Way of the Devil

Panda Novel

“Snap.”

A withered branch broke under the pressure of a foot. The dark brown leather boots slowly landed before a dark red, almost dried puddle of blood.

Then, they stopped.

Amid the fog, the town was as deathly quiet as ever. Mera looked up at the skies.

“Big Sister, it’s about time we head back. We won’t make it in time otherwise. We’re getting too close. We should come back tomorrow to check this place,” Fran warned her from far away behind her.

Another man was bringing some personnel to inspect the bodies of Urus’s soldiers. They wanted to see if they could extract any crucial clues from them.

“Got it,” Mer responded. However, her gaze was still fixed upon the nearby town.

“Luo Di, I wish you luck…” She sighed. Then, she turned around and quickly walked toward Fran.

Suddenly, a faint rumble reached them from the horizon.

“What’s that?” Mera paused. She turned to look in the direction of the sound.

“Water! Plenty of it!” shouted a White Eagle member. He looked terrified, and his voice was trembling.

Suddenly, a possibility flashed across Mera’s mind.

“Could it be…” Her expression changed. She darted toward Fran.

After running for some distance, the fog thinned slightly, and she immediately saw countless streams under the moonlight. The vast streams were bringing countless branches, soil, and rocks as they submerged the hills, plains, rivers, and forests. The body of water was wildly charging toward them.

Mera was greatly shocked. She immediately looked to the left and right along the path of the water. To her surprise, everywhere she looked, there was countless water.

“F*ck! It’s the dam! That bastard Urus has blown the Snow Eagle Dam upstream!”

Mera punched a tree.

“We should move onto higher grounds…” Fran shouted.

“It’s useless. There’s nothing high enough in the vicinity that can allow us to escape from the water!” The emaciated man gathered near them as well. He even brought five White Eagle members with him.

“As long as we can endure the first wave of the dam’s waters, the subsequent impact will be weaker. We must think of something! Otherwise, our fates are sealed!” Mera said sternly.

“What way? My God, Urus, you pr*ck! Why am I facing such a situation?! My God, my God!” Fran screamed, holding her head. “I can escape from the monsters, but now I’m about to be drowned by water!”

The other members were also having sour expressions. However, their ingrained habits prevented them from screaming their hearts out. Instead, they looked toward their commander, Mera.

They had encountered hopeless situations countless times, and Mera was always able to carry them through. That was the key point as to why the White Eagle was able to remain united.

“Our only option now…” Mera shifted her gaze toward the town.

“Urus’s objective is to destroy the town. However, the town’s power will surely not be so easily destroyed. We—”

“Boom!”

She had not even finished her sentence when a sudden loud sound reached them from afar.

Sounds of explosion could be heard from the grayish torrent, and huge volumes of water sprayed high. The explosions only occurred after the peak of the torrent’s swell, which increased the torrent’s momentum.

“Dammit! They’re delayed explosives!” Mera started to lose her cool at this moment.

Some of the lower hills were instantly blown away by the torrents. From the look of things, she reckoned that the torrent would reach them in no time.

“Let’s go! Into the town!” Mera shouted sternly.

“But…!”

“No buts! If we don’t go in, we’ll surely die. We might have a chance of living if we go in!” said Mera decisively.

“Big Sister’s right. Let’s give it our all!” Fran stood up and followed Mera in making a beeline toward the town.

“You’ve lost your minds!” The emaciated man was anxious, but when he saw the huge body of water that was quickly closing in on them, he felt a chill down his spine and quickly followed the two of them.

“Based on the pattern, after the first wave of attacks, we’ll at least have three hours of safety. So, we can only stay in the town for three hours. We must come out after that time period, regardless of the situation outside,” Mera explained as she walked.

“Also, it’s better if we can meet up with Luo Di and the others.”

“Why?” Fran was puzzled.

“Because the monsters don’t care about our numbers. If there’s more of us, we might still possibly delay them since we’ll have more options to choose from. However, if it’s just the few of us, and we run into a huge group of monsters… Although it’s slightly selfish, our only hope lies with Luo Di and the others. They must’ve made great preparations to face the death scene tomorrow,” Mera explained calmly.

The others understood right away. They subconsciously increased their pace. Mera’s words had shown them hope.

***************

“Boom!”

“What’s that sound?!”

Luo Di and the others were walking away from the town. Suddenly, they felt the ground shake, and so quickly stopped in their tracks, perplexed.

The spectacled old scholar, Esseinro, was supporting his leg on a simple branch stretcher. Currently, his expression was stern as he listened out for the subsequent faint rumbles.

“Urus’s subordinates have revealed that they’ve sent someone to the great dam upstream… The sound we heard… based on the distance, I’d say it’s roughly where the dam is. This is bad…”

“Bad…? It’s not only bad… Look there…” All of a sudden, Luo Di pointed somewhere far to the town’s left.

The others quickly looked in that direction. In no time, everyone saw, through the mist, a huge patch of gray closing in on them like a storm devouring the earth.

The hills, forests, land, rivers, everything was covered by that immense gray patch.

“My God…”

“God…”

When they saw what it was, they were immediately dumbfounded.

“A torrent… it’s a torrent that’s at least 12 meters tall!” Esseinro’s expression paled immediately. His voice revealed a hint of despair.

“The nearest hill is eight meters tall at most. We have no way of finding a place to shelter ourselves from this torrent! It’s over… We’re done for…” Esseinro’s entire body shook. His body kept swaying like a sieve.

Luo Di’s expression quickly calmed down. He had faced dire situations of life and death such as this one for more than he cared to count. In the face of the current danger, his brain went into overdrive. He quickly thought about the possible measures they could take.

However, no matter how he thought about it, there was actually only one option available to them.

He quickly cast his gaze to the town behind them.

“Let’s go!” He led the way and dashed toward the town.

Lu Sheng did not hesitate as well. He hoisted Esseinro with a single hand and placed him on his shoulders, and followed behind Luo Di in great strides.

The other two were slightly stunned.

“Luo Di! We’ll be running to our deaths!” one of them shouted.

“There must be some other place we can seek shelter in! We can look for underground caverns or something!” the other person shouted, terrified.

They could see what Luo Di intended to do—he wanted to use the town’s mysterious power to fight against the torrent. After all, Urus’s intention was to destroy the town. It was only an accident that they were involved.

However, although they understood, they did not wish to enter the town so soon.

Before this, they were skirting the town in an attempt to scout the terrain. However, in order to escape the torrent now, they would have to go to the central parts of the town.

From their viewpoint, it was the same as running to their deaths!

Luo Di did not even spare them another glance. He merely waved his hand and increased his pace toward the town.

“Ah Sang. Keep up!”

The immense torrent was like a huge gray waterfall that slowly covered the land. It kept spreading toward the town.

Luo Di and the others were like little ants. From afar, they were slowly getting closer to the town. However, compared to the torrent’s speed, they seemed to be a tad slower.

“We should move faster.” Luo Di noticed that as well.

“It’s alright. I’ll do something about it.” Lu Sheng was close behind him. When he heard this, he grinned, and stomped his foot on the ground behind him.

“Bam!”

With a muffled sound, Lu Sheng grabbed Luo Di and Esseinro with his arms. Then, he rode on the wild reaction force and leapt into the air. He moved forward with an elevation of a dozen centimeters.

It took only one second.

Luo Di and Esseinro only felt as if they had leapt into the air. Their vision blurred, and they were already among the white-spotted streets of the town.

“That… that was fast!” Esseinro’s jaw dropped. His hair stood from the wind as if he was shocked.

The awe Luo Di felt was not inferior to Esseinro’s. Luo Sang’s Gelailo Sword Skills were already at a level which he could not comprehend.

He clearly knew and recognized every single move, but when they were unleashed with Luo Sang’s hands, it was as if they were something completely different…

“We’re here.” Lu Sheng placed the two of them down gently, and scanned his surroundings. “This doesn’t look like a good place to be in…”

Luo Di exhaled, and said calmly, “We have no other choice.”

At this very moment, an indescribably loud explosion’s sound reached them suddenly from the town’s enclosing wall.

The ground started to shake intensely, and the buildings around them shook as well. They seemed to be under the effect of some extremely heavy impact, and it was a continuous impact at that.

“Look!” Esseinro jabbed a finger at the top of the building which Lu Sheng had destroyed a while ago. It was quickly being restored to its original appearance.

Lu Sheng and Luo Di saw that as well. Luo Di was expressionless, but Lu Sheng found the sight familiar.

“What now?” Lu Sheng looked at Luo Di. “This place doesn’t seem too friendly.”

“It’s alright, we’re only here temporarily to avoid the torrent. We’ll be leaving soon.” Luo Di managed a smile.

“Do we pick a house, then? I don’t think we should be just standing around outside,” Lu Sheng suggested.

“Sure. Find a taller one.” Luo Di was of the opinion that if the torrent could not be stopped, the taller houses could still be used as floats.

The three of them walked deeper into the town along the streets. They searched for a while among the mist, and quickly found a four-story building that resembled a school.

Lu Sheng broke the lock with a punch. Then, he pushed the metal doors open and entered.

Luo Di supported Esseinro and followed closely behind.

He looked at Lu Sheng, who did not seem to mind, before him. He felt worried, and could not refrain from reminding, “Be careful, Ah Sang. This town is dangerous.”

“Alright. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of myself.” Lu Sheng sauntered through the doors. The three of them quickly passed through the beaten hall, and went up the first floor, second floor, and all the way to the third floor.

Dark, pitch-black corridors spanned both sides of the head of the third floor’s stairs.

“Let’s find a place here,” suggested Lu Sheng.

“Alright…” Luo Di was already at his highest level of alert. He supported Esseinro with one hand, and held his short crossbow in the other. He was prepared for action.

“How about this place?” Lu Sheng quickly found a room. “There’s a window here, the scenery should be decent.”

He pushed the door open.

“Whoosh!”

A pitch-black tendril the thickness of an arm suddenly shot out from the room, flying right toward his face.