Chapter 60: Defeat is Not Enough
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Someone somehow had blown a hole through the chamber's ceiling, which led straight to the surface. Hao Ren and the girls were still confused and dazed by the explosion that rocked the chamber earlier. They then caught sight of a rope being lowered into the chamber and someone very familiar appearing before them.
A tall, lanky, well dressed and well groomed man. Who else could it be but Nangong? He was still lugging that black luggage of his and a well-crafted crossbow dangled from his belt as he slid down the rope using his free hand.
Hao Ren immediately realized that the source of explosions earlier was this... self-professed demon hunter! He almost had a sudden urge to brick Nangong in the face if not for the timing of things.
Vivian and Lily reverted to their humanoid form as Nangong made his appearance. Despite being surrounded by armored wraiths, Hao Ren was confident that even in their human form they could hold their ground without much of a problem. The problem now was Nangong, as none of them could discern his intentions. It was very evident that he stayed behind after the crowd left.
By then, Nangong had reached the ground. He leapt lithely around the rubble for a flat spot and finally had the time to look around. The first thing that caught his eye was the three familiar faces with their gawking mouths staring at him. He recoiled in surprise at the scene. "Eh? You three? What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?" Lily retorted at the same time.
"My job." Nangong looked puzzled. "I was trapped in the tunnels above and wanted to blast my way back to the surface. Never thought that I'd blow the floor apart as well. I saw that there were flat surfaces through the hole and came down to have a look..."
Bugger. How much explosives did he actually use for this? Was this demon hunter wannabe in a hurry to kill himself in the most explosive way possible?
"Wait, now's not the time!" Hao Ren exclaimed as the armored wraiths regained their senses and began to converge towards the chamber in droves. It seemed like the runic inscriptions on the armor was still holding out against the demonic influence. Their movement was sluggish and indecisive but, the red glow in their eyes became even brighter. It appeared like the demonic influence was overwhelming the wraiths, almost to the point of losing control.
Nangong finally realized the gravity of the situation he was in as he saw a flood of armored wraiths with their glowing red ‘eyes’ heading towards him. "Wraith knights?! And what's with their size?!"
Hao Ren was still thinking about how he was going explain three normal people wandering around in a crypt to Nangong. However, Nangong had already gone on the offensive. He deftly pulled the crossbow from his belt and threw his luggage down to open it. Nangong quickly grabbed a vial from the box and threw it as hard as he could at the armored wraith that was closest to him. At the same time, he aimed the crossbow towards another direction and pulled the trigger. A silver bolt whistled onwards with murderous intent.
As the vial broke against the armor, it released a cloud of silvery dust, seemingly infused with magic. It did not dissipate as it was released into the air. Rather, it quickly covered the armor and dug its way through the gaps in the armor. The silver bolt fired from Nangong’s crossbow landed on the faceguard of the wraith. The bolt shattered upon impact and released a silver light lancing straight into the helmet.
"Quickly, hide behind the rocks!" Nangong yelled as he reloaded his crossbow, aiming at his next target. "I'll hold them back! These things are slow. Find a chance to run and don't worry about me!"
Hao Ren had wanted to brick Nangong so hard when the demon hunter appeared but he was having second thoughts. While he was far from competent as a demon hunter, he seemed to be a decent guy at the very least. He acted nothing like the callous bastards Vivian described them to be.
Nangong fired his crossbow repeatedly at the wraiths as he slowly stepped backwards, approaching one of the boulders lying on the ground. Thanks to him blowing a hole through the roof of the chamber, the fallen boulders became a somewhat effective makeshift defense work. Hao Ren and the rest hid behind the rocks as ordered by Nangong.
With the chamber no longer a death trap, the sluggish wraiths would have not stood a chance against a flying vampire or a wall-climbing werewolf. That said, the girls had no intention of revealing their true forms in front of Nangong. They were still wary that Nangong could be the real deal as his gadgets seemed to be authentic at the very least.
Hao Ren decided to wait and observe. If things changed for the worst, he would let Vivian and Lily loose. Exposing their identities sounded like a way better an option than being killed after all. If Nangong could take care of the matter, it would be a bigger plus.
Nangong was panting after several sequences of shooting and reloading his crossbow. He quickly pulled out a piece of paper with words scribbled on it in red ink. Hao Ren took a glance and realized that the scribbles were Letta runes.
Although Letta runes could be used by common people, it was still a demanding task. One would need enormous spiritual strength to ward off the effects of using the runes. Who is this Nangong actually?
"Keep your heads down! They will attack anything that moves." Nangong took a glance at Hao Ren's position and said, "Leave them to me. Fret not, I'm a bona fide exorcist. Evil, begone!"
As Nangong yelled the incantation, the charm lit up on its own. Nangong however seemed to be holding the charm the other way around. He was holding on to the part that lit up.
"Ouch! Hot, hot, hot!" Nangong jumped as his fingers were scorched by the flames. The charm fell limply on the ground and the flames died. He quickly picked it up and blew the dust off. He then shouted, "Evil, begone! Evil, begone! Evil... oh the fire charm has already burnt out..."
Hao Ren had wanted to see the demon hunter go all out against the wraiths but to his disappointment, he only saw Nangong rummaging through his pockets for a lighter. He lit the charm up again and threw the charm towards the wraiths. "This will work!"
A blinding, red light followed the explosion and then... nothing.
Vivian simply could not take it anymore and went, "Uh... Mr. Demon Hunter, are you forgetting something else?"
Nangong looked up and saw the armored wraiths that fell earlier had come back into being. It seemed that the silver powder and bolts only stunned the tin cans for a moment.
Hao Ren wiped off the cold sweat on his forehead. The demon hunter came in guns (crossbow) blazing, displaying his magical and martial prowess but in the end, it was his explosive entrance that seemed to have some significance.
"How could this be?" Nangong said as he leapt backwards. "This shouldn't have happened. This stuff should have been effective... No worries, I still have my trump card!"
Nangong quickly pulled out an assortment of gadgets and with trained hands, quickly assembled them into an arbalest. The tip of the arbalest gleamed a beautiful silver under the moonlight. Hao Ren finally stopped twitching his eyes as Nangong seemed to have gotten his sh*t together.
"Hmph! This is not child's play!" Nangong said as he took aim. "Feel the wrath of a demon hunter's silver explo... f*ck me, I forgot my bolts!"
Vivian could only facepalm at that sight. "Doggie, get ready. That man is a hopeless."
"Wait!" Hao Ren restrained the two as they were about to morph. He glanced at Nangong, who was fiddling with his gadgets. He felt that the man was nothing but trouble. Even as a half-boiled demon hunter, he was still trouble.
Hao Ren wanted to get rid of the trouble. At the very least, to ease his worries of a real demon hunter coming up behind them.
He quickly looked around for something solid but, the rocks on the ground were either too fine or too big. As his hand swept pass his pocket, he felt something solid and smiled menacingly.
Hao Ren quietly made his way towards Nangong with the solid object in hand. He swung it as hard as he could to the back of Nangong's head.
At the same time, a screech echoed in his head. "You definitely haven’t read the user manual! There is definitely something wrong with your way of doing things!"