"Spread all this stuff around—we can't handle these things alone."
After confirming he had everything Harvey brought, Gordon immediately turned and called out.
Then he looked at Cobblepot, who was steadily shooting demons with his shotgun. Gordon had complicated feelings about this guy who'd risen from nowhere to become a gang boss.
"Oswald, whatever brought you here tonight, I have to say thanks."
"Hahaha..." Cobblepot laughed and looked at Gordon. "We're friends, aren't we?"
After speaking, he turned and shouted loudly to his men:
"Don't just stand there! Some of you go find me every exorcism item you can get your hands on!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, his shotgun flashed and buckshot burst out, shattering a lesser devil's head.
Continuous gunfire echoed around them as demons were pierced by bullets, many demon bodies riddled with holes.
On the other side, the police had also arrived, carrying the heavy weapons Harvey had requested. Besides shotguns, they'd brought some serious firepower from the station's armory—including rocket launchers.
One officer shouldered a bazooka, staring intently at the scattered demons. After targeting a large demon, he fired. Flames shot from the launcher.
Whoosh!
The flying rocket was caught directly by the demon, shocking everyone around.
Only Gordon had gotten used to this kind of thing. Facing this powerful demon, Gordon snatched the salt shaker from Harvey and poured some salt into his shotgun shell.
Bang!
With the gunshot, shrapnel mixed with salt particles sprayed toward the demon.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle...
The salt-contaminated shrapnel opened wounds across the demon's body, while Harvey kept shooting at the caught rocket with his pistol.
Bang! Bang! ... BOOM!
Flames shot skyward as the shell erupted in a violent explosion. The bursting fire enveloped the demon, accompanied by terrible screams.
When the flames and thick smoke cleared, the demon appeared before them again.
Half the creature's body had been blown apart. To achieve this level of damage required not just the rocket's power, but also Gordon's salt-enhanced shrapnel.
The salt-filled shrapnel could temporarily burn the demon's flesh. In the fierce explosion, all the metal fragments were driven by the blast's impact, wreaking havoc on the demon's body and leaving it in this condition.
However, demons were far more resilient than humans. Injuries that would be fatal to people were merely flesh wounds to them.
The screams had only occurred because the salt-filled shrapnel burned its body as they penetrated its flesh.
Soon the salt's effect faded, and the demon's body rapidly healed, squeezing out the embedded shrapnel.
Ting, ting, ting, ting...
Metal fragments clattered to the ground.
This made Gordon and the others' faces fall. Were they really any match for this monster?
"Use the other exorcism supplies!"
Gordon chambered another round and fired at the devil, shouting loudly.
Harvey looked through the exorcism tools he'd brought back and was suddenly struck by something in his pocket—a length of rope.
"This bastard should be afraid of baptismal water too. Let's try soaking the rope!"
He grabbed a bottle of holy water from the baptismal font and poured it over the rope. It didn't take long for the dry cord to become thoroughly soaked.
"Here goes nothing!"
He grabbed one end of the rope and threw it toward the devil like a cowboy with a lasso.
The holy water-soaked rope wrapped tightly around the demon's body, and bursts of blue smoke rose from its flesh.
The holy water's effect was far greater than salt. The moment it was bound by the soaked rope, the devil writhed continuously from intense pain as its body constantly dissolved from the holy water's touch.
"Someone help! I can't hold him alone!"
Harvey shouted—the demon's strength was too great for him to restrain alone.
Hearing his call, surrounding officers rushed forward, someone else grabbing rope and helping tie down the demon.
With their combined efforts, the demon's movements grew smaller and smaller, giving Bruce his chance.
Taking advantage of the officers restraining the demon, Bruce channeled his energy and swung his rapier toward the creature's head.
Swoosh!
The demon's head couldn't resist Bruce's blade at all, falling to the ground in a flash of steel.
However, the demon didn't die. Its neck erupted in flames while its severed head let out a loud shriek.
Though body and head were separated, the demon could still move, trying to break free from the holy water rope.
Seeing this, Harvey immediately released the rope, grabbed several silver crosses and the salt shaker, and ran toward the devil.
"Let's see you move now!"
As he spoke, he grabbed a handful of salt and sprinkled it over the demon's head and body.
He used the crosses like weapons, jamming them forcefully into the devil's eye sockets.
Under this two-pronged assault, the demon was completely destroyed, turning into a ball of fire before them and dissipating entirely.
Seeing the demon dealt with, Harvey breathed a sigh of relief. This was his first time facing such an opponent. If he hadn't brought enough supplies from the church, they might still be locked in a stalemate with the creature.
"Nice work, Detective!"
Bruce said with a smile, then turned and thrust his sword, piercing a lesser devil that had crept up on them.
"Be careful, just leave these kinds of demons to us!"
As he spoke, he gestured toward the sea beast and Resonators that Marcus had left behind. These summoned creatures were the real heavy hitters.
The largest group of demons was entangled by the sea monster's tentacles, while the staff-wielding Resonators massacred their way through the demon horde.
Demons that were difficult for the humans to handle became like fruit to be harvested before the Resonators—demon bodies exploded into pieces with each strike.
This power...
Watching the Resonators' battle unfold like they were cutting vegetables, then looking at himself and the others struggling despite powerful weapons, Harvey couldn't shake a feeling.
He felt like they were just getting in the way. They needed exorcism supplies to barely reach the level these summoned creatures achieved naturally.
"Where the hell do these guys come from?"
The thought spread through Harvey's mind. Everything that had happened recently had shattered his worldview.
"Harvey! Hey Harvey, don't space out—get back in the fight!" Gordon's voice snapped him back to reality.
Looking at Bruce and the others with a complicated expression, Harvey returned to Gordon's side and asked:
"What do you think Gotham's future looks like? With our police force's strength, I don't think we can handle much more of this."
Those words made Gordon fall silent. He didn't know what the future held, but he had a feeling there would definitely be more incidents like this ahead.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Support me at [email protected]/goldengaruda and check out more chapter of this or more early access chapter of my other fanfic translation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~