The story of the black silk female knight

The most cost-effective way is to jump down and consume all the chaotic divine power, but that might lead to falling into other traps and being temporarily trapped, which would put Tia in danger.

So Valensa could only swallow hard, suppressing the instinctive urge from her bloodline, and begin to condense her fire elemental power, solar divine power, and evil god power in proportion.

Blazing Evil Light Bomb!

boom!

An even larger fireball shot into the sky and exploded, completely changing the shape of the land within a radius of 100 meters. No trace of the well could be seen anymore; all that could be seen was a bowl-shaped pit more than 10 meters deep, with a stream of clear water flowing slowly at the bottom.

The chaotic divine power that had been lingering at the bottom of the well had almost dissipated, and the ferocious water mist giant wolf could no longer maintain its form, turning back into splashing water.

"It is actually a ritual derivative, its energy comes from the evil ritual at the bottom of the well, and it must be destroyed at the ritual site to be completely defeated... I see."

Tia, who had returned to Valensa's side from hundreds of meters away, glanced at the scene and immediately understood what had happened with the giant water mist wolf.

"Yes, this is also a classic evil spell... just like the evil seed we just talked about, it used to be the signature spell of a certain cult."

Valensa stared intently at the bowl-shaped crater with a grave expression:

“But unlike the Seed of Evil, the cult that used this evil magic was completely eradicated 140 years ago, according to records… That evil god has been completely cut off from this world, and this evil magic should not reappear.”

"But it did reappear...you mean?"

Tia seemed to have thought of something as well, and her expression also became serious.

"...Just what you think."

Valensa was silent for a moment before smiling wryly:

“We might have caught a big fish this time… She’s probably the only one in the world who can use Holy Light magic and is also proficient in a variety of cult secrets… I never expected that she would be hiding here after leaving America.”

"What should I do?"

Tia became a little nervous:

"Should we retreat and wait for reinforcements? Based on our speculation about her true identity, she was likely a saintess of the Church of the Sun, an absolute Moon-level powerhouse!"

"...We cannot retreat."

Valensa's expression was also very conflicted, but after a moment's hesitation, her deep blue eyes hardened with a burning determination:

"We finally found a clue to this scourge. If we retreat now, she will definitely be gone by the time reinforcements arrive... I have a feeling we can't let her plan succeed, otherwise even if we survive, we'll have to move to another planet... Many people will die. We must stop her!"

"understood."

Tia nodded, said nothing more, and simply took Valensa's hand:

"Let's go, let's meet that party leader who is probably the strongest party leader—the Sin Angel."

"Hey?"

Those once unwavering, deep blue eyes now wavered dramatically:

"Tia, you're going too? That's a Moon-level enemy, you..."

"What? You think my going would only hold you back?"

Tia snorted:

"If it were any other Moon-level enemy, I would indeed only be a hindrance to you... but have you forgotten the tricks that the Sin Angel is best at?"

Whether it's illusion or some other ability, what the Sin Angel excels at is manipulating time to play with her prey... just like that giant, colorful chicken whose time has stopped for hundreds of years.

Only time can defy time... This time, I must face it with you!

"……I see."

Sensibly, I sensed Tia's awareness and determination through the warmth of her body against my skin.

From a rational perspective, Tia's analysis is also quite reasonable.

Valensa couldn't find a reason for Tia to go back on her own, so she didn't say anything more. She simply took Tia's hand and they walked together toward the bowl-shaped pit in front of them.

Valensa didn't even glance at the surrounding pit walls... The underground of Cloud Hidden Ridge had long been dug up and plundered by adventurers, leaving little room for hiding, except for the well itself.

To be precise, it's below the well water.

Taking a deep breath, I concentrated my mental energy, imagining myself as the supreme queen, issuing commands to my slaves:

“Get out of my way!!”

As Valensa unleashed her full power as an evil goddess, even Tia beside her couldn't help but tremble, and the mere water elemental of nature dared not disobey.

Without any sign of magical manipulation, the water at the bottom of the pit seemed to be controlled by a water-skilled mage, obediently parting to the left and right to reveal the bottom.

Whoosh whoosh!

Almost simultaneously with the water parting, three long metal snakes shot out. They were the same metal anacondas that had previously ambushed Valenza underwater, only a few sizes smaller.

They seemed well aware that they were no match for Valenza, so they ignored her and all lunged at Tia.

However, Tia had anticipated the attack, and a spatial portal opened even faster in front of her, allowing the three metal snakes to dive inside and then emerge from in front of Valensa.

Brush brush brush brush!

The blade of the cross-handled lightsaber wove a laser storm as it was swung at high speed. Several long metal snakes instantly turned into sections of red-hot iron blocks, and many of them were even vaporized, unable to move anymore.

On the ground where the well water had separated, a metal gate could no longer be hidden... those three long metal snakes must be the guardians of this gate.

"...Then, let's come in."

Valensa carefully shielded Tia behind her, examined the metal gate closely, and after confirming that there was no danger, she swung her lightsaber again and cleaved the gate open.

There were no more fierce guards behind the door, only a long staircase leading into the shadows, stretching as far as the eye could see.

Valensa, having restored Rikka to its shield form, walked cautiously ahead, followed closely by Tia, wand in hand, with eight golden cards floating beside her.

The downward staircase quickly plunged into complete darkness, with no light visible, except for the echoes of their footsteps from the deepest part of the passage.

There are many ways to provide illumination, but Valensa and Tia didn't use any of them... A sudden appearance of light in the darkness would be tantamount to mocking a group of monsters, and their senses wouldn't be affected by the darkness.

Valensa learned sonic localization from Fran, which allowed her to perceive everything around her, while Tia could share this perception through linking magic... The two seemed to be walking in the darkness, but in fact, they both had maps on.

The underground area is quite large; even with Valencia's current perception capabilities, which can cover hundreds of meters, she couldn't detect the end of the stairs.

I carefully traversed the stairs for a full half hour without being attacked.

The people who built this place seem to be very confident in the camouflage and defenses at the entrance, as there are no further defensive measures along the entire staircase passage.

Of course, it's also possible that the people who built this place knew very well that anyone who could easily find the entrance and defeat the guards to get in wouldn't be stopped by any amount of defense.

Half an hour later, the narrow staircase passage, barely wide enough for two people to walk side by side, finally opened up into a very spacious underground cave, with a ceiling that was twenty or thirty meters high and covered with numerous stalactites.

The cave was filled with a constant rushing sound, as several underground water veins converged here, flowing into the pool in the center of the cave from different directions, and then flowing out from different directions.

...No, that's not right. It's no coincidence that these underground water veins converge here. Someone deliberately manipulated it using a top-tier water-based treasure.

A crystal bead belonging to a powerful member of the Shining Rank Sai Lian Clan.

The crystal beads of the Seren race are similar to the magic crystals of demons, the cores of mist demons, and the inner cores of monsters; they are the most important organs of a Seren race member.

The reason why the radical faction of the Seren tribe was so angry that they attacked human merchant ships indiscriminately was because the Seren tribe's second-in-command was not only brutally murdered, but his body was also desecrated, and his crystal beads and scales were looted, leaving him in a terrible state.

Now, another motive for the murderer's attack on the second-in-command of the Seren clan has been confirmed... In addition to framing Queen Himiko and causing chaos in the Four Islands Alliance, the main reason was to use the crystal bead's powerful water-attribute manipulation ability to build this place.

At this moment, the crystal bead shimmering with a soft blue light was suspended above the center of the pool, maintaining the entire water system's circulation with its exceptional control.

The pool was filled with Valencia's target for this trip to the Isle of Rulers—acorn kernels that had already been stripped of their flesh.

The fruit pits were covered with strange human faces that had grown naturally on them. Every face was smiling, but they didn't make people feel friendly at all; they only made their scalps tingle.

Besides the human acorn kernel, the pool also contains dozens of other ingredients, which together with the human acorn kernel form a mixed stew.

Indeed, the water in the pool remained boiling, with fresh, clear water constantly flowing into it from all around... Judging from the direction, it should have come from the summit of Snow Peak Mountain.

The wastewater, after being churned in the pool, will flow in several other directions... most likely ending up in the sea south of Chizhi Island, causing changes in the water quality there.

The final essence extracted from the continuous boiling and simmering of the entire pool of water is naturally the milky white steam, all of which is absorbed by the most conspicuous object directly above the pool.

A statue of a deity that has fallen from the cave ceiling like a stalactite.

The statue depicts a woman, but it is not the sun goddess that Valencia is most familiar with. Instead, it is a blonde woman dressed as a nun, holding a religious text and a divine emblem in her hands, in a prayer position.

The statue is made of almost completely transparent material, and you can see that there is another person inside the statue, a blonde nun who looks exactly like the statue, sleeping with her eyes closed.

However, the blonde nun did not hold any religious scriptures or divine symbols like statues; instead, there was a flickering, off-white ball of light on her chest that was gradually merging into her body.

Valensa was no stranger to this off-white ball of light... Last year in America's Poliland, she used this very thing to rescue more than 10 hostages from Savart Langdon.

False Godhead.

It's quite obvious that after Savat Landon's failure in Poliland, the Sin Angel somehow brought out the divine essence and has been hiding here planning to merge with it.

The ritual of fusing with a god requires a large amount of magical materials, as well as a sufficient flow of water to continuously carry away the heat and magical fluctuations generated during the ritual, minimizing the noise and preventing it from being discovered by the outside world.

For this purpose, the Sin Angel prepared here for more than a year, active in various adventurer villages and towns under the guise of a nun, and gradually collected the materials needed for the ritual through the adventurers.

With everything in place, she sent Ziye to kill the second-in-command of the Sailian Clan and seize the Crystal Pearl, which would serve as the core of the formation that could automatically control the water flow without human intervention. This would also allow her to frame Queen Himiko, divert the attention of the Four Islands Alliance's powerful figures, and cover up her own actions.

As for why Ziye would help the Sinful Angel... that's even easier to guess.

The cult that Ziye belonged to was destroyed by the Church of the Sun back then. Her ability to escape safely was likely due to the help of the Sin Angel, and the two had been in contact for some time.

Just as countless cults have been causing trouble throughout Fran in the past year, Ziye is just one of the many hidden pawns laid out by the Sinful Angels over the past few hundred years. It is only slightly more important, as it is tasked with obtaining the Human Acorn and the Cyren Clan Crystal Beads.

After acquiring the Serenite Crystal and the Serenite radicals began to act, the Sinful Angel probably believed that the time was ripe and thus officially began the final step of fusing with the divine essence here.

It looks like we're close to success.

There's no need to hesitate; it's never wrong to try your best to stop the enemy from doing what they want to do.

For centuries, countless cults, with the help of sinful angels, have committed numerous bloody crimes, with the number of direct or indirect victims likely approaching one million.

Although it is unknown why a saint of the Church of the Sun would turn out this way, if she were to become a false god, it would inevitably cause even greater disaster.

Therefore, the fusion of the Sin Angel and the Divine Body must be stopped immediately!

However, the ritual of fusing divine status with the Sin Angel involves too profound esoteric knowledge, which even the well-read Tia cannot understand at all, and does not know the correct way to stop it.

The witch Friggia might have known her initially, but it's clearly too late to consult her now.

Go for it!

Valensa and Tia were of one mind and performed the actions together.

Tia flashed with golden light and teleported back to the passage she had come from, simultaneously deploying three layers of magical shields in front of her to defend against the impact, and crouching down with her head in her hands.

Valensa clenched her fists and, without any fancy moves, simply concentrated her chaotic divine power and slammed it into the statue hanging upside down in mid-air with a spike-like attack.

She couldn't understand the rituals used by the Sin God at all, but that didn't matter.

Although the Sin Angel has been helping various cults for hundreds of years, she clearly does not want to become an evil god. The godhood she created is full of the aura of order, and she wants to ascend to become a false god on the side of order.

Since that's the case, Valensa poured a wave of Chaos God Power into her... The direct collision of the two God Powers, Order and Chaos, is no different from the annihilation reaction of matter and antimatter. The Blazing Evil Light Bomb's power, which is similar to that of a thermobaric bomb, relies on this principle.

Only a direct collision of these two divine powers, order and chaos, could prevent Valensa, who has the blood of an evil god, from controlling even a tiny point after so much training; it would explode as soon as she tried to knead it in her hand.

Both of them were prepared for the impact of a massive explosion, but the explosion did not occur.

Just as Valensa's fist was about to strike the upside-down statue, the eerie feeling she had when she first encountered the Sin Angel reappeared.

Everything is still; it is conscious and can think, but it cannot move a single finger.

The fist, brimming with chaotic divine power, stopped in front of the statue. Valensa herself remained suspended in mid-air, still in the position of leaping and throwing a punch. She could only watch helplessly as the statue became more and more transparent, eventually turning into a liquid-like entity that was absorbed by the divine essence. Then, like the setting sun, the divine essence merged into the golden-haired nun's chest.

The blonde nun, who had been sleeping, opened her eyes, her gaze filled with annoyance at being disturbed.

'It's you again!'

The blonde nun didn't speak, but Valensa understood the meaning in her eyes... Then a finger poked Valensa's fist, which was filled with chaotic divine power, and the fingertip shone with a creamy white light.

broken.

Valensa immediately understood the blonde nun's—the angel of sin's—plan.

Just as Valensa intended to inject chaotic divine power into the idol to destroy it and the ritual, now the Sin Angel intends to in turn inject orderly divine power into Valensa's body, causing an explosion to occur on her.

Unfortunately, Valensa was also controlled by a strange ability that resembled time stop. Her mind was clear, but she couldn't move a single finger and could only watch helplessly as the divine power of order gradually solidified.

What will happen next?

The divine power of order forcibly entered his body, reacting with the divine power of chaos in a huge explosion, blasting him away.

brush!

Just as Valensa was bracing herself for being blasted by the Sinful Angel, a flash of golden magical light appeared, and the explosion did not occur.

Valenza vanished from the spot, only to be pulled to Tia's side by a spatial link, thus avoiding the Sinful Angel's finger.