Blade of the Demon Hunt

Chapter 2 The Dark Alley

After following for a while, Amir watched in bewilderment as the pair turned several corners and entered a dark alley—a dead end. Amir was familiar with this area since he lived nearby. This alley had only one entrance; the other end was blocked off, with no additional passages. Apart from the occasional homeless person sleeping at the entrance, it was unlikely anyone would come here deliberately, let alone a couple seeking privacy. Even if they wanted a secluded spot, they would probably choose a more romantic and less eerie location.

What could these two possibly be doing here?It was still before ten in the evening. For urban dwellers, this wasn't particularly late, and there were still plenty of people and vehicles on the streets. However, this alley appeared unusually deserted. Standing at the entrance, Amir peered into the dark, narrow passage, which was less than three meters wide. The blackness of the alley gave off a disconcerting feeling, as if something strange might suddenly leap out from within.After a moment of hesitation, Amir decided to wait outside and observe the situation. While his curiosity was piqued, he wasn't keen on taking unnecessary risks.Yet, after waiting for a while, Amir began to sense that something was off. The two had been in the alley for quite some time now, and there was no sign of movement. Surely, they wouldn't have come all the way here just to sleep, would they?After waiting for a while longer with no sign of activity—no sounds or people emerging—Amir decided to take action. He pulled out his phone, located Abbas's contact in his address book, and prepared to dial it if anything went wrong. Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, he stepped into the alley.Though the street outside was well-lit, the alley was shrouded in darkness. The towering buildings on either side seemed to stretch endlessly, making the sky appear unusually distant. As he ventured further in, the ambient sounds of the city began to fade, as if some force was isolating the alley from the outside world.The silence was so profound that Amir could clearly hear his own heartbeat, while his breathing seemed unnaturally amplified. He swallowed nervously and glanced back, realizing that the dim light from the alley entrance was now completely obscured. It felt as though he had unwittingly stepped into a different realm, a dark, separate world.The burning sensation on his wrist intensified, a constant reminder that this was no dream. He instinctively clutched his wrist, feeling as if something within him was struggling to break free.However, when he reached the end of the alley, there was nothing to be seen. The two people had vanished without a trace, as if the darkness of the alley's depths had swallowed them completely.This kind of thing shouldn't be possible—how could a person simply vanish into thin air? Amir furrowed his brow, his anxiety reaching its peak, with fear urging him to get out of there as quickly as possible.The burning sensation on his wrist became increasingly intense, like a hot iron pressed against his skin. Suddenly, a chill ran down his back, and his instinct to avoid danger caused him to crouch down.At that moment, a shadow streaked overhead and landed right in front of him. The shadow settled and took shape, revealing its form.Amir saw that although the figure had a human shape, it was clearly not an ordinary person. Its face was pale, its eyes were blood-red, and its mouth was filled with sharp, jagged teeth. It had a pair of horns formed from black mist on its head. And the face—it was unmistakably the face of the interviewer he was familiar with.The interviewer looked at Amir with an expression as if he were a delectable treat presented on a platter, eyes gleaming with a predatory hunger.Amir couldn't help but tremble, his legs shaking as he took a step back.Seeing Amir retreat, the interviewer bared a mouthful of sharp teeth and lunged at him fiercely.In this critical moment, time once again seemed to slow down. Amir noticed that he could see the figure's movements with crystal clarity. What should have been a swift motion appeared to him like a slow-motion scene from a movie, with the sound of the air slicing through distorted and stretched like a tangled tape.As the figure's hand was about to touch him, Amir sidestepped, causing the interviewer to crash to the ground instead.At the same moment, the flow of time returned to normal. When the interviewer sprang up and lunged at him again, the speed was so fast that Amir barely had time to react. Instinctively, he raised his right hand to protect his face.The burning sensation on his right wrist intensified at the moment the interviewer made contact. The pain from the burning made Amir cry out, and with the scream, a red light shot out from the pattern on his wrist.The interviewer recoiled at the sight of the red light, leaping backward and creating distance between himself and Amir."The demon hunter," the interviewer rasped, his voice far from human, "Could it be that you've come here to hunt me?"Amir didn't catch what the interviewer said clearly. His attention was entirely absorbed by the strange object before him.The red light emitted from his wrist quickly faded, and in its place, an oddly-shaped, rusted dagger materialized in Amir's hand.It looks somewhat familiar, Amir thought, frowning as he examined the dagger in his palm. He tried to recall where he had seen it before.Damn, isn't this the same dagger he found that morning, the one that had mysteriously disappeared? So the dagger didn't disappear but was hidden on him all along. The pattern on his wrist must be connected to this dagger.Amir's eyes widened in shock as he realized the strange pattern on his wrist had vanished. What on earth was happening?Before he could ponder further, a low growl from across the alley snapped him back to reality.Damn, he had almost forgotten about the transformed interviewer in front of him!He looked up, and what he saw made him almost collapse in disbelief.

The interviewer's face had completely twisted, his mouth stretched almost to his ears, fangs protruding and extending down to his chin, and his eyes bulging out with a menacing, otherworldly glare. His limbs had elongated grotesquely, and he was charging toward Amir with frightening speed.Amir's mind raced in panic as he faced this horrifying transformation. The sight of the creature's new form was even more terrifying than before—almost like a monstrous evolution. He felt like he was in some sort of bizarre science fiction scene, and it left him reeling.With the nightmarish entity closing in, Amir made a quick decision. He turned and sprinted toward the alley's entrance, shouting desperately."Help! Help! Somebody help me!" His cries echoed down the street, but they seemed futile against the creature's relentless pursuit.As he fled, Amir felt the environment around him slow down once more, everything around him stretching into a surreal slow-motion. The shift was disorienting, and Amir struggled to understand what was happening. But amidst his confusion, he noticed the peculiar, rusted dagger in his hand. Without overthinking, he thrust it toward the approaching monstrosity.The dagger's edge met the creature's form, and in the midst of the eerie slow-motion, the blade seemed to glow with a faint, ominous light. The creature let out a piercing shriek as the blade made contact, causing it to stumble back momentarily.Without clearly seeing where he had stabbed, Amir heard the monster let out a scream of pain and then saw its claws coming at him.The slow-motion effect was still active, allowing Amir to dodge the attack by crouching down.However, as soon as he avoided the strike, the slow-motion effect wore off, and everything returned to normal speed.The monster turned its head to glare at him, its blood-red eyes filled with brutality.What to do? Amir despaired inwardly, realizing that without the slow-motion effect, he would definitely not be able to dodge.As he was thinking, the monster lunged at him, its sharp claws almost instantly reaching his face.Damn it, he'd be lucky to survive this, let alone avoid disfigurement.Just as Amir felt despair, a dark shadow swiftly leaped through the air, directly landing on the monster's face and successfully blocking its next move.Almost simultaneously with the appearance of the shadow, Amir felt a rush of wind beside him, as another figure darted towards the monster with incredible speed. By the time Amir reacted, the monster had already been thrown several meters away.Before Amir's eyes, a silver beam of light, like moonlight, cascaded through the darkness, floating in the air.The figure before him seemed to have descended from the heavens, standing right in front of him.In that moment, it felt as if time had frozen; Amir couldn't tear his gaze away from the woman before him. He felt as if he had encountered an elfin being in the darkness.The woman had long silver hair, and her pitch-black eyes glowed with a dark red light in the darkness. Her gaze was cold and emotionless, her beautifully sculpted features perfect like a carved masterpiece. The black trench coat she wore accentuated her slender figure.This woman was definitely not an ordinary human; no ordinary person could be so perfect.Amir couldn't help but sigh inwardly.The silver-haired beauty gave Amir a quick glance before looking away. She extended her arm, and soon the shadow that had pounced on the monster's face spread its wings and flew over, landing on her arm.Only then did Amir see that the shadow was actually a completely black owl.At this moment, the monster of the interviewee finally realized who was attacking it and was immediately terrified. It turned around and fled.The silver-haired beauty snorted coldly and chased after it. The two moved at incredible speeds and quickly disappeared into the night.Oh, he had been ignored.Well, surviving was already a stroke of luck. He couldn't ask for more.Sighing in relief, Amir felt a wave of fear. His legs gave way, and he collapsed onto the ground. At this moment, a white light illuminated from his right hand, and the strange dagger vanished once again.Amir raised his right hand, and sure enough, the strange pattern had reappeared on his wrist. It seemed that this pattern was indeed connected to the dagger; when the dagger appeared, the pattern would vanish, and when the dagger disappeared, the pattern would reappear. He just couldn't understand what it all meant.As he stared at his wrist, Amir suddenly remembered that there had originally been two people he followed, yet after all the commotion, he had only seen the interviewee monster. Where was the heavily made-up woman? If they were a team, could the woman also be a monster hiding nearby?With this thought in mind, Amir no longer cared about his trembling legs. He scrambled out of the alley, rolling and crawling, and only stopped when he reached the crowd, panting heavily and still in shock. Amir felt that after this night, he might have lost at least ten years off his life.