Chapter 58: Resurrection of the Demon King

Chapter 58: Chapter 58: Resurrection of the Demon King

"A residential area was attacked..."

"Do you have accomplices?" Shen Yun looked at Vierlia and asked, sounding somewhat uncertain. However, his intuition told him that the attackers weren’t her companions.

Sure enough, Vierlia shook her head. A hint of a bad premonition seemed to flash in her clear blue eyes. "There were only the two of us when we came here. Did something happen?"

"Stay here. You’d better not try to escape." Shen Yun didn’t answer her question. Instead, he dropped the warning and immediately shot into the sky.

At that very moment, towering buildings were engulfed in raging flames across all four corners of the city. Panicked screams echoed endlessly. From time to time, Cultivators arrived from other areas, rushing into the burning structures under the coordination of on-site commanders to carry out rescue operations.

But compared to the infernos, what truly terrified the public were the shadows inching closer from all directions. Their limbs and entire bodies were pressed flat against the ground and the walls. They varied in size, blurring the line between animal and human. Every so often, unearthly, guttural roars emanated from the darkness.

"Don’t get close! Why do these things look like the Lickers from those movies?" a Cultivator shouted at the top of his lungs.

In truth, the warning was unnecessary. Just looking at the rotting skin and twisted bodies was enough to keep any modern person with a basic sense of hygiene far away. God only knew if they carried some horrific virus that would spread upon contact.

BANG BANG!

Soldiers opened fire with their issued assault rifles. It was entirely useless. Even when the bullets pierced the monsters’ bodies, it didn’t kill them. Only shattering their bones managed to halt their advance.

As a result, the Cultivators were forced to retreat again and again. However, right behind them were the blazing buildings and the evacuated civilians huddled outside. There was nowhere left to run.

Some of the more timid Cultivators thought about fleeing, but others braced themselves for a desperate fight, inspired by the police and arriving soldiers holding the front line. As long as someone set an example, the crowd’s hot blood and courage would be infinitely stoked. Most importantly, they knew that Master Thunder was right here in this city! This fact was the very trump card the commanders used to stabilize public morale.

Just as the monsters gathered in ever-growing numbers and a foul stench began to permeate the air, the booming sound of thunder rolled across the sky above. In an instant, lightning flashed and thunder roared.

The crowd instantly became pumped with adrenaline. Everyone had seen that viral video. As long as Master Thunder was in the sky, they had the most powerful and precise aerial support imaginable.

RUMBLE!

Storm clouds gathered, recreating the scene from that fateful day. Lightning cascaded from the heavens, intertwining with the raging flames. Yet, while the fire represented despair, the lightning was pure hope. These crude monsters couldn’t possibly withstand the might of the thunderbolts. The foul stench was immediately overtaken by the smell of charred flesh.

"Let’s move! We are going to hunt down the ones controlling these monsters. Focus your attention on foreign faces," the police chief ordered with a wave of his hand after receiving the latest information.

"Damn it, I knew it had something to do with that Black Mage!"

"Are they trying to start a war?"

"Sons of bitches! If they want a fight, we’ll give them one. I’m enlisting tomorrow!"

Upon hearing the news, the surrounding Cultivators were filled with righteous indignation.

The relevant information was quickly uploaded to the internet. Some daring individuals even took pictures of the remaining monster corpses. Most of the remains looked like small animal bones rather than entirely human skeletons. Only a Black Mage could pull off something like this. The evidence was irrefutable.

Meanwhile, after having Xiao Jiu confirm that no stragglers had slipped through the net, Shen Yun slowly descended from the sky. Surprisingly, the woman named Vierlia hadn’t taken the opportunity to escape. Not that running would have done her any good.

Seeing Shen Yun land, she held up her phone. "It was his doing, but he probably isn’t here in person."

"Are you sure?" Shen Yun asked, suppressing his simmering anger. Knowing full well that he was in the city, doing something so pointless was a blatant provocation. If the culprit were actually here, Shen Yun would turn the whole place upside down to find him.

"I’m sure. If it were him, there’s no way he wouldn’t deploy high-level... Corpse Ghosts," Vierlia said, pausing to find the appropriate translated term. Her expression then turned slightly peculiar. "Besides, we have been enemies with him for a long time, and his usual style..."

"Master, a new video just popped up online," Xiao Jiu suddenly chimed in.

"Give me the phone." Shen Yun snatched the device straight out of Vierlia’s hand, causing the young woman’s expression to freeze.

How ungentlemanly!

She looked at her phone with a twinge of heartache. Without seeing Shen Yun do much of anything, a video abruptly popped up on the screen. The footage showed a figure enveloped in swirling black mist, looking like a CGI effect, accompanied by an arrogant voice.

"Vierlia, did you see my little gift? Hahaha, thank you for helping me find such a wonderful world! The Demon King has been resurrected, and darkness shall descend once more! You, and this entire world, will be the resurrection gift presented to the Demon King by me—the great Ludwig von Cumberland Kagel Johannes!"

The video ended right after that English declaration.

Shen Yun’s mouth twitched uncontrollably.

So excessively theatrical!

Demon King resurrection? Darkness descending? He hadn’t touched fantasy media with that kind of cringey premise since he became an adult! And this video just looked like a child’s edgy prank.

But if all of these tropes were actually real...

That would be a bit of a problem.

"Very much his style!" Vierlia curled her lip, clearly used to this. "If he were actually here right now, he would definitely stand on the highest, most conspicuous building and personally announce to everyone that darkness is about to fall or whatever. However... most of what he says is just crazy rambling. He’s nothing more than a psychopath."

"If you want to lie convincingly... you shouldn’t look away!" Shen Yun stared speechlessly at Vierlia, who was currently averting her gaze.

It seemed he wasn’t the only one trying to hide the existence of the Otherworld. But did she really think she could brush all this off by simply calling the guy a psychopath?

Vierlia’s expression stiffened. She really wasn’t very good at lying. In her heart, she cursed Ludwig, the most notorious Black Mage in history, over and over again.

"Xiao Jiu, can you trace the source of this video?" Shen Yun asked in his mind.

"It will take a little more time," Xiao Jiu replied. She had been tracing it the moment the video was uploaded.

Since the mastermind simply had to show off in front of the world, he couldn’t blame others for following the digital breadcrumbs.

"Found it!" Xiao Jiu announced in his head.

"Fine, I will tell you the truth," Vierlia said, exhaling slowly with a serious look on her face.

"Don’t speak yet. Let me think." Shen Yun waved his hand, putting on a contemplative expression as he listened to Xiao Jiu’s report.

Vierlia’s exquisitely flawless face contorted slightly. It had taken a great deal of resolve for her to decide to confess everything!

This guy.

He surely hadn’t realized that she came from another world yet.