Chapter 482: The Passage

Chapter 482: The Passage

There were thirteen cultists whose bodies were covered in flowing, lava-like fiery marks. By the time Zheng Yichen caught up, Moser was already fighting them. Zheng Yichen had thought Moser would cut through these cultists like vegetables, but the reality was that Moser was evenly matched with them… no, not exactly evenly matched. He was actually at a slight disadvantage.

“Help quickly.” Moser shouted at Zheng Yichen. “Their power is strong!”

“I know…” Zheng Yichen waved the newly drawn Frostmourne and charged forward. He really wasn’t very good at combat, especially close-quarters fighting. Zheng Yichen much preferred ranged firepower suppression. To be honest, since crossing over until now, he hadn’t actually experienced any real combat using his Alchemical Avatar.

Now he had to get serious, and it made him feel a little excited…

Once he joined the fight, Moser’s eyebrows furrowed tightly. As an expert, the moment Zheng Yichen moved, Moser immediately saw how terrible this guy’s combat skills were. It was the kind of terrible that came from zero training! That mana slash with frost attack he just swung almost hit Moser!!

Moser had clearly left an opening, but this guy’s wild prediction still almost hit him, as if on purpose.

“You… forget it. I’ll match your rhythm. Let’s finish this quickly. There’s something big going on here; we can’t delay!” Moser said with a headache. The compressed mana slash Zheng Yichen unleashed with Frostmourne was still very powerful. That was why Moser’s heart skipped a beat when he was almost hit. If he got cut, this carefully prepared outfit of his would be ruined… As for the person?

The person wouldn’t die. Zheng Yichen was a dragon. If he got accidentally injured, Zheng Yichen would definitely be held responsible.

“Oh, okay.” Zheng Yichen attacked left and right, continuously releasing compressed mana frost slashes. Moser, actively cooperating, kicked a cultist into an incoming frost slash. Upon contact, the frost power spread along the lava-like marks on his body. After the last trace of fiery red was covered by frost, the cultist completely froze in place, clearly devoid of life.

As for the soul… the frost carried the Negative Power of the souls trapped within Frostmourne. Once completely frozen, the soul was also frozen by this Negative Power. Even if the Evil God wanted to reclaim it, it wouldn’t be easy.

While his combat techniques were lacking, Zheng Yichen was confident about his output. Regarding mana usage techniques, he had a magic expert by his side. From Irene, Zheng Yichen had learned too many techniques for using mana. Using the minimum amount of mana to unleash the greatest power was easy for him.

Each slash he released was compressed from pure mana, but the consumption wasn’t high. Zheng Yichen also adjusted the mana arrangement, allowing it to unleash even greater power. So, regarding combat techniques, he still thought being an artillery platform was more brainless and useful.

Well! Wanting to be an artillery platform also depended on one’s aptitude.

After several cultists were dealt with, the remaining cultists realized that if they didn’t kill Zheng Yichen, Moser could easily use Zheng Yichen’s artillery support to kill them all. Dying themselves wasn’t important; what mattered was that affecting the Evil God’s affairs would be a sin.

Two cultists, faces twisted with madness, charged at Zheng Yichen. The fiery marks on their bodies truly flowed like molten lava, and substantial flames even erupted from them.

“Careful, they’re going to self-destruct!”

Moser loudly warned Zheng Yichen. Zheng Yichen shrugged, plunged Frostmourne into the ground, and a Frost ring spread out. The cultists touched by the frost instantly became covered in large amounts of ice crystals. The fiery power on their bodies protected them from immediately freezing, but their speed was greatly reduced.

A small flame appeared on Zheng Yichen’s fingertip. This small flame, under Moser’s surprised gaze, fell onto the frozen ground at his feet. The frost ‘burned’ in that instant. The intertwined power of ice and fire set off a chain reaction. Tiny explosions started from Zheng Yichen’s feet and rapidly spread outward. The farther from Zheng Yichen, the stronger the explosions tinged with purple became.

The two cultists who chose to self-destruct were simply swallowed by the ice-fire explosions, leaving no trace behind. Zheng Yichen shook his hand and pulled the Magic Arms out of the ground again. He had found another reason to study magic seriously… it was cool!

“…” Was this dragon’s magic level this high? Moser continued fighting with his head down. Although Warriors and Spellcasters both used Universal Mana, their methods were fundamentally different, and the distinction was obvious. The compressed mana slashes Zheng Yichen released looked like some kind of Combat Techniques, but in reality, that was a pure application of mana usage—not a Warrior’s, but a Spellcaster’s!

Even though the requirements for both weren’t high… to put it this way: a Spellcaster’s Magic was about control, while a Warrior’s projectile attacks were about extraction!

Spellcasters used their own mana to control the ambient free elemental power to release powerful Magic. Warriors, on the other hand, relied on their own strength to drive external power, forcibly extracting it and channeling it into their attacks, belonging to release-and-forget skills that were hard to control additionally once launched.

Comparing a sword energy slash a Warrior released to a Fireball Spell a Spellcaster cast, attacks like sword energy slashes, even if they had elemental power attached, went straight forward. The Fireball Spell, because it was linked to the Spellcaster’s spirit, could be controlled and its trajectory adjusted to a certain degree even after being thrown.

The thirteen cultists were quickly all dealt with with Zheng Yichen’s support. Just as Moser wanted to say something, Zheng Yichen had already walked over to those frozen cultists. Watching this, the corner of Moser’s mouth twitched. He had thought it unnecessary to act earlier, but now it seemed he should have shattered these ice lumps right away.

He saw Zheng Yichen take out a crystal filled with densely packed dividing lines inside and extract some flame power emitting black gas from the bodies of these cultists. A small section of the markings inside the crystal gained a dark red tint, and one of the divided grids was filled.

“Alright then, we have new trouble.” Even though Zheng Yichen acted quickly, the surrounding flame energy still gathered, forming a flaming Giant. Zheng Yichen looked at this flaming Giant, thought for a moment, and under Moser’s gaze, quickly pulled out a small red booklet. If someone who understood Chinese were here, they would clearly see the name on the cover…

—Evil God Guide…

This was what Zheng Yichen compiled from Irene. It recorded many methods for dealing with Evil Gods. Zheng Yichen remembered there were countermeasures for situations where an Evil God materialized an Avatar: “The way to break this should be…”

Under Moser’s speechless gaze, the surrounding environment underwent a new change. Several Mana Threads separated from Zheng Yichen’s finger, quickly weaving into a Magic Rune Array. Moser quickly glanced at the small red book in Zheng Yichen’s hand. The writing inside was still those incomprehensible ‘secret codes,’ but he could clearly see a Magic Rune Array drawn within.

Looking at it made him dizzy. This was a useful Magic Rune Array, not some randomly scribbled one. Magic Rune Arrays weren’t just about randomly drawing complex patterns. Zheng Yichen had once created a small tool for drawing decorative patterns. Irene’s evaluation of the patterns drawn by that little tool was… weirdly pretty!

What could Zheng Yichen say to that? Complex patterns didn’t necessarily mean they were effective… the lines had to function like programming code.

So, since there was already a Magic Rune Array drawn, what was the point of saying “the way to break this should be…” XXX? The Magic Rune Array Zheng Yichen created was very effective, exerting strong suppression on this newly formed flaming Giant. The power emitted by the completed Magic Rune Array rapidly drained the flaming Giant’s power to strengthen itself. This method could only be used when the flaming Giant had just formed.

Once it truly solidified, the ‘Avatar’ materialized by the Evil God would become completely stable and difficult to break from the outside. Before solidification, once the Magic Rune Array was established, it could resonate with the core of the Avatar materialized by the Evil God, creating a new connection. Even after solidification, the connection wouldn’t break.

The formed flaming Giant roared, but the restraints extended from the Magic Rune Array firmly held it in place. This was power from the same source, but it had lost the flaming Giant’s control and couldn’t be broken free!

“…Can you teach me?” Moser watched this scene and couldn’t help but touch his kidney. He had encountered such flaming Giants before, but last time it was an Evil God of another attribute—an Earth Attribute one. Although he won that battle, his kidney was pierced clean through. If not for this world’s powerful Magic, and the generous rewards The Church provided afterward, he might have permanently lost his kidney.

But now? This situation was clearly more troublesome than last time. He had prepared for a tough fight, but Zheng Yichen just playfully created a Magic Rune Array and took it down?!

This Magic Rune Array might be Witch knowledge, but so what? As long as it wasn’t the Witch’s Power and was useful, that was fine. Why did so many people participate in Witch Hunts? Among the reasons was the wealth of Witch knowledge! With their superior conditions, Witches were far ahead of Humans in research. Ignoring the Witch’s Power, many Spellcasters longed for Witch knowledge.

“No.” Zheng Yichen said bluntly. This thing didn’t have Irene’s permission for external transmission. Zheng Yichen wouldn’t casually pass it on. He could use it due to their friendship, but giving it to others was going too far. Although it depended on the situation, his relationship with Moser was just a chance encounter.

“Oh.” Moser didn’t press further. He wasn’t surprised by Zheng Yichen’s refusal. No normal Spellcaster would casually share their knowledge. Unless they were taking a disciple, leaking it would make their hard-earned knowledge seem cheap.

The flaming Giant completely collapsed under the Magic Rune Array’s consumption and was eventually compressed into a dark red fire core. Zheng Yichen collected it. Such a result was normal. Irene’s magic against Evil Gods was mostly research-oriented, so magic arrays for extracting Evil God’s Power made up the majority. The one Zheng Yichen used was like that too.

“Anything else?”

“Yes, follow me.” Moser glanced at the fire core Zheng Yichen put away. That thing was also a product filled with Evil God’s Power. Taking it could easily give rise to a new Evil God. Such an Evil God would start with considerable power, easily bypassing the initial fragile period. Also, other Evil Gods would be very fond of it… If cultists found it and used it as a sacrifice, the gains would be greater than from a small to medium-sized sacrificial ritual.

Almost top-tier combatant cultists, an ‘Avatar’ into which the Evil God had invested considerable power—all this proved that this place held something the Evil God cared greatly about. This weighed heavily on Moser’s mind. With both these factors present, if they went deeper, they might very well attract the Evil God’s true form!

“The Evil God’s true form… Can you handle it?”

“That depends on the tier of the Evil God.” Zheng Yichen asked. Evil Gods? He was immune to mental influences, and his own traits allowed him to ignore the Corruption interference that came with an Evil God’s Power. Overall, he had quite a restraining effect on beings like Evil Gods.

“That flaming Giant just now had about one-tenth of that Evil God’s power…”

“Too weak, right?”

“…” Moser fell silent. Weak? That’s because you used a Magic Rune Array clearly meant to restrain Evil Gods! Have the guts to say that after letting it fully form!

“I hope that’s not just big talk. Let’s go.” Moser shook his head, unwilling to waste more time here. The longer they delayed, the more time the Evil God had. Whatever its goal, since it was an Evil God, it definitely had to be stopped!

Whatever it was planning, it definitely wasn’t anything good!

Zheng Yichen rummaged through his Armory, took out a skull-shaped spherical bomb, and tossed it to Moser. Moser, walking ahead, caught the sphere behind his back without looking. He glanced down at the Q-version skull on it. Even though it was a skull, it looked surprisingly… cute.

Was this really the skull of a dead person? Could it be like this? Moser quickly pondered, then looked at his own clothes, thinking maybe he could add an emblem? Not scary, but showing a unique mysterious aura. Thinking this, his hand unconsciously moved towards a pull ring on the sphere…

“Ahem, if you want to blow up on the spot, go ahead and pull it.” Zheng Yichen coughed lightly and took two steps back.

!?

Moser immediately pushed the half-pulled ring back in!

“What is this?”

“Think of it as a Magic Scroll that seals a powerful spell?”

“…I rarely use Magic Scrolls, but I’m not blind.” Moser silently looked at the sphere in his hand, his gaze involuntarily falling on that strangely mesmerizing skull again. “Is this thing useful against Evil Gods?”

“Won’t you know if you use it?”

“Unreliable.” Moser said, stuffing the sphere into a pouch at his waist. Zheng Yichen looked from behind him; there was a very obvious bulge. That’s how it should be. The idea of stuffing large items into a personally carried pouch without leaving a trace? Unless it was a Spatial Expansion Pouch, that simply didn’t happen.

“Don’t worry, the things I make are absolutely reliable.” Zheng Yichen patted his chest in assurance. Crack sounded under his foot. Moser, walking ahead, stopped and looked back at the charred leg bone Zheng Yichen had stepped on and broken: “…Anything wrong?”

Zheng Yichen felt he had stepped on a landmine.

Moser continued walking ahead with his head down, but his pace quickened considerably. “No, but we should respect the dead.”

As they advanced, the ground around them underwent new changes again, transforming into magma-like terrain reminiscent of a Volcano area. The ground became much softer; if you stepped with a bit too much force, your feet would sink in. “Is this flesh and blood?”

“Yeah, hurry up… The situation is becoming unclear.”

Moser’s tone ahead was heavy. Logically, this was a Fire Element Evil God. Scorched earth was normal, but what was with creating a large area of scorched flesh and blood? Did that Fire Element Evil God have nothing better to do, forcibly adding a new attribute to itself?

Even if adding an attribute, it shouldn’t be one clearly belonging to flesh and blood. Such an attribute offered no benefit to that Evil God; instead, it would impose limitations. Making such a move, had that Evil God’s brain malfunctioned?

Moser didn’t understand. Generally, Evil Gods wouldn’t casually make changes to themselves. Changes meant interfering with their own essence. If done well, it could indeed strengthen their power. If not done well, it would affect their ‘aptitude’ and lead to a long period of weakness. If other Evil Gods or Human forces found them during this time, there would be trouble!

“How about freezing it?” Zheng Yichen offered a crooked idea.

“…Aren’t you afraid of an explosion?”

“Right. But are we really going the right way?”

“?” Moser, walking ahead, stopped and looked back at Zheng Yichen in confusion. Zheng Yichen pointed to another patch of ground that looked unchanged: “There seemed to be an opening there just now.”

Huh? Moser’s eyes narrowed. Without saying much, he made a high-speed leap, his black short sword directly stabbing the spot Zheng Yichen pointed at. Black aura resembling flames erupted there, dispersing the black scorch marks on the ground and revealing the red flesh and blood hidden beneath. The fragmented skin mixed within the flesh looked especially gruesome.

That skin, resembling a woman’s, under the influence of the black aura erupting from the short sword, crumbled piece by piece along with the flesh. Then, a passage was exposed. This passage, like a living thing, contracted constantly under the stimulation of the black aura, but the edges of the passage were covered in large patches of black marks, sealing the possibility of contraction. Without hesitation, Moser threw the ‘sphere’ he had previously deemed unreliable into it…

Zheng Yichen probably meant for him to use this thing during some troublesome fights later, but since it was unreliable, of course it was better to use it early!