What Mother Goddess, what God of Wine? Anyone who blocks my path is an evil god!

At last, Amber stopped in front of a gigantic grapevine.

This giant vine was even more robust than the one Amber had brought forth with Vine of Harvest. At first glance, it could have been mistaken for a thousand-year-old tree.

Visibility was getting worse and worse. Fortunately, the divine light radiating from the Door God dispersed the blood mist so thick it seemed ready to congeal.

"It's here. This is the altar chosen by 'It,' where the gazes of the gods converge...

Born to be sacrificed, a feast destined to end..."

Amber murmured the secret words like a prophecy.

Lin Chen slowly approached, daring not to be careless. He could feel the stench of blood growing heavier...

At this tense moment, Chen Xiao Diao's bracelet suddenly rang!

Lin Chen answered the call. The other party was a colleague from the Department of Supernatural Affairs of the Security Bureau, reporting in a panic:

"Xiao Diao! The wine... you sent for testing... its meat... isn't lamb...!

The meat... in my culture dish... actually... expanded... and grew!

...a strange... chunk of meat... with tentacles... definitely a strange creature... be careful!"

The bracelet's signal was extremely poor. The other party's voice broke up, but the general meaning could still be made out—

The meat contained in Amber's wine wasn't lamb. It was a strange creature!

Lin Chen was initially shocked, but when he looked up and saw what had been produced atop the giant vine, he fell silent.

On the other end of the bracelet, the colleague from the Department of Supernatural Affairs was still speaking:

"Xiao Diao... are you...? Say... something!"

Lin Chen gritted his teeth and replied, "I'm at Amber Tavern. Come quickly."

The other party said, "I can't... hear you clearly. Why does your voice... sound... like a man's?"

The bracelet's signal cut off completely, probably because of the blood mist blocking it in the wine cellar.

That colleague's warning had been useful, but it had come too late.

Because Lin Chen had already seen the source of that strange flesh—

A massive black tumor of flesh was embedded in the giant vine, contracting like a living creature. Each contraction caused a few scraps of meat to fall off.

It was wrapped in a translucent, womb-like fetal membrane. Looking closely, one could see a gigantic mass of flesh inside, an embryo with goat hooves.

Countless tiny slits split open across the surface of the fetal membrane, revealing what writhed across the embryo's body... teeth?

No. They looked more like mouths that had yet to fully form!

Those "mouths" greedily sucked at the crimson-sweet sap delivered by the grapevine.

This enormous grapevine was nurturing a monster! A terrifying, strange creature!

Simply staring at it made Lin Chen's skull go numb, as though invisible tentacles were boring into his eyes—

The Sober Mind Bracelet on his wrist instantly fired its needle, the spike stabbing viciously into Lin Chen's flesh.

That intense pain was precisely what allowed him to clutch the last thread of his sanity and keep it from snapping!

Lin Chen recognized it. This was the Black Goat's Egg!

It was the embryo of a Black Goat cub, and the progeny of the Dark Mother of Harvest—the Outer God Shub-Niggurath!

It represented gestation, flesh, and the fallen abundance of fertility.

A bona fide mythical creature!

The Cult of the God of Wine's wine cellar was actually a breeding ground for the progeny of an Outer God?

Lin Chen forced a sentence out of his throat with difficulty. "Aren't you the Cult of the God of Wine?"

Seeing the astonishment on Lin Chen's face, Amber was delighted beyond measure. He savored these moments of enlightening a lost lamb:

"Your understanding of the Cult of the God of Wine is ultimately still too shallow. The Mother Goddess and the God of Wine have always shared overlapping authorities.

"The Mother Goddess needs our authority over the harvest of plants to accelerate the growth of the Black Goat's Egg.

"And I need the Mother Goddess's progeny to breed an endless supply of flesh, which can be blood-brewed and refined into the Holy Grail.

"The two cults' cooperation is a convergence of 'breeding,' a symbiosis in which both sides win!"

No wonder Amber didn't need to hunt ordinary humans.

Because the flesh of the Black Goat's Egg could continually regenerate and reproduce, satisfying the Holy Grail's need for flesh in terms of "quantity."

What remained lacking was pure "quality." All that was needed was to supplement it with a Card Creator's vital essence and blood.

That was why Amber only needed to target solitary Card Creators, which also reduced the risk of exposure.

Lin Chen understood as well—

The strange wine produced by Amber, and the fresh, tender "lamb" meat mentioned by that drinker, had all come from the Black Goat's Egg!

The meat really was tender. Even after being eaten, it could continue to regenerate. Of course it was tender.

At that moment, the filthy, evil Black Goat's Egg stood beside the immaculate and elegant priest, creating a stark contrast.

But the irony was that they were actually allies!

The countless scattered fragments of mythological knowledge in Lin Chen's mind clicked together like puzzle pieces—

No wonder the goat was the God of Wine's representative animal...

No wonder a goat's silhouette was always lurking in the shadows of the oil paintings of the Dionysian Festival.

Even the God of Wine's attendant, the satyr, had been depicted as a twisted half-goat, half-human figure.

This was no coincidence!

The worship of goats in the faith of the God of Wine clearly carried the influence of the Black Goat Mother Goddess!

The mythology Lin Chen had once firmly believed in was being utterly overturned!

He could not help forming a horrifying thought:

"Could it be that the Outer Gods... have already been eroding this world's native faiths?"

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Chapter 34: What Mother Goddess, what God of Wine? Anyone who blocks my path is an evil god!

"Could it be that the Outer Gods... have already been eroding this world's native faiths?"

The thought made Lin Chen shudder, as though someone had seized his internal organs with an icy hand.

But this was no time to dwell on such wild imaginings.

Amber had revealed his final secret, and Lin Chen had used every card at his disposal.

Both sides had revealed all their trump cards, and this feast was about to reach its climax!

The enormous Black Goat's Egg slowly contracted and bulged, as though it might split open and give birth at any moment.

Amber gazed at Lin Chen and spoke solemnly:

"The progeny of the Dark Mother of Harvest is about to complete its gestation.

"And I—the Priest of the God of Wine—will simultaneously perform the Blood Sacrifice Ritual to resurrect myself!

"Lin Chen, today you will be honored to witness the descent of two gods together!"

Lin Chen gnashed his teeth. "In your dreams! I won't let either of you have your way!

"What Mother Goddess, what God of Wine? Anyone who blocks my path is an evil god!"

Amber sneered without replying. He brought out the God of Wine Staff and released Vine of Harvest toward the giant vine nurturing the Black Goat's Egg.

Countless thick grapevine roots pierced into the fetal membrane and began delivering crimson-sweet sap.

The Black Goat's Egg and the Giant Grapevine existed in a symbiotic state. Catalyzing the growth of the grapevine was equivalent to catalyzing the birth of the Black Goat's Egg!

This was the breeding fusion technique of the Cult of the God of Wine and the Mother Goddess's progeny.

If it successfully hatched, it would be enough to pollute the entire area into a strange breeding ground!

Lin Chen was just about to send the Door Gods to destroy the embryo of the Evil God's Progeny.

But Amber brought out the flesh-and-blood Holy Grail and began chanting the Blood Sacrifice Ritual.

The sacrifice was, of course—the still-sleeping Chen Xiao Diao!

She had been bound to the giant vine, only a few meters from the Black Goat's Egg!

Lin Chen could only change targets—he had to deal with Amber immediately!

But from the corner of his eye, he saw the writhing Black Goat's Egg swelling at a visible speed. Black tentacles were already gradually emerging...

If the Black Goat cub took shape and was born, it would devour everything around it!

Chen Xiao Diao would be swallowed in an instant!

Every choice led to a dead end—

Deal with Amber? The formed cub would instantly devour Chen Xiao Diao.

Attack the Black Egg? Amber would sacrifice Chen Xiao Diao.

He could only divide his strength, sending each of the two Door Gods to attack one enemy.

But one was the progeny of an Evil God, while the other was the Priest of the God of Wine. If he divided his strength, he feared neither would be dealt with in the end!

It was too much of a gamble!

But it was the only gamble he had left!

Lin Chen sent out all his card spirits—