"L, I’m giving you one minute! If you still can’t break the barrier, we’re all running!"

After shouting this at L, Zod cursed under his breath, pulled a flask of wine from his coat, opened it, and actually started chugging it.

Then he drew his blade and turned to face the tunnel exit.

Maguire also watched anxiously as Baron, his Spear Sword stabbed into the barrier, continued to repeat the Dragon God Prayer. Cold sweat trickled down Maguire’s forehead as a sense of unease grew in his heart.

’For L to do something like this... he must have his reasons.’

Maguire had an almost fanatical trust in L. This was despite the fact that just a month ago, on the carriage to Mundra, he had been targeted by Andre because of his association with L, and had even taunted L for it.

He, too, gripped his blade, turned, and with a solemn expression, held his breath, waiting for the madmen in the tunnel.

On the other side, the Witch saw that the Demon Hunters’ attempts to dissuade Baron were fruitless. The keen intuition granted to her by the Red Dragon also made her vaguely sense an aura of Law approaching from afar.

Her expression stiffened beneath her hood.

’If I’m not mistaken, that should be the gaze of the Immortal Goddess.’

She tightened her grip, her knuckles turning white, and bit her lip as if making a difficult decision.

But in the end, she shook her head, as if dismissing the thought.

Her fingers felt scorching hot, and tiny red scales began to grow on them.

Carmen laughed bitterly to herself. ’Of all the times for this to act up...’

The moment the first Cultist stepped out of the tunnel, Zod lopped off his head with a single slash.

Maguire cleaved the second one’s spine in two.

Then came the third, the fourth... a continuous stream of Cultists began to pour out of the tunnel.

The two men stood with their blades, blocking the tunnel exit.

"Zod, what’s going on? Why is the blood on my blade black!"

Maguire kicked one down and realized something was wrong. Besides the black blood on his blade, their chests caved in with just a kick! They were like paper-mâché shells!

Zod noticed it too—the black blood, the hollow, shell-like bodies... His pupils suddenly constricted. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Carmen, standing to the side, spoke up for him in a low voice, "Undying. These Undead Cultists began the process of Undying the moment they emerged from the passage and touched this Array."

’Undying just by touching the Array...’ Zod’s expression faltered. Carmen nodded, confirming his suspicion.

"The Immortal Goddess has noticed this place, most likely because of L’s Dragon God Prayer."

She looked at Ferdinand on the platform. "It could also be Ferdinand, who is about to become a Silver Tier Undead."

"With the sacrifice of twelve Bronze Undead and the blessing of the Goddess, I will become the most perfect Undead. Compared to that, the Authority of a Silver Demon Hunter is hardly important to me."

Beneath the Blessing Barrier, Ferdinand sneered at Demon Hunter L.

"But L, I won’t kill you. Stephen won’t let me kill you... That was his condition for letting me go. Only a Silver Tier Demon Hunter like him has the right to stay out of things."

"He needs me to lend Chairman Liuxia a hand in the upcoming Emperor’s War... That fellow Lewis was so sycophantic, trying to win him over. But just because I could advance to Silver, Stephen turned around and won *me* over instead."

"L, do you know why that is?"

’Because you’re the lightning, you’re the light, the one and only legend,’ Baron snarked internally.

"Because in this world, only the strong are needed! The weak, who are not needed, have no right to exist, no matter where they are!"

’To just negate the value of others like that... what arrogance. So that’s why he so easily sacrificed all his subordinates from the Iron Thorn Gang?’

’Mr. Stephen... I really was mistaken in thinking you were a good person.’

"Stephen needs you, so I won’t kill you. I will also overlook the matter of you killing my son and stealing my Return Gold Coin."

’I didn’t kill your son, and I didn’t steal your coin. I picked it up. Finders keepers, losers weepers.’

Ferdinand’s gaze landed on Zod, Maguire, and the ever-hooded Carmen.

"But that doesn’t mean I won’t kill the others."

This time, Baron finally stopped repeating the Dragon God Prayer. The words from his mouth changed for the first time. They were still syllables similar to the Dragon God Prayer, but now they carried a profound and solemn majesty.

"O devout and renowned Master of Blood..."

The Master of Blood? Was he talking about the Blood God Aisley?

Ferdinand was stunned. Zod and Maguire, who had just cut down the last Cultist to rush out of the tunnel, were also stunned. Carmen’s gaze sharpened.

"Aisley, the God who stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the Great Sovereign..."

It really was Blood God Aisley.

’The Dragon God Prayer didn’t work, so now he’s trying a blood prayer? He’s a real madman.’

Ferdinand sneered, while Zod and Maguire couldn’t hide their disappointment.

Baron recited the blood prayer once, but still, nothing changed.

He was getting anxious himself.

’This shouldn’t be happening. It worked last time at the Blue Blood Faction’s altar... And sometimes, when I curse the Blood God in my head, I can always feel like I’m being watched from the shadows...’

Baron’s eyes lit up, and he immediately shouted, "Blood God Aisley is the shame of all gods!"

The onlookers were baffled.

Baron added, "And the Dragon God is a son of a bitch!"

The onlookers were now utterly stupefied.

’He’s finally lost it.’

Ferdinand stopped paying attention to Baron. He closed his eyes, intending to speed up the absorption of the Magic Potion to the sound of the Yellow-robed Priest’s chanting... Where was the chanting?

Ferdinand’s eyes snapped open, and his body trembled violently.

The Yellow-robed Priest had been pinned to the ground by a cross that had toppled over from the edge of the altar.

Then another cross toppled down, landing on the first. A wooden plank snapped off, and from Ferdinand’s perspective, the resulting shape resembled the kind of cross used only by the Black Moon and the Blood Church.