Curse Reply: After choosing Nawa, the cursed spirit cursed me for being cruel.

The procedure revealed—a discordant note!

Om-!

An invisible wave rippled outwards from it. It felt its spell power output instantly increase by a full 20%!

The enhanced acquisition of public spells temporarily suppressed the chaotic backlash from the Devouring Curse Spirit, and also gave a slight boost to its strongest attack method.

"Die!!"

It pours all its power, along with the amplification from the public spell, into the next attack.

A huge, grayish-white, ring-shaped sound wave, combining ultrasonic and infrasonic waves, burst forth from its gaping maw!

The sound wave had an extremely wide range and incredibly fast speed. Almost instantly, it covered a large area where Duanmu Yan was located. Moreover, it completely ignored the low-level curse spirits below.

Wherever the sound waves passed, whether they rushed towards Duanmu Yan or were slightly away from the cursed spirits, as long as they were affected, their bodies were instantly struck as if by an invisible giant hammer. Their carapaces shattered, their soft bodies disintegrated, and they turned into pools of splattered filth. Their consciousness was directly shaken into nothingness!

This is an indiscriminate area-of-effect attack!

"Ok?"

As soon as the bat spirit began chanting the public incantation, Duanmu Yan sensed the intense gathering of magical power and fluctuations in the rules, and became wary.

Faced with this unavoidable, giant ring-shaped sonic wave, he did not hesitate. He gripped the Molten Scale Blade tightly with both hands, holding it horizontally in front of him. The energy hum of his armor was raised to the extreme, concentrating his defense directly in front of him.

"Molten Flame Defense!"

Boom!!!

The terrifying sonic wave struck the broad blade of the Melting Scale Blade and Duanmu Yan's crossed arms as he parried. An unimaginable impact and high-frequency vibrations came simultaneously, causing the armor to creak and the air in front of the goggles to distort into a blur.

The ground beneath Duanmu Yan's feet suddenly collapsed, and the force propelled her backward for seven or eight meters, carving out two deep furrows before she could barely stop her momentum.

Shallow marks appeared on the blade and arm armor used for parrying, and wisps of blue smoke rose from them.

"You've got some skills." Duanmu Yan shook his slightly numb arm, but his eyes behind the glasses became even sharper.

After revealing the technique, this guy's attack strength and strangeness did indeed rise to a new level.

"Roar!!" Seeing that its attack had worked, the bat spirit was invigorated. Ignoring the increased self-consumption from revealing the spell and the backlash from devouring its own kind, it opened its massive maw repeatedly!

laugh!laugh!laugh!

One after another, condensed gray-white sonic blades shot towards Duanmu Yan!

It was determined not to let this terrifying red monster get any closer! At the same time, it forced the remaining low-level cursed spirits to keep rushing forward, using their bodies to slow down Duanmu Yan's advance.

As soon as Duanmu Yan approached, a cursed spirit blocked his way. He quickly retreated, maintaining his distance and bombarding the area with long-range sonic waves.

A tug-of-war! It's going to wear this human down!

With its superior total magical power and so many cannon fodder to sacrifice, and even the ability to absorb and replenish itself when necessary, as long as it maintains its distance, victory will be its sooner or later!

Chapter 9 Forgiving You Is God's Business

However, just as it once again gathered its magical power and confidently unleashed another sonic blade powerful enough to tear through steel, aiming at Duanmu Yan, who was slightly entangled by several level-two magical spirits.

Duanmu Yan didn't even look at the incoming sound wave. He simply threw a punch at the air in front of him!

call--!

A fireball flew out of his hand and exploded about three meters in front of him!

The grayish-white sonic blade that rushed towards them decreased in speed abruptly, like a snowflake thrown into boiling water, and disappeared completely.

"W-what?!" The bat spirit's smug expression froze on his face, turning into horror and disbelief.

Its attack...was neutralized? How is that possible?! How could a sonic attack...?

"Sound transmission requires a medium, such as air." Duanmu Yan casually killed the last entangled level-two cursed spirit beside him, and his voice came calmly.

"All I need to do is burn up the air in front of me before your attack arrives. It's simple physics, isn't it?"

"No... Impossible!!" The bat spirit panicked completely. Its greatest reliance, its ranged attacks that enabled it to wage a protracted war, had been broken through in such a simple way?!

It frantically spewed out sound waves again, but Duanmu Yan always managed to throw a punch in advance, detonating the air.

Duanmu Yan, however, was no longer giving it any chance.

Having broken through the opponent's strongest offensive and cleared most of the obstacles in front of him, he stomped his foot, his figure transforming into a streak of crimson lightning, instantly breaking through dozens of meters in distance, and the Molten Scale Blade once again raised its scorching light!

"Fierce Flame Slash!"

A crimson sword aura slashed fiercely at the bat spirit's hastily raised forelimb to block, leaving a deep, charred wound that exposed bone.

"cut!"

The second blow followed immediately, delivered at a tricky angle, rising from below and striking heavily on the deepest old wound in its chest and abdomen. The wound reopened and widened, gushing blood like a waterfall.

"Slay again!"

With his third strike, Duanmu Yan spun around and unleashed his power, the Melting Scale Blade drawing a horizontal arc of light, carrying a burning will that could tear everything apart, and fiercely slashed across the bat spirit's terrified neck!

Although it failed to completely sever the tough cursed spirit's body, the terrifying cutting force and high temperature almost completely destroyed its neck bone and main energy nodes!

"It's time to end you!"

Three consecutive slashes, each a critical strike, forced the bat spirit to stagger backward, its aura rapidly waning. Its body was almost entirely covered in blood, its shattered wings and mangled limbs hanging limply.

As the deadly red figure drew near once more, the bat spirit's eyes were finally consumed by boundless fear.

It barely managed to raise one front paw, making a gesture of defense and pleading, its hoarse voice filled with sorrow: "Wait, wait! I... I've only just been resurrected! I haven't even had a chance to hurt anyone! Could it be... could it be that being born a cursed spirit means I deserve to die?!"

Its performance was incredibly realistic; it even squeezed out a sticky substance resembling tears from its compound eyes.

Duanmu Yan charged forward without pausing or hesitating for a moment.

He immediately retracted the Molten Scale Blade, and the red crystals on his armor arm guards simultaneously emitted a dazzling light. He crossed his fists in front of his chest, and a terrifying heat that caused the surrounding space to distort converged wildly.

“Isn’t it right? I am human, you are a cursed spirit, it is God’s business to forgive you.”

Spiral flames had already formed on his fists, resembling two fiery dragons ready to devour their prey.

"All I can do is take you to see him."

"Molten Spiral Fist!"

"No!! Damn it! I curse you! I curse all of humanity!!"

Seeing that pleading for mercy was futile, the bat spirit completely tore off its disguise, unleashing its most venomous purplish-black light, and roaring with its last ounce of strength.

"I won't let you get away with this! Next time! When I'm resurrected... Ughh ...

Its curses and threats were drowned out by the roar of the blazing spiral flames.

boom--

The two helical flame fists merged into one, transforming into a scorching torrent with a diameter exceeding two meters, completely engulfing the bat spirit's tattered body.

Under the extreme heat and purifying power, the near-special-grade cursed spirit was completely vaporized and annihilated amidst the blinding white light and earth-shattering explosion, leaving only a huge scorched crater on the ground.

The aftershocks of the explosion swept outwards, clearing away most of the remaining low-level cursed spirits that were already terrified.

Duanmu Yan slowly withdrew his fist, high-temperature white steam rising from his armor.

Without pausing, his gaze swept over the few low-level cursed spirits that had been spared from the earlier battle and were now trembling and trying to hide in the corners of the factory and the gaps in the pipes.

"The cleanup must be thorough."

Over the next three minutes, sporadic flames and short screams flickered and rang out in the abandoned water treatment plant, only to quickly extinguish and fall silent again.

When Duanmu Yan stopped again and raised the curse spirit detector, the screen showed a clean area within a 500-meter radius of him, with not a single red dot.

He nodded in satisfaction.

Almost simultaneously, system notification sounds rang out in succession:

[Defeat one Quasi-Special Grade Cursed Spirit, gain 10000 points]

[Defeat 4 level 2 cursed spirits, gain 400 points]

[Defeat 11 Level 3 Cursed Spirits, gain 110 points]

[Defeat 116 Level 4 Cursed Spirits, gain 116 points]

Total points earned in this kill: 10626

[Received 1 Epic Chest, 3 Elite Chests, and 10 Normal Chests.]

Her points skyrocketed, and she also acquired a bunch of treasure chests. Duanmu Yan was about to remove her armor to rest and check her loot.

Without warning, two green dots suddenly appeared on the edge of the detector's screen, slowly approaching the center of the factory area where he was located.

The red dot represents a cursed spirit, so this green one... is it a person?

Moreover, there are two.

Almost simultaneously with the appearance of the green dot, a magnetic yet somewhat cynical and exaggerated young male voice pierced the silence of the factory night, drifting from the direction of the entrance, which seemed both distant and near:

"Oh dear, Jay! Looks like we're a step too late!"

There wasn't much regret in his voice; rather, it sounded more like he had discovered something interesting.

"That noisy big bat seems to have been taken care of by someone beforehand~ What a waste of a trip!"

Another male voice, tinged with a hint of helplessness, followed closely, growing closer:

"Isn't that because someone insisted on going to eat that newly opened limited edition sweets first? By the time you finished dawdling, not only will the cursed spirits be gone, but the battlefield will be completely deserted."

"What does it matter? Dessert is in another stomach! Besides, isn't this convenient? But..."

The light voice paused, seemingly tinged with even greater interest, "To be able to take down that near-Special Grade so cleanly and efficiently... I'd like to meet this sorcerer."

Footsteps, accompanied by casual conversation, were already clearly audible, heading towards Duanmu Yan's location.

Duanmu Yan stood still, his deep red armor silently illuminated by the moonlight and the faint glow of the distant city, his dark blue goggles on his mask turned toward the direction from which the sound came.

They're here...

Chapter 10 The Strongest Duo

Footsteps approached.

Xia Youjie was the first to emerge from behind a pile of overturned metal supports.