The gloomy sky, heavy with ominous clouds lurking at its seams, seemed to condense the fear of countless people into a palpable presence that hung heavily in the air. 

Su Ling’s heart pounded as she raced through the torrential rain with an almost superhuman agility, her stride so swift, it defied the limits of human capability, akin to the graceful, swift precision of a magnificent black cheetah racing against the storm.

In one breath, she dashed towards the nearby high school, her sprint carrying her over the gate in a daring leap that defied the boundaries of human capability. As she landed on the wet ground, the eerie silence of the deserted school building enveloped her, echoing with the emptiness that seemed to permeate every corner she passed.

 The only sound that accompanied her was the relentless patter of raindrops.

The rainwater trickled down from Su Ling’s clothing, fell down and stained on the floor.

“Have people here been dispersed by the invisible technique?” She muttered to herself, her brow furrowing in perplexity.

Quickly she pivoted on her heel and made a beeline for the staircase leading up to the second floor. 

The office on the second floor was just as empty and devoid of presence as the rest of the building. Amidst the shadows, a solitary dark brown landline phone caught her eye.

“I found it.”

Her hand outstretched toward the phone. However, a sudden sense of caution and intuition stayed her movement, compelling her to pause and reconsider.

As if predicting her next move, he hid all the mobile phones and eliminated all her possibilities to reach out others, but now he left such an obvious landline phone, so it’s probably some kind of curse.

Su Ling didn’t know what to do for a moment.

For a moment, Su Ling frozen in indecision, torn between daring to reach for the phone or opting  to go around and look for it somewhere farther away. 

“……”

Finally, she took a deep breath, holding a black knife against the landline not far away, and slowly stepped back.

“The apartment has been turned into a monster lair, the cell phones and landlines have basically been destroyed, and this is the closest location to the apartment that has a phone.”

She decided to take a safer approach.

Until the dark brown landline that had been sitting on the desk suddenly squirmed as if it were soft mud. 

It gradually expanded and became very large, as big as a small elephant. However, it did not have a specific fixed image. Instead, it looked like a lump of dark brown mud, constantly changing its shape, at the same time it jumped up and rushed towards Su Ling.

At the innermost part of it, there was a blurry, wailing human face. Although it had facial features, it was completely unclear.

“Summoning creatures?”

Reacting swiftly, Su Ling’s instincts kicked in, and without hesitation, she once again used the power of the Black Blade.

“Down!”

She commanded, at the same time a sharp pain shot through her left hand, the manipulation of gravity, moments ago had inflicted a serious injury, broken a finger bone in her left hand, now second injury was added within a short span of time. 

“Pah.”

A grimace of pain contorted Su Ling, draining the remaining color in her already pale face as the sharp agony from her broken left shoulder blade seared through her body. 

The overwhelming gravitational force exerted by her abilities caused the “dark brown mud” to immediately plummet, forcibly pressing it against the unyielding ground with such pressure that its futile struggles rendered useless until the very earth beneath them cracked and splintered.

With a piercing howl that reverberated through the air, the “dark brown mud” plummeted from the shattered second-floor, its airborne descent accompanied by a haunting series of eerie noises that reverberated through the aftermath of the intense confrontation. 

“Whoo, whoo…”

Taking a deep, ragged breath against the searing pain that radiated through her body, a sudden realization dawned on her – that he knew her counter-attack methods.

Now she knew, that in that critical moment of battle, the usual strategies she relied on had been anticipated by her opponent. 

“Crushing the summoned creature with gravity won’t kill it, nor can ordinary knife hacking do it either.”

That is, an enemy that one could not defeat in the normal way.

That was the case in theory.

However, the strength she has shown up till now has anything but not an actual strength at all.

As a fledgling Demon Hunter investigator who rapidly ascended to a B-rank, her expertise extended far beyond mere proficiency in swordsmanship.

With a composed demeanor, Su Ling delicately ran the fingers of her left hand along the blade, instigating a subtle transformation as her blood seeped into the black blade.

A pale blue flame rose on the pitch-black blade, casting an ethereal glow, a manifestation of the mystical bond between the Demon Hunter and her ancestral weapon. 

The transformation of the blade was a mesmerizing sight to behold, as a pale blue flame danced across its pitch-black surface, weaving a tapestry of magic and illusion. 

The tradition of demon hunters has been passed down through generations, with each family honing their unique techniques for harnessing the power of magical objects. 

Su Ling’s family from the First Continent, have mixed their own blood with the blood of a special ancient demonic creature called “Legend.” 

This infusion grants their blood a special power that can imbue weapons with the ability to “exorcise evil spirits and slay demons”

Their legacy and expertise in demon hunting has made them highly sought after and respected among their peers.

In the midst of this, Su Ling felt a sudden wave of dizziness that swept through her body, causing her to lose her balance and collapse uncontrollably onto one knee on the ground. 

As she struggled to regain her composure, bright red spots beginning to appear on her arms, akin to red-hot iron, just like Mr. Albert’s skin.

“I’ve already told you that resistance is futile; your fate has been sealed,” Mr. Albert’s voice echoed with a cryptic tone as he appeared unexpectedly on the second floor of the school, his demeanor unsettling as he knelt on the floor beside her. 

“Choose a way to die, either by becoming a hungry monster or by suffocating in the monster’s body.”

Su Ling on her knee, closed her eyes tightly, and took a deep breath, without answering. The black knife in her grasp continued to flicker with a faint blue flame.

Coming to the dead end with a futile attempt to drag on, though it seemed like to Henry, but unbeknownst to him, Su Ling harbored a secret trump card, the one she brought from the downtrodden slums – precious relics bequeathed to her by her late father. 

It was a gift from an Extraterrestrial god to her father, but the price was everything Su Ling had ever had… If she had a choice, she would never want to use it.

The “dark brown mud” that had fallen to the first floor reappeared, wailing as it surged up the stairs.

This distortion-level monster, known as “Deep Mud,” possessed an insatiable appetite for its targets, following orders with a single-minded focus

Once again, Su Ling pulled herself up and tried to rose to her feet, but a strong wave of dizziness hit her and her steps became limp.

Just as she teetered on the brink of collapse, a warm and reassuring hand gently supported her from behind, encircling her waist to prevent her from toppling over.