Master the Abyss, starting from an apprentice priest.

Chapter 402: Scarlet Tower, River of Disaster (6k, please give me some monthly tickets in the middle of the month qvq)

The Acropolis was half empty.

Thomas spread his hang glider and was gliding quickly and silently towards the Acropolis when a fiery scarlet light suddenly appeared before his eyes.

The largest sentry tower - the dark red surging on every floor, when their "Saint Guardian" flew into the Acropolis like a bird, suddenly bloomed and emitted a scarlet light!
The scarlet light squirmed, emitting heart-pounding tremors, and then shot towards Thomas like an "eye"!

No, it's not like "eyes" -

Those are real eyes!

whoosh-

The "eyes" that emitted scarlet light, at the same time as their gazes met Thomas', shot out surging scarlet light at him!
--boom!!!!!

Thomas' body was instantly engulfed by the blazing light.

Fortunately, he had learned a protective sacred art from the "Holy Abyss Mall" - "Double Holy Protection". The shield released instantly protected his body, but it was soon pierced and melted by the scorching scarlet light.

"What the hell is that!"

Thomas shouted, and the "Double Holy Guardian" was shattered by the terrifying light surge. It is still in the cooling period, but the "monster" on the sentry tower seems to be ready to launch a second wave of bombardment at him!
Thomas couldn't help but raise his guard, staring intently at the changes in the "eye" in the tower -

This is much more exciting than Fort Caffrey!

--boom! ! !

Right next to Thomas' ears, a huge roar sounded like thunder, and the scarlet light had penetrated into the corners of his eyes. Visibly, another scarlet light surged and hit another player next to him.

He was a guardian saint of the "priest" profession. It seemed that he was caught off guard by the previous attack and had no time to perform any sacred magic to save his life.

By the time the scarlet light faded away, the body of the priest player had long since disappeared—he had probably, should have, been blown to pieces and was on cooldown for his resurrection.

Thomas caught a glimpse of this scene from the corner of his eye, and the scarlet light emanating from the "eye" aimed at him had surged to its peak.

whoosh-

The light dimmed for a moment, and then released a dazzling, scarlet light again!

--boom! ! !

A surge of scarlet light shot straight towards Thomas!

But Thomas was prepared. He accelerated his descent toward the Acropolis wall not far away. The scarlet light brushed past his body and suddenly exploded on the high hill outside the Acropolis!

After dodging the bombardment, Thomas had already landed on the top of the Acropolis and rolled over to stabilize his body.

The scarlet "eyes" finally stopped looking at him and swept towards the other "Guardians", preparing to bombard their new targets.

"……call."

Thomas was just about to take a breath when he felt as if there were dozens of dangerous spirits surrounding him.

Those are all spiritual reactions emanating from the extraordinary people with the "double destiny"!
His current position is obviously not safe either!
Thomas immediately took out his sickle and hammer, leaned against the wall of the Acropolis, and looked at the enemies who were gathering around him.

About ten meters away, the "double destiny" extraordinary people such as [Red Lotus], [Bitter Tea], [Lost], etc., were wearing dark concealment cloaks, revealing strange smiles under their hoods, and looking at him like lambs -

This made Thomas shiver, knowing that he might have been ambushed.

…but it doesn’t matter.

An excited and eager expression appeared on Thomas' face.

He immediately opened the [Chat Channel] in his mind, sent a location message to his teammates, then closed the panel, released all the [Glory] spirituality outward, brandished his sickle and hammer, and rushed towards the surrounding dark transcendents!

Dip the beans, so cool!

……

Luo Xiu, who was hiding in the night and watching the battle in the Acropolis from mid-air, had also seen the strange vision in the sentry tower.

That is no longer an ordinary defensive project.

Luo Xiu, whose "perception" attribute far exceeds that of the other players, can clearly sense what is in the sentry tower even from a long distance away.

That is the "Abyss Beast"!
In other words, it is the remains of the "Abyss Beast" after being dismantled.

'Eye of the Blood Pagoda' - that was taken from the part of the monster called "Blood Pagoda".

That is an abyss beast whose threat is rated at the "natural disaster" level.

The "Eye of Blood Pagoda" embedded in the sentry tower, its body "Blood Pagoda" is a huge abyss beast with a body like a meat tower.

It has seven huge eyes, which are located in seven parts of its head, chest, back, and abdomen.

That gives the "Blood Pagoda" an extremely wide field of vision, and those seven "eyes" contain a very terrifying "Dark Erosion" spirit. When they encounter prey, terrifying Dark Erosion light will be emitted from the "Blood Pagoda's Eye" to hunt or drive away their natural enemies.

Based on the characteristics of "Abyss Beasts" - most high-level Abyss Beasts can remain active even if their bodies are disassembled.

The executioners of Latama Fortress must have discovered the monster from the broken seal. They subdued and controlled it, and then disassembled it into various parts. Its seven "eyes" were separated and embedded on each floor of the tower.

"..."

Luo Xiu was thinking about this.

He was thinking about another question at the same time -

To be able to dismantle, transform, and utilize abyssal beasts that pose a threat level equal to that of a “natural disaster” requires a specific profession with a specific destiny.

One is [Intelligence]——

According to the known information, one of the executioners of Latama City, "Omniscient Attendant" Calivian, is a fifth-level destiny of [Intelligence], and has mastered many taboo alchemy techniques;
On the dismantled and modified "Eye of Blood Pagoda" on that tower, one can detect quite obvious signs of alchemical transformation.

The "all-knowing attendant" Kalyvian must have been involved, but that's not enough.

Another executioner, Viscount of the Lost Heart, Yasuode, was a [Supreme], which was a profession that was more inclined towards domination and combat. He might have participated in the capture of the "Blood Pagoda", but this was not enough.
Another profession is needed that can clearly understand the characteristics of the "Abyss Beast" as a monster and control it stably.

If one is not a saint who has entered the Abyss, and has the ability to subdue and understand the body structure of the special monster race "Abyss Beast", and dismantle it, Luo Xiu can only think of one possible career branch -

[Honglian]'s beast tamer!
The corresponding "Fivefold Destiny" professions - "Alienated Demon" or "Lord of the Evil Beast" - only these two "Fivefold Destiny" professions can do this.

That is the possible identity and background of the last "executioner".

Staring at the battlefield below, Luo Xiu lowered his eyes and his gaze became deep.

In fact, before arriving in Latama City, he had already made preparations for this——

The first step of the plan is to let the players explore the "Acropolis" first and try to occupy it.

And if the "Executioners" have really discovered the "Abyss Beasts" that have escaped the Great Seal and tried to control them and use them;
This kind of taboo attempt always comes at a price and leaves some traces.

The only [Abyss] four-fold destiny "Demon Mentor" in Fanol Continent,
In Luo Xiu's eyes, things became very simple——

"So, are you the 'Alienated Demon' or the 'Lord of the Evil Beast'..."

Luo Xiu murmured while raising his arms.

The air on the back of his hand began to tremble and fluctuate violently, and the shadow of a raven emerged and quickly condensed into shape.

The moment the Shadow Raven appears on a foggy night, the surroundings hidden in the night air are already filled with thousands of secret, deep gazes that peek around with curiosity.

"go--"

Luo Xiu gently raised his arm, and the "Shadow Raven" that had just landed on the back of his hand flapped its misty wings and flew towards the city of Latama below.

At the same time, the thousands of "fog shadows" hidden in the surrounding air also floated towards the surroundings of Latama City.

They began to follow the invisible breath of the "abyss" emanating from the loosened seal beneath the earth.

In the deep pupils of the "Mist Shadows", it was as clear as a glowing vein.

The most concentrated and brightest node among them is the spirituality of "Dark Eclipse" and the place where the breath of "Abyss" is enriched.

From this, we can find the origin of the breath of the "abyss" and the source of the broken seal here -

That might be... the place where the last executioner of Red Lotus should be hiding.

……

--boom! ! !

The golden hammer in Thomas' hand smashed down fiercely, and a burst of golden and bloody light exploded above the head of the last dark transcendent with a "double destiny"!
The extraordinary man's crown was shattered on the spot, and an expression of fear and despair appeared on the half of his face under the dark cloak. His body fell limp the next moment, and after twitching on the ground for a while, there was no movement.

Above Thomas' head, the swirling golden halo rippled out, turned into stardust that floated in all directions and quickly dissipated into nothingness.

"This is the last one."

From behind Thomas came a cold, calm female voice.

"Alicia," she held tightly in both hands the sacred staff that was a head taller than her, and had just lifted the sacred field covering the surroundings.

Before, when Thomas made an emergency landing on the wall of the Acropolis and found that he was ambushed and besieged by the guarding extraordinary people, he directly threw the coordinates of this place into the "Mirror of Glow" guild chat group, and his teammates rushed here as soon as possible.

Although the attack of the strange "eye" in the tower was indeed fierce, it was still unable to shoot down all of the more than 300 players who had reached the "triple destiny". At this time, more than 200 players had landed in various corners of the Acropolis and started fighting with the dark army guards stationed there.

And it was right on the top of the city where Thomas, Alicia and others were.

Thomas, Crocodile, Huangdou, and three other "Saint Protectors" who acted together, walked towards the dozen or so black corpses of extraordinary people lying on the city wall.

They squatted down skillfully, reached into the arms of the dark extraordinary people, and took out a few silver coins and some disposable potions or props.

“…These people are so poor.”

Thomas had just finished looting a corpse when he uttered a "tsk" and said helplessly:
"It's just three silver coins. Uh... what is this? 'Frenzy Potion'..."

"Grass, 'After taking it, the wisdom attribute will be reduced by 80%, the strength attribute will be increased by 50%, and the resistance attribute will be increased by 50%'..."

"If this thing hits your head, will it become pointy?"

"..."

The players were chatting occasionally. There were no new enemies around for the time being, so Thomas, Crocodile and the others started to deal with the corpses here.

"By the way, what about that… uh, eye that just blasted at me?"

Thomas dragged a corpse while looking at the sentry tower in the air that was still bombarding the players gliding into the city. He raised his eyebrows and said, "My panel shows that thing is called [Blood Pagoda Eye]... It seems to be a monster, but I'm not close enough to see the panel of that thing. What on earth is that thing?"

"……do not know."

Alicia said in a dull voice.

She did not participate in the routine "corpse-touching" session that her teammates did after the battle. At this moment, she was lowering her head, silently praying the holy art.

The sacred staff that she was holding in her hands, which was taller than her, was emitting a pure, shining golden light, and dozens of spiritual light balls full of vitality were condensed around it.

The balls of light immediately flew towards the other players in front of her and merged into their bodies.

After those balls of light touched and merged into the players' bodies, the wounds on their bodies that had not yet been treated began to heal visibly.

"Glory of Holy Healing" is one of the exclusive skills mastered by the "Great Blessing of Enlightenment" of the triple destiny of [Glory].

This sacred art has no other function but to provide a huge amount of healing. At the same level, only the "Life Favored" of the [Lost] Triple Fate can provide comparable healing.

"Thank you, Xiao Ai~"

As the Holy Healing Light merged into his body and transformed into surging vitality, Thomas felt refreshed and turned to thank Alicia, who was in the iron support position.

He and other Guardian players had moved together the freshly killed, hot bodies of the dark transcendents around them.

Then, Thomas took out a pair of black gloves from the storage bracelet.

That was exactly the [Hand of the Defiler] obtained from the "Dark Devil's Follower" Gutas before.

Thomas had put on gloves and raised his hands towards the dozen or so dark corpses of extraordinary people piled in front of him. A deep, ominous gray mist immediately emanated from his gloves, and strands of black lines emerged and drilled towards the pile of corpses in front of him.

Soon, the "souls" of more than a dozen dark transcendents were extracted. Thomas then controlled the silk thread to retract it and put those dark soul light balls into the bracelet.

This is his recently developed use of the [Hand of the Soul Defiler].

The "souls" extracted from those dark supernatural beings are classified as "materials" in Thomas' panel. Although Thomas does not know what these "materials" can be used for, relying on the experience gained from other RPG games, Thomas still habitually collects them first.

"anyway."

Next to Thomas, after treating her teammates, "Alicia" was standing on the top of the city wall, looking up at the "eye" on the high tower in the center of the Acropolis that was constantly emitting scarlet light.

"We are... just out of the range of the Blood Pagoda's Eye."

"Then the question is, how do we get down and into the Acropolis?"

"..."

"Uh, good question." Thomas poked his head in.

"… Actually, we can just hide here for now," the crocodile on the side said after thinking for a while, "According to the 'tactics' we planned before, the other players from 'Second Fate' will be flying in soon."

"Once the other two thousand players fly in and draw the firepower of the Blood Pagoda's Eye, we can sneak into the city and use the Martyr's Skull to blow up the tower."

"..."

After the crocodile said this, his teammates around him nodded.

But Alicia was still looking at the tower in the center of the Acropolis, with a light flickering in her blue eyes, and no one knew what she was thinking about.

Suddenly, she said:
"Why did the Blood Pagoda Eye only attack us players and not the guards of the main house of Latama City?"

"Uh……"

Thomas had never really thought about this question.

Normally, enemy sentry towers never attack hostile NPCs. This seems to be a conventional setting.

"Indeed, I thought, this is a completely real game."

A deep, somewhat intelligent voice emanated from beneath the crocodile's heavy helmet:

"And that 'eye' - it shouldn't be such an intelligent thing?"

"…Um."

The night wind blew Alicia's hair, and the pink hair fluttered and gently brushed her cheek.

At the same time, she blinked her deep blue eyes and said in a silent voice:

"…And the tower in the middle of the Acropolis is a creation of the [Intelligence] 'Alchemy'... It's not just a sentinel tower."

"So, the Blood Pagoda Eye has instructions for searching for enemies—"

"..."

After Alicia finished speaking, the crocodile turned around and looked at the pile of black extraordinary corpses under his helmet. He thought for a while and said:

"I was concerned about this before. Why are they all wearing cloaks?"

"Take off their cloaks and try putting them on?"

"…OK."

Thomas nodded. He had also completed the operation of collecting souls with the [Hand of the Soul Defiler], so he walked to the corpse of a dark transcendent and took off his cloak.

It was still stained with blood and had obvious damage in some parts, but that did not prevent Thomas from putting it on.

And the moment he put on the pitch-black cloak, Thomas suddenly felt that his sense of existence became "thin" -

That cloak was originally a supernatural equipment, but its quality was "white ordinary", which had the effect of restraining its own aura to a certain extent and blocking the surrounding perception.

The teammates next to him also took off the cloaks from the dark transcendent's body and put them on themselves.

After all the players in the team put on their stealth cloaks, they followed the edge of the city wall and sneaked into the Acropolis as quietly as possible.

……

Latama City, underground.

A boiling, purple underground river, with pus bubbles as big as human heads floating upwards, bubbling up, and then bursting.

Every time a pus bubble bursts, the squirming creatures inside let out a sharp howl.

“——Hiss, ahhhh!!”

"..."

"Don't be anxious, don't be afraid..."

"This is our new home..."

The purple dark river that continuously releases pus bubbles and releases "monsters" from the pus bubbles, on its "river bank", a tall, half-naked man is making a gentle, soothing voice.

While he was "comforting" the newly born "monster" in the river, he stretched out his hand and opened his fingers to grab the twisted meat mass in front of him.

His movements were quick and efficient, his fingers quickly digging into the skinless mass of flesh, gripping it tightly like an iron hoop.

“——Hiss, ahhhh!!!”

The monster began to struggle violently. What might be its "eyes" quickly turned scarlet and spun at an incredible speed.

Then--

boom! ! !
The piece of meat held in the tall man's hand exploded, splattering the man's body with minced meat and sticky blood.

“……**!”

"What on earth are these..."

The man cursed first, and then a puzzled expression appeared on his face.

It was right in front of him, in the dark river beneath the city of Latama.

The "monsters" that kept appearing recently - it was the first time that the man encountered such a strange "monster" that he still couldn't fully understand.

In recent days, he simply left his official residence in Latama City and lived alone next to the underground river, keeping an eye on these monsters.

He tried to capture and control them. Now he could control most of the monsters stably, but he still encountered a few failures.

"So……"

Excitement flashed across the man's face. He raised his hand and wiped the blood off his face. He stared at the river in front of him that was about to burst with pus bubbles, with anticipation in his eyes.

"What will the next 'child' look like..."

He whispered, his eyes widening in excitement.

But before the next pus bubble emerged from the river.

A black mist suddenly flowed before his eyes, and a "mist crow" emitting a gray mist appeared in front of the man.

It had the same aura as those "monsters" under the dark river. The moment it appeared, it attracted the man's gaze which had been fixed on the river.

"Hey, it's a child I haven't seen before..."

The man murmured, reaching out to grab the "Mist Crow".

He moved quickly, and the mist crow was caught in the man's hand before it could fly away.

But the man didn't have the feeling of grabbing something.

He only felt that the moment he clasped his five fingers together and held the "Mist Crow" in his palm, he suddenly felt a tingling sensation in his palm.

When he opened his hands again, his palms were covered with several cracks, from which black blood oozed, but the "Mist Crow" had disappeared.

"strangeness……"

The man scratched his head.

……

(End of this chapter)