Under the red moon, the city of waves was as cold as frost.
Huge, ink-black monsters advanced from afar, toppling building after building that stood in their path, turning the surroundings into a zone of absolute death.
An Jianyou gazed into the distance.
She could clearly see that besides this single terrifying disaster-level ghoul, the 'Black Armored Dragon,' there were also a considerable number of two-star and three-star ghouls. They strode over roads now utterly silent, leaving behind cold, black tracks, and advanced step by step towards the city center.
Spreading death.
The onslaught on sanity was like a raging wind. Even though they were still far from the Black Armored Dragon, people were already losing their minds, becoming manic.
The number of those who truly died at the hands of the ghouls was far less than those who died from self-mutilation due to madness, or mutual slaughter, trampling, and other causes.
A disaster-level ghoul like the Black Armored Dragon, solely based on its destructive power, would require a considerable amount of time to annihilate an ordinary city. To destroy an international metropolis like the city of waves would take even longer.
But the Black Armored Dragon and other ghouls constantly emanated psychic assaults. As they advanced, this power that affected sanity would grow stronger and stronger, until the entire city of waves was transformed into a dead city.
And it would not take long.
This was true disaster!
"Black Armored Dragon, I will stop you!"
Beneath the red moon,
An Jianyou's eyes blazed with an ethereal blue light, her black hair defying gravity as it floated upwards.
"It's okay now, darling,"
She comforted the little girl and handed her back to her mother.
The girl's mother said nothing, clutching her child and running into the distance, merging with the chaotic stampede of fleeing people.
Yet, some, acting against the tide, picked up their phones, their faces alight with excitement as they filmed the distant monsters.
But no one noticed that not far from them, a black giant hand, like a pillar supporting the sky, was slowly lowering a collapsing skyscraper.
Even less noticed was the ink-black substance spreading from beneath An Jianyou.
This was the Nether Domain!
After reaching the Fourth Awakening, An Jianyou's 'Eye of the Nether' also underwent a qualitative change. Continuing her previous methods of application, she developed a domain.
A Nether Domain that could contain ghouls and absorb sanity!
It was equivalent to a super-premium version of the Soul Banners!
Indeed, the Soul Banners could no longer keep up with An Jianyou's growth. After all, it was merely a blue-grade ghoul artifact. Containing a four-star 'Maniacal Laughter Puppet' was already near its limit. To house several disaster-level ghouls would cause the Soul Banners to buckle.
With just the Soul Banners, An Jianyou would not dare to unleash a disaster-level ghoul at this moment.
She walked against the flow of people, towards the inky-black monsters.
Wherever she passed, the fleeing, chaotic crowds parted on their own, creating a path for her. The madness within the crowd gradually ceased. Those who were manic, laughing, or dazed began to regain their senses and silently ran away.
The further she went, the fewer people there were.
The few she encountered had already completely lost their minds. An Jianyou's expression was impassive, an aura of terrifying cold emanating from her.
One step, two steps, three steps, moving forward with each stride.
The Nether Domain also continued to expand: twenty meters, thirty meters, fifty meters, one hundred meters.
The black giant hand, like a pillar supporting the sky, reappeared, followed by a second, third, and fourth.
Terrifying giant shadows emerged as if from beneath the water, their heads, torsos, and entire bodies rising from the ink-black Nether Domain.
This was a terrifying humanoid monster, sixty to seventy meters tall, with four arms!
A Four-Armed Giant Demon!
A standard disaster-level ghoul!
Having only recently advanced to the Fourth Awakening, An Jianyou had no time to capture a special four-star ghoul, and even her current lineup was not at its peak.
But,
"In this situation, standard also has its advantages."
"To deal with a super-large monster like the Black Armored Dragon, only something equally massive can stop its advance."
"Go!"
The Nether Domain enveloped the Four-Armed Giant Demon, sending this colossal shadow towards the distance.
The power of the Eye of the Nether, which shrouded it, gradually dissipated. The Four-Armed Giant Demon, this monster, officially… appeared before the public!
Boom—!!!
...
In the city of waves, at the airport.
It was a throng of people, a dense, black mass.
Since the red moon had cast its shroud, cultists had appeared, and the entire city of waves had plunged into chaos and danger, the number of people rushing to the airport had grown exponentially. The roads outside the airport were already choked with vehicles, and the airport itself had lost all order, with countless people breaking through barricades.
The vast airport runways and open spaces were also filled with figures.
"Where are the planes, why aren't they taking off yet!"
"Look closely, this is my ticket, let me board quickly!"
"Do you know who I am... Money is not an issue!"
The airport security personnel struggling to maintain order were rendered speechless, soon swallowed by the surging crowd.
People waited anxiously, cursed, shoved, and panicked.
As more and more people arrived at the airport, news of the situation in the city of waves continuously reached their ears.
Cultists killing everywhere!
Gunfire and shelling throughout the city!
And terrifying monsters taller than buildings!
This was the end of the world! They needed to escape this apocalyptic land as quickly as possible, but why weren't these damned planes taking off, were the airport staff all incompetent!
Shoving, trampling, and conflicts soon led to bleeding incidents, but at this moment, no one cared, no one had the energy to care.
They were only focused on how to escape this doomed city.
Amidst the continuously pouring crowd into the airport, a minority of a dozen or so figures were moving outwards, against the flow of people.
"Tsk tsk tsk, the ugliness of humanity."
Yiluo Xi pouted, a faint, invisible mental force diffusing around her, creating a subtle pressure.
She led the way, and wherever she passed, the pedestrians surging towards the airport involuntarily parted.
By her side, walking briskly in a black formal suit, was Bai Yansi, a member of the 'Torch of Hope' organization, who had been assigned to assist Yiluo Xi in establishing the Witch Sisterhood in Europe.
She was a student from the third batch of trainees who passed the assessment at the training base. She had stood out with her excellent grades and outstanding talent, and was now a master in the second tier of the Torch of Hope. Her awakened ability was a special phantom beast form – the Spirit Cat form.
In her transformed state, she not only possessed extraordinary destructive power, but her basic abilities such as speed and dynamic vision were greatly enhanced. Among many awakened abilities, hers was considered quite good.
However, the reason she was assigned to assist Yiluo Xi was not solely due to her strength; strength was only a part of it. The greater reason was that Bai Yansi was a scholar.
Not only was she fluent in multiple languages, which helped Yiluo Xi avoid being completely lost abroad, but she was also an excellent organizer. Bai Yansi had achieved stellar grades in cultural courses such as foundational occultism and ghoul knowledge.
She adjusted the frame of her currently decorative black glasses and said, "It's not entirely human ugliness. Some of it is due to the influence of the ghouls."
"Powerful ghouls are still far from here and won't cause mental damage, but their invisible, diffused influence can still make people more anxious, uneasy, and irritable."
"Moreover, besides the ghoul's influence, the red moon hanging in the sky might also be a factor, although we don't know its true nature."
She spoke eloquently.
Yiluo Xi froze.
This detestable woman, couldn't she just let her show off once!
As if everyone didn't know what she was saying… well, she didn't actually know, but that wasn't important.
"Ahem, there's no time for dawdling. Our mission is to quickly find that so-called node and destroy it."
"It's a ritual energy convergence node."
"Fine, fine, fine. Let's find a high place first, and let this young lady use her ghoul tracking to observe."
Most of their team members were dual awakeners, moving with extreme speed. Once they left the airport and were no longer hindered by the crowded masses, they moved even faster.
They reached the rooftop of a building over a hundred stories high. Yiluo Xi activated her 'master-level' Ghoul Tracking skill, a type of sorcery that she had been rapidly improving.
At this moment, in their dim vision, the round moon was still blood-red.
The sky was filled with grey mist, but through it, faint wisps of greyish-red, foul mist could be seen winding their way towards a certain location.
"East of the Wave River."
"Sacred Avenue."
"Iris Opera House."
"Huangren Street."
"And… damn it, the traces are too faint to discern!"
Yiluo Xi stomped her foot.
Bai Yansi propped her chin with her hand and pondered, "A normal ritual city has seven energy nodes, but places like the city of waves and the Misty City clearly have more."
"If we've found four in this area alone, the total number of energy nodes is likely to exceed twenty."
This was quite troublesome.
The more energy nodes there were, the more effort it would take.
Yiluo Xi did not consider such complexities and waved her hand, "Go go go!"
As for the rest? They would deal with it later.
After all, their mission was to find and destroy as many as they could.
Suddenly,
Baishuang pointed into the distance and said, "Look there, that… that monster, is that a disaster-level ghoul!"
"So terrifying!"
"Those tall buildings are like building blocks, collapsing with a single push."
"Big sister, disaster-level ghouls can turn a city into a dead land. Shouldn't we go and stop it?"
One of the girls asked, gritting her teeth.
Yiluo Xi also found it terrifying, no, how could she be afraid, impossible!
"There are people from the organization over there. We don't need to worry about it, we'll carry out our mission!"
After this mission was over, she also… needed to become stronger!
The group of girls quickly followed. Although scared, they couldn't help but look towards the ink-black giant shadow.
Suddenly, their mouths widened.
Because another giant shadow appeared in their vision, colliding with that enormous black monster.
To their ears, it seemed they heard a roar.
...
In the southern part of the city of waves, District 35.
After a fierce internal struggle, 'Prince' Anderson gritted his teeth, drawing blood from his gums. "What a joke! How can I, the strongest person in the Wave Nation, be a deserter!"
"It's just a monster that's a bit bigger!"
He tightly gripped his weapon.
Facing the cold wind, against the fleeing crowd, he stepped forward with heavy steps.
Suddenly, Anderson stopped again.
The few elite members of the Super Combat Department who had followed him also stopped abruptly, terror once again creeping onto their faces. The sliver of courage they had just ignited was instantly extinguished by cold water.
Because in their vision, again and again, there appeared a terrifying monster!
Two of them, no less imposing than the skyscrapers!
One was enough to make them despair.
Two?
Anderson also halted his advance. He felt it was better to preserve his useful body and do something else.
He hesitated, breathing heavily, cold sweat trickling down his face.
His pupils contracted once again, and again.
"My god! These two colossal monsters… are fighting each other!"