Several passersby ran past me, apparently frightened by the desperate scream coming from the alley, or maybe they saw the demon. It didn't matter.
Having quickly reached the spot where the scream was supposedly coming from, I stopped. The alley was dark and damp. The stench from the trash containers lining the walls assaulted my nostrils, and in the distance I could hear a quiet slurping sound—apparently the guy had already been caught and was being devoured.
I should have gone there and dealt with the demon, but my legs refused to go there.
I didn't want to go there, not because I was afraid or because it was dark, no.
I only stopped because...
"Fuck. No way." My gaze was fixed on the disgusting puddles of green goo spilling from the containers.
I was barefoot, and I didn't want to step in it. Yeah. I shouldn't have rushed in pursuit without thinking. I'll remember that so it doesn't happen next time. Otherwise, I should have lured him out of there, since he's already dead.
"Hey! Worm-like demon! Come out! Let's fight!" I shouted into the darkness.
Then I mentally summoned a sword, and a black katana with a sharp blade materialized in my right hand. Although it looked like a normal katana, I had modified it slightly with my abilities; since purchasing it, it had become stronger and sharper.
After my scream, the sounds faded, and then from the alley came the sound of a demon creeping toward me.
After retreating a bit, the demon finally appeared before me in the light, and it was a terrifying sight. Its elongated body towered five feet above me, countless small, beady eyes staring hungrily at me. The man's upper body hung over his bloodied mouth, his eyes still wide and fearful. His face was also covered in tears, snot, and blood, which were now dripping onto the asphalt and his already bloody and rumpled shirt.
The demon threw the man's upper body aside, and what remained of him flew off and, with a dull thud of bones, hit the brick wall and fell, revealing his missing lower body and spilled entrails, from which blood began to flow, immediately mixing with the puddle.
"Look at him, this little guy came to me himself."
I heard a distorted voice and looked away from the man I'd been watching for a few seconds, glancing at the demon, who had begun talking, either to himself or to me.
"That fat man was my dinner, and since you came, you'll be my dessert." Without giving me a chance to speak, he suddenly lunged at me.
Reacting in time, I jumped away from him. The demon flashed past me, breaking through the brick wall and pushing deeper into what was behind me, scattering debris and raising a cloud of dust.
In that instant, the rest of his elongated body was exposed to me, and I joyfully slashed at him. The blade of my sword easily sliced through the demon's flesh, splitting him in two.
"Look, now only half of you remains, just like that man you ate." "Turning to the hole, I sneered at the demon and swung my sword, clearing the blood dripping from the blade.
"Scum! I'll make you suffer!" A roar came from the hole, and it lunged at me, its mouth wide open, revealing rows of sharpened teeth.
It was quite slow, but I leaped high and easily avoided its blow. This moment even began to remind me of a rodeo, only instead of a bull, there was a worm demon.
Landing softly, I glanced at the demon, who twisted his body and sharply swung his tail, which was now intact. Debris and brick fragments flew into the air and scattered in all directions. Although some small stones hit me, they did not cause me any harm, and I jumped, avoiding the blow.
"Oh, you're so helpless without arms, poor thing," I said, landing and mocking the demon again.
"Grrr, let's see how many more times you can avoid my blows," the demon said angrily. After his words, the previously severed part of the demon twitched next to me and immediately rushed at me, only now it had a full-fledged mouth and eyes, just like the other demon's.
Dodging again, I swung my sword, slicing it in two. Combination attacks followed, I dodged and slashed more and more often, and more and more severed parts came to life, growing in number, but also becoming smaller in size, reducing their mass to be more proportional and maneuverable.
Every swing of the sword was accompanied by a splatter of blood, which splashed onto my clothes and myself. I hacked at them until they were the size of a normal cat. By that point, my entire body was covered in blood, my hair was sticky, my blood-soaked clothes also clung unpleasantly to my body, my feet were also covered in blood from stepping in puddles of blood every time, my face was smeared, the sword almost slipped from my hands, the surrounding walls and floor were also stained, there was so much of it. I was internally amazed at how much there was.
The Worm Demon was really annoying me with its durability. The enemy was quite weak, but problematic.
At the moment, I stood surrounded by worms the size of cats, like a giant among an army of humans. When it first demonstrated its ability to multiply, I quickly realized that my sword was ineffective against it. I also soon came up with a brilliant idea I wanted to test, so I continued cutting them down to the point where they were now.
And I think the time has come...
After some time away from them, I
recalled my katana back to storage, clenched my fists, and assumed a fighting stance. I shouted to the crowd, "Come on, attack!"
Cutting and stabbing attacks weren't particularly effective against the Worm Demon, but blunt or crushing blows were effective against it. Unfortunately, I didn't have those in my arsenal; I'll have to create a mace or hammer for the future.
After my scream, a wave of demon worms rushed toward me in unison. The first one to charge leaped at me, and immediately received a punch from my right fist in mid-air. He immediately flew back like a rag doll, crashing into the wall, leaving a bloody mark behind him, and collapsed, showing no signs of life.
Chaos ensued as the rest of the horde closed in on me. The first wave to leap was immediately swept away by a kick from my right foot, sending them scattering. I crushed the closest ones, who tried to outflank and surround me as best I could, with my foot, stomping them into the floor, and nearly slipped on one. Those who managed to cling to me, I retreated and roughly tore them off, sometimes even taking pieces of my own flesh with them. Going into a crowd unarmed? Stupid? Reckless? That's right. But I loved the feeling of omnipotence as I scattered them like helpless kittens with my bare hands; it was intoxicating. And I was quite confident of my victory.
I dodged, struck, retreated, gradually whittling down their numbers until only a few remained.
Fearing death, they tried to flee, scattering. But I quickly caught up with them and finished off the rest.
When it was all over, stretching my arms and standing on tiptoe, a satisfied smile spread across my face.
"That was cool. Now I should probably test if what I wanted to do works," I thought to myself, picking up a bloody carcass of a dead worm demon from the floor.
The idea was to split the worm demon into many parts and try to make a weapon out of them.
Clutching the worm demon's body part tightly in my hand, I said lightly, "Worm demon grenade." The flesh began to condense, and literally a second later, a flesh-like grenade with a ring formed in my hand. It looked similar to the existing F1 fragmentation grenade.
To test my theory, I picked up another corpse and did the same.
"It works," I muttered quietly, tossing the grenade in one hand.
After that, I began doing this with other worm demon parts, and eventually made over 26 grenades and stored them. I'll need them in the future...
Lighting a cigarette with the flame from my lighter, I took a deep drag, feeling the cold autumn wind blowing on my skin. Exhaling the smoke, I leisurely headed home to take a bath and get some sleep. A tough day awaited me tomorrow: time to meet Makima and officially become a Demon Hunter.
This chapter may be edited in the future.