"I’m not worried about these things. My concern is that Gangxin has also entered, and he must be collecting rune characters too," Rosen said solemnly.

"You can rest assured about this. Gangxin is, after all, only one person, and his progress in collecting rune characters is not as quick as ours. More importantly, the faith of our God has already spread across the continent, which will significantly weaken the Creator Spirit’s resistance."

The Bound replied with confidence, "According to the Holy Mother’s previous speculation, the transformative monsters in ’Land of Rogues’ will be greatly weakened against our attacks. Moreover, the time required for inscribing rune language on ’Creation Obelisk’ later is only 32% of the normal time! With such advantages, Gangxin cannot possibly win."

...

On the first floor, inside a room.

Bai Pu swung his sword, slashing the last monster to death, and collected the rune characters.

Around him, the Bishop’s Servants from the Four Great Bishops had gathered.

[You have obtained Divine Rune No. 6.]

[Divine Rune Collection Progress: 11% (Repeated runes do not count towards the progress).]

"I feel something’s wrong."

Bai Pu said, "According to my understanding, these transformative monsters are the condensation of the ’Power of the World,’ controlled by the Creator Spirit’s instinctive consciousness, trying to drive us invaders out.

"But the problem is that the Master of Suffering has already conducted widespread corruption of the Original Sin World, so the Creator Spirit should be affected too, right? That means... I’m naturally at a disadvantage in the race against the Creator Spirit... We’re just collecting divine runes now, but the disadvantage may grow larger in the next phase."

Gaia’s Will did not respond.

Bai Pu stepped into the next floor through the Light Gate: "I should think of a way... Luckily, this race is competitive in nature, so I can attack competitors."

The light flashed, and Bai Pu entered the next room, only to unexpectedly find someone inside!

A Holy War Legion Commander, leading several Thorn Warriors, was fighting fiercely. Their opponent was a ghost creature with a decaying corpse.

This decaying ghost, as the only transformative monster in the second floor room, had advanced enhanced warrior-level strength, close to the level of a Lord.

However, Bai Pu noticed that the decaying ghost’s attacks on Thorn Cultists were not very damaging!

A ghost claw strike with a terrifying force hit an elite level Thorn Fanatic, only tearing a few shallow wounds on his surface. Normally, this should have been body-breaking damage, or at least something that would hurt bones and muscles.

[Soul-Host Corpse (Level 7 Enhanced Warriors) Black Soul Claw Strike caused Izsu 350 points of mixed damage (719 points damage reduction) to Thorn Fanatic Izsu.]

[Damage reduction source: The Soul-Host Corpse itself has a negative status: Suffering Infection.]

[Suffering Infection: When enemies in the room have the Suffering Mark, the damage caused by matrix-derived monsters is reduced by 68%.]

Through perception, Bai Pu was able to obtain some combat information himself.

But normally, it’s impossible to be this detailed.

Clearly, this was Gaia’s Will providing Bai Pu with an informational advantage within the permissible rules.

"Just as I thought, the Master of Suffering’s corruption of the Original Sin World is not entirely ineffective. The Creator Spirit... or these monsters derived from the Original Sin Matrix, are all affected by the Suffering Mark, causing the damage they inflict to be greatly reduced! This is just cheating!"

The Master of Suffering cheats by corrupting the Original Sin World, causing rooms with Thorn Cultists to have greatly reduced derivative monster difficulty, making it easier for the cultists to collect divine runes.

However, since it is ’difficulty reduction cheat,’ Bai Pu, who enters later, also enjoys the effect brought by this cheat.

Only the rooms Bai Pu enters alone would not enjoy the difficulty reduction cheat.

"Why don’t the four Bishop’s Servants trigger the difficulty reduction cheat? — I understand now, they probably don’t have ’Suffering Mark’ on them!"

Bai Pu had a flash of insight, and a bold idea quickly formed in his mind.

These thoughts flashed through Bai Pu’s mind in an instant.

On the other side, Thorn Believers noticed Bai Pu’s arrival, treating him like an imminent threat!

The Holy War Legion Commander’s Twisted True Form was a large meatball, and he roared, spinning his obese body with streaks of fire, crashing towards Bai Pu.

Mystical Arts, Blazing Flame Rolling Charge!

[Blazing Flame Rolling Charge: In the rolling state, initiates continuous impact against the enemy, those in the path are subjected to knockback and continuous burning damage, the caster receives (50) point power determination added value, the greater the power positive difference between the two sides, the longer the knockback time. Burning damage is (80) points per second, lasting for 10 seconds.]

[Blazing Flame Rolling Charge Level 4 Effect: Chain Rolling Charge: Rolling state time extended, can turn around to continue charging the opponent.]

[Blazing Flame Rolling Charge Level 7 Effect: Scorching Heat: burning damage accumulated on each charge hitting the opponent, up to three layers.]

Bai Pu glanced at the detailed combat information and immediately grasped this move’s weakness.

"As a charging skill, it doesn’t have a dominance effect! Though there is a 50-point power determination added value when hitting the enemy, but... What if the enemy doesn’t engage physically and directly controls you with magic-like abilities?"

Behind Bai Pu, four Bishop’s Servants simultaneously released Freezing Beam!

The four Freezing Beams locked with the blazing meatball in the air for a second, and then the Holy War Legion Commander was knocked back, quickly enveloped in a thick layer of hard ice!

Bai Pu strode into the battlefield, dragging his greatsword.

He kicked the sword, and the greatsword cleaved out a beautiful gold-red arc, cutting a Thorn Fanatic, along with his spear, in two!

The Thorn Cultists fought fearlessly, shouting as two blades simultaneously struck Bai Pu’s back, but only the sound of metal clashing was heard. Bai Pu’s body seemed covered with armor plates as if made from melt gold.

If not for practicing [Melt Gold Armor], this four-star mystical arts skill, Bai Pu wouldn’t have been hit by those two people at all, surely able to dodge ahead of time.

However, not diverting attention to dodging means Bai Pu could use 100% of his effort on the attack!

He spun, and slashed again! The waists and abdomens of two Thorn Cultists were split open, then knocked away by a force, lying down unable to fight.

Bai Pu wasn’t in a hurry to kill; he had an idea he needed to test.

Soon, Bai Pu, along with the four Bishop’s Servants, finished the battle and casually slaughtered the Soul-Host Corpse but unfortunately didn’t get new rune characters.

In the scene, the heavily injured members of the Thorn Church laid all over.

"Alright, now’s the time to test... Can I control these guys!"

Bai Pu rubbed his hands, and a drop of pure blood flew from his fingertips towards the meatball-like Holy War Legion Commander.