Even though it was the latter half of the day, heavy smoke from the flames made it almost impossible to make out whether the sun was setting.
News media outlets have long since been broadcasting about the massive evacuations at the borders near Dongguan and Huizhou after an hour of national media blackout so that the Ministry of Defence would be able to release a statement first.
Yet, pictures and videos of the devastation beyond the border walls had already been broadcast all over social media. Still, within that hour of media blackout, people from behind the scenes had been busy scrambling to send out revised heightened alerts to not just the military but also a call for civil defences and hospitals for them to receive the injured.
That hour of media blackout had also been to allow the stock market to close in time before any damage was done to their market, making the Ministry of Finance extremely concerned about any consequences if the Monster Horde attack would drag on to the next day. Fiscal reserves were quickly being prepared in order to hold the market if necessary.
Surrounding provinces were put high alert and reserve soldiers had been sent to the border walls for defence although the Ministry of State Security was doing the opposite. According to Mr Know-It-All’s urgent report, the Monster Horde could be held within the cities with more reinforcement and yet they decided to place this unnatural phenomenal assault via the mountains.
His superintendent understood the implications of a possible diversion and had already dispatched local State Agents within the province’s classified locations in case of a possible infiltration or assaults on important points of interest.
Cultivators of high grades and other private contractors were also roped on short notice to perform protection details for essential services like the power stations and water plants.
Thus everyone was extremely vested to make sure this horde did not go further than expected.
To help make this a reality, Grandma Yuan had decided to face the manifestation of Loopa Ooofpa for the second time in her life. Coincidentally that first encounter had been the famous incident which had led to her becoming the current District Guardian of Tiangong.
“To face this monster again… is like facing my fears once more. Although, I must say it’s true origin name is so much funnier than the one given by the military.” Grandma Yuan thought to herself when the System queried about it.
“While the current System has knowledge that past Sub System User Yuan had a fight with a colossal monster based on your memories, it is unable to analyse and compare its power level since the Sub System was not contracted at that point of time. Please give a rough estimation for the System to understand whether Jin’s temporary combat alliance is overkill.”
“No. It is not.” Grandma Yuan stated decidedly with a shake on her head as she vividly remembered the horrors and atrocities that the particular manifestation of Loopa Ooofpa had done during the Second World War.
As she powered up her cultivation to gather as much chi as she could, Grandma Yuan couldn’t help reminisce the past where her comrades died fighting such a monster. As controversial as it may be, the Banned Emperor faction did participate in the Second World War in defence for their motherland. However, they had joined under a false name as the State Agents later on discovered. Once their origin became known, they quickly started to dismantle that faction’s name and reassume their old identity.
That was also why she had found these Bone Spirit Demons oddly familiar even though she could not identify them with the current database of monsters. Any records were removed right after the war, and she was going through PTSD and depression to even recall about the enemies.
The Loopa Ooofpa was later used against the Chinese after the Banned Emperor faction found out that the invading opponents were targeting highly valued VIPs. Somehow the information about an undisclosed meeting of the Royal Zodiac Clan Heads as well as the resistance factions had been discovered.
That leak of information had brought about a much heated discussion within the faction itself, but the majority demanded that they should remove the Clan Heads and be the ones controlling the remnants of the clans if they were to stand a change in this war.
Thus, the Banned Emperor faction had gone ahead with their coup d’etat by unleashing such a monster. Ironically the allies mistook this action as the Banned Emperor faction trying to defend the Clan Heads via a summon techniques from their ambush attack.
Sadly, it did turn uncontrollable and aimed for everyone, including their own masters after dealing with the foreign invaders. Hence the cleanup crew involved Yuan and her comrades who only graduated recently from the special Demon Exorcist training. (Yup the very same Grandma Yuan was heeding in this age.)
“So there is much pressure for the ex Sub System User to succeed again.” With her permission, the System briefly scanned through her memories to check whether it could get an estimation of the Loopa Ooofpa strength, but unfortunately, human memories were somewhat deceptive and unreliable. Especially after they had been tinkered with.
“Told you, it’s useless. Unless you wish to bestow me a Sub System again.” Grandma Yuan joked as she knew that was not possible as her module was the very thing that rescued Ming from his predicament, yet it broke after being used.
“Apologies, System cannot adhere to such requests. Giving past Sub System User Yuan to permission to contact the current User’s System is already a break in System’s standard protocol.” The System replied as if it was giving much leeway for her only to honour her previous occupation.
“Fortunately it’s Jin wish to see you safe, so that is why I am here to ensure your survival,” Yun said, but instead of gratitude, Yuan just gave her a menacing glare.
“I’d rather die than allow you to save me.” Grandma Yuan pouted as she finally reached the peak of the chi gathering, but things got grimmer as the Loopa Ooofpa emerged fully from a distance.
Its faceless head roared with the urge to consume. Its hand tentacles were spreading like wings stretching after a long slumber. There was nothing on its body but a pile of flesh covered with streaks of bones around it. Only with a pair of binoculars could one see how the Bone Spirit Demons were coming out from its abdomen.
At that point, the second wave of J30 fighter jets who were initially planning for a second fly by through the mountainous forests had decided to change their target to the large colossal manifestation.
“It’s useless…” Grandma Yuan knew that those napalm bombs would be ineffective against the giant leader that emerged from the Banned Emperor’s Ritual. If those bombs could only eradicate Grade 8 and lower Demons, they would merely tickle the monster’s skin, and their only utility would be in eradicating those newly emerged weak Demons.
If anything, that was a new unique trait of the current Loopa Ooofpa which Grandma Yuan didn’t encounter in the past. (That fight had been hard enough without such a trait)
“Instructor Yuan!” Lein and his group of Demon Exorcists returned to their teacher’s side after completing the objective of removing the Demons who leaked out from the second breach.
“There are some remnants running around, but the others are chasing them after the second breach of the wall had been mended by the Border Guards.” Su Zhen reported.
“But more importantly, we are concerned the moment we all felt your chi aura kilometres away!” Lian spoke out the truth which made Grandma Yuan grin a little.
“Your other disciples are already airdropping into the town. They abandoned everything the moment they heard that you sounded the alarm for a Danger Level 4 Alert in Dongguan.” Claire appeared from nowhere and surprised the Young Demon Exorcists.
“Wow, doesn’t that mean a portion of the elite Demon Exorcists is joining the fight?” Rong exclaimed when he heard Claire’s remarks and the rest of the Demon Exorcists were excited to see their senior disciples under Grandma Yuan.
“Heh, Claire you sneaky little… Nevermind, that means I can fully concentrate on the big guy, huh?” Grandma Yuan showed a rare wide genuine smile before taking one more look at her latest batch of graduated students.
“Will it be time to let the younger generation take over…” She whispered as she executed a technique which had not been used since the last Loopa Ooofpa fight.
