Using the magical nexuses of Hong Kong, New York, and London, the sorcerers had woven a vast magical network across the Earth.
Though never known to the world at large, this magical network covering the entire planet had truly protected humanity countless times from external threats and invasions.
However, sorcerers were still human and couldn't achieve absolute perfection.
Just as even the most advanced firewalls would have vulnerabilities, this immense magical protective network also had some weak points where the strength wasn't sufficient.
Why did the Ancient One often have to personally intervene to deal with invasions from extradimensional demon gods?
Ultimately, it was because this network had its limits and couldn't be absolutely foolproof.
Furthermore, the Ancient One had always fought alone.
Human strength had its limits, and sometimes she had to make certain compromises.
In some unknown corners of Earth, there were indeed some passages that could connect to other dimensions.
For example, the place where Odin chose to exile and seal his eldest daughter Hela—the goddess of death who appeared in "Thor: Ragnarok"—was located in a certain dimensional space on Earth.
Though it was now being used as a prison, it was actually a node between Earth and Hel, the realm of the dead.
Back when Odin hadn't yet settled down to a peaceful life, divine messengers carrying out missions would frequently pass through that area, traveling swiftly between the two worlds.
The dimensional space that Bayonetta had now brought Shi Xiaolei to was very similar in nature to the space where Hela was imprisoned.
The difference was that this space didn't contain a powerful "prisoner" like Hela—it remained a passage, connecting to an alternate dimension filled with malice and death.
The magical seals couldn't completely block the connection between the two dimensions; they could only prevent powerful "demons" from coming to this world.
As magical power from that dimension leaked through bit by bit, various low-level demonic creatures would constantly spawn in this space—such as Deadwood Demons transformed from trees, and Insect Demons evolved from bugs.
The demonic creatures in this space had to be cleared out regularly, or sooner or later, quantitative change would lead to qualitative change.
After all, they were all demonic beings with naturally cruel and violent temperaments, and this space lacked sufficient resources.
So when the number of demons reached a certain point, they would slaughter each other over survival resources.
If left unchecked, allowing this process to continue like raising venomous insects, it would eventually give birth to a powerful high-level demon.
Low-level demonic creatures weren't particularly strong individually, but their numbers were truly vast.
Combined with the toxic magical power permeating the entire space having extremely strong infectious properties, the environment in this dimensional space was still too harsh for ordinary sorcerers to handle.
Left with no choice, the Ancient One had to personally take action, coming here regularly to conduct major cleanups herself.
In other words, one had to gain the Ancient One recognition or possess strength comparable to hers to be qualified for missions here.
Someone like Bayonetta, for instance.
Bayonetta combat style remained as cool and flashy as ever.
No, it should be said that it was even more spectacular than her performance in the "Bayonetta" games.
After all, the tribute offered after battles here was also of the dark attribute—for the demons who had contracted with Bayonetta, it was like fresh sashimi that could be consumed directly without any processing, deliciously fresh and appetizing.
Moreover, the demons here came from a completely different world.
If one ate the neighbor next door, there might be trouble from the big boss behind them, but now, no matter how much they consumed there was no need to worry.
Not only was it delicious, but the quantity was also substantial.
The tribute that Bayonetta offered satisfied the contracted demons to the extreme.
So, both as insurance for future occasions and as a reward, they became even more dedicated providing Bayonetta with greater support.
Sometimes, Gomorrah, like a wingless giant dragon, plowed deep furrows in the ground; sometimes, Malphas, shaped like a giant owl, whistled across the horizon, blowing away countless severed limbs; sometimes, Hekatoncheir extended his six arms from the void and like aerial bombardment, countless heavy punches fell to the ground, smashing the monsters into puddles of remains; sometimes, Scolopendra, resembling a super-large centipede, suddenly burst from underground and crashed down heavily, devouring many monsters as it rose and fell; there were also Phantasmaraneae, Labolas, Mictlantecuhtli, Baal, Hydra, Diomedes, and others who were frequently summoned by Bayonetta to wreak havoc among the monster hordes.
The three Madamas weren't quite as exuberant.
After all, bearing the title of "Madama" even Madama Butterfly, known for her brute force wanted to maintain her elegance.
By unspoken agreement, they didn't manifest avatars to join the battle like the beast-type contracted demons did.
However, their support for Bayonetta was no less than that of the beast-type contracted demons.
Look at those giant high-heel shoe prints—all stomped out by Bayonetta after channeling Madama Butterfly.
And look at how Bayonetta constantly transformed between panther and raven forms, darting and flying about, plus her extravagant use of Witch Time as if it cost nothing—without the support of Madama Styx and Madama Khepri, she couldn't have been so carefree.
To summarize in one sentence: like a wild tigress bursting into a sheep pen, Bayonetta had reached god-like killing spree status.
From the perspective of this space native monsters, Bayonetta arrival was nothing short of a natural disaster.
What made them even more aggrieved was that this wasn't the only disaster.
"Ha!"
With sword raised and falling, wielding his long blade, Shi Xiaolei cut a monster in half.
Unable to spare time to wipe the foul black blood that had splattered on his nose, he immediately followed up with a backhand whip kick, sending another monster that had pounced from behind flying sideways.
Seeing more and more enemies surging toward him, Shi Xiaolei showed no fear whatsoever—instead, he laughed excitedly.
At this moment, he had long forgotten his previous troubles.
Because the barbarian bloodline sleeping in his veins had been stimulated, he was deeply immersed in the exhilaration that slaughter brought.
So, facing the surging enemies, Shi Xiaolei planted his foot firmly and charged forward instead of retreating.
First came a jumping cleave, splitting a three-meter-tall monster down the middle.
After landing, he unleashed a series of rapid dual-wielding strikes like raindrops, cutting down more than a dozen enemies in the blink of an eye as if playing whack-a-mole.
When the area around him cleared, Shi Xiaolei smoothly transitioned into his final move—Whirlwind.
As he spun at high speed, the twin swords in his hands created dazzling light trails, flinging countless droplets of blood.
In just two breaths, a two-meter-wide corridor of flesh and blood had appeared through the monster horde, with the dozens of meters long path covered entirely in dismembered corpse fragments he had chopped up.
The monsters screams made Shi Xiaolei burst into hearty laughter.
What excited him even more was the occasional "Duang" sound that rang in his ears.