NOVEL NEXT Chapter 426: Demon tide
Damon forced himself to endure the flood of information threatening to split his skull apart. His temples throbbed, his fangs ground together, and for a moment, he thought he might drown in the storm of sound, scent, and aura pressing in on him from every direction.
But he continued to focus on that single demonic aura.
The noise filtered, the chaos settled, and what had been an unbearable blur crystallized into clarity. He could feel every living thing within a one-kilometer radius, their auras lighting up like markers on his mental map.
Damon's eyes widened in shock. This was something that stretched beyond what a simple high perception could give him. He had never experienced anything like this before. The merfolk's pulses were soft and steady. Kate's aura was weak and chaotic, clearly from the overuse of magic. Mark's Titan-forged aura was as strong as ever.
And then, further out… something else.
A tide of demonic auras, dozens, no, hundreds, rolling toward them like a tsunami. The cat was out of the bag, and it was indeed very difficult to put it back in. He couldn't undo what he did, but he could always make good use of it.
Damon had yet to check the notifications of all his gains from the ten demonic creatures, but that could wait. A savage grin crept across his lips, his fangs glinting in the dim light. "So the Bloodlands want to feed me themselves, huh? How thoughtful. How nice."
The demonic tide wasn't hiding its intent. Their killing intent surged like a rising sea, crashing against his sharpened senses in waves. He could feel the ground quivering even before their bodies appeared, the trees bowing under the weight of their approach. He had to respond in kind to this sort of warm welcome.
A searing pain forced him to shut down his expanded sense. He had the ability, but it seemed his mind was not strong enough to handle the fatigue of using something so powerful.
Damon wondered if repeatedly using his enhanced senses would become a sort of mental training. With a sigh, he shrugged. He would have to keep using it again and again to test the theory.
Saving the thought for later, he hurriedly shot forward using a series of Blinks and Shadow Steps. The horde was coming from the eastern side, while the much stronger demonic aura was standing still on the west. If he was not mistaken, then this should be the beast or monster that even Erin struggled to fight against.
Damon paused for a split second. He then directly headed over to the demon tide. He wanted to reach the demon tide before the creatures showed up in his outpost and made a mess of everything. Besides, out here, he could freely use his poison without any restraint.
Soon, the first wave broke into sight, horned brutes, eyes burning with malice, claws like obsidian scythes. Damon didn't slow. The poison in his veins flared, and his chains of blood unfurled mid-step, writhing around him in a perfect storm. From within hundreds of poisonous needles emerged.
The demons rushed forward, killing intent crashing against him like a tidal wave. He welcomed it. "Go!" With a single mental command, all the needles detonated outward in a hurricane of venom and blood.
The air itself screamed as hundreds of tiny blood-forged needles streaked through the horde, each one trailing a faint mist of black poison.
At first, the horned demons sneered, baring their jagged teeth as the tiny needles peppered their hides. A few even laughed, spreading their arms wide as if to taunt him. But the grin didn't last.
Their skin blackened in blotches, veins bulged like writhing worms, and foam bubbled from their mouths. Within heartbeats, their mocking roars twisted into shrieks of agony as the poison seeped deep into their cores.
Dozens fell in the opening volley, collapsing into spasms, their claws gouging furrows into the ground as their own blood turned against them. Those who charged through the storm fared no better.
Their limbs trembled, their wings faltered mid-flap, and one by one they slammed into the dirt with bone-snapping force. The surviving savage demons trembled, their momentum faltering for the first time.
Damon stepped forward through the carnage, unhurried, his crimson chains whipping lazily at his sides like serpents waiting to strike. Poison mist clung to him like a cloak, drifting from his skin.
His fangs gleamed in the gloom as he looked over the faltering horde. All of them were different shapes and sizes, and their skin color varied from light red to dark red. "Strays, huh. Figures. Luckily, my aura still hasn't spread all the way to the demon kingdom,s and I have to make sure that it stays that way."
Demons were not mindless monsters. They were far from it. Seeing his strength and power and the fact that they were no match for him, many demons had already started to turn and run in the other direction.
However, Damon had no plans of letting them of.
He spread his arms, fangs bared in a cruel smile. "I am sorry. But today, no one is going to leave here alive. Nothing personal. Just gotta keep some secrets."
The horned demons froze, their eyes flashing with both fear and fury. Some had already turned, wings flaring as they tried to retreat into the deeper woods, but Damon's chains lashed out like living serpents, slamming into the ground before them and cutting off their escape.
Another wave of needles appeared and swirled around Damon, humming with deadly energy. With a snap of his fingers, the storm exploded outward, filling the air with a rain of poisonous shards.
The demons shrieked, throwing up their claws and wings in a desperate attempt to shield themselves, but it was useless. The blood-forged storm tore through them, piercing hide, muscle, and bone.
Poison flooded their systems in an instant, and one by one they collapsed into twitching husks, their veins glowing faintly black beneath their skin before bursting. However, a few demons still managed to survive. A reddish fire surrounded these demons.