Preview: The Shadow Hound felt confident in his attacks as he exposed his body. Darkness receded like a tide as he could no longer keep up with the consumption from Shadow Cloak. His stealth came undone as the duo finally sensed him. Behind them, the towering figure looked down at the two with cold and avaricious eyes.
“Hah. Hah. What are you gonna do now?” Asked the Shadow Hound threateningly. He felt obvious confidence in his attack that used up all of his mana and knew the sunflower was done for. As for the centipede? It was too weak to even be worthy of its attention.
Darkness spread from the leaf where the needle struck. It looked as though the flower was wilting swifty at a speed visible to the naked eye. Dark layers and rotten pieces fell off from the sunflower’s body to the ground. The roots flew everywhere to portray the pain the sunflower was feeling at this moment.
Saliva dripped down from the canine of the Shadow Hound as it ogled at the sunflower. He felt like this thing contained a lot of mysterious powers that could help it grow. It was a strange feeling. But he vaguely felt that this power is very powerful and would even help him escape from his master’s control and surpass him.
The mystery attracted the greed and hunger of the Shadow Hound as his footsteps echoed. The sunflower could no longer move and became a fish in the chopping board. And although the Shadow Hound has already run dry of mana, his Mid-Rank demon body was still not something they could contend with.
It would already be a miracle if they could damage its physical body with physical attacks. As for magical attacks, Pendra looked at his master’s condition and didn’t feel like it's possible. Pendra felt so anxious that he almost thought of going up and begging for mercy but he knew it would be useless. Why would a powerhouse listen to pleas of a small fry like him?
The Shadow Hound kept approaching slowly, as though doing it deliberately to torture them mentally. But in fact, it was still wary because of the previous attacks it suffered and fate that befell his underlings.
He looked around the surroundings and gritted his teeth in anger. Bits and pieces of his subordinates scattered all over the place. There were some torn limbs hanging off some boulder. Intestines on the floor, brains spread like butter, the skulls of the hounds sticking out of their faces, eyes bulging out and hanging, blood painting the scenery red and corpses filled with holes and disgusting amounts of holy light.
His anger however did not make him lose control as he became even more cool-headed. At the same time, he felt fear. Tiny bits of fear. Even he did not expect it and felt even more humiliated and angry.
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Me? Feeling afraid? Over a Low-Rank demon? ME?! A MID-RANK DEMON GETTING SCARED OF A LOW-RANK PIECE OF TRASH?!
His fear served as a kind of fuel as his steps became lighter and faster. Gradually, the two were just a meter away from him as he coldly stared at the two.
“You are dead.” His words carried with it a supreme intent as though it was infallible. His words became a statement, a kind of law as he pronounced the two as dead.
Pendra shivered in fear as once again, he felt death coming for him. But this time, he was no longer as nervous and even felt that it wasn’t so bad.
At least.. I have master with me..
It took comfort from that fact as it awaited for death to come. Seconds passed and seconds turned into minutes. The anticipated death did not come as a strange low sound echoed.
“Karghk..!” The Shadow Hound looked down in disbelief as it watched blinding holy light pierce its abdomen from below. Roots engulfed in massive amounts of holy light drilled out from the ground and impaled it, piercing it from below and with the tips coming out of its back.
“Kughk. How?!” The Shadow Hound asked as blood gushed out of its mouth. The ground melted from contact but this time, it wasn't due to its magic infused blood. But because its blood was boiling at a very high temperature due to the holy light injected in its stomach.
Sanguine light suddenly enveloped the Shadow Hound as its eyes became filled with blood-red color. A special aura emanated from it. An especially heavy killing intent and bloodthirst. He was determined to end this sunflower today, even at the cost of his life.
The smell of blood and death permeated the air as the pressure of death pressed on the two.
A cute voice rang out in Pendra’s mind and asked.
“Heeeh? Did I accidentally cause our deaths?”
The naive and childish voice only said those words before an explosion sounded. BOOM! The Shadow Hound escaped from the roots piercing it from below as it cut them down with a swipe. Not caring for its injuries, it charged towards the duo with the Bloodthirst activated on its body. Bloodthirst was a spell that Low-Rank demons liked to use in the lower stratas. It doesn't need mana to be used but requires as lot of courage as it burns one’s life to erupt with terrifying strength. It is basically like the sun’s most beautiful moment before setting to the west, glorious at its last.
The Shadow Hound tried to make best use of its remaining time as it engaged in close combat. Claws danced in the air while the roots defended against them. The claws dissolved from the holy light while the roots kept getting cut like weeds being mowed from your backyard.
“AAAAH!! Am I going to die here?!” screamed the sunflower in indignation. It didn't feel like it should die here and wanted to know more of this world and taste more food. It also wanted to grow, to grow stronger and surpass this enemy in front right now. But gradually, it felt hopeless as even the holy light wrapped around its wounds started to dim and flicker. The holy light it absorbed from the Fallen Angel’s Tomb was like water without a source, thus it could not be replenished.
The Shadow Hound felt this and laughed loudly as if to mock both of their existences.
“HAHAHAHA! TODAY YOU’RE GOING DOWN WITH ME!” derisive laughter rang out as the Shadow Hound completely went mad. It no longer cared about defense as more roots kept flying in the air. Its claws also chipped and melted as the sunflower gradually ran out of roots to defend itself.
“NOOO! I DON'T ACCEPT THIS! I CAN'T DIE HERE!” the sunflower cried out. Its life was too short and it hadn’t had enough. But no matter how much it tried to deny reality, its body kept gaining more injuries and wounds. Green blood kept flowing out and finally, the holy light that covered the roots became so thin that it could no longer deal any damage to the hound.