Humming...
The miniature divine statue now roared to life, ripples of divine power flickering across its surface like water, as though it might fully awaken at any moment.
But without the most critical external activation procedure, the pendant trembled a few times before finally grinding to a reluctant halt, all luster fading from its surface.
"Did the Divine Descent fail? It looks like this contains not only divine power but also the coordinates of a divine realm, and perhaps even the will of a deity..."
Leilin murmured.
At the same time, from within the pendant, he sensed a fiercely unwilling will, powerful energy surging within it as though it might burst forth in the next instant.
"If it were the true form of a deity, or even an avatar, I would still need to tread carefully... but a mere shred of will?"
Leilin snorted coldly, and the phantom of a Taglian winged serpent surfaced within his pupils.
"Hssss..."
A powerful semi-seventh-tier will surged in, grinding down the will that had resided within the pendant.
Once that will was obliterated, the once-turbulent divine power instantly calmed, like a raging sea settling into stillness.
"Excellent! Excellent! The divine power contained within this may well bring an unexpected surprise..."
Joy appeared on Leilin's face.
A deity's divine power was, in the end, merely a higher-grade form of energy. For other practitioners it was outright poison—even clerics of different gods could only accept divine power infusions from their own patron deity. But for Leilin, it was genuine nourishment.
"A pity... if not for my wariness of those deities, I could have shattered countless temples and stolen their divine power long ago..."
Leilin calculated inwardly.
Divine power, divinity, divine fire, divine authority, divine rank—these grew ever more critical to a deity in ascending order.
With his current strength, he could just barely absorb divinity, but it would definitely be influenced by the power within, damaging the very foundation of his path. Divine fire and divine authority were out of the question entirely.
But divine power? That was within the range of what he could digest.
Moreover, even when digesting divine power, Leilin deliberately chose which deities to target. So far, only
Both of those were mad and evil dark gods, and certain domains overlapped, laying groundwork for Leilin's future plans.
"Judging by the quantity of divine power stored in this pendant... it should be enough to raise my Spiritual Power by one point, or to distribute the increase evenly across other attributes..."
Leilin stroked his chin. After erasing the original will within the pendant, the divine power inside had become ownerless—something he could absorb at his leisure and make the most of.
And for deities possessing great divine power, simply by absorbing and analyzing this type of power, he could gain insight into certain of Cyric's domains. If there happened to be a similar divine authority, he might even condense a different kind of divinity!
"If this bishop survived, losing this thing would still leave him in a terrible fate... No! After death it would be even worse!"
Leilin looked at the corpse on the ground and sighed.
A deity held sovereign claim over the souls of its faithful, and this man had been a high priest of Cyric. Leilin had not obliterated his soul just now.
Therefore, after passing through the judgment of the God of
What kind of punishment awaited him there went without saying.
"Poor little thing..." Leilin harbored no sympathy whatsoever and soon dismissed the matter from his mind.
"It looks like they were all small-time pirates he recruited at Pirate's Harbor. Aside from the church elites, there wasn't much real strength among them!"
Isabelle stepped on the face of a fallen pirate captain, wiping the Blood Red Dragon Sword with the man's clothing, and finally spoke with a抱怨 tone.
After awakening the Blood Dragon bloodline, the combative factors in her blood seemed to have been inherited by Isabelle completely intact.
"Mm! If the other side had been given time to train, what they gave us today would have been more than just a small trouble..."
Leilin nodded in agreement, then ordered Ronald and the others to clean up the aftermath.
The setting sun gradually sank, casting a blood-red hue across the horizon where sea met sky.
The entire expanse of water was littered with shipwrecks. Broken timber and torn flags covered nearly half the surface, and not far away floated numerous corpses, some still steadily seeping blood.
The massive pirate fleet gradually departed, leaving nothing behind but a field of wreckage.
No one would ever know that in just a single day, in this obscure and unremarkable place, two naval battles of horrifying scale had taken place, and two overseas juggernauts had been annihilated in one fell swoop.
"This scene... it really makes me want to sing a song..."
Splash! Splash!
A figure descended from the sky, dressed in ornate noble attire, bearing a quiet and refined demeanor—yet behind him spread a pair of enormous black-feathered wings.
At first glance, aside from the color, the figure resembled a pristine angel, and one could find all manner of beautiful comparisons for him. But all of that was shattered the moment one met his eyes.
"Baron Leilin... will become the overlord of the outer seas from today onward? How interesting indeed..."
This person was clearly Nawei. But now his pupils had turned an expressionless silver, devoid of the slightest trace of emotion. A single glance from those eyes could freeze a person's soul.
"Strong, resolute, decisive, courageous... A soul possessing all these qualities, once it falls, would surely generate enough power for the birth of a Greater Devil..."
The black-feathered wings behind him fluttered gently, sustaining Nawei's levitation. The devil gazed in the direction the Crimson Tiger had departed, his face full of contemplation.
"So it really is a devil?"
At that moment, a calm voice came from behind, and Nawei's expression froze.
He slowly turned his head to see the noble mage—who should have already left—now hovering in midair, arms crossed, watching him with eyes full of amusement.
"Salutations, mighty mage! And de facto ruler of the outer seas! Nawei of the Third Layer of Hell offers you his most sincere respect!"
Upon clearly seeing Leilin's appearance, Nawei bowed courteously with his right hand pressed to his chest.
"I am certain that in the time ahead, there will be places where you have need of me!"
"A devil's deal is the least trustworthy thing there is—let alone the fact that you were scheming against me just before... For anyone who dares provoke me, I never let them live to see the next day."
Leilin spoke in a cold voice. A vast silver magical array instantly spread outward, enveloping Nawei's entire body.
"Wait... I can give you so much—so many things you cannot imagine. All the wealth of the Material Plane, unimaginable power and authority, and beauties..."
The silver array seemed to possess an extraordinary suppressive effect on devils. The moment Nawei's black feathers touched the light, they began to smolder, giving off a charred smell.
"A devil's promises? Heh..."
Leilin smiled faintly and shook his head. His golden eyes turned dark and fathomless in an instant as the phantom of a Taglian winged serpent burst into view.
A terrifying devouring force acted directly upon the array. Massive amounts of silver light surged in, drowning Nawei completely.
"This devouring force... and the rules behind it—you are!"
Realization flashed through Nawei's eyes, but before he could finish shouting, his entire body was already dissolving within the array.
"The Lord of the Third Layer of Hell... the Grand Duke of
Leilin murmured softly, then closed his eyes, savoring the influx of power.
[Ding! Host has absorbed a large quantity of energy essence! Agility +1! Constitution +1!] The Chip's mechanical notification sounded.
Then another message appeared, bringing a look of delight to Leilin's face.
[Host has devoured a devil of the Third Layer of Hell! Devouring Rule has taken effect! Obtained partial information on the Rule of Greed!]
"Is this... the effect of the Host's Devouring power?"
Leilin murmured. His true body had mastered the Rule of Devouring and could even gain deeper comprehension of rules through constant consumption.
And now, the devil from the Greed Hell had given him a small taste of understanding in this area.
"Judging from these signs, my true body's injuries have also begun recovering at an accelerated pace, and the support it can send my way will only increase..."
Joy appeared on Leilin's face, and his current stats had become: [Leilin Farell — Age: 22 — Race: Human — 16th-rank
Leilin's gaze swept toward the horizon. "The outer seas are my domain. No force shall be permitted to meddle—whether the threat comes from Hell or from the divine realms."
The glow of Greater Flight lit up, and his figure shrank to a dark speck before gradually vanishing beyond the sky.
Meanwhile, the reverberations of this event continued to brew and intensify.
...
Somewhere on the mainland, in a dark and shadowed valley, the stench of death spread ceaselessly. At its center stood a temple wrought entirely in black, terrifying magical auras bristling from every surface—even a Legendary powerhouse who ventured inside might well never return.
The instant the bishop fell, a white-browed priest within the temple raised his head calmly.
"Attend me!"
"My lord!" Several priests in black robes hastened over, their eyes filled with reverence.
For the one who stood before them was a Legendary-ranked priest—and the very heart of power within the entire Church of the God of Murder.