Chapter 68: Chapter 68: Breaking the Seal, the Demon Descends
"I feel an exceptionally evil presence, like sludge accumulated in the sewer for hundreds of years, absolutely revolting."
Sosia loaded her shotgun, holding a glass bottle filled with Holy Water in her left hand, her expression extremely serious.
Facing the unknown behind this door, even a Werewolf couldn’t remain calm.
"Let’s do it." Sun Yan lit a cigarette and said nonchalantly.
Bang!
With a swipe of Sosia’s wolf claw, the rusty iron lock on the door couldn’t withstand such damage at all.
With the iron lock falling to the ground, the door suddenly opened with an ear-piercing screech as it scraped against the floor.
Sosia kicked the door open and rushed in first, but after only a few steps, the sight before her made her stop slowly, puzzled, she said, "Priest, are you sure Andros was sealed here?"
The musty room was filled with numerous bookshelves and worn-out tables and chairs, brass candlesticks and Angel Statues on the floor covered in spider webs, no matter how you looked at it, this place looked more like a storage basement.
Yet behind her was silence, nobody answered her question.
Sosia quickly turned back to look, her Wolf Eyes widened instantly, the figures of Sun Yan, Dahuang, and the Priest had vanished outside the door she had charged through.
They seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving only Sosia in this place.
...
The vast hall was filled with the style of medieval architecture.
A ghostly blue flame seeped from underground, forming a gigantic Flaming Hexagram Array on the floor.
As Sun Yan walked through the door, he looked around in disbelief as Sosia’s figure vanished from his sight as if evaporating from the Human World.
Above the hall, numerous bodies with their scapulas and spines flayed open, ribs splayed outward like bloody wings were hung with iron hooks through their jaw and mouth, appearing to be a series of blood-drenched, two-winged Angels, filled with an eerily surreal and unexplainable beauty.
"My God, it’s the Blood Eagle Torture!"
The Priest, following behind Sun Yan, trembled as he spoke upon seeing the scene behind the door.
The medieval Viking Pirates favored a punishment called the ’Blood Eagle Torture,’ those who underwent it would die in extreme agony, it’s said to be a ritual for offering sacrifices to Demons, trading with Demons for power strong enough to rule a nation.
Looking at the men and women hanging here, they were long dead, but their bodies showed no signs of decay, still lifelike as they were in life.
These people were either wearing suits and dresses or jeans with woven jackets, clearly all modern people.
As the Priest and Sosia had mentioned, the Demon possesses the ability to tempt normal minds with objects, even if sealed.
The Demon’s whispers could dismantle most people’s unsteady wills, thereby corrupting them into slaves of the Demon, turning them into its tools.
Like Geralt’s girlfriend Kevin, why would she suddenly start researching Count Joseph’s affairs, until she disappeared?
Now Sun Yan has reason to suspect because she was already under Andros’s influence.
Including those Mexican merchants mentioned by the Priest, if they hadn’t reached some agreement with the Demon, how would they have brought live persons here for sacrifices?
And now, with so many sacrifices, it seems Andros’s seal is nearing its end.
Bang!
The door suddenly closed automatically, trapping Sun Yan and Dahuang within.
Amidst the darkness surrounding the Flaming Hexagram Array, the sound of scattered footsteps suddenly arose, as ghostly figures in blood-soaked white robes, heads covered with burlap sacks, staggered out.
They were like fanatical Believers, fearlessly rushing towards the burning Hexagram Array, flames sizzled on their bodies, as a two-meter-long crevice split open in the center of the Hexagram Array.
A powerful black wind erupted from underground, engulfing everything around.
A large amount of green blood sprayed from the crevice, forming a murky pool on the ground.
"Almighty God, I beseech you."
Upon witnessing this, the Priest could no longer remain calm, even though he only had his soul left, at this moment, he fearfully knelt own and began a humble prayer to his God.
A shadow moved straight towards Sun Yan, heading directly for the Hexagram Array, with no intention of going around.
Sun Yan stepped aside to let this being, unsure if human or ghost, pass, but they went directly through him without any obstruction.
This sparked a realization in Sun Yan’s mind: "Could these people all be souls?!"
Earlier, Geralt and Sun Yan mentioned that undoing Andros’s seal required life sacrifices and pure souls.
Those subjected to the Blood Eagle Torture above could be seen as life sacrifices, and those now boldly stepping into the Hexagram Array triggering seismic cracks must be the pure souls.
This implies Betty’s soul, which Sun Yan specifically came to the church in search of, is among these masked figures.
"Damn!"
Sun Yan broke out in a cold sweat; if Betty’s soul is sacrificed to Andros, all his efforts would be for nothing.
"Betty! Betty!"
Sun Yan quickly took out the Soul-Calling Banner and called out loudly, a small silhouette heading towards the Hexagram Array suddenly paused, slowly turning towards Sun Yan.
The Soul-Calling Banner pointed directly at her, and Sun Yan rushed forward: "Is it you, Betty? Your dad sent me to bring you home, do you remember Curry?"
The figure reached up to remove the burlap sack, revealing a doll-like cute face, it was indeed Betty.
"You know my dad? But I can’t find my way home, I’m so scared." Betty’s soul said timidly, her expression full of fear.
"Come with me, I promise I’ll take you home." Sun Yan gestured.
But Betty shook her head, looking around, and said, "Nira, I want to take Nira with me."
"Who’s Nira?" Sun Yan asked, confused, recalling that this name hadn’t come up at all during the entire incident.
"Nira said she’d go back to help find someone to rescue me, she’s my best friend." Betty anxiously explained.
At that moment, another small burlap-sack figure emerged from the crowd, standing in front of Betty.
When she removed the sack, Sun Yan realized it was the strange little girl he had summoned in the Curry Family house.
"Nira." Betty happily took the little girl’s wrist, "Let’s go home together."
Nira lowered her head sadly: "It’s too late, the seal is already opened, it’s about to break free, no one can stop it, we’ll all become its slaves."
The black wind from the crevice grew stronger, as a gigantic form slowly rose from beneath.
It was a pure white Angel Statue, an Angel with wings behind it holding a long sword, crowned with a laurel wreath, seemingly pure and sacred.
It was hard to imagine how incongruous an Angel Statue appeared in this scene, suddenly the scene Sun Yan witnessed began to warp.
In his Celestial Eye, the Angel Statue’s face was covered in countless spinning eyes.
At the center of its face, a massive mouth split open, filled with sharp teeth, and deep inside was an ugly woman’s face.
The Angel’s body was covered in black raven feathers, its lower half strong wolf legs, thus revealing Andros’s true form, the Demon’s real appearance.
"Ho...li...crab..."
Seeing Andros towering over three meters, exuding an oppressive aura just by standing still, Sun Yan couldn’t help but draw out a long breath, sweat immediately forming on his forehead.
Can this thing really be killed, I want to ask.