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

Lin Mo clenched his wrist and stepped forward.

The moment he stepped into the area guarded by the giant mechanical device, the air in front of the secret chamber suddenly trembled.

The thickest golden holy mark on the forehead of the guard suddenly lit up, like a lit fuse, instantly spreading to every line on his body.

The pristine white boulder emitted a deep, rumbling sound.

Those once dull, jewel-like eyes suddenly lit up, illuminating the entire underground corridor as if it were daytime.

Immediately afterwards, a powerful golden halo exploded from its body, carrying the pressure of divine laws and crashing down on Lin Mo like a tsunami.

Lin Mo instinctively drew his black sword and slashed at the golden light with the dark blade.

clang!

A piercing clang of metal clashing.

The black sword seemed to have struck an invisible barrier; the eerie light on the blade dimmed abruptly, followed by a tremendous force rebounding back.

The black sword flew backward and tumbled several times in the air.

It pierced the stone wall more than ten meters away with a clang, the hilt still vibrating and humming.

Lin Mo glanced down at his empty right hand and raised an eyebrow.

It wasn't an impact of force; it seemed as if the black sword itself was resisting the fight against the stone.

"I was just about to say that."

Zhou Yue's voice carried a hint of helplessness.

"The most unique ability of the Templar Knights is their immunity to the Holy Light Armor. Any Holy Armor weapon in the hands of the hero will be nullified in front of them. This is a method that the Church uses to counter traitorous heroes. After all, in the eyes of the Church's higher-ups, heroes are nothing more than expendable resources, and they always have to keep a backup plan."

Lin Mo remained silent.

Why didn't you say so earlier?

"You drew your sword too quickly."

Lin Mo did not respond.

He glanced at the black sword embedded in the stone wall but did not retrieve it.

Since we are immune to the Holy Light Armor, we don't need a sword.

He turned around to face the colossal figure that was dozens of times taller than him, stretched his shoulders, and then slowly rolled up his sleeves.

"Then let's have a strength contest."

The guards emitted a dull thud, as if in response to his provocation.

The giant arm, forged from golden ore, was raised high, and the gems at its joints emitted a blinding holy light.

The entire arm, like a meteorite falling from the sky, carried a force powerful enough to collapse a city wall, and slammed down on Lin Mo's head.

Lin Mo did not dodge.

He stood with his feet slightly apart and his center of gravity lowered.

His right arm muscles tensed instantly as he raised his hand to block the massive golden fist that was even thicker than his entire body.

boom!!

The shockwave from the collision of the two forces created countless cracks in the stone walls on both sides of the corridor, and rubble fell down in a flurry.

The ground beneath Lin Mo's feet collapsed downwards, creating a shallow pit several meters in diameter centered on him.

Spiderweb-like cracks spread in all directions.

But his body remained completely still.

The giant fist, enhanced by the golden holy runes, was steadily blocked in mid-air by his one hand, unable to press down any further.

Lin Mo looked up, watching the shattered fragments of his sleeve fall from his arm, and smiled.

"It's my turn next."

He clenched his fists tightly, his fingertips embedding themselves deeply into the golden ore joints of the mechanism's guards, like steel nails.

Immediately afterwards, he used his waist to push off the ground with both legs, and his whole body shot up like a cannonball.

With his right arm pulled back to its limit, the physical strength of his entire body, boosted by over a million attribute points, suddenly exploded!

He threw a punch.

There are no skills, no holy light, and no laws.

Pure, savage, and irrational physical power.

Snap! Boom!

Fragments of white boulders and pieces of golden ore scattered like a torrential rain.

The guard's right arm, which was swinging its fist, was blasted off at the shoulder joint.

The giant golden arm, several meters long, tumbled through the air and flew dozens of meters away before crashing heavily at the end of the corridor, creating a deep crater in the ground.

The massive body of the guard staggered back half a step, seemingly stunned for a moment.

Not only him, but even Zhou Yue's eyelids twitched involuntarily.

"That strength..."

Even though Zhou Yue was aware of Lin Mo's strength, this pure contest of strength made him realize Lin Mo's power more directly.

Yin Xue didn't lift his eyelids once from beginning to end. He sat on Mianmian's head, yawned, and swung his little feet back and forth.

"Don't make a fuss. What's so surprising about him taking apart a lump of iron with his strength?"

Mianmian tilted her round head back and stared at the flying ore fragments for a long time with her shiny black eyes.

Then, it carefully stretched out its little paws and caught a fist-sized piece of golden ore fragment, brought it to its nose to sniff, and then curiously stuck out its tongue to lick it.

A second later, her eyes lit up, and she opened her mouth and took a bite.

Ahead, Lin Mo had already landed on the guard's chest.

His five fingers came together and pierced the core of the sacred runes on the white boulder like a sharp blade, and he pulled hard.

With a deafening roar, the massive body of the mechanical guard finally lost all power, and the golden light in its eyes went out completely.

The tens-of-meters-tall body began to crack and collapse from its core, turning into a pile of rubble and broken parts.

Lin Mo jumped down from the pile of rubble, dusted off his black robe, walked to the stone wall, and pulled out his black sword.

Then, with a kick, the heavy stone door of the secret chamber burst open under the immense force, revealing the dark space inside.

"Let's go."

The secret chamber was small, quite different from the grand and luxurious style of the Vatican's above-ground buildings.

There are no stained glass windows or gilded decorations here, only rough stone walls and a few ancient spirit lamps that have long since gone out.

The air was filled with a dry, ancient, and decaying smell, like a tomb that had been sealed for hundreds of years.

Along the four walls of the secret chamber, rows of low stone platforms were neatly arranged.

Each stone platform held a corpse, numbering in the dozens.

The corpses were long since dried up, and they were dressed in papal robes from different eras.

Some were papal robes with rusted gold trim, while others were archbishop robes with silver thread trim.

The crimson blood fell onto Lin Mo's shoulder again. He glanced at the dried corpses and spoke indifferently.

"These are likely the bodies of popes and archbishops from various dynasties. They have no external injuries and were probably sealed here after natural deaths."

Lin Mo didn't look at it much.

He had no interest in the dead, especially the dead of the Vatican.

He stepped across rows of stone platforms and headed straight for the deepest part of the secret chamber.

On the deepest part of the stone wall stands a stone statue that seems out of place in the rest of the secret chamber.

It was a life-size statue of a man, with bold and powerful lines, quite different from the delicate and holy style usually used by the Vatican.

The stone statue kneels on one knee, with both hands outstretched forward, holding an ancient stone bowl in its palms.

Inside that stone bowl, about twenty crystals of varying sizes lay quietly.

Some of them are only the size of a fingernail, while others are as big as a fist.

Each piece emitted a soft and restrained glow, the light not dazzling, yet illuminating the deepest part of the entire secret chamber.

Zhou Yue's voice came through.

"That's a crystallization of divine essence!"