The unpleasant feeling in the Demon Hunter's heart dissipated remembering the female agent's face that had gotten dark with anger.
Norton's place was already at the fringe of Leafless Town, but it was still no comparison to Erica's place. Her house was in the middle of a small forest. The cluster of trees prevented all entry and prying eyes. Of course, the worst thing was while the Demon Hunter was a distance away from Erica's house, his electromagnetic radar started to catch some reading.
This meant that Erica was the Demon Servant they had been waiting for and she was probably in the middle of some kind of demonic ritual, the only explanation to the high reading of negative energy on his radar. The thing that worried Ye Qi the most was John was supposed to be with Erica!
Without much hesitation, the Demon Hunter casted two spells, Mage's Armour and Bear's Endurance. A silvery-white and jade green glows that were visible to the Demon Hunter only surrounded his body. He then picked up pace as he dashed towards Erica's.
The broken fences and the patio that was taken over by the surrounding nature meant that the owner probably hadn't left the house for a long time. The front door that barely hanged onto the hinges had lost its purpose a long time ago.
With the Revolver 500 in one hand and a vial of Holy Water in another, the Demon Hunter stepped carefully into the living room, and what the Demon Hunter saw gave him quite a shock—a hole about four metres wide in the middle of the living room.
What is this?
Before Ye Qi could understand the hole's purpose, he heard the sound of screaming and continuous gunfire coming up from the hole. The screaming sounded extremely familiar to Ye Qi's ears because he had just heard them yesterday night—one only had to listen to the screaming of a Shadow Warrior once before it would sear itself into one's mind. However, the sound that attracted the Demon Hunter's attention more was the gunfire. It sounded like the handiwork of a Micro-Uzi, John's weapon of choice.
"John! Are you okay?"
After squatting down, Ye Qi could pick out John's profile from the sparks of the rifle.
"Ye, stay up there! There are too many Shadow Warriors and Skeletal Warriors down here!" John yelled.
Of course, Ye Qi wouldn't abandon his mentor who was in danger, but Ye Qi was not someone who would rush into a battle headfirst without using his brain. He mumbled silently, "Copper Warrior, Beckoner of Light, smash this place!"
Instantly, the copper ward left Ye Qi's left wrist and burst in a halo of green light. After the light dissipated, a humanoid Copper Warrior about 5 metres tall appeared beside the giant hole, poking a big hole in the roof of Erica's house.
Then, the Copper Warrior extended both his arms wide and started to demolish Erica's place spinning around, forming a tornado of sorts. When the first ray of light burst through the open roof and into the hole, Ye Qi took a deep breath and leaped into it—the Copper Warrior which had finished his work returned to his copper ward form and tied itself back around Ye Qi's left wrist.
"John, come towards me!"
The afternoon sun that filtered through the hole was like a shield deterring the Shadow Warriors from charging at the two Demon Hunters. Ye Qi made quick work of the Skeletal Warriors that walked into the sun using his revolver—theoretically speaking, Skeletal Warrior could be revived endlessly but only on the condition that its bony structure wasn't damaged in any way or it had not been purified. Even though Ye Qi didn't know any purification spell but his Revolver 500 did manage to put some damage into the Skeletal Warriors. Those who were shot shattered into pieces like they were rammed by a moving truck.
"Damn it, Ye! Didn't I tell you to stay up there?"
John who got into the pillar of sunlight after a few leaps, yelled at Ye Qi as he unloaded his rifles at the surrounding Skeletal Warriors.
"You're just an Expert Demon Hunter but I'm an Apostle! How can I stand there and watch if you're already in combat! If this ever gets out, my reputation is going to hit the toilet!" Ye Qi smiled wickedly and instantly changed the subject, "By the way, John, where is our Demon Servant?"
"She's somewhere in this secret underground room! I chased her down here but I didn't expect her to keep an army of Skeleton Warriors beyond the army of Shadow Warriors! Now, I'm certain she is the one behind the many grave robberies! And it is definitely more than the number we were told, probably the entirety of the town's graveyard had been cleaned!" There were gashes on John's jacket, obviously he had had quite a tussle with the Skeleton Warriors—Micro-Uzi had great firing speed but its damage couldn't be compared with the Revolver 500 in Ye Qi's arms.
"What do you mean by that?" Ye Qi asked as he put down yet another Skeletal Warrior even though their number didn't seem to decrease in any way. John cursed darkly, "F*ck! This must be a case of underreporting by the town's police because they were afraid of the consequences. I was wondering how the graveyard could be so clean, there was barely a clue! These people must have cleaned up after themselves!"
"We'll deal with them later! We must locate Erica first!" Ye Qi and John leaned into each other back to back as they fought off another wave of Skeletal Warriors, "It's afternoon now, but when the sun moves a little bit to the west, and the Shadow Warriors join in the onslaught, we'll be in a pickle! Ye, you stay…"
"Okay! No Problem! You stay here and I'll go look for Erica!" Ye Qi chimed in before John could finish, "Don't worry! I'll be back before you know it!"
Before John could react, Ye Qi pressed his revolver back into his waistband and pulled out his magical sword as he dashed out of the circle of light.
"Ye!"
John's scream was soon swallowed by the Skeletal and Shadow Warriors. With a swipe of the sword, Ye Qi fell a Skeletal Warrior before him. Then he casted Burning Hands on the creatures around him. The flames melted the creatures immediately. After the effect of one finished, Ye Qi immediately casted another.
With the support of Bear's Endurance, Ye Qi could cast Burning Hands nine times. He didn't waste it before because he was keeping it to break through the enemies in a time like this!
After four Burning Hands, Ye Qi cut a path through the clot of Skeletal and Shadow Warriors! Finally, at the end of the line, Ye Qi located the target they were looking for—Erica!
In the dark, Erica who was swaying as if weakened was mumbling some sort of spell. As she continued her chanting, a pentagon the colour of blood started to appear on the ground.