Chapter Thirty-Eight: Slaughter

Lin Lei’s eyes narrowed.

"No wonder there were so many source energy fluctuations..."

He felt a chill in his heart. He had known in advance that the Blood Cherry Society understood the demon conversion ritual. However, where did they find the sacrifices? Based on his sensing, there were at least two or three hundred sources of energy fluctuations over there. Although most were only at the level of first-tier anomalies, the sheer number was exaggerated. A group of semi-demons this large would require an even greater number of sacrifices.

"The Blood Cherry Society likely doesn't even have that many source energy users. Those numerous first-tier semi-demons must have been converted from ordinary people..."

He frowned deeply. "The Investigation Bureau and the Death Bird’s Tier 4 combatants are currently engaged with the Blood Cherry Society’s Tier 4 masters. These semi-demons alone are enough to completely tear through the Investigation Bureau's encirclement..."

It was likely no coincidence that these semi-demons appeared right after the top-tier combatants began their clash.

Lin Lei’s thoughts raced, but he did not pause, rushing forward at high speed. With "Source Energy Sensing," he was like a man equipped with radar; he knew the location and rough strength of every one of these creatures. Soon, he arrived before the Radiant Plaza.

The vast, empty plaza was covered by a truly horrific ritual array, emitting a thick, bloody stench. Cyan-colored semi-demons occupied every corner of the square. Most of these semi-demons wore red robes, identifying them as members of the Blood Cherry Society, yet at this moment, they had all been reduced to mindless monsters. Only these semi-demons remained standing in the plaza; Lin Lei saw no living combatants from the Investigation Bureau.

The ground was littered with bodies lying in disarray. Many semi-demons were busy gnawing on the corpses. Needless to say, those who had sent the distress signal were likely long dead.

There were simply too many semi-demons here!

Among the corpses on the ground, in addition to the source energy users and regular operatives from the Investigation Bureau and the Death Bird, there were even more bodies of people in red robes. These corpses had been arranged into terrifying patterns, forming several stupas made of flesh and blood.

"So the sacrifices were also part of the Blood Cherry Society’s own congregation, while others became the subjects of the conversion... The Blood Cherry Society is truly heartless..."

Seeing this scene, Lin Lei felt a throbbing pain in his brain, and his mouth twitched. The mental state he had only just recovered in recent days began to dip below average once again. This demon conversion ritual was far more exaggerated than the one he had seen with the Blood Fox. However, having been tempered by the "Sword Hilt" previously, this level of extreme erosion was not something Lin Lei could not withstand.

"These sacrifices and the converted semi-demons were mostly followers of the Blood Cherry Society. Even if they hadn't become source energy users yet, nine times out of ten, they were still a threat to social stability. Most of them deserved to die!"

Lin Lei told himself this, his eyes flashing as he charged forward, gripping his bone sword tightly in his right hand.

*Sshhh!*

The skin of his left palm was pierced, and in the blink of an eye, a matching bone sword coalesced in his left hand. Although he was not adept at dual-wielding, with so many anomalies present, two blades were undoubtedly better than one. In a heartbeat, he covered dozens of meters and charged into the plaza.

Avoiding looking directly at the bizarre ritual array, Lin Lei focused his targets on the semi-demons around him. As he lunged forward, the skin beneath his combat suit and helmet turned a cyan hue. There were no living people nearby, and even if there were, they would be unable to tell that he had activated "Demonization."

*Slash!*

Where the blade passed, the nearest semi-demon was cut in half by Lin Lei’s diagonal strike. At the same time, the bone sword in his other hand swung down toward another semi-demon. In an instant, another head went flying. As both were dispatched, their bodies vanished from where they stood. There were no other source energy users nearby, so Lin Lei began to plunder them directly.

Unlike the Offspring of Flesh, whose pre-conversion abilities were plundered, semi-demons only allowed him to plunder their "semi-demon" traits. For Lin Lei, this meant an enhancement of his "Demonization" ability. However, the improvement provided by ordinary first-tier semi-demons was negligible.

As Lin Lei began his assault, the surrounding semi-demons took notice. One by one, they rushed at him from all directions, surrounding him in an instant!

"Well come!"

Lin Lei licked his lips and took the initiative to charge, his twin blades dancing.

These semi-demons fell one by one. Under the weight of Lin Lei’s terrifying strength and the sharpness of his bone swords, even the bodies of second-tier semi-demons were as fragile as tofu, no harder to kill than the first-tier ones. He didn't use any tactics at all, relying on the enhanced physical defense of his "Demonization" to tank the attacks of the other semi-demons!

*Clang! Clang!*

The first and second-tier semi-demons couldn't even leave a scratch on him. Having cleared the immediate threats, Lin Lei did not pause for a second, continuing his slaughter of the other semi-demons in the plaza. In less than two minutes, Lin Lei had killed twenty or thirty semi-demons, most of them first-tier with a few second-tier ones.

The limit of "Demonization" was exceptionally high; even after killing and plundering so many, Lin Lei had not yet reached his capacity. These creatures provided a significant boost to his "Demonization" ability. However, his gluttony energy was finally bottoming out after repeated "plundering." He had only started with three hundred units, and plundering so many semi-demons had drained him dry.

Nevertheless, the cumulative effect of these many plunders was greater than the consumption and growth he had experienced when plundering the Blood Fox.

"If I continue to strengthen my 'Demonization,' will I eventually reach the standard of a true demon?"

With his gluttony energy depleted, Lin Lei began to "feed" on the remaining semi-demons after killing them to accumulate more energy. Although semi-demons provided far more gluttony energy than ghouls or demon spirits of the same tier, the cost of "plundering" was extremely high; Lin Lei had to kill several to earn enough to plunder just one!

Within his senses, Lin Lei detected two third-tier semi-demons among the crowd. As he continued to thin their numbers, these two finally took notice of him, approaching one after the other to launch an attack.

These two semi-demons were significantly different from the common first and second-tier ones. Their foreheads had distinct protrusions, their skin was a deeper color, and the oppressive aura they projected was entirely different. Facing these two, Lin Lei treated the situation with extreme gravity.

He held his two bone swords in his hands, then suddenly slammed them together. In a flash, black lines coiled around the two blades, fusing them into a longer, wider, new bone sword!