"Did you guys notice? Just now, the guild leader seemed to lose HP."

"Yeah. How long has it been since we last saw the guild leader bleed?"

"To deal with this BOSS, the guild leader even had to pull away part of his clones!"

Alan and the others looked at the battlefield, where more than half of the defensive line had suddenly disappeared, and their hearts tightened.

While swiftly filling the gaps, they exchanged worried words.

"This Warrens Lord’s strength is way too terrifying!"

"Even a top-tier powerhouse like the guild leader has been forced to this extent. I can’t even imagine what would happen if we had to face it ourselves."

"The main thing is that Hellfire. It’s far too strange. It can actually ignore the guild leader’s defense!"

"Thank goodness the guild leader reacted fast enough. Otherwise, that attack just now would have injured him even more severely."

"More than half the clones have been pulled away. The pressure on our defensive line has instantly increased. I hope we can hold on."

When Alan heard this, he cleaved several monsters apart with a single strike. Then, with a solemn expression, he said, "Everyone, we must hold back the monster tide no matter what. We absolutely cannot cause the guild leader even the slightest trouble!

"Even if we all die here, we must hold the line!"

Everyone’s hearts trembled, and they nodded repeatedly.

"Yes!"

Even so, their gazes still could not help drifting toward John.

At this moment, John was still entangled in battle with the Warrens Lord. The two sides exchanged blows back and forth, and thunderous booms rang out from time to time.

While resisting the monsters, everyone secretly felt shocked.

"I really never expected a diamond-rank BOSS to be this heaven-defyingly powerful."

"I hope the guild leader can take down the lord as soon as possible and come back to support us."

...

Puchi!

[-18,920,000!]

As another blade pierced into the Warrens Lord’s body, the enemy’s HP finally bottomed out.

However, there was not much relief on John’s face, because he saw that after the Warrens Lord’s HP hit zero, it did not die immediately.

On the contrary, within its hollow, empty blood vessels, a golden HP bar actually appeared.

[Level 300 diamond-rank BOSS Warrens Lord has entered its second phase: Divine State!]

"As expected, it has a Divine State."

John watched as the Warrens Lord’s body began to undergo a tremendous transformation, but he was not surprised at all.

The Warrens Lord’s body began shrinking little by little. In just a few short seconds, it went from several hundred meters tall to a small giant of only ten meters.

But after transforming into a small giant, the aura radiating from the Warrens Lord became even more terrifying.

Every single muscle on its body seemed as perfect as if it had been sculpted by a god.

Even its panel had received a massive upgrade!

John threw out a Detection spell, and a panel appeared before him that even made him click his tongue in surprise.

[Warrens Lord] (Second Phase)

[Level]: Level 320

[HP]: 18,888,888 / 18,888,888

[Skills]: Divine-Erosion Hellfire, Warrens Cage, Demon God’s Coercion, Ultimate Demonic Body Revival, Warren’s Core Impact

...

"It actually forcibly broke through by twenty levels."

John felt somewhat shocked.

That was because after reaching Level 300, every single level-up required paying an enormous price.

One had to gather enough Divine Attributes to level up, instead of relying on experience points alone.

And yet, the Warrens Lord before him had actually broken through to Level 320 in one go.

From this alone, it was obvious how many Divine Attributes were stored within its body!

"I lack nothing now."

The Warrens Lord, now in its divine form, slowly stretched its neck.

Its scarlet tongue licked around the edge of its mouth.

"Ha. I really should thank you, human. If not for you, I might never have been able to obtain this state."

After activating its Divine State, the Warrens Lord’s confidence swelled explosively.

In its eyes, John was merely a slightly stronger human.

Even if he could defeat its ordinary state, before its Divine State, he was nothing more than trash that could be crushed to death with a single finger!

"To thank you, I will leave your corpse intact, so that after death, you may become my puppet."

The Warrens Lord sneered. Immediately afterward, a mist of intertwined gold and black suddenly erupted from its body.

This was its Warren’s Core.

Any creature struck by the impact of this core would be turned into a puppet in an instant.

Especially creatures lower level than it—they had absolutely no possibility of resisting.

John’s expression changed slightly, but it was already too late to dodge, because this core attack was a causality-type skill that hit by force.

In just a single breath, John’s figure was completely tainted by the Warren’s Core.

Demonic patterns began appearing on his face, and his thoughts grew stiff and numb.

[You are suffering a demonization attack. Current demonization progress: 90%!]

In just an instant, John had been demonized by 90%.

The next moment, John opened his equipment panel, and a holy robe appeared on his body.

Holy light emerged from the robe, instantly expelling the Warren’s Core from John’s body until not a trace remained.

[Priest’s Holy Light!]

An SSS-rank priest skill.

Ever since John obtained the priest class talent, he had not used its related skills for a long time. Now, it had finally come in handy.

Just as John was about to be demonized, this holy light appeared and instantly pulled him back.

Seeing this scene, the Warrens Lord was utterly horrified.

"How is this possible?"

"In my Divine State, my core has already become strong enough to instantly assimilate any living being."

"Why can this human’s priest skill restrain my core?"

"Impossible. This is absolutely impossible!"

The Warrens Lord simply could not believe that a human’s priest skill could be powerful to such an extent.

But what it did not know was that John’s priest class talent had been obtained after he killed the final BOSS of the World Tree.

According to its historical background, the World Tree also carried a certain trace of divine aura.

After all, the World Tree itself had been planted by a true god.

Naturally, it possessed a restraining effect against the Warren’s Core, which likewise contained a divine aura.

After escaping the demonized state, John immediately mobilized half of the clones he had just summoned.

"Kill!"

Whoosh!

In an instant, figures appeared one after another around the Warrens Lord.

Without exception, they were all John’s clones wearing holy robes.

Through that unexpected moment of purification, John had accidentally discovered a method to counter the Warrens Lord in its Divine State.

That method was to use priest skills, which likewise drew upon divine aura, to launch a counterattack!

[Holy Light!]

In an instant, half of the warren was illuminated by pure white holy light.

As for the Warrens Lord trapped within it, the demonic mist around its body was instantly evaporated.

Sizzle! Sizzle!

[-18,810,000!]

[-18,810,000!]

[-18,810,000!]

...

"Aaaahhh!"

The Warrens Lord’s HP plummeted sharply.

Just as John had guessed.

His priest skills had successfully formed a restraining relationship against the Warrens Lord, directly erupting with damage numbers far beyond anything before.

In just a single breath, tens of millions of damage exploded instantly.

This time, the Warrens Lord’s HP could no longer withstand it and was directly melted away.

But even so, its Divine State still preserved one last breath of life for it.

Without the slightest hesitation, it turned and fled toward the abyss, its heart filled with terror.

"Damn it! This human has been hiding his true strength all along. Run!"