America: The Cremator

Chapter 161 [Prometheus], ​​Fusion and Upgrade!

Just as Su Long had dodged, the black chain, laden with endless curses, crashed straight into the Spoon Killer.

The chains began to multiply and spread wildly the moment they hit the stunned assassin, binding him tightly more than a dozen times in the blink of an eye. Then they tightened suddenly, pulling him toward the black singularity in mid-air.

The Spoon Killer kicked his legs in vain, repeatedly striking the chains binding him with his spoon, but his feeble physical attacks were utterly meaningless against the sacrificial curse of an A-level demon.

Ultimately, its body was twisted and compressed, and finally disappeared completely into the black singularity.

The moment the Spoon Killer completely disappeared, the black singularity suddenly collapsed inward and then vanished completely into the cold, metallic world.

The last trace that Baphomet left in this field was also completely erased.

The area returned to silence. Su Long stood there, looking at the spot where the black dots had disappeared, and couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth into a smile.

The thought of Baphomet sacrificing himself to take Spoonman down with him made him want to laugh.

[You severely injured the A-rank Mysterious Baphomet, gaining 30 experience points and the blessing attribute "Cursed Flame".]

[You have angered the A-rank Mysterious Baphomet, gaining the curse attribute "Dance in Fire".]

Seeing the several light blue system notification boxes pop up one after another, Su Long nodded in satisfaction. Although Baphomet had escaped, the gains were still quite considerable.

He was the first to open the detailed panel for [Cursed Flame].

【Cursed Flame☆】

Category: Blessing.

Description: The host will gain the ability to control hellfire, which can scorch and completely decompose all kinds of creatures except for the supernatural.

Comment: Are you ready to burn everything?

After reading the entry, Su Long was overjoyed.

He knew very well that in this messed-up America, the enemy wasn't just the supernatural, but also humanity.

Previously, the Primal Flame was only effective against the supernatural, but now with the [Cursed Flame], that shortcoming is perfectly made up for.

If he ever encounters another scumbag like Epstein who likes to hide behind the scenes and carry out human sacrifices, he can simply burn him to ashes along with his bones.

Just as he was about to close the panel and check the curse entries, his gaze suddenly stopped.

On the panel, the newly acquired [Cursed Flame] was emitting a faint glow around its edge, and at the other end of this glow was [Prometheus].

Su Long was stunned.

【Prometheus】—It can actually fuse!

This entry is very special. As the initial entry and the source of all power, it has never triggered entry fusion, unlike other entries, some of which have been fused many times.

But now, the [Cursed Flame] that just burst from Baphomet has actually resonated with it!

A strong sense of anticipation instantly surged into Su Long's heart. He desperately wanted to know what kind of monster entry these two terms would create.

As Surong confirmed the fusion, the light on the panel suddenly intensified. [Cursed Flame] and [Prometheus] transformed into two dazzling beams of light, colliding violently. The light intertwined and twisted before finally stabilizing and coalescing into a new line of text.

【World-Destroying Flames☆☆☆☆】

Category: Blessing.

Description: The host can summon the flames of destruction in their hands, which can incinerate all matter and living things, and smelt various entries from corpses.

The flames envelop the entire body; the flames extend to 3 meters; the flames have an adhesive effect and cannot be extinguished; when attacked with flames, a burst effect is consistently triggered; creatures destroyed by the flames cannot regenerate; obtaining the Flame Crown allows the creation of a flame domain.

Comment: Whether you destroy the world or save it is entirely up to you.

As Su Long looked at the description of the new entry, his breathing became heavier. With the World-Destroying Fire, whether it was a monster or any other living or dead thing, he could burn them all to ashes if he wanted!

He eagerly raised his right hand, wanting to test this new power.

"call!"

A strange flame instantly shot out from his palm. The flame was golden in color, mixed with some purple flames, and exuded a terrifying aura of destruction.

However, before Su Long could examine the newly formed world-destroying flame closely, a sharp, piercing pain suddenly shot through his palm, as if he had grasped a red-hot iron with his bare hands.

"hiss!"

Su Long gasped, instinctively jerking his right hand. The purple-gold flames flickered in mid-air before extinguishing instantly.

Su Long looked down at his palm. His skin was intact, without even a trace of redness or swelling, but the piercing burning sensation still lingered in his nerve endings, causing his mouth to twitch in pain.

"Did I... get burned by my own flames?"

Su Long silently complained to himself before turning to look at the negative entries on the panel.

Dance in Fire★

Type: Curse.

Introduction: As a mortal, you have not yet fully mastered this destructive flame that transcends the rules. When using the World-Destroying Flame, the raging flames will indiscriminately burn the host's nerves, bringing extremely real pain, but will not cause any substantial damage to the host's body.

Review: Dance in despair amidst the scorching heat!

After reading the introduction, Su Long gave a helpless twitch of his lips.

No wonder the phantom pain felt so real; perhaps it was because Baphomet wasn't completely dead, and the power of this flame didn't entirely belong to Suron.

Although it doesn't cause any real physical damage, having to endure the excruciating pain of being burned alive every time it's used is quite a price to pay.

"You've got quite a temper. I'll teach you a lesson you won't forget sooner or later," Su Long muttered, shaking his hand to forcefully suppress the lingering pain in his palm.

Just then, a piercing whistling sound came from high above.

Su Long looked up and saw the dark golden spear, which had pierced the blood moon and was formed by the fusion of everyone's weapons, plummeting from the sky after losing its target.

"Bang!"

The spear slammed heavily onto the metal anti-slip plate in front of Su Long, the butt of the spear vibrating violently and emitting a buzzing sound.

Su Long strode forward and grabbed the shaft of the spear, instantly spreading the world-destroying flames throughout the entire spear.

The spear quickly softened and melted, and the various materials and spirituality that were forcibly mixed together were stripped away and reshaped by the flames.

In just a few seconds, the spears completely disintegrated, returning to their original forms and transforming into streaks of light that flew back to their respective owners.

Hannah had just received the Bible when she rushed to Suron's side. She looked him over anxiously, making sure he wasn't missing a single hair, before letting out a long sigh of relief. "You—you scared me to death! I thought you'd really been killed by that monster—"

She didn't dare say the word "kill," but stared at Su Long with shining eyes, completely relaxing.

Seeing her anxious expression, Su Long gently reassured her, "It's just a special way to save your life. Don't worry, I'm perfectly fine."

Thorne and Isaac gathered around. Evan slung his longbow back over his shoulder, patted Suron on the shoulder, and exclaimed sincerely, "Brother, it's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I didn't expect you to actually be able to separate our weapons. I thought I would have to order a new one."

Lia nodded repeatedly, a hint of awe appearing in her gaze as she looked at Su Long.

Isaac toyed with the bull horn in his hand, his gray-brown eyes fixed on Su Long, and for the first time, he showed a smile: "I never expected that among the candidates in my year, there would be an exorcist like you who can rival an A-level."

Hedley walked slowly from behind, her eyes filled with undisguised admiration and amazement as she looked at Suron: "A truly magnificent battle. To be able to severely injure the body of an A-rank demon in such a desperate situation, Suron, your potential far exceeds my expectations."

Su Long shook his head modestly and said, "Don't put all the credit on me. If it weren't for Mrs. Hedley holding it back for so long at the beginning and depleting its resources, I wouldn't have been able to find any flaws in its true form."

He turned around, his gaze sweeping over Evan, Isaac, and the others, and continued, "And the weapons you lent out—without the power of so many sacred artifacts, it would have been difficult for me to shoot down that blood moon on my own."

Hearing this, Hedley smiled and said solemnly, "You are powerful yet not greedy for credit. Su Long, you are an exceptionally outstanding young man."

She paused, then changed the subject, extending an olive branch: "Have you ever considered joining the Campbell family? If you agree, the Campbell family's resources and intelligence network will be tilted towards you."

Su Long smiled and politely declined, saying, "Thank you for your kind offer, Madam, but I'm used to being a carefree person and don't have that idea for the time being."

.

Hedley nodded slightly, not pressuring him.

As soon as Su Long turned his head, everything went black before his eyes. A sharp, stabbing pain, like being pricked by needles, erupted from the depths of his brain. A strong sense of dizziness instantly swept over his entire body. He groaned, staggered, and raised his hand to cover his forehead tightly.

Hannah reacted quickly, rushing forward to grab his arm and asking in a flustered tone, "Suron! What's wrong?"

Are you injured somewhere?

Hedley stepped forward, her gaze sweeping over Surong's pale face, and said in a deep voice, "Don't be too nervous. This is the first time he has forcibly activated his domain, and he has engaged in such a high-intensity confrontation with an A-rank high-level demon. His mental strength should have been exhausted to the limit."

"Maybe I'm just not used to this new brain that's just grown in," Surong said half-jokingly, shaking his head forcefully to suppress the nausea and using Hannah's help to steady himself.

He took a breath and glanced at everyone: "Everyone, check your weapons and equipment. I'm going to withdraw from the domain."

After everyone checked and confirmed that everything was in order, Su Long released his domain with a thought. The towering metal walls and the densely packed hatches around him collapsed and disappeared as if a timer had been rewound.

After a moment of distorted vision, the group returned to the underground sacrificial chamber, where the walls were covered with pale bones and the image of the crucified Jesus hanging upside down came into view once again.

Looking at the shattered bone fragments scattered on the ground, Su Long turned to the others and said, "Go up the stairs first and wait for me in the bunker's main hall. I'll be there shortly."

Hannah opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she closed it and followed Hedley and the others out of the hall.

The heavy, dark wooden door slowly closed behind them, leaving only Su Long in the hall. He turned around, facing the room full of blasphemous objects, and slowly raised his right hand. A ball of purple and gold flame instantly rose from his fingertips.

Just as the flames ignited, the excruciating pain, as if directly burning his nerves, struck again. Su Long gasped, enduring the piercing agony, and flicked the purple-gold flames from his fingertips towards the ground.

"boom!"

The purplish-gold flames spread wildly along the ground and climbed up the walls, transforming into greedy fire pythons that instantly engulfed the entire hall.

Those skeletons, soaked in the dark and damp for who knows how long and tainted with a strong, eerie aura, were as fragile as dry straw in the face of the world-destroying fire. They cracked and popped under the high temperature, emitting pungent white smoke, before being vaporized by the flames.

The purplish-gold flames licked his calves wantonly. Although the flames did not cause him any real damage, the burning sensation that directly affected his nerves made his muscles tense up in pain.

A few minutes later, all the bones, statues, and even the lingering stench in the air inside the hall were completely burned to ashes, leaving only bare concrete walls.

The purplish-gold flames gradually died down, and a light blue system notification popped up in front of Su Long's eyes.

Burning the pile of bones grants 50 experience points.

Looking at the increased experience points on the panel, Su Long nodded in satisfaction and turned to walk outside.

As they ascended the winding concrete staircase, Surong reunited with the others in the lobby. Hedley calmly asked, "Is everything resolved?"

Su Long nodded: "Let's go, it's time to leave this awful place."

He stepped forward, placed his hands on the heavy steel gate, and with a sudden burst of force, accompanied by an extremely ear-piercing metallic scraping sound, the heavy gate was slowly pushed open.

As soon as the door was opened, a chilling metallic mechanical sound suddenly rang out from outside.

When everyone looked up, they saw that the area outside the minefield was already packed with people, more than thirty fully armed mercenaries, who had completely blocked the bunker's exit.

These men were wearing unmarked black tactical body armor and fully enclosed tactical helmets, and all of them were carrying FN SCAR H heavy assault rifles, their dark muzzles pointed directly at the bunker door.

At the very front of the formation stood Zena, dressed in a strange uniform of a support bureau inspector, her expression complex.

Hedley glanced calmly at the dark muzzles of the guns, then looked at Zena and teased, "Zena, I'm curious, when did you become one of these low-level mercenaries?"

Zena shook her head and said dryly, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Hedley, you can't leave here for the time being."

"Can't we leave?" Hedley sneered, taking a step forward. "What right do you have to detain us here? With these mercenaries wielding firewood sticks?"

Upon hearing the words "fire poker," the mercenaries in the front row tightened their grip on their gun handles and raised their gun muzzles slightly, a clear warning.

Zena gritted her teeth and retorted firmly, "I have no right to tell you that! If you have someone to blame, blame yourselves for ignoring my warnings and insisting on going down into this bunker. I warned you on the phone before, but you insisted on going in."

Hedley astutely seized upon the loophole in her words, her tone growing even colder: "So, you're carrying out someone's personal orders? Or have you betrayed the Odds and Ends?"

Zena's face instantly turned extremely ugly, and she retorted loudly, "I didn't betray the Support Bureau! I was just doing what I had to do!"

Looking at Zena's blustering yet cowardly demeanor, Su Long chuckled: "Something you have to do? Perhaps you just want to silence her?"

Zena suddenly raised her head and stared intently at Su Long.

Ignoring her gaze, Su Long continued slowly, "The owner of this island stockpiled a large number of corpses in the underground cold storage, intending to offer them as sacrifices to some big shot in hell. However, the refrigeration system broke down, and the corpses turned into monsters that are now running rampant all over the island."

He paused, looking at Zena's increasingly pale face, and continued to mock, "To cover up this scandal, he used his connections to arrange for our exam to be held here, making us serve as free labor to help him clear the monsters on the island. Once we're done, or die at the hands of those monsters, we can fill the gap in the number of corpses he needs for sacrifices."

"Unfortunately, not only did we not die down there, but we also turned the bunker upside down. If we were allowed to leave this island alive, the island lord's scandal of sacrificing to the evil god would be completely exposed."

"So, your orders were to leave us all here, right? To prevent word from getting out about what's happening on this island?"

Zena's eyes widened, her body trembling slightly with extreme panic. She shouted, "You're lying! There's no such thing! I don't know what you mean by sacrifice!"

Su Long snorted coldly and retorted, "Don't know? Then why are you blocking this place with this group of fully armed thugs? Are you here to welcome our triumphant return?"

Zena was speechless after being rebuked, and Su Long ignored her, turning his gaze to the thirty-odd mercenaries around him, and said in a relaxed tone, "And you guys, it's your rule to do things for money, I understand."

He changed the subject, his tone turning icy: "But I imagine you wouldn't want to start a war with us exorcists."

A mercenary captain in the front row let out a disdainful sneer: "Exorcists? You may be good at dealing with those mindless monsters, but in front of these thirty guns, your bodies are no different from ordinary people."

"Yeah?"

Su Long looked at the captain and slowly raised his right hand.

"call!"

A ball of purple and gold flame suddenly rose from Su Long's palm, and the violent heat instantly swept around, causing the surrounding air to distort violently under this destructive heat wave.

"Our methods can be used not only against the supernatural, but also against people."

He clenched his fist tightly, and the purple-gold flames instantly surged, transforming into a pillar of fire that shot straight into the sky. The terrifying pressure was as tangible as it pressed down on everyone's hearts.

Surong's voice echoed in the firelight, like a whisper from hell: "I was just down there, using this torch to..."

"The high-ranking demon was burned to ashes. Can you guess how many seconds it would take to burn all thirty of you to ashes?"

The mercenaries' breathing became noticeably heavier. They were desperate men who had lived on the edge of death, but faced with such a supernatural power that was completely beyond reason, fear was a biological instinct.

Zena stared at the ball of flame radiating destructive power in Su Long's hand, her legs went weak, and she involuntarily took two steps back, screaming in terror, "Fire!"

"Open fire!"

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