Demon Bible

Chapter 194: Playing Mind Games with a Demon, You Are Still a Bit Lacking

However, the tactile feedback of this sword strike still felt wrong.

The pierced phantom slowly dissipated as the Six-Armed Naga Demon's true body had already coiled up.

Multiple illusions intertwined, blending reality and falsehood to provide cover for its attacks and defenses.

Crouching low with its six arms dancing in the air, one had to admire the incredible flexibility of the serpent demon's body.

The combination of illusions and Sword Art truly provided a distinct advantage.

The assault from six arms was not something an ordinary person could easily block, especially when genuine strikes were concealed and replaced by phantoms.

For those lacking keen perception, they would not even realize when a sudden, fatal thrust ended their lives.

Nemus, however, was different. His judgment of the enemy's sword trajectories did not rely entirely on visual senses, but rather on calculation.

Amidst the clash of blades, he could determine the opponent's force, the trajectory of their weapon, and their specific offensive posture through tactile feedback.

Moreover, Nemus was not merely blindly defending.Facing six swords interspersed with illusions, no matter how solid the defense, it was difficult to protect oneself completely. Mistakes were inevitable.

Therefore, counterintuitively, a certain degree of offense was required at this moment.

By going on the offensive, he could dictate the rhythm of the battle.

In the face of such pressure, the Six-Armed Naga Demon was forced to mount a defense, thereby slowing its own offensive momentum.

Once it adopted a defensive stance, its blades would be pinned down by Nemus's strikes, allowing the trajectories of those swords to be largely deduced.

Of course, to dismantle the Six-Armed Naga Demon's Phantom Sword Art through offense, the most fundamental requirement was that Nemus's single sword had to counter the most complex attacks with maximum efficiency.

Simultaneously, every thrust had to carry a significant threat, forcing the opponent to commit more swords to defense.

If one's foundational skills were subpar or their Attribute Value was insufficient, such an approach would merely be courting death.

The Third Captain's strategy of unleashing Sword Qi from a distance and avoiding direct engagement was the correct approach for an ordinary person.

In the next instant, the Six-Armed Naga Demon vanished, and the six swords that had previously obscured his vision disappeared along with it.

Phantom Sword Art: Formless Blade!

In stark contrast to the previous tactic of blinding the enemy with a flurry of sword shadows, the sky was no longer filled with overlapping strikes. Instead, all attacks, along with the wielder, completely dissolved into nothingness.

Nemus twisted his blade and pointed it at an empty space.

Secret Sword: Sparrow Folds the Sky!

The rapid swing of the blade sliced through the air, forming a turbulent white ring around his body.

However, there was absolutely nothing within that perimeter.

Clearly, at this juncture, the Six-Armed Naga Demon had opted for a different combat style.

It had realized that Nemus was only able to accurately locate its attacks amidst the illusions by relying on preemptive strikes and anticipation.

Thus, what it needed to do was not to maintain its previous battle rhythm and relentlessly press the assault.

Against others, a frenzied onslaught would eventually overwhelm and kill them—that was its advantage.

But using a frenzied onslaught against Nemus would only throw away the advantage of its illusions.

Therefore, the Six-Armed Naga Demon deliberately deviated from its original attack pattern.

During the execution of the Formless Blade, it had not launched an actual attack.

And at this moment, Nemus's defensive sword technique had already been executed. His previous momentum was spent, and new power had yet to be generated. Both his posture and the position of his sword revealed massive openings.

"Playing mind games with a demon, you are still a bit lacking."

To ensure the success of this strike, the Six-Armed Naga Demon even employed an exclusive secret technique it rarely showed others—the Tail Sword Art!

Since its tail governed its movement and could not participate in prolonged combat, this strike was solely reserved for sneak attacks.

Coiling around a longsword, the serpentine tail slithered across the ground before thrusting upward, thoroughly impaling Nemus. "Ah, I will gladly accept your soul..."

Before it could even finish its sentence, Nemus's impaled body turned ethereal and vanished.

A sword viciously pierced through the Six-Armed Naga Demon's body as the real Nemus appeared on the other side.

Secret Sword: Phantom Sword Art - Splendid Macaw!

The Six-Armed Naga Demon's body gradually crumbled. All the investment it had poured into this vessel had ended in total failure.

While it would not truly die, returning to the Abyss was an entirely different matter.

When demons arrived in the Material Plane through a Contract, they required a specially crafted vessel or had to manifest a physical body as a host.

When killed conventionally, only the vessel perished, and their true forms would simply return to the Abyss.

However, this did not mean the demon suffered no losses. To allow the vessel to fully manifest the Attribute Value of the demon's true body, it required a prolonged investment of resources and a tight connection with its original form.

Once the vessel was destroyed, the demon retreating to the Abyss would lose that entire investment.

Furthermore, its true body would absolutely fall into a state of severe weakness.

This weakness was not like human frailty, but rather a unique state characterized by a deficit in Attribute Value.

Although the numbers still existed, it became incredibly difficult to exert the corresponding power.

The demon would need to consume vast quantities of flesh and souls to replenish itself and escape this debilitated state.

The more powerful the demon, the more severe this weakness became.

Consequently, Lesser Demons fared somewhat better. They generally lacked the capability to form tightly bound vessels, so hunting a few Demonic Beasts was enough to offset their weakness.

Of course, Lesser Demons also had weaker defenses against external forces. Sometimes, being slain by slightly unconventional means in the Material Plane meant they were truly killed.

But Formal Demons were different. They needed to slaughter far more lives to make themselves whole again.

During this recovery process, Formal Demons were not ignored entities within the Abyss.

Every demon was a potential hunter and prey. As they watched others, waiting for a rival to fall into weakness for whatever reason, they themselves were highly likely being observed.

Now that the Six-Armed Naga Demon had suffered weakness after visiting the Material Plane, the moment it began mass-hunting for life, it would be extremely difficult to conceal its vulnerable state.

At that time, it was bound to become someone else's prey.

After sending his "fellow countryman", the Six-Armed Naga Demon, back home, Nemus gripped his sword and looked toward the other side of the battlefield.

The old man from the Judgment Squad's Archive Room and Isabella were barely managing to hold off the Heterogeneous Demon, Ahriman.

In the instant Nemus killed the Six-Armed Naga Demon.

The standard demon, which had been fighting the Clerics and had already killed quite a few, let out a bizarre shriek. It broke free from the Clerics and darted toward the Demon Warlock.

"Ben, cancel the summon! I need to return to the Abyss!"

"Look at the time, and you're still thinking of infighting!" The Demon Warlock naturally refused the standard demon. The Shadow Demon on his body shifted, and his final attempt to assassinate the Fifth Captain ended in failure.

Unfortunately for them, as time ticked by, more and more reinforcements from the Church arrived.

Due to space constraints, the majority of the Priests who lacked the strength to join the melee had hung back and resumed chanting the Holy Chant.

After all, the Church held the numerical advantage in Iron Rank combatants.

Although they hadn't all arrived, more than half were already on the scene.

Multiple Iron Rank fighters had formed a mutual defense formation. While the Fifth Captain had lost most of his combat capability, he was heavily guarded by layers of Divine Arts and Spells.

He was also protected by the Second Captain, who had rushed over wielding twin hammers after dispatching the majority of the Stone Golems.

It was painfully obvious that if this dragged on, he would likely be unable to escape at all.

"Ahriman, cover our retreat! The deal still stands!"