Chapter 889 - 106: Blood Battle

Chapter 889: Chapter 106: Blood Battle

Qi Badao was still fine; his corrupted body carried its own resistance, but everyone else was wrong—eyes bloodshot, veins bulging on their foreheads.

"With Truth upon me, all evils cannot invade!"

The Two-star Grandmaster spread open a barrier of truth; the formless Evil God corruption slammed into it and exploded into clumps of pitch black. Qi Badao and the others shuddered, their minds crawling back from the brink of madness.

"Corruption of this level from an Evil God isn’t something we can handle. We have to go back and report to the Dean." The Grand Scholar watched the clusters of Evil God corruption slamming into his truth barrier, his expression sinking. They’d run into a big fish beyond their ability to deal with.

"Pull back first. We’ll set up an outpost outside..." Qi Badao nodded and gave the order to retreat.

"Wait, they’re using children as Sacrifices..." a Shadow Owl team member suddenly said in a trembling voice.

In an instant, everyone stopped, then all turned and lay back down again. Just now they’d all been suppressed by the Evil God corruption and hadn’t looked closely. Now, gritting their teeth against the spiritual terror brought by the corruption, they finally saw that around the altar, aside from the over a hundred Cultists, there were several hundred people bound and kneeling on the ground, nearly half of them children.

The Sacrifice wasn’t over yet. In the belly of the woman on the altar should be some summoned, being-born filth; in the final stage, it would inevitably devolve into the most insane blood sacrifice.

"How can there be this many children!" Qi Badao clenched his fists.

"They must be the children of illegal, identity-less Underground City slum residents who slipped in..."

In that kind of place, without an identity, you had no protection. As long as nothing blew up into a large-scale incident, whatever happened you could only swallow your bad luck; there was even buying and selling.

"Captain?"

Everyone looked at Qi Badao.

Qi Badao instinctively turned his head toward Grand Scholar Zhang Yiqing. In situations like this, according to past practice, you ran like hell first. But now he was Night Patrol.

Zhang Yiqing also looked at him and said in a low voice, "You’re the captain. You decide."

Looking at those being Sacrificed, Qi Badao knew that with every minute they delayed, someone died. Gritting his teeth, he said, "The situation is critical. I’ve got an idea—everyone weigh in. All of us charging in together is unrealistic; they have numbers, and we don’t know their strength. I, Qu Fu, and Tai Yang will rush in and draw these bastards’ attention. You’re responsible for rescuing people—save as many as you can, don’t get bogged down fighting."

Everyone fell silent for a moment, then nodded and took a deep breath. The enemy’s strength was unknown, but even if they couldn’t win, they still had to save people.

They quickly discussed several possible scenarios and responses. Once Qi Badao had made the arrangements, he drew his Hex Pistol and charged in with Qu Fu and Tai Yang without a backward glance.

Hundreds of Cultists were immersed in the Evil God’s corruption; fanaticism and madness had taken over their mental worlds. From the moment this evil mummified- corpse altar was erected, they were no longer just believers, but part of the offerings themselves. They just wouldn’t die immediately, yet their minds were already shattered—they’d completely lost their sense of self. Only the eight Priests standing at the edge of the altar reacted at all, but at this critical moment of the Sacrifice, their minds were likewise stained with the Evil God’s madness. They didn’t command the believers; instead they raised the staves in their hands, arrogance filling their thoughts. Instinctively, they wanted to turn the intruders into part of the Sacrifice as well.

Black death energy spewed from the staves—this was the power of the Death God.

At the same time, the Hex Pistols in the hands of Qi Badao and the other two spat out bullets imbued with the Power of Celestial Principle.

Three Priests took bullets to the glabella and fell, writhing madly on the ground, their fingers digging into the bullet holes in their brows, squeezing and gouging through blood and gore as they tried to claw the bullets out. The Evil God power in their bodies blocked death’s arrival, but the Celestial Principle–blessed bullets had sealed their link with the Evil God. For a short time, these three Priests couldn’t use any power at all.

Qi Badao’s eyes were bloodshot. The forbidden power brought by the worm erupted from his heart, his arm suddenly swelling and enlarging. He grabbed a Cultist to use as a shield; all eight streams of death energy slammed into this unlucky soul. Qi Badao’s hand shook as the Cultist in his grip swelled under the infusion of death energy, gray-black vapor spraying from all seven orifices.

Corpse explosion?

Qi Badao suddenly hurled the Cultist in his hand—who had already become a corpse-explosion bomb—toward the altar.

In this world, Cults never lack for nourishment for their growth, but when it comes to combat, even at the Priest level they are desperately short on real battle experience.

Boom! The death energy inside the corpse detonated, blasting the three Priests away.

The remaining two Priests finally shook off the mental influence the Evil God had imposed on them, remembered the training they’d received, and tried to cast a combined Magic. But it was already too late—Qi Badao, Qu Fu, and Tai Yang had already rushed onto the altar. Qi Badao no longer used his Hex Pistol; Qu Fu and Tai Yang kept firing. The two Priests triggered the solidified Defense Technique on their staves. Thud, thud, thud, the bullets still struck their bodies, but the attached Power of Celestial Principle had already been cleared away by the staves. The two Priests only staggered, then let out a shrill screech: "It’s Night Patrol! Kill them!"

Qi Badao and the other two had no intention of lingering in battle; they suddenly wheeled around, bolting toward the massive passageway that led from the Burial Chamber into the deeper parts of the Underground Palace. In truth, only a few heartbeats had passed since they burst in—no way could they let these Cultists realize that the "offerings" in their eyes were also hostages who could be used to threaten the Night Patrol.

By this time, the three Priests who’d been blown away had already recovered. They were reattaching their blasted-off limbs piece by piece. "Our God’s blessing—undying, undestroyed! Our God’s blessing—undying, undestroyed!"

With their muttering, grotesque buds of meat bubbled out from the severed stumps on their bodies. These fleshy nodules bit into the broken limbs, knitting them back together.

One Priest’s arm had been completely pulverized. He casually grabbed a nearby Cultist, brutally tore the man’s arm off, and forcibly jammed it onto his own shoulder.

Their hatred had already locked onto Qi Badao. While their arms were still fusing, they shrieked commands to the followers, ordering a joint pursuit. "Night Patrol, damn them—kill them!"

Blood, grotesquery, madness, chaos—no one noticed that on the altar, that Evil Fetus was growing more and more restless. The current atmosphere suited its birth even better.

Most of the followers had gone chasing after the Priests.

A small portion of followers remained in the Burial Chamber. They too had fallen into a frenzy of ecstatic madness, emitting eerie cries, lashing the offerings with whips and clubs. The three Priests who had been shot between the brows finally dug the bullets out of their brains. Their faces and bodies were smeared with blood and white brain matter. They were purging the last traces of the Power of Celestial Principle from their bodies; once that was gone, they could resume this live Sacrifice.

The Grand Scholar stood at the entrance of the Burial Chamber with five members of the Shadow Owl Team, counting off the time. Each Shadow Owl held a Hex Pistol, while the Grand Scholar used Holy Word to infuse Celestial Principle Power into their bullets.

When they reached the hundredth count, they charged in together, the Grand Scholar included. This had been planned from the start: if Qi Badao and the others drew away enough enemies, they would storm in and free the hostages.

Gunfire erupted in unison. The Shadow Owls gripped their guns with both hands for stability. Thanks to the recent rise in Night Patrol benefits, not only had everyone been issued a pistol, but their ammunition allotment for missions was also generous; they didn’t have to resort to brute endurance right from the start.

"Suppression of Evil Spirits!" The Grand Scholar’s targets were the three Priests who had just recovered. He did not choose a lethal Holy Word Spell—these Priests’ condition was bizarre. Aside from lacking raw strength, their traits were somewhat close to an Undead’s. He suspected these people were direct followers of the Death God. If so, then what sort of monstrosity had they resurrected on that altar?

The Death God’s rank of existence could not possibly be so easily born and revived.

A certain High-tier Death Angel of the Death God? Or some other scheme?

The Shadow Owls swiftly swapped magazines, then just as quickly fired controlled bursts, until the last figure dropped. Everyone was gasping for breath; only then did their hands start to tremble a little. They had not expected it to go this smoothly.

"Stay sharp. Finish them off before we move the civilians—children first."

The Shadow Owls holstered their pistols and drew the Night Patrol’s Demon-slaying Sabers. They fanned out without hesitation, chopping off the Cultists’ heads before beginning to rescue the civilians.

Untying them one by one, the Shadow Owls let out a quiet sigh of relief. These poor people had not suffered direct corruption, and their physical condition was better than expected. Once on their feet, they only staggered a few steps before they could move under their own power.

Zhang Yiqing sighed. Misfortune within fortune—this abomination seemed to require the purest human atmosphere of fear, not the madness of polluted minds. That was the only reason it hadn’t tainted the offerings.

"Leave two to evacuate the civilians—"

Right then, a tearing sound came from the direction of the altar.

Zhang Yiqing snapped his head around. On the altar, the pregnant woman’s belly was swelling violently. He immediately cast a Holy Word Technique in an attempt to suppress it, but just as the Holy Word Technique fell, a shudder-inducing aura of evil violently rebounded. A wave of corruption actually surged in to invade his body, like a drop of ink falling into a bowl of clear water. He hurried to steady his mind, and in that instant of withdrawal, the pregnant woman’s abdomen split down the middle. Foul blood burst out like the opening petals of a man-eating flower. Two black claws flailed wildly in midair, then another two black claws tore out through the woman’s body... four... eight... The poor woman’s body shriveled and collapsed in an instant.

The abomination that had used her body as its vessel writhed atop the altar on eight black claws. Because the live sacrifice had been interrupted, it had not fully formed. Its body was still semi-transparent, the blue-black blood vessels and writhing tissues inside clearly visible. Its eight claws clutched the ground like a spider’s, but its upper half resembled a humanoid torso, while its head was a Demon-like carapace—only the carapace remained semi-transparent, revealing the brain tissue sloshing in the fluids within.

"Sss!"

The abomination let out a hiss, then suddenly pounced toward the three Priests pinned down at the edge of the altar. It ducked its head sharply, and the carapace of its skull snapped open backward, revealing a vast Abyssal maw packed with rows upon rows of nested teeth!

Crunch—a Priest’s head was bitten off. Chewing. Swallowing. Through its half-transparent torso one could watch the stuff pass into its interior and be rapidly digested to nothing...

Crunch! Crunch!

The transparency of the abomination’s outer shell noticeably darkened with each mouthful.