"Crackle, crackle..."
Ghostly blue flames flickered faintly, scattered in spots across the Devil Hound's pitch-black fur.
With its original master dead, these flames grew smaller and smaller, extinguishing completely after a gust of wind.
The alley once again returned to darkness.
On the narrow ground, the Devil Hound's massive corpse lay sprawled out, nearly blocking the entire passage.
The air was thick with the heavy smell of sulfur and blood that lingered, refusing to dissipate.
Even in death, it doesn't revert to its original size?
Silas stepped onto the hound's skull and looked down, thinking to himself.
Not just its size, the Devil Hound's goat horns and bat wings remained as well.
He recalled reading internal Nighthawks materials where one theory suggested that the essence of "demonification" was causing the body to lose control.
Because they themselves had already become thoroughly cold-blooded, extremely similar to a state of losing control.
Whatever, I'm not specifically here to research this stuff.
Silas opened his palm toward the corpse. Before the spirituality could dissipate, he needed to try grazing its soul.
"Whoosh..."
The Eye of Wisdom and Klein, who had been conversing, simultaneously heard the howling wind.
The somewhat damp air suddenly became extremely cold. Looking up, they saw cold wind swirling in Silas's palm, forcibly extracting a black dog's soul from the corpse.
"Whimper..."
Crimson points of light flew out from the corpse, merging into the miserably wailing black dog's soul.
After that, the semi-transparent soul struggled as it was absorbed into Silas's palm.
So this is "grazing"...
Klein thought in amazement.
"Heh, quite impressive."
The Eye of Wisdom, Isengard Stanton, watched with an inquisitive gaze.
Silas closed his eyes, sensing the Devil Hound's soul, trying to figure out its specific condition.
Good news, it could be grazed.
This was a Sequence 6 Devil, possessing many powerful abilities.
First, the abilities from the lower sequences of the Devil pathway mainly enhanced a Beyonder's physique, made their personality cold and cruel, and granted mastery of some devil spells, such as curses, poison flames, and the like.
At Sequence 7, the "Serial Killer," Beyonders would master a unique devil summoning ability, capable of summoning devil projections from the abyss.
However, this required pleasing devils through serial killings, and the time span was quite long.
By Sequence 6 Devil, the related abilities were greatly enhanced. A "Devil" would possess the special ability of "Demonification."
After demonification, the body would become close to that of a devil, capable of reducing damage and curses, and immune to the vast majority of toxins.
Additionally, Devils possessed "Danger Premonition," "Sword of Lava," "Sulfur Fireball," "Profane Words," and other abilities.
"Danger Premonition" could detect an enemy's malice toward oneself, but it had significant limitations, requiring two prerequisites.
First, the opponent would inflict lethal damage on them in a very short time. Second, the opponent had already taken action to put this into practice.
Under these two conditions, a Devil could sense danger, know the source of the danger, and formulate countermeasures, but couldn't know the opponent's specific details.
Very useful, but the only problem was that this skill was a passive effect. To keep it active constantly required maintaining it for long periods.
As for the Sword of Lava, Silas had just witnessed it.
A very powerful close-combat method. "Sulfur Fireball" was the ability to manipulate ghostly blue flames.
The flames contained toxins and could create flame prisons or sudden eruptions. As for Profane Words, that went without saying.
However, compared to Silas's simple mental impact and instant death curse, the Devil's Profane Words also had effects like "Slowness" and "Corruption."
So many abilities, they all seem useful, but I can only pick three. Which three should I choose?
Silas pondered.
First, "Demonification" as the signature ability was a must-have. Damage reduction, immunity to curses and most toxins.
Combined with his existing "Paper Figurine Substitutes" and "Flesh Recovery" abilities, it could ensure his defensive capabilities from multiple angles.
Second, "Sword of Lava" as a powerful close-combat method was also worth considering.
Because currently he really didn't have any useful close-combat abilities, completely relying on Blood Magic to withstand damage while fighting opponents in melee.
As for the third choice...
The remaining abilities were Danger Premonition, Sulfur Fireball, and Profane Words.
Profane Words was eliminated first. Silas had already received a blessing from the True Creator.
However, he could reference it and try to develop other uses.
Sulfur Fireball conflicted with Pyromaniac.
The only difference was that these flames came with built-in toxins, but the Pyromaniac's flame manipulation was more refined, more suitable for "Flaming Jump."
As for Danger Premonition, honestly, it had an effect, but not much.
Because Silas would have to maintain the grazing state constantly to ensure he sensed malice that threatened him, but that wasn't realistic.
I'll treat it as a combat supplement. During battle, perhaps it can detect enemy ambushes.
Silas thought this way.
After spending some time, he finally determined the three abilities to graze: "Demonification," "Sword of Lava," and "Danger Premonition."
He fixed the Devil Hound's soul in the corresponding position within his body. He still had two vacant spots left.
"What truly powerful abilities."
The Eye of Wisdom approached, speaking in a friendly manner.
Although he had contributed some strength in the battle, he didn't seem to covet the Beyonder characteristics.
Instead, with a researcher's mindset, he had curiously watched the entire grazing process.
"Mr. Stanton, why did you come here?"
Klein asked.
"This place isn't far from the gathering location. I detected something unusual, so I came to take a look."
The gray-templed Isengard Stanton answered, shifting his attention to the giant hound.
"I see, the killer was an animal. No wonder previous investigations yielded no results."
He carefully observed the scene, muttering under his breath, seemingly analyzing and deducing something.
A moment later, Stanton suddenly snapped back to awareness. Under their gaze, he smiled sheepishly.
"Oh, sorry. I'm used to observing crime scenes, almost forgot about you two."
He cleared his throat and looked at Silas. "This gentleman... may I ask if you still need this corpse?"
The Devil Hound's corpse?
"What do you want the corpse for?"
Silas frowned.
"Please allow me to introduce myself. I'm Isengard Stanton, from the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom.
I'm currently working as a detective in Backlund, with good relations with the police department and official Beyonders."
Isengard immediately explained. It was clear he held some reverence for Silas.
"This beast has already caused multiple serial murder cases in Backlund. The authorities contacted me, hoping I could help them find clues.
Currently, the authorities have offered a reward of 2,000 pounds."
"If you leave the corpse with me, I'm confident I can claim the reward."
---
Regarding "Danger Premonition," according to the wiki, the Sequence 6 version has many limitations, but it becomes stronger at higher sequences.
Also, according to the original text, the official reward was 2,000 pounds. Klein and a group of detectives originally split 1,000 pounds because the police felt their contribution wasn't large enough, they only conducted the investigation without participating in the capture.