Chapter 477: The Calamity of the Flame Demon
Stranger raised his head and looked at all this in shock.
——I saw the steaming gray-black smoke rolling up, with deep red and golden flames hidden in it.
Not far in front of him, the Temple of Silver and Tin began to spew out large amounts of dust and smoke from the center, and the entire building gradually broke apart and collapsed.
Even the building, reinforced by the preservationists, offered no resistance. The entire structure creaked and groaned, as if being chewed and devoured by some demonic entity. The ground shook as it buckled and collapsed, one bite at a time.
The strange microscope-like monocle on Stranger's face automatically rotated and retracted, giving him a whole new perspective:
Heat spread throughout the building, like plant roots clinging to a clod of soil. Not far away, a massive humanoid figure, so scorching hot that the stranger couldn't bear to look directly at it even through the walls, gradually rose to its feet.
It was slowly absorbing the entire Temple of Silver and Tin, growing larger and larger at a speed visible to the naked eye.
His bones are made of earth and stone, and his flesh is made of fire.
A lava giant shaped from molten metal and rock, constantly absorbing the surrounding "materials" in the inward-contracting flames and becoming larger and larger.
——That’s the Flame Demon!
The two powerful Star Antimony warriors who appeared on screen during the plot introduction were actually very familiar to Stranger. They were both his acquaintances.
One of them was his mentor in the Psychic Tower; the other was a senior with whom he had a good relationship, Lieutenant General Leo Carl. Not long ago, he had participated in the same advancement ceremony with him and caused him to break his leg.
Although Stranger is not a demonologist, due to his strong curiosity, he once asked why there was "another soul" in Lieutenant General Carl's body.
Lieutenant General Carl had no reservations about this and told Stranger the truth directly:
When these demonologists were promoted to demon incarnations, a demon seed began to appear in their bodies.
They were all incredibly powerful higher-level demons, offering powerful aids that ordinary demonologists couldn't obtain through summoning or contracting. Simply drawing power from them could grant supernatural powers equivalent to a fourth-level energy affinity.
When demonic incarnations first reach the fourth energy level, they are still in an inert state. If they are killed at this time, the demons within them will usually only release twisted power.
But once they reach the fifth energy level, these demons will be activated... just like an egg that initially only had yolk, turning into a mature embryo that is about to hatch into a chick and has begun to grow hair and flesh.
The demon incarnation must use rituals or curses to limit the activity of the demon in the body, otherwise it may get out of control if not careful.
If they were about to die, these fifth-level warriors would directly enter the ritual array that restrained the demons. This way, when they died and the demons broke out of their bodies, they could be directly sealed or expelled. They could even be contracted by their own students, becoming their powerful assistants.
And if they are accidentally killed, the out-of-control demon will teach the murderer a lesson - although the sealed demons have a great hatred for the host itself, this does not mean that they will be grateful to the enemy who released them.
These first-generation demons possess all the memories, knowledge, and emotions of their hosts from birth to death. Rather than being demons, they are more like another demonic personality born after they have been branded with the mortal sin.
Although they are actually two souls, their personalities are somewhat similar.
General Carl also told Stranger that the correct promotion path for a demon scholar is to defeat the strong with the weak again when reaching the sixth energy level and completely devour the demon personality in the body.
When the two personalities merge into one, it's like two selves overlapping. Only then can one truly master this power and become a true "devil incarnate."
Obviously, this Balrog was a "less than perfect" product and the proof of General Karl's death.
When General Karl was killed and the fire demon broke out of his body, the enemy who killed him must have been swallowed by the uncontrolled fire.
But after it defeats its enemy, Star Antimony will become its new and only enemy——
Because it was the legacy of Xingti that taught General Karl how to suppress himself, how to restrain himself, and how to continuously draw strength from his body. After being bound for so many years, his hatred for Xingti far surpassed everything else...
But perhaps it was precisely because of this that he was temporarily safe, because it had no intention of destroying Avalon, the Stranger thought.
After all, his current role was that of a court alchemist in Avalon, which actually made his situation safer.
If you were to ask who the Flame Demon most wants to attack at this moment...it would only be his mentor.
—That is Mr. Brunswick, codenamed "Advisor." He is the old man in the black robe.
But in the next moment, Stranger's expression suddenly changed.
Because he heard it—the sound of the Fire Demon pounding the ground with his fists.
In an instant, the ground shook. Buildings trembled violently, shattered, and collapsed. Suddenly, the panic and shouts of the knights echoed within the building.
The magical monocle worn by the alchemist kept shrinking, curling, and focusing repeatedly, locking onto the souls of one after another that were devoured by the flames and died.
Through his strange eyes that could make all non-extraordinary things transparent, he easily saw that the flames spread from the giant's fists, like the roots of a plant, a snake or a centipede.
They burrowed into the walls and the ground, and when the buildings shook and crumbled, they suddenly emerged from the cracks and attacked the knights.
No, they weren't even targeting just the knights!
Even ordinary people, the servants working in the palace, were devoured by the fiery snakes and let out shrill screams.
Even the fourth-level Arbitrators were almost powerless against this. Their defensive spells were easily penetrated, and their blessed metal armor melted like paper.
…What’s going on?!
The stranger shuddered with fear.
Fortunately, he had packed his things immediately after landing, intending to flee. He packed all the materials and potions he needed for his spell into a reddish-brown leather suitcase.
He picked up the box and ran. As soon as he reached the door, a knight rushed over.
"Master Nobel, please leave quickly!"
He was very nervous and raised his sword to point at a slender fire snake crawling out from the corner of the wall: "I'll cover your retreat--"
"Don't break it!"
The Stranger grabbed the knight's shoulder and practically screamed, "Anyway... run! Run together!"
At this moment, the knight realized what was happening and put away his sword, preparing to leave.
A fire snake shot out from the corner of the wall, having been accumulating energy for a long time, and pounced towards him.
Like flaming arrows, and like hunting dogs.
The knight's sword, raised instinctively, easily burned a hole that kept growing, like a newspaper pierced through by flames. His instinctive move to turn his head saved his life—the fire snake shot directly into the ceiling, causing it to drip with molten steel.
In the split second, the residual heat from the brush made his helmet scorch, causing him to scream—his left cheek sizzled as if it were being branded on an iron plate. The Stranger even faintly smelled the aroma of barbecue.
But the knight's energy and perseverance were extraordinary.
He was not killed immediately, but just took a few breaths and recovered.
Seeing the "Nobel Master" jogging away at a snail's pace, he finally couldn't stand it anymore and rushed over to pick up the stranger.
The Stranger immediately felt the heat of his armor—like being left in the sun for hours at noon on a hot summer day. Even with the insulation of his robe, the Stranger couldn't help but cry out in pain.
Even so, he held on to his suitcase tightly and did not let go.
The two of them screamed one after another and ran out of the Temple of Silver and Tin.
They saw it clearly - a knight who was on their escape path tried to swing his sword to cut off a fire snake that was attacking him, but was pierced directly through the chest by the fire snake.
Flames continued to burst forth from the cracks in his armor, and his screams lasted only a moment before fading completely. He soon ceased his struggles in agony and fell silent. The flames pouring forth from the cracks in his armor also grew steadily calmer.
The metal armor was half melted. Using Nobel's monocle, Stranger clearly saw that the man's soul was forged into a completely new form by the flames.
It was like a soul possessed by a fire snake, or like a block of melted steel mixed with bone meal. Traces of the original could still be seen, but it was clearly no longer the same person.
Burning knights, burning servants, burning skeletons—more and more people gathered. Their clothes and weapons were all burning with flames, but they still maintained their previous shapes and were not burned.
The flames on their bodies were all golden red, and in their hands they held weapons formed from a concentration of bluish-purple flames. Where their eyeballs should have been, they had become two beams of burning purple-black flames.
As they gradually burned, the human parts became less and less at a rate visible to the naked eye.
First the skin and hair, then the flesh. Even if only a skeleton remained, it continued to burn, transforming into an increasingly intense flame. Finally, only a vague human form remained, reduced to pure element.
The Fire Demon in the center of the Silver and Tin Temple, however, had shrunk to about half its size. It still maintained its stance with its fists touching the ground, while the entire Silver and Tin Temple was engulfed in its flames, gradually beginning to burn fiercely.
A "Legion of Flame Demons" was created from nothing!
(End of this chapter)
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