Chapter 11: Massacre

The next day, Wang Chong ate a simple meal as usual and prepared to head to Thunderclap Swamp again.

He intended to confront that cat demon once more.

Stepping out of the courtyard, he happened to see several goblins walking in the direction of Thunderclap Swamp.

They all carried sharpened wooden sticks; Sona even limped, needing support from the others.

Seeing Wang Chong approach, Sona startled violently and quickly dodged aside.

Looking at the pitiful state of the goblins, Wang Chong felt a pang of reluctance.

No longer daring to steal from Wang Chong yet unwilling to starve, the goblins were clearly heading to Thunderclap Swamp to try their luck.

However, these goblins were far too weak; upon reaching Thunderclap Swamp, they would inevitably suffer.

Although their paths initially coincided, Sona, perhaps still haunted by memories of Wang Chong, detoured halfway through.

Wang Chong's hunting was no longer just for food; his goal was clear—the cat demon—so he headed straight for the spot where it had appeared yesterday.

The location where the cat demon appeared yesterday lay at the boundary between the outer perimeter and the center of Thunderclap Swamp.

Few people ever ventured here; thorns grew everywhere, there were no paths, and the terrain was extremely difficult to traverse.

Moreover, this area was significantly more dangerous than the outer perimeter; encountering a powerful first-tier beast would not be surprising.

Therefore, Wang Chong needed to be extra cautious.

He searched the area where the cat demon had appeared for over half an hour but found no trace of it.

"Strange, beasts each have their own territories and generally do not wander elsewhere; why has the cat demon disappeared?" Wang Chong wondered, full of confusion.

Nevertheless, Wang Chong would not return empty-handed; since it was still early, he decided to expand his search radius.

"Meow!"

Just as Wang Chong had moved a short distance, a sudden, fierce cat cry rang out.

The sound was not loud, yet it made one's ears ache and sent chills through the heart.

"It's the cat demon; it seems to be fighting," Wang Chong's eyes lit up.

Battles between beasts were common; Wang Chong decided to investigate, hoping that two beasts might injure each other, allowing him to reap a great reward.

Wang Chong rushed at extreme speed toward the source of the sound, when suddenly he spotted several familiar figures.

"It's them!"

Several goblins were running for their lives; it was Sona and the others, with a cat demon chasing relentlessly behind them.

"Ah!"

A scream rang out as the cat demon pounced on one goblin; instead of killing him outright, it left a bone-deep claw mark on his back as it tackled him, instantly dyeing the goblin's back red with blood.

Only then did Wang Chong notice that all the goblins were already covered in blood; clearly, the cat demon intended not only to kill them but to do so in the most cruel manner possible.

Without pausing, the cat demon pounced on one, then immediately on the second, then the third, then the fourth, until only the last remained.

When it finally tackled the goblin who had been running in the lead, it stepped on him, bit a chunk of flesh from his neck, then turned to look at the other goblins.

It swallowed the piece of meat, blood dripping from the corners of its mouth; beneath its human-like expression lay a cruel smile.

"Meow~"

"Despicable goblins, daring to enter my territory; I will bite off your flesh piece by piece and let your blood drain drop by drop, meow..."

"Kook..." The other goblins looked sorrowfully at the one pinned beneath the cat demon's feet.

"I don't want to die..." Kook, whose neck had been bitten by the cat demon, was not yet dead; he crawled laboriously on the ground.

"Meow!" The cat demon pressed Kook down with its claw, watching his struggles excitedly until Kook fell silent.

"Beast!" At that moment, Wang Chong finally arrived; the cat demon's brutality filled him with uncontrollable rage.

"Meow! It's you!" The cat demon also recognized Wang Chong.

"I let you escape yesterday; originally, I only wanted to kill a few goblins to vent my anger, but I didn't expect you to dare show up today. Good, excellent; now I can settle everything with you at once!"

The cat demon let out a low growl, the fur on its back bristling; it bent its front legs slightly and suddenly leaped into the air, swinging its sharp claws toward Wang Chong's face.

"Die!" Wang Chong did not dodge; a great sword instantly appeared in his hands, which he gripped with both and raised high to meet the cat demon.

"Mountain-Crushing Strike!"

Boom!

Striking in fury, Wang Chong unleashed a force of a thousand jin; the powerful shockwave sent sand and stones dancing wildly.

The cat demon's body was blown away by the shockwave, but it remained unharmed, using a rebound to dissipate most of the force.

"Meow!"

Having suffered a setback, the cat demon radiated a piercing killing intent.

"Pah! A mere kitten daring to act wildly before Grandpa; you seek your own death!" Wang Chong showed no weakness.

The cat demon was thoroughly enraged; its back arched like a tightly drawn spring, its triangular eyes fixed unblinkingly on Wang Chong.

"Die for me!"

Wang Chong took a step forward and launched the first attack.

"Thrust!"

At that moment, his movements were swift as lightning, leaving only an afterimage where he had stood; in the next instant, he was before the cat demon, the tip of his sword blazing with light as he stabbed fiercely toward its belly.

Just as the cat demon seemed destined to be pierced through the heart, Wang Chong saw a mocking expression, like a human face, appear on the beast's visage.

"Meow-woo~"

"Foolish beyond measure!"

The cat demon's arched body caused its belly to contract backward in a bizarre posture.

The golden light at the sword's tip stopped merely one centimeter from the cat demon's belly.

"Die!" The cat demon's contracted belly instantly snapped back; its sharp claws, like steel blades flashing with cold light, slashed toward Wang Chong.

The surging light on the great sword had already faded, and Wang Chong's forward momentum had reached its limit; the cat demon's transformation was simply too fast, making it too late to dodge.

On the cat demon's face, which resembled a human's, an extremely excited light burst forth.

Just then, Wang Chong smiled.

"Continuous Thrust!"

"Swish!"

The great sword, having shed its light, was once again enveloped in golden radiance, its momentum even more formidable than before, as Wang Chong's figure flashed past like lightning.

The next moment, he had appeared behind the cat demon; as the light dissipated, a drop of blood trickled from the sword tip to the ground.

The cat demon looked down at its pierced belly, an expression of disbelief crossing its face, before collapsing to the ground, convulsing silently.

All of this had been within Wang Chong's calculations.

"So strong!" Sona's mouth hung open, completely stunned.

Wang Chong dug around the cat demon's body for a while, but this time he was disappointed.

Although the cat demon was difficult to deal with, its cultivation was not as high as the giant lizard's, so no semi-finished crystal core had formed.

"My lord, you are too amazing; you actually killed the cat demon so easily," several goblins finally came to their senses and praised repeatedly.

"My lord, you saved us; from now on, our lives belong to you," Sona suddenly approached Wang Chong and dropped to his knees with a thud.