This heretic cannot be burned, he must be hung up and whipped!

There was a loud bang, and Sherlock felt the temperature of the room plummet, a chill piercing his bones. He closed his eyes in fear, convinced he was about to be struck to death by Neos and forced to return to Hell to face his creditors. He waited a few seconds, only to find he seemed fine.

When he forced his swollen eyelids open, he discovered with horror that a rift had opened in the space behind him. From that rift, frost, mixed with wind and snow, poured out in a continuous stream, the temperature so low that it made him shudder. Deep within the rift lay a swirling chaotic nebula, where purple, red, and black energies collided and entangled in a dizzying vortex. This was the Warp, the home of demons and the source of nightmares.

Of course, none of this matters to him. Meeting an old friend in a foreign land is not always a good thing. After all, you might meet a creditor.

Neos's voice rang in his ears, like a death knell: "Across the way is the Warp, the home of the demons. Now go and shout. I don't care what words or methods you use, in short, you have to summon at least thirteen demons for me, otherwise-"

He struck the greatsword that was burning with blue and white flames, and the flames danced with his movements, making crackling sounds.

Sherlock nodded quickly: "Yes-yes! I will definitely do it for you!"

He turned toward the rift, took a deep breath, and prepared to call upon the demons he had once made a deal with. At this moment, his eyes were filled with a complex mix of emotions: fear, cunning, greed, and... anticipation?

----------

Sherlock seemed very familiar with the Warp, having come here several times in the past to communicate with demons. He walked to the entrance of the rift with ease, just like he was at home!

He bent down, picked up a rusty piece of iron from the ground, and began to carve blasphemous symbols into his skin.

Blood oozed from the carvings, forming complex and sinister patterns. As Sherlock finished carving the last symbol, Neos's psychic perception captured a strange phenomenon: Sherlock's soul in the ether sea began to flicker at a specific frequency, emitting a blood-red light, like a lighthouse sending a signal in the darkness.

"Come, my dear friends!" Shylock shouted towards the rift, his voice filled with strange enthusiasm. "I have another business to do. I need to borrow something. I will pay you back three times after the deal is done! This is a big deal, a big deal!"

Soon, several bizarre demons emerged from the roiling chaos of the Warp. Some had extra eyes, some had twisted bodies, and others were covered in scales and tentacles. These demons swam towards Sherlock, carefully examining his soul, and then sniffed it.

After a few seconds, the demons left in disappointment, as if they had seen something disgusting.

"?" Neos raised his eyebrows.

"This effect is better than the Soulless One."

Sherlock coughed awkwardly, a trace of embarrassment on his face: "Uh... I owe a lot, and there are also a lot of curses and contracts in my soul... Please give me some more time!"

He changed his words, his voice rising: "Listen! I have raised funds and I am going to start paying off my debts! All creditors, come to see me immediately! This is your last chance!"

The warp remained calm, seemingly unnoticed. Only a few small demons poked their heads out curiously, only to quickly disappear into the vortex of chaos.

Just as Neos sighed, ready to pay Sherlock a small price to summon the demon, a sudden and turbulent wave erupted in the warp! Purple and red energy surged through the rifts, like a storm approaching.

Even in the real world, Neos could sense something rushing towards him from the depths of the ethereal sea. The demonic stench of the Warp—a mixture of sulfur, rotting flesh, and some indescribable otherworldly aura—repelled Neos.

"How much debt do you owe to the devil?"

Shylock's fear of Neos seemed to fade somewhat, as if he had suddenly found a trump card. He shrugged, a strange sense of pride in his tone: "Lending and lending are as common to us as eating and drinking water—do you count how many loaves you've eaten?"

"boom--!"

The surging power of the Warp constantly washed away the protective spells Neos had placed around the rift, and the blue lines flickered under the impact. Thousands of demons formed waves and swept towards them. Their forms varied, some resembled twisted humanoids, while others were completely beyond human imagination.

"Swindler! Give me back my money!!" "Swindler!!"

The roars of the demons intertwined, and vicious curses and voices urging Sherlock to pay back the money continued to emanate from the cracks. In just a few seconds, the previously calm shallow layer of the Warp was filled with smoke and fog by the swarming demons from the depths, and the stench of the Warp was everywhere!

Seeing this, Father Amos gave everyone in the room a pointed iron hat just in case, and also gave each person an eagle emblem with a cross on it. These simple protective measures seemed insignificant when facing so many demons, but at least they gave them a little psychological comfort.

"Give me back the money!" A demon with three eyes and purple skin roared and rushed forward, but was stopped by other demons who were waiting.

"How much does he owe you?" asked a demon with a goat's head.

"Three thousand royal court coins!" the demon roared angrily, and the saliva in his mouth almost soaked Sherlock like a drowned rat.

"Only three thousand?" The goat-headed demon laughed. "Here—go get in line. The queue here is between ten thousand and a hundred thousand strong." It waved its hooves and drove the demon to the back of the queue.

The demons began to line up according to the amount of their debts, a scene that was both absurd and terrifying. Some demons claimed that Sherlock owed them hundreds of thousands of Royal Court coins!

As the demons lined up, Sherlock suddenly made a move that no one expected. He jumped into the demon pile and shouted, "You want my wealth? I've hidden all my wealth behind that crack all these years! Whoever gets there first gets it. If you're late, you won't get it!!!"

After saying that, Sherlock sneered and looked towards the rift in the present world, his eyes gleaming with victory. "No matter how strong you are, can you withstand the joint attack of tens of thousands of demons?! What a joke!"

Sherlock couldn't help but curl his swollen lips as he watched the demons swarming forward, completely blocking the rift leading to the real world. It seemed to him like a perfect plan: let the demons burst into the real world while he escaped, and at the same time, let that self-righteous Neos experience the feeling of being attacked by a horde of demons.

However, just as he was feeling complacent, several demons that he had tricked stood firm and did not move. Instead of rushing towards the rift like the other demons, they rushed towards Sherlock.

"Still laughing? You despicable, treacherous liar, don't even think about escaping this time!" A demon with bat wings roared angrily, its claws already grabbing Sherlock's collar.

Sherlock's smile froze on his face.

--------------

The demons screamed, pushing towards the rift in reality they longed for. For these creatures trapped in the Warp, the rift to the material world was like an oasis in the desert, full of temptation. They dreamed of escaping reality from here, harvesting and absorbing the souls of life, feeling the physicality of the material world, and escaping the eternal chaos and uncertainty of the Warp.

After the first group of demons squeezed into the rift, it suddenly closed, like an elevator full of people, no longer allowing the remaining demons to pass through. The demons left outside howled in despair.

"Haha!! Delicious soul—here I come!!" Several demons burst out from the crack with wild laughter. However, they soon found themselves in a strange room instead of a city or village full of humans.

The room was windowless, its light dimmed by a few small overhead bulbs, illuminating the gray concrete walls and floor. Shallow grooves ran down the floor, likely for drainage. The room's exit was blocked by a heavy iron door with no handle, only a small observation window.

"Where are we?"

"It looks like some kind of prison cell," "That damn Sherlock, he's tricked us again!"

The demons talked to each other, and some tried to use spells to destroy the iron gates and walls, but they all found that they seemed unable to contact the warp. Their spells were weak and ineffective, as if they had been cut off from the power source.

"Hiss—" A sudden sound of gas being released could be heard overhead, and several vents began spewing out colorless gas. Several demons began coughing violently, clutching their chests and rolling on the ground. Their skin began to blister, and their eyes turned bloodshot.

"Ahem—ahem!" "Where—what is this place?"

A pink demon screamed and tried to dig into the wall with its claws, but there seemed to be some kind of runes engraved on the wall, and every time it touched the wall, it felt a sharp pain.

When the last demon fell to the ground, it vaguely heard the sound of an iron door opening and a conversation about "Sarin is not very effective", and then fell into a coma.

Outside the iron gate, Neos stood among a group of fully armed chemical defense soldiers.

"Move them out here," Neos ordered. "Be careful not to let them touch your skin."

The chemical defense soldiers sprang into action, using specialized restraints to drag the unconscious demons out of the room one by one. Neos personally led these heavily armed soldiers to tie up the demons lying on the ground, carefully casting spells on them to isolate them from Hell. Blue runes flowed from his fingertips, wrapping around each demon, forming an invisible cage.

These demons were transported to heavily guarded cells and held separately. Each cell had a magic circle drawn with Neos' blood, which could suppress the demon's power. These demons would serve as test subjects for the next experiment, providing valuable intelligence for humanity's fight against the threat of the warp.

After this was done, Neos opened the rift again and repeated the process, luring wave after wave of daemons into the trap, captured or executed, until no more daemons of the Warp emerged from the rift.

"Very good, since you won't come to me, then I will come to you."

Neos walked into the crack with a sword in hand, blue-white flames dancing on the sword.

Sherlock, now guarded by demons in the Warp, grew increasingly panicked. Initially, when countless demons surrounded the rift, he felt confident that Neos would be overwhelmed by the demonic tide. But as time passed, the number of demons surrounding dwindled, and none of the demons that had entered emerged. He began to panic.

"What's going on? Why don't they come back?" Sherlock muttered to himself, cold sweat sliding down his swollen cheeks.

"Clap!"

Suddenly, the demons guarding him turned into fragments silently! Their bodies shattered like glass and then dissipated in the wind of the warp.

"Who—who's there?!" Sherlock demanded in horror, his voice trembling and his eyes darting around wildly.

The Warp behind him rippled, and a demon wearing the same armor as the Death Commandos appeared behind him. This demon's armor was covered with skulls and bones, and red eyes flashed under its helmet.

"I, the demon representing anger and murder - Berti, am here to help you out." The demon's voice was low and hoarse, with a strange metallic texture.

"Help me?" Sherlock asked cautiously, his merchant instincts still active even in this situation. "So, what's the price? What do I have to pay?"

As expected of a profiteer who had cheated and deceived tens of thousands of demons, even at the critical moment of life and death, he still instinctively considered the terms of the transaction.

"No, there's no price," Berti replied, with a hint of gloating in his voice. "I just have some problems with Mammon, and I'm happy to give him some trouble."

The demon of wrath and murder, Berti, had a terrible relationship with Mammon. Even though they were allies of the Seven-Headed Serpent's Court, Berti, as the guardian of the Death Commandos, strictly forbade any Death Commandos from joining Mammon's legions. Such hostile relations were not uncommon in the politics of the Seven Rings of Hell.

Berti was still thinking about messing with Mammon for fun, but he didn't realize Sherlock was no pushover. Sherlock vaguely suspected that Neos's power far exceeded his imagination. With so many demons missing, he wondered if Neos would come after him soon! He immediately began to plot against Berti.

He said flatteringly, "Respected Lord Berti, I have actually prepared many fresh sacrifices outside that rift. Many of my creditors have just gone to snatch them. You might as well take those delicious sacrifices for yourself. This will make Mammon even more angry..."

Berti thought about it and felt that it was right. He moved towards the crack and said, "Hmph, don't think I don't know what you're planning. You definitely want me to kill your creditor, right? But I'm in a good mood today, so it's okay to help you."

Sherlock blinked, hesitated for a moment, and said, "...Maybe...it will be a little more dangerous?" There was a hint of uncertainty in his voice, but his eyes were fixed on Berti's movements.

Seeing that Berti was about to step into the rift, Sherlock shouted decisively: "I suggest you don't go in, there is someone outside the door - I have something to do, so I'll leave first! See you later!!!" As he spoke, he fled towards the depths of the Arkono space, hoping to find a hiding place in the chaos.

Berti found it somewhat amusing. A mortal with a soul cursed by Mammon actually wanted to escape in the Warp? What was he thinking? What kind of creditor could scare him so much?

It said: "What a joke, outside the door is clearly——"

"What is it?" A large sword burning with blue and white flames was placed on Belle's shoulder.

Berti froze in place, feeling an unprecedented threat, a fear that emanated from the depths of his soul. He slowly turned his head and saw a pair of eyes as deep as the starry sky. Those were Neos's eyes.

"Cursed One!!!"

PS: 260 votes, next update 4.5k... (refresh in five minutes, add some pictures)

"Letting the Ancient God's followers run the Girls' Dungeon? Really?"

When Mu Qiu realized that the family business he inherited was the Dark Dungeon, he was heartbroken.

Robbers are lurking around, monsters are running rampant, but when I look back, I see that my town is still filled with a bunch of medieval people who urinate and defecate anywhere.

How do you fight this? This is impossible.

You say I have the blood of an ancient god flowing through my body, and as long as I develop enough, I can punch the farm star monster and kick the courtyard countess? That won't work either. Facing the continuous explosive pressure and red hook probability theory, even an ancient god would be furious and have a brain hemorrhage.

...What is a beautification mod that turns heroes into beautiful girls?

Hamlet's new lord Mu Qiu has just delivered an important speech: It is our responsibility to revive Hamlet.

So...

Many years later, looking at the town of Hamlet, which has become Stardew Valley, and the girls quarreling in the Hero Barracks, Mu Qiujun will remember that distant afternoon when the carriage fell off the old road.

Red Tide: 1921: Oh no, something terrible has happened, kids.

As the title says, I have had very little time to update my writing these days. In addition to attending classes during the day, I also have to prepare for the IELTS. In the afternoons these days, I have to spend a few hours working on the machine learning files in the competition. Bei Zhai is the data slave in the competition team, responsible for processing and integrating the CSV files used for machine learning.

In addition, I have to review the three major calculations in mathematics for the postgraduate entrance examination every day. I get back to the dormitory at almost ten o'clock every day. I can only type at this hellish time and then go to the 8am class the next day.

The sad thing today is that I didn’t get up. I set the alarm for 7:15, but I was too sleepy and pressed the alarm thinking I could sleep for another 10 minutes. But when I opened my eyes, it was already 8:30…

I'm so sleepy. Now that things have come to this, I'll go back to sleep.

Red Tide: 1921: Chapter 52: Burning 1000 Demonic Torches Every Day

"Correct answer, but no reward."

Before he finished speaking, a ball of blue-white flame surged out like a tide, completely blocking the subspace around Belle.

Before Berti could respond, a flicker of fear flashed across his crimson eyes. As a high-ranking demon from the Seventh Ring of Hell, he knew exactly how much the power of the Cursed One could suppress the creatures of Hell.

"boom--!"

The psychic energy surrounding Berti suddenly erupted, and in the blink of an eye, vicious curses and spells descended upon Neos. The interwoven black and red energies traced twisting paths through the warp, but were completely blocked by the blue-white flames surrounding Neos, igniting waves of blinding light.

"Clap!"

Berti, a demon representing rage and murder, mastered the skills of every killer in human history. Its form suddenly blurred, transforming into a streak of blood-red light as it desperately fled towards the edge of Neos's flames! Its movements were so swift that they were almost indiscernible, leaving behind only a trail of afterimages and ripples in the warp.

"Want to leave? It's not that easy!"

Neos swung his sword violently, and the wave of flames almost distorted the space - the chaotic energy of the warp was like a piece of cloth being cut under his sword, making a piercing scream.

"Ugh!!!"

The ripples of flames were faster than Berti's speed, directly interrupting its escape! Berti's body was burning with flames, and he screamed in pain. The sound was not like a human scream, but more like the sound of metal being torn apart, harsh and sharp.

Its armor, which was of the same pattern as the Death Commando's, twisted and deformed in the flames, revealing the dark skin underneath. The skin was covered with countless tiny runes, each rune representing a successful murder in human history.

"The magic I got from heaven is really useful." Neos sighed, while trying to catch the Jewish merchant Shylock who ran into the depths of the subspace.

The chaotic energy of the Warp swirled around them, purple and red energies intertwining in a strange vortex. Neos's blue-white flames were particularly dazzling in this chaos, like a beacon in the dark night.

"Huh? What about people?"

Sherlock had already disappeared! How could he have dared to run so deep into the ether sea?! Could it be that—

"Isn't he a mortal? How can he move so skillfully here?"

Neos waved his hand to move the flames on Belti slightly away from it, and while holding the sword to its neck, he asked, "Do you still have a spell that allows mortals to enter the Warp and be immune to its influence? Hand it over, and I will spare your life!"

"I was never going to die! The Cursed One!"

Berti's eyes flashed with an angry red light. "I can't possibly say anything! You liar! You're just as untrustworthy as that damn profiteer! We all know how you cheated Lucifer last time!"