Demons Beside You

Blackie pulled Chen Zhao away. “Let’s stand back before we get affected by their battle.”

Chen Zhao glanced at the three demons and decided to keep his distance.

Black clouds started gathering in the sky again just like what had happened in the living room the previous day, only that its range was larger.

Carrie’s appearance did not change, but she indeed seemed to be stronger than before.

The three demons started to have a messy fight. Although their powers were not too destructive, such a non-CGI battle scene was still appalling.

An enormous, ten-meter long snake and a Shar Pei which was larger than a tiger were frantically dodging the hailstones falling from the sky.

Carrie did not move at all and only stood still while using her icy powers to stop Raymond and Beelzebub from coming closer.

She was like a snow elf, standing proudly at her spot with ice and snow circling around her body.

“Why do I feel that as subordinates under the seven sins, Beelzebub and Raymond are much weaker than Carrie?”

At the very least, Chen Zhao thought that Carrie’s icy powers looked much more gorgeous.

“You can’t compare their powers like this.” Blackie stood at the side, watching the battle. “They can’t display their true powers here, so it appears as if Beelzebub and Raymond are not as strong as Carrie. Actually their powers are more or less the same. Beelzebub’s and Raymond’s powers as subordinates may even be stronger than that of Carrie.”

“I only believe in what I see.”

Chen Zhao could not understand how the powers of demons were calculated.

Was the strength of a demon not decided by battles?

Could their powers not be seen from the fight that was happening?

“Let them continue their fight. I’ll bring you around in the castle.”

When Blackie and Chen Zhao arrived before the castle, the suspension bridge lowered slowly.

After passing the bridge, they reached the gates. There were two guards standing on both sides of the gates.

Chen Zhao glanced at the guards. “Are these decorations? Or something else? I feel somewhat creeped out by them.”

“These were left behind by the crevice’s original master. The previous Soulbringer lived in the Late Middle Ages I think, so most decorations here are from the Middle Ages. For example, these two are Headless Horsemen.”

“Headless Horsemen?”

Chen Zhao had of course heard about the Headless Horseman. It was a famous existence in Western mythology.

But shouldn’t the Headless Horseman come with a horse called Daredevil?

“Yes, but to put it simply, a Headless Horseman is just the soul of a knight whose head has been cut off. The soul is trapped in the armor and fuses with the armor. If the armor is destroyed, so will the soul.”

“Do they have their own awareness?”

“Nope. They’re but marionettes and they do whatever I tell them to.”

Chen Zhao heard deep breathing sounds from the depths of the castle which did not sound like humans.

“What’s inside?”

“Little Three, come out and meet my friend.”

From the shadows, a dog which was much larger than Beelzebub walked out slowly. It had three heads.

“Cerberus?”

“Haha… its appearance seems to be especially frightening to humans.”

“Is it not Cerberus?”

“Yes and no.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Cerberus you humans know refers to the Hell gatekeeper in Greek mythology. It’s a specific example of a Hellhound. In fact, the Hellhound is a creation of demons, and there are more than one. As long as you have enough raw materials, you can make as many as you want. Apart from not being able to reproduce, their habits are more or less the same as an ordinary dog.”

“How about food?”

“Anything smaller than itself is its food.”

All the three heads stuck their tongues out. It really did look like an ordinary dog.

“Little Three is the name you gave it?”

“Yes. Don’t you think I’m gifted at giving names?”

“Does it like this name?”

“I think so.”

“Good. It’s just like how I call you Blackie. The fact that you can accept it is more important than anything else, including whether the name itself is good or not.”

Chen Zhao took out a nail-sized piece of demonic crystal. “Little Three, come, it’s for you.”

Demonic crystals were irresistible to all demons and related species, including Hellhounds.

The center head of Little Three was the first to react. It stuck its tongue out and snatched the demonic crystal.

The other two heads stared at Chen Zhao in resentment. This caused Chen Zhao to be somewhat confused. “Do the three heads share one awareness or are they separate?”

“Three. They share one body but have three minds.”

“Oh I see.” Chen Zhao took out two more pieces of demonic crystals.

The head at the center still wanted to snatch the crystals, but Chen Zhao pushed it away. “Give them to your two brothers. You already had one.”

Since their habits were similar to a dog, Chen Zhao was not worried that it would attack him.

Chen Zhao really trusted dogs, at least more than he trusted humans.

“Oh yeah, since they have three minds, one name will not suffice. You need two more names.”

“Little One and Little Two. What do you think?”

“Fantastic. You’re indeed gifted at giving names.”

“So you’re Little One, Little Two, and Little Three.” Blackie counted from the head on the left to the one on the right, distributing the names properly.

Clearly Hellhounds were cheerful creatures. They did not mind if their names were really bad.

“Was it from the previous owner as well?”

“No. It’s my creation.”

At the end of the aisle, Chen Zhao came to a sudden halt, because the ring pit before him was filled with bones. A wooden bridge lied above the pit.

“What’s this?”

“The bad taste of the previous owner. He has once appeared before mankind. I think he’s the creator of necromancers. He injected souls into these skeletons so that they could move temporarily. Then the ignorant humans called him a necromancer.”

“Can you Soulbringers appear before humans?”

“It depends on our powers. I can’t do it, but those powerful and old Soulbringers can.”

“How old are you?”

“Around a hundred years old.”

“How long can you Soulbringers live?”

“Around five hundred years. Some can live longer, but usually not more than a thousand years.”

“So you’re considered as young in your race right?”

Blackie nodded. “Oh yeah, I can bring you to the previous owner’s lab.”

“Lab?”

“Yes. You know that we usually live alone, but we also feel lonely, so we normally have some hobbies to do when we’re free, such as research or learning.”

Blackie brought Chen Zhao into the laboratory. In the web-filled laboratory, Chen Zhao saw many shelves full of jars.

Most of the jars contained a green liquid in which weird-shaped organisms were floating.

“What are these? Hell organisms?”