Chapter 62

To be fair, Vivian was more than willing to "help" Lily in this situation. This was a rare opportunity to kick the other party with impunity, and since the werewolf had asked for it, the vampire girl, of course, didn't hesitate. Knowing her strength was no match for a werewolf, she even ran for over thirty meters to build up momentum—when she finally kicked, it was like a fierce wind, almost breaking the air. Even Hao Ren, watching from the side, felt a chill.

When Lily finally managed to get up, the two of them naturally started bickering.

"That pit was so deep and narrow, how could I jump in a parabolic arc?" Lily's focus was clearly a bit off.

"When you got to the edge of the hole, couldn't you just use the side for leverage? Even if you didn't react in time, you could adjust your angle when you jumped! You act like an idiot all the time, and I feel embarrassed living under the same roof with you!" Vivian's focus wasn't much better.

"Can you two be quiet for a moment?!" Hao Ren finally exerted his authority as the landlord (though he didn't have much, just a bit of patience with the two superhero girls). His loud shout finally got the two girls to focus on the matter at hand. "We haven't finished dealing with this yet—what about the pile of tin cans down there? What about the failed seals and runes in the catacombs? More importantly, what about this stone?"

Hao Ren pointed to the demon stone that Lily had casually thrown aside. The black crystal, about a meter long, still glowed red in the night, just as it had when it "awoke." Hao Ren, relying on his thick nerves and his connections, cautiously approached and tapped the stone, discovering that it wasn't as cold as regular rock. It had a temperature and was vibrating slightly. When he put his ear close, he could hear a faint, raspy whisper coming from the crystal. The demon stone seemed like a restless tuning fork, constantly emitting some kind of message—no one knew how to stop it.

Hao Ren initially thought he should make a quick decision and run away, which aligned with his "safety first" philosophy. But when he mentioned this, Vivian told him that demons were extremely adept at spreading their power through a medium. The moment the demon stone started pulsing, anyone who had been illuminated by the red light was already "marked." The owner of the demon stone could track anyone who had approached it, and running away was useless—it might even make the demon more interested in hunting them.

"When a demon targets you, you have only two choices," Vivian solemnly reminded Hao Ren (and Lily, who was also half-informed). "Either hope the demon isn't interested in you, or face it head-on. There's no third option. These creatures spread their power far and wide, and few can escape their notice."

No matter what demons looked like in novels and TV shows, the "real" demons, as Vivian knew them, were indeed like this.

So Hao Ren had to tough it out and stay by the stone, watching as Vivian, who had dealt with demons before, tried to find a way to sever the connection between the stone and the demon.

"If it's a low-level demon, my blood can cover the stone's aura. Once the aura is blocked, the undead guards in the catacombs should calm down, at least making them easier to deal with," Vivian said, circling the demon stone several times, looking hesitant. "But if it's a high-level demon, this won't just block the signal; it will alert the stone's owner to the 'fun' here—those battle maniacs love to fight, but few can match them. High-level vampires are their preferred targets: evenly matched, and able to fight for a long time."

Lily limped around in a circle. "Just say you're pretty good at it."

"Now isn't the time for jokes," Vivian glared at Lily. "What do you know, you're just a little girl? Getting entangled with a demon is never a good thing. They are relentless and will hunt their target to the death. I hate fighting—don't ask why, but I just do. I don't want anything to do with those lunatics."

Hao Ren glanced at Lily. "Why are you walking like that?"

Lily pitifully revealed her tail, which had lost a third of its fur and was now bent and twisted. "It got hit by the stone—looks like it'll hurt for a few days."

Hao Ren looked up at the sky: being hit by a few tons of granite and only losing some fur and skin, what more could she want?

"Let's just try it and see," Vivian seemed to have made up her mind. She looked at the sky. "The moon is almost down. I need to take advantage of the remaining light to deal with this stone. If we wait too long, even the most sluggish demon will catch on—Big Dog, stand guard. I sense many spirits approaching the surface; they might be coming for the stone. Help me hold them off."

Lily responded with a confident smile. "Got it! I'll hold them off."

Vivian nodded, then stood silently a few meters from the demon stone, her hands slightly spread. A thin, blood-red mist began to spread from her.

Almost simultaneously, Lily heard the familiar clanking of armor approaching.

The undead guards were still underground, but they were about to reach the surface.

The catacombs originally had a very strict sealing system, and key areas like the demon chamber and the knight's tomb were hidden. The innkeeper Angus hadn't discovered these deep secrets years ago; he had only explored a few shallow tunnels without disturbing the catacombs' layout. However, the passage of hundreds of years had been enough to weaken the catacombs' seals, and the recent influx of paranormal enthusiasts and their clumsy investigations had been the final straw. The demon stone had started to move, activating the catacombs' defense mechanisms, awakening the sleeping guards, and triggering today's events.

The moment the demon stone hit the ground and emitted a bright red light was just the transition from minor activity to full awakening. In fact, it had been restless even before Hao Ren and the others entered the catacombs; otherwise, how would Angus have been blocked by the sudden appearance of the rune wall?

The catacombs had mechanisms to deal with such situations: when the demon chamber was disturbed and the undead guards lost control, all entrances and exits would be sealed by enchanted rocks, both to suppress the demon and to prevent the hollow armor, which was essentially vengeful spirits, from escaping and harming others. Unfortunately, these mechanisms had been eroded by time, and now all the passages to the surface were wide open, allowing the undead knights to emerge in formation.

Clank, clank, clank, clank...

The familiar sound of armor grew clearer. In the moonlight, the first suit of armor suddenly appeared on a nearby fallen pillar!

Lily was already prepared. The brute-force girl held a massive granite block, about half a meter wide and over a meter long, with an excited look on her face. Seeing the first suit of armor appear, she immediately threw the stone: "I don't know why the bricks here are so big... but my Pegasus Meteor Brick is compatible with all rectangular projectiles!"

The ton-heavy granite block whistled through the air and crashed into the first suit of armor, flattening the spot where it had stood. No matter how strong the armor's resurrection ability, it wouldn't be getting up this time.

No longer concerned about the catacombs' environment and with an endless supply of "ammunition," Brick Superwoman Lily felt invincible. She was confident that she would use the massive bricks found throughout the castle to flatten every tin can that appeared before her. Feeling a bit excited, she took advantage of the moon not yet setting to howl at it: this was her signature move, and she always did it when she felt invincible.

Just as Lily's howl startled Hao Ren, something even more startling happened:

The ritual Vivian was performing suddenly went out of control. The demon stone burst into an unprecedented red glow, and a bone-chilling voice boomed from above the three of them:

"##￥%￥#￥@￥%#@?"

Oh, demon language, didn't understand.

Hao Ren immediately knew that Vivian's bad luck, which had plagued her all her life, had struck again...