The faint glow of the "Alchemy Matrix" on his body began to fluctuate, synchronized with Norm's rapid breathing, yet resembling the blood vessels surging with blood. With each fluctuation, an extraordinary power was infused into his body.
Suddenly, footsteps erupted as another demon charged out from the darkness, heading towards Norm. Norm holstered his handgun and drew another short knife from his waist, sworn to swiftly dispatch it.
The distance between them constantly decreased, but Norm's focus wasn't entirely on the demon before him. His peripheral vision was on alert in the darkness, wary of an ambush from Bologue.
He was unsure what kind of force Bologue used to smash the ceiling, but once such power struck flesh, even with "Secret Energy," he would be gravely injured.
The short knife swung up, and in that instant, Norm felt it.
As if enveloped by some pitch-black viscous liquid, numerous sharp tiny spikes pierced his skin, reminding him with a near-death dread.
Something's not right, something's wrong.
His wandering gaze solidified as he looked at the approaching demon. Its hideous and fearsome figure began to shatter, revealing the ghastly green glow of the evil spirit behind it.
Bologue laughed crazily as he flicked out a folding knife, sweeping the sharp blade towards Norm. Norm could barely parry with his short knife, but in the next second, Bologue released the folding knife, evading the short blade's block, and let his body spin wildly.
He swung a heavy hammer.
Norm saw an iron hammer speeding toward him, trailing a ghostly light as it swung.
The shock hammer slammed onto the short knife, triggering the attached "Vibration," enhancing and expanding the already violent hammer strike. The short knife shattered instantly upon contact, its shards flying like shrapnel, and then the shock hammer continued downward, striking Norm.
Like being rammed by an enraged bull, Norm's figure froze for a second before being knocked out under the crashing hammer sound and the falling radiance.
He was swept into the darkness, with Bologue maintaining his swinging motion, replacing him in the spotlight.
Agonizing, ceaseless pain radiated from the hand holding the knife. The shattered blade cut into his flesh, the impacted arm twisted, bones fractured, and pale bone spikes protruded from the wound.
Norm coughed blood, desperately and swiftly scrambled up from the ground, his figure staggering, seemingly ready to collapse any moment.
Pain and thoughts collided in his mind as he lifted his head to look at Bologue standing under the light.
He saw Bologue wearing tattered clothes—stripped from the demon—through the worn seams, showing a gray-black trench coat like a hazy night covering all sharpness.
Norm tried to see Bologue's face, but what he saw was an even more terrifying scene.
Bologue's face was dripping blood—it wasn't his face, but a sliced, decaying, twisted visage—the demon's countenance.
The demon's face hung like a mask over Bologue's face, blood pooling and dripping along his jaw, with an indescribable smile on what should be a tormented grimace.
Bologue had hidden his presence, misleading Norm.
Meanwhile, behind Bologue, a series of faint footsteps echoed, followed by a mournful whimper.
Another figure staggered out of the darkness, waving its hands wildly, trying to grasp some lifesaving straw, but only touching dust drifting with the wind.
The demon whimpered, its face a bloody mess, leaving only hollow, pitch-black eye sockets, their depths seemingly leading straight to the abyss.
The folding knife flashed, and the demon's movement paused for a second before collapsing straight down, ending the prolonged agony.
Norm cursed furiously, not hesitating anymore. He stopped hiding, with the faint glow on his body surging. The fractured, twisted arm seemed reinforced with steel, muscles bulging, forcing broken bones to meld together.
His physique swelled instantly, towering like a stag, with his skin emitting a faint red glow.
"Body enhancement type 'Secret Energy,' huh?"
Bologue assessed, and in the next second, Norm shot out like a cannonball, sprinting forward with another short knife waving sharp blade light aimed at Bologue's face, as if to tear apart this deceitful mask and see Bologue's true self.
The moment the shock hammer hit Norm, presumably, Norm also guessed the power of the shock hammer, and such a trick wouldn't succeed a second time easily.
Yet Bologue was always adept at trickery.
He swung the shock hammer, but this time Bologue's target wasn't Norm. Instead, he slammed it to the ground, shattering it instantly.
The ground trembled violently, cracked, and the surface of mud and stone began to collapse, kicking up dust.
The intense shaking caused Norm's steps to stagger several paces, with the kicked-up dust obscuring Bologue's figure. As Norm swung the blade light, dispersing the dust, Bologue was nowhere to be seen.
Norm roared angrily. He had been toyed with, completely dancing to Bologue's rhythm. He tried to break free but didn't know how.
This was clearly his turf, yet under Bologue's demolition-like onslaught, it had forcibly become Bologue's domain.
A whistling sound came from behind his head, Norm ducked and leaned forward, grabbing a chain scattered on the ground, originally used to bind the demons, now wielded in his hand, swinging it towards the direction the sound came from.