Chapter 412 - Urizen
The appearance of these flying demons made Dante and the others immediately realize one thing—the interior of the Qliphoth might be empty!
When the Qliphoth was growing, it gave everyone the illusion that this tree was as solid as normal trees. But now, they realized that they could not judge these demon plants with common sense.
After the flying demons attacked the human air force, they retreated. The human troops on the ground also fell under attack, but this time, the ones attacking the human ground forces were not demons but the roots of the Qliphoth!
These roots separated from the soil and danced in the air, and on the ends of these tentacle-like roots was a long needle. After the needles pierced the human soldiers, they would quickly suck dry all their blood. This sudden change caused the soldiers to collapse.
Humans were afraid of death, and no one wanted to be sucked dry by this strange demon tree. Therefore, the soldiers who suffered mental breakdowns did not listen to orders at all. They cried, threw down their weapons, and fled in all directions.
The roots of the Qliphoth began to spread in the city. After defeating the human troops, they began to target civilians. The people who were still watching from afar in excitement were dumbfounded. Seeing the needles stabbing and killing the people in front one after another, they began to escape in panic. But there were still people who were grabbed by the needles that suddenly emerged from the ground.
No one knew to what extent the roots of the demon tree buried underground were. It was as though all of Red Grave City was within its hunting range. In just ten minutes, thousands of people had lost their lives. At this moment, the people in Red Grave City could no longer care about the feelings of having to leave their homes. They brought their families and used various vehicles to escape from Red Grave City.
However… this kind of swarm-like escape caused an enormous traffic jam. Even if someone stood out to organize it, this sort of emergency evacuation could not be completed in a short time. Countless civilians were blocked on various roads, and what greeted them were the vampire roots of the Qliphoth…
This day was a nightmare and disaster for the entirety of Red Grave City…
Dante and the others could estimate the situation outside the city, so they were extremely anxious. They had already guessed that this Qliphoth had suddenly stopped growing because it was about to bear fruit! When plants grew fruits, it was usually for reproduction. At that time, plants required a lot of nutrients. From the situation of the Qliphoth attacking humans, the nutrient it needed was undoubtedly blood. If it could not be stopped as soon as possible, the nearly one million people in Red Grave City would fall into the mouth of this demon tree.
Thus, Dante and the others rushed toward the Qliphoth without hesitation. Since the inside of the tree was hollow, even if there was no entrance, they could find a way to break in.
They indeed accomplished it. Perhaps it was because the Qliphoth began hunting humans with its roots that the crisscrossing roots of this massive tree finally revealed a gap, allowing them to enter the interior of the tree smoothly.
Here, they saw the complex maze-like paths inside the tree and the large number of demons occupying this enormous ‘treehouse’.
“Were these demons inside this tree from the beginning, or were they summoned here after the tree stopped growing?” Dante muttered.
“It should be the latter…” V said solemnly. “Moreover, it should be the mastermind…” “Damn it… What the hell did you do, Vergil…” Of course, Dante knew who the mastermind that V said was. Thinking that his brother was the one who caused this huge disaster, he felt upset. No matter what Vergil wanted to do, he had to stop him.
“Let’s move as soon as possible. If we continue to delay, there may be even greater trouble!” Lady said while carrying her rocket launcher. “Once the disaster in Red Grave City becomes irreversible, I’m afraid that humans will use nuclear bombs to destroy the Qliphoth.”
Indeed, earlier, perhaps because there were still a large number of civilians in this city, the military had used conventional weapons. But now, it had confirmed that these conventional weapons were of little use against the Qliphoth. If the civilians of Red Grave City were either almost all dead or had mostly escaped, the military might really stop having concerns and choose to use nuclear bombs to wipe out all of Red Grave City.
It was still unknown whether the power of nuclear bombs had an effect against Qliphoth. But once the nuclear bombs exploded, they, who were still in the tree, would be in deep trouble. They would be unable to withstand the fatal radiation.
Just as the four of them were about to set off, a voice suddenly came from behind. “Dante! Wait for me!”
The four of them turned around and saw a figure running up to them. It was actually Nero!
It had been more than ten days since Nero’s arm had been torn off, and his right arm had long stopped bleeding and was gradually healing. But unfortunately, after losing his demon right arm, the demon bloodline in his body seemed to be suppressed, and it could not bring him extraordinary recovery ability. His lost arm naturally could not grow back, so he was now a cripple. His right arm was tightly bandaged, and only his left arm could move.
Seeing Nero here, Dante was shocked. “Nero?! Why are you here?”
“To take revenge on that son of a bitch!” Nero panted slightly. “He’s definitely here!”
“Nonsense!” Dante said angrily. “How are you going to fight like this? Leave. We’re enough!”
“Hmph. I can still kill the demon with one arm!” Nero said as he pulled out the Red Queen from behind him with his left hand. He stabbed the sword into the ground and twisted the energy valve on the hilt a few times, causing the Red Queen to emit scorching flames. “I came all the way here. You can’t make me go back with just a word.”
However, Dante did not care so much. He said to V, “V, look after this guy. Don’t let him follow.”
Before V could say anything, Dante ran forward with Trish and Lady.
“Bastard! Dante, what do you mean by this?” Nero was anxious and wanted to chase after them, but as soon as he took a step, the cane in V’s hand blocked him. “Don’t worry. We can follow one step behind and let them be the vanguard…”
Nero looked at V and asked, “Who are you?”
“You can call me V… We can be considered companions…”
“Okay…” Nero put away the Red Queen. “It’s too infuriating to follow that guy Dante. I’ll go with you…”
“In that case, you have to keep up…” As V spoke, an unknown black mist suddenly appeared beneath his feet and supported his body as it dashed forward.
The ten-odd days of waiting was not completely useless, at least not for V. With this time buffer, V gradually controlled his body, and he could now use the faint magic power that remained in his body after the separation. Moreover, this magic power finally evolved into three strange monsters for him to summon and use.
These three monsters were a demon crow with multiple beaks, a shadow panther, and a strong demon golem…
Although Nero did not know the background of this V, he at least knew that he came with Dante and the others, so he did not say anything. He shook his head and chased after him.The inside of the Qliphoth was full of strange and disgusting demon creations. Although there were many demons, perhaps because these demons had just been summoned and were searching for places to stay, they did not encounter too many obstacles along the way, allowing them to go straight to the middle section of the tree. Here, they found an enormous hall. A powerful demon with an astonishing aura was sitting in this hall. Bone armor wrapped around his entire body and face. Especially the mask, it looked like a crown wrapped around the demon’s head.
This demon held his face with one hand and sat on a giant throne. In the air not far in front of the throne, a needle-like object was floating and slowly rotating. Behind and under this demon’s feet were tentacles that looked like roots, which looked very similar to the roots of the Qliphoth.
After rushing in, Dante, Trish, and Lady immediately realized that this demon was different and knew that they had probably encountered the main culprit.
They did not say anything else as they charged forward to fight. But when they really fought, they realized that the demon in front of them was unimaginably powerful!
He did not even move his body. He just sat on the throne and crushingly defeated the three of them with one hand!
When Dante rushed forward with Rebellion in hand, this demon flicked him back with a finger. His successive attacks were fruitless, and he was panting for breath. He could not help but point with his sword and ask, “You… you’re not Vergil. Who are you?” Hearing Dante’s question, the demon sitting on the throne finally said, “My name is Urizen, the king of the Demon World!”
“Is that so? This name is terrible…” After hearing this name, Dante could not help but ridicule it. At the same time, he confirmed one thing. This demon named Urizen was most likely a demon that had separated from Vergil. And this demon did not have any of Vergil’s thoughts at all. He even used his true demon name for himself!
Yes, the true name of a demon was a name unique to the demon…