America: The Cremator

Chapter 196 Take your brain out and put the brass knuckles in!

Suron's fingers were already on the handle of "Sirius".

His muscles tensed instantly; his 60 points of agility and the "zero-frame start" attribute put his body in a state where he could suddenly strike and kill at any moment.

Elena, standing beside her, reacted just as quickly, hanging the brass lantern steadily on the buckle of her tactical belt with one hand, and drawing the silver-tungsten alloy greatsword from her back with her right.

The heavy sword blade reflected the dark red light of the sky, and the warm yellow glow emitted by the lantern was compressed to a two-meter radius around the three of them, desperately resisting the cold and immense spiritual pressure.

Byron stood at the back, still clutching the spiritual detector in his hand.

At this moment, the pointer on the dial was already wildly swaying back and forth, and the fluctuating data had turned a glaring blood red.

Then a soft "pop" was heard, and the internal electronic components were overloaded and burned out.

Byron stuffed the broken equipment into his pocket, looked through his gas mask at the menacing demon in mid-air, and then turned to look at Suron.

"You two know each other?"

Su Long's gaze was fixed on the goat-headed monster, his words tinged with helplessness: "An old enemy, an A-rank anomaly, Baphomet."

"I really didn't expect this guy to come after me."

Upon hearing "A-level bizarre," Byron's lips twitched a few times.

As a direct descendant of the British Wick family, he had witnessed many grand occasions and personally handled several bizarre incidents involving B-level beings, but he still dared not confront A-level beings head-on.

Byron gripped his M1911 tightly, aiming at the Baphomet in mid-air, his voice filled with helplessness: "Suron, how did you manage to provoke these big guys?"

"You just killed a 72-pillar demon god in the mortal world, and now you've run into an A-level demon seeking revenge in the underworld. Honestly, with your luck, you could definitely win the lottery jackpot."

Suron shrugged and said half-jokingly, "Who knows? Maybe it's because I'm too charming."

"Once I return to the mortal world, I will definitely seek out the beautiful nun to change my luck, but before that, I must first resolve the current troubles."

In mid-air, Baphomet completely ignored the conversation between the three, or rather, in its eyes, the only important person from beginning to end was Suron, so it focused its attention solely on Suron.

It strides down through the void, its hooves covered in rough black hair.

As Baphomet approached, the surrounding space began to visibly distort.

The stench of decay and blood in the air became incredibly strong, so strong that even the filters of gas masks could not completely block it. The pungent smell assaulted the nostrils, and pale flames suddenly ignited on the ashes on the ground.

Immediately afterwards, Baphomet's withered skin began to melt like a burning candle.

With a nauseating sound of flesh being peeled away, the outer skin used for disguise completely collapsed, turning into puddles of black liquid that dripped onto the dry ashes, creating eroded holes that emitted bluish smoke.

With the disguise gone, Baphomet finally revealed its true form.

Upon seeing this, Elena tightened her grip on the greatsword, a look of shock flashing in her grey-blue eyes.

At this moment, Baphomet completely lacked the majesty that an A-level supernatural being should possess; even describing him as pitiful would be an understatement.

The once incredibly strong demonic body was now covered with large areas of charred black scars.

On its chest, abdomen, and thick arms, a large amount of new tender flesh can be clearly seen, but as soon as this tender flesh grows, the edges immediately show signs of high-temperature carbonization.

The fresh meat is mixed with coke, and the process of growing, forming scabs, cracking, and then carbonizing again is repeated continuously.

Even at the joint of Baphomet's shoulder, there were still remnants of bone marrow that had been burned and crystallized.

Especially its ram-horn head, the left half of its face was almost burned away, exposing the pale bones underneath.

A few extremely faint purplish-gold sparks remained in the gaps between the bones, and even the occasional flicker would cause the muscles on its face to twitch violently.

Baphomet was like a mutilated corpse that had just been forcibly dragged out of a blast furnace, his whole body exuding ugliness and ferocity.

It hovered in mid-air less than ten meters away from Su Long, its dark yellow pupils fixed on Su Long's eyes.

"Suron————"

The sound was no longer the dry, harsh one it once was; instead, it carried a sense of decay and repression, along with suppressed pain and hatred.

With each syllable uttered, a plume of black smoke, accompanied by sparks, would erupt from deep within its throat.

"Your flames—they really hurt."

Baphomet raised his mangled right hand, looked at the charred flesh that was still cracking open, and spoke with venom in his voice.

Su Long stood there, looking at its miserable, wretched state, and immediately understood what had happened.

This is definitely a lingering effect of the last time we fought, when this guy was burned by his own flames.

"I self-destructed the clone that had descended into the mortal world, abandoned all my power, and fled back to hell to be reborn."

Baphomet lowered his hand, his chest heaving violently from the intense emotional turmoil.

"For a high-level demon like me, as long as I return to my own domain of rules, reshaping a body is just a matter of consuming some time and spiritual energy."

"This is just a normal sleep and awakening process. When I wake up, everything should be back to normal!"

At this point, Baphomet suddenly leaned forward, his battered face appearing even more ferocious.

"But! I didn't expect that!"

Baphomet's roar exploded, carrying a powerful mental impact.

Fortunately, the "Innocent Heart" skill directly shattered this wave of voices that were trying to tear apart reason, so that Su Long was not greatly affected.

"It followed my soul back to hell, and was reborn with my body!"

Baphomet stretched out his hands and violently tore open the newly grown dark red flesh on his chest, forcefully splitting his body open. Amidst the gushing black blood and purple-gold flames, he showed Surong the beating heart inside.

On the surface of that enormous black heart, a blazing purple-gold flame that could not be extinguished was clearly visible.

"My resurrection ritual will not end until I am fully reborn; this is the fundamental rule of hell."

Baphomet's voice became extremely shrill, as if he were enduring some kind of extreme torture.

"This means that for the past period of time, I have been staying in the resurrection pool, watching my body being burned to ashes by your flames."

"New flesh grows, only to be burned to charcoal. Bones remodel, then are burned to ashes. Internal organs, barely healed, are vaporized by the high temperature!"

"Constantly burned! Constantly reborn! And then burned again!"

"Time and time again! Day after day!"

Its pupils widened, and black tears of blood flowed from its eyes, instantly evaporating under the scorching heat of the remaining heat.

"No demon can withstand this torture. Your flames are devouring my life force, while the rules of hell are forcibly infusing me with it!"

"Do you know what that feels like? It's the purest form of hell, more vicious than any other punishment!"

Baphomet released his hands, and the flesh on his chest quickly closed up under the powerful regenerative force, but was immediately scalded with several blackened cracks by the flames inside.

Then it looked down at Su Long, its tone full of murderous intent.

"Sulong, I've put in a lot of effort to put out your damned flames."

"I devoured the territories of three entire demon lords, and only managed to suppress it to this extent with the resentment of millions of dead souls!"

"Now, I've finally climbed out."

Baphomet suddenly raised his arm, and a ball of spiritual threads condensed in his palm. The threads continued to spread, pointing directly at Surong's head.

"die!"

The wisp of spiritual energy that had condensed in mid-air flew straight toward Su Long’s face, determined to cut him into pieces.

Su Long had no intention of taking the attack head-on and immediately deployed his [Flame Mist Sphere].

boom.

A large burst of purplish-gold flames erupted from Su Long's body, disintegrating into countless fine flame particles the instant they left his body.

These purplish-gold dust particles, like a sandstorm, spread wildly in all directions from Sulong as the center.

In just a few seconds, the space within a radius of tens of meters was completely filled with this thick layer of fire mist.

The spiritual threads that were heading straight for Sulong plunged into the fire mist, and the high-temperature particles immediately adhered to the threads, causing them to burn intensely.

Losing its target guidance in mid-air, the silk thread swept haphazardly across the ground, cutting the hard, scorched earth and the nearby broken tree trunks into pieces before breaking and dissipating in the high temperature.

Baphomet hovered in place, its horizontal pupils fixed on the churning purple-gold fog below.

The instant the fire and mist unfolded, it not only lost sight of Sulong, but also completely lost its proud sensory abilities.

Those fine flame particles themselves contained extremely high spirituality, completely shielding Baphomet's detection and turning him blind.

"A mere trick." Baphomet sneered, spewing out a plume of black smoke mixed with sparks from his throat.

Since we can't find the exact location, let's just crush this entire area.

Its withered demonic body transformed into a grayish-white afterimage and plunged into the purple-gold mist below without hesitation.

And in the deepest part of the fog.

Sulong stood quietly in place. To outsiders, this fiery fog was an impenetrable barrier to the senses, but to the one who released it, these floating flame particles were an extension of his senses.

Through the purplish-gold mist, Su Long clearly saw Baphomet crash headfirst into his hunting grounds.

He aimed at Baphomet, and the moment he pulled the hammer, [Deadly Tempo] activated!

The spiritual energy within him, accompanied by the flames of destruction, poured wildly into the cylinder of the revolver.

Bang bang bang bang!

Six consecutive gunshots rang out in the mist, bullets formed from purple-gold world-destroying flames, trailing flames, heading straight for Baphomet's chest.

Baphomet reacted extremely quickly; even with its vision obstructed, it still detected the bullets rapidly approaching from below.

With only a little skin and flesh left, the right hand suddenly swung forward, and dozens of extremely sharp dark red threads instantly extended from the tips of its five fingers.

The silk threads rapidly intertwined in front of it, forming an impenetrable cutting net that fiercely enveloped the six bullets.

The first three world-destroying fireballs struck the silken net squarely, shattering in mid-air.

But the fire that destroys the world is completely unreasonable.

The moment the bullet was shredded, the compressed, violent spirituality within it went completely out of control.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three enormous purple-gold fireballs exploded in mid-air, the terrifying heat and shockwaves tearing apart the dark red silk net.

The remaining flames spread rapidly, transforming into three new high-temperature mists that superimposed themselves on the existing fire mist, raising the surrounding fog density to a new level.

With the wire mesh destroyed, Baphomet's gates were wide open.

The three subsequent fireballs pierced through the flames of the explosion without hindrance and struck Baphomet squarely in the chest.

Huge explosions rang out one after another.

A purple-gold fireball exploded in Baphomet's chest, and the violent shockwave sent his massive demonic body flying backward several meters.

The intense heat raged along the point of explosion, and the newly grown dark red flesh on Baphomet's chest was blasted into ashes by the world-destroying flames, exposing his pale ribs to the air. Even the surface of his bones showed large areas of carbonized cracks.

"roar"

Baphomet steadied himself in mid-air and let out a suppressed roar of pain.

Then he lowered his head, looking at the deep, bone-revealing hole in his chest, and the purple-gold sparks that were constantly drilling into his flesh at the edge of the wound. A strong aura of blood began to emanate wildly from his entire body.

"That feeling again—"

Baphomet bared his fangs, spewing plumes of black smoke mixed with sparks from his nostrils. His dark yellow pupils were bloodshot as he stared intently at the thick fog below.

"That smell of being roasted alive again—it's disgusting!"

It's had enough! In the resurrection pool of hell, it has smelled the scorching smell of its own flesh and blood countless times, and now that it has just crawled out, it has to suffer the same torment again.

Reason was completely destroyed at this moment, and Baphomet abandoned all defense.

Its huge bat wings spread out fully, and it slammed downwards with force.

A fierce wind arose, and this enormous force barely dispersed a small portion of the fire mist around it. Using this thrust, Baphomet completely abandoned all its tactics and recklessly crashed into the deepest part of the densest fog below.

It will use the most brutal methods to find that damned human and tear him to pieces!

But the price of rushing into the fog is extremely high.

This space was filled with deadly sparks of fire. The moment Baphomet charged forward, countless fire particles, like sharks that had smelled blood, frantically clung to its body.

"Hiss hiss hiss—"

"7

Intense burning sounds rang out all over Baphomet's body at the same time. The blood on his skin was rapidly evaporated under the high temperature, and the flesh that had just healed was once again ulcerated in large areas.

Now it has completely transformed into a burning monster, braving temperatures high enough to instantly incinerate ordinary people, and rampaging through the mist with its A-grade demonic body.

Nearly.

five meters.

three meters.

Baphomet, relying on his intuition, finally spotted Suron's figure amidst the thick fog of fire.

It let out a wild roar of joy, and its intact left arm shot out.

The thick, sharp claws tore through the flames in front of them, heading straight for Surong's face.

If that blow landed squarely, it would be enough to tear his head off along with his cervical spine.

A dozen meters behind, Elena gripped her greatsword tightly, her palms sweating profusely, while Byron pulled the trigger immediately.

But Su Long, who was at the very center of the attack, did not retreat even half a step.

Looking at the enormous demonic claw less than half a meter from his nose, Surong even had the leisure to curl a mocking smile.

The next second, the [Slow Domain] unfolds!

The rules of the lag domain directly apply to Baphomet.

Su Long immediately noticed something was wrong.

The time delay that was invincible against low-level strange phenomena was forcibly broken by Baphomet's massive A-rank spiritual pressure.

Despite its muscles cracking under the heavy pressure of the rules, the flesh that had just healed and was charred burst open in large areas under the forceful exertion, and black blood splattered down from mid-air.

But this demon was completely unconcerned about physical damage, and forcibly resisted the rules of the domain with its immense spiritual power.

Its movements have indeed slowed down, but it is far from being at the mercy of others; it still retains a very threatening speed.

The distance is too close.

Baphomet's left arm claws were already close to Su Long's face, giving Su Long no chance to create distance. The dark red threads extending from the tips of his five fingers quickly converged and twisted into a thick, blood-red whip.

The whip, accompanied by an extremely piercing whistling sound, actually increased its speed within the sluggish area, lashing straight towards Su Long's head.

With a thought, the dense purple-gold flame mist surrounding Su Long immediately dissipated.

At the same time, [Shadow Strike] was activated, and his figure disintegrated into a pile of ashes on the spot.

The crimson whip lashed fiercely at the spot where he had just stood, carving a deep trench half a meter deep into the hard, scorched earth. Gravel and black mud flew wildly to both sides, and a piercing explosion resounded in the air.

The next moment, Su Long crossed a distance of more than ten meters and landed steadily between Elena and Byron.

As the fire and smoke dissipated, visibility returned to normal.

Elena and Byron, recognizing the current situation, immediately took action to fill the firepower gap left by Sulong's retreat.

Elena snatched the brass lantern from her tactical belt and held it high.

The warm yellow light inside the lantern suddenly surged, transforming into four solid beams of light that shot directly towards Baphomet 0 in mid-air.

The beams of light wrapped around the demon's limbs, forming four contracting halos that locked its joints tightly.

The lantern's beam of light possessed a sacred quality, and its halo tightened around Baphomet's wrists and ankles, immediately producing a violent reaction.

Large amounts of white smoke rose from the point where the halo made contact, accompanied by the sizzling sound of flesh being burned.

Byron gripped the silver, engraved M1911 pistol, pointed the muzzle at Baphomet's mutilated face, and pulled the trigger.

Bang bang bang bang!

The crisp sound of gunfire echoed across the empty logging trail.

A magazine was emptied instantly. The pure silver bullets, imbued with high-level exorcism spirituality, rained down on Baphomet.

The silver bullet struck Baphomet's large expanse of exposed flesh, exploding into clumps of foul-smelling black blood.

Although the physical attack could not inflict fatal damage on it, the exorcising properties of pure silver made it extremely irritable.

Baphomet roared and struggled, straining his arms to try and tear off the halos on his limbs.

Sulong stood between the two men, watching Baphomet who was temporarily restrained, and put "Sirius" back into its holster.

When he raised his hands again, the silver-white "Lucas" was already tightly wrapped around his fists.

This relic is now in a completely different state than before.

Having just slain Valak in the mortal realm, this high-level relic, imbued with self-awareness, seemed to have soothed Lucas's soul by drinking the blood of the demon god.

It broke through the star limit on its own without consuming any experience points or mithril coins.

With a slight thought, Su Long unveiled a brand-new information panel.

【Lucas's Contract☆☆☆☆】

Type: Blessing. Description: The flames of destruction can condense into a gauntlet structure on the surface, greatly increasing attack range! When a punch hits an enemy, it will always grant the host the [God of War] effect, lasting for 3,000 seconds, and can stack.

Additional effect: [God of War]. During this period, the host's physical strength, speed, reaction speed, and recovery ability are greatly enhanced. Pain and mental attacks are completely negated!

Comment: Take your brain out and put Lucas in! Charge! Punch!

Su Long quickly scanned the few lines of text.

The core mechanism of this relic has undergone a transformation, and the added [God of War] effect is powerful enough.

The four significant enhancements directly raised the physical limits of this body, but what truly allows it to roam freely in the inner world are the last two saving throws.

Su Long was well aware of his current situation.

This is the inner world, where neither he nor Byron can unleash their domains. Instead, they are facing an A-level demon capable of fully manipulating the underlying rules of the inner world.

If they were to fight using conventional tactics, their opponents could wear them down simply by using spiritual pressure and mental pollution.

But the God of War broke this deadlock.

Pain immunity means he can abandon all defenses and trade blows, while mental immunity allows him to ignore all the demon's soul interference.

The duration is thirty seconds and can be stacked indefinitely. As long as he can keep hitting the target with his punches, this state will continue indefinitely.

The system's evaluation was very fair.

Lucas now doesn't need to think about tactical maneuvering or calculate the difference in strength between the enemy and his side.

All he has to do is rush up like a madman and smash his fist into the other person's face.

Thinking of this, Su Long swung his arms, feeling the cold brass knuckles against his knuckles, and looked at Baphomet, who was frantically tearing apart the halo in mid-air, a fanatical smile appeared on his lips.

With this, what does it matter if we don't have a domain?

Surong's voice was filled with confidence: "Elena, Byron, find a way to help me hold this guy off. I have a way to deal with it now."

Elena reversed her hand and planted the greatsword upside down in the ground, while her left hand grabbed the brass lantern at her waist.

Then, with the click of metal clips, the lantern base was fitted into the end of the greatsword hilt.

This physical joining immediately resonated with the sacred lantern.

The warm yellow aura that had been suppressing the two suddenly changed its form, and the light plated the entire heavy longsword with a layer of holy golden light, driving away the surrounding stench and coldness.

Byron simply tucked the empty magazine of his M1911 back into his waistband, and with a flick of his wrist, pulled out a worn black notebook from the inside of his tactical vest.

Without hesitation, he bit his index finger and used it as a pen to write quickly on the blank page.

In mid-air, the time limit of the stagnation field was completely exhausted.

Baphomet immediately noticed that the feeling of being unable to move around his body had disappeared. He suddenly stretched his stiff, thick neck, and the bones inside his body made a series of cracking sounds like popping beans.

"Insects, your tricks have come to an end!"

It roared, and its huge bat wings flapped violently backward.

A gust of wind whipped up the black moss on the ground, causing the massive demonic body to transform into a gray afterimage as it swooped down towards the three people below.

Just as it was about to pounce on the group.

Byron's fingertips pressed heavily onto the notebook, marking the final stroke.

The name "Baphomet" was completely stained red with blood. After writing these words, Byron's face turned deathly pale, and he gasped for breath. It was clear that activating this holy relic had taken a huge toll on him.

Baphomet's body suddenly stiffened as he swooped down, as if he had hit an invisible wall and was abruptly stopped in mid-air.

"Pfft!"

Without warning, a thick, black iron bar pierced through Baphomet's chest, directly penetrating its heart.

After the iron bar pierced through flesh and blood, it quickly spread outwards into a complex mechanical structure.

A huge, jet-black dial, sharp hour, minute, and second hands took shape around its chest cavity, locking half of Baphomet's body in place.

"Ugh—" Baphomet suddenly spat out a mouthful of black blood mixed with sparks, his horizontal pupils filled with shock and pain.

It looked down at its chest and roared, "What the hell is this thing?!"

As an A-level anomaly, it was completely unaware of how the attack had occurred.

Despite the excruciating pain of his heart being pierced, Baphomet raised his left paw, intending to disintegrate the nasty thing in his chest.

Just as its claws were about to touch the iron bar, a blinding golden light slashed diagonally from the side.

Elena gripped the greatsword, which was now integrated with the lantern, and leaped high into the air. The blade, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound as it tore through the air, struck Baphomet's outstretched left wrist.

"when!"

An extremely piercing metallic cracking sound exploded in mid-air.

Baphomet's hard bones were like fragile withered branches in front of the greatsword wrapped in holy golden light. His left wrist was severed at the root, and the cut was as smooth as a mirror.

The broken demon claw fell to the ground and immediately turned into a pool of black water emitting a sour smell.

It let out a piercing scream, then was horrified to find that the severed limb, which could usually be reconstructed in the blink of an eye, was now completely unresponsive.

The sacred golden light clung to its severed wrist like a maggot, not only severing the flesh but also fundamentally suppressing its self-healing ability.

"You damned ant!" Baphomet went completely insane.

It swung its other, still-intact arm, forcefully deflecting the cross-shaped longsword, then took a sudden step forward, its claws digging towards Elena's chest.

"boom!"

A thick beam of sonic fire roared from behind and struck Baphomet squarely on the side of his face.

Su Long stood at a distance, his right fingertips still pointing forward.

The purple-gold flames of destruction, combined with the sonic impact of the [Ruler], smashed most of Baphomet's face, leaving it a bloody mess, and sent him flying backwards twice.

Using Sulong's cover, Elena quickly adjusted her posture and retreated away from the battlefield.

Baphomet was hit by the pillar of fire and smoke was coming out of his nostrils.

Before it could even turn its head to look for Su Long's location, it caught a glimpse of a gray-black afterimage appearing in front of it.

[Instant Shadow]!

Sulong traversed a distance of more than ten meters and instantly appeared in front of Baphomet's claws.

"You're asking for death!" Baphomet sneered, and five disintegrating threads extended from the tips of his claws, descending upon Sulong who was standing close by.

However, just as those disintegrating threads were about to touch Suron's mask...

"Click".

The strange clock on Baphomet's chest emitted an extremely crisp mechanical grinding sound.

The hour hand on the dial suddenly jumped forward one notch.

Baphomet's spirituality was completely disrupted by this, and blood gushed from his mouth again, while the rapidly spreading decomposing threads drooped limply.

Byron delivered the perfect assist!

And this was the moment Su Long had been waiting for!

Driven to the limit by his will, the spirituality within his body poured into "Lucas" on his fists without reservation.

boom!

The purplish-gold flames of destruction erupted along the silver-white knuckle duster.

Instead of spreading outwards as usual, these flames were quickly condensed and compressed under the power constraint of Lucas's four-star attribute, eventually transforming into a pair of heavy and ferocious flame gauntlets.

The gauntlet was larger than Sulong's head, its surface covered with rough magma textures, and five huge crucifixes were raised at the knuckles.

The extreme heat scorched and distorted the surrounding air.

"die!"

With a sudden burst of power from his waist and back, Sulong unleashed a torrent of muscular strength, combined with the heavy fire gauntlets, and slammed them down hard onto Baphomet's astonished demonic face.