Chapter 385: Devil? No, an Unfortunate Soul from Another World (12)

The outskirts of Blue Stone City.

The Baron's convoy hastily turned around on the narrow, muddy street.

Luosen sat in the carriage, watching the commotion ahead on the street, rolled down the window and asked the warrior beside him: "Hey, buddy, what is a bloodthirsty devil?"

That warrior was frantically turning the horse's head.

"It's a kind of terrifying devil that loves to drink blood, extremely fast and immensely strong. Normally it disguises itself as an ordinary person, but when it attacks it turns into a horrifying monster."

"Hurry, this place is extremely dangerous; only the Church's people can deal with these devils!"

No sooner had the words fallen than Luosen heard an extremely piercing scream from not far away.

The sound was astonishingly loud, enough to faintly see ripples in the air, and the window glass of respectable homes along the road instantly shattered.

Blue Stone City is a big city; even its outskirts have a high population density, and that roar caused huge chaos throughout the street.

To ordinary ears, this is the dreadful howl of a monster.

But to Luosen's ears, he faintly sensed a different quality.

The howl was certainly terrifying, but he felt no fluctuation of magical power—just a pure release of strength.

"This physical strength is indeed absurdly high; just this roar alone has power not inferior to a Six Rings spell. For a mortal of this half-plane, it is truly overwhelming power."

"But the emotion contained in the sound is very complex—mainly anger, but also much fear and panic, like an ordinary person suddenly plunged into desperation."

"Interesting."

Luosen's heart twitched slightly; he turned and whispered a few words to Tiralilin, then his body flickered, a magical illusion appeared where he stood while his true self gained an Invisibility Spell, quietly leaving the carriage and moving against the flowing crowd straight toward the center of the chaos.

Soon, he saw the so-called bloodthirsty devil deep in a narrow alley.

It stood over two meters tall, with horns on its head, sharp fangs in its mouth, eyes glowing crimson, a very strong body, muscles knotted like cords, its surface covered with a hard carapace wreathed in scarlet mist—its appearance was indeed terrifying.

Luosen also noticed strips of cloth hanging from its carapace, indicating it had previously looked like an ordinary person before suddenly transforming into this form.

He also noticed it had been running panic‑stricken, heedless of direction, deeper into the alley.

Although it possessed tremendous power, it didn't know how to use it well, so its steps stumbled, bumping east and west, moving forward in a clumsy manner.

Soon he discovered the monster indeed drank blood, grabbing an unfortunate victim and biting, then gulping it down in large mouthfuls.

After a few gulps, it seemed to feel something wrong, immediately released the person, then continued running forward; although it still craved blood, it restrained itself from drinking again.

These details made Luosen's heart stir: "Hmm… looks like an ordinary person who accidentally gained power."

At that moment, the Demon Hunter Warriors of the Blue Stone City Church began to act.

They numbered several hundred.

Among them, ten individuals wielded considerable spacetime power; they were presumably the Church's core elite and served as the unit's commanders.

The other Demon Hunter Warriors also basically possessed spacetime power, though much weaker, but each carried a specially made spacetime device capable of inflicting considerable harm on the blood‑thirsty monster.

The Demon Hunter Warriors formed a continually shrinking encirclement in the streets and alleys, constantly compressing the monster's activity space.

Luosen carefully observed the relative strengths of both sides and drew a conclusion.

"Without external intervention, the Church's Demon Hunter Warriors would suffer some losses, but they seem to have rich experience fighting monsters, so they will likely prevail in the end."

He then turned his gaze back to the monster.

He also sensed danger, but his fighting will was low; he just kept running wildly through the alley, repeatedly trying to break out, yet his trajectory had no pattern at all—pure panic‑driven flight.

Every stretch he ran, the Demon Hunter Warriors would block him back.

If that were all, Luosen would not intervene.

But he soon discovered that the monster bore no spacetime illusion!

"Could it be, like the beastfolk, a visitor from another world?"

That settled his mind to help.

With a thought, he first cast the 《Darkcurrent Surge》 technique to evade spacetime‑tracking spells, then covered the nearby monster with an ordinary Invisibility Spell, making it invisible in place while simultaneously establishing a mental link with it.

"Don't panic, relax, follow my guidance all the way and you'll break through the encirclement."

"Who are you?" the monster's mental voice said, still full of panic but not losing reason.

"Someone who can help you."

"Why help me?"

"I don't think now is the time to ask that; at least wait until we're safe."

"Alright, you're right. Anyway, thank you very much."

Next, Luosen used the Invisibility Spell to fly aloft, observing the Demon Hunter Warriors' movements from above and constantly giving the invisible monster directions to advance.

The monster cooperated fully; although its movements were a bit clumsy, when told to go east it went east, when told west it went west, without hesitation.

In a world without ordinary magic, the mere existence of an Invisibility Spell is like a cheat, and the ultra‑fine time‑magic 《Darkcurrent Surge》 maintained by Laifu is nearly a dimensional strike.

One moment the Demon Hunter Warriors were orderly; the next they became headless flies.

Soon the monster successfully broke through the Demon Hunter Warriors' encirclement, and Luosen brought it to the outskirts wilderness of Blue Stone City.

"All right, we should be safe now."

Luosen descended from the sky, materializing in a patch of grass about twenty meters from the monster, and dispelled the Invisibility Spell on it.

He remained fully on guard.

Because he sensed the monster possessed tremendous physical strength; if it went all out, its attack power could reach Ten Rings, enough to threaten his life.

Meanwhile, the monster stood motionless, staring at Luosen, opened its mouth as if to speak, but only a sharp cry came out.

He immediately closed his mouth again and continued speaking to Luosen via the mental link.

"Sorry, I can't speak like this."

The voice still carried panic, but was much calmer than before.

Luosen nodded in understanding, then asked: "Can you change back to a normal human form?"

The monster nodded: "Yes, but I need to wait until my mind is completely calm—I'm already quite calm now; after a moment I should be able to revert."

He used his hand, tipped with sharp claws, to rip off the torn piece of clothing hanging on him: "Damn it, the brand‑new clothes are ruined again." While speaking, he sat cross‑legged in the grass and began to take deep breaths, one after another.

With that action, the scarlet blood mist that enveloped his body gradually subsided, the protruding hard shell slowly softened back into skin, and the sharp horns, fangs and claws also gradually retracted.

About three minutes later, a young man of roughly twenty‑five or twenty‑six appeared in front of Luosen.

He had brown‑black hair, sharply defined and sturdy features, a tall and well‑proportioned build, and skin that shone with a white marble‑like luster.

He was indeed a rare handsome man.

Throughout the whole transformation, Luosen felt no ordinary spell's power fluctuations, but he vaguely sensed ripples of space‑time power, which made his heart stir slightly.

"He's a lot like a beastman, isn't he."

He looked again at the young man.

He seemed a little shy, pulling some weeds to cover his waist's vulnerable spot: "Sorry for showing you this unseemly side of me."

Luosen had some spare clothes stored in his Time‑Space Treasury; he took out a set and tossed it over: "The size's a bit big, but you can make do for now."

"Oh—thank you very much!"

The young man immediately took the clothes, clumsily put them on, and began to babble, introducing himself.

"My name is Jilesi Reno, from Grand Duke Tas's Luoyue City."

"My father is a Knight, my mother is a merchant's daughter; we're well off, never lacking money."

"I don't know why I ended up in this place called Blue Stone City. About five days ago I was camping in the outskirts with friends, and when I woke up I was here, in this damned place."

"I also don't know why I can understand and speak this world's language, even though I never learned it."

"That's one thing, but now I've become this disgusting monster!"

"I must have been cursed by the God of Fate!"

Luosen listened attentively, and after the other finished speaking, asked back: "In your world, is there a place called Pitch‑Black Wilderness?"

The young man Jilesi immediately retorted: "My world—what do you mean? Have I come to another world?"

"If that's the case, have you ever been to my world?"

In other words, such a place exists.

Without waiting for Luosen's answer, Jilesi said at once: "Pitch‑Black Wilderness is the barbarians' homeland; it stretches over tens of thousands of kilometers west of Luoyue City. I've only heard of it, never gone there."

"But I have seen barbarian slaves, covered in black hair, ugly and massive, almost like beasts."

Luosen's thought sparked, and he condensed moisture into the shape of a beastman: "Is it like this?"

"Yes, yes—just like that! Have you seen barbarians?"

Jilesi's face lit up with surprise.

Luosen realized that he was accustomed to spells, which indicated that his world also had spells.

This matches the description of beastmen.

Returning to the previous topic.

Luosen nodded: "To the southeast lies the Howling Wilderness; on that wilderness live these barbarians who claim to come from Pitch‑Black Wilderness. They say they worship the wilderness god Tagrus, who left his people on the mortal world."

A hint of relief appeared on Jilesi's face: "Seems I'm not the only one stranded in a foreign land. Though I'm a barbarian, at least I'm not alone."

"But how did these barbarians get into this world?"

Luosen repeated the beastmen's explanation: "In fact, they're just as confused."

Jilesi sighed, his expression bleak: "Looks like everyone's been cursed by fate."

Luosen then asked: "Why not tell me about your hometown Luoyue City? I might have heard of it."

Jilesi's eyes brightened, and he immediately began his introduction.

Luosen listened carefully.

Jilesi is a very talkative person, more talkative than a beastman; once he starts, he doesn't stop.

From his words, Luosen learned that the so‑called "Grand Duke Tas's Luoyue City" is a fairly prosperous city.

Yet in terms of productivity, it isn't higher than the former Natural Alliance or the Radiant Empire, and is even a bit lower.

But unlike the natural plane, Jilesi's world has gods.

Real gods, possessing supreme power, lofty and numerous.

Because of that, in Jilesi's world every mortal has a faith.

Those without faith are heretics, not only lacking divine protection but also vulnerable to evil deities.

Luosen suddenly felt that the invading presence in their Solar Star Realm might well be a god from the other world.

But that's only a guess, not yet verifiable.

"Jilesi, what are your plans now?"

Jilesi shook his head, looking bewildered: "I don't know."

Luosen said: "Then just follow me for now, but you must control yourself and not easily turn into a blood‑drinking monster."

He was very interested in Jilesi's soul and bodily structure, intending to study them closely.

At the mention of blood‑drinking, Jilesi's face turned a bit pale: "That will be hard; I've found I have an uncontrollable craving for fresh blood."

Luosen thought: "Then drink animal blood, not human blood, to avoid trouble."

As he spoke, he sensed a wild boar over a hundred meters away, immediately felled it, and handed a large bowl of blood to Jilesi: "Can you drink this?"

The latter's eyes lit up, and he gulped it down with a "glug‑glug" sound.

"Delicious, fresher than human blood, enough to quench thirst."

"Then that's fine."

He kept giving him wild boar blood, letting him drink more than a liter before releasing the unlucky boar.

"Let's go, back to Blue Stone City, and while we're at it, tell me more about your past."

(End of chapter)