The Record of Unusual Creatures

Chapter 900: An Uphill Battle

It was the MDT that alerted them when it detected something was wrong.

At that time, everyone was busy combing for clues in the hall. White Flame and Hesperides were trying to figure out what kind of weapon could blow that big hole on the roof. Hasse and Hao Ren were skimming through Amatura’s documents. No one had noticed the threat—just like the time the Shade of Chaos attacked Hao Ren; it came undetectable, not even the most experienced demon hunters and demon king like Y’zaks could see it coming. It was in that critical moment that the MDT flew out from Hao Ren’s pocket and sounded the alarm. “Attention! Abnormal energy detected! Abnormal energy detected!”

The MDT’s unique sensor had recognized the enemy’s energy signature and quickly identified the threat.

The brick was radiating with blue light and popping out suddenly shocked the demon hunters nearby. They thought that the otherworldlings had lost self-control and begun to attack them. Very quickly, Hasse came to grips with what happened and took out his crossbow and shouted, “It’s the Shade of Chaos!”

All demon hunters switched into battle mode at the drop of a hat. A silver flare rose from their bodies and White Flame burst into flame like a lady of fire. Hao Ren’s reaction was not any slower. He took out his silver spear and apple box but left out the psionic gun—psionic gun had a more extensive range of damage and less precise thus posing a higher risk to friendly forces. He stood in front of Lily. “Stay calm! Be focused!” he shouted.

As soon as his voice trailed off, Hao Ren sensed familiar hostile energy coming his way. He quickly turned and dodged the attack while at the same time pointing the apple box at the incoming forces. He was not sure if he had caught anything because the hostile energy seemed to be everywhere.

The shadows of the collapsed pillars, furniture, bodies of the Tannaean and demon hunters began to move as if they were living things. The shadows seemed to flow like liquid and overran the golden floor in the ball. Hao Ren stood in the middle and surrounded by the creeping shadows, and he began to see the illusion of a swamp swallowing him up.

The Shade of Chaos here was thick.

Hasse, covered in flame, first glanced at Hao Ren and was amazed. He understood the logic of using the spear in battle, but a fruit box was just beyond him. Out of courtesy, the senior demon hunter reminded him in a low voice, “You might have got the wrong weapon, Hao Ren.”

Hao Ren was startled for a while. He then looked at the plasma spear in his hand and ditched it but the apple box.

Hasse’s jaw dropped to the ground.

“Have you not seen high-tech before?” The MDT knocked Hasse in his head. It emitted an intense glow and immobilized the Shade of Chaos that was just within a few meters around Hao Ren. “Everyone, get out of here! The shadows have overrun the hall. We’ll be in deep shit if we get surrounded!”

There as no reminder needed for elite warriors as they had already seen the danger. Shadows crept and gathered from all sides as if a swamp swallowed up the entire hall. As the disgusting things slowly engulfed every inch of the floor, White Flame burst into an even larger flame and floated in mid-air. She used her sacred flame cleared a path to the exit and forced the shadows back. “Everyone, get to the outside!”

The demon hunters quickly formed into groups of three and retreated towards the exit under the protection of the sacred flame. The Shades of Chaos, which were held back by the sacred flame, gathered on both sides of the path like a sludge. Though the shadows were formless, Hao Ren heard in the illusion a horrifying gulping sound as the evil shadows gathered. Hasse lit up a Letta rune card, and cast it into the densest part of the Shades of Chaos. It burned with a pungent smell, and the shadows seemed to recede a little, but the damage to the Shade of Chaos was minimal.

“Go!” Hasse called White Flame who was keeping the sacred-flame path open before casting two more rune cards to dispel the nearby shadows.

Wanting to follow everyone running towards the exit, Lily saw the burning path and feared the flame would burn her beautiful tail, she hesitated. “You got to be kidding me!” she said.

White Flame the lady of fire came up and grabbed Lily. “Let’s go. I’ve got it under control.”

Hao Ren and others followed from behind. Before stepping into the burning silver flame, Hao Ren was a little nervous too, but as soon as he was running in it, he began to believe White Flame’s superb control of the sacred flame. No one got burned by the fire. “It’s not hot! It’s not hot at all!” Lily yelled as she ran.

Hao Ren was anticipating that the Shades of Chaos would set a trap for them on the outside. Surprisingly, the situation on the outside was calm. It seemed that the Shades of Chaos only gathered in the hall.

As they came out of the hall, the Shades of Chaos also were chasing them to the outside. The demon hunters grouped into a formation in the square and set up a silvery-white wall of flame to hold the shadows back.

To Hao Ren amazement, the sacred flame was very effective against the Shades of Chaos. Though it was not able to eliminate the shadows, it could at least dispel and suppress them. With the demon hunters holding the shadows back with their formation, Hao Ren did not have to face another dilemma. He still remembered vividly in his mind when he first encountered the Shade of Chaos. The shadow was right up his tail. Hao Ren was unable to shake it off. The last thing he wanted was to face a similar situation again.

“Get ready for the exorcism ritual!” Hasse ordered the demon hunters. “Warriors of the flame, hold down the fort. Don’t let any shadows come into contact with anyone!”

The mental-attack ability of the Shade of Chaos posed the greatest threat. Once a warrior became deranged, it would bring down the defense from within. So the sacred-flame barrier must stay up no matter what.

Several master demon hunters stepped forwards, raised their hands, and began to chant an ancient incantation. A unique metal blade filled with Letta runes began to emerge from their pouches and spun around them. When the powerful exorcism ritual began, a layer of silver light shrouded the entire family hall and a Letta rune that was large enough to envelop the whole building was floating above the silver light.

They were preparing a huge ritual, which would take some time to complete. The Shades of Chaos did not want to be sitting ducks; they began to launch an attack from all sides.

The demon hunters, who were already up to their ears trying to hold up the line of defense, had no time to fence off shadows that kept coming out of the hall. That was when Y’zaks and Y’lisabet stepped in. “We got them!”

When the demonic father-daughter team transformed into shadowmancers, some unknown green runes began to surround them, and the fissures of the Umbral Realm started to spread under their feet. In order not to reduce the burden of the flame warriors, they stepped out of the flame barrier towards the Shades of Chaos.

Discovering that the prey was coming toward them, the Shades of Chaos pranced towards the two like hungry jackals. Y’zaks had been waiting for this moment. He opened the shadowy dimension and sucked the Shades of Chaos into the eternal darkness. At the same time, Y’lisabet was using a shadowy orb smashing the Shades of Chaos indiscriminately. She did not even have to aim because the shadows were everywhere.

It was a little weird of how the little demon was using her magic power though, as shooting magic in her hand would turn into smashing magic, for example.

The Shades of Chaos were fearless and brainless at the same time. They did not change their tactic but kept coming although their weaknesses had been exposed. Y’zaks lowered his head; his bald head was glistening with light.

As it turned out, his shiningly bald head was deflecting the Shades of Chaos.