Superpowered Individual VS Fallen Demon Hunter 2

The neighborhood was now quiet and deep into the night. Dark clouds obscured the moonlight, plunging the surroundings into deeper darkness. The streetlights flickered as if about to break, providing intermittent light before suddenly extinguishing with a snap. A breeze blew through the green belt, causing the trees and bushes to rustle.

In this scene that seemed like an omen, a darkness, darker and more profound than the night itself, emerged from the bushes.

It was a very strange shadow. At first glance, I thought it was dirty standing water and intended to go around it. But the shadow moved as if it had a life of its own, blocking my path. Only then did I realize something was wrong and immediately stopped.

What is this?

Because I had experienced even more unbelievable things before, my mind was not yet detached from the state of facing the bizarre. If it were the me of the past, I would have been greatly shocked. But now, even seeing such a strange sight, I was only a little surprised. I could accept any unbelievable change now.

This shadow of unknown origin was definitely here for me, and the changes were clearly not going to end here. From the shadow that reminded me of standing water, a tremendously thick arm suddenly stretched out. As if struggling ashore from a lake, the arm then fell, bracing itself on the ground beside it. This action alone shattered the concrete ground, with the entire palm sinking into it.

The owner of the arm then pulled the rest of its body out of the ground: its head, another arm, its torso, its right leg, its left leg... The entity quickly revealed its terrifying full form.

It was a demon that looked like it had stepped out of an oil painting, with the head of a black goat. Its nearly three-meter-long exposed body blocked my path, like an impenetrable wall of flesh. Its crimson skin and muscles seemed to pulse with immense rage.

The demon's goat-like face looked incredibly ferocious. When people think of goats, they might imagine gentle white sheep. However, among goats, there are also adult Damascus goats with ugly and terrifying appearances, and this demon was just like that. Furthermore, its mouth had no lips, with its teeth and gums exposed, making it look even more bloodthirsty and cruel.

"Zhuang Cheng." It spoke in a sharp, hoarse voice, like fingernails scraping across a blackboard.

I couldn't help but focus all my attention on this terrifying monster.

"You know my name?"

Judging by its entrance alone, it was definitely not an actor in a costume trying to scare passersby.

The demon didn't answer my question. It simply moved its goat-like mouth, speaking to me in a cold tone that didn't match its ferocious appearance: "I am here to take your life."

"Take my life..." I carefully observed its entire body. "Instead of that, what kind of creature are you? Since you can speak human language, you must possess intelligence comparable to humans...

"I didn't expect there to be other races like you in this world. Are there any in other places? What is your race called, and where do you primarily live?"

I knew very well that asking these questions at such a time was inappropriate, but I was genuinely interested in this non-human intelligent life form. After the cave in the Fifteenth Floor room, now this demon appeared. An unknown and magical adventure seemed to be walking step by step towards me.

At the same time, I wasn't completely unprepared. This monster claimed it was here to kill me, yet after revealing itself openly, it started a conversation with me first. Was it planning to let me die with understanding, or was it deliberately exposing itself to attract my attention? I moved my left hand behind my back and silently lit a "Firefly."

With the "Firefly," I could perceive my surroundings in all directions without any blind spots. And at this moment, I sensed the reason it had appeared so openly before me. About ten meters behind me, a shadow was slowly approaching, like a viper attempting to ambush its prey.

Observing closely, I could see a thin black shadow line connecting the demon's feet to that approaching shadow. Hidden by the night, it was impossible for the human eye to detect.

Instead of trying to ambush me with its massive body, it was better to feint in one direction and attack from another... Was this its strategy?

Why would it need such a cautious strategy to deal with a "normal person" like me? Does it know I'm a superpowered individual?

Would that shadow suddenly turn into spikes and impale me? Or would it turn into a swamp and drag me into another space? Or would it manifest in an even more grotesque way?

I anticipated the developments that might occur and formulated counter-attack plans in my mind. Don't let my appearance fool you; I do have a significant sense of crisis. Regardless of my strength, the danger posed by bizarre entities can be indiscriminate. The cave in the Fifteenth Floor room taught me a lesson.

However, more than the sense of crisis, what filled me at this moment was an incredible surge of excitement. Perhaps I was about to engage in a life-or-death battle with an unknown enemy. Such a thing had never happened in my past life, and it was a scenario I had always longed for.

Facing my question, the demon seemed taken aback for a moment, then asked, "You... aren't afraid of death?"

"How do you plan to kill me?" I pretended not to notice the shadow, while curiously asking, "Putting that aside, why do you want to kill me? Have we met somewhere before?"

Hearing this, the demon let out an incredibly resentful voice: "Perhaps you've completely forgotten, but I haven't forgotten for a single moment what you did to me two years ago..."

"I'm sorry, I really can't remember. Could you be more specific?" I was utterly confused. "When, where, and what exactly did I do to you?"

I didn't recall doing anything to any non-human entity in the past that would incur such hatred, especially since this was the first time I had ever seen an intelligent being other than a human with my own eyes.

I was more inclined to believe it was here because of the incident on the Fifteenth Floor, and probability also supported this idea.

I had encountered two bizarre entities today that I had never seen before: the "cave" earlier and this "demon" now. If they were unrelated coincidences, it would be too far-fetched. It made more sense to assume there was a connection between them.

The cave, the ritual array, the Fallen Demon Hunter... The clues I obtained during the day surfaced in my mind as if taken from a drawer. I couldn't help but have a suspicion: is this "demon" that speaks human language truly a non-human race?

Could it actually be a human, or more specifically, could it be a Fallen Demon Hunter transformed? Or perhaps a subordinate monster summoned by a Fallen Demon Hunter?

Speaking of "two years ago," the most memorable thing I did then was assisting the official forces in dismantling a local superstitious cult, based on clues from child disappearances and folk legends in another province. Could this demon be claiming to be that cult leader, or someone related to them?

But I remembered that the cult leader was burned to death by his followers due to bankruptcy. It's not like he went to hell, reincarnated as a demon, and started a second life. Moreover, I never exposed my superpowers to anyone directly during that incident.

This demon's mention of "two years ago" was likely a smokescreen, intended to mislead me.

"So many questions even when death is imminent! It seems you're no different from those ordinary people after all, a fool numbed by a peaceful life into not knowing the consequences." The demon let out an unpleasant laugh. "This is the end. You won't even know why you lost..."

As it spoke, it lowered its stance, its voice suddenly booming: "--Die by my hand!"

As its voice fell, it charged at me with terrifying momentum. But knowing its plan, this charge with its excessively long preparation seemed rather obvious. It clearly wanted my attention focused on it, hence the elaborate display. The real killing blow was the ambush from the shadow.

As the opponent launched its attack, the flat shadow transformed into a three-dimensional blade and rapidly stabbed towards me from behind.

I brought my left hand, which I had hidden behind my back, forward. The "Firefly" hovering at my fingertips suddenly expanded.

"Firefly" was essentially a small flame I summoned. At this moment, I added extra mental energy as fuel to this small flame. Like pouring a large amount of gasoline into a brazier, the "Firefly" instantly turned into a fireball.

The fireball then exploded, and a searing, dazzling stream of flames swept out in all directions, attacking both the demon in front and the shadow behind. The excessively blinding light was enough to cause ordinary onlookers to go temporarily blind.

Fortunately, there were no other witnesses besides the demon and myself, and I was unharmed by the flames and intense light. Both the flames themselves and the light and heat they emitted were essentially manifestations of my mental power. Therefore, unless I intended to harm myself, this power would have no effect on me.

As if anticipating my counterattack, the demon immediately leaped back defensively as soon as the situation changed, staying out of the fire's range from the start.

The shadow attacking me from behind instantly crawled back to the ground, then sprang up from my left foot. It transformed into a blade again from a blind spot that the flames couldn't reach and rapidly stabbed towards me. Although it was a shadow, the intense light seemed unable to dispel it, which was truly magical. While marveling at this, I immediately dodged to the side.

In reality, with the speed of this thrust, I shouldn't have been able to dodge it. However, because I detected it in advance, and the opponent clearly hadn't expected me to have discovered the attack, I managed to narrowly avoid it.

Although it wouldn't have mattered much if I had taken the hit.

"--So it's a fire ability!"

The Demon wasn't blinded by the bright light. It landed on the ground next to the streetlamp and let out a triumphant laugh. "You're finished, Zhuang Cheng... your life will be forfeit with the next blow!"

As it spoke, it reached out and grabbed the streetlamp, actually pulling it out of the ground. Then, it hurled it directly at me.

Keep in mind, it wasn't throwing a javelin, but an entire, heavy streetlamp. The speed at which it was thrown was no different from an athlete throwing a javelin. This wasn't a personal weapon anymore, it was a siege weapon. The visual impact was so terrifying that I reflexively dodged again.

Before I could even bring my raised foot back down, and just as the streetlamp grazed past my cheek, the Demon had already charged in front of me with horrifying speed.

At the same time, its arms had changed form, transforming from flesh and blood into bone blades like a mantis's. Its movement speed was now countless times faster than its previous attack.

Judging by this stark contrast in its performance, it had likely only been wary of my unknown power earlier, employing a feint as a strategy. But now, it was completely certain of its victory and was unleashing its power without reservation.

Its cruel face loomed larger in my vision, and I just stared at it.

Then, my gaze ignited its body.