Gun of Ashes

Chapter 42: Chapter 30 Holy Flame

It seems the entire world has lost its light, with nothing but indistinguishable darkness in sight. Eve walked within the dark passage, still hoping for the arrival of light. Just as Lorenzo said, when someone who has dwelt in darkness for a long time sees the light, it would be a kind of hysterical madness.

Lorenzo and Eve were now in a deeper part, and since the Stomach Chewing Grass escaped its restraints, the two of them hadn’t stopped moving until they arrived here.

The great detective was unsure of where exactly they were. Deadly silence and pitch blackness surrounded them, making it impossible to discern direction, while at this moment, maddening sounds constantly echoed.

The sounds came from behind the walls—strange and indescribable, sending shivers down the spine. It seemed as if a thousand steel needles were gently scratching against the walls, or like countless venomous snakes slithering, producing a rustling noise.

”It’s the Stomach Chewing Grass. It’s a mass of flesh and tentacles. Calling it grass is merely due to its plant-like traits, but its essence is still that of a demon, and now it has broken free.”

Lorenzo’s voice came from the darkness, but Eve couldn’t see his figure. This feeling was truly unsettling.

”What should we do?”

”Go upwards. We need to find a way out. Sooner or later, we’ll be devoured by the Stomach Chewing Grass if we stay here.”

A hand extended out in the darkness and grabbed Eve—it was Lorenzo. He lit up another cigarette to help Eve confirm his location.

The passageway extended in all directions, and the route was easy to confirm—just keep going up. But as they ascended, the passage began to shake violently. This phenomenon had occurred in the hall earlier, as if someone were bombarding the Underground Palace.

”Could it be someone coming to rescue us?”

In this deadly situation, Eve had forgotten about Lorenzo using her. She just wanted to escape this nightmare.

”Probably not. As a rule, Suyalan Hall would not have heavy artillery like this. But tonight, only Suyalan Hall knows we’re here. To mobilize such weaponry, they’d need to apply to the military, but even if approved, it wouldn’t arrive this quickly.”

The dust began falling from the passage walls, layer upon layer, as if the place could collapse at any moment.

”Unless... unless there’s another group...”

The whole incident seemed to become clearer. Lorenzo struggled to move forward, trying to find an exit.

Tonight had nothing to do with Lorenzo. This was a contest between Sabo and another power. Those demons weren’t intended for him but for the ones attacking here. Lorenzo and Eve were merely the lambs that strayed into this battle.

”Do you smell anything?”

Eve sniffed the air, seemingly noticing something.

Lorenzo removed the cigarette—the tobacco aroma somewhat interfering with his judgment.

A clear inhalation came from the darkness, silence persisted for a moment, and then Lorenzo’s voice sounded once more.

”Good news, bad news.”

With Eve in tow, Lorenzo started running along the passage without heeding the noises of the Stomach Chewing Grass. The two of them seemed eager to meet their end.

”The good news is a more professional team is here to rescue us. They understand using kerosene to seal off the Underground Palace; demons fear flames, which largely weakens them.”

Lorenzo shouted loudly.

”The bad news is we’re also in the Underground Palace—they’ll burn us to death too!”

In the darkness, the thick smoke smell was now clear, even at such a depth, making it hard to imagine what had burned above ground.

”Should we keep going up?”

Eve panicked, realizing that continuing upwards would mean a head-on collision with the sea of flames. But going down would only lead to a dead end.

”Downwards! The Underground Palace is so deep and houses so many people; it must have its own drainage system. We need to find it.”

Lorenzo quickly thought of a new route. Before coming to the Underground Palace, he had prepared comprehensively.

”Old Dunling’s underground drainage system serves the entire steam system, extending to every corner of the city. Vast amounts of steam surge from the underground steam engines, and accumulated rainwater will fall again, all eventually returning to the Thames River.”

Having mingled in Old Dunling for so long, Lorenzo had long since ingrained all knowledge about it into his mind.

”There must be a hidden channel for sewage here in the Underground Palace. If we find it, we can directly follow it back to the Thames River!”

In terms of escape, this detective proved unbelievably reliable. At this moment, he didn’t bother with concealment, directly swinging the Staff Sword to cleave open the iron door at the end of the passageway. Having run for so long, it was the first door Lorenzo had seen, and whatever lay inside, he had to see it.

The iron door shattered, and dense smoke poured into the passage. As the two entered, they immediately felt an intense heat.

It seemed to be beneath that hall, and at the dark end, flames were rising, rapidly approaching.

It burned with flames as it moved forward, emitting a low whimpering sound. Its tentacles scraped against the walls, producing a sound like scales rubbing together.

”I guess that must be the demon accompanying the Stomach Chewing Grass.”

Lorenzo’s expression turned grim. Just like flowers in nature, Stomach Chewing Grass can provide shelter for demons, but similarly, the seeds of the grass can parasitize the demons, growing iron-like red grass from their grotesque bodies.

Raising the shotgun in his hand, Lorenzo pulled the trigger, and countless pellets hit the flesh with immense force, splattering blood. But more appendages grew from the wounds, driven by excruciating pain and a hunger for flesh, propelling the deformed demon forward.

”Run, and if you see anything resembling a water channel, hold your breath and jump down!”

Lorenzo didn’t retreat, instead speaking coldly to Eve.

”What about you?”

Eve was puzzled, wondering if Lorenzo intended to face the demon alone.

”Run! You’ll just be in the way if you stay here!”

The demon began to charge forward, and Lorenzo shouted angrily, pushing Eve aside. Staggering a few steps, Eve looked back at the silhouette against the firelight, as if making a decision, then turned and ran with all her might, shouting as she went.

”I’ll wait for you behind!”

In such a deadly situation, someone offering to wait for you would have moved Lorenzo to tears in the past, but now was different. The urgency of the situation left no room for other thoughts.

Essentially, hunting demons is an extremely dangerous task. Demons corrupt the mind, not to mention the close-quarters battle and being drenched in enemy blood.

Even Lorenzo couldn’t be sure he could keep his sanity under such circumstances, so Eve had to leave. There were also other factors, like things absolutely no one else could know.

Grabbing the sharp Staff Sword, just as the demon was about to collide with him, the detective’s figure contorted bizarrely, an impossible movement for a normal person’s flexibility, yet he achieved it, finding a blind spot in the massive figure, then forcefully passing through, the sword slicing and splattering large amounts of blood.

The demon let out a hoarse wail, and the appendages on its body awoke as if from sleep, entwining like serpents, surging toward Lorenzo, only to be met by a sharp white light.

Lorenzo braced himself with the Staff Sword, a faint white vapor rising from beneath his clothes, like steam.

His gray-blue eyes began to narrow, eventually transforming into vertical slits like those of a wild beast. Something seemed to writhe beneath his skin, though only faint bulges could be seen due to his clothes. He slowly raised his sword, the tip gently tilting down, teetering on the edge of reason.

The next second, the demon roared forward, its appendages swinging like swords, devouring any flesh they touched with tiny mouths, but the sword light struck down like thunder, cutting through everything like a guillotine.

The figure quickly rolled, and upon entering that peculiar state, Lorenzo’s bodily functions constantly enhanced—running faster, striking more swiftly. He could even leap straight over the enormous body of the demon with just a simple jump.

Afterward, the shotgun launched an attack from above, densely packed pellets precisely hitting the demon’s head, creating a hole the size of a bowl. Lorenzo abandoned the shotgun, letting it fall freely.

All this lethal action happened within mere seconds. Lorenzo was still mid-air, forcefully kicking off the wall, and, using this momentum, he grasped the sword with both hands and stabbed down with ferocity akin to lightning.

The descending lightning judged the demon with a Fire Sword.

The sharp Staff Sword plunged down the hole made by the shotgun, penetrating the demon’s head, but by then the Stomach Chewing Grass had also caught Lorenzo, countless maws biting onto him like a pack of wolves. At the feeding speed seen in the pit, Lorenzo would be devoured within seconds, and even if he escaped now, the grass would parasitize his body, leaving death as his only fate.

An endless stream of blood poured from his body, leaving behind only a scrawny white skeleton on the demon’s body. This was the next expected sequence, but none of it happened.

It was something distasteful, at least for the Stomach Chewing Grass. The maws pierced Lorenzo’s skin, greedily sucking the warm blood, but quickly, the demon’s limited intelligence realized something.

It was blood that made the demon nauseous, and Lorenzo’s body emitted an aura identical to that of the demons. It seemed that, for a brief moment, this human had turned into a demon. It was confused, but violent pain quickly overwhelmed everything.

Blood-red appendages wrapped tightly around Lorenzo, but in the gaps between them, an endless white flame erupted, scorching every part of the demon.

”It hurts, doesn’t it!”

Amid the white flames, there was madness in Lorenzo’s expression. His blood burned, like a chemical agent, having no effect outside the body but erupting into fire upon contact with demon flesh.

He held firm to the Staff Sword, blood flowing along the blade’s grooves into the flesh beneath, igniting more ferocious flames. Every inch of the demon’s flesh burned to ash under the Holy Flame, yet it couldn’t harm Lorenzo.

The massive form raged wildly, trying to shake off Lorenzo, but the detective remained fixed in place as if nailed to its head. The Stomach Chewing Grass churned up, only to be consumed by greater flames.

The thunderous clash lasted long, like a beast’s desperate struggle until the demon finally slowed and died.

The holy white flame had burned through its shell, leaving only unburned flesh and ash within the massive corpse. Lorenzo paused for a long time before slowly standing using his Staff Sword as support, his face pale and barely able to stand.

In battling demons, he usually prepared extensively, but life in Old Dunling had made him forget his past. He thought the demons were extinct, but they had found him today.

The demon had died, burned alive by Lorenzo’s blood, but he too was woozy from blood loss. Picking up the shotgun, he used the Staff Sword as a crutch to move slowly forward.

Gently touching his back, where Lorenzo’s spine was, but unlike a normal human’s spine, there was a very noticeable protrusion.

”The Silver Binding Bolt is still intact...”

He sighed deeply, unsure what he felt relieved about.

But just as Lorenzo prepared to let his guard down, that instinctive warning rose again, coming from ahead of him, the direction where Eve had gone.