Night Journey

Chapter 74 A Broken Fate

Countless mycelia converged into a pale sea tide, colliding head-on with the rushing figure.

"Cuckoo..."

Amidst the strange bird calls, a flaming sword suddenly appeared, sending up swirling ashes.

The man stared in disbelief at the rapidly approaching figure.

"Reverse Falcon..."

Having cultivated the city of Hel for many years, how could the Claws not know the legend of the Reverse Falcon? In fact, they had clashed with the Reverse Falcon more than once in the past.

The result was obvious: the Reverse Falcon nearly wiped them out.

The man had thought that the Falcon had ultimately failed to overcome time, that it was already old or dead, but then it reappeared before him.

In his panic, he momentarily forgot to launch an attack. By the time he came to his senses, the Reverse Falcon was already upon him.

The Boiling Sword slashed horizontally, igniting a sudden burst of flames. The power of the soul essence mercilessly crushed through, suppressing the pervasive chaotic power.

A long, narrow wound bloomed on the man's chest. Before the excruciating pain of flesh being torn apart could even begin, a burning agony had already overwhelmed all his senses.

"No...no!"

As the Claw's former number one enemy, the Claw has detailed records of the Reverse Falcon.

To this day, the Claw of Evil has not figured out which destiny path the Reverse Falcon came from, but what is certain is that the Reverse Falcon has never ignited this soul essence fire, and there is absolutely no possibility that it came from the Torch-Guiding Destiny.

“Fake!”

The man summoned the source energy within him and began his counterattack. At the same time, more footsteps came from the darkness behind him, and several source energy reactions rose up simultaneously.

"Were they found out so quickly?"

Under the six-eyed winged helmet, Cirion said nonchalantly.

"So what if they've seen through it? We'll just kill you all, and then no one will know!"

As the fireworks faded, the jet revolvers opened fire in full force.

Three Soul Essence Bullets struck the man's chest in succession. Each explosion brought with it a burst of brilliant flames, and the pervasive Soul Essence power mercilessly evaporated the Chaos Power, charring his flesh and blood into charcoal.

The man was thrown backward by the force of the explosion, and as he was reeling from the shock, Cillian swung his sword down on his head.

The boiling sword cleaved through the man's head, neck, and chest, only stopping slowly as it penetrated his abdominal cavity. After a brief delay, flames erupted from the horrific wounds, burning the severed corpse to ashes.

From the moment they engaged to the final blow, the entire process was fluid and seamless for Ciri, taking less than ten seconds.

Cillian was no longer the greenhorn who had just arrived in Hel City; he had become increasingly skilled and increasingly deadly.

"Oh? It seems Valerie wasn't lying."

Ciri stared into the deep darkness, the faint light of the source energy illuminating the figures of his wicked offspring one by one.

Several extraordinary individuals were slowly walking towards him, along with many weak believers who lacked extraordinary abilities.

Through Valerie's exclusive intelligence, Cillian learned the locations of the next few Claw gatherings, but he never expected to run into his colleague, Elton, there.

Cillian had no time to care about this unfortunate fellow; his wicked offspring were already in place, and the mycelium on the ground began to dance wildly.

Load and fire.

A streak of fire flashed through the darkness, illuminating the figures of the wicked offspring.

Like the man who had just collapsed, eerie mycelium emerged from their mouths, noses, and ears, some spreading and growing on their skin. As the source energy was triggered, the mycelium drew blood from their bodies, staining them crimson.

"Before this, I killed one of you. Unfortunately, although he was loyal to evil, he came from the throne's destiny."

Cillian said to himself, "And you lot look like the truly virtuous offspring of evil."

Of all the information he pried out of Valerie, Cillian was most interested in the information about the Evil Mother.

The Evil Mother once established a destiny path called Devouring on the Bound Source Long Staircase.

But as the noble giant god fell into evil, the three sages dismantled the corrupted Derivation Path from the Bound Source Long Staircase, letting the fragments fall into the Sea of ​​Origin.

From then on, the Destiny Path of Devouring shattered and collapsed, and the Evil Mother of Fungi also went mad, with no possibility of reshaping the Destiny Path.

In order to gain the blessing and attention of the Mother of Fungi, many of her offspring embark on that broken path of destiny, using chaotic evil magic to fill the missing steps.

Thus, this group of Chaos believers were also called wicked offspring.

"It's really unbelievable that after so many years of trying, you've actually managed to find such a path."

Cillian didn't know exactly how the Fungi Mother's offspring had done it, but the facts were right in front of him: the Devouring Path, corrupted and distorted by the power of chaos, had reappeared in the world.

The power of the wicked offspring was then fully revealed.

Rank 1 - Negative Spores.

A large number of fungi parasitize the Necrospores' bodies, using their own flesh and energy as nourishment while also providing powerful assistance to the Necrospores. When necessary, they can also be released outside the body in the form of spore mist to invade and parasitize their enemies.

"Not only can you devour flesh and blood, but steel, rocks, and even energy sources are also among your food sources."

Ciri cut open his palm and smeared his blood evenly over the Boiling Sword.

"Let's see who eats whom!"

He roared forward and drew his flaming sword!

The bellies of the wicked offspring swelled up, pouring out a dense fog of spores towards Cirion.

Within the narrow, enclosed space, the spores take root on the surface of the silian's body, grow into a sturdy capsule, and then enter the respiratory tract, contaminating the lungs.

Due to the existence of chaotic power, the evil offspring are often stronger than the superhumans at the same level.

If nothing unexpected happens, Cillian will die of organ failure in a short time, and the growing fungus will burst his body, leaving behind a mangled corpse.

An unexpected event still occurred: the wicked offspring were facing extraordinary beings who were not ordinary people.

It was Cillian.

The Torch's Destiny is not as unpredictable as the Mechanical Skeleton's Destiny, nor as resilient as the Throne's Destiny, but it was born to resist chaos, and its Soul Fire is enough to quell all evil and madness.

The temperature in the region gradually increased, and the hot air created foehn winds.

A dense series of cracking sounds filled the air. Before the pervasive spore mist could even touch Ciri, it was as if thousands of mosquitoes and flies had been roasted into ashes.

"You're the second one!"

With arrogant words, Cillian pierced the abdomen of a wicked offspring and smashed his neck with a powerful punch.

Despite a series of deadly attacks, the wicked offspring did not die. From his ruptured abdomen and twisted head, layers of mycelium grew wildly, as if he were merely a pathetic shell, and the true ruler was the parasitic fungus.

"How sad."

The jet revolver pierced the abdomen of the wicked offspring, and the expanding soul fire burned him into a fireball.

The burning remains fell backward, and the mycelium, exhausted, spread outwards, searching for the next host.

The wicked offspring and the followers of Chaos came from all directions, surrounding Cirion.

With the blessing of hatred and wrath, Cirion is confident he can kill everyone, but this will inevitably take a long time.

If this drags on, not only will it attract the attention of the city guards, but it might also attract the attention of high-level superhumans from the Claws.

That mysterious being who nearly killed Cirion with a single shot.

Cillian suddenly stopped slashing and lay down on the ground.

Some of the more rational members of the evil offspring were stunned, unable to understand why Cirion, who had just been so arrogant, had suddenly given up resisting.

Until they sensed the second source energy reaction, they all looked up at the end of the dark alley. In the pervasive darkness, a large white dog wearing goggles sat upright, its body surrounded by a faint electric current.

Cillian called out, "Is it finished printing?"

"The timing is just right!"

Two heavy machine guns, still warm from their casting, hovered beside Bruce, their crimson ammunition belts whistling past.

"Luckily, we were well prepared. We started drawing your blood a month ago, which is how we prepared so many Soul Essence Bullets."

Bruce muttered to himself, "Isn't it a bit wasteful to use up all that energy in one night?"

Despite saying that, Bruce grinned, revealing his neat, white canine teeth, and stuck out his tongue.

"It's time for some auspicious words."

As it spoke, it drove the heavy machine gun and pulled the trigger.

"Your energy efficiency is lower than that of an incandescent light bulb, and your idling power consumption exceeds the rated value by more than three times!"

The heavy machine gun spewed fire, and countless Soul Essence Bullets streaked across the narrow, dark alleyway with fiery streams.

"Your architecture is as rotten as a rusty gear, and the electromagnetic noise emitted by your logic units is louder than a scrap metal yard!"

Bruce didn't consciously make the connection; he simply uttered the unique insults of the Spirit Craftsman.

"Damn it, before I became a dog, I wasn't a person with extremely poor manners, was I?"

A dense hail of bullets pierced through both wicked offspring and chaotic believers. Before the mycelium could even stitch up the wounds, the exploding soul essence unleashed a scorching wind, repeatedly impacting and compressing within the confined environment.

In an instant, this place transformed into a hellish pressure furnace, where everyone was burning and even vaporized.

After a roar that lasted for more than ten seconds, only a few wicked offspring survived, their skin ulcerated and burned, with the spreading hyphae clumsily stitching up their wounds.

"You believe in evil, so you must have seen hellish scenes."

Amidst the swirling steam, Cillian's figure slowly emerged.

"Compared to the present, which do you find more terrifying?"

Sparks flew from Cillian's throat, and heat emanated from his nostrils.

It must be admitted that Cillian is not only a born killer, but also, inspired by Gavin, a master at implanting terror into his enemies.

Cillian likes it this way.

He enjoys seeing his enemies crumble and wail before him, enjoys seeing life reveal its fragile and vulnerable side, and enjoys seeing his enemies, who create fear, be swallowed up by fear in return.

A wicked offspring screamed and lunged at Cirion, but he severed its arm with a single sword stroke.

"I like the feel of it."

Cillian grabbed the other man by the throat.

"My fingers sank into your flesh, the soft feeling like inserting cotton, the pus and blood flowing down the back of my hand, the touch was like honey flowing over it..."

Cillian commented, having transformed fear into a tactile sensation, and patiently explained it to the other person.

"This is a novel experience; you should really try it."

He screamed helplessly, but soon the scream was completely extinguished by the tightening of his five fingers.

Cillian tore off a piece of charred flesh, and a large chunk was instantly severed from the other man's throat, causing blood to gush out and extinguish the sparks on the ground.

"What about people?"

Cillian wiped the blood from his palms and then realized that the few remaining wicked offspring had disappeared.

The sound of running gradually faded into the distance.

The fear of death shattered their faith in evil, and the evil offspring fled insanely toward the outside world, only to be met with gunshots.

The bullets sliced ​​through the scorching heat, precisely shattering one skull after another.

Cillian deliberately toyed with them, prioritizing the shooting of the wicked offspring closest to him.

"Yes, that's it. At first, there are many people running with you, which makes you feel that you are not alone and that there is still a chance of survival..."

Gunfire continued, and several more figures fell, their heads blown off, leaving them headless corpses.

"But as familiar figures fall one by one, you feel a brief sadness for the deaths of your colleagues, and a sense of relief that you are still alive and running."

Cillian's voice, neither loud nor soft, echoed repeatedly in the narrow underground space, reaching their ears.

"But soon you realize that the sound of them falling is the footsteps of death... It's your turn, maybe next, maybe the one after that."

Cillian emptied the jet revolver, removed the empty cartridge cases, and then filled it with large-caliber metal bullets.

"So you run faster, trying to overtake the people around you, overtake everyone, and get to the front, even if it's just to live a few more seconds, it's a blessing for you."

Cillian stopped and began to aim.

In the chaotic vision, a wicked offspring strode wildly, overtaking those around him and taking the lead.

"Oh, you did it! First place!"

As he spoke, Cillian pulled the trigger.

The metal bullet pierced through the sparks and heat, cut through the water vapor along the way, passed over one figure after another, and finally pierced the wicked offspring running in the lead.

With a twisted sense of humor, Cillian aimed for his waist and abdomen. The shot failed to kill him immediately, giving him several seconds to live.

He could even guess that the first-place winner would turn around and look at him, his face filled with disbelief and anger.

Desperate gunshots rang out one after another until everything fell silent, leaving only the sound of burning flames.

Cillian stepped forward and examined each corpse one by one, even those with shattered heads, he would still stab them in the heart.

Just as he was finishing up the aftermath, a series of bubbles rose from the underground river.

Ciri looked at the surging water and smiled.

"Oh? I only held a running race, I didn't say there would be a swimming race."

Ciri jumped into the water.

In his clouded vision, all Ciri could see were dead people and fear.

Some desperately lunged at Cillian, only to be met with a dagger aimed at their throats; others swam away, only to have their ankles impaled by the grappling hooks shot by Cillian and dragged back to the riverbed.

Blood stained the water's surface, and one after another, dismembered corpses floated to the surface.

The heavy machine guns spat out all their Soul Essence bullets, their muzzles glowing red-hot and melting. Without the support of Bruce's energy, they disintegrated one by one, turning into iron slag and dust.

Bruce waited until the temperature dropped a bit before slowly walking inside.

"As expected, we still need large caliber and high firepower."

Bruce glanced at the corpses scattered on the ground. Even though they possessed the power of chaos, they were still reduced to charred bodies by the soul essence bullets that charged at any cost.

Corpses were piled on the ground, stuck together, emitting white smoke and a stench of decay.

With a splash, Ciri surfaced, but his eyes remained fixed on the water below.
Bruce asked, "What's wrong?"

Cillian retrieved the grappling hook and pulled a mutilated corpse from underwater.

"I think I know what those wicked creatures are plotting."

(End of this chapter)