streetlamp flickered neurotically, as if on the verge of failure, before suddenly snapping off with a sharp click. A breeze swept through the greenery, rustling the trees and shrubbery.

Amidst this scene, which felt like a dark omen, a shadow—a darkness even more intense than the night itself—emerged from the bushes.

It was a deeply unsettling shade. At first glance, I mistook it for a patch of filthy, stagnant water and intended to walk around it. But the shadow moved as if it possessed a life of its own, intercepting my path. Realizing something was wrong, I immediately came to a halt.

What is this?

Having recently experienced far more incredible events, my state of mind had not yet detached from the reality of facing the supernatural. Had this been the old me, I would surely have been terrified, but now, even seeing such a bizarre sight, I felt only a mild surprise. I had reached a point where I could accept any change, no matter how inconceivable.

This mysterious shadow was clearly here for me, and the transformation was obviously not going to end there. From that pool-like darkness, an immensely thick arm suddenly thrust out. As if struggling to pull itself from a lake, the arm swung down and braced against the ground. The sheer force of this motion shattered the concrete, burying the entire hand deep within the surface.

The owner of the arm then pulled the rest of its body from the earth: a head, another arm, a torso, a right leg, a left leg... The intruder soon revealed its terrifying full form.

It was a demon that looked as if it had stepped out of an oil painting, sporting the head of a black goat. Its naked body, nearly three meters tall, blocked my path like an indestructible wall of flesh. Its crimson skin and muscles pulsed with blood, as if brimming with intense, concentrated rage.

The demon’s goat-like face looked incredibly hideous. When people think of goats, many might imagine gentle white sheep, but among the species are the Damascus goat, which possesses a grotesque and terrifying visage; this demon was exactly that. Furthermore, its mouth lacked lips, leaving its teeth and gums exposed, which only made it appear more bloodthirsty and cruel.

"Zhuang Cheng." It spoke in a sharp, raspy voice that sounded like fingernails scraping against a chalkboard.

I couldn't help but focus all my attention on this monstrous entity.

"You know my name?"

Judging by its entrance alone, it was clear this was no prankster in a costume trying to scare passersby.

The demon did not answer my question. Instead, it moved its protruding, goat-like mouth, speaking in a cold tone that belied its savage appearance: "I am here to take your life."

"Take my life..." I observed its entire body with meticulous detail. "Setting that aside, what kind of creature are you? Since you can speak, you must possess intelligence at least equal to a human's...

"I didn't expect there to be other species like you in this world. Are there others elsewhere? What is your race called, and where do you primarily reside?"

I knew full well that asking such questions at a time like this was inappropriate, but I was genuinely fascinated by this non-human, intelligent life form. Following the hole in the room on the fifteenth floor, now this—monsters and demons were appearing, and an unknown, magical adventure seemed to be unfolding before me step by step.

At the same time, I was not without defenses. This monster claimed to be here to kill me, yet after making a grand entrance, it chose to converse with me first. Was it planning to let me die knowing the truth, or was it intentionally standing in plain sight to distract me? I moved my left hand behind my back and silently ignited a "firefly."

With the help of the "firefly," I could perceive my surroundings in a full three-hundred-sixty-degree radius. In that moment, I perceived the reason for its blatant approach. Ten meters behind me, a shadow was slowly creeping toward me, like a venomous snake attempting to ambush its prey.

Observing closely, I could see that the shadow was connected to the soles of the demon’s feet by thin, black threads of darkness. Shielded by the night, it would have been impossible for the human eye to detect.

So, rather than struggling to launch an ambush with that massive body, it opted for a diversion... Was that its strategy?

Why would it need to use such a cautious strategy against an "ordinary person" like me? Did it know I was an esper?

Would that shadow suddenly turn into spikes and impale me? Or would it transform into a swamp to drag me into another dimension? Or perhaps manifest in an even more grotesque fashion?

I looked forward to the potential developments and mentally drafted my counterattacks. Do not let my attitude fool you; I still possessed a keen sense of crisis. Regardless of my strength, the dangers posed by supernatural entities might ignore such metrics. The hole on the fifteenth floor had taught me that lesson well.

But more than a sense of crisis, what filled my heart was an incredible, mounting excitement. Perhaps I was about to engage in a life-or-death battle with an unknown enemy. This was something I had never experienced in my past life, and yet it was a scenario I had always secretly longed for.

Facing my questions, the demon seemed momentarily stunned, then asked: "You... are you not afraid of death?"

"How do you intend to kill me?" I feigned ignorance of the shadow while curiously asking, "Furthermore, why do you want to kill me? Have we met before?"

At this, the demon let out a sound filled with immense resentment: "Perhaps you have completely cast it to the back of your mind, but I have not forgotten for a single moment what you did to me two years ago..."

"I'm sorry, I truly can't recall. Could you be more specific?" I asked, utterly bewildered. "When exactly, and where, did I do something to you?"

I had no memory of ever having done anything to any non-human entity that would invite such hatred, especially since this was the first time I had ever seen an intelligent non-human creature with my own eyes.

I was more inclined to believe it had come because of the incident on the fifteenth floor, and from a probabilistic perspective, this made more sense.

I had seen two supernatural entities today that I had never encountered before: the "hole" from earlier and this "demon." To dismiss them as unrelated coincidences would be a stretch. It was more logical to assume there was a connection between them.

Holes, ritual circles, fallen hunters... The clues I had gathered during the day surfaced in my mind like items pulled from a drawer. I couldn't help but suspect: was this "demon" that spoke in human tongues truly a non-human species?

Could it actually be a human? More specifically, could it be a transformation of a so-called fallen hunter? Or perhaps a monstrous minion summoned by one?

As for "two years ago," the most memorable thing I had done at that time was to assist the authorities in dismantling a local feudal superstition cult, based on clues from child abduction cases and folklore in another province. Could this demon be claiming to be the cult leader, or someone associated with him?

But I recalled that the cult leader had been burned to death by his own followers after his credibility collapsed. Surely he couldn't have reincarnated as a demon in hell to start a second life? Besides, I had never revealed my esper powers to anyone during that incident.

The "two years ago" mentioned by this demon was likely a smokescreen intended to misdirect my train of thought.

"So many questions for a dead man! It seems that, in the end, you are no different from those other commoners—a fool paralyzed by a peaceful life, ignorant of the reality of death." The demon let out a hideous laugh. "This is the end. You won't even know why you lost..."

As it spoke, it lowered its center of gravity, and its voice grew suddenly thunderous: "—Die by my hand!"

With those words, it lunged toward me with terrifying momentum. But knowing its game, this charge—with its overly long wind-up—seemed a bit too blatant. It clearly wanted my attention focused entirely on it, which was why it was making such a show of force. The real killing blow was the ambush from the shadow behind.

As the opponent launched its attack, the flat shadow transformed into a three-dimensional blade, thrusting rapidly toward me from the rear.

I revealed my left hand, which had been hidden behind my back, and the "firefly" perched on my fingertip suddenly expanded.

The "firefly" was essentially a small flame I had summoned. Now, I infused it with extra mental energy as fuel. Like pouring a large amount of gasoline into a brazier, the "firefly" instantly erupted into a fireball.

The fireball burst, and a scorching, blinding stream of flame swept in all directions, striking both the demon in front and the shadow behind. The intense light was sufficient to leave any ordinary witness temporarily blinded.

Fortunately, there were no witnesses present other than the demon and myself, and I remained unharmed by the fire and the intense light. Both the fire itself and the heat and light it radiated were essentially manifestations of my mental energy. Therefore, unless I intended to hurt myself, this power would not cause me any harm.

Seemingly anticipating my counterattack, the demon became alert the moment the situation changed. It leaped backward, retreating immediately, having avoided entering the range of the flames from the start.

The shadow attacking from behind instantly crawled back onto the ground, then sprang up near my feet, transforming into a blade once more to thrust rapidly at my blind spot, which the fire had failed to cover. Even though it was a shadow, the intense light seemed unable to disperse it—a truly remarkable ability. While I marveled at this, I immediately sidestepped to avoid it.

In truth, at the speed of that thrust, I shouldn't have been able to dodge it. But because I had detected it in advance—and because the opponent clearly hadn't calculated that I had already spotted the move—I managed to evade it by sheer luck.

Though, truthfully, taking the hit wouldn't have mattered much anyway.

"—So, it’s a fire ability!"

The demon hadn't been blinded by the intense light. It landed on the ground beside the streetlamp and let out a laugh of triumphant certainty: "You're finished, Zhuang Cheng... The next blow will take your life!"

As it spoke, it reached out, gripped the streetlamp, and ripped it directly from the ground before hurling it at me with immense force.

You must understand, it wasn't throwing a javelin, but an entire, heavy streetlamp, yet the speed at which it was launched was no different from an athlete throwing a javelin. This was no longer an anti-person weapon; it was a siege weapon. The visual impact was so terrifying that even I reflexively dodged again.

Before my raised foot could even touch the ground, and as the streetlamp grazed my cheek, the demon had already dashed to my front at a startling speed.

At the same time, its arms had shifted their form, changing from flesh and blood into white, bone-like blades resembling those of a mantis, and its movement speed was significantly faster than its previous attacks.

Judging by this shift, it must have been holding back earlier, prioritizing the diversionary strategy because it was wary of my unknown power. Now, however, it was fully convinced of its victory and was unleashing its power without reservation.

Its cruel face loomed large in my vision, and I simply stared back at it.

Then, my gaze ignited its body.