Chapter 557: I, Dupont, Acknowledge You as the Strongest!

A lesser demon is a walnut sprouting black tentacles.

Intermediate demons take beast forms as a base, extending into all manner of chaotic, bizarre shapes, likewise covered entirely in black hair-like strands that drift like tentacles.

As if in water, they undulate.

They do not possess the very long tentacles of lesser demons; all their black tentacles are roughly the thickness of an adult's arm.

Yet their speed and power are worlds apart from lesser demons that only float and drift sluggishly.

An exorcist who can single-handedly eliminate a lesser demon counts as qualified.

An exorcist who can single-handedly eliminate an intermediate demon is truly one who can stand alone, a reliable person in whose hands safety can be entrusted with peace of mind.

High-ranking demons, by contrast, have forms very similar to humans.

A two-headed humanoid monster is the basic appearance of a high-ranking demon. The black tentacles on their bodies have become true black arms — in the vast majority of cases.

When needed, the black arms can shift form at any time.

They can become black spikes, tentacles up to ten meters long like those of lesser demons, gather together to form a black shield, or even be fired directly like cannonballs.

Of course, not all high-ranking demons can make their black arms transform into various shapes for combat.

According to the Holy Order's records.

Of the high-ranking demons exorcists have fought and eliminated, most display only one or two arm-shape transformations.

Usually extendable tentacles, and spikes.

Those able to form shields or fire themselves like cannonballs are fewer.

Those mastering three or more transformation abilities are even fewer.

As for those possessing all four.

The Holy Order's records show this type has appeared only ten times; each caused the Order significant losses, requiring two or three Generals to be deployed to kill a high-ranking demon of this caliber.

Tang Luo recalled the high-ranking demon he had encountered half a month ago, which could only lengthen its black arms into tentacles — a single transformation.

It counted as a weakling among high-ranking demons.

But even a weakling is relative.

In the archives, Tang Luo finished skimming the basic demon materials, picked up the rather old volumes nearby, and continued reading.

Some time had passed since that day's selection.

No exorcist had successfully joined the small squad formed by Tang Luo and Holt.

The exorcists at Headquarters were not discouraged; on the contrary they seemed to have a brand-new goal, working extremely hard.

And Tang Luo's status and importance within the Holy Order rose steadily — especially after he brought a dying exorcist back from the brink of death.

He had already become the Holy Order's "treasure."

"You dare say one bad word about Lord Tang Luo, then sorry, we're not friends anymore."

"He can save you; can you? If you can, then we can still be friends."

Tang Luo also entered the important archives with great ease, reading the Order's more classified materials.

Demon materials are not considered important.

The materials on that Demon King are the top priority Tang Luo is interested in.

In the archives, among the books Tang Luo is reading, quite a few concern the Demon King.

The so-called Demon King is naturally a "person."

Specific name and appearance are both mysteries; the Holy Order's formal designation for it is "World-Ender."

In the Holy Order's thousand-year war, the World-Ender's purpose has been very clear: to exterminate all humanity.

But what motive lies behind this purpose, no one knows.

The World-Ender's appearance is a mystery, not because the Order has never faced it; in fact, the Order has directly engaged the World-Ender quite a number of times.

It simply appears in a different form each time — mostly human, a few times in beast form.

Strength... is hard to gauge.

Fluctuating high and low, abilities ever-changing, impossible to fathom.

What is certain: the World-Ender can create demons; all demons are created by the World-Ender, and it controls all demons.

Moreover, the World-Ender itself, even in a weaker "body," possesses strength and speed that can easily defeat an ordinary exorcist.

A World-Ender in a powerful body could only be matched by the Order's five Great Generals joining forces at the time.

Beyond formidable strength and speed, the World-Ender has demonstrated the following abilities — Mental Shock, which can cause an exorcist to collapse, even fall!

Spatial Distortion, directly twisting space to crush an enemy into a mass of flesh and blood.

"Vacuum" Defense, which can completely repel all force-based attacks, including those from sacred weapons.

These three powerful abilities have all been shown by the World-Ender, though used infrequently.

Limitations certainly exist.

Otherwise, those dozens of engagements would have been enough to utterly erase the Holy Order from the long river of history.

In the war between the Holy Order and the World-Ender, the World-Ender has actually held the upper hand — at least in terms of power, or rather, sheer strength.

But the World-Ender has always operated in secrecy, never "revealing its divinity before the world."

Therefore the world has maintained a surface peace; the existence of demons remains, for now, merely disaster and calamity, not "world-ending catastrophe."

The Holy Order has many conjectures — perhaps the time is not ripe, the World-Ender is not as strong as it appears, and so on.

Many things are kept secret, not even told to exorcists.

Lest they lose confidence in the "Holy War"; after all, on the surface the Holy Order still appears to hold the advantage against the World-Ender and demons.

After all, one side is in the light, one in the dark; under normal circumstances everyone would surely think the side in the light is more powerful.

The dark side scheming in the shadows — why scheme in the shadows? Surely because its strength is insufficient.

Fortunately the Holy Order's leadership has always kept a clear head, clearly recognizing that in reality the Holy Order is the weaker party.

The reason is actually quite simple: demons possess a characteristic that makes them impossible for the holy to oppose.

Creating demons presents a certain difficulty for those who seek to destroy the world.

But this difficulty is absolutely no lower than that faced by the holy sect in finding resonators and cultivating qualified exorcists.

To world-destroyers, low-level demons are nothing but low-grade cannon fodder, expendable supplies.

Yet even these expendables are threats to many exorcists, let alone field personnel and ordinary people.

Human society has actually always been on the brink of destruction.

Tang Luo closed the book.

No wonder these materials were hidden by the holy sect; if made public, morale would collapse.

The high-ranking members of the holy sect, as well as generals and some powerful exorcists, are all steadfast individuals.

That's fine.

However, when Tang Luo flipped through the next book, he again encountered some different viewpoints.

Unlike the pessimism of the previous recorder's notes.

This recorder is relatively optimistic, analyzing various details and believing victory absolutely belongs to humanity.

World-destroyers are merely clinging to survival.

It's a pity that this is only analysis, with no further evidence related to world-destruction to prove it all.

By the way, the holy sect has gone over a hundred years without receiving more news about the world-destroyers.

They have disappeared for a long time.

When they next appear, no one knows what kind of terror they will bring.

Know that during this over-a-century period, the holy sect has experienced three summonings of otherworldly people, and including this time, that makes four.

This vaguely reflects a startling fact: the power of demons is growing stronger!

Tang Luo searched again but found no materials related to "summoning."

As an otherworldly person, even with Tang Luo's current status as "Great Treasure," this information likely would not be opened to him.

What if he ran away?

Of course, everything possible must be nipped in the bud beforehand; otherwise, the holy sect would not test Tang Luo's "loyalty."

Only by not giving otherworldly people any luck-based hope from the start can they be thoroughly retained to better fight for the holy sect and humanity.

Tang Luo opened the tightly closed door and walked out.

The logistics personnel guarding outside bowed to Tang Luo, then immediately relocked the archive.

Before Tang Luo could leave, a heavy footsteps sound came.

Holt, carrying a great sword, walked over and said to Tang Luo: "They're back."

"Good, let's meet them." Tang Luo nodded.

The "they" Holt referred to are the holy sect's mainstay, final bulwark, firm cornerstone, powerful ace—the generals.

With the news of "Number One Supporter Under Heaven" spreading, the remaining four generals also began returning to headquarters respectively.

Now they have arrived; it's time to let them join my squad.

Holt trailed half a step behind Tang Luo and said: "These guys have quite tempers."

Holt is the one with the best temper among all generals; the other four each have their own difficult-to-get-along-with traits.

There's also one who is a lone wolf, acting alone.

For the holy sect, especially Bui Si, serving these few people well is also a headache.

Fortunately, they spend most of their time on outside missions; their time at headquarters and branches is limited.

Gathered together, the last time was still a meeting two years ago.

This time is because of Tang Luo's sudden emergence, and then Holt's "invitation," which brought them back together.

Bui Si similarly brought a group to welcome them, but this time it's not about "showing strength"—it's purely a welcome.

All generals deserve such treatment.

"I heard Holt say that the one called Tang Luo is very strong! Is it really true? Can he withstand a few rounds under my command?"

Upon meeting, one red-haired man shouted loudly, huffing and puffing.

His look of deserving a beating is exactly like a street thug.

In fact, he is exactly that: this person's name is Du Bang, the youngest general, twenty-five years old, having become a general for less than three years.

However, his resonance time was quite early—he succeeded at resonance at fifteen, becoming an exorcist.

Before resonance, he was just a street thug.

Interestingly, after becoming an exorcist, he instead prefers to act alone, no longer forming factions.

In his own words: "If numbers were useful, what kind of exorcist would I be? What demons would I kill?"

Very impressive.

"Du Bang, I really dislike this guy." Holt said.

Holt is a proper person; disliking Du Bang's improper nature seems normal.

"General Du Bang, you've just returned; please rest first." Bui Si coughed and said.

"No rest, no rest." Du Bang shook his head: "I'm fine. Now I just want to fight that so-called Number One Supporter Under Heaven…… ha, found you!"

While speaking, Du Bang's gaze shifted and he spotted Tang Luo and Holt on the large balcony.

"I hate it most when people look down on me from above! Holt can't, you even less so!"

Du Bang raised his right hand, pointed at Tang Luo, and flames ignited between his fingers, quickly covering his entire right arm.

Blazing flames burned on his right arm, revealing a magnificent red like flowing magma moving along his arm, forming patterns.

Du Bang, parasitic exorcist, known as the "Flame Tyrant"!

With his right hand moving downward and then flicking backward, a scorching heat wave surged out, and the recoil sent DuPont soaring into the air.

He crossed over ten meters in height and instantly appeared before Tang Luo.

His right hand clenched into a fist, flames wrapping around it: "Flame Fist!"

He threw a punch at Tang Luo.

However, if observed closely, DuPont had most of his attention on Holt behind Tang Luo, his body slightly turned, also guarding against Holt making a move.

"Pa."

A crisp sound.

The DuPont who had just "flown" to Tang Luo's front flew back, landed, rolled once, and stood up smoothly.

He glanced at his right fist—just now, had he been slapped back by the opponent?

"Not bad, you can take my Flame Fist, but from now on it won't be so simple." DuPont said, "Come on, serious Flame Fist!"

DuPont repeated his old trick, "flying" to Tang Luo's front again and throwing a punch.

Whether in speed, power, or the erupting firelight, it was incomparable to the previous punch.

"Pa."

DuPont flew back once again.

He landed, made three successful rolls, and stood up again.

"Not bad, even my serious Flame Fist you can take. I, DuPont, admit you qualify as a strong one." DuPont pointed at Tang Luo and said.

Holt silently stepped back and turned his head away.

"Next! I'm getting serious!" DuPont lowered his body like a leopard about to pounce on its prey.

"Wasn't it already serious Flame Fist just now?" someone whispered.

"You don't know, General DuPont's serious Flame Fist has another move above it—Super Serious Flame Fist."

"... I kind of feel..." the person beside him wanted to speak but stopped, no, this is the general, it's not proper to speak rudely.

"Super Serious Flame Fist!"

Accompanied by DuPont's roar, an enormous flame fist appeared and slammed toward Tang Luo.

This time there was no "pa" sound.

Instead, a gust of wild wind swept in, causing many to turn their heads, squint their eyes, unable to stare directly.

When they looked again, they saw DuPont sprawled in a large字 shape on the ground—actually sunk into the earth.

Part of the grand balcony was scorched black, Tang Luo standing on it said: "He's much weaker than you, but I think a big reason is his brain problem?"

Holt silently nodded.

DuPont lying on the ground stretched out his hand, difficulty pointing at Tang Luo: "Okay, I, DuPont, am willing to call you the strongest!"

After saying that, he instantly passed out.

The back of his head hit the ground, a strong shock, which even his head couldn't withstand.

After all, the parasite is on his right hand, not his head.

DuPont, male, a lone-walking exorcist, general.

The main reason for his lone-walking nature isn't that he truly wants to walk alone, but because many exorcists really don't want to walk with him.

That requires strong psychological endurance.

Holt dislikes him because Holt thinks idiots are contagious.