The Record of Unusual Creatures

Panda Novel

Hasse had no idea what reinforcements Hao Ren meant at first.

Since Hasse entered the shadowy realm, he had been unconscious. He never met the Soulless Guards. He knew of their existence but never thought of associating reinforcements with the horrible, immortal army. He did not even realize that Hessiana was wresting control of the Soulless.

Hasse heard what Hessiana said in the communication device, but did not pay attention to it.

However, he would soon find out what those reinforcements were all about.

The moon had turned entirely blood-red. The moonlight was no longer cold and bright but crimson. The figure descending from the sky had materialized, looking identical to Vivian, just with red hair instead. Her eyes were also red without any pupils. She was devoid of reason and emotion. Hasse was prepared for battle, but before he lunged out, something intervened. It was a trail of black flames, coming from afar and accompanied by an unearthly howl. From where the fire came, a Bleakbone Dragon formed from shadows and bones tore the clouds apart and swooped down to the earth.

Behind the Bleakbone Dragon, more bizarre shadow creatures followed. They were so many of them that they poured like rain from the sky.

They were the Soulless Guards, the ones who guarded the inner court and were the most powerful among the Soulless.

The Soulless entered the battle, controlled by Hessiana. The Bleakbone Dragon and Gargoyles first launched an air strike, bombarding the Malevolence with energy storms. At the same time, the earth on the steppe began to tremble. Hasse looked up. Grotesque beasts appeared in the air like a mirage. Some of them looked like gods or the ancient Egyptian deities with human bodies and animal heads. But some were like the ancient beasts that devoured the heavens and the earth as found in ancient horror legends. Some were even lumps of meat with hands and legs. They had no unified style. The only thing they had in common was that they were all composed of amorphous shadows and clouds. Even Hao Ren was taken aback.

Hao Ren was fortunate that Hessiana had come in with them. Otherwise, he and Lily would have died from exhaustion fighting that number of Soulless Guards.

The long-range attacks of the Soulless first fell on the Malevolence. The energy produced was so powerful that it gave the impression that the Soulless were going to win, and the Bleakbone Dragon’s Dark Breath would devour the Malevolence. But the next moment, the Dark Breath dissipated, as though ice and snow had met the sun. The Malevolence floated in the air and opened her arms. She looked up and screamed in silence.

The Malevolence’s mouth was wide open as ripples visible to the naked eye swept out in all directions. Dark Breath, Corrosive Bolts from gargoyles, and physical as well as non-physical bombardments of the twisted nightmare creatures exploded in the air. Some gargoyles, unable to stop in time, turned into puffs of smoke after they were hit by the ripples.

Nevertheless, there was an endless number of Soulless Guards. Before the real Vivian woke up, the Soulless Guards would keep resurrecting indefinitely and guard their master until the end of the world or until she woke up.

More Soulless had emerged in the air. They charged at the Malevolence.

“These…” Hasse’s jaw dropped to the ground. What happened before his eyes were beyond him. “These Soulless are attacking their own master?”

“It is not their master,” Hao Ren said quickly. “You all have been mistaken. This violent individual is not Vivian. She is sort of an avatar born from Vivian’s negative energy, out of her dreams. Sometimes it even breaks away from Vivian’s self-defense and goes against Vivian herself. That is what you are witnessing now. The Soulless Guards have no souls, but they know who their true master is. These guards of lower order were initially no match for Vivian’s Malevolence. Even their leaders were expelled from the cemetery. But we have gained control of the Soulless. With the external command, the Soulless can return to the graveyard and fight the impersonator.”

“The Malevolence?” Hasse was wide-eyed. “You have gained control of the Soulless Guards? I cannot believe that someone could get hold of Vivian Ancestor’s power!”

“Of course we can, as long as we find Vivian’s blood descendant,” Hao Ren said with a smile. “It is all in the family. A daughter doing spring cleaning using her mother’s private workers is natural enough.”

“The Countess has an offspring?” Hasse was struck dumb this time. “How could she afford… No, I mean since when was she interested in having an offspring?”

“Battie is an irresponsible mother. She has never raised her kid.” Lily chimed in.

Hasse was baffled.

Hao Ren quickly hemmed and said, “Don’t just stand here, the Soulless Guards can only slow down the Malevolence, we need to deal with it ourselves. Hasse, show us what you have got and kick its butt!”

Hasse needed no reminder; he had noticed the powerlessness and limitations of the Soulless against the Malevolence. Hasse was ready. As Hao Ren and Lily lunged out at the enemy with their weapons respectively, Hasse focused his eyes and disappeared into thin air in the blink of an eye.

The next moment, Hasse reappeared at less than a hundred meters from the Malevolence. He raised his hand and threw out a powerful silver-white flame.

As Hao Ren said, the Soulless was powerful reinforcement, but they could not kill but slow down the Malevolence. In the Shadow Realm, the Malevolence was also a part of Vivian, the Soulless could never defeat the Malevolence.

That left outsiders like Hao Ren, Lily, and Hasse to stop the Malevolence.

Every Malevolence had a different form of power and fighting style. Hao Ren quickly analyzed the enemy as he attacked. The Malevolence always stayed a range around the light fall under the moon. It rarely ventured away. It might indicate that the Malevolence got her power from the crimson moon above. Secondly, her method of attack was mostly silent shrill, which could vibrate the air and damage energies. It not only rendered a long-range strike against her ineffective but also possessed a horribly destructive effect on physical objects. Even Lily and Hao Ren with their strong physique and Steel Membrane Shield respectively could not stay for long in the shrill. They had to keep a distance and use guerilla warfare. Thirdly, the Malevolence did not use a precise targeting attack, whether it was her silent shrill or directional shockwaves. It made her attacks less lethal compared with the other Malevolences. But it could spell trouble for a large group of enemies.

The more Hao Ren learned about this Malevolence, the more frustrated he got.

Two of the Malevolence’s three characteristics were nasty. They were causes for concern if Hao Ren wanted to launch an attack—short-range or long-range alike. That aside, the fact that the Malevolence staying near the light fall was also a problem. Moonlight had a mysterious connection with the Malevolence, allowing the Malevolence to disintegrate and reconstruct freely, almost like resurrection. Hao Ren had decapitated the Malevolence more than once using the Godslayer sword. He even destroyed half of her body with his psionic gun, but the moonlight had mitigated all these damages. The Malevolence was smashed at one time and then reappeared in the moonlight in the next second.

It made Hao Ren wonder what the Malevolence took to perform this resurrection and how long she could keep doing that.

Hasse flew up in the air while rapidly firing his bolts. He then teleported himself up to the Malevolence as she tried to block the bolts. Hasse drew his silver stiletto in an arc and cut the violent ‘Vivian’ into two.

The Malevolence shattered like glass and vanished in the moonlight. But the next second, her body reemerged and materialized under the crimson moon.

The negative energy concentration in the steppe rose once again.

“This will never end,” Hao Ren said, pulling away from the Malevolence. “What tactic did you use last time? Slowing her down?” he asked loudly.

“There is no other way,” Hasse replied loudly. “She has no weaknesses. She is unkillable!”

No, she is killable, Hao Ren said to himself. He had killed them before, more than one. He knew that the reason for not being able to destroy this Malevolence was because they had not enough firepower. Given enough time, Hao Ren would be able to finish this terrible creature off. He was not worried about whether he could kill the Malevolence, but whether he had enough time.

He looked at the border of the grasslands, where the horizon had begun to distort and blur. The edge of the earth seemed to be falling apart and shattering into pieces. The fragments fell in a swirling motion into a looming dark border, which was swallowing up the dimension.

The Shadowy Realm was about to collapse, but there were no signs that Vivian would rise. What was more worrying was that Hao Ren did not even sense her breath.

If Vivian still did not wake up when the Shadowy Realm collapsed, what would be the consequences if the Malevolence went to the real world?

Hao Ren could not imagine it for now. But even dumbo like Lily knew that it would not be looking good.

If that happened, perhaps it would significantly impact the already not-so-stable sandbox, and Raven 12345 would swear to high heaven.

The dimension in which the graveyard was located suddenly trembled violently. The tremor apparently had nothing to do with the fierce battle taking place.