Vol. 14: Scared Out of His Wits

"Has the tunnel gotten narrower? Or have you gotten fatter, Wolf?"

Jiang Xueming grabbed Oscar's thick tail, but couldn't budge it no matter what he did.

This lapis lazuli half-wolf, weighing nearly half a ton and standing 244 centimeters tall, was stuck in the rough stone wall of the cave passage, completely unable to move.

"How could it possibly narrow?" Oscar, ever the carefree one, joked, "This path isn't the devil's rectum. Why don't you take out your Bible and read it? Maybe it'll understand."

"Holy shit!" Jiang Xueming joked in English, then quickly changed his approach.

He stopped tugging at Oscar's tail, fearing that the blood-rich and nerve-sensitive spine would break. Instead, he grabbed Oscar's clothes, clutching the wool coat in one hand and fiddling with his belt and waistband in the other.

"Exhale!"

The wolf exhaled a long breath.

Jiang Xueming: "Don't inhale, don't inhale."

The wolf exhaled all the air from its chest and lungs, and its whole body shrank.

With a "pop," the air in the stone wall began to circulate again, indicating that there was natural wind in the dark room of this underground water system.

These surging undercurrents pushed Oscar hard into the narrow tunnel, which is why he was so stuck.

"Phew, I dare not go there."

Oscar stuck out his tongue to cool himself and broke out in a cold sweat, his eyes filled with fear.

"If I go any further in, and get stuck halfway, there's no cell phone signal here, and my wife might end up a widow."

The two walked back for about twenty meters, and the path gradually widened. Jiang Xueming and Wolf Brother switched places, and he decided to continue exploring the cave.

Oscar, however, was filled with worry and began to concern himself with the priest's safety.

"Hero, are you going to continue in alone?"

Jiang Xueming didn't care. He had traveled for six years and seen all sorts of demons and monsters. The structure of this cave was clear, and the function of the entrance and exit was well-defined. He figured that after Saint Josh Joris regained his physical body, he would be a humanoid creature over 180 centimeters tall. He was quite confident in his combat skills—the fact that he could attack humanoid creatures with superhuman strength was no exaggeration.

"I'm going to see; God will protect me."

"Alright, the hunting party will be back around eight in the morning." Oscar hesitated, then reminded him, "The incompetent guys at the outpost can't handle this; we need a psychic. I'll go get them. You wait here. If anything happens, get out of there immediately, okay?"

"No way." Jiang Xueming had already made up his mind—he was determined to flush this spring.

Saint Josh has lost his human form and should be in a weakened state at this moment. In a few more hours, the situation will be different.

Xue Ming didn't know if there were any other exits from this cave, but judging from the sound of the wind, there must be other air passages leading outside. If the cultists of the Hercules turned into demons and fled to the town to hide, who knows how many more people would die.

If you ask anonymous people to kill someone, they will certainly do it, and do it simply and beautifully.

If the nameless man were to go and rescue them, that would be a different story; protecting hostages has never been a gunsmith's forte.

--These tasks are more suitable for lapis lazuli. The great wolfhound's Inspiration and sense of smell can accurately distinguish friend from foe, and it will not hesitate to stand in front of its companions when protecting them.

However, the nameless warriors cannot do this; these high-attack, low-health warriors cannot serve as reliable shields.

The reason Xue Ming wanted to kill Saint Josh Joris on his very first day in Saladin was for this very reason—he couldn't tolerate even the slightest thing. If this guy dared to show his true colors, the Bloodborne Freak would face the most extreme torture of being cut with knives and boiled with fire.

Many American horror movies like to depict the power of the villains and how strict the local police department is about procedural justice. Even if this cannibal is killing people for their flesh, they still need to get evidence before they can arrest them and then put them in jail and go through the trial process of a remote, isolated small town.

Xue Ming had no intention of discussing procedures with Saint Josh. Once the freezer containing these animals was opened and a few photos were taken, it was as if the cattle and sheep had passed quarantine and could be legally slaughtered.

His only regret was that he hadn't killed them quickly enough, giving Saint Josh time to incite Sergeant Getze and cause the deaths of the quartermaster and his family. If he had acted faster, the quartermaster and his family might not have died.

"Alright, you take this." Oscar's expression was complicated. He pulled a scripture from his coat. "This is the scripture of King Solomon. It has a purifying effect on ordinary lesser demons. I use it to clear the way when I explore the Elf Holy Land elves."

A heavy, thick book with a brass cover was handed to Xue Ming, the Star of David emblazoned on its cover.

"Do you have anything more practical?" Jiang Xueming's question almost choked Wolf Brother.

Wolf: "Huh? It's not practical yet? What kind of medium do you need?"

Jiang Xueming: "Could I borrow your stick for a moment?"

Oscar pulled a peach wood baseball bat from his coat. This was the bat he had chosen, a testament to the friendship he shared with the sergeant when he was a lapis lazuli dog. Even after transforming into human form, he could never forget the times he spent playing ball with the sergeant.

"Here, this is it."

This baseball bat looks very shiny, but the paint and aluminum handle feel rough to the touch. It's quite heavy and could be used as a weapon.

When his palm touched the handle of the baseball bat, Xue Ming felt a pulling force inside, as if the spirit within was instructing him on how to use the bat.

"Okay, this is it."

"Hey!" Wolf Brother quickly called out, "You're talking to it!"

Jiang Xueming: "Is there anything else?"

Wolf Brother: "Be gentle with it."

In Oscar's eyes, Wind God seemed like a different person after receiving the stick. He used to be timid and submissive while holding a book, but after getting the stick, his eyes were filled with murderous intent.

Jiang Xueming didn't answer. He turned on his phone's flashlight and plunged into the deep, dark cave.

I heard rustling footsteps behind me. Wolf Brother had already gone far away, seemingly asking the hunters and the people at the outpost for help.

The further they went, the stronger the wind grew, and Xue Ming knew what this meant—there seemed to be a vast underground space.

The gourd-shaped passageway is like a flute, playing strange notes in this narrow and long passage.

About fifty meters ahead, you need to go down and go around, past a spiral staircase, and then you'll see new decorations.

The spiral staircase has many hollowed-out grooves in its rock walls, from which the sound of flowing water can be heard. This is the underground water system of the meeting place, a temporary residence prepared for the hunters in the settlement. This building can accommodate more than 1,400 people. In Saladin, this ancient ruin was once a fortress used by the pioneers to resist monstrous beasts and demons.

There are also many strange reliefs on the sides of the grooves, all of which are menacing and related to the evil creatures and gods worshipped by the Madness Butterfly Sect, as well as the Wyvern subspecies worshipped by the Skull and Bones Society and Bones Society—but more distorted.

Compared to the Wyvern, a reptilian creature with complete bat wings and claws, the flying-like statue here resembles a monster covered in spiky feathers with wings like human hands. Beneath its swollen belly is a human brain, seemingly derived from Homo sapiens, with a style strikingly similar to John Berger's humanoid transformations. In addition to this brain beneath its belly, it also has a huge mouth serving as a "head organ" between its wings—or, to put it more abstractly, it looks like a flying, hairy octopus.

Continuing downwards, there was another cave passage leading deeper into the cave. Upon reaching this point, Xue Ming could feel the concentration of Spirit Calamity rising rapidly. The abnormal spiritual pressure environment caused his pores to shrink and his hair to stand on end.

It wasn't that the gunsmith had become weaker; it was just that his physical body hadn't had time to be trained. Before setting off, Xue Ming knew that he hadn't yet achieved a state of unity between body and spirit, and needed time to adapt to this 180-centimeter-tall body.

He gripped the baseball bat and slowly probed inside. His eyes became increasingly bloodshot, and he could clearly feel his intracranial and blood pressure rising, along with his eye pressure. In just a few breaths, he could feel as if a large rock was pressing down on his chest and lungs. His body was warning him to leave immediately.

But he showed no sign of backing down. He had always been a genuine tough guy, and he had seen this kind of malevolent spiritual pressure environment countless times in his life; it was nothing new to him.

He continued forward, and new decorations appeared on both sides of the cave passage: stone lamps with animal-shaped kisses. The strangely shaped Chimera lowered their heads, holding long-extinguished wicks in their mouths. Judging by their age, these things should be relics from the early days of the hunting party, three or four hundred years old.

At the end of the road, there were no doors, only an empty hall.

The hall has multiple functional areas, with twisted fossilized tree roots clinging to it, much like the dragon stones sculpted by the natural geology of the Sichuan region.

These tree roots have been artificially polished and turned into chairs and beds in the hunting party's underground shelter. In earlier times, people would hide in underground shelters to get through the seasons when Spirit Calamity were rampant.

The fossilized tree root, resembling a dragon stone, shows blurry dragon scales and a dragon head, but lacks dragon claws and horns.

In the different zones of the land, no trace of Homo sapiens activity could be seen. Instead, there were pools of dark red, blackened, and foul-smelling blood, the demonic pools that Saint Josh Joris had filled with human flesh.

Jiang Xueming trudged step by step toward the core area, heading toward the central part of the underground shelter, where there was a towering pedestal. The environment was too dark for the light from his phone to illuminate that spot.

He could sense the malevolent spiritual pressure, the most intense and evil of which emanated from the pedestal.

Stepping onto the smooth dragon stone, he carefully avoided the pools of blood and filth. A thin mist could be seen in the air, seemingly emanating from the foul-smelling pool water. Taking even a small breath made him feel dizzy.

You can see some human hair and bones in the pool, as well as eye lenses that are difficult for microorganisms to decompose; these tissues have turned completely black.

After walking a few dozen meters further, he heard a voice—

The sound had no source; it seemed to come from all directions and shot straight into his brain.

For a moment, Jiang Xueming felt a splitting headache and began to hallucinate.

"Elder brother"

A naked Bailu crawled out of the pool of blood beside her legs.

Her face was covered with red patches from Vita Imprint, her complexion was deathly pale, her hair had turned dark red, her face was swollen and her features were compressed, her eyes had become narrow and elongated, like a toad.

In that instant, Xue Ming didn't hesitate at all, raising his leg and stepping on the strange "Bailu" face.

The white "Bailu" immediately revealed its true form, turning into a cluster of White Lady larvae, which was kicked apart by the thick boots and fell back into the blood pool without a sound.

Jiang Xueming thought viciously--

--This is probably a trick of the Fearful Demon; it's quite effective, increasing rage by at least fifty percent.

He passed another pool of blood and examined it closely. Unlike the previous pool, this one was completely black. It seemed that Saint Josh Joris's trick of creating the body of an evil god was quite clumsy; he had ruined quite a few prototypes. These pools seemed only capable of creating illusions of Spirit Calamity.

This was useless to Jiang Xueming, but for ordinary people it was a deadly trap.

He could feel his body starting to itch; the Vita Imprint was gradually eroding his flesh. If he fell into these pools of blood, he would probably be devoured by the White Lady's larvae in an instant, turning into a skeleton.

He walked very carefully, and when he reached the front of the platform, he saw a human figure wearing a cloth robe standing beside the platform.

The figure looked very familiar; Xue Ming recognized him. Although the hood covered his features, he could make out the outline of 9527's figure in the flashlight's beam.

This was yet another illusion cast upon him by the devil; after taking one more look, he no longer hesitated.

Xue Ming cautiously approached the illusion, and the "hooded man" removed his dark brown coat, revealing naked, pale skin underneath. Soft pink cilia protruded from his eyes, and a suction cup full of sharp teeth emerged from his throat and tongue.

Demonic sounds emanated from the bright red neck of this "Xiao Qi".

"Kiss me, kiss me."

Kiss me

Her response was a direct blow from the peach wood staff. Xue Ming her body, using all her strength, and slammed it hard into the flesh-and-blood golem!

In just a second, the golem revealed its true form. Its dark brown robe resembled dragon wings, like the bloody membrane that an oviparous animal pecks through when it is born. Only the columnar sucker remained the same. The pale flesh was covered with clusters of tumor-like insect nests, which intertwined and twisted together, gradually transforming into a robust humanoid creature.

The hooded figure standing next to the podium was an egg, and now it seems to be about to hatch!

The blow seemed to awaken Saint Josh's demonic nature and his long-dormant mind. The egg's outer membrane had ruptured, and a portion of pink, blood-stained umbilical cord tissue remained stuck to the pool water.

The spiritual pressure grew stronger and more bizarre. Xue Ming began to hallucinate, as if a choir of thousands of people were simultaneously playing chaotic and frenzied music inside his head, and the sheet music was written with his feet.

He gritted his teeth, his eyes blazing with fury, veins bulging on his neck and down to his temples. His bulging jaw muscles suddenly bulged, and he gripped the stick, slamming it down hard on the split eggshell, repeatedly striking the demon within.

A bloody head emerged from the eggshell.

--Saint Josh Joris was reborn. He had just abandoned his human form and the first thing he saw when he came into this world was a strange priest with a sinister expression and a vigorous aura. The priest was holding a strange object and suddenly pointed it at his perfect and elegant skull.

What beautiful ram horns they had, what a well-designed head!

Before Mr. Joris could even utter his lines, he was suddenly struck by a powerful club, causing him to look down at the floor.

He then tried to look up, only to be struck again, repeating the process.

Look up, look at the floor; look up again, look once more.

He felt his brain was being tortured beyond words. He was in so much pain that he wanted to shrink back into his eggshell, but then a strong, powerful hand grabbed the horns on his head and forcibly pulled half of his body out of the eggshell.

He wanted to chant a spell, to curse this ungrateful madman, to make this strange priest pay the price, such as summoning locusts to devour the mortal's flesh and blood, or making the blood in his body boil—that would at least require staring at the target and reciting two verses, nearly two hundred Hebrew words.

But Saint Josh didn't have that opportunity.

He swung his pale arms, his head repeatedly struck with a baseball bat.

He tried to straighten up, so he roared out a deafening rage, and the suddenly changing psychic tide turned into a surging spiritual pressure.

Saint Josh raised his head triumphantly, thinking that now he would finally have a chance to fight back.

But the priest seemed not to have moved, waiting only for the head to return to its place before delivering another excruciating blow.

The crisp, resounding thud echoed back and forth across the rock walls of the underground shelter.

After such a desperate and furious effort, striking the baseball bat over two hundred times, Jiang Xueming's bat cracked.

Blood gushed from his mouth and nose, and bloody tears streamed from his eyes, but he was not injured. The blood was merely from capillaries bursting due to the abnormal spiritual pressure environment, causing only minor superficial wounds.

He was panting heavily as he looked at Saint Josh's demonic body. His head had finally split open, with an open wound on his neck, and his brains were spilling out. His spine was shattered.

The psychic tides of the Demon Pool show no signs of abating; perhaps in a few hours, Saint Josh will return to Earth.

Jiang Xueming carried the stick back, heading to the hunting group's meeting place to rest and change his weapon.

"No, this won't kill him. I'm afraid I'll have to ask Oscar to find a way to send my soul to the Spirit Realm. I'm going to chase him down to Limbo and kill him."

Limbo, the first alternate world.

That is, the hair and tendrils of Mother Earth. In this area, Mr. Saint Josh, who has just become a rising star in the devil, is squatting beside a wall of flesh and blood.

He curled up, and a faceless Flash Butterfly was comforting him beside him. A pair of pale pink, nail-less paws rested on his spirit shoulders. Although it had no facial features, it was clear that the Flash Butterfly was very sympathetic to Joris's plight—the baby had just been born, and he shouldn't have suffered such a terrible ordeal.

Joris was so frightened he couldn't speak.

"Waaaaah"