America: The Cremator

Chapter 104 The Demon Reveals His True Form!

Su Long took a deep breath as he looked at the two lines of text: "[Peak of Fist Technique]" and "[Lucas's Contract]".

There were only six effects given in total, but I didn't expect to get all of them in this battle.

He looked up at the ghost nun in front of him, who was twisting and trying to regain her balance, surrounded by countless black mists that were rapidly healing her injuries.

Just as he was about to step forward to continue his attack, the ghost nun suddenly let out a low moan, completely different from all her previous roars.

The voice was sharp and mournful, like the last threat of a wild beast cornered in a desperate situation.

The next moment, her claws reached towards her chest, the sharp nails digging straight into her flesh, tearing a huge hole.

Thick, black sludge reeking of decay gushed from the cavity, like accumulated filth being expelled from a long-unclogged water pipe under high pressure.

In just a few seconds, the gushing black mud completely swallowed the ghost nun's feet, spreading in all directions and submerging the church floor. The stone slabs underfoot emitted a teeth-grinding corrosive sound as the black mud eroded them.

The next moment, the surface of the mud churned violently, and countless black spikes shot out from it, bursting out in all directions like a torrential rain, covering most of the interior of the church.

Su Long instinctively raised his arms, crossed his hands to protect his face, and turned his body to the side to reduce the area exposed to the projectiles, while preparing to be hit by a large number of spikes at the same time.

But the pain did not come.

He heard two gusts of wind whistling past his ears, followed by a series of impacts.

Su Long lowered his arm and looked around.

Not a single black mud spike hit him, or rather, all of them perfectly avoided him.

Spikes were densely packed into the ground and stone wall behind him, with the most concentrated areas leaving almost no room to step.

The ghost nun swayed in the black mud, her scarlet eyes trembling violently as she looked around, but could not focus on him.

Su Long couldn't help but laugh. It turned out that she was affected by dizziness and couldn't even find her way. How could she possibly lock onto her direction?

The ghost nun, realizing she had missed, roared angrily. The mud beneath her feet churned, and she fired three more, thicker and faster spikes, but they all missed their mark and embedded themselves in the wall behind Su Long.

Sulong pulled out the Sirius, ejected the spent cartridges, loaded six pure silver Magnum rounds one by one, held the muzzle level, aimed at the ghost nun, and calmly pulled the trigger.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The moment the gunshot rang out, the ghost nun instinctively raised her hands to block most of the bullets from her face, but two still managed to get through her fingers and blast two deep craters into her skull.

Golden flames rose from his palm, flowing into the chamber through the gaps and condensing into a blazing golden bullet.

The moment the trigger was pulled, the flame bullet shot out of the chamber, leaving a brief streak of light in the air before piercing straight into the nun's chest.

The next second, a fireball with a radius of two meters exploded from the nun's chest, instantly vaporizing all the churning black mud around her. The scattered flames ignited the black mud that had fallen to the ground, and the sizzling and burning sounds echoed throughout the church.

After the smoke and dust from the explosion dissipated, the ghost nun's hands had disappeared. Her two withered arms had been blown off at the wrists, and the edges of the wounds were scorched black, with not even a trace of black mist able to condense.

When she looked at Su Long, she was horrified to find him rushing toward her at high speed.

The ghost nun let out her most mournful roar yet, and a large amount of black mud rapidly gathered on her body, completely enveloping her torso in a thick mud cocoon.

Su Long did not slow down, and used the momentum to throw a heavy punch, which hit the center of the mud cocoon.

The protective layer of mud clinging to her body softened instantly, and Su Long's entire fist sank into the mud shell, stopping at a depth of half a palm's width, blocked by the thick black mud, but without rebounding.

But Su Long could sense that, with the aid of the [Armor Break] effect, the force of the punch had already penetrated through.

He didn't stop, and threw three more punches in succession, each punch hitting the same spot, pushing the primordial fire deeper and deeper little by little.

The moment the fourth punch was thrown, the brass knuckles struck something hard inside the mud shell.

The primordial fire, under extreme pressure, once again went out of control and exploded.

boom--

The ground trembled violently, and the thick layer of black mud burst open from the inside, sending fragments flying everywhere, along with a large amount of boiling black water.

Smoke and black fog billowed up, then slowly dissipated.

Su Long stared at the figure in the center, his pupils shrinking slightly.

After the black mud shell shattered, what was revealed inside was no longer the ghost nun.

The ancient black nun's robe, the pale, faceless face, the mouth sewn shut with thick hemp rope—all had vanished.

All that remained was a human-shaped outline formed entirely of black mud, without facial features, clothing, or any anthropomorphic details.

This guy condenses mud pupae not only for defense, but also for—transformation?

Su Long immediately activated his spiritual vision and discovered that a small... finally emerged from the chest of the black mud figure.

The red diamond-shaped frame.

Seeing the red box indicating weakness, Su Long immediately realized that what he had attacked earlier was merely a shell, and this black mud humanoid was the strange true form.

Out of caution, Su Long immediately retreated a few steps to create distance, then pulled out Sirius, aimed the gun at the red box, and pulled the trigger repeatedly.

boom!boom!boom!boom!

Four bullets were precisely fired at the red rhombus-shaped frame, but were blocked by the thick layer of black mud defense. The kinetic energy was completely dissipated, and not even a slight fluctuation entered the interior.

Just then, a system notification popped up.

[All entries have expired]

The feeling of fullness that had been added to my body gradually faded, and the tension in my muscles lessened.

Su Long frowned. Now, the melee route relying on armor-piercing effects was also no longer viable.

He looked around, searching for a way to interrupt the creature's incubation process.

Inside the dilapidated church, cracks crawled all over the stone pillars, and most of the stained glass windows were broken.

A massive solid wooden beam spans the top of the church, hanging directly above the black mud figure. The supporting structures on both sides have developed large, clearly visible cracks due to the shocks from multiple explosions.

Su Long took a few steps back and walked to a position near the gate.

The black mud figure did not move; it simply stood there quietly.

Su Long emptied the remaining two bullets from the magazine, and the black mud figure instinctively raised its arms to protect its vulnerable chest.

Seeing the figure raise his hand, Su Long raised his gun accordingly, aiming at the deep crack where the left side of the beam met the stone pillar.

The fireball pierced deep into the crevice and then exploded with a deafening roar.

Boom—

The beam suddenly broke off from the left side, and the supporting structure on the other side broke under the pull of gravity. The entire 40-meter-long and 3-meter-thick solid wood beam, carrying a large amount of rubble, crashed straight into the center of the church.

The black mud figure had no time to dodge, or rather, it was unable to move while in its incomplete incubation state.

At the very center of the beam, where it stood, the falling rubble buried the entire central area in a state of chaos.

Without turning his head, Su Long ran swiftly toward the gate, one step, two steps, ten steps.

Behind me, the church's riddled dome emitted a tearing roar that lasted for several seconds. Then, the remaining stone arches and beams collapsed one after another, layer after layer, as if the entire building was being pressed down by an invisible hand, and crashed down.

The rising dust and gravel spread through the dark night, obscuring the little light that remained.

"Suron!"

He heard hurried footsteps behind him and turned around to see Hannah and Dania rushing towards him from behind the church.

The two rushed to Su Long's side, and Dania exclaimed with delight, "Su, it really is you! We heard several explosions over here and rushed over to check, and it was definitely you who made the noise!"

Surong didn't respond immediately. He glanced at the two women to make sure there were no obvious wounds before asking, "Where's Elena? Haven't you seen her?"

Hannah shook her head, looking somewhat nervous: "When we were teleported in, Captain Elena wasn't with us. We searched for her along the way, but we couldn't find her."

Dania turned to look at the ruins, but didn't see the Strange One or Lucas, and couldn't help but wonder, "Where's the Strange One? And Lucas?"

Surong paused for a moment, looked at the church entrance that had been buried by collapsed bricks, and slowly said, "That damned monster turned his daughter into a doll. Lucas went crazy the moment he saw it, chased after it all the way here, and finally collapsed outside the door."

Upon hearing this news, both of them frowned.

Su Long continued, "As for that strange creature, it had been fighting us in a disguised form. Just now, I destroyed that outer shell, which allowed it to reveal its true form."

"It's currently trapped under that pile of rubble, and it's still uncertain whether it's dead or alive."

Upon hearing this word, Hannah's expression changed drastically, and she said thoughtfully, "Being able to maintain a human form for so long and completely hide one's weaknesses—this behavioral characteristic and ability is very similar to the devil described in the Bible."

"Demon-like monsters are born with the ability to disguise themselves. They use this disguise to cover up their weaknesses and avoid the risk of mortals recognizing their true names."

Su Long looked at her: "Real name? What's the use?"

Hannah explained, "Demon-like monsters all have a true name, which is the anchor of their existence. Once the exorcist recognizes their true name, they will be at a disadvantage in battle. Most of the exorcism rituals in the Bible that deal with demons rely on this."

Just as Su Long was about to speak, a low rumble came from the ruins, like extremely heavy stones squeezing and shifting against each other.

He looked back and saw the remaining broken wall tremble, large pieces of rubble rolled outwards, and dust surged up again from the center of the ruins.

Immediately afterwards, a figure that was at least three meters tall stood up from the ruins.

The figure had two curved horns on its head and a pair of leather bat wings spread out behind it, almost touching the edges of the broken walls on both sides. The surface was covered with dense bone patterns with jagged edges.

Her entire body was covered with a layer of dark red skin tissue, rough in texture, with raised stripes on the surface, as if it were something growing from within.

Upon seeing this figure, Hannah gasped and exclaimed, "It truly is a devil!"

The demon slowly raised its lowered head and turned towards the direction where Su Long was. Its vertical pupils shone with a deep red light, and its two slender pupils completely captured Su Long's outline.

Dania took a half step back, raised her hand and pulled the chainsaw starter rope, the ear-piercing sound of the chainsaw tearing open the night sky outside the ruins.

She held the chainsaw to her chest, her eyes fixed on the tall silhouette, and said, "Su, be careful. This guy has shed that outer shell, and his presence is much stronger than before."

The next instant, the demon spread its wings, obscuring a large portion of the night sky above, and its membranes vibrated with a dull thud as they stretched.

It swooped down at great speed, and the shockwave created a shallow trench in the ground.

The target is Sulong!