DEMON SUMMONER: DESCENDANT OF THE CELESTIAL SOVEREIGN

Chapter 12: Tactics to Conquer the Chasm of Death

The night wind blew fiercely, carrying the smell of ammonia and rotting flesh from the bottom of the overpass ravine.

Eka crawled slowly at the edge of the broken asphalt. He pressed his stomach against the cold ground. A stinging pain flared in his left chest again. The dark purple bruise caused by Sabeni's forced energy circulation had been temporarily treated by Old Man Thomas. However, the blood vessels beneath his skin still felt like they were being pricked by thousands of tiny needles every time he took a deep breath.

His eyes glared sharply at the bottom of the ravine, about twenty meters below.

The sight down there was absolutely disgusting. Thick, dark green slime covered the concrete support rubble and car wrecks. Hundreds of fleshy lumps pulsed slowly in the middle of a muddy pool of blood. Those were demon eggs.

Dozens of D-Rank Demons resembling skinless forest hounds patrolled around the nest. Their claws scratched the asphalt, creating a screeching sound that set teeth on edge.

However, Eka's focus was not on the dozens of D-Rank Demons. His gaze was locked on the center of the nest.

Five demons lay snoring on top of a pile of rotting human corpses. Their forms were half-wolf, but their anatomical structure was designed to walk on two legs. The entire surface of their bodies was coated in dull white bone armor growing directly out of their flesh. The pure Qi pressure radiating from their breaths proved they were at the C-Rank level.

"They look incredibly tough." Siti's voice trembled beside Eka. The woman crawled closer. Her face was deathly pale looking at the size of the five bone wolves.

Aris crawled up on Eka's other side. The man was still clutching his chest, which was wrapped in a thick layer of ice created by Siti. The bleeding from the centipede-wolf Demon General's strike had started to stop, but Aris still struggled to take a deep breath. Despite his injuries, Aris's expression still carried the signature arrogance of a B-Rank Hunter.

"Just five C-Rank Demons and dozens of wild dogs," Aris whispered dismissively. The man twisted his sword hilt. "Move aside, Eka. I will burn this entire rotten nest in one large-scale fire attack. We don't need to waste time."

Eka turned his head, glaring at Aris with eyes as cold as ice.

"Do that, and we all die before sunrise," Eka replied flatly.

Aris furrowed his brow. "What do you mean? I am a B-Rank. My fire elemental Qi can melt their bone armor in a single breath."

"Use your brain, Aris." Eka pointed toward the darkness surrounding the ravine. "If you unleash a large-scale fire explosion in this open area, your light and heatwave will become a flare. Thousands of demons roaming within a ten-kilometer radius will swarm here like flies seeing a carcass."

Siti swallowed hard. She touched Aris's arm, gesturing for her lover to hold back his ego.

"You might be able to survive with your sword," Eka continued, his words piercing mercilessly. "But the hundreds of humans behind us will be torn apart before they can run ten meters. A one-level gap is absolute in this world. I am only a D-Rank Hunter. If those five wolves attack the refugee line simultaneously, I won't be able to hold them off without sacrificing half of our numbers."

Aris ground his teeth hard. He wanted to argue, but the facts presented by the young man beside him were highly logical. Aris could not risk the lives of Siti and the other civilians just to prove a point.

"Then what is your plan?" Aris asked sharply. He lowered his sword.

Eka edged backward from the edge of the cliff. He called Eko, Dimas, and Bara closer. The three men hurried over with tense faces.

"Listen carefully," Eka said in a low, highly authoritative tone. He looked at Eko and Dimas in turn. "You two are E-Rank Hunters. Your job is not to fight. Lead all the refugees along the west cliff edge. There is an old underground water pipe route there. The path is narrow and dark. No one turns on a flashlight. No one speaks. Move exactly when we start causing chaos in this nest."

Eko and Dimas nodded in unison. Both immediately jogged toward the crowd of refugees to spread the instructions.

Eka then turned to the giant young man in front of him.

"Bara."

Bara swallowed hard. His large hands tightly gripped the iron mace wrapped in rusty chains. The young man's arm muscles tensed. "Rest assured, Brother Eka. I am ready."

"You go down first," Eka ordered. His eyes stared deeply into Bara's pupils, ensuring the young man hadn't lost his nerve. "Your job is to lure all the D-Rank Demons away from the center of the nest. Smash your mace into the concrete rubble. Make as much noise as possible from the east. Be a meat shield. Do not try to kill them too quickly. Focus on surviving and luring them, so the weakest demons' attention is locked onto you."

Bara took a deep breath. His face was pale, but the resolve he had just learned from Eka burned away his fear.

"I understand. I won't let a single dog out of my sight," Bara answered firmly.

Eka turned to the B-Rank Hunter couple beside him.

"Aris, Siti. As soon as those dozens of wild dogs chase Bara, you two jump straight into the center of the nest. Face those five bone wolves."

Aris nodded slowly. He began to focus his internal energy into his sword blade.

"Remember my rules, Aris," Eka issued a stern warning. "Do not use your fire element to create explosions. Condense your fire Qi only on the blade of your sword. Siti, condense your cold air only to freeze their armor joints. Kill those five demons in silence. This fight must be over before demon blood lures other packs."

"What about you?" Siti asked hesitantly.

Eka drew the God-Slaying Sword from its scabbard. The scrape of old iron sounded very quiet. Eka's right hand, which had just grown tough skin tissue from the Spirit Rune's effect, gripped the hilt very solidly.

"I will move in your shadows," Eka answered. His tone turned incredibly deadly. "I will make sure no other demon manages to bite your backs, or Bara's back."

Several hours later.

The night sky had turned pitch black. Volcanic ash clouds completely blocked the moonlight. The atmosphere around the overpass ravine felt bone-chilling. The stench of rotten blood from the demon nest stung the nose.

On the east edge of the ravine, Bara stood holding his breath. He glanced across, seeing the silhouettes of hundreds of refugees beginning to crawl slowly along the old water pipe.

Bara gripped his iron mace. He jumped down from the five-meter height.

His massive body hit the muddy ground with a loud thud. Dozens of patrolling D-Rank Demons simultaneously turned their heads toward him. The glowing red eyes of the demon pack locked onto the thickly muscled prey in front of them.

"HEY YOU DAMN DEMONS. COME HERE. I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU." Bara shouted loudly while swinging his iron mace, smashing the rusty spikes right into a concrete support pillar.

BOOM.

The sound of Bara's shout and the clash of metal against shattering concrete echoed through the night. Dozens of skinless dogs howled savagely. They charged in unison like a flood, rushing toward Bara from all sides.

Bara lowered his stance. He swung his mace, blocking the first two demons that leaped to tear his throat. Bara's body was pushed back, but the D-Rank Hunter held his ground like a steel wall.

In the center of the nest, the five bone-armored wolves were awakened by the commotion. They stood up on two legs. Their sharp fangs dripped venomous saliva.

Just as the first wolf was about to howl to call the rest of the pack, two shadows dropped like meteors from the top of the ravine.

Aris landed right in front of the first wolf. His sword emitted a very dim red glow, but the temperature around it spiked drastically. He slashed the demon's neck at full speed. The demon's bone armor creaked loudly. The condensed fire elemental Qi on Aris's blade melted the demon's hard calcium shield. The first wolf's head was severed before its howl could leave its throat.

Siti slid in on Aris's right side. Her palms touched the asphalt. Ice elemental Qi spread instantly, freezing the ankles of two other bone wolves solidly to the ground. The creatures struggled, crushing the ice binding their legs, but Aris had already dashed forward, cutting the second demon's chest with a brutal diagonal slash.

Black blood sprayed, drenching the concrete rubble.

In the darker areas, Eka moved like a ghost.

His D-Rank physical speed wasn't particularly extraordinary, but his killer instinct was flawless. A wild dog demon managed to slip past Bara's sight and tried to pounce on Aris's back while the man was focused on the C-Rank demons.

Eka emerged from behind a rusted car wreck. He did not swing the God-Slaying Sword wildly. The weight of the sword would drain his stamina. Eka thrust the tip of the blade precisely into the dog demon's neck joint while the creature was mid-air.

The slash was incredibly clean. Not a single roar escaped. The demon fell to the ground with a severed spine. A small Spirit Rune crystal shot into Eka's chest, providing a warm sensation that eased the stinging pain around his lungs.

Eka did not stop. He pulled out his sword, rolled to the side, and sliced the hind legs of another demon trying to flank Bara.

The battle proceeded exactly according to Eka's design. His strategy worked efficiently. Aris and Siti, as B-Rank Hunters, successfully suppressed the C-Rank demons as long as they fought with focus and without interference from the D-Rank demons. Bara executed his role as a shield exceptionally well. His iron mace kept swinging, breaking the ribs of dozens of demon dogs without killing them instantly.

In less than ten minutes, piles of demon corpses began to form small mounds around them.

Aris took a deep breath. Sweat drenched his face. He had just kicked the chest of the fourth bone wolf, then decapitated it with a blistering hot fire slash.

Four C-Rank Demons had fallen. Only one bone-armored wolf demon remained.

The last demon was cornered near its pile of crushed eggs. Its right leg had been severed by Aris. Black blood poured heavily from the creature's thigh. Aris raised his sword, walking slowly toward the demon to deliver the finishing strike. Siti lowered her ice defense, panting heavily after draining half of her Qi capacity.

However, the laws of the apocalyptic nature always held surprises for those who felt they had the upper hand.

The dying wolf demon did not try to attack Aris. Instead, the creature twisted its limping body and leaped toward the pile of its own pack's corpses.

The demon sank its long fangs right into the neck of a nearby dead bone wolf. It sucked its comrade's black blood ravenously. A disgusting gulping sound echoed in the silence.

"What is it doing?" Siti whispered with a trembling voice. Her eyes widened.

Aris realized something was wrong. He immediately condensed fire Qi into his sword and dashed forward. "Die, you bastard monster."

Just as Aris's sword was about to cleave the demon's back, a dark purple spiritual energy explosion swept through the air.

A highly powerful shockwave blew Aris back several steps. The dull white bone armor on the wolf's body exploded from the inside. The creature's muscles bulged to a grotesque size, tearing its own skin. New bone spikes grew out, piercing through the flesh on its back. They were dark red, coated in its own blood. The creature's eyes now burned with a deep, deadly purple glow.

The demon had mutated by consuming the essence of its own pack.

The creature's roar no longer sounded like a wolf, but more like grinding metal being crushed in a mill. A brutal, pure Qi pressure seeped from the creature's body, surpassing normal C-Rank limits.

Siti collapsed to the ground. Terror gripped her heart. Aris froze in place, staring at the mutant creature with trembling hands.

The purple-eyed creature ignored both Aris and Siti. It turned its head to the east. Its new instincts detected a massive pool of fresh blood from dozens of injured demon dogs.

Without warning, the mutant demon defied gravity. It leaped dozens of meters with insane speed. The red spikes on its back sliced through the air. Its target was crystal clear.

The demon aimed for Bara's back, who was facing away from the nest center. Bara was completely oblivious to the mutated giant demon diving down right above his head.