152 This minor boss passed away peacefully

The demonic old man, fast as the wind, was clearly adept at finding his opponent's flaws. Facing the Ghost Rider, who wielded a glowing red Gatling gun that spat staccato bursts of fire, he could dodge past attacks with the effortless grace of an Eastern gamer executing no-hit grazes. Yet, he was certainly not foolish enough to pick a fight with that human-shaped gas furnace.

With a flash of movement, the old man bypassed Johnny's frontal suppression, transforming instead into a gale-force wind as he charged directly toward the three humans behind Johnny who lacked the slightest fluctuation of magical power!

The demonic old man let out a bizarre laugh, as if mocking their overestimation of their own abilities. "Fools, actually bringing ordinary humans for help! Even among your so-called superheroes, who could possibly harm beings like us—auugh?!"

"Pardon me, what was that you just said?" Joss blew away the entirely non-existent smoke from the muzzle of his laser gun, picking his ear as he looked toward the demonic old man.

"What on earth is that thing?! Why can it emit such intense light even in the dead of night?!" Injured by a " mortal's" weapon for the first time in his life, the demonic old man shrieked in sudden terror.

"Honestly, just how many of you long-lived species in the Marvel universe actually bother to develop a proper tech tree? Why is it that you all have such powerful foundations, yet to this day you haven't even laid eyes on a laser gun?" Joss sighed and said.

Although the others had no idea what he was talking about, they were in the middle of battle (even if it was a relaxed one), so no one bothered to press him for answers.

Watching the three young women wielding laser guns as if playing a cheat-enabled version of Resident Evil, alongside the flaming-skulled Rambo standing at the front, Joss curled his lip, stored the laser gun back into his system inventory, and instead drew his own sword and shield.

Judging by the current pace, the only monster left for him was the one right in front of him. As this was his first opportunity in life to actually beat up a ghost, he was far too reluctant to simply end things with a single gunshot to the head.

"Stupid human! If you had used that strange weapon from just now, you might have had a sliver of a chance of winning. What could you possibly hope to achieve with such shoddy scrap metal!"

Although the demonic old man had no idea what Joss was thinking, the moment he saw him discard the weapon that had caused him such extreme apprehension, a deep sense of relief washed over him.

"As long as I find a way to kill him, I can escape in the ensuing chaos. At the very worst, I can possess his body and force these people to back off." Having rapidly formulated a plan in his mind, the demonic old man flashed forward, transforming once more into mist as he lunged at Joss.

Despite appearing as an intangible cloud of vapor, it was still forged from the essence of a demon. How could Joss possibly allow him the opportunity to close in? Raising the Shield of Mercy in his right hand, he thrust it upward to block his front.

"Hahahahaha! No matter how fine a shield it is, it cannot stop the encroachment of the wind—auuuugh?!?!"

The demonic old man had calculated everything perfectly. According to human combat habits, upon encountering an attack, one would instinctively use a shield to parry. Yet his intangible form should have completely ignored the physical presence of the shield, passing right through it to instantly slay his adversary!

However, wondrous though his imagination was, the moment he attempted to pass through the shield, Joss met him head-on with a direct Shield Slam...

Though physical damage was completely immunized against just as he had hoped, the inherent soul damage and fire damage of Mercy instantly erupted, causing the demonic old man to shriek in agonizing succession.

"What is this thing?!"

Fortunately, even in his old age, the agile wind-shrouded wanderer dashed away at breakneck speed. Before he could be consumed by Mercy's flames, the demonic old man hurriedly pulled back and retreated, though his misty form appeared noticeably thinner, clearly having suffered heavy injuries.

"Just a shield, nothing more." Joss maintained a deadpan expression, which only served to make the demonic old man's teeth itch with exasperation.

What kind of shield explodes and breathes fire? What kind of shield vibrates and inflicts damage directly to the soul? If you have materials and technology that good, why didn't you forge a weapon instead?!

Evidently, demon culture lacked such a sophisticated linguistic concept as complaining. After spitting out a furious curse, the demonic old man took a vicious plunge straight into the scattered, contaminated black stones that had been blasted all over the ground earlier.

"Cursed mortals, relying entirely on petty tricks!"

Accompanied by a low demonic growl, countless black stones fused together, instantaneously transforming into a towering black stone giant over three meters tall!

"Tremble! These stones, saturated with demonic energy, are far tougher than mortal iron. No matter how many bizarre tricks your shield possesses, what can it possibly do to me now?!"

Roaring with fury, the demon transformed into a black stone giant brought a fist the size of a sandbag crashing down directly toward Joss's head.

Yet he still kept a shred of caution in reserve: every single blow in this flurry of punches was aimed directly at Joss's sword-bearing left hand, perfectly bypassing that terrifying shield that unleashed devastating energy upon impact.

"And what in the world is that sword he's holding? Is it a toy carved from stone? How utterly ridiculous. Let me snap it in half right along with your body!"

Clang, clang, clang, clang...

Ding, ding, ding, ding...

Swish, swish, swish, swish...

The black giant's combo attack was undeniably formidable. Within mere seconds, however, Joss watched as the giant ground itself down into a pile of black sand right against the Sword in the Stone, leaving it completely exposed to the wind, which promptly blew the remnants away to reveal the empty air behind it.

"Well? Is it fun?" Joss stood safely behind the completely undamaged Sword in the Stone, raising an eyebrow.

Veins throbbed violently on the demonic old man's forehead. That last move had been his ultimate trump card, yet heaven only knew why that sword was as obscenely hard as some ungodly artifact—from start to finish, not even a single fragment of stone had been chipped off its surface.

Stunned into a momentary pause by sheer disbelief, his reflexes remained sharp nonetheless. Sensing the situation had turned disastrous, he spun around and attempted to flee.

Alas, Joss was hardly going to afford him that opportunity!

The very instant the demonic old man turned around, Joss charged forward, immediately followed by a Shield Slam, chained seamlessly into another Shield Slam, executed a backhand Shield Slam, leveraged his rotational momentum for yet another Shield Slam, and finally capped it all off with a concluding Shield Slam.

By the time he finished dealing with the demonic old man, the surrounding lesser demons had been thoroughly cleansed, leaving not even a single cockroach in sight.

As for the mastermind behind the scenes—whom he hadn't even managed to lay eyes upon—that went without saying. The moment the Ghost Rider charged in wielding his Gatling gun, that individual had already met their maker, unable to utter a single complete line of dialogue, making for a remarkably peaceful departure.

This battle had come fast and gone even faster. Armed with hyper-modern demon-slaying gear, the exorcists had taken a mere ten minutes to completely purge a town utterly corrupted by demons—a veritable miracle, to say the least.

As for Johnny's girlfriend, she was successfully rescued and emerged entirely unharmed aside from a mild fright. All in all, everything concluded on a perfectly satisfactory note.