Chapter 132: Desecrating the Goddess, the Demon Sephinia (6200)

This Guardian Greatsword is a two-handed weapon, exclusive to warriors.

Among Cao Xing's recruited entities, no one could equip it.

After pondering for a moment, Cao Xing directly tossed this greatsword to Ji Xinyue.

Ji Xinyue caught it with a blank look on her face…

And when she saw the greatsword's attributes, her little mouth instantly parted slightly, and she exclaimed, "Th-Th-This… This is a purple weapon!"

"Oh my god!!!"

For a moment, Ji Xinyue stood frozen in place, somewhat dazed.

"Great Lord Cao Xing, this is…"

Cao Xing smiled and said, "For you. None of us can use it anyway, and you're a warrior class."

However, Ji Xinyue shook her head and said, "I… I don't mean that. I mean, this weapon is too precious; I can't take it…"

No matter how slow-witted she was, she knew how precious a purple piece of equipment was at this stage!

In the trading channel, even a blue piece of equipment was enough to cause a sensation among Survivors.

And purple equipment was even more incomparably rare.

Yet, Cao Xing gave such a precious weapon to her; Ji Xinyue even felt that the greatsword in her hands was burning hot.

Cao Xing smiled.

Although purple equipment was precious.

But since this girl had led him to accept this quest—though it was helping herself as well—he couldn't really give her no benefits at all.

At this moment, Ji Xinyue was holding the greatsword, standing in place at a complete loss.

Liu Muxue at the side gently grabbed Ji Xinyue's palm and smiled, "Sister Xinyue, just keep it."

"Don't worry too much about it. Ah Xing is very powerful, and purple equipment isn't all that precious to him."

Hearing Liu Muxue say this, Ji Xinyue slowly let out a breath, then said gratefully, "Thank you, Great Lord Cao Xing, thank you, Sister Muxue."

Cao Xing nodded.

At the same time.

Good news came once again.

From Renice's body, a powerful aura burst forth!

Within her eyes, a sharp aura seemed to appear, and her gaze became even keener!

Her entire person was like an arrow shot off a bowstring, filled with aggressiveness!

A system prompt appeared.

[Your territory member: Renice Hawkeye has successfully advanced into a boss-tier creature, all attributes increased by 30%, learned new skill: Storm Arrow Rain]

[Storm Arrow Rain: Shoots out a large number of arrows, dealing 6 * 88% damage to all enemies within the target area. Each hit inflicts 1 stack of Bleeding effect, and has a 15% chance to inflict a 5-second Crippled effect on them. Cooldown: 3 minutes]

…

Seeing the system prompt, a strong sense of joy appeared in Cao Xing's eyes.

"Such a strong area-of-effect skill!"

A full six waves of arrow rain damage, plus Bleeding and Crippled effects; this was much stronger than his Ice Arrow Rain.

"Congratulations, Renice," Cao Xing praised.

Renice looked at Cao Xing, and the sharp aura on her body instantly vanished, turning incomparably gentle instead.

A shy smile appeared on her serious face, and she slightly bowed as she said, "Thank you, Lord Lord. From now on, your command is the direction of my arrows, and Renice will always accompany your side."

Cao Xing nodded.

Then, he continued to issue orders: "Let's go, the last temple, the Hammer Temple!"

Assam and the others obeyed the order, quickly crawling out from the temple, and then after choosing a passage, they advanced all the way.

The wave after wave of Soul Eaters encountered along the way were all plowed straight through by them!

After their strength surged by a notch, as long as the number of these Tier 3 Soul Eaters appearing simultaneously wasn't too high, they couldn't pose much of a threat to them at all.

However, whether it was due to the commotion of their battle alarming Soul Eaters in other areas,

coming all the way here, they encountered six waves of Soul Eater attacks.

Although it didn't cause them any damage, it slowed Cao Xing down by more than ten minutes.

Fortunately, when they arrived at the Hammer Temple, the gates had not been breached yet.

Then, Cao Xing began to continue directing the battle.

"Assam, use Sword of Justice to sweep that rushing Soul Eater back!"

"Andrew, target the Soul Eater beside Sarah with Spark, and lure it over."

"Hilda, quickly spray spider webs to share the pressure for Braum!"

He issued instructions one by one, and all the recruited entities executed them faithfully.

Moreover, as his methodical commands were given, the number of those Soul Eaters steadily decreased.

Even someone as proud as Hilda couldn't help but look at Cao Xing with a hint of newfound respect.

Twenty minutes later, the battle ended.

A large amount of experience raised Cao Xing's level to 13, and Liu Muxue to level 12.

Even Assam rose to level 15.

Cao Xing nodded with satisfaction, "This leveling speed is really fast!"

At the current stage, most Survivors were still around levels 4 to 6, while Cao Xing had already begun sprinting towards level 20!

One could imagine just how huge the gap was between them and everyone else.

However, the leveling speed afterwards would slow down.

Because upgrading from level 13 to level 14 now required 30,000 experience points.

At the same time, everyone looked at Cao Xing with expressions of admiration in their eyes.

Several system prompts appeared.

[Due to your proper command, you have demonstrated outstanding combat capabilities!]

[Braum's loyalty to you has increased, current loyalty: 89]

[Hilda's loyalty to you has increased, current loyalty: 71]

…

Cao Xing was secretly delighted, not expecting that even the most difficult Hilda's loyalty had increased.

It seemed his personal charm was still alright.

He looked at this gorgeous Blood Spider Queen.

However, Hilda merely let out a soft huff and turned her head away once again.

Braum rubbed his bald head and smiled, "Lord Lord, your commands were so timely. Braum thought he was going to be batted away by the Soul Eaters several times, but you saved me every time."

"If you ever don't want to be a lord one day, we can go be pirates. I believe with your command ability, our name will soon resound across the entire ocean!"

Cao Xing speechlessly glanced at this guy.

Why the hell would he stop being a proper lord and go be a pirate?

"Alright, start clearing the battlefield."

Following Cao Xing's command, everyone began to take action.

Then, he himself walked straight into the temple to rescue those undead.

When all the undead had completely left, a system prompt appeared.

[Quest progress has updated.]

[Quest to go to the four major temples—Shield Temple, Holy Sword Temple, Torch Temple, and Hammer Temple—is completed. Current progress: 4 / 4]

[You have rescued the Ascalon undead of all temples. Now, please proceed to the Kasha Cathedral to rescue Duke Baradin's undead and complete the final quest.]

…

Cao Xing thought to himself, "Has it finally reached the final link of the quest?"

"Next, it's time to face that legendary Soul-Eating Demon."

"According to the undead Karlhan, this Soul-Eating Demon has at least Tier 3 strength, and furthermore, it cannot be killed."

"Consequently, they were forced to leave this underground palace."

"As for what tier it actually is, they weren't too clear."

"And as long as it's not above boss-level, with my current strength, I should be able to handle it."

At this time, Cao Xing glanced at the [Demon-Swallowing Box] in his backpack.

"The quest requirements didn't say I have to kill this demon, only to rescue Duke Baradin's undead."

"If I can kill this demon, destroy its soul, and return this underground palace back to these Ascalon undead—"

"I wonder what kind of reward they will give me?"

Thinking of this, an arc appeared at the corner of Cao Xing's mouth.

Of course, the premise was that they could defeat this demon's true body.

If this demon was too strong, then Cao Xing would lead his people and run away without the slightest hesitation.

He shook his head, casting all these thoughts to the back of his mind.

Then, he headed straight to the center of the temple, beneath that giant hammer statue.

He opened the Silver Treasure Chest inside as usual.

[Silver Treasure Chest opened successfully.]

[Obtained Skill Book: Whirlwind Slash]

[Obtained: Snow Eagle Helmet (Blue)]

[Obtained: Medium Resource Pack * 2]

[Obtained: Intermediate Elemental Crystal * 3]

[Obtained: Medical Kit * 2]

…

Cao Xing's eyes instantly lit up.

"Eh? A skill book, and also a blue piece of equipment?"

"Holy crap, the luck for this wave of chest opening is pretty good!"

He glanced at the attributes.

[Whirlwind Slash: Polar Warrior Skill Book]

[Skill Effect: Swings the weapon in hand, rapidly attacking all surrounding enemy targets, dealing Attack * 188% physical damage to them, and has a 30% chance to knock back enemies. Cooldown: 60 seconds]

…

[Snow Eagle Helmet Lv10 (Blue)]

[Armor: 7 ~ 11]

[Attached Special Effect ①: Spirit + 5, Constitution + 5]

[Attached Special Effect ②: Snow Eagle's Protection (When the head receives an attack, reduces damage taken by 10%, and reduces the critical strike rate of this attack by 20%)]

[Attached Special Effect ③: Wings of Snow (The feathers of the snow eagle carry a decorative effect, Charm + 3)]

(Equipment Description: Listen, your helmet might look very pretty, but I still prefer my horned helmet — Corporal: Andrea Capo.)

…

Cao Xing directly tossed that [Whirlwind Slash] skill book to Ji Xinyue.

As for the [Snow Eagle Helmet], after pondering for a moment, Cao Xing decided to wear it himself first.

Although both he and Liu Muxue could use this helmet, he was a squishy mage, and his survivability was inferior to Liu Muxue's.

So it was better to save his own little life first.

Ji Xinyue dazedly caught the [Whirlwind Slash] skill book.

Before she could say much more, Cao Xing had already started looting those coffins.

The other subordinates also finished cleaning up the battlefield.

As usual, they harvested a large pile of materials, as well as the souls of two elite-tier Soul Eaters.

However, what was somewhat regrettable was that this time he didn't drop a boss-tier soul.

This shattered Cao Xing's idea of also upgrading Braum to boss-tier.

The last temple had also been mostly searched through by them.

Cao Xing commanded: "Let's go, to the last place, the Kasha Cathedral!"

Hearing this instruction, everyone simultaneously perked up.

Because they knew this was the final link of the quest for the entire underground palace.

Up to this point, Cao Xing's harvests this time could be said to be quite astonishing.

Aside from not obtaining epic-tier items, the other harvests even surpassed the Goblin Treasury.

The strength of the entire group surged dramatically!

Then, following the map, they wound their way through the Everwatch Corridor.

On the way, they encountered four or five more waves of Soul Eater attacks, but they wiped them all out.

And just as they were about to cross a new passage, Ji Xinyue said from behind, "Wait a minute."

Cao Xing asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"

Ji Xinyue said, "Stepping through this passage's gates leads to the Everwatch Temple, and the temple seems to have already fallen…"

Cao Xing nodded.

He indeed remembered Karlhan saying that the Everwatch Temple was the earliest area to be overrun by Soul Eaters.

However, to reach the Kasha Cathedral, they had to pass through here.

After pondering for a moment, Cao Xing decided to go take a look at the situation inside first.

When he cautiously arrived at the entrance of the passage and looked inside the temple, his pupils suddenly constricted!

He quietly retreated, his expression looking rather grim.

"A-Xing… What's wrong?" Liu Muxue asked softly.

"Holy crap! There are at least several hundred Soul Eaters inside the temple; it looks like we won't be able to get through this way."

Hearing this, everyone also knitted their brows.

Several hundred Soul Eaters, and they were all Tier 3 creatures.

If they were surrounded and attacked, even they wouldn't be able to hold out.

Furthermore, such a massive gap in numbers could not be resolved by tactics alone.

For a moment, everyone was at their wits' end.

Seeing the worry on Cao Xing's face, Ji Xinyue took out her map again, appearing to study something.

A moment later, Ji Xinyue's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Eh, I see that inside the Torch Temple, there seems to be a hidden path that can lead directly to the Kasha Church."

"A path?"

Hearing this, Cao Xing's expression immediately perked up. He then leaned over, pressing close to Ji Xinyue to check the map.

As Cao Xing lowered his head to look, their cheeks were practically touching.

He was intently looking at the map, completely oblivious.

Meanwhile, Ji Xinyue froze in place, not daring to make any movement.

She could even feel Cao Xing's body temperature and the breath from the tip of his nose.

For a moment, Ji Xinyue's ten jade-like fingers tightly clutched the corner of the map, her heart beating thump-thump.

After observing for a while, Cao Xing indeed spotted a secret passage in the Torch Temple.

He already had an idea in mind.

"Let's go, we'll change our route and move forward."

Following Cao Xing's command, the team quickly retreated and changed direction.

At this moment, Ji Xinyue followed behind the team with her head lowered all the way, seemingly terrified that Cao Xing would discover her flushed red face.

The group quickly arrived at the Torch Temple.

Since this temple had been searched by them once before without finding any secret passages,

but since it was marked on the map, it meant one definitely existed.

Thus, they began to search more carefully.

Soon, Renice activated [Hunter's Eye] and discovered a hidden secret door on the wall in the corner.

Cao Xing's eyes lit up with joy, then he quickly walked over and used the [Stone Talisman] in his hand to open the secret door passage.

"Rumble!"

A hidden passage just like that appeared before everyone.

Cao Xing weighed the stone talisman in his hand and said with delight, "This thing is really useful."

"As expected, as long as we're in this subterranean palace, it can open any door."

Then, he led the team forward all the way through this passage.

Twisting and turning along the way, they advanced for about ten-odd minutes.

A stone door appeared ahead once more.

After opening it with the stone talisman in hand, the scene before them suddenly opened up!

Cao Xing saw an extremely spacious grand cathedral.

The ceiling height was estimated to be at least a hundred meters, and the area was estimated to be over a dozen square kilometers, looking like a huge plaza.

Rows of stone statues were placed on both sides.

In the center of the cathedral were a large number of opened coffins. Taking a rough glance, the number of coffins was as many as six or seven hundred!

"Holy cow, so many?"

Cao Xing was secretly shocked.

Clearly, all these coffins had been opened, and the undead inside should have all been eaten.

Cao Xing had a somewhat bad premonition in his heart.

Because according to Karlhan, this Soul Devouring Demon would enhance its strength by devouring the undead.

This time, having devoured so many undead, its strength must have reached a terrifying degree.

However, looking on the bright side,

since the undead here were eaten up, during the battle, the Soul Devouring Demon wouldn't be able to recover HP by devouring undead.

Cao Xing chuckled, a strange smile appearing on his face.

He also noticed that on a platform in the center of the grand cathedral, a magnificent coffin was placed.

It was inlaid with glowing gems and golden patterns, looking extraordinary at a glance.

This should be the coffin of Duke Baradin.

"Eh? No, the gems!"

Cao Xing's eyes instantly lit up.

At this time, Ji Xinyue asked doubtfully, "Didn't they say that in the Kasha Cathedral, that demon is also here?"

"Why don't we see it?"

Cao Xing also glanced around, but did not find the existence of any demons.

On the contrary, the lighting inside this cathedral was extremely bright.

Various fluttering banners and solemn statues made this place look incomparably sacred.

Cao Xing also saw that beside the duke's coffin, a beautiful female statue stood upright.

She had a well-proportioned figure, holding a shield and a one-handed sword in her hands, wearing a half-breastplate that highlighted her slender waist.

Her slender legs were taut, seemingly poised for action.

The entire statue was filled with a sense of sanctity and inviolability.

Renice spoke up at this moment, "That is the statue of the Goddess Kemir."

"Goddess Kemir?"

"Yes."

Renice nodded and said, "She is a goddess who governs order and truth. It is said that when her power reappears in the mortal world, a new order will be born."

Cao Xing nodded, and then said,

"Never mind, if that demon is not here, it saves us the trouble. We'll directly open Duke Baradin's coffin and then run for it."

Cao Xing quickly made his decision.

Then, he led the team forward toward the location of the Goddess Kemir statue.

Duke Baradin's coffin was right there; as long as it was successfully opened, it would be equivalent to completing the final stage of the quest.

Right at this moment,

Cao Xing suddenly noticed that the corners of the sacred goddess statue's mouth curled into an arc.

Her stone-carved eyeballs seemed to roll a few times, and then she gazed at Cao Xing and the others.

"Hmm?"

Cao Xing looked closely, only to find that the statue's expression had returned to normal.

He was full of doubt, "Did I see wrong?"

However, when he raised his head again, he found that the goddess statue's mouth was split into a huge arc, looking exceptionally eerie.

This time, Cao Xing was certain he hadn't seen wrong, and he hurriedly commanded,

"Stop!"

Everyone stopped in their tracks, then followed Cao Xing's gaze to look at the statue.

Instantly, everyone's expressions turned startled.

At this moment, the statue gradually turned from white to black.

As if growing demonic skin, a thick layer of black oil film wrapped around the statue, and many blackened animal entrails hung upon it.

Viscous black liquid dripped down from the statue's body, dyeing the ground black.

Not only that, but various animal genitalia had also grown around the statue's breasts.

This scene was simply too agonizing for everyone present to look directly at!

Renice gritted her teeth and said angrily, "To actually… do such a thing to the statue of Goddess Kemir, what kind of blasphemy is this!"

However, before Renice could finish speaking, the head of the statue directly rolled off.

Boom!

The huge statue head smashed onto the altar below, emitting a muffled sound.

The next moment, everyone saw a massive shadow crawl out from the neck of the headless statue.

The specific face of this shadow could not be clearly seen; one could only barely make out facial features through the hollows on its face.

At this moment, this shadow split its pitch-black mouth wide open, revealing a bizarre smile, and then slowly spoke.

"The world says I am a demon, and that group of clerics hanged me on the gallows."

"As the exorcism ritual proceeds, the ignorant masses hum along to that song… which I wrote for the Holy See hundreds of years ago…"

"When the stool is kicked away, when my eyes begin to glaze over…"

"To whom does this dying light belong?"

…

Resounded like the voice of an Old Witch in the ear.

Hoarse, piercing!

Everyone looked in astonishment at the shadow atop the statue.

"Oh~ Look who is here?"

"A group of humans, Ascalonians, Dark Elves, and a… spider…"

"Mmm… Truly not bad~"

Cao Xing raised his head and asked, "You are the Soul Devouring Demon?"

The shadow chuckled and said, "Oh~ I am no demon; I am a goddess capable of granting the wishes of mortals."

"Do you want the treasures inside this palace?"

"Do you want the legendary weapon in the hands of that cowardly king—Magdale?"

"As long as you possess this weapon, you can command all the Ascalon undead on this continent!"

"Now~ Little fellow, tell me, what is your wish?"

Cao Xing was full of doubts. This demon seemed to know quite a lot.

It even knew about the existence of treasures in this subterranean palace.

Assam reminded, "My Lord, do not listen to this fellow's bewitching nonsense; this is a common trick used by demons."

"They will first bewitch people with words, then break through your psychological defenses and turn you into their puppet!"

Cao Xing nodded.

Of course he wasn't that foolish; how could he casually trust a demon's words.

Silently, he glanced at the demon's attributes.

[Soul Devouring Demon: Serphenia Williams (Lv30)]

[Race: Demon]

[Tier: Tier 3 Boss-class (Transforming)]

[HP: 80480 / 80480]

[Attack Power: 3124 ~ 3356]

[Armor: 531 ~ 574]

[Skills: Fire of Malice (Condenses a ball of malicious fire to attack enemies; basic attacks have no cooldown), Evil Burst (Instantly erupts the evil aura within the body, dealing 100% magic damage to enemies within a 50-meter radius and stunning them in place for 1 to 3 seconds; cooldown: 50 seconds), Demonic Whisper (Emits demonic whispers to attack everyone's minds. If willpower/spirit is insufficient, they will fall into a prolonged state of mental confusion; cooldown: 70 seconds), Demonic Possession (Possesses a being with weak mental power and controls their actions; duration: 30 seconds; cooldown: 100 seconds), Soul Wither (Condenses a massive amount of soul power to deal four instances of soul burn damage to enemies within a 500-meter radius; cooldown: 10 minutes)]

[Talent: Demonic Body (Will not die when the physical body is destroyed; after a period of time, the demon will resurrect with a 5-level reduction)]

[Talent ②: Evil Spirit Nemesis (When attacking soul bodies, deals an extra 100% damage to them and reduces soul body attributes by 50%)]

(Description: A demon that feeds on fear, pain, and souls. It is extremely powerful and evil; please proceed with caution.)

…

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