A pillar of white light enveloped Bethmos and the ancient device. The moment Lily saw this, she swung her twin ice-and-fire blades at it without a second thought. However, the two claw blades only scraped a shower of bright sparks from the pillar, which remained completely unmoved.
"Stop wasting your strength," Bethmos sneered at the people outside from within the pillar of light. "This is a powerful divine artifact from the Origin Land. Its power was once enough to tear apart the barrier between two worlds! Individual strength is insignificant before such a miracle."
Hao Ren glared furiously, never expecting everything to end in failure like this. The cunning shadow demon called Bethmos was only one step away from him, yet that strange film of light was as indestructible as the Rigid Shield on his body. Lily had spent ages scratching and clawing at it from the side to no avail. Even Izax had charged over and unleashed a gigantic Flame Strike—after the smoke and dust from the explosion cleared, an entire layer had been shaved off the ground outside the pillar, yet the film of light remained completely unharmed.
"Bethmos!" Heiserana leaped around outside while brandishing her whip. "You coward! You old bastard! You piece of trash! What the hell are you planning?! Do you have any idea that you've destroyed the entire Sanctuary?!"
"That's why you're all so shortsighted," Bethmos said, looking at the people outside with pity. "I never intended to cooperate with you from the start. The Sanctuary? Living in seclusion? A few thousand years of peace? I never imagined anyone could be satisfied with such a life—but I'm different. I know far more than you do. I seek truly eternal and powerful strength, something that can wipe out both the Demon Hunters and humanity from