With the Blade

A monster as tall as a three-story building was rampaging in the south of the city.

The monster’s head was as large as a teacup, and it roared madly. The lingering hatred made it blind. It didn’t know why it had ended up like this. Clearly, it had done nothing wrong—yet now it had nothing, not even its enemies. The corpse before it had long been devoured; as a monster, it could no longer turn back.

Blood-soaked hatred drove it completely mad, so it threw large amounts of pouches and silver needles, casting this hatred evenly upon everyone in sight.

Of course, to this teacup-headed monster, those were just pouches and silver needles, but to ordinary people, the silver needles were as big as spears, and the pouches filled with rotten flesh were much larger than sacks. A direct hit meant instant death.

In no time, the entire south of Jiankang City was strewn with dead and injured, and the residents fled in panic.

"Monsters are on the rampage again!"

This was what the fleeing people shouted. As for why they said "again," it was because similar incidents had occurred more than once—just like now, apart from the teacup-headed monster, there rose a pig-headed monster with a cleaver on its head in the distance.

The pig-headed monster with blood-red eyes pulled the cleaver from its face, and once more, a gruesome scene unfolded in the distance.

In the past, people occasionally heard tales of monsters, but they had never seen them with their own eyes. Yet recently, those monsters that should only appear in ghost stories began emerging one after another—but ordinary people like them had no ability to resist these multi-story-high monsters.

Fortunately, those who could save them eventually appeared.

"The Commanders from the court have arrived!"

Several loud-voiced watchmen and constables shouted in the distance, and on the rooftop behind them, a few people wielding various weapons moved through the night like heroes from tales exorcising demons.

Seeing these people appear, the panicking crowd slightly calmed down. Recently, these so-called Commanders had exterminated some monsters—though people were still reluctant to consider them as officials, because their origins were somewhat problematic.

Maniacs, murderers, dishonorable soldiers—they used to call them this. In the past, these lunatics only knew about killing and would have been locked up by the Capturers. But clearly, times have changed, and those once considered villains now had transformed into these so-called "Commanders," even wearing official uniforms.

But could such a group of people really save them?

"Buzz—"

Silver needles the size of spears showered like rain. Clearly, the teacup-headed monster also noticed them.

Unlike the ordinary people on the ground, those leaping across the rooftops weren’t without means to fight back.

"Hah!"

The figure wielding a large shield at the front immediately raised a shield wall. Heavy Evil Qi swirled into a vortex in front of the shield wall, guiding the scattered silver needles and spears, twisting their trajectories until they all struck the solid shield.

But while the shield wall could block the silver needles, it couldn’t block the toxic gas from the pouches of rotten flesh.

"Boom!"

A flesh bundle larger than a sack smashed against the shield wall, and the rotten flesh emitting a foul stench splattered everywhere.

The man behind the large shield only inhaled a bit of the rancid smell before spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood.

But his actions bought some time for his companions. Several other Commanders had already charged to the monster’s side, their weapons shining brightly, leaving dozens of deep bone-revealing wounds on its body in an instant.

"Strike while it’s down! Finish it off!"

After heavily injuring the monster in one encounter, the Commanders’ morale soared. With blood-red eyes, they raised their weapons again, intending to hack the monster to pieces right there!

But the monster wasn’t just a target to be beaten.

"Why... why! Why me! Why does all of this have to befall me!"

The maddened monster swung its ten arms, throwing more silver needles like a torrential rain, forcing the Commanders, who lost the shield wall’s protection, to only block and parry, seeking another opportunity to strike.

This overwhelming barrage might seem terrifying to ordinary people, but to the Commanders who knew how to use Evil Qi, it was merely normal—as long as they could block the flying needles and avoid getting hit by the flesh pouches, killing this monster would be as easy as slaughtering a chicken.

It was at this moment that a Commander wielding a spear sensed something amiss.

The monster clearly had ten arms, so why were only eight throwing needles?

"It’s stitching its wounds!"

As the Commander’s sight turned to the two arms not extended, his eyes widened in fury.

"It’s stalling for time to heal itself!"

"Damn beast!"

All at once, the Commanders began cussing.

The monster itself wasn’t terrifying. Although these monsters were often tough, hacking them enough times would still kill them—sure, many monsters chose to devour the living to heal, but as long as people ran far enough, the monsters couldn’t sustain themselves indefinitely.