The Dwarf Demons had thick, powerful arms and carried crude weapons such as bone clubs, stone axes, and stone spears. All of them charged at once, bristling with aggression.
"Careful! These are Demonized Otherfolk. Though Demonic Qi has corrupted them and dulled their intelligence, they still retain the instincts of a civilized race. They can use weapons and fire."
Ding Long explained.
Humans were the most spiritually gifted of all creatures. Even Demonized Otherfolk who ate raw flesh and drank blood were stronger than ordinary beasts.
Wei Wen said, "That's right. They can use Blood-Baleful Power converted from Demonic Qi. It amounts to a savage form of Martial Fighting Aura. This technique is extremely crude and violent."
No sooner had he spoken than bloody fighting aura, reeking of rank flesh, surged from the Dwarf Demons. Their muscles swelled and their veins bulged like twisted roots, their bodies seemingly growing a size larger.
"I'll hold them off first!"
Wei Wen shouted and hurriedly commanded his Spirit Creatures to block them.
Ning Yuerong also urged her Gray Wolves forward. They leaped fiercely into the fray and knocked several Dwarf Demons down.
But the Dwarf Demons behind them kept charging, shoving the wolves aside and hacking down with their weapons.
One Gray Wolf failed to dodge in time. A stone axe smashed a palm-sized wound into its flank, and it retreated with a whimper.
A gap immediately opened in their formation, and more Dwarf Demons swarmed forward.
Fortunately, at that critical moment, the Crimson-Patterned Tiger beneath Ning Yuerong roared and lunged forward. He bowled over the leading attacker, then brought his enormous paw down.
With a thump, another Dwarf Demon beside him was sent flying bodily into the crowd, taking several more who had been trying to charge forward along with him.
Fang Qianyuan and the others seized the opening and advanced, dodging weapons as sharp claws ripped open bellies and iron fists smashed faces. They slaughtered the attackers, scattering them like fallen petals on running water.
Several dozen breaths later, all the Dwarf Demons finally lay dead. Wei Wen and the others exchanged looks, breathing somewhat heavily.
"What the hell is going on?" A trace of agitation crossed Ding Long's face as he cursed angrily under his breath. "Who the fuck opened the seal on that doorway?"
Ning Yuerong said, "Surely no one would have opened it?"
Wei Wen said calmly, "Stop letting your imaginations run wild. No one could have opened it."
"Then what exactly happened?" Ding Long asked again.
Wei Wen said, "Haven't you all learned about the Demon-Suppressing Grand Array? The Training Institute guards it closely. No one could tamper with it. Only one thing could have caused this."
Something stirred in Fang Qianyuan's mind at those words. He asked, "Senior Brother Wei, you mean..."
Wei Wen said, "Exactly. Demonic Qi leaked out and broke through the seal. These Demons opened it themselves from inside!"
At those words, everyone fell silent for a moment.
Then Ding Long's expression grew even uglier.
"If that's true, we're in trouble. If the Demons can open the seals from inside, that means even more could appear next..."
"This is the warning sign of the Demon Calamity..."
Fang Qianyuan was startled.
He had only recently joined the Training Institute and knew little about the Demon Suppression Cavern, but he still had a basic understanding.
This was a place where ancient cultivators had sealed away Demons. Although openings had been deliberately made to allow cultivators to enter and leave freely, it remained, in essence, a heavily guarded prison. The halls where they fought were equivalent to cells holding Demons.
But now the seal on a hall had been broken, allowing Demons to push out from within and overrun the passages. More were very likely to appear, perhaps even surging all the way to the grand array's entrance.
If that happened, the Demon Calamity would erupt. The Demon Suppression Cavern connected to the Demon Domain in the Otherworld Grotto-Heaven, and Demons would pour through in an unending invasion. Without timely precautions, it would lead to a terrible calamity.
The disciples training inside the Demon Cave would bear the brunt of it and might find themselves besieged by vast numbers of Demons.
The worst possibility was that the Demon-Suppressing Grand Array would sense the impending Demon Calamity and seal itself shut.
Although this arrangement was meant to give the Training Institute above more time to prepare and quell the disaster at the lowest possible cost, it was undoubtedly cruel to the disciples inside. They would have to hold out under siege until reinforcements arrived from the Training Institute before they could escape danger. That was far more perilous than any training.
Fortunately, what they had seen so far was not enough to confirm that the Demon Calamity was erupting, and there were no signs of other Demons nearby. After discussing it briefly, they decided to stop advancing for now and investigate the situation first.
Just then, however, the space ahead suddenly distorted. Amid ripples like those spreading across water, several figures were flung out.
They were enormous gray rats, each the size of a child. They stood upright like humans and likewise carried weapons such as bone spears and stone axes.
"Ratmen!"
There were quite a few in the group-a quick glance revealed a dozen or so. They too froze for a moment upon seeing the disciples, then a vicious gleam flared in every pair of eyes as they bared their teeth and squealed!
"Kill them! We're heading back!"
These were also Third Transformation Demons, and more than ten of them posed a considerable threat. Wei Wen hurriedly shouted and once again drove his Gray Wolves forward to form a barrier.
He finally revealed his strength as an elite disciple at the human rank sixth transformation, manifesting nine Gray Wolves at once while swinging himself off his Blue-Eyed Gray Wolf.
The latter sprang forward, seized a Ratman, and began tearing into it with its teeth.
Ning Yuerong likewise summoned nine Gray Wolves and dismounted, sending her Crimson-Patterned Tiger to the front to pounce on their opponents.
This high-grade Spirit Creature was exceptionally powerful. He bowled over several Ratmen in a single charge, and none survived beneath his paws.
In moments, all the Ratmen were dead. But Fang Qianyuan also noticed that several of the Gray Wolves had inevitably suffered fresh wounds.
"Let's go, quickly!"
Wei Wen and the others did not even bother with the soul crystals emerging from the Ratmen's corpses. They mounted their Spirit Creatures and raced back the way they had come.
Rumble!
Suddenly, the entire Demon Cave began to shake.
Ripples spread through empty space for no apparent reason.
At the sight, Wei Wen's face drained of color.
"This... could this be a tremor caused by a Void Tide?"
Fang Qianyuan was startled as well.
A Void Tide was a natural disaster within a grotto-heaven world, much like a tsunami or an earthquake. Normally, it would not affect the greater world, but if a Demon Cave connected the two, its effects would inevitably spread through.
No wonder the seals of this Demon-Suppressing Grand Array had loosened for no apparent reason. So that was what had happened.
Those Demons must have originally lived in the Otherworld Grotto-Heaven too, only to be swept in here without warning...
This was an exceedingly rare disaster, but its consequences were severe. Once it occurred, it would inevitably bring the Demon Calamity.
Moreover, it would be a Demon Calamity on a scale far beyond the ordinary!
"Damn it, here comes another wave!"
While Fang Qianyuan was pondering this, Wei Wen swore beside him, and the Gray Wolf beneath him abruptly skidded to a halt.
Fang Qianyuan hurriedly clamped his legs around his wolf's belly to steady himself and looked ahead. Dozens of wild wolves sat or lay strewn across the ground in disarray, completely blocking their route back.
These, too, were Demons swept over by the Void Tide.