When You Think You Can Turn the Tables, You're Already Dead

The night wind, shivering pet dogs, insects that had all burrowed underground, sleeping people—everything was reflected in Yu Luo's mind. Yet there was no trace of the demon. As time passed, beads of sweat emerged on Yu Luo's forehead. Transformation Energy drained away like floodwaters, and 30% was consumed in mere moments.

"Where the hell is it?" Yu Luo grew anxious, but under the state of Mirror-Still Water, he remained absolutely calm. Finally, he caught a faint, nearly imperceptible scent of blood, identical to the one from last night.

"Found it!" Yu Luo perked up and hurriedly withdrew from the state of Mirror-Still Water. Even though his Transformation Energy had fallen to only 63%, he paid it no mind. He seized upon that trace of blood in the night wind and ran toward its source.

It was an ordinary little house. Its front door was still tightly shut, but a massive hole had been torn through the wooden wall, taking up more than half of it. Pale moonlight streamed through the opening, falling into the room and onto the monster within.

The monster had a humanoid body over two meters tall. Its crimson eyes were filled with madness, its muscles knotted and bulging, and a vicious horn protruded from its head. Blood dripped from the sharp claws on its left arm onto the tatami. Its right arm was gone, leaving behind only a charred stump. Before it lay two people, a man and a woman, sprawled motionless in a pool of blood. They had clearly lost their lives.

"Roar!" The monster howled at the bright moon. Its sharp left claw easily pierced the corpse beneath it, then flung it aside. Blood spattered across the intact wall, while a colorful mass of intestines slapped heavily against it before sliding limply down. The entire room reeked of blood and decay.

"Mm..." In a corner the monster had not noticed stood a large wardrobe. Its doors were left slightly ajar, and two little girls hid inside, secretly watching through the crack. When the younger girl saw the bloody scene, she could not help letting out a choked sob. Just as she was about to cry out, the older girl beside her covered her mouth.

The monster clearly had not noticed the two girls. Instead, it began enjoying its meal, biting off half of a pale arm in one mouthful. Scarlet blood splashed all over its body. The two girls trembled as they clung tightly to each other, both covering their mouths desperately, terrified that they would make a sound and alert the monster outside.

Yu Luo followed the scent of blood with a displeased expression. Even his running steps grew heavier, as though he were venting the anger in his heart. The reason was simple: if there was a smell of blood, then another unknown resident of this town had been killed and turned into food for a demon.

The stench grew stronger, and so did Yu Luo's fury. At the same time, it meant he was getting closer and closer to the demon. In the end, Yu Luo stopped before an ordinary house. An overpowering stench surged from behind the door and drilled into his nose, almost blatantly telling him that the demon was on the other side.

"This is..." Yu Luo narrowed his eyes. The house before him looked extremely familiar. Just this afternoon, the kind male owner had invited him in for a meal.

"Damn it!" Yu Luo angrily raised the Lightning Cutter and cleanly sliced the front door in two. He burst inside and rushed into the moonlit courtyard. Through the massive hole the demon had smashed into the wall, he saw the hellish scene inside.

"Food..." The demon stopped eating and raised its head to look at Yu Luo, growling indistinctly. A trace of hesitation appeared in its crimson eyes. Its left hand rested before its chest as it warily watched the dark-blue Lightning Cutter in Yu Luo's hand.

"It's him!" The two little girls hiding in the wardrobe also recognized the person who had broken in. He was the strange wandering swordsman who had come to mooch a meal at their home earlier that day. They immediately wanted to push open the wardrobe doors and tell Yu Luo to run, but when the older sister saw her younger sister squeezing her eyes shut and trembling as she clutched her skirt, she stopped. She could only cast Yu Luo an apologetic glance and pray inwardly, Amaterasu Omikami, please save the person before us.

Earlier, just as the family had been preparing to sleep, this monster had suddenly broken in. The male owner had been effortlessly killed without any chance to fight back. Only the two sisters had been shoved into the wardrobe by their mother. Then their mother had also been killed by the monster that smashed through the wall, and had even been eaten as food.

The demon stared warily at the Lightning Cutter in Yu Luo's hand. Though it seemed incapable of speech, it still retained some rationality. It was deeply wary of the strange katana that had cut off its right arm last night. Even now, the severed area could not regenerate any flesh.

Yu Luo faced off against the demon in the courtyard. Though rage burned in his heart, he understood clearly that with his current physique, he could only follow the system's advice and wait for the monster to attack first before counterattacking.

The monster's crimson eyes darted around. Its thick left claw grabbed the half-eaten corpse beneath it and hurled it at Yu Luo with a howl of wind. It moved incredibly fast; an ordinary person struck by it would surely suffer shattered bones and torn sinews.

Yu Luo could only see a dark shadow hurtling toward him. His mind had barely registered it before his body could react, and the object had already slammed into him. Fortunately, although Yu Luo himself could not react in time, the Super Electromagnetic Field of the Lightning Cutter constantly covered the area around him.

Bright dark-blue sparks suddenly burst from where Yu Luo's body met the dark shadow. A thin blue bolt of lightning flashed and vanished, sending the shadow flying aside without harming Yu Luo in the slightest. Only then did Yu Luo's body react. He leaped to the right and held the Lightning Cutter horizontally before him with both hands.

"Die..." Seeing that something seemed off about Yu Luo, that he did not have the same dangerous presence as last night, the monster snarled indistinctly. It stomped down hard, and even the two sisters hiding in the wardrobe felt the tremor. The monster then charged at Yu Luo at high speed. Its sharp left claw reflected the moonlight as it came crashing down at Yu Luo's head with a fierce gust. If it hit, even the lightest outcome would be a broken neck.

Unfortunately for it, Yu Luo had already prepared. The moment he jumped away from his original position, he activated Mind's Eye (Pseudo). An unseen sixth sense constantly warned him. Yu Luo rolled forward as inspiration struck, narrowly avoiding the sharp claw.

Good. You took the bait! Yu Luo thought as he activated B+-rank Permeation and entered the state of Mirror-Still Water once more. The entire courtyard appeared within his mind in perfect detail, without a single omission.

The demon suddenly realized that the human before it felt different. It was exactly the same feeling as last night. It immediately kicked fiercely at Yu Luo, who was still rolling on the ground. Its inhuman strength whipped up turbulent air currents. The older sister hiding in the wardrobe nearly screamed, but covered her mouth at the last moment.

Yu Luo had known what the demon intended the moment it raised its leg. Guided by his sixth sense, he planted his left hand against the ground and stopped himself. The Lightning Cutter in his right hand swept horizontally, carving a level streak of dark-blue light through the night. The demon's thigh separated from its body and flew straight out, landing in the courtyard. Blood gushed out, drenching Yu Luo from head to toe.

Yu Luo rose from the ground and looked at the demon that had fallen over after losing its balance from having one leg cut off. He sneered. He had planned this trick of playing weak to lure in the enemy long ago. He wanted the demon to think, I can win, and tempt it into attacking first. That way, as a counterattack fighter, he could finally get close enough to touch it.

Yu Luo raised the Lightning Cutter and walked step by step toward the fallen demon. The dark-blue energy blade of the Lightning Cutter did not get stained by blood at all. Remaining alert for a sudden counterattack, Yu Luo had no intention of wasting words. He directly raised the Lightning Cutter, aimed at the demon's neck, and swung down.

Sure enough, just as the blade was about to strike, the demon, which had been struggling on the ground to stand, suddenly kicked at Yu Luo's lower leg with its only remaining foot. At the same time, its left claw viciously jabbed toward the space between Yu Luo's legs.