Chapter 217 – 【Silver Arm: Torrent】

“Boom—!”

With a dull explosive sound, a figure shot down like a cannonball from the collapsed underground, crashing violently into the ground.

The ground shattered instantly as if struck by a small meteor, breaking into a massive crater amidst a sandstorm of dust.

“Cough, cough…”

Lord Crow coughed as he slowly rose from the crater, his previously composed figure finally appearing somewhat disheveled.

But he no longer cared about such things.

“Bang!”

A fierce wind erupted as a Demon Shadow burst forth like it had emerged from the gates of Hell, stirring chaotic gusts while shooting toward Lord Crow.

Without hesitation, Lord Crow pushed off with his feet, shattering the ground beneath him as he transformed into a streak of light, darting away.

This time, however, Lord Crow’s usually unstoppable speed was no longer as effective as before.

The onrushing Demon Shadow not only moved at speeds multiple times faster than earlier, but with a single beat of its wings, it accelerated further, gradually closing in on Lord Crow.

“Tch!”

Lord Crow clicked his tongue in frustration, crossing his armored gauntlets in front of him in a defensive stance.

In that instant, the Demon Shadow arrived, materializing before Lord Crow.

The dark Fiend bore twin wings, its body covered with eerie blue cracks, its crimson eyes burning like a demon’s as they fixed intently on Lord Crow, sending shivers down his spine.

Under its gaze, the Fiend’s alchemical Saber, radiating scorching heat, tore through the air, transforming into a blazing arc as it swung forward.

“Clang—!”

The alchemical Saber crashed heavily against Lord Crow’s protective gauntlets, sending him flying backward once more.

The Fiend beat its wings again, immediately changing direction as it shot toward Lord Crow’s position with trails of blue light.

“Clang—! Clang—! Clang—! Clang—! Clang—!”

The next moment, deafening metallic clashes echoed across the landscape.

Two streaks of light—one pursuing the other—streaked across like twin meteors, their long luminous tails sometimes crossing, sometimes colliding, with each impact producing thunderous crashes.

Su Ming and Lord Crow had entered their most intense battle yet, both pushing their limits as they chased each other, delivering heavy blows whenever they could.

In this white-hot pursuit, the one gaining the upper hand was no longer Lord Crow, but Su Ming.

“Clang—!”

When another metallic clash resounded, the fiery Saber with tremendous force scraped against the alchemical gauntlets named Ifingalr, sending sparks flying in all directions.

Just as Lord Crow prepared to use his signature deflection technique to create distance, Su Ming denied him the opportunity this time. The bat-like wings on his back suddenly swung around, striking Lord Crow with devastating force.

“Boom—!”

The impact blast sent Lord Crow flying like a kite with its string cut.

The dark Fiend repeated its tactic, shooting forward with wind currents. While the Saber in its right hand maintained its momentum, its left hand shot out, grabbing Lord Crow by the head and slamming him violently into the rock wall, pulverizing the stone surface.Under such circumstances, the Fiend remained unsatisfied. Pressing Lord Crow’s head down, it vibrated its wings and soared upward.

“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom—!”

Lord Crow’s head was slammed against the rock wall by the Fiend, violently crashing while simultaneously creating explosive sounds and shattering every section of the rock wall along the path. A jagged trench was carved into the stone surface.

For a moment, sand and stones flew everywhere, and the rock wall trembled, making Lord Crow’s figure appear increasingly disheveled.

At the same time, this No.3 among the Ten Demons was provoked into fury.

“Don’t get too carried away!”

With a low roar, an astonishing Aura erupted from Lord Crow’s entire body.

The Aura, mixed with sand and gravel, transformed into a dust tornado under Lord Crow’s palm thrust, striking the Fiend that was pressing his head.

The Fiend was blasted away by the sand tornado, pinned at the forefront as it shattered countless rocks and stone pillars along its path.

“Huff… Huff…”

Only then did Lord Crow stabilize his posture, slowly descending while panting heavily. He couldn’t help but drop to one knee, his entire body covered in grime and dust.

The dark Fiend finally flapped its wings and approached, hovering above Lord Crow to look down at him from a superior position.

It was also breathing slightly heavily, though not as disheveled as Lord Crow. Steam rose from its body as if its temperature was extremely high, making the eerie blue light within the cracks covering its form appear even more dazzling.

Frankly speaking, Lord Crow had never witnessed such a Demonization before.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t seen Fiends with more peculiar appearances, but rather the power enhancement after the opponent’s Demonization was truly astonishing.

In common knowledge, Demonization is an ability Hunters can possess after Awakening. Once activated, it multiplies their power severalfold, even dozens of times – an improvement no alchemical potion could ever hope to match.

Yet the difference between several-fold enhancement and dozens-fold enhancement is extraordinarily vast.

Some people’s Demonization merely multiplies their power a few times. While still overpowered and formidable, it doesn’t render opponents helpless.

However, some individuals’ Demonization doesn’t just enhance by a few times – it can increase tenfold or even more than ten times.

The magnitude of this enhancement depends on one crucial factor.

That is the Rank of the Bloodline.

Demonization essentially allows Hunters with Phantom Demon Bloodline to approach the state of Phantom Demons, transforming into forms closer to Phantom Demons.

At this point, the Fiends Hunters transform into approximate the forms of the Phantom Demons corresponding to their possessed Bloodlines.

In other words, the more Advanced and pure the Bloodline, the closer the post-Demonization form resembles the original source – that Phantom Demon whose blood was extracted and refined into the Phantom Demon Potion.

Naturally, the more Advanced and pure the Bloodline, the more it can stimulate the Phantom Demon Power within the Bloodline after Demonization, resulting in greater enhancement.

A Hunter with an inferior Phantom Demon Bloodline would naturally only enhance to a level extremely close to that inferior Phantom Demon after Demonization.

By the same token, a Hunter with a superior Phantom Demon Bloodline would enhance to a level extremely close to that superior Phantom Demon after Demonization.The disparity between upper-rank and lower-rank Phantom Demons need not be elaborated.

When both undergo Demonization, the extent of enhancement naturally differs vastly, rendering any comparison meaningless.

This is precisely why the power boost after Demonization fluctuates between severalfold to dozens of times, primarily determined by the Rank of one’s inherent Bloodline.

Hunters whose potential is limited to Four-Star can, at best, achieve a severalfold increase in power through Demonization—nowhere near comparable to the Demonization of Seven-Star Hunters who stand at the pinnacle of the Hunter world.

Those capable of becoming Seven-Star Hunters possess Bloodlines comparable to Nightmare Species, or at the very least, mutated Hazardous Species, merely a step away from Nightmare Species Bloodlines.

For such individuals, it is entirely normal to experience a tenfold to over tenfold increase in power upon Demonization.

However, Lord Crow had yet to encounter a Hunter whose power multiplied by dozens of times through Demonization.

He had always believed that such a drastic enhancement could only be brought about by the Bloodline of a never-before-seen terrifying species.

But today, he had to overturn his past beliefs.

Because the Demonization unfolding before his eyes far exceeded a mere tenfold increase!

Of course, this wasn’t the most shocking aspect for Lord Crow.

What truly astonished him was that this Demonization had clearly just been Awakened.

Others might fail to perceive this, but Lord Crow, with his mutated supernatural perception rivaling that of an Upper-Rank Sorcerer, could affirm with absolute certainty that this Demonization had just been Awakened.

What did this imply?

“You weren’t even an upper-rank Hunter before?”

Lord Crow’s expression shifted at this realization.

Someone who hadn’t even been an upper-rank Hunter previously was now displaying strength comparable to one—even capable of instantly slaying an upper-rank Hunter?

Was this some kind of joke?

Unfortunately, Su Ming had no obligation to answer Lord Crow’s question.

He only felt an unprecedented surge of power, as if an endless torrent of energy coursed through his entire body, making him feel on the verge of explosion.

The magical power within him had expanded by an incalculable multiple, and his physical strength had similarly skyrocketed. Every part of him brimmed with a sense of power, reminiscent of when he wielded the strength of his right arm.

After Demonization, Su Ming no longer had only his right arm covered in cracks, capable of unleashing nuclear-level force. Instead, his entire body had become like his right arm, with a power surge far exceeding tenfold.

If it were the current Su Ming, any part of his body could unleash greater destructive force than his previous right arm—shattering everything, ignoring all defenses, and crushing his enemies.

This was Su Ming’s Demonization: not only had his power skyrocketed by over tenfold, but his entire body had also gained the attributes of the 【Silver Arm】.

This power instantly granted Su Ming the capability to overwhelm even a powerhouse among Six-Star Hunters.

Coupled with his baseline self finally stepping into a superhuman Realm through Awakening, his physical strength surged, compensating for his previous weakness in speed. Combined with the lingering effects of the alchemical potion, he was no longer inferior to Lord Crow.

Only at this moment did Su Ming feel he could achieve victory.

Yes.

He felt he could win.

“Boom!”Su Ming raised the Firefang in his hand, causing his entire body to emit an ethereal blue, flame-like radiance that enveloped the alchemical saber.

Lord Crow’s expression shifted abruptly. His extraordinary perception allowed him to sense the imminent danger.

The ethereal blue radiance surging from Su Ming’s body transformed into pure power, as if being absorbed by Firefang. The saber trembled violently while emanating an increasingly scorching aura.

“Silver Arm: Torrent!”

This was a Move that could only be unleashed after Demonization, when his entire body had acquired the same properties as his right arm.

Unlike before, where its power was adjusted based on the amount of magic energy injected, this technique allowed magic energy to circulate throughout his body before erupting. By leveraging its ability to ignore defenses, it unleashed unparalleled destructive force.

This Move did not depend on the quantity of magic energy injected but rather on the concept of charging.

In other words, the longer the charge, the more times the magic energy circulated through his body, and the greater the power unleashed.

With sufficient charging time, it could release even more terrifying power than Silver Arm: One Hundred Percent, using the same amount of magic energy.

Su Ming had naturally comprehended this Move after his Awakening and Demonization, allowing the surging force to erupt with overwhelming momentum.

In the next instant, Su Ming swung down the alchemical saber in his hand.

“Boom—!”

Like a mountain torrent, the power transformed into a shocking deluge as the saber descended, resembling a heavenly cascade of light crashing toward the earth.

It was a stream of light capable of vaporizing everything.

It was a rainbow radiance capable of destroying all.

On the ground, Lord Crow’s robes billowed violently from the turbulence stirred by the descending deluge of light. His entire body was subjected to an unprecedented, terrifying heat, setting off alarm bells in his mind.

Death was truly taking shape as a shadow, enveloping Lord Crow entirely.

Thus, Lord Crow erupted.

“Rooooooaaaaaaar!”

Lord Crow let out a roar unlike any he had ever uttered before. Magic energy surged from his entire body, and his gauntlets gleamed with brilliance as he mustered all his strength to withstand the deluge of light.

“Boom!!!”

A deafening roar erupted at that very moment.

It was the sound of the earth shattering.

It was the commotion of the atmosphere exploding.

The deluge of light, as if capable of erasing everything, struck the ground, instantly fracturing it into pieces and causing it to collapse bit by bit.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaah…!”

Lord Crow endured the torrential force capable of vaporizing everything, roaring incessantly. His robes were torn to shreds, his hood ripped apart, revealing the face he had always concealed.

Surprisingly, this No.3 of the Ten Demons possessed a remarkably refined appearance, devoid of the ferocity and brutality typical of an Underground Professional. Instead, he looked like a fair-skinned, youthful pretty boy.

Unfortunately, this Lord Crow, who bore no resemblance to an Underground Professional, now had blood seeping from his skin and spurting from the corner of his mouth, rendering him a pitiful sight.

Yet, in one aspect, Lord Crow undoubtedly resembled an Underground Professional.

Even in such a desperate situation, he felt no fear. Instead, his ferocity was provoked.

“You mere newly Awakened Hunter, don’t get carried away…!”Roaring with such fury, before being engulfed by the torrent of light, Lord Crow, much like Su Ming before him, became entirely enveloped in flowing radiance.

Within the shimmering light, Lord Crow seemed to undergo a transformation, turning into a Fiend with a blurred appearance.

“BOOM!!!”

Before the Fiend could reveal its true form, the torrent of light exploded, transforming into a blinding burst that swept across all directions.

The ground shattered layer by layer, the atmosphere wailed incessantly, and rock fragments turned to dust within the light burst, vanishing instantly into nothingness.

The entire Ruins trembled violently in that single moment.

Longyao City also experienced a slight earthquake phenomenon that persisted for a long time.

(End of Chapter)