Chapter Nineteen: The Form of a General-Class Demon

“There can be no mistake. The veteran Divine Gear Warrior once said that when someone is possessed by an evil god, the evil god begins to reveal itself—their eyes glow red, strange markings appear at the center of their brows, and as the possession continues, their skin gradually turns black, starting from the eyes.” Wen Hui kept a cautious gaze on the now motionless evil god as she explained to Zhuang Xiaoyuan, who had never studied this specialized knowledge.

“So, what do we do now?” Although Xiaoyuan’s divine power cultivation had made progress, her combat abilities hadn’t improved much; her physical fitness was only slightly better than an ordinary soldier’s. This was her first time confronting such an enemy of humanity—an evil god—and she had no idea what to do.

“Well, without the evil god manifesting behind him, it’s impossible for him to be a high-ranking evil god. If he’s only lower or middle rank, I can handle it. Leave it to me. Come forth, Spear of the Hurricane!” After carefully observing the evil god’s condition and finding no sign of a manifested evil god behind him, Wen Hui smiled with confidence and reached forward with her right hand.

An emerald green Chinese-style spear appeared in Wen Hui’s grasp, encircled by a gentle breeze—it was a divine weapon of wind attribute. This was the first time Xiaoyuan had seen someone else’s divine gear. It was truly different from her own.

Ordinary Divine Gear Warriors at the Prayer rank summon their guardian god’s weapon to fight. At the Faith rank, they fight using special divine powers. Wen Hui, at the Faith rank, must have been able to manipulate wind; now at Prayer rank, she could summon her guardian god’s divine gear.

“Let me show you the power of the Wind God.” No sooner had she spoken than Wen Hui, spear raised and surrounded by a fierce whirlwind, charged at the evil god. When an evil god possesses someone, it devours the host’s soul instantly. For the evil god, who still appeared humanoid, Wen Hui showed no mercy.

“Awooo—” As Wen Hui attacked, the skin around the evil god’s eyes began to darken under the black taint. Gripping a watermelon knife in his right hand, he slashed diagonally ahead—not at Wen Hui, but her attack was still blocked. The evil god’s knife cleaved a spatial rift in the air, through which a gigantic hand intercepted Wen Hui’s assault. Though the hand was pierced, the impact lost its force and could no longer harm the evil god.

“A Major-rank Demon.” Wen Hui gritted her teeth as she recognized the size of the hand emerging from the rift—it was as large as her own body, a demon of the same rank as her Prayer rank. This confirmed that the evil god she faced was a middle-rank evil god.

As Wen Hui struggled to wrench her Spear of the Hurricane free from the demon’s grasp, the demon crawled out from the spatial crack. It was a colossal monster, its hands as wide as an adult stretched out, its entire body towering two or three stories high. Major-rank demons had four arms and four legs, as if two people had been fused together. Its head was a sphere, with no eyes, only a massive mouth.

“A demon?! Quick, raise your weapons—attack!” As the demon emerged from the crack, the support troops arriving through the South City Gate reached the scene. At the sight of the demon in the city, the lead officer was stunned, but quickly regained composure and calmly ordered his men to attack.

Gunfire erupted from the soldiers’ weapons, forcing the demon to retreat step by step, but it only moved back a few paces—it was completely unharmed. Instead, it began to charge at the soldiers, bullets bouncing off its hide.

Wen Hui, who had felt reassured by the arrival of military support, never expected their firearms to be useless against the demon. Seeing the demon ignore her and rush at the troops, she raised her spear to help, but—“Shhk,” a sharp blade pierced through Wen Hui’s abdomen, followed by the sound of steel tearing flesh. The weapon was pulled out from behind, and blood sprayed forth.

“Wen Hui!” The first time Xiaoyuan had seen another’s divine gear, the first time she had witnessed a demon in reality, her attention was drawn away. When she turned her gaze back to Wen Hui, she saw one of the wounded lying on the ground, eyes glowing red, stabbing Wen Hui with a sharp blade. Xiaoyuan rushed over as quickly as she could, only managing to kick away the evil god before he could strike again—but Wen Hui was already wounded.

“Hah, didn’t think I’d get hurt my first time facing an evil god. How embarrassing.” Wen Hui still clutched the Spear of the Hurricane in her right hand, her left pressing against her wound in an effort to stem the bleeding. Blood soaked through her clothes around the injury.

“Don’t move, I’ll bandage you.” Xiaoyuan stripped off her military jacket, tore up the hem of her inner vest, heedless of exposing her navel, and used the fabric to bind Wen Hui’s abdomen, wrapping it again with her outer coat. She managed to stop the blood from gushing, but as time passed, blood continued to seep out slowly.

“Awooo—” Just as Xiaoyuan finished bandaging Wen Hui, the evil god she had kicked away roared and slashed open another spatial rift. A gigantic hand stretched forth—yet another Major-rank demon.

“We have to help.” Seeing a second Major-rank demon appear, Wen Hui struggled to stand and move forward, despite trembling on her feet.

“I’ll do it.” Xiaoyuan stopped Wen Hui from making a dangerous move. With Wen Hui’s anxious and puzzled expression upon her, Xiaoyuan summoned a blank black card from her divine power vortex.

This card had been reserved for a critical moment—she just hadn’t expected that moment to come so soon. She had been startled by her first real encounter with a demon, leading to Wen Hui’s injury, and now, burdened by guilt and determination, Xiaoyuan finally brought forth the blank card.

“Area specified: generate a usable character with combat ability, able to slay demons and identify those possessed by evil gods; Divine Gear—Godly Transformation.” As Xiaoyuan spoke her wishes aloud, the black card began to emit a soft golden glow. With the flickering golden light, a girl of ethereal presence appeared within the card.

She didn’t wait for the card to fully manifest the girl’s true form—time was pressing. One demon was closing in on the support troops, the other crawling out of the spatial rift, its gaze fixed this way.

Xiaoyuan immediately used Godly Transformation; once the transformation was complete, she would automatically adapt to the body and abilities of the character. Then she would know who had appeared this time. This card had cost her the opportunity to advance from middle to upper rank—a range-specified card. It had better not disappoint her.

With that hope in her heart, golden light enveloped Xiaoyuan.