My mom is waiting for treatment, and you're summoning me to be a hero?

The Empire's assassination squad specializes in handling troubles that "cannot be resolved openly."

Each of these dozen or so people is a divine guide, possessing all sorts of strange and wonderful abilities.

The leader looked at Lin Mo, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Lin Mo, is that it? You thought we were unprepared after our assassination attempt on you? We've already thoroughly studied your fighting style!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the dozen or so people moved at the same time!

Their bodies began to change.

Some transformed into translucent phantoms, some were surrounded by distorted light patterns, and some had strange runes appear on their skin.

Every change makes it immune to physical attacks!

"Divine Guides! They're all Divine Guides who are immune to slashing attacks!"

A sickly flush suddenly rose on Li Yishao's originally pale face.

He stood up, rushed to the edge of the stands, gripped the railing with both hands, and trembled with excitement.

"Hahahaha—!!!"

His laughter echoed through the arena, sharp and maniacal.

"Lin Mo!! You didn't expect this, did you!!!"

He shouted hoarsely, his voice distorted with excitement.

"You think you're so strong?! I studied your abilities after my first failed assassination attempt in the Iron Chamber! These Divine Guides are immune to your strikes!! No matter how fast or fierce your sword is, it's useless against them!!!"

He laughed so hard that tears almost came out.

"You think you can defy the entire empire?!"

His voice grew louder and louder, more and more frantic.

"Naive!! So incredibly naive!!!"

In the audience, the nobles who had been trembling with fear gradually came to their senses.

As they looked at the Divine Guides blocking Lin Mo's path, and at the First Prince laughing maniacally, the fear on their faces slowly gave way to hope.

"It's Iron Chamber Assassination!"

"There's hope! There's hope!"

"Let's see what that man in black can do now!"

……

Lin Mo stood still, looking at the divine guides.

He looked at their translucent bodies.

Look at the distorted light patterns around them.

Looking at the confident expressions on their faces...

Then he nodded.

"That's right. They're all immune to slashing attacks."

The voice was so calm that the smiles on the faces of the divine guides froze slightly.

Lin Mo stopped looking at them.

He lowered his head, raised the black sword in his hand, and then—

clang.

The tip of the sword touched the ground.

The sound was very soft, as soft as a drop of water falling.

But just as that sound fell—

Suddenly, the arena went dark.

It's not that the light has dimmed, but rather that something is blocking the light.

A howling sound from the deepest hell resounded from all directions.

The sound was sharp and mournful, like countless souls wailing, like countless dead people crying.

Everyone in the audience froze.

Because they saw—

Semi-transparent shadows drifted in from every corner of the arena.

They floated out from the corpses of the guards who had just died.

It floated out from among those scattered, broken limbs.

They pass through the air.

Walk through the stands.

Passing through the nobles slumped in their seats...

"ah--!!!"

"A ghost! There's a ghost!!"

"Don't come any closer! Don't come any closer!!!"

……

Screams erupted one after another.

The nobles waved their arms frantically, trying to shoo away the shadows that passed through them.

But the shadows completely ignored them, drifting towards the center of the arena, towards the place where the man in black robes was.

Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands.

The quantity has already exceeded a thousand!

They gathered above Lin Mo's head.

Swirling, wailing, churning, like a dark cloud made of souls.

It blotted out the sky and blocked out the sun!

The smiles on the faces of those divine guides hidden in the iron chambers vanished completely.

Looking at that ocean of souls, they felt fear for the first time.

Immune to attack?

These souls don't need to be struck at all!

Li Yishao's laughter was already stuck in his throat.

His eyes widened, and he stood motionless as if struck by lightning.

Lin Mo raised his hand.

"Soul Fusion".

He spoke calmly.

As if receiving a command, those souls suddenly converged towards the center!

They screamed, howled, and tangled together, frantically merging in mid-air!

A burst of light!

When that light faded, when that blinding brilliance finally subsided—

A giant beast hovers in mid-air.

It was ten zhang tall, semi-transparent, and had an eerie, dark blue color.

His body was as large as a mountain, and his limbs were as thick as pillars.

On the enormous head, two eyes burning with eerie green flames looked down at everyone below.

"That...that's...the Ghost Behemoth!"

Someone in the stands gasped in surprise.

"A ghost behemoth? What's that?"

"That's a legendary creature, without a physical form, yet possessing the terrifying power of a Behemoth."

"Wouldn't that make you invincible?"

"That's right. This guy can penetrate all defenses with his ghostly body, but when he attacks, his giant claws become solid and can tear everything apart."

"Holy crap, isn't this cheating?"

"Logically speaking, this thing should have been wiped out hundreds of years ago along with an army of Behemoths. Even ordinary Behemoths are rare now, so how could there be a ghost Behemoth?"

……

The crowd was buzzing with discussion.

The ghostly Behemoth lowered its head and looked at the divine guides hidden in the iron chambers.

It opened its mouth and let out a silent roar.

That was not a sound, but a tremor of the soul.

Those divine guides felt a loud bang in their minds, as if they had been hit hard by something, and blood seeped from all seven orifices at the same time!

Then the ghostly Behemoth stretched out its giant claws and grabbed the three leading God Guides!

The three struggled frantically, trying to escape using their abilities.

Some tried to escape by transforming into elements, but their entire bodies were enveloped by the giant claws of the ghostly Behemoth, and even the transformed particles could not escape.

Some people tried to use light runes that could make them immune to slashes to block, but they were directly crushed into blood mist.

However, while their abilities could target Lin Mo, they couldn't target a monster formed from the fusion of thousands of souls!

The giant claw pierced through their bodies, yet it also gripped their souls tightly!

"No--!!!"

The screams rang out, then abruptly stopped.

The three bodies slumped down, no longer breathing.

The ghostly Behemoth loosened its claws, and three corpses fell to the ground.

The remaining guides tried to escape, but it was too late.

The enormous, dark blue figure pounced forward, tearing their souls apart one by one with its invisible giant claws!

Lin Mo didn't look at them again.

He continued walking forward.

There were no more guards ahead.

Ahead, there was only the protective shield that enveloped Li Yan and Li Yishao.

The protective shield was pale gold, composed of countless fine runes, and emitted a chilling energy fluctuation.

It stood there, sheltering the father and son at the highest point of the VIP section.