Chapter 073: The Power of Spirits and Gods

The flickering incandescent light emitted a pallid glow.

A guttural roar, demonic and low, echoed through the empty underground parking lot, spreading an endless terror that could make even the most battle-hardened warriors, seasoned by countless life-and-death struggles, involuntarily tremble. This was an oppression that came from the very soul.

Drip, drip.

Dark red blood fell from Kato, forming a pool at his feet. His body seemed to have been torn open by some fiend, from which four grotesque arms extended. A bloodthirsty, twisted grin spread across his face, and after devouring that moldy piece of flesh, he seemed to have turned into a demon from hell, seized by an overwhelming urge to tear Su Cheng into pieces and devour him.

“Even his very body structure has changed? What on earth was that piece of flesh?” Su Cheng’s gaze sharpened; instinct told him that the current Kato was extremely dangerous.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you die easily. I’ll drain your blood, chew your flesh bite by bite, and consign your soul to eternal darkness!” The mad howls rang out, and for a moment, Su Cheng’s expression was one of utter bewilderment. Clearly, Kato’s mind had become unhinged to the point of spouting such melodramatic villainous lines. Didn’t he know that villains always die because they talk too much?

A shadow flashed by. With four arms, Kato moved like a humanoid spider, appearing in front of Su Cheng in an instant. Several arms shot out like lightning, aiming to seize him. The arms sprouting from Kato were immensely strong; any ordinary human would be torn apart in a heartbeat if caught.

As that massive body pressed in, Su Cheng’s pupils shrank to pinpoints. He narrowly dodged the attack, gripping his blade so tightly that blue veins bulged, and slashed downward at one of the demon arms. The blade struck as if against steel, leaving only a shallow gash.

“Are these arms cast from iron? No, even steel isn’t this hard.” With his strength, he could cleave through a steel plate—these arms were certainly out of the ordinary.

But wielding such power clearly had a terrible cost for Kato; his face twisted in agony.

“Die!” A black fist crashed down like a meteor. At such close range, Su Cheng couldn’t dodge and could only raise his blade to block, but was sent flying over ten meters. A rush of blood welled up in his throat, his vision tinged scarlet.

At that moment, as if enraged by Su Cheng’s earlier strike, Kato went berserk, a demonic roar rumbling from his throat. He stamped the ground, launching himself towards Su Cheng like a cannonball.

A cloud of bloody mist sprayed from Kato’s nostrils. He now looked like a mindless beast, intent only on slaughter.

“Lost his reason?” Facing the demonized Kato, Su Cheng stood his ground, unmoving, making no attempt to dodge.

“Let me show you the true power of a professional.” Then, a strange aura spread from Su Cheng as its center. In an instant, it was as if every color in the world faded, leaving only the purest black and white. When Su Cheng raised his head again, a black-and-white mask had appeared on his face.

A deep blackness spread across his palm, and his nails grew long, inky and sinister, radiating an eerie black light. Behind him, the shadow of a giant demon god loomed. Shadows swept over Kato, who was suddenly seized by a bone-chilling cold; his mind cleared slightly, and a look of terror flickered across his face as though he had met his nemesis.

Rip!

The next second, a torrent of blood burst from Kato. Su Cheng didn’t use his blade but instead drove the demon god’s claw into Kato’s shoulder, tearing one of the arms straight from his body.

This was the power Su Cheng gained after becoming a professional: Demon God Mode.

In this state, Su Cheng’s attacks against spirits were vastly enhanced, and he gained the ability to devour spiritual energy. However, maintaining this mode consumed enormous energy—at most, he could sustain it for two minutes. But two minutes was more than enough to kill Kato.

Agonizing pain shot from Kato’s shoulder, and a thick black liquid, viscous as crude oil, oozed from the wound. The foul power within Kato came from a fiend in the deepest depths of hell—precisely the kind of evil Su Cheng’s abilities were meant to counter.

“A professional? Impossible.” According to the intelligence Kato had gathered, Su Cheng was not yet a professional. Otherwise, Kato wouldn’t have dared to make a move against such a formidable opponent.

But Kato didn’t know that Su Cheng had only just completed his transition a few hours earlier. Moreover, Su Cheng’s profession was akin to that of an exorcist or onmyoji—a bane to most monsters and spirits.

A cold blade flashed through the air, severing Kato’s remaining arms, which fell to the ground and melted into pools of black ichor.

Rendered a limbless stump by Su Cheng’s relentless assault, Kato shuddered like a mouse before a cat, terror-stricken, and turned to flee. In that instant, all thoughts of revenge evaporated. Only one idea remained: escape—as far away as possible.

But exposing his back to Su Cheng sealed his fate.

A phantom shadow flickered. There was a soft, wet sound as the demon god’s claw tore through flesh, plunging into Kato’s back and rummaging within. Su Cheng drew forth from Kato’s body a monstrous little demon, wriggling like a rat.

The creature squirmed in Su Cheng’s grip, shrieking hideously, struggling with all its might.

“Noisy.” Su Cheng squeezed, and the demon burst in his hand, dissolving into nothingness.

The world fell silent.

With the demon destroyed, Kato seemed to lose all strength, his gaze growing vacant as he collapsed in defeat.

“The Tidal Tiger Guild will avenge me. I’ll be waiting for you in hell.”

The team Kato had assembled was no ordinary group of wanderers; he had the backing of a guild. News of the Red Tide Team’s annihilation would soon reach the ears of the Tidal Tiger Guild.

Su Cheng recalled that the Tidal Tiger Guild was a large organization on par with the Liuli Society. However, Kato was only a mid-to-low level leader within the guild; it was unlikely they would go to war over a dead subordinate.

Even if, against all odds, the Tidal Tiger Guild did target him, Su Cheng would show no mercy.

Now that he was a professional player, Su Cheng felt a newfound confidence in standing against player guilds.

“There seems to be one person missing.”

At that moment, Su Cheng realized he had overlooked someone. Thinking back, he remembered—the woman in black had vanished at some point.

“Xiaobai, did you see where that woman went?”

He turned to the girl in white who had appeared behind him, frowning.

Xiaobai shook her head blankly, indicating she hadn’t seen anything.

“Looks like she has some kind of item that blocks detection. Forget it, let’s head back.”

Before leaving, Su Cheng stripped Kato and the summoner of their items. Although he couldn’t use them, he could sell them to other players for game credits.

About half an hour later, agents from the Supernatural Crime Investigation Division arrived at the crime scene.

“Officer Kubota, there are seventeen dead. Eleven of them are wanted murder suspects—they were all players in the horror game.”

“Kato Akatsuki? That’s a big catch, an A-rank fugitive with a bounty from headquarters. I can’t believe he died here.” Officer Kubota examined Kato’s body, running a hand over his stubbled chin.

“Was it a fight between players? Kato was an experienced professional. It would take at least three professional players to take him down,” Kitagawa Kosuke remarked with curiosity.

“No, there was only one perpetrator.” Officer Kubota shook his head, his mind running through various deductions.

“One person!” Kitagawa Kosuke gasped. To single-handedly take down Kato and his gang of dangerous desperados—just how strong was this killer?

“What about the surveillance footage? Was anything caught on camera?”

“All the parking lot cameras were destroyed, looks like Kato’s crew did it.”

Officer Kubota fell silent for a moment, then speculated, “It appears Kato tried to take out the killer, but was killed instead. Judging from the wounds, the perpetrator is a master with the blade.”

“Do you have any suspects, Officer?”

“Not yet.” There were horror game players all over Tokyo, and many favored the blade. Finding the killer based on that alone would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

While Officer Kubota was inspecting the scene, Kitagawa Ryosuke snapped a few photos with his phone. Then, when no one was looking, he slipped aside and sent the pictures off.

“Kato is dead. Killer unknown.”

After sending the message, Kitagawa Ryosuke looked up—only to find Officer Kubota standing before him, glaring.