Within the ruins, filled with seawater and partially integrated into the Spirit World, Klein, clad in full black armor, stood by the door of the central hall. Inside were a giant blue-green Serpent being devoured and an old priest with a bulging belly.
With skin ashen and seemingly dried out for a long time, the latter's eyes gleamed with Blue Light as he stared intently at the "visitor" wearing a jet-black crown, as if pondering where to begin his attack.
Without hesitation or delay, Klein reached into his body with his right hand and took out a small, translucent brown bottle.
Then, he stretched out his left palm, quickly unscrewed the cap, and casually tossed the " Biotoxin Bottle " into a corner of the hall.
The environment here, half underwater, allows no flames to exist except for the " Holy Fire " that burns the Death and evil. This limits the two important abilities of Klein's " Magician " Sequence, so he can only maximize his other advantage from the very beginning.
As he threw out the " Biotoxin Bottle," Klein's left glove rapidly became radiant, seemingly reflecting the midday sun.
The shimmering seawater around him was tinged with gold, spreading outwards in layers.
This is the " Light Priest's " ability within " Creeping Hunger," the " Purification Halo "!
The old priest, who had eaten part of the body of " Sea God " Kavithua, was certainly not civilized or polite. He watched Klein make his battle preparations with great chivalry, his Blue Light suddenly intensifying, and his swollen belly growing even larger.
"Waaah!"
A clear yet mournful voice emanated from his body, instantly engulfing the entire ruins.
The voice was like the song of a nightingale's soul, both beautiful and melodious, gentle and serene, yet also chilling and piercing, penetrating the soul.
Klein froze on the spot, all his thoughts like waves of extreme cold, instantly solidifying in his mind.
The old priest's body instantly swelled up, resembling a resurrected Kavithua or Giant emerging from mythology.
From beneath his torn robes, slick, bluish-green tentacles emerged with a whooshing sound. Wreathed in silvery lightning, they shot out swiftly, dancing in the air before striking the stunned Klein.
Zzz!
A burst of silver light erupted, Klein was sent flying backward, crashing heavily into the doorway. His full-body black armor dimmed instantly, cracking in several places, and the cane in his hand was unconsciously tossed far away.
With his mind unusually calm, almost frozen, he had no intention of using the " Paper Figurine Substitute " and took the blow head-on.
If it weren't for the " Black Emperor " card and Azik Copper Whistle simultaneously reinforcing his spirit, given his Sequence 6 nature, he would have undoubtedly suffered severe damage, or even been instantly killed.
Those tentacles surged forward again, slapping downwards.
Klein, who was "awakened" by the electric shock, rolled nimbly and barely dodged it.
He glanced at the other person's build, immediately turned around, and ran out the gate without hesitation, with unwavering determination.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Klein half-flew, half-ran, as if he were fleeing for his life. The old priest's blue tentacles, wrapped with silver-white lightning, chased after him, trying to pull him back to the hall, but he always managed to nimbly turn around, move nimbly, and roll away in time.
Seeing that his wish was unlikely to be fulfilled, the old priest's belly swelled up once more, and his clear, cold voice echoed through the ruins once more.
But this time, Klein was prepared. Although his body was stiff and frozen, it was soaked in seawater and turned into a pile of rotten paper.
The old priest finally moved, taking heavy but rapid steps, trying to catch up with the enemy.
The enormous man rushed to the doorway, then crashed into the collapsing roof and walls with a bang!
The gate here was originally large enough for a colossal creature like Kavithua to pass through, but the collapse of the ruins and the " Sea God's " madness before his death caused it to collapse. The gate was buried only about two meters high and one meter wide, and the old priest, whose mental state was clearly abnormal, just crashed into it, almost getting stuck.
Klein, who had been waiting for this opportunity, immediately stopped and turned around.
He half-closed his eyes, straightened his back, and opened his arms.
A brilliant beam of light, wreathed in golden flames, descended from the sky and struck the old priest directly.
The fragments of his robe hanging on his body burst into flames, chunks of his gray-black skin and flesh falling off and melting away in the pure light.
Only then did Klein notice the strange thing about the old priest's abdomen.
It was bulging quite a bit there, with several areas being particularly noticeable, forming the overall outline of two eyes and a mouth.
It's like an old priest with a person inside his belly, pressing his face against it, trying to crawl out.
Bang!
The old priest, his legs covered in Black Snake, slammed through the collapsed doorway, sending stones flying and the seawater churning.
He finally broke free of the pillar of light, but his body was covered in gruesome wounds caused by the falling flesh, and even the "face" on his abdomen was covered with traces of melting.
Thump, thump, thump! The old priest's blue tentacles danced, crackling with silver lightning, striking Klein from all directions, while the "face" on his abdomen occasionally emitted sounds to silence the spirits.
Klein would run, roll, or circle around, calmly maneuvering against his opponent, moving left and right, front and back, like a wild two-person dance.
During this process, he relied on the " Paper Figurine Substitute " to endure the ethereal yet chilling screams time and time again. Occasionally, he would roar out, using the Scream of the Wraith to provoke the old priest and forcibly interrupt the sound from the "face" on his abdomen before it could make a sound.
Time ticked by, and the crazed old priest suddenly raised his hands, which had been hanging limply at his sides, and pressed them against his abdomen.
He pulled with his arm, tearing the barely visible mouth into a gash.
It gushed out bluish-green pus and grew fine, sharp teeth.
Another roar was heard, and the surrounding seawater rushed into that mouth, forming the terrifying whirlpool that Kavithua had once created.
Klein, dressed as the " Black Emperor," was drawn towards him, and the surrounding lightning tentacles retracted, trying to embrace him.
Klein remained calm, and the glove on his left hand quickly became as if it were made of pure gold.
While suspended in mid-air, his eyes were fixed on the "face" on the old priest's abdomen and the whirlpool of seawater below, and two blinding flashes of lightning suddenly appeared in his pupils.
" The Interrogator," " Spirit Piercing!"
The old priest suddenly froze, the "face" on his abdomen crumpled up, and the vortex emitting terrifying suction power instantly collapsed.
Amidst the surging waves, Klein crouched low, darting like a fish through the weakest points of power, dodging the wildly waving blue tentacles.
Amidst the flashing silver-white lightning, he rushed to the old priest's side, his gloves now a pale white tinged with a hint of eerie green.
Klein's back muscles bulged, and he unleashed a flurry of punches, striking the old priest's thigh near his knee.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
His fists emanated a chilling aura, tearing the old priest's flesh and blood apart, covering his right leg with a thin layer of frost, and completely Freeze the surrounding seawater.
This is the " Living Corpse's " mastery of ice-based powers!
Amidst the old priest's screams, the tentacles lashed back like whips, their silvery light illuminating the entire ruins.
At this moment, Klein did not become Greed. He stopped in time and rolled backward repeatedly to avoid the frenzied attack that shattered and charred the stone slabs on the ground.
He stood up, and while the old priest was still frozen in place, he made the glove on his left hand shine with a sunlight-like color once again.
Klein straightened his body and struck a pose of praising the Sun.
A thick, clear, sacred pillar of light descended once more, enveloping the enormous old priest.
Klein saw the enemy's grayish-black flesh rapidly disintegrating, and saw the skin of the "face" on his abdomen melting away, revealing what was inside: inside the old priest's abdomen, his heart, stomach, intestines, and other organs were haphazardly mixed together, forming the face of a sea serpent.
Kavithua still had some residual spirit left... The will of Demigod is truly more powerful than I imagined... Klein rolled again, dodging the blue tentacles that were thrown like spears.
Those tentacles, wrapped around lightning, were melted by the holy pillar of light, embedded in the ground, twitching, Distortion, and writhing.
The clear beam of light quickly dissipated, and the sinister snake face on the old priest's abdomen stubbornly opened its mouth again.
In that instant, the old priest himself bent over and coughed violently, bringing the snake-faced man's efforts to an abrupt halt.
The " Biotoxin Bottle " has finally proven its worth!
Klein didn't let the opportunity slip by; he stood up straight once more, spread his arms, and embraced the " The Sun."
A beam of light carrying many golden flames illuminated the area. The old priest's figure first hunched over, then shrank, as if evaporating. The snake face on his abdomen completely melted away after a shrill scream.
When the light faded, the old priest had returned to his original size, his bones almost melted away, with chunks of grayish-black flesh hanging from them.
His aura faded rapidly, and his spirit disintegrated at high speed.
Klein rushed over and, relying on his vengeful Wraith state, immediately began to summon Spirit Channeling.
He needed to ascertain whether the old priest was deeply sinful.
He believes he must adhere to this bottom line, both out of his own will and as a precaution against Depravity and madness.
In an instant, he saw a series of images, scenes of the old priest presiding over a human sacrifice.
Klein no longer hesitated, extending his left palm to let the long-starved glove enjoy the treat.
Flesh, blood, Spirituality, and bones rushed into the gaping, grotesque mouth in his palm, from which specks of Blue Light emerged, accompanied by a hint of darkness.
In the Spirit Channeling just now, Klein confirmed that the old priest was a " Spirit Warlock " in his previous life. The Potion formula and extraordinary materials all came from the Church of the God of Combat of the Feynapotter Empire. When he became the " Sea God Guard ", he had already lost his mind and only knew how to obey orders. After the death of Kavithua, he followed his instinctive desires and devoured the flesh and blood of the god he believed in. In the end, his characteristics clashed and Distortion into Monster.
Just as the " Creeping Hunger " was satiated, all the Beyonder Characteristic on the ground suddenly surged, transforming into a hurricane that swept into the hall and threw in the no longer bent white fang.
Klein looked out and saw that Kavithua's remains had completely collapsed, resembling a lump of mud, while the snake fang that had absorbed all the Beyonder Characteristic of this place had transformed into a short staff, quietly stuck in the half-fallen Pillar.
At the top of the white scepter were tiny blue-green "gems," some of which were tinged with a deep black, as if touched by the Dawn.
Seeing that " Creeping Hunger " had been satisfied, Klein hurried into the hall and carefully approached the scepter.
Before he even made contact, he heard layers of illusory prayers in his ears, and he hallucinated that he saw believers prostrating themselves in prayer, and that rebels were weeping bitterly over the self-destruction of idols.
P. S.: Two chapters today, please vote! Also, I've corrected two Error earlier. In Chapter 64, regarding the timeline in the Spirit World, Alger should have said yesterday morning, not this morning. Klein described the Mandated Punishers's Kavithua less than 20 hours after obtaining the Book of Calamity; this should be changed to a little over a day. I don't know how I got the timeline wrong... Also, Alger refers to having obtained the anesthetic gas for almost a week, which means skipping the Tarot Gathering this week. This is to avoid disrupting the rhythm of the Sea God story, and the necessary explanations for the perspective shifts have already been given, so there's no need to repeat them.