My health recovery is incredibly fast.

If Shazo hadn't sensed the power of the shadow energy beforehand and used his red vest to create an umbrella to protect his bald head, Rexor would have died like everyone else.

"Cough cough cough... huff huff..." Rexor coughed weakly a few times, the air leaving his lungs and never returning.

He strained his lungs, trying to draw in the scarce, meager air around him.

"Huff, huff... How are the others? Huff, huff... Have Krestor and the others' blood magic puppets... evacuated?" Rexor asked intermittently.

“I used Hemoglobin to protect the brains of the others…it was the only thing I could do. If possible, I will take their brains back. Serites is in a similar situation to you; she can still speak.”

Xia Zuo responded with a red thread, "Krestor and the others have already disbanded the blood magic puppets and should be on their way to an emergency meeting. The temple is about to mobilize the entire army to deal with the attack of the Church of the Otherworldly Demons."

Rexor grew increasingly weak, his face deathly pale. "Huff, huff... Good. We were able to detect the Church of the Otherworldly Demons' intentions in advance... huff... huff... and without the Church of the Otherworldly Demons discovering that we've uncovered their conspiracy... huff... then our sacrifice was worthwhile... Shazo... huff... after Ceretus and I are gone, you can detonate the bomb."

"Yes, Master. Sleep peacefully."

Rexor closed his eyes and collapsed to the ground.

The light red "cloth" behind his ear quietly slipped inside and injected a blood-element servant into it.

"Hmph...Shazo..." Rexor said in a barely audible voice, his eyes closed.

.

He said, "Has anyone ever told you... that making decisions for other people... is a nasty thing to do...?"

“Relax, Master,” Xia Zuo said in his mind through the connection between his Blood Element servant and the other party. “There are many kinds of retirement life, not just sleeping in a coffin.”

Xia Zuo sensed the other party's resistance, an instinct inherent to being a demon hunter.

The cheat system sent a series of messages, all of which were judgment results related to [Willpower].

"The host is detected attempting to convert Rexor into a blood relative. Now, a [Willpower] attribute check is being performed... The other party's Willpower attribute value is 450 points, and the host's Willpower attribute value is 162 points... The check failed."

"...The other party's willpower attribute value is 449 points, and the host's willpower attribute value is 162 points...The judgment failed."

"... "

Due to the corruption of shadow energy, Rexor's eight attributes are all decreasing, including [Willpower].

Fortunately, his Vitality is higher than his Willpower. When his Willpower attribute value reaches zero, his Vitality attribute value is still positive, so Rexor will not die before Shazor converts him into a blood relative.

The message from the "golden finger" was repeated over and over again, and successful conversion was only a matter of time.

While waiting for the judgment to pass, Xia Zuo manipulated the blood element servants in the church headquarters to fly towards the energy center.

The energy center remained unaffected by the shadow energy, and the purplish-black rain that polluted nature completely ignored all the facilities at the headquarters of the Church of the Otherworld.

As a result, the bombs that Xia Zuo had planted here were also unharmed.

Shazo gave the bomb's detonator one last check.

After setting the explosion to occur in 10 seconds, he manipulated his Blood Element servants to hide in a corner—the only place, precisely calculated, that allowed them to observe the explosion without being affected by the shockwave.

Xia Zuo has already made up his mind.

If the bomb is effective and disrupts the plane fusion process, attracting Nukoalov's attention, he will immediately control his blood element servants to fly towards the shriveled blood vessels, suck up the life force orbs around them, and then leave before the alien demon notices anything amiss, transferring the absorbed vitality attribute value to other blood element servants.

If nothing works... well... let the Blood Element servants find a place to hide, to evade the demons' search first, and then we can consider what to do next.

The detonation time arrived quickly.

Xia Zuo silently counted to ten in his mind, and more than thirty bright spots of light appeared at the same time in various parts of the energy center.

"Hiss hiss hiss hiss~~~~" Sparks and white smoke came out of the small black box on the bomb.

"It's going to explode!" Xia Zuo exclaimed softly, maneuvering his Blood Element servants to take cover.

Just then!

A blood-red shadow emerged from an energy pipe, instantly transforming into a large, blood-red net. This net then split into dozens of smaller nets, which covered the bomb, extinguished the sparks, and absorbed the white smoke.

A massive explosion was quelled by the blood-red shadow in a mere second.

Xia Zuo was startled and almost jumped up from his desk and chair. He quickly suppressed his excitement and manipulated his blood element servants to hide.

Unexpectedly, unexpectedly!

The Otherworldly Demon was incredibly patient, only revealing itself just before the explosion.

That's so damn insidious...

Just as Xia Zuo was inwardly complaining, a clear, gentle male voice rang out in the energy center:

"Ha~ So I wasn't fighting alone after all."

Xia Zuo was taken aback... Why did he feel like the other person wasn't a member of the Otherworldly Demon Church... And... why did that voice sound so familiar...?

"Are you still here, friend?" the unidentified man muttered to himself as he moved. "Let me think... those bombs earlier seemed to be high-performance sticky bombs from weapons alchemy, with tremendous impact. If you want to observe the explosions, you'll have to find a safe place..."

The man's voice was getting closer; he was approaching the corner where the Blood Element servants were.

.

Chapter 77 Familiar Strangers (2-in-1)

Xia Zuo's chosen location had one significant drawback: there was no way to retreat. It was located at a corner of the wall, three or four meters away from the nearest energy pipeline.

The strange man's abilities in preventing the bomb from detonating were clearly those of a blood mage. The blood shadow he moved rapidly through the energy pipes was a blood mist form unique to blood mages, and the spell that split into dozens of small nets was likely an unknown spell developed based on flesh and blood manipulation.

The Blood Servant was clearly outmatched by such an opponent, but it wasn't doomed. As long as Xia Zuo continuously supplied it with life force, it could still protect itself with the shield formed by its blood magic offense and defense.

The stranger stopped about 5 meters from the corner, seemingly giving potential allies some time to think.

After a moment's thought, Xia Zuo chose to control his blood element servants to leave the cover, while preparing to unleash blood magic at any time, turning the tables and taking the initiative.

When the hexahedral blood element servant flew out, the stranger seemed somewhat surprised. "Oh? I didn't expect my ally to be a...blood magic puppet? I thought it was a witcher or some other cold and deadly creature."

Xia Zuo was clearly stunned when he saw the other person's face.

Isn't that so-and-so...?

Several years ago, during the attack on Poseidon City by the Church of the Otherworld, the elemental puppet was abducted by the Blood Demon Ufaris through a secret teleportation chamber. The Blood Demon Ufaris was the identity of "Lone Peak," a high-ranking intelligence agent of the Temple, within the Church of the Otherworld; he has already sacrificed himself.

This kidnapped elemental golem has a human appearance, can speak, and possesses a certain level of intelligence. It can cast elemental spells and use blood magic.

According to the information Xiazo obtained from Rexor, this elemental golem was specially made. Not only did it possess sophisticated alchemical bionic organs, but it was also infused with the bloodline of an artificial pure-blooded mage.

There is one of these specially made elemental golems in each of the three cities surrounding Poseidon.

This was a grand scheme orchestrated by the temple to protect Xia Zuo.

At that time, Xia Zuo had just arrived in the Silver Moon Federation a short time ago on a transoceanic airship.

On the transoceanic airship, he helped Rexor escort the Blood Demon Quarowich.

The Blood Demon Quarovich had self-destructed several times in an attempt to keep a secret. Now, that secret has been revealed—Quarovich was ordered by Nukoalov to search for the missing demon Sodike Black Flag on the western continent.

Because the transoceanic airship lacked the alchemical device to seal the Blood Demons, it was impossible to sever the blood ties between them. The Blood Demon, Kalooqi, then transmitted the results of his search for the Black Flag to Upharis and other Blood Demons who were lurking within the Silver Moon Federation at the time, via this blood ties.

This action attracted the attention of the Otherworldly Church's aerial combat unit, the Otherworldly Watchers, who attacked the transoceanic airship carrying Xia Zuo. Fortunately, the Silver Moon Federation's air force arrived to provide support and drove away the Otherworldly Watchers.

Rexor was worried that Shazor's pure-blood mage identity would also be exposed by the Blood Demon Kaloouki, so he cooperated with the temple to stage a play.

The key lies in those three specially crafted elemental golems with blood magic abilities.

They live in three separate locations, disguising themselves as pure-blooded mages born in the Western Continent who came to the Silvermoon Federation to seek employment, thus misleading the Church of the Otherworldly Demons and making the Otherworldly Demons mistakenly believe that Xia Zuo, who lives in Poseidon City, is an elemental puppet, while the elemental puppets living in other cities are the pure-blooded mages of the Western Continent themselves.

This plan has been very effective.

With the cooperation of "Lone Peak," a high-ranking intelligence agent of the Temple, who was impersonating Ufaris, all the Blood Demons except Ufaris were killed by the Federation army when they invaded cities such as Poseidon. The Temple successfully deceived the Church of the Otherworldly Demons. The "Pure-blooded Mage of the Western Continent" that the Otherworldly Demons took away at a heavy price was a fake, and it was the elemental puppet in front of Xia Zuo at this moment in disguise.

Xia Zuo rubbed his furrowed brows a few times, feeling a little confused about the situation.

What will become of an elemental puppet that has been abducted by the Church of the Otherworld?

After dissecting, dissecting, and dismantling it, the Otherworlders will surely discover that they have been deceived by the Temple and have mistakenly brought back an elemental golem. The Otherworlders will then vent their fury on the golem, burning it in a furnace or torturing it with even more cruel methods.

But look at the elemental puppet before you... it's wearing the trench coat, suit pants, and leather shoes it wore when it was abducted by the demons, a narrow-brimmed round hat on its head, its hair is neatly styled, and there's not a trace of undignified disrespect. There are no wounds on its exposed skin, such as its face and the back of its hands.

Surprising.

Very weird.

Suppressing his confusion and bewilderment, Xia Zuo manipulated his blood-element servants to weave words and asked, "Who are you? Why did you try to stop the bomb from exploding?"

The elemental puppet looked at the text in front of it. "You used the Temple's common language, and the sentence format conforms to the Silvermoon Federation's standard format. You should be a member of the Temple, that's for sure."

The elemental puppet slightly raised its round hat and tilted its head in greeting. "Well then... my unknown colleague from the temple, please allow me to skip your first question for now and answer why I wanted to stop the bomb from exploding."

The elemental puppet flew steadily toward the large sphere at the center of the energy hub.

Xia Zuo's blood-colored servants followed.

The elemental golem pointed to the large sphere and said, "This thing should be very unfamiliar to the members of the temple, and it goes against the common sense of alchemy. All the energy pipes connected to it are output-type, and there are no input-type pipes. It seems that it can produce energy without adding fuel. But that's not actually the case."

The elemental golem hovered near the large sphere. It and the blood element servants were tiny compared to the sphere, about the size of a basketball and an egg.

"It is a dimensional device created by Vasaksat using the laws of dimensionality. Its official name is [Saguma's Eternal Obsession]. The Church of the Otherworld simply calls it the Energy Hub."

The elemental golem, facing the large sphere, continued:

"The energy source of this thing is the Sands of Time."

"The Sands of Time is something that is both chaotic and orderly."

"The sands of time in normal conditions are constantly undergoing a repetitive movement that is both disordered and ordered."

"They are described as disordered because the scene of the sand swirling wildly looks very chaotic."

"And they are said to be orderly because they follow a unified spacetime principle and always maintain the normal flow of time in all things."

The elemental puppet turned slightly to the side and gestured with its two hands, saying:

"Imagine my two fists are sands of time in perpetual motion. Could we install something on them to convert the energy they generate during motion into regular energy, like cutting magnetic field lines to create an electric current?"

"The answer is right before our eyes. This large and round energy center has the ability to constrain the Sands of Time, and can convert the reaction force generated by the Sands of Time on the constraining force field during the constraining process into conventional energy."

The elemental golem looked at the large sphere, spreading its arms as if to embrace it. "This dimensional device can control the Sands of Time within a certain area, thereby manipulating the laws of spacetime, and it can also restrict the types of energy within the domain, achieving a magic-suppressing effect. Such a powerful thing is just left here without any otherworldly demons guarding it. Don't you find it strange? In fact, it doesn't need any protection at all. After Vasaksat left, the Church of the Otherworldly Demons tried many times to deconstruct this thing and create its replicas."

The elemental golem lowered its arms, shrugged, and chuckled, "The Church of the Otherworld has tried things even more threatening than detonating the bomb, but to no avail. This thing is far harder than we imagined. The explosion you just created would only have woken up the Otherworlders above us. That's why I stopped the explosion."

The elemental golem turned to face the blood servant and asked, "You should know that the Otherworldly Demons are preparing for a war with a force exceeding one million, right? So what do you think is the key to the Temple winning this war?"

Before Xia Zuo could think it over and give an answer, the elemental puppet spoke as if answering its own question: