Chapter 41: The Advantage is Mine

“Ugh!”

Jiang Lingwei screamed, clutching her stomach, staggering back against the ruins.

“Hey~ Hey~”

The “dead” man in the blood pool flipped up, cackling weirdly, revealing a zombie-like green face. A large mole marked the corner of his crooked mouth, his slanted eyes and ugly features repulsive and terrifying.

“Mmm… Mmm…”

He trembled, arms crossed, barely stifling laughter.

“It worked!”

White foam and saliva dribbled from his mouth, bright red liquid oozing from his body as his excitement grew. To a normal person, the sticky, vivid red wasn’t human blood.

A black light shot from his gaping mouth, speeding toward the distant, advancing iron giant.

“Hahaha… ga…”

Bending his elbow, he yanked a silver blade from his arm’s flesh, waving it in his bloody hand. “Accidentally” slicing off his left arm, he grabbed it with his right, dancing with the blade in his left.

His limbs twisted beyond human limits, bones and joints creaking, flesh thudding, as if performing a grotesque ritual.

Rain poured, washing the world. Nearby, the pink-haired magical girl leaned against the wall, silent and frail.

“Hehe, magical girl, hehe.”

Tired of dancing, he reattached his left arm seamlessly, straightening to over two meters tall, his body unnaturally stretchable.

The blade pierced his hand, but he felt no pain, slowly approaching the girl he’d ambushed.

His blade, coated in dark-magic-infused poisonous blood, should’ve crippled her. Even a magical girl would be helpless now. His power was unmatched!

As he neared, she stirred.

“Um…” Raising her head, her pure, youthful voice trembled. “Mr. Demon… please…”

Her plea stretched his grin ear-to-ear, dead flesh bunching up, scarlet eyes glaring through the gaps.

Nothing felt better than a beautiful girl begging him.

As he prepared to laugh maniacally, her voice cut through the rain.

“You’re so ugly… Why not wear human skin… So ugly…”

“Really, I can’t curse… Pity. Your face in front of me is a serious injury…”

“Hua La La—”

“Ga…”

Her halting words stopped his laughter cold.

Raindrops slid down his sparse hair, making the monstrous face eerier.

“Die!”

He leaped, raising the blade high, slashing at the weak magical girl’s head.

Clang!

The blade sank into the concrete wall, slicing steel bars with a dull metallic thud.

(No?!)

The wall shattered. The girl, who should’ve been cleaved, was gone.

“Disgusting.”

The voice came from his side, not below.

Dark magic surged, granting him supernatural speed. He twisted, upper body nearly detaching, to face her.

A pink gem hurtled toward him.

Bang!

Like a baseball swing, Jiang Lingwei, no melee expert, smashed his head off with her staff, sending it flying.

“Disguising as a civilian? Your predecessors tried that. What magical girl doesn’t guard against the next rescue?”

“After all this time, still the same old trick?”

“I don’t know if that ugly guy fooled anyone. Time’s short, so I corrupted one first.”

“Should’ve brought more cannon fodder. Why bother with growth? Just crush them early. Those two idiots before—a summoner who fought himself and a warrior who lost the first move, dragging me, a mage, into it.”

Heituanzi, perched on a throne, munched potato chips.

“Crack, crack. Garbage, idiots, so bad at this. Why do I have to step in?”

Its claws tapped a magic light panel showing the iron giant and dense fairy text.

Scanning the data, Heituanzi schemed. “The secondary Demon Realm lasts another hour. Some humans escaped, but their backup’s half an hour out.”

“Plenty of time.”

“Hehehe.”

Its dark fairy laugh, warped by dark magic, echoed in the void. “Those light-side losers won’t expect me to strike again after failing.”

“That wild magical girl’s far off, and the small fry can’t save her.”

“Only one magical girl here. Stop me or save others, it’s two-on-one with that ugly guy. I win!”

A black light ball descended, merging into Heituanzi. Reading its data, it grinned, chomping more chips. “That loser actually took her down!”

Peering at Yaoguang Coffee, it smirked. “Next step’s simple. Ancient weapons, I’m coming.”

“My dark aggregate’s huge. Be patient…”

A figure zoomed across the light panel’s corner.

“Um?!”

Bang!

The throne’s space shook violently.

“Wow—”

Heituanzi tumbled into a pile of empty chip bags.