CHAPTER 122 - The Emergence of the Horned Demon, Intensifying

Upon hearing Natalie's voice, Rosen was momentarily stunned. Following the direction Natalie pointed, he indeed saw some monsters standing in the sea of fire, slowly advancing. There were many monsters in the fiery inferno, but most were engulfed in flames, so people didn't notice that some were staring at the entire bright city until Natalie sensed them.

These monsters seemed to have noticed Rosen's gaze; they slightly raised their heads and grinned, appearing particularly eerie, sending a shiver down Rosen's spine. Did these creatures have intelligence and emotions? How could that be? Although Rosen had only recently arrived in Lantis, he knew that these were merely humans who had died but not completely, and even the giant lions did not exhibit such intelligence or emotions. 

Yet, these monsters in the sea of fire possessed such traits. Could they be stronger than the giant lions? But how could that be possible? There were quite a few of these monsters. Upon closer inspection, he saw that just this section of the city wall had twenty to thirty of them. Twenty to thirty that were stronger than the giant lions? Lantis would have been completely destroyed by now.

Boom!

One of the flaming monsters crawled up from the fiery trench. It was about two to three meters tall, not particularly strong-looking, rather skinny, with two devil-like horns on its head, black skin, and multiple arms. Looking closely, Rosen noticed some of its arms resembled those of a mantis, ranging from two to six in number.

These monsters wielded swords and knives, their faces twisted, with a single crimson eyeball. They grinned at Rosen, as if they were no longer concerned about being discovered. 

"Are you mocking me? Just a bunch of pathetic beings that are neither human nor ghost," Rosen spat out his cigar, feeling extremely displeased at being regarded as less than human by these monsters. 

"Piercing Spear!" A slender spear made of golden sand copper shot out like an arrow, moving incredibly fast—quicker and sharper than the usual sand gun. 

With a loud bang, the Piercing Spear directly exploded the head of the nearest horned demon, pinning it to the ground. The entire area, within dozens of meters, erupted in a cloud of dirt, and the ground itself sank into a massive pit, as if bombarded by a high-explosive device.

"Roar..." One four-armed horned demon was killed on the spot; it was the one that had first met Rosen's gaze, revealing a mocking expression. 

The death of one of their kind instantly provoked a human-like rage and killing intent among the horned demons, all rushing towards Rosen like fearless warriors.

"Take care of yourself, and try not to stray too far from me," Rosen said just as he saw one horned demon lunging towards Natalie. A mantis-like arm swept across, only to be blocked by a small shield with a hole, sending Natalie flying away.

"Damn it, I'll be back," Natalie shouted angrily as she gradually disappeared into the horizon.

"Pitas, go join the warriors over there; these things have fixed their sights on me." Rosen frowned. The strength of these horned demons was considerable. Although he had killed one with a single strike, it would not be easy to deal with multiple at once.

"Slash!" As soon as Rosen finished speaking, a five-armed horned demon's mantis arm swept across Rosen's waist, only cutting through the sand without causing any harm. This indicated that while these monsters were strong, Rosen's natural abilities gave him an innate advantage, allowing him to handle each of these oblivious horned demons one by one.

They did not understand what natural abilities were, did not know how to counter them, and had only a pitiful amount of intelligence. 

With a loud thud, Rosen raised his fist and struck the horned demon, but it merely staggered back a few steps. "What tough defensive capabilities."

"Roar..." In an instant, the horned demons swarmed over Rosen like locusts. 

Rosen executed his signature move, throwing a sandstorm, and then unleashed a barrage of desert swords upon the horned demons, but they failed to break through their defenses. Those black, skinny bodies were exceptionally sturdy.

"Slice!" Rosen condensed sand copper into a sword, using considerable strength to behead several horned demons, one after another...

"What's going on? What are those monsters?!" Not far away, Alice was shocked to see Rosen surrounded by the monsters. She had never seen those horned demons before, but she recognized their external forms resembled those of the rulers from the Abyssal Rift, causing a surge of intense unease within her.

"He's actually a natural ability user?!" Alice was slightly surprised to see Rosen maneuvering effortlessly among the horned demons, immune to physical harm, considering natural ability users were exceedingly rare. Although Rosen wasn't fighting with full strength and was conserving energy for a one-hit kill, his combat prowess was still formidable.

However, the problem was that while most of the horned demons were here, some were still scattered in other areas, and suddenly, the sounds of screams and alarms rang out once more. 

These horned demons had extraordinary individual strength; ordinary warriors were no match for them, with each one's strength reaching the equivalent of millions in bounty, and some with numerous arms even reaching over a hundred million. Moreover, there were quite a number of them.

The previously subdued battle erupted again, even more violently, as these semi-human monsters sparked a renewed frenzy among the zombies that were originally about to disperse.

"Three tolls of the bell, highest crisis?!" Hearing the bells and the renewed fighting, Alice's expression changed drastically. What was happening?! No, they needed to eliminate these creatures quickly.

"A new breed has emerged, Horned Demon, guard squad, lead the team to carve out a path, reach the surface, and fire the signal flares." Lisa, bloodied, was struck by a blow from a six-armed horned demon, sending her flying a distance.

These horned demons were too powerful, with several able to engage her directly without being slaughtered. Additionally, with the zombies erupting once more, their warriors were already fatigued, and now they could only send out a distress signal. However, reaching the Ninth Garden from here was not easy, and whether reinforcements would arrive was uncertain.

"Received."

"The horned demons are most concentrated on Alice's side. I'll take a team to assist." Lord Hodeman swung his large sword, directly slicing a four-armed horned demon away, standing on the observation deck, watching more horned demons climbing the sections of the city wall in the distance.

"Okay." Lisa did not refuse; although there were horned demons on this section of the wall, there were only about ten in total, and combined with the Blade soldiers, it should be manageable for the time being. 

But the problem was, facing the endless resurgence of the zombie tide, how long they could hold out was a matter of life and death.

"Die for me!" Alice roared in frustration, but now it was the giant lion that had her ensnared. Unless she killed it, it would be difficult to escape, as this creature was nearly as strong as she was.

"Unified Slash!" A powerful force erupted from Alice's body, creating tangible wind pressure, a manifestation of her bloodline factor's genetic power. 

Though it wasn't a transformation technology like Germa's, but rather a burst of power developed in the human body, it had significant side effects. Still, she had no choice if she wanted to resolve this quickly. 

In an instant, her fair skin turned a deep red, feeling her blood boil. She slashed her arm with a dagger. Blood gushed out, absorbed by the dagger, while all the daggers flew towards her, forming a large sword in her hands, which she thrust forward explosively.

With a loud bang, a scarlet sword energy erupted like a spiraling tornado, striking the giant lion. 

But at that moment, thick fog surged around her, enveloping her in a potent sense of danger. 

Simultaneously, Rosen's voice rang out: "Be careful, it's the ability of that natural zombie!" 

(End of chapter)