Loren's promise filled Caroline with an immense sense of security. She wouldn't question his words, believing in him with her whole heart and soul.

This was also Loren's most genuine thought. His view of this world was: save it if you can, hide if you can't. If the sky falls, let the tall ones hold it up. Even for their own sake, the gods would have to fight with all their might against the Outer Gods.

At worst, if the God of Light and Fire unified the world in the end, Loren could just switch sides and become a mentor in the Church of Light and Fire. Though by then, the God of Light and Fire probably wouldn't be called that anymore. Reciting all of its authorities might take a good long while.

Loren had only one bottom line: the people around him. As long as that line wasn't crossed, Loren could still pretend to be a devout believer just like he was now.

The day passed peacefully like this. At night, while Loren slept, he continued to control Gwen's actions through his subconscious. Loren had completely grown accustomed to this method; under his control, Gwen worked year-round without a single day off.

Fortunately, Gwen had no life, so Loren didn't have to feel too guilty about it.

At night, Gwen soared through the air with the help of the World Card. Even through the puppet, Loren's True Sight Eye remained effective, so he didn't have to worry about encountering any magic with cognitive concealment.

The Royal Capital had many more trees now. Loren knew these trees were all tokens of the God of Bountiful Harvest, their bark carved with the runes Loren had provided. It was these trees that were blocking the God of Greed's sacrificial ritual.

However, during this simple patrol, Gwen actually discovered something important.

An altar suddenly appeared at the center of the Royal Capital, and beside the altar stood a robed figure.

As the robed figure chanted, Loren felt a wave of unease. Sure enough, in the next moment, gray mist surged from the center of the altar, spreading at an extremely fast speed.

"..."

Loren, in his bedroom, suddenly jolted awake. He hurriedly pulled Caroline, who was sleeping curled up at his feet.

"Quick, something's wrong! Gather the others and hide in my laboratory first!"

Loren had placed many Protective Wards in his laboratory. The vast majority of rituals and similar things couldn't affect the inside of his lab. Right now, the safest place in the entire kingdom was Loren's laboratory.

He had an ominous premonition. He remembered that the previous ritual activation didn't require a person present. Since someone was there to activate it this time, it definitely meant this was different from before.

Connecting this to the strange actions of the Greed Worshippers earlier, Loren already had a guess.

In truth, the Greed Worshippers had long since researched a way to continue the ritual. They had just pretended they couldn't, even going so far as to have some followers come and pressure Loren for the method, all to lull Loren and the Church into a false sense of security before launching a surprise attack.

The initiation of this ritual was too sudden, without any warning, catching everyone completely off guard.

Fortunately, Loren had always maintained a suspicious attitude, which allowed him to discover it in time.

By the time the witches were safely hidden, the gray mist had already spread to a significant degree. The trees used to block the ritual were instantly swallowed by the mist, completely failing to buy any time at all.

"Tch..."

Loren had already arrived on the main street. He pulled out a special Magical Potion from his clothes, threw it into the air, and then shot it with a single bullet.

Immediately, the potion produced a violent explosion. The deafening sound was enough to wake the entire Royal Capital. At the same time, the potion also left a colorful glow in the air, marking the spot for people. Those awakened by the noise, seeing something unusual here, would surely come to investigate.

Of course, most people's choice would be to hide and wait for death, but Loren's goal was simply to gather the Church's combat forces.

Loren's requirements weren't high; he just needed the Church and the Bishop of the Gedlan Kingdom, along with Koranda, to come.

After releasing the signal flare, Loren didn't pause for a moment. The gray mist had now expanded significantly, having already swallowed a bustling neighborhood where many people lived.

Loren directly threw the black robe onto the ground. He cut his own palm and pressed it onto the robe. Immediately, bloody runes began to appear on the black robe.

Loren's black robe had always been inscribed with a ritual pointing to the God of Bountiful Harvest. All Loren had to do now was activate it.

As Loren chanted hymns, the bloody runes on the black robe emitted a brilliant light. This light shot straight into the sky and then scattered in all directions.

Earlier, Loren had sent the Bishop to surround the Royal Capital with certain items, using this method to turn the capital into a giant altar.

Soon, the light dissipated, and Loren's ritual was activated. The small grass at Loren's feet began to gradually wither. The Royal Capital had become an altar.

Simultaneously, the gray mist was completely suppressed, even beginning to shrink step by step.

After Loren's ritual was completed, the Pope finally arrived before Loren.

The moment he saw Loren, the Pope immediately understood something was wrong. Otherwise, Loren wouldn't have called them in this manner; he would have even waited for them to seek him out actively.

"The Greed Worshippers have activated the sacrificial ritual. They've bypassed my first layer of insurance. Fortunately, I have a second layer.

"No time for chatter. You need to get to the place where the gray mist appeared immediately. The one controlling the ritual is there!"

To keep him there, Loren even actively reduced the power of his own ritual, deliberately pretending to be in a stalemate with the Greed Worshippers.

If Loren were willing, the gray mist would vanish in an instant.

"Hurry. Stopping his ritual comes at a great cost. It requires paying with life force..."

Hearing this, the Pope was visibly moved. Without the slightest hesitation, he ran in the direction Loren pointed.

There was just one thing Loren didn't say: the cost of stopping the ritual didn't need to be paid by Loren, and the life force wouldn't be his either.

This was essentially a massive sacrificial ritual. The target of the sacrifice was the life force of the Bountiful followers within the range. Loren and the witches didn't believe in the God of Bountiful Harvest, so drawing life force couldn't touch them.

Otherwise, even with Loren's Mana, maintaining such a large ritual would have required considerable effort.

However, the amount of life force Loren sacrificed wasn't too much. As long as the ritual wasn't maintained for too long, it would have basically no effect on people.

With so many people in the Royal Capital, taking a little from each person's head amounted to a terrifying quantity.

Not long after the Pope left, Koranda and the Bishop also rushed over. After Loren pointed them in the right direction, he continued maintaining the ritual on the spot.

Loren just wanted to laugh a little. On the surface, Loren seemed to be putting in a lot of effort, looking frantic and hurried. But in reality, it was literally just a matter of flipping a switch for him. Heck, the ritual was even set up by the Bishop.

Now, Loren only needed to watch from the sidelines. Gwen was still monitoring them from the air. Loren almost felt like cutting up a watermelon to enjoy the show.