Nightmare's Call

“Mhm... that’s a strong blood smell.”

Under the night sky, a skinless creature with raw, bloody tissues and vessels exposed, slowly and quietly sneaked to the back of the Ironfist Society premise, as if it had come to a no man’s land. With just a snap of its fingers, the iron door lock broke like tofu. The monster let out a smile and walked through the back entrance.

In the guardroom on the side of the rear entrance, a disciple occasionally took a sip of the water from his glass as he read from a book with his head lower. Upon hearing the faint but perceptible sound, he grabbed a stun baton. As soon as he pushed the guardroom door open, he came face to face with the bloody monster.

“You...” Stunned, the disciple scrambled to alert the others, but it was too late. The bloody monster leaped across four meters in one single step, coming within inches of him. It wrapped its hand over his mouth before breaking his skull with fingers. What was even more frightening was that the entire actions were silent, without the slightest perturbation of supernatural power.

“I know you here. But let me first eat everyone else, only then I will take care of you...” As the monster retracted its hand and took a deep breath, the blood exploding from the skull flew like a living thing into the monster’s nostrils. It then continued walking toward the main building.

Holding the Bloodazure Harp with one hand, Lin Sheng occasionally struck his fingers across the strings, playing a rather difficult-to-play, standard-practice song. But the harp did not make a sound. Being gifted in music, the armored soldier was a talented harp player. The inheritance of the soldier’s talent had Lin Sheng occupied for quite a while. He was feeling the sacred power swell and ebb continuously like a tide in him. His face was calm and he was emotionless as if he had fallen into a state of complete serenity. When he closed his eyes, he seemed to be able to see his body and his internal organs in his mind’s eye.

“The breakthrough is imminent...” Suddenly, he was experiencing enlightenment. Already a Level-3 warrior, his strength had peaked after acquiring the sacred power of the Gray Angel. He had been practicing sacred power incessantly as he aspired to make the power of the Gray Angel his own. Now, he had almost internalized it.

“Bodily strength and combat experience are now up to snuff. Even without semi-dragonizing, I’d still be qualified as a Level-4 Temple Warrior.” Lin Sheng so self-assessed. “The Crag Dragon bloodline boosts my strength to almost level-5, but my sacred power is still at Level-3. Once attaining Level-4, the mastery of my body would improve significantly with added divine ability. Let alone semi-dragonized.” Lin Sheng thought, his heart was pounding in anticipation.

After playing the harp for a while and sensing a slight lag of his sacred power circulation, he knew that he had overexerted himself. So he put the harp aside and was about to take some rest. Just then, one of his telepathic links with the armored soldiers, who were patrolling the perimeter, suddenly disconnected. Startled, he took a shallow breath and got to his feet. He knew well how hard it was to deal with an armored soldier. Even if someone could kill an armored soldier quickly, it would not be as quick as to be completely silent.

He had not gotten much rest these few days because of the pressure from the military of Redwin. Someone sneaking in from the backdoor was making his situation worse. Although he showed no emotional changes on his face, deep inside, his anger was boiling.

Lin Sheng put on his jacket and walked out of the quiet room. In was dead silent on the outside, where he saw blood splatters on the white wall in the corner, where the body of a disciple was lying lifelessly. He slowly went up and squatted down, checking the dead body. This disciple had died an agonizing death, his face twisted. He reached to rub his hand over the disciple’s face, closing his lifeless eyes.

Suddenly, a gust of wind rose in the dark. Lin Sheng surged to his feet, his body swelling rapidly like a balloon, his muscles twisting like a brown bag of boulders, and his eyes sparkling with flashes of gold. A fearsome aura of a dragon fanned out from him in all directions. As he tilted his head to the left and then right, the joints of his body started to pop and crackle loudly like firecrackers. After that, he silently strode into the main hall.

Xie Qiaoyue knew she had messed up. She should not have acted hastily and hidden behind the unguarded Ironfist Society. The undefended Ironfist Society would be likely suffering enormous casualties. If this happened, she would inevitably face the wrath from both sides. She had witnessed how the Ironfist Society hunted the souls; they would surely not let her off the hook just as the monster would show no mercy to her.

“I have passed on your membership application to the above. As long as you meet the criteria, the society will approve your application.” Seeing Xie Qiaoyue’s nervousness, the receptionist let out a gentle smile. “Don’t worry. The Ironfist Society is a law-abiding community. We are not a violent lot, although we are the strongest in the area now.”

“I—I’m fine... It—it’s just that...” The guilt Xie Qiaoyue felt grew stronger. What if the monster came and no one was defending the IronFist Society? Many people would die, and blood would be on her hands. The longer she thought, the more uneasy she became.

“You may need to wait for a while, as there are only a few students here. The president and other members have gone back home. They will only be coming back at around seven.” The girl sitting behind the counter explained softly.

“It’s fine. I can wait.” Xie Qiaoyue was like a cat on hot bricks; she had gone beyond the point of no return. Fleeing by boat out to sea was a risky gamble; she definitely did not want to take the risk. She had no other choice but to place her hope on the Ironfist Society, perhaps they were able to stop the monster.

The receptionist-on-duty was had a pretty, smiley face. Earlier, the Ironfist Society had decided to halt the new member intake, but girls with beautiful faces were a rare commodity. Xie Qiaoyue was first-class in the looks department, and she was one of those rare women who had an interest in martial arts. So, the president had made an exception to the no-new-intake order to take in any talented and attractive female recruits.

Xie Qiaoyue groped the claws of the sea hawk on her head. When she was nervous, she needed to feel the deadly cold talons of the sea hawk with her hands to make herself feel safe and secure. But ordinary humans could not see this weird habit of her and the sea hawk.

“Gal, it’s coming!” The sea hawk suddenly said with a cold voice.

The nerves of Xie Qiaoyue tensed up, her eyes darting around as she tried to anticipate the possible direction from where the enemy would emerge. “I found it.”

A tall, bloody monster slowly came through the side entrance of the main hall. “Utiya,” the monster called out, looking and smiling at the sea hawk on Xie Qiaoyue’s head, “I can puncture a hole in your brain with just a snap of my fingers, break every bone in your body with two, and gouge your eyes out to make the most beautiful pearls with three...”

Xie Qiaoyue and the sea hawk froze as if their vessels and nerves had seized hearing the grim voice and seeing the murderous stare of the monster. But what actually paralyzed them was not the monster but the golden-eye figure that slowly and silently emerged from behind the monster.