But just as Nameless thought he was about to witness the birth of a new path, the human face on the Near-God Being's chest suddenly twisted into a snarl, and its eyes rapidly turned savage.
Then a mass of black mist sprang from nowhere and swallowed the Near-God Being in an instant.
The Near-God Being's body, which had been shrinking and advancing, suddenly rebounded and swelled. Like a wild horse that had thrown its reins, it churned and changed wildly, sprouting a dense tangle of grotesque heads and tentacles.
The black mist clung to the Near-God Being's surface, flaring like flames. Countless twisted faces could just be made out within it.
"Such powerful resentment! Fall back!"
Nameless's pupils contracted. He pressed one hand to the ground, and the earth immediately rolled toward the Near-God Being. He swiftly led Ni Jing and the others out of the basement.
"Captain, what happened?" Ni Jing asked as he ran.
Bringing up the rear, Nameless explained to the four of them, "That thing's advancement went wrong. If everything had gone smoothly, its bestial nature and divinity would have balanced each other, with its humanity between them, taking command. But the faith it absorbed wasn't pure divinity. It was mixed with a vast amount of resentment!"
Under normal circumstances, that resentment would have been like water without a source, incapable of stirring up any waves.
The problem was that Nameless had dealt it a devastating blow. Its bestial nature was nowhere near strong enough to suppress its divinity, and once its divinity gained a slight advantage, it naturally sought to subdue and devour its bestial nature completely.
But that act was tantamount to tainting its divinity. The resentment that had been water without a source could then enter its divinity alongside its bestial nature, directly