Chapter 157 - Child-Eating Monsters (2)
There was something Shen Minyao couldn't understand, though. These child-eating demons were known to be solitary creatures and didn't get along well with other demons. So how was it possible that there were more than a dozen of them in this area?
What's more, the first time she and Qin Zhi had come here, they didn't show up like this. It was as if these demons were anticipating their arrival today. Since these demons were mindless and only moved based on instincts, it made Shen Minyao wonder how they could move uniformly.
Two demons surged forward, attacking Shen Minyao. She was able to avoid the sharp claws of the first demon that was targeting her midsection, while she swished her blade to force the second one to back off.
Meanwhile, Qin Zhi easily deflected the attacks of the other three demons that came for Shen Minyao. He shared the same thoughts with his sister and wondered where these demons came from.
To become a child-eating demon, a woman must recently give birth and lose her child before her death. She would then wander around mindlessly for a certain amount of time before her soul grew tainted with her deep desire to find her missing child.
For this reason, they continued to roam around as demons, feeding on the life essences of the young children they encountered along their way. They were harmless when encountered, but if they were triggered, they were pretty dangerous as an opponent since they attacked recklessly.
Just as the fox demons thought they saw the demons they were looking for, they sensed the presence of other demons coming from the outside.
Qin Zhi narrowed his eyes as he lifted his right arm. A flash of light then blinded the other demons. Once the light dissipated, a naginata appeared(1) on his hand. He was proficient in sword fighting, but using naginata was his favorite to use, as he could use it while horseback riding or dealing with several enemies all at once.
With a length of over two meters, the naginata was an extremely effective weapon on the battlefield.
He used his spatial awareness ability, and his eyes flashed at once. In an instant, he was able to sense over a hundred lower demons coming their way. At this discovery, Qin Zhi realized that they might have fallen into someone's trap.
He gave his sister a side glance. He got a feeling that this case was connected to the previous one Daji had told him earlier. As for the demons that were coming their way, they might have come for her.
Giving it a good thought, the problem seemed to start when Daji escaped from the Qingqiu Mountain. Whoever was targeting his sister must be aware that she was still in Jiang City, and they wanted to play a game with her.
A rogue exorcist, she said, but Qin Zhi thought of the probability that the exorcist was merely a vessel of an equally powerful demon like Su Daji.
"You have a lot of guests outside," he told his sister with a knowing look in his eyes.
Shen Minyao scoffed. So many demons were swarming around the place… she surmised that they were lured out, and someone was expecting their arrival tonight.
Was it the rogue exorcist? She wondered. However, that exorcist was a human. It's impossible for a human to control demons of such a high caliber.
"The more, the better," she said as her blade impaled the first child-eating demon in front of her. Coming here meant they were willing prey for her to devour.
The demon howled in pain, which forced the others to still their movements. The blade of the Hellreaver on the fox woman's hand turned pitch-black as it broke the demonic orb inside its prey before absorbing the power within.
Shen Minyao could feel the essence coming from her sword flowing in her body. Her senses heightened, allowing her to track the movements of the other demons outside the school. In a few minutes, they would be here.
Qin Zhi's subordinates might not be able to stop the horde of lower demons that were about to arrive, given how many demons had come with this swarm.
The other child-eating demons pounced towards her in an attempt to kill her at once, but Shen Minyao pulled out her blade, her body twisting in midair. She barely evaded the striking claws that were about to hit her. The long braid of her hair slapped on her small back as she landed a couple of feet away from the demons.
"Seventeen child-eating demons and unidentified lower demons outside. Daji, just who did you offend this time?" Qin Zhi asked as he whisked his naginata in the air. He didn't fail to notice that these demons zeroed in their attention on his sister and barely noticed his presence at all.
Why did the demons suddenly come for his sister?
The child-eating demons only attacked Shen Minyao, so naturally, Qin Zhi tried to hold back the others, giving his sister ample time to devour their orb one by one.
Suddenly, all the glass windows at the school shattered—which confused Qin Zhi. The low-ranking demons outside shouldn't be able to do such damage, considering how weak their willpower was to affect physical objects around them.
"Something is wrong," Qin Zhi said. "They are usually stronger than usual."
"Hn. It seems like it."
Child-eating demons were mostly at lower and mid-rank levels, but Shen Minyao and Qin Zhi found themselves having a hard time deflecting powerful strikes from these demons when they should be able to counter these creatures with their speed.
As he looked at these demons, he somewhat found it weird that they seemed to be observing the foxes with their eyeless sockets.
"They are being controlled," he said after observing the demons' unusual behavior and actions. "He or she must be a master enchanter to be able to control this herd of demons on our way!"