I'm really not a Sanctuary Warlock.

Lynn raised his right hand, pointing his index finger at the iron fence.

A faint [Wind Blade] shot out, precisely slicing into a rivet on a fence.

The soft sound of metal breaking echoed in the empty pipes.

Moonlight poured down, illuminating a small area.

Lynn finally climbed out of the ventilation shaft.

Upon reaching the ground, Lynn found himself standing in a narrow alleyway flanked by towering stone buildings covered in dead vines.

The air was much fresher than the sewers, but it had a burnt smell.

He took a few steps forward and peered into the alleyway.

The streets were deserted.

All the windows of the building were dark, and the doors were tightly shut. Some doors had huge red crosses painted on them, like a small town outside the city.

Several roadblocks stood across the middle of the street, dividing it into several sections. Behind the roadblocks stood wooden watchtowers, but no one was on them.

Lynn donned an invisibility cloak, his figure fading into the air until he completely disappeared.

Chapter 125 The City Lord's Manor

Lynn stepped out of the alley, his boots landing silently on the stone pavement.

On both sides of the street, the lampposts that should have been hanging with kerosene lamps have all been replaced with strange crystal pillars that emit a dark purple glow.

Lynn continued walking and soon came to a crossroads.

The road was blocked by a barricade about half a person's height, made of rough black iron and covered with dark purple runes of the same origin as those on the lampposts.

The runes flickered slightly, emanating a chilling magical aura.

Lynn tentatively reached out his hand, his fingertips stopping just before touching the roadblock.

He could clearly feel a cold, aggressive force lurking above him.

If any unauthorized creature were to cross the border, it would likely trigger an alarm immediately and could even be attacked.

He continued his stealthy walk along the street, the heaviness in his heart growing stronger.

Soon, a strange building came into his view.

It was a three-story stone building that looked like it used to be a hotel, but now all the doors and windows were sealed with thick iron sheets, leaving only a few narrow gaps at about the height of a person.

Lynn stopped and listened intently.

There was no sound inside; it was deathly still.

He approached silently and peered inside through one of the gaps.

When Lynn saw what was inside, his breath caught in his throat for a moment.

The interior of the building was completely opened up, and the dimly lit space was packed with people.

Men, women, young and old, dressed in various styles, but they were like soulless puppets, motionless, letting the people around them squeeze them.

On their bare wrists was a dark purple rune, identical to those on roadblocks and lampposts, which flickered slightly at a fixed frequency.

These people are kept here like livestock to be slaughtered.

Lynn's gaze swept over the empty faces, finally settling on the building's exterior wall. A huge number, "147," was hastily painted on the wall in black paint.

He silently stepped back and continued walking forward.

Not long after, he saw a second building that was sealed off with sheet metal.

On the exterior wall, the number is "148".

The third building, "149".

Several streets in a row were lined with buildings like this.

Lynn stopped and stood in the middle of an empty street, looking around.

He quickly estimated in his mind that there were at least three or four such buildings on the street, and each building held at least a hundred people.

Within his sight, there were more than ten such streets in the entire urban area.

The number of civilians detained is at least several thousand, and possibly even tens of thousands.

Just then, a series of orderly footsteps came from the street corner.

Lynn immediately slipped to the side of the road.

A patrol of six men appeared from around the corner. They were dressed in uniform black leather armor, carrying spears, and marched straight along the center line of the street without looking to the side.

Lynn immediately used the [Appraisal] spell on them.

The leader was the highest level, level 38, while the other five were between level 25 and 32.

Their strength isn't particularly great; at least for Lynn right now, dealing with them wouldn't take much effort.

However, just as the patrol passed by him, a strong sense of being watched came from above.

He subconsciously raised his head.

On the edge of the rooftop of the building opposite, a figure in black robes crouched silently, his figure completely blending into the night. If it weren't for his undisguised malice, he would be almost undetectable.

[Order Enforcers]

[Level: 45]

[Class: Shadow Assassin]

Lynn's heart sank.

He immediately turned his gaze in another direction.

Sure enough, every two blocks up high, there was a similar figure in black robes.

Their levels were all above 45, forming a surveillance network covering the city.

These patrol teams are merely the hunting dogs that are openly driven away and deterred, while the law enforcement officers hidden in the shadows are the real killers.

Anyone who dares to resist or run away will likely be silently eliminated by these law enforcement officers from above before the patrol team is alerted.

He looked away and waited quietly for the patrol to walk away.

Now he finally understood why Nora's resistance could only hide underground.

Faced with such a robust prevention and control system, any ground-based activity would be tantamount to suicide.

But avoiding the patrol routes and circumventing the blind spots of law enforcement was not difficult for Lynn, who possessed an invisibility cloak, and he quickly infiltrated the Cathedral of the Holy Song.

The church was empty. He climbed the winding stone stairs and finally pushed open the small door leading to the top of the bell tower.

A cool breeze swept over me.

Lynn stood on the terrace of the clock tower, looking down.

In that instant, he seemed to see a corner of hell.

The city's central square has been completely razed to the ground.

A colossal obelisk, beyond imagination, stands in the center of the square.

It is at least thirty meters tall, entirely black, and its surface is covered with countless dark purple veins.

Those veins, like the blood vessels of a living creature, were pulsating slowly at an eerie frequency, and with each pulsation, the entire obelisk emitted an ominous purple light.

At the very top of the monument, an unstable spatial rift floats.

Tiny, dark purple specks of light kept falling from the edge of the crack, being absorbed by the monument, and then spreading to the ground along those vein-like structures.

Centered around the obelisk, hundreds of black iron cages are densely packed throughout the square.

Each cage contained one or more civilians.

At the bottom of each iron cage, an "umbilical cord" made of dark purple energy extends, deeply rooted in the base of the obelisk.

Those "umbilical cords" were also pulsating slowly. With each pulsation, the person in the cage would let out a muffled groan and their body would twitch.

This is the altar of the living that Nora spoke of.

Lynn's gaze slowly moved upwards, finally landing on a high platform directly in front of the obelisk.

Four figures stood on the high platform.

The person in the center, dressed in a black robe, was thin and had his back to the bell tower. He was looking up at the spatial rift at the top of the monument.

Lynn used the [Appraisal] spell on him.

The next second, only one line of blood-red text popped up on his panel.

Title: Abyss Bishop Karthus

【grade:???】

【Profession:???】

[Sanity Value: ???]

It's all question marks.

To be honest, this was entirely within Lynn's expectations.

Lynn shifted his gaze from the bishop to the three people beside him.

Those were three priests, all dressed in black robes.

[Abyss Priest Level: 57]

[Abyss Priest Level: 61]

[Abyss Priest Level: ???]

Another question mark.

Lynn frowned.

Without using the Temple Guardians, he wouldn't even be qualified to approach the plaza, let alone fight against them.

Even if you summon a level 79 temple guard, can you deal with that abyss bishop?

Lynn dared not think any further.

He forced himself to calm down and refocused his attention on the obelisk.

He carefully observed the spatial rift at the top of the monument and soon discovered new suspicious points.

That rift, rather than being an outlet for the power of the abyss, was more like... a "door" being forcibly opened from the other side by brute force.

The edges of the crack were expanding and contracting in a regular pattern, as if some enormous creature was pressing down on the barriers of the real world from the other side of the door.

Lynn immediately thought of the Gates of Hell atop Mount Nikolay.

That time, the cultists used the life force of dozens of babies as a sacrifice to barely open a crack.

And here... the cult used the life force of the entire city, thousands or even tens of thousands of people.

What exactly are they trying to summon?

Anna's earlier judgment was correct; the cult was conducting a high-level summoning ritual, but the terrifying nature of the being summoned was probably far beyond her imagination.

They must be stopped.

Lynn's mind raced.

The Abyss Bishop's attention was now entirely focused on the ceremony in the central square.

Would the defenses of the city lord's manor, which has been transformed into the core of the altar, be extremely weak at this moment?

Go there, and you might find detailed information about the ritual, their weaknesses, and even... a way to stop it.

Lynn made a quick decision in her mind.

He took one last look at the obelisk that was devouring countless lives, then turned and disappeared into the shadows on the other side of the clock tower without any further hesitation.

Chapter 126 Barefoot Loli

When Lynn sneaked into the city lord's manor, his first feeling was one of unease.