Monsters Die When Killed-Chapter 69 - 42: Scion of Dusk

True Demon?

A true ’Demon’?

Su Zhou had no trouble understanding what Yara meant. To put it simply, when Yara usually talked about some ’last of their worthless kind’ or ’Evil Demons,’ it was all just trash talk between Celestial Gods. It was like ’you call me a clueless blockhead, and I’ll call you a coiled-up piece of crap.’ When they didn’t get along, they naturally wouldn’t use pleasantries to refer to each other’s Clans and subordinates.

So, for Yara to use a serious tone to refer to a true ’Demon’ could only mean one thing. This wasn’t some Celestial God’s trash talk, but a genuine ’Demon’—a monster acknowledged as such by numerous Celestial Gods and even Evil Gods!

"What kind of Demon is it?!"

The thought made Su Zhou a little excited. He asked enthusiastically, "A Demon? A Devil? Or maybe the ’Celestial Demon’ from the scriptures of Tianzhu?"

"None of the above." But Yara rejected all his guesses outright. It stated bluntly, "To be blunt, all the ’demons’ you mentioned have goals, organizations, leaders, and are the Beloved of some corresponding Celestial God. But the Demon I’m talking about is a ’True Demon,’ born from ’Destruction’ itself."

"What?! Setting aside Celestial Demons for a moment, you’re saying that Demons and Devils aren’t considered ’evil’ itself?"

This statement shocked Su Zhou. In response, the Snake Spirit narrowed its eyes and said in a detached tone, "Celestial Demons have their own ecological logic and alignments, which I won’t go into. As for Demons, the original meaning refers to a collection of malevolent entities. Whoever they are hostile towards, they become *that party’s* ’demon.’ Fundamentally, they aren’t a ’race’ in the way you’re implying."

"As for Devils."¹

At this, Yara let out a soft chuckle. Su Zhou slapped his forehead, realizing the awkwardness of his question.

’The original prototype for the greatest and earliest Devil in various Holy Covenant Scriptures, the one named ’The Adversary (Satan),’ is right here on my ear, isn’t it?!’²

"In any case, this Demon born from ’Destruction’ itself can be called ’Doomsday,’ or ’Dusk.’ Their reason for existence is to destroy all other beings and reduce everything to nothingness. That’s why they were the first to be jointly annihilated by all other beings... Why are you laughing? Isn’t that perfectly normal? Of course, lunatics like that would be a public enemy."

Yara was cut off mid-sentence by Su Zhou’s stifled laugh. It nipped his ear, quite displeased. "Alright, I know what you’re laughing at. Don’t be so quick to laugh. The ’Dusk True Demon’ is a power originating from destruction. It has no physical body, nor a Spirit Body. It simply descends and alters an existing being’s nature, causing it to undergo ’Dusk-ification.’ They gradually become bloodthirsty and murderous, eventually destroying everything—regardless of whether it’s of Order or Chaos."

"Dusk needs nothing but the ’True Spirit’—the so-called ’essence of the Soul’—of a being after they have been corrupted... They are also the only type of Demon that can hunt True Spirits even at a low level."

Hearing this, Su Zhou stopped laughing. He wasn’t an idiot; he naturally understood the implications of the Snake Spirit’s words.

’So, you’re saying this Evil Demon might have originally been a human?’ he thought. Then he looked up at the gloomy trail of Spiritual Qi overhead. It had no trace of Divinity, only a vast, empty malice. ’This is going to be a little troublesome.’

Killing a giant bug in the sewers and killing a humanoid Evil Demon in a densely populated urban area are two completely different things.

Moreover, and most importantly, if this was a ’Dusk True Demon’ that had corrupted from a human, then he or she should still possess intelligence before being completely demonized. If that’s the case, Wanshou Palace Commercial Street was probably just the scene of the crime, not its actual base of operations.

It might even have some counter-surveillance awareness... Even if it couldn’t hide its Spiritual Qi trail, it would at least take a roundabout path to make tracking difficult!

’Still, all of that would, at most, trouble an ordinary person or a typical Transcendent. For a Superpower User with Spiritual Vision, it’s not an issue. Worst comes to worst, I can just have Yara teach me divination. Tracking one Evil Demon couldn’t be easier.’

"Let’s see, it left heading north?"

Su Zhou finished off the spicy chicken skewer in his hand, found a trash can on the street, and threw away the wooden stick. He had now memorized the direction the Spiritual Qi trail had taken. "Alright. Tonight, I’ll go find its True Body and catch it completely off guard."

Back home, Su Zhou handed the magenta laptop to Yara, letting it look up whatever information it liked. As for whether it knew how to use it, that would be seriously underestimating the creature. Based on Su Zhou’s recent observations, he figured that if the Snake Spirit’s current body wasn’t so small, it could probably even fly a spaceship.

Opening his own black-cased Superstar laptop, Su Zhou had originally planned to review some key physics concepts. He didn’t want his recent studies in Spiritual Materials Science to make him forget the properties of various metals in the material world.

But as his mouse cursor swept over the tree-root-yellow browser icon, the image of the Thunder Slime he had seen in the electronics district today for some reason inexplicably flashed through his mind. Su Zhou accidentally clicked on that sinful icon. He then typed the word ’Slime’ and started searching.

He then discovered a surprising number of posts and discussions about Slimes online, none of which had been deleted or banned.

’Have things become semi-public now?’

Muttering to himself, Su Zhou enthusiastically clicked through posts and blogs, starting to relish the daily lives and storytelling skills of the goofball netizens.

But as he kept reading, his expression grew grave.

"Something strange in the toilet of a Sigma exchange student in Australia. Thought it was a water snake, but a yellowish-brown slime monster suspected to be a Slime shot out, making a huge mess of the whole house."

"Fruit thief discovered in an Afrigan orchard! After an urgent chase, it turned out to be a strange, edible slime mold? Tastes like fruit juice, with a soft and chewy texture!"

"Some madlad on Douyin is performing a live Slime-swallowing stunt, bros are all spamming 666..."

"—This isn’t an issue of things being ’public’ anymore, is it?! And why are there so many? Slimes have already infested the whole world, and people are even starting to eat them?!"

Hearing Su Zhou’s fussing, Yara shook its head from the side. "Slimes are a multi-world race that spans numerous realms to begin with. What’s so strange about them infesting one globe?"

"I get it, I get it..." Su Zhou continued to browse the news, a constipated look on his face as he stared at all the bizarre information like ’Slime-braised noodles’ and ’the new stress-relief pet’.

In the past seven or eight days that he had spent bitterly training with cold weapons and hunting minor demons and evil spirits, it seemed that, under the guidance of a hidden hand, everyone in the world had slowly begun to accept the emergence of these new, anomalous creatures.

But what truly made Su Zhou feel emotional was precisely how easily Slimes had integrated into the lives of ordinary people.

’Even a tiny Slime can cause such changes in people’s lives... so what if it were other creatures? What if they were Demons and monsters, Giant Beasts and Evil Demons?’

What would become of the world when it welcomed these creatures in the future? Where would ordinary people stand?

With such worries in his heart, Su Zhou, who had originally been looking forward to the Spiritual Energy Revival, now felt conflicted and was no longer in the mood to study.

「Night fell.」

Having changed into his Night Travel Clothes, Su Zhou picked up the crudely forged Cross Spear.

Under the moonlight, two sharp poisonous stingers were twisted together like a spiral, their venomous, pointed tip reflecting a bluish-black light. Two large centipede mandibles extended out to the sides like a cross. These mandibles, sharper than any blade, now served as parrying points to intercept and cut other people’s weapons.

And because of the holy Runes inscribed on it, the cross-shaped structure, when anointed with Holy Water, allowed the entire Cross Spear to be used as a scepter—a powerful Exorcism Artifact!

Holding his weapon and gazing at the moonlight, the few worries in Su Zhou’s heart dissipated like dust in the wind.

’There’s nothing to worry about.’

He glanced sideways at the Wisdom Tree Pot Plant. Although the small fruit had grown quite a bit since the beginning, it was still a long way from being ripe.

To make it ripen, it would probably need a proper watering with Spiritual Liquid, or perhaps nearly a thousand Resentful Spirit Fragments.

’But so what? Is it really that hard for me to get those things?’

’It’s just an Evil Demon. Even if more Demons and monsters come in the future, I’ll just blast them all to bits.’

Gripping his spear, a heroic feeling swelling within him, Su Zhou stood atop a tall building at night. He looked down at the streets and high-rises draped in silvery moonlight and revealed a confident smile. "A Dusk True Demon? Still just an Evil Demon. Preying on mortals? What kind of powerhouse does that make you?!"

"It is the prey."

And I am the Hunter.