In the ruins that was filled with seawater and was half fused with the spirit world, Klein stood at the door of the central hall, wearing full body black armor. Inside was the the gigantic blue serpent's body that was being mutilated for food and the old priest with his bulging stomach.
The latter's skin was a grayish-black, as though it had become dessicated from prolonged exposure to the wind. His eyes flickered with an azure-blue glow as he stared intently at the "guest" who wore a black crown, as though he was considering where he should start his meal from.
Without any hesitation, Klein reached into his body with his right hand and took out a brown translucent bottle.
Then, he stretched out his left palm and quickly unscrewed the lid before casually flinging the Biological Poison Bottle to a corner of the hall.
In this environment, which was half submerged under the sea, other than Fire of Light which could consume the undead and evil, no other flames could exist; thus, it also limited two important powers of Klein's Magician Sequence. Therefore, he could only push his other advantages to the limit right from the very beginning.
At the same time as when he threw out the Biological Poison Bottle, Klein's left glove quickly became resplendent, as if he was reflecting the light of the noon sun.
Around his body, the undulating seawater was stained with a golden color as it spread outwards, layer after layer.
This was the Priest of Light's power from the Creeping Hunger, Light of Purification!
The old priest who had eaten part of Sea God Kalvetua's body was certainly not civilized and polite enough to just watch Klein prepare for battle in a chivalrous manner. The blue light in his eyes suddenly bloomed, and his bloated belly once again swelled.
Howl!
An ethereal, yet mournful sound came from his body, instantly covering the entire ruins.
This voice was like the song of a nightingale, beautiful and also melodious at the same time. It was also cold and bonepiercing, one that penetrated right to the soul.
Klein was frozen in place. Similarly, all his thoughts seemed like they had been blasted by extremely cold waves and instantly froze.
The old priest's body swelled up in an instant, as if he was a resurrected Kalvetua or a giant that had walked out of a mythical legend.
One after another, blue slippery tentacles, all surrounded by silver lightning, emerged from under his ripped robe. They shot out and danced in the air, striking the stunned Klein.
Sizzle!
With a burst of silver light, Klein was sent flying before falling heavily at the doorway. The black armor on his body dimmed instantly and cracked, and he had subconsciously thrown the cane in his hand far away.
His mind remained abnormally calm. In a situation where he was almost frozen, he didn't even have the thought of using Paper Figurine Substitutes and had ended up taking on the blow head-on.
If it weren't for the Dark Emperor card and Azik's copper whistle which were simultaneously reinforcing his Spirit Body, with him essentially being a Sequence 6, he would've been seriously injured and even killed instantly.
The tentacles surged over again and struck down.
Klein, who was jolted awake by the electricity, agilely somersaulted away, barely dodging the attack.
He glanced at the man's body. He turned around immediately and ran out the door without any hesitation. It was a determined and decisive action.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
As Klein ran and flew as though he was pathetically fleeing for his life, the old priest's silver-lightning enshrouded blue tentacles were chasing him from behind in a bid to pull him back into the hall, but Klein would nimbly change direction, dodging with his agile movements and timely somersaults.
Seeing that things weren't going as he wished, the old priest's belly expanded once again, and his cold voice resounded in the ruins.
But this time, Klein was prepared. Although his body remained stiff and bogged down, it was soaked by the seawater before turning into a pile of soggy paper.
At last, the old priest moved. With heavy but swift steps, he attempted to catch up to his enemy.
The colossal figure rushed to the door, and the colossal figure slammed onto the collapsed roof and wall with a bang!
The door here was originally large enough for a creature like Kalvetua to pass through, but the collapse of the ruins and the madness of this Sea God before its death had caused the place to collapse. The collapsed rubble left the door with an opening that was two meters tall and one meter wide. As for the old priest whose mind was clearly abnormal, he had slammed right into it, causing him to be stuck.
Klein, who had been waiting for this opportunity, stopped and turned around.
He half-closed his eyes, straightened his back, and spread open his arms.
A beam of golden light descended from the sky, pounding the old priest's body directly.
Patches of his robe that hung over his body had ignited, and his grayish-black skin and flesh fell to the ground in chunks, melting and evaporating under the pure radiance.
It was only then that Klein made out what the oddity in the old priest's belly was.
The swelling was intense, especially in several areas, forming the complete outline of two eyes and a mouth.
It was as if there was someone hiding inside the old priest's stomach, putting their face there in an attempt to escape.
Bang!
The old priest exerted strength with his legs which were covered by the black serpent skin, causing him to be thrown backwards from the collapsed door. Rocks were sent flying and the seawater surged.
He finally broke away from the pillar of light, but most of his body was covered in hideous wounds caused by the collapse of his flesh. Even his "face" was filled with signs of melting.
Tap! Tap! Tap! The old priest's blue tentacles flailed in the air, bringing with them silver lightning as they lashed at Klein from all directions. The "face" at his abdomen would occasionally make a sound that made the Spirit Body quieten down.
Klein engaged in either running, somersaulting, circling, or calmly twirling around with his opponent. He would go in the opposite direction when his opponent headed in one, just like a wild dance between two people.
During this process, he relied on Paper Figurine Substitutes to withstand the ethereal, yet cold shrieking again and again. Occasionally, he would let out a roar and use a Wraith's shriek to agitate the old priest, forcefully interrupting the "face" in his abdomen from producing any sounds.
Time passed, second by second, and the crazy, old priest who had been keeping his hands down, suddenly raised them and pressed them against his stomach.
He pulled with his arm, forcefully tearing the silhouette of the mouth into a gash.
Blue pus gushed out of it as a dense array of sharp teeth grew out.
With another roar, the seawater around him gushed towards the mouth, forming the terrifying whirlpool that Kalvetua had previously created.
Klein, who was dressed as the Dark Emperor, was sucked in, and the lightning tentacles around him were retracted, about to embrace him.
Klein didn't panic, and the glove on his left palm quickly transformed, looking as if it was made of pure gold.
While floating in midair, he stared at the "face" on the old priest's abdomen and the seawater whirlpool below him. His eyes suddenly flashed with two bolts of lightning.
Interrogator's Psychic Piercing!
The old priest suddenly froze as the "face" in his abdomen wrinkled, and the terrifying suction force from the whirlpool instantly collapsed.
In the waves that were rushing backwards, Klein lowered his body and swam through the weak spots like a fish, dodging the random flailing of the blue tentacles.
He rushed to the old priest's side amidst the constantly flashing silver lightning, and at some point in time, the color of his gloves had changed to a pale green.
The muscles on Klein's back bulged as he threw out two punches, striking the old priest's thigh in the vicinity of his knee. Bang! Bang! Bang!
Flesh and blood splattered from the cold-emitting punches. His right leg was covered in a thin layer of frost, and the surrounding seawater was completely frozen.
This was a Zombie's control over ice!
As the old priest cried out in pain, he retracted his whip-like tentacles, illuminating the entire ruin with silvery light.
At that moment, Klein wasn't greedy and stopped just in time. He continuously somersaulted backwards, avoiding the crazy attack that scorched the stone slabs on the ground.
He stood up, and while the old priest was still frozen in place, the glove on his left palm once again glowed with the color of the sun.
Klein straightened up and took a pose of praising the sun.
A thick, bright, and holy pillar of light descended once more, enveloping the old priest in it
Klein saw the grayish-black flesh of his enemy quickly disintegrate. The skin of the "face" on his enemy's abdomen melted, revealing the situation inside—inside the old priest's abdomen, the heart, stomach, intestines, and other organs were mashed together, forming the face of a sea serpent
Kalvetua actually still has a little of its soul left... The will of a demigod is truly beyond my imagination... Klein somersaulted again, dodging the blue tentacle that thrust at him like a spear.
Wrapped with lightning, the tentacles, which had been melted away by the pillar of holy light, stabbed into the ground, twitching, twisting, and squirming.
The bright and clear light quickly disappeared, and the sinister serpent's face on the old priest's abdomen stubbornly opened its mouth once again.
At that moment, the old priest himself had bent his waist and let out a fit of violent coughs. The effort on the serpent's face came to an abrupt halt.
The Biological Poison Bottle had finally shown its effects!
Klein didn't miss the opportunity. He stood up straight again and spread his arms out as though he was hugging the sun.
A pillar of light with many golden flames illuminated the area. The old priest's figure first bent before shrinking, as if evaporating into thin air. The serpent face at his abdomen let out a shrill cry before completely vanishing.
By the time the light dissipated, the old priest had returned to his original size. His bones had almost melted, with pieces of grayish-black flesh still hanging from his body.
His aura quickly dimmed as his spirit rapidly disintegrated.
Klein rushed over and, relying on his state as a wraith, began to channel his spirit.
He wanted to confirm if the old priest was guilty of heinous crimes.
He felt that he needed to maintain his bottom line, which was something he wished for and a precaution against corruption and madness.
All of a sudden, he saw images of the old priest presiding over the living sacrificial rituals.
Without hesitation, Klein reached out with his left hand to let the long-starved glove taste a delicacy.
Flesh, blood, spirituality, and bone quickly surged into the gaping mouth of his palm, along with specks of blue light that came with some darkness.
During the spirit channeling, Klein confirmed that the old priest was previously a Soul Assurer. His potion formula and Beyonder ingredients all came from the Church of the God of Combat from the Feysac Empire. And by the time he became a Sea God Guard, he had already lost his mind and could only obey orders. After the death of Kalvetua, he had followed his instincts and eaten the flesh and blood of the deity he believed in, and in the end, the conflicting characteristics turned him into a monster.
Just as Creeping Hunger was satiated, all the Beyonder characteristics on the ground suddenly stirred, turning into a hurricane and sweeping into the hall before plunging into the white fang that was no longer curved.
When Klein looked over, he saw that Kalvetua's remnant corpse had completely collapsed into something that resembled mud. As for the serpent fang which had absorbed all the Beyonder characteristics of the area, it had become a short scepter, quietly embedded in a half-collapsed pillar.
On the tip of the white scepter, there were many tiny blue 'gems' embedded there. Some of them dyed in black and others with the light of dawn.
Seeing that Creeping Hunger was satiated, Klein rushed into the hall, cautiously approaching the scepter.
Before he really came into contact with the scepter, he heard layers of illusory prayers ringing in his ears, and he saw illusions. He saw worshipers prostrating and praying, as well as members of the Resistance crying over the shattered statues of their god.