The [Judgement Warhammer] connected with a sound less like an impact and more like a tearing silk. Causing a ripple through reality itself.
Jack felt no resistance. The golden energy of his weapon bypassed the demon's incredible defense, its regenerative flesh, and its toughened scales. It didn't just strike the body. It struck the demon's essence. The malicious soul within the body.
The anglerfish demon froze. Its monstrous roar died in its throat. Replaced by a soundless, gurgling gasp. Its huge, vacant eyes widened. A flicker of fear passed through them before they went blank.
The pulsating 'lantern-like' lure went dark. The fire in its mouth died. Its massive body swayed, then toppled backward with a deafening crash. Shaking the ground violently.
Silence fell. Broken only by the panting breaths of Jack's team, and the faint hum of Barnaby's lute as he slowly ended the 'March of Demon Slaying'.
Jack stood over the colossal, unmoving corpse. His rakshasa form slowly receded. The reddish black skin and thick mane dissolved back into his human features. His blazing armor was gone. The more normal leather outfits reappeared.
The [Judgement Warhammer] also vanished as the steamrune scalpel returned to his hand. He looked tired. But the grim satisfaction was clear on his face. This demon had always been a true challenge. And he had once again overcome the challenge.
"It's dead." Reina said. Blinking into existence beside Jack. Her voice was laced with awe and relief. She holstered her handguns. Her eyes scanned the slowly disappearing fallen abomination.
"And... it left nothing valuable to us." She sighed. "Instead, it's the kingdom, or whoever controls this realm, that seems to profit from its death."
Aella reappeared beside them. Her voidfire revolver was still smoking faintly. Ned also descended from the tree. His rifle was slung over his shoulder. Barnaby followed afterward. Strumming his lute a few times to break the silence.
Rune also reappeared. Glowing a triumphant green now. Zipping circles around Jack's body.
"It's a waste of time, mostly." Jack grumbled. He wiped a streak of ichor from his face. "We spent too much time on that thing. And we don't know whether we get any score for slaying it."
He glanced up at the reddish moon, then back at the scorched earth and mangled red trees. "We need to move. If we want to win this tournament, we have to hunt more monsters quickly."
Jack didn't waste any more time staring at the disappearing remains of the demon. The clock was ticking. They were a group participating in a tournament. Efficiency was the only thing that mattered at the moment.
He signaled to the group. "Move out. We're behind schedule." He gave an order and led the way.
Reina nodded. Following him right away. Aella moved behind her. Her small hands were clutching her still smoking voidfire revolver tightly. Barnaby made up the tail. Silently following the group.
As the scout, Ned didn't go together with them. He moved toward the tree line and climbed up. Jumping from one tree branch to others. Looking for the best vantage points and observing the surrounding. His [Mystic Camouflage Cloak] made him nearly invisible behind the foliage.
They moved through the crimson forest of the Battle Moon Realm. The air was thick with a floral scent that smelled weird.
Jack took the lead openly. He didn't hide his presence. He wanted the monsters to come to him.
The first encounter happened less than ten minutes later. A pack of twelve hostile Moonshard Werewolves crested a small ridge. Their fur were jagged like broken glass. A familiar opponents.
Rune, the fairy guide, pulsed with a steady, red light. A pale one. The sign of danger. But something they could handle easily.
"Barnaby, keep the rhythm steady." Jack commanded. "Everyone else... just do like we did before."
Barnaby quickly climbed up a tree and took a position on a thick branch. Playing a low, thumping melody on his lute. This time, it was a classic 'Tavern Brawl' song.
The others in the team felt their pulse move with the beat. They felt they could maintain their focus easily. And their muscles tightened with increased density.
Jack didn't transform. It wasn't necessary. Instead, he raised his steamrune shotgun. As the first werewolf leaped to attack, Jack pulled the trigger.
BOOM! A spray of enchanted buckshot caught the beast mid-air. Shredding its chest and sending it tumbling back into its kin.
Reina turned into a blur of movement. She used [Absolute Blink]. Disappearing from Jack's side into a puff of grey smoke and reappearing above two werewolves.
She seemed to hang in the air for a second. Her black hair was flowing as she pulled the trigger of her handguns. BANG! BANG! Each shot was a precision strike to the forehead of the monsters. Two bodies hit the moss as she blinked back to a safe distance.
Aella wasn't far behind. She moved with [Voidfire Blink]. Her form disappeared, leaving a flickering spark of purple-black flame. She appeared behind one of the werewolves.
Her revolver barked. BANG! The werewolf's head was pierced by a voidfire bullet. Leaving a smoking hole as it dropped to the ground.
"More coming from the east!" Ned's voice rang out from above. Followed by the sharp bang of his steamrune sniper rifle. A werewolf's head exploded in a shower of crystal shards.
Jack launched his [Chains of Vengeance]. Dark metal links shot out from his wrists. Blazing with a fiery flame. He swung them in a wide arc. Catching two werewolves by their throats and slamming them into each other with enough force to crack their bones.
Two more packs joined the fray. Sensing the carnage.
Jack could slowly deal with them. But he decided to end it quickly.
He activated his [Incarnation Switch] and felt the familiar surge of power as he shifted. His skin turned reddish black again. And his muscles swelled into the hulking form of Judge Jack, the black rakshasa.
His leather outfit transformed into the blazing [Naraka Armor]. The steamrune shotgun in his hand turned into the deadly [Judgement Warhammer].
Jack charged and swung the hammer horizontally. The shockwave alone flattened the nearby reddish shrubbery. When the head of the hammer met the chest of a Moonshard Werewolf, there was almost no resistance. The beast turned into a spray of mangled flesh, crystal fur, and red ichor.
The battle afterward was swift. Within five minutes, thirty-six werewolves were dead. Their corpses were slowly disappearing. Digested by the realm.
"Keep moving!" Jack said. His voice was now a deep, gravelly rumble in his rakshasa form. He didn't bother transforming back to his human form. His current rakshasa form finished the battle much faster.
They pushed deeper into the realm. The terrain shifted from dense forest to a series of jagged ravines. In the shadows of the rocks, a horde of Pink Hobgoblins awaited.
These weren't the weak goblins they had faced earlier. These ones were their stronger 'relatives'. They were bloated, muscular things. Humanoid monsters with skin the color of raw meat and eyes that glowed with a frantic, manic light. There were at least fifty of them.
"Horde of ugly bastards." Reina noted in calm voice. She reloaded her guns with a practiced flick of her wrists. "Aella, take the left flank. I'll take the right. Dear..."
"I'll take the center." Jack cut her. "Let's finish this quickly."
The hobgoblins charged. Screaming in a high-pitched frequency that vibrated the teeth.
Barnaby stepped backward and started strumming his lute again. He changed his tune. This time, the lute's song became jagged and aggressive. It was the classic 'Requiem of Spiritual War'.
The hobgoblins at the front of the charge stumbled. Clutching their ears as their own aggression was turned into internal pressure.
Jack met the center of the horde like a landslide. Every swing of the [Judgement Warhammer] claimed at least two lives. He didn't just kill them. He exterminated their presence from his path.
Behind him, Ned's rifle barked rhythmically. Picking off the hobgoblin shamans who were trying to cast hexes from the rear.
Reina and Aella blinked into the blind spots of the hobgoblin ranks. Their guns fired accurate and deadly bullets. Each hit almost always killed at least one enemy.
The horde was decimated in record time. Just like before, the team didn't linger to wait for the bodies to completely disappear.
They moved on. This time, toward a valley filled with glowing red ferns. Here, they faced the next opponents. A pair of Infernal Gorillas.
These pair of apes dropped from the cliffs. These were massive, four-meter tall primates, with striped fur in black and red colors. A pair of curved horns protruded from each of their brows. They breathed small puffs of sulfurous smoke.
One gorilla lunged at Judge Jack. Its claws scraped against Jack's blazing armor. But Jack reacted instantly. He dropped his war hammer and caught one of its arms. Afterward, he instantly twisted the arm until the bone snapped.
He then grabbed the hammer and followed up with a vertical, downward hammer strike. One so strong that it buried the ape's head into its own chest cavity.
The second gorilla saw it and tried to retreat. But Reina was already there. She blinked behind it and pointed both of her handguns toward its head.
"Good night!" She whispered. Two explosive sounds followed. BANG! BANG! The massive beast slumped forward.
"We should have collected enough points, shouldn't we?" Barnaby called out. Wiping sweat from his brow. "Who else could end these monsters faster than we could?"
"We've wasted too much time with the demon." Jack said calmly. "Let's get more points... as many as we can."
The next hour was a blur of violence. They encountered a large group of Bloodthirsty Rabbits. Small, red-eyed pests that moved fast and possessed teeth that could bite through steel.
They were a nuisance. But Jack and his team mates easily made short work of them. Massacring the rabbits as if they were just helpless critters.
Then came the Red Python. It was a twenty-meter titan of a snake. Its scales shimmered like rubies under the reddish moon. At a glance, it was similar to the serpent Jack had previously slain in Purplesky Realm. This one didn't have horns though.
It tried to ambush them from a swampy grove. Jack used his [Chains of Vengeance] to lash the creature to a pair of sturdy trees. Anchoring it in place while Aella, Ned, and Reina systematically dismantled its vital organs with their shots.
Jack reverted to his human form as the python's carcass was slowly disappearing. He took a heavy breath. Feeling the cool, strange floral air fill his lungs.
He checked his internal clock. They had been in the realm for several hours. It should be pretty close to five hours. The sun wasn't visible here, but the moon seemed to have shifted its position.
The Great Game of Glory would last for nine hours. They had passed more than half of the time. There were still more than four hours left.
"Wait!" Ned signaled from a high branch. He wasn't looking at a monster. He was looking to a particular direction. Toward a series of grey stone outcroppings. "Movements. Humans. Quite far. But they're moving fast."
Jack deftly climbed a nearby tree to get a better view. He drew his steamrune binoculars and activated his [Eyes of Judgement] through it. His vision zoomed in. Scanning the energy signatures of the figures quite a long distance away.
He saw thirteen people. Three were running for their lives. Their clothes were torn and their energy signatures were flickering frantically.
Behind them, ten others were in pursuit. Moving with a coordinated, predatory intent.