Chapter 534: Slaughtering the Demons [2]
What kind of monster could ignore their combined assault while executing their companions?
"My turn, now."
Arthur moved among them like a force of nature unleashed.
Shing-thud. The first demon’s head separated from its shoulders, spinning through the air before hitting the asphalt.
Slice-crack. Another creature split vertically, its body falling into two perfect halves.
Whoosh-splat. A horizontal cut at waist level sent a demon’s upper torso flying while its legs collapsed separately.
Bodies and limbs were scattered across the residential street as Arthur’s blade work continued. Each strike was precise, each cut deliberate.
Chunk-spray.
Arms severed at the shoulder joints.
Split-scatter.
A demon had his torso bisected.
Pop-splurt.
Heads removed with single clean cuts.
The dismantlement continued until only Arthur remained standing among the carnage, Chaos dripping with fresh demon blood as it continued its restoration toward legendary status.
The residential area fell silent except for the sound of dissolving demon corpses and the soft clink of very rare items materialising on blood-soaked pavement.
At the end of his slaughter, the residential street was carpeted with dismembered demon remains and fifty very rare rank items gleaming among the carnage. The blue-tinted equipment represented a fortune in enhancement gear that could transform ordinary survivors into capable defenders.
Unfortunately, this particular section of Flint had been completely evacuated or worse—no living humans remained to claim the valuable resources Arthur had generated through his guaranteed drop talent. The silence was absolute except for the soft breathing of Arthur.
Arthur stored the very rare items in his inventory before using his spatial manipulation to clear the area of demon body parts that had accumulated across the pavement.
Arthur then disappeared and materialised in another demon-infested section of the city. The same pattern repeated once again.
He continued this methodical extermination campaign until not a single demon remained visible within his operational area. Each engagement followed similar parameters—gravitational manipulation to control positioning, followed by precise blade work that maximised both efficiency and Chaos’s blood absorption.
Arthur deliberately avoided entering districts where military forces maintained an active presence. The areas inhabited by wealthy residents and zones under official government control received protection from conventional forces, leaving Arthur to focus on regions that had been written off as expendable.
While the military concentrated its limited resources on saving those they deemed as ’important’—political figures, essential personnel, and affluent communities with influence—Arthur dedicated his efforts to protecting those classified as ’fodder’ because nobody was going to save them if he didn’t.
The reason was simple: one of these people might have a powerful talent. Official resources gravitated toward preserving existing power structures, while Arthur’s intervention provided the only hope for populations considered expendable during crisis management.
In the process of liberating Flint’s abandoned districts, Arthur had saved thousands of lives that would otherwise have been lost to demonic predation. The protection he provided to forgotten communities was the last straw that they clung to.
Of course, such salvation came at a price measured in demon blood. Arthur had eliminated hundreds of invading creatures, their ichor literally soaking the streets as Chaos fed continuously on the epic-rank essence required for its restoration toward legendary status.
The katana pulsed with satisfaction as it grew stronger with each kill, its pseudo-legendary status advancing steadily toward true legendary rank through concentrated feeding on epic-rank demonic blood.
Initially, Arthur felt satisfied with the elimination of demonic forces, but as the pattern continued, tedium began replacing the stress relief he had sought. The repetitive sequence of killing these demons offered no meaningful challenge to someone at his level.
The most encouraging aspect was that the immense number of demons he was eliminating was gradually advancing him toward his next level threshold. Arthur calculated that after eliminating a few hundred more demons—combined with the experience his scattered summons were generating—he might reach level 24.
"This is boring... and not very efficient," Arthur muttered to himself as he surveyed another cleared district. "The more I kill, the more they manifest elsewhere. I won’t be sufficient to address this invasion alone; I need to accelerate my advancement and develop stronger capabilities."
The fundamental problem was becoming apparent—his individual power, while overwhelming against current threats, couldn’t scale to address a planet-wide crisis that was generating new enemies faster than he could eliminate them.
Currently, his guild members were dispersed across the globe, utilising their enhanced capabilities to combat demonic incursions in their respective regions. The distributed approach was necessary but highlighted the limitations of relying on individual strength rather than real solutions.
Arthur activated his spatial manipulation and teleported to China, where strategic opportunities for force multiplication awaited his attention.
Despite being a major global power with substantial military resources, China’s vast territory and enormous population created logistical challenges that made comprehensive protection nearly impossible through conventional means. While Arthur had assigned Sylvaris—one of his most powerful summons—to defend Beijing, even the superior-rank serpent could only provide effective coverage for the capital region.
Beyond Beijing’s defensive perimeter, protection became increasingly difficult to maintain. Sylvaris possessed tremendous individual capability, but China’s geographical scale meant that rural populations and secondary cities remained vulnerable to demonic assault.
Arthur had decided to address this coverage gap through strategic resource distribution rather than attempting to personally patrol China’s entire territory. The very rare items he had accumulated during his earlier operations could be distributed to Chinese awakened, dramatically enhancing their defensive capabilities while creating sustainable protection that didn’t require his constant presence.
This approach would serve multiple objectives: strengthening allied forces, creating stable defensive zones, and allowing Arthur to focus on higher-level strategic challenges rather than repetitive demon elimination.
The transition from individual action to force multiplication represented the next phase of his protective strategy.
"Aether, teleport us to the location where we met President Feng last time," Arthur commanded.
Aether’s head popped out of his robe pocket, a grin on his face. "It’s taxi time, hehe."
President Feng had told Arthur that there was no need for him to notify him before arriving, he could simply arrive when he please, as if it was his own house. It showed the level of respect, honour and status that President Feng had given Arthur.