The twelfth case!
That Demon Killer!
The instant he saw the corpse and heard the sound, every hair on Klein's body stood on end — he knew he had stumbled onto something bad.
Within his line of sight, the drawing-room decor was mainly bright yellow; the coffee table, sofa, and other furnishings showed no abnormality — only the carpet was soaked with crimson blood, slowly spreading.
Next to the female corpse — whose belly was hollowed out — squatted a very large black dog. Its mouth was half open, exposing rows of fanged white teeth so keen they made one shiver; on each tooth grew rust-colored dark stains, as though from long gnawing on flesh without cleaning.
At this moment, several of the big black dog's teeth still had blood-red small intestines wrapped around them, with shredded raw flesh clustered all about.
Its head turned toward him; its lava-like eyes reflected Klein, who was dressed as a workman — reflected his slightly disguised face.
"Heh!" A demonstrative growl came from the big black dog's throat.
It really is an animal! It is a Sequence-6 'Demon' — and one nearly ready to advance! And nothing I prepared today was meant for it… — Several thoughts flashed through Klein's mind in an instant.
All at once, the black dog's body swelled at speed, becoming a monster a good two-three meters tall; from its back, a pair of huge bat-wings slowly opened, and from beside its ears, ram horns covered in mystic patterns grew out.
Within its damp, gleaming fur, blue-tinged crimson flames danced; a thick sulfur smell diffused out.
Almost simultaneously, Klein pushed off without retreating; he advanced and swung his cane — like a cannonball — straight at the huge demon-dog.
Whoosh!
The black demon-dog leapt swiftly forward; its spiked claws swiped through the air with afterimages and slapped onto Klein's body.
Silently, its claws passed straight through that shape, as if through thin air!
Klein's silhouette dimmed accordingly, going transparent fast.
It was only an illusion!
An illusion Klein had crafted!
By this point, the real Klein had already rolled to the ground, close to the bay window. Then his left hand pressed and pushed off; his whole body launched into the air, slamming straight into the glass.
Once he had identified who the enemy was, he had made up his mind: flee at once!
Seeing this, the demon-dog's lava eyes brightened sharply, as if flames raged within them.
It opened its mouth and, exuding a stench, uttered a single word of utter filth — a word from demonic tongue:
"Die!"
Thump!
Klein's body froze on the spot, his heart as if savagely squeezed by an unseen hand.
The figure suspended in mid-air thinned and dimmed in a flash, becoming a paper figurine cut crudely.
And this paper figure was stained with red rust — mottled red rust!
Clatter — crash, in two near-indistinguishable sounds, Klein reappeared, smashed through the bay window, and plunged onto the stone sidewalk outside; the paper-figure stand-in drifted slowly down and ignited in flames carrying a sulfur smell.
The demon-dog growled low and abruptly leapt again, already perched on the windowsill.
A blue-tinged crimson fireball spat from its mouth, hurtling toward the path Klein had taken in his escape.
The moment Klein landed, he immediately did another roll; the blue-tinged crimson fireball struck next to him but did not immediately explode — as if held back by an unseen force, delaying.
Boom!
By the time Klein, half rolling and half jumping, had fled a stretch, the fireball finally swelled and burst, cracking the stone slabs around.
Seeing that the demon-dog was about to pursue, Klein opened his mouth — already prepared.
He shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Murderer!"
"Help!"
"Murderer!"
"Help!"
The voice seemed augmented by a special effect; in the quiet night it carried far, jolting the residents of the whole street awake and reaching the ears of a patrolman two streets over.
The demon-dog's pouncing stance froze; after a second's thought, it withdrew back into the room and began clearing the scene.
And Klein's mad-running figure also vanished in an instant amid the cries of "Murderer!" and "Help!"
Inside a neighboring house, the long-extinguished fireplace suddenly flared up, the remaining charcoal reigniting and bursting into exaggerated flames.
Klein, as if performing a magic trick, flashed inside that flame; with a slight leap, cane in hand, he sprang back out.
Then, using the Universal Key, he opened doors wherever a door was, passed through walls wherever there was a wall, and fled quickly in another direction.
"Phew — at times like this, a cry for help with no Beyonder force is far more effective than firing 'bang-bang-bang' simulated gun sounds…" Klein remarked, as he took out a bottle of Amanda Pure Water and let a few drops fall on himself.
Because the 'demon's' original species was a dog, he had to guard against scent-tracking being among its special abilities!