Chapter 521: The Little Town

Wow!

A bluish-black fog churned thickly outside the town's walls. From within the fog, eerie shadows slowly emerged—one after another, creatures that looked like wolves, but what made one's hair stand on end was that each of these creatures had a grotesque, twisted human face on its head.

Moreover, their four limbs were hands just like a human's.

The eyes of those human faces brimmed with endless savagery and cruelty.

At this moment, these aberrations were prowling outside the walls. From atop the walls, a faint golden light radiated outward like a protective barrier. The source of that golden light was a golden tiger tally suspended in midair; the golden light appeared incomparably sharp, as if ten thousand golden blades were flowing within it.

From time to time, some of the aberrations would let out cries like a baby's, then pounce forward.

As the golden light spun, it shredded them directly into puddles of black rotten flesh.

The rotten flesh was still wriggling—extremely disgusting to look at.

Just then, the fog behind them suddenly stirred, and the horde of human-faced wolves retreated en masse. The next moment, an exceptionally tall and burly human-faced wolf strode out from within—and that human-faced wolf had two faces!

"Two-Faced Human Wolf!"

From atop the walls, cries of terror rang out.

"Commander, we're in trouble this time! The Golden Tiger Tally probably won't hold!" There were several dozen figures atop the walls. One of them looked toward the center, where stood a burly middle-aged man. At this moment, the latter's cold, hard face also looked exceptionally grim.

"Even if we can't hold, we still have to!"

The middle-aged man called the commander gritted his teeth and said, "If we can't hold here, everyone in the town will die! I don't want my old mother eaten by these things. Your families are in there too—you don't want that either, do you?"

Hearing his words, the other figures atop the walls gradually tightened their grips on their weapons, and surges of Xiang Power began to flow through their bodies.

Seeing the men's morale lifted once more, the middle-aged man finally breathed a quiet sigh of relief in his heart, then knit his brows tightly as he stared ahead, fists clenched.

The middle-aged man's name was Huang Lou. He himself possessed the strength of the Earth Evil General rank, Evil Palace realm. Several years ago, when the Black Wind Empire still stood, he held the lofty position of garrison commander of a city—quite a man of status. But all of that vanished like smoke the moment that terrifying "Aberration Calamity" erupted.

The order of the entire empire collapsed in an instant.

Every faction with any foundation was frantically fleeing the Black Wind Empire.

He too left the city where he'd been stationed, taking some brothers with him to escape to this little town where he was born. This place was an extremely remote town of the Black Wind Empire, yet even so, the Aberration Calamity gradually ran rampant and spread its way here.

Against the previous encroachments of the aberrations, he had relied on his Evil Palace realm strength and this "Golden Tiger Tally"—which he'd stolen from the city lord's residence when fleeing—to shelter the town.

But that time did not last long; the aberrations' strength was clearly growing stronger and stronger.

Now, a Two-Faced Human Wolf had even appeared.

From that Two-Faced Human Wolf's body, he sensed an extremely intense aura of danger.

This time, relying on this lower-grade Golden-Eye treasure, the "Golden Tiger Tally," could they still hold?

Just as Huang Lou's heart grew heavy, outside the walls the Two-Faced Human Wolf suddenly let out a piercing, baby-like shriek. As its cry rang out, the other human-faced wolves immediately surged toward the walls like a tide.

A sky-covering wave of bluish-black qi rolled in, carrying a nauseating stench.

Seeing this, Huang Lou activated the Golden Tiger Tally without the slightest hesitation.

Roar!

Golden light exploded forth. A golden light-tiger leapt out from the tally, unleashing a deafening tiger's roar. The sound waves of that roar became almost tangible, shredding every pouncing human-faced wolf into pieces.

But the human-faced wolves felt no fear whatsoever—they were nothing but pure killing monsters—so they continued to throw themselves forward wave after wave.

Yet as more and more human-faced wolves surged up, the tiger's roar from the golden light-tiger was clearly weakening, after all—its energy was not infinite.

Moreover, just as the golden light-tiger began to show signs of fatigue, the Two-Faced Human Wolf suddenly shot forth. Both of its human faces opened their mouths at once—pfft! —and a clump of pitch-black, viscous, foul-smelling black mist shot out like an arrow, piercing through the golden light at the very instant the golden light-tiger's might weakened, striking the golden light-tiger dead-on.

Wooo!

The golden light-tiger let out a wail; the golden light dimmed rapidly, and finally it condensed into a single thread of light and shrank back into the golden tiger tally.

And on the surface of the golden tiger tally, a black blotch appeared, and a foul stench began to waft out.

As if it had been corrupted.

"Damn it!"

Seeing this scene, Huang Lou's face changed drastically. He hurriedly put away the Golden Tiger Tally, his eyes full of heartache.

And as Huang Lou put away the Golden Tiger Tally, with the golden light barrier gone, the Two-Faced Human Wolf was the first to charge out, its fanged maw dripping with blackish saliva as it let out a piercing, baby-like shriek.

"Meet the enemy!"

Huang Lou drew his great blade, and killing intent erupted across his cold, hard face as he bellowed.

They were the town's last line of defense. If they were breached here, the town would be slaughtered by the aberrations.

"Kill!"

On the walls, several dozen figures roared as they charged. Their eyes still held some fear—after all, they had experienced the horror of the aberrations firsthand. Many of their brothers, after clashing with the aberrations, had been corrupted. They could only watch helplessly as living people gradually twisted, no longer remembering any emotion, becoming a kind of hair-raising monster.

Behind the walls, one could still faintly see many figures watching in terror and despair—those were the people of the town. They all understood: once the walls were breached, none of them would escape death.

No—compared to being corrupted by the aberrations, death was actually the easier thing.

Boom!

Huang Lou's gaze locked dead onto the Two-Faced Human Wolf. At this moment, his powerful Xiang Power erupted violently. His Xiang Power was a grayish-white color; as it flowed, the muscles all over his body seemed to become as hard as rock.

Clearly, he possessed the Stone Physique.

Bang!

Huang Lou's body shot out first. His figure hung briefly in midair, his great blade wrapped in surging Xiang Power. He slashed down—a blade-light over ten zhang long carried a chill as it slashed straight toward the Two-Faced Human Wolf.

Facing Huang Lou's furious slash, the Two-Faced Human Wolf let out a piercing, baby-like shriek, and its human-hand-like claws swiped out viciously, wreathed in black qi, with foul-smelling liquid dripping from them.

Clang!

The blade-light struck the Two-Faced Human Wolf's claws, and the sound of metal on metal rang out, sparks flying in all directions.

Huang Lou's expression shifted. He could clearly feel the terrifying tremendous force coming from those human claws. He possessed the Stone Physique—strength was what he excelled at—but at this moment, he could feel himself being completely overpowered.

Bang!

At the point where blade met claw, terrifying force erupted, as if it had produced a sonic boom.

Huang Lou's body was sent flying backward directly, slamming into the wall, which immediately cracked with fissures spreading across it.

With a muffled grunt, a trace of blood appeared at the corner of Huang Lou's mouth.

"Commander!"

On the city wall, the others cried out in alarm.

Huang Lou's face darkened. Gripping his long blade, he gauged from this first contact that the two-faced werewolf was likely a Calamity-grade aberration; judging by the power it displayed, it was probably equivalent to a Fiend Body realm expert.

"This is trouble."

A shade of grey flashed through Huang Lou's eyes. He himself was only at the Fiend Palace realm; to stop this thing, he would probably have to stake his life in the attempt. But regardless of who won or lost in the end, he would certainly pay an extremely heavy price here.

Perhaps this would be his final battle.

He was not afraid of life or death, but in the small town there was still his old mother, who could no longer travel far.

"Born here, die here — at least it's falling leaves returning to their roots."

In the end, Huang Lou let out a long sigh and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. He seized his long blade, and the gaze he fixed on the two-faced werewolf gradually turned crimson. From the pores on his body's surface, drops of blood also began to seep out.

And just as he was about to fight desperately against the two-faced werewolf, a dazzling, brilliant light suddenly appeared in his eyes, rising from the edge of the sky.

That single streak of light was like the dawn tearing open the black of night, giving one a feeling brimming with hope.

At the same time, accompanying that light came a voice — biting and cold.

"Guang Yao Zhi Zhong Jie."