Caught in the haze of negative energy, the horses started to scamper and neigh. Around the group, they could see the bodies that littered the manor grounds. Some were burned to a crisp, others were frozen solid; some belonged to the enemies, others had on the knights’ armour or the Apostles’ black windbreaker…
"That's Mr. Kurtz!" someone screamed. Indeed, lying against the manor's outer wall was a man wearing an Apostle windbreaker. He was already not breathing and the lower half of his body was at least twenty feet away from the upper half of his body. The wounds that split his body in two were still radiating a negative energy that felt weirdly familiar to Ye Qi.
The young Demon Hunter's heart sank; he was familiar with the negative energy because he’d come across something similar when dealing with Erica at Leafless Town. He immediately signalled for his friends to move carefully and summoned the weird wolf for help.
"Indeed, we're in the presence of a Demon!" This time, the weird wolf answered Ye Qi's summon obediently but not before pointing out his mistake, "However, you can’t compare it to that girl you fought with last time! The demonic ritual has been completed this time!"
Demonic ritual completed?!
Ye Qi frowned. The scariest part about a Demon Servant was that wicked power they gained after completing the ritual—even though the headquarters would send out Demon Hunters to vanquish any spotted Demon Servants, victory was only ever achieved after a great sacrifice!
"That idiot, he brought his friend to assault Dirk when he was told to just keep an eye out on that…" Noah showed a rare display of emotion when explaining the situation to Jacob, but he was angrier at himself. "I've failed my task, and I'm willing to take all responsibility!"
Kurtz, the Apostle that was separated in half, was Glados' friend who had fought alongside him at the Tower of Arena. He was assigned by Jacob to be on the lookout for any weird happenings at Dirk Manor. Probably disgruntled that Ye Qi had found such an important clue, he wanted to deal with the Dirk family before Jacob arrived to one-up Ye Qi; the result of that was plain to see. He had not only sacrificed his life but also his friends and the innocent knights' lives.
Ye Qi glanced at the bodies with disinterest in his eyes—there was no trace of sadness—because Kurtz was the one who had used Corrosive Rust on his sword during the battle. Ye Qi was not going to be sad for someone who couldn't think using his brain.
Furthermore, Ye Qi didn't believe one word that came out of Noah's mouth. Based on his understanding of Noah, the man would not make a mistake so big that he would allow his subordinate to assault the enemy without him knowing. This was not Titan, in Ye Qi's mind, Noah was not exactly a shining example of honesty.
Noah, what kind of game are you playing? Ye Qi narrowed his eyes and studied the man closely.
"The Dirk family seemed unusually ready for Kurtz' assault, and they deflected all of their advances!" Since Jacob had arrived, Noah immediately handed the commanding role back to him. "We await your orders!"
"Expert Demon Hunters and Apostles, you separate into groups and storm this place! Try to finish this as fast as you can; it doesn't benefit us to drag this out!"
It was impossible to launch a surprise attack on the Dirk family now after the mistake by Kurtz. Even though the headquarters had a firm grasp over things at Summer Crinkle, there were a few things that they need to be careful about, for example, creating an incident at a public manor. Even though most manors only had the cleaning crew come on the weekend, if this battle was allowed to drag out, one couldn't prevent other people from the nearby manors wandering over due to the commotion.
Therefore, they had to wrap this up as soon as possible!
With Jacob leading the way, they stormed into Dirk Manor. With a signal from Ye Qi, his team and a few Apostles he was friendly with were ordered to stay back—those who went in first died first. After all, a Demon Servant was not to be messed with.
Leading his own team, Ye Qi walked into Dirk Manor. Instantly, a wave of negative energy mixed with the smell of blood rushed at him. If they felt uncomfortable earlier, now they felt like vomiting!
Ye Qi opened his mouth and breathed out into the air. Instantly, a white cloud of vapour materialized in the freezing air filled with negative energy.
Such an intense density of negative energy! Plus, the smell of blood is so heavy, just what kind of demonic ritual has the Dirk family completed?
Ye Qi's question was soon answered—upwards to more than a hundred bodies were collected in the hall of the manor. The eye-catcher was an altar constructed using only human bodies, an altar in the shape of a pentagon and a tower of human heads stood at each of the five points…
The blood leaking from the human heads trailed into the mark of the pentagon. Within the circle, negative energy collected. Right in the middle of the circle, a giant beast appeared to be asleep. A breath-taking face, an ample bosom, the scales on her six arms glistening generously like jewels, and the serpentine tail curled underneath her were a dead give-away of her identity—a six-armed gorgon.
"All the Expert Demon Hunters stay back!"
Even though the six-armed gorgon couldn't be considered a high-ranking demon, at least not one that had reached the rank of a Dungeon Lord, she was not something the Demon Hunters with normal firearms could take down. Only Apostles or Hallowed Artefact wielders could deal actual damage to her.
It's a six-armed gorgon! This is going to be risky…
Even though the heavy negative energy had mentally prepared the young Demon Hunter, he was still shocked when he laid eyes on the gorgon lying in the middle of the altar—he really didn't expect that the Dirk family would sacrifice more than a hundred human lives to summon a six-armed gorgon into the material world. They had probably sacrificed the entire working staff and family members working at the mansion to complete this ritual! Even without the headquarters' intervention, the Dirk family was over! However, now the headquarters had to deal with a much bigger threat—a six-armed gorgon. Nabbing a victory this time would probably require the sacrifice of half the people there…
And that included his friends…
"Kid, it seems like you've found yourself in a bit of pickle again this time, haven't you?"