To be fair, Vivian really relished the chance to ‘help’ Lily. She was given the rare opportunity to blatantly kick her. The silly werewolf asked for it anyway and of course, the vampire maiden would not do it perfunctorily. She knew her strength could not compare with that of the werewolf. Therefore, she purposely backed up for more than 30 meters before she ran towards Lily to give her a kick. The kick sounded like the ripping of silk. It was so powerful that it horrified Hao Ren, who was watching it.
When Lily finally stood up, they started quarreling again as usual.
"The hole’s as deep as a pothole. How am I supposed to jump over it?!" Lily was obviously focusing on the wrong thing.
"Can’t you just run up to the hole a bit and take-off from the side once you reach the spot? Even if you can’t act quickly, you can still slightly adjust the angle when you’re ready to jump, right! Such a dumbass. It’s so embarrassing to be staying with you under the same roof!" Vivian was not focusing on the right thing either.
"Can the both of you please quiet down?!" In the end, Hao Ren had to exert his authority as the landlord (it was not really powerful but it helped both superwomen calm down). His shout finally brought the two ladies back to the issue at hand. "The problem here isn’t solved yet. What are we going to do about those armored wraiths underneath? What about the seal and runes which failed in the crypt? And most importantly, what should we do with this stone?"
Hao Ren pointed at the Demon Stone that Lily tossed aside. The one-meter-long, black crystal was still the same as when it first awakened. It glittered steadily with a red glow under the dim light of night. Relying on his nerves of steel as well as strong support, Hao Ren cautiously stepped forward and knocked the stone a few times. He found that it was different from other stones which were usually cold. In fact, the stone was warm and vibrated slightly. He could even hear a voice, which sounded like hoarse whispers coming from the crystal when he put his ear close to it. The Demon Stone was like a restless tuning fork. It felt like there was a constant output of some kind of message. However, nobody knew how to stop it.
At the beginning, Hao Ren just thought of getting out of there as soon as possible. This thought was consistent with his usual philosophy of ‘safety first’. However when he revealed this, Vivian told him that it would not work. She told Hao Ren that demons were creatures who were extremely good at spreading their power through the medium. The moment the Demon Stone started pulsing, anyone exposed to its red light was already ‘marked’ by the stone. The owner of the Demon Stone was capable of tracking down whoever that was close to the stone. Escaping was totally useless. It would have probably motivated the demon’s interest to hunt them instead.
"When you’re targeted by a demon, you only have two choices," Vivian reminded Hao Ren solemnly (as well as Lily, who was still in a state of confusion) "You either hope that the demon isn’t interested in you or fight it. There is no other way. The demon will spread its power everywhere and very few people can slip away under his nose."
No matter how demons were portrayed in fiction and drama, the real demon Vivian knew was like this anyway.
Hence, Hao Ren could only force himself to stay there and rely on Vivian, the old… professional who used to deal with demons. They had to find a way to interrupt the connection between the stone and demon.
"If it’s a low-level demon, my blood can cover the aura of the stone. Once the aura emitting from the stone is intercepted, the armored wraiths in the crypt should be able to calm down. At least, they’ll become easier to deal with," said Vivian. She walked around the Demon Stone a couple of times, looked at it hesitantly and said, "But if it’s a demon of higher order
, instead of blocking the signal, this will tell the stone’s owner that there’s something interesting here. Those crazy creatures love to fight but, only few can beat them. A senior in the Blood Clan is exactly their target of provocation. Both of us are equally strong and we can fight for a long time."
Lily limped around in circles and said, "So, you’re actually complimenting yourself indirectly."
"Now’s not the right time to joke." Vivian stared at Lily and said, "What does a little girl like you know? Nothing good comes from getting entangled with demons. They have a one-track mind and will go after their target to the death. I hate fighting, I don’t know why. Anyway, I hate fighting and killing. Nobody wants to have any connection with those lunatics."
Hao Ren glanced at Lily and asked, "Why are you walking like that?"
Lily showed Hao Ren her pitiful tail. A third of the fur had fallen off and the shape of the tail was a little crooked. "I was hit by the rocks just now. It’s gonna hurt for a few days," she said.
Hao Ren looked up and thought that it was just a few scratches on the skin and lost fur after being hit by tons of falling granite. You really could not ask for more.
"Whatever. I’ll just do it." Vivian seemed like she finally made up her mind. She gazed at the sky and said, "The moon is vanishing. I need the moon’s help to take care of the stone. If we keep delaying, I’m afraid
even the dullest demon will wake up soon enough. Hey Big Dog, stand by. I feel a lot of wraiths approaching the ground. They’re probably coming for the Demon Stone. Help us block them."
Lily smiled with confidence and said, "Okay! Just block them, right?"
Vivian nodded without speaking. Silently, she stood a few meters away from the Demon Stone with her hands slightly opened. A thin layer of red mist started to disperse from her body.
At the same time, Lily heard a familiar noise approaching them.
The armored wraiths were still underground. However, they were about to reach the land above.
The crypt used to have a very tight sealing system. The demon’s chamber, knights’ tomb and other similar key places were all hidden well. The lodge owner never discovered the shocking secret buried deep down below. He just walked through the tunnels on the upper layer and did not damage or touch anything in the crypt. However, hundreds of years had passed. The long time itself was strong enough to destroy the seals in the crypt. It just happened to reach the tipping point after all the things that transpired those few days.
A large number of Letta runes had lost efficacy and the demon chamber’s holding powers had weakened. Not to mention, the crowd of paranormal enthusiasts who had gathered around the castle. Their wanton and grand exploration was the last straw that crushed the weakening crypt. It also caused the partial activation of the Demon Stone. It activated the defense mechanism of the crypt, woke the sleeping guards up and triggered their current situation.
The later scene where the Demon Stone dropped onto the ground and glowed red was a full-blown awakening after the partial activation. In fact, the stone had begun to get a little antsy even before they entered the crypt. How else would Angus have been blocked by the rune wall, which suddenly appeared?
The crypt was supposed to have traps to deal with a situation like this. When the demon chamber was activated and the armored wraiths could no longer handle the situation, all entries as well as exits of the entire crypt should have been blocked by huge, spell bound walls. They were supposed to suppress the demon. At the same time, the stone walls would have also prevented the wraiths from escaping and harming people. Unfortunately, the setting had already crumbled in time. All paths to the entire crypt were opened before them. Additionally, the armored wraiths were all marching towards them..
Clattering sounds could be heard.
The familiar clatter of armor was suddenly getting clearer and clearer. Under the moonlight, the first armor popped up by a collapsed pillar not far away!
Lily was ever ready. The girl with brute force lifted a huge piece of granite, about half a meter wide and more than one meter long in both hands. Her face was full of excitement. When she saw the first wraith pop up, she threw the rock at it without hesitation. "Although I don’t know why the bricks here are so big… my Pegasus Meteor attack is compatible with all cuboid ammo!" said Lily.
The granite, which weighed almost a ton created a piercing sound in the air, rumbled down and hit the first armored wraith. The hit turned it flat. No matter how strong the armored wraith was, it was impossible to stand up after that.
She did not really have to worry about the situation around the crypt and she had an inexhaustible supply of ‘bombs’ on hand. Lily, the superwoman of bricks felt like she was invincible. She deeply believed that she could smash every armored wraiths that showed up in front of her using the huge bricks littered everywhere in the castle. She got a little excited thinking about it quickly howled loudly at the moon before it vanished completely. This was her signature move. When she felt like she was invincible, she just had to howl.
While Hao Ren was startled by Lily’s sudden howling, something even more frightening was happening.
Not far behind, the rite carried out by Vivian had gone haywire. The Demon Stone was suddenly erupting an unprecedented red glow. A head-splitting voice rumbled from above.
"##￥%￥#￥@￥%#@?"
It was some kind of demonic language. They could not understand it.
At that time, Hao Ren knew that Vivian’s forever inextricable bad luck had contributed to her failed attempt…