Even a fallen god, so long as enough of its faithful still remember its true name and recite it day and night, will one day return from the astral plane and reclaim its divine glory!
Right now, under the frenzied prayers of the remaining faithful, a strange flame seemed to surge through the entire altar. Masses of flesh fused together, and upon the numerous twisted faces, expressions of agony surfaced.
"Our Lord! Lord of the Poison Scorpion — Chestaburt!" "Chestaburt!!!"
The faithful once again began chanting the name of the Lord of the Poison Scorpion.
"Chestaburt! Chestaburt!" Soon, amid wave after wave of sound, the twisted faces surrounding the altar began calling out the Lord of the Poison Scorpion's name as well.
Under a bizarre, pulling force, a vague, spectral will had begun to descend upon this place.
"My Lord… awaken!" Shelif's hands and feet had begun to tremble faintly, overwhelmed with excitement.
"The false god's ritual has begun! Stop him!"
Under Romis's leadership, two temple elite squads had already reached the foot of the castle, with a large garrison force following behind.
"A dead false god must never be allowed to be reborn and resurrected!"
Romis drew the ice-blue longsword from his waist, and a surge of frost and snow immediately spread outward.
"All high-rank professionals and above, follow me! The rest — attack and take this castle!"
No matter how sturdy or towering a castle might be, without the defenses of high-rank wizards, it was nothing but a joke before these high-rank professionals.
As he charged to the base of the castle, Romis's entire body was enveloped in intense combat qi.
Then he leaped!
Whoosh! In an instant, he crossed a distance of over ten meters and landed directly atop the battlements.
"Kill him!"
At a frantic, exasperated shout, numerous warriors clad in black gauze robes surged forward to surround him.
"Hmph! Overestimating yourselves!"
Romis gave a cold snort as white snowflakes danced outward in every direction.
Crack! Crack! Amid the blizzard, every false god's disciple who had surrounded him was transformed into a crystalline ice sculpture.
"You must be the baron here?"
He instantly crossed past these obstacles and arrived before a man wearing nobleman's attire, holding a scepter marked with a scorpion emblem.
"Henchman of a false god!"
The baron's eyes seemed to spew flames as he charged forward, brandishing his scepter.
"No signs of mental magic or loss of reason!" Romis shook his head. "A true sinner! A disciple of a false god! Face your judgment!"
A flash of blue light, and his longsword pierced straight through the baron's chest. The baron stared at his own chest in disbelief, a whimper escaping his lips.
"Hmph! You thought your noble status could still serve as your shield? Naïve!"
Romis remarked coolly, but when he turned to look toward the center of the castle, his brow furrowed with gravity.
There, horrifying evil energy had converged and formed a terrifying vortex.
"Chestaburt! Chestaburt!" "You are the Lord of Slaughter, your left hand grips the World-Destroying Hammer, your right hand holds the Scroll of Judgment. All enemies shall be reduced to pulp of flesh and blood in your hands. You are the final sanctuary of our souls. I am willing to…"
The faithful continued their prayers ceaselessly. Even the faces beneath the altar were eerily chanting Chestaburt's name.
Streams of blood-tinged faith energy flowed along the altar to its apex — into that throne of white bone.
Crimson radiance enveloped the youth Rica, constantly burrowing into him through his pores, wringing agonized screams from the boy.
His aura grew ever stronger. Bulging, writhing sacs even appeared beneath his skin, rolling and shifting as though something hidden within was ready to burst out of his body.
Unfortunately, the infusion of power seemed to be swallowed by a bottomless pit within his body, preventing the great will from fully descending.
"The faithful are still too few. Even with the flesh-and-blood formation added, and the souls of twenty thousand sacrificed, it's still not enough for my Lord's needs…"
Shelif murmured, then looked toward the battlements.
"Have they already broken through? Given my defenses, they must have sent at least a Legendary-level powerhouse!"
"It seems… I have no choice but to use this…" Shelif gazed at the diamond-shaped golden crystal in his hand.
A gift from the Great Serpent Church, but Shelif had never wanted to use it unless absolutely necessary.
That Great Serpent wizard was no simple character. His gifts surely harbored some unknown danger.
Alas, things had progressed to the point where Shelif no longer had the luxury of choice.
"My Lord! Guide my path!"
Shelif made one final prayer. The look in his eyes turned resolute as he hurled the diamond-shaped crystal onto the altar.
BOOM!
The instant the golden crystal touched the altar, a violent reaction erupted. Terrifying faith energy and divine power were released, and the formation's operating speed surged dozens of times over — even a hundredfold!
A mass of blood-red flames ignited instantly at the base of the altar, melting all the flesh and forming the same crimson energy as before, layer by layer surging upward.
"AAAARGH!!!" Inside the cage, Rica's screams became more than ten times shriller, and his body swelled grotesquely, instantly ballooning into a bloated figure.
"My Lord Chestaburt! Rise again!!!"
Shelif's face twisted into a ferocious grimace as he unleashed one final roar.
RUMBLE!
The ground shuddered violently. The entire altar had become a torch, its terrifying energy pouring entirely into the throne of white bone.
CRACK!
The cage upon the white bone throne exploded, revealing Rica within.
His body had grotesquely swollen to several times its size, every inch of skin distended by the crimson energy.
CRACK!
Suddenly, his body was torn apart, as if a terrible explosion had occurred from within.
"My Lord!" Shelif wept with joy. Through the explosion, he could feel a terribly familiar will tearing through the barrier of the Nether River and descending.
In the blood-red radiance, Rica's body was completely shredded, and a middle-aged man walked out from within.
"My name is Chestaburt! Lord of the Poison Scorpion! Master of Slaughter!!!!"
With a wave of his hand, a torrent of black energy instantly coalesced into a black robe and draped itself over his body. He opened his blood-red eyes and roared to the world: "Heim! I have returned! This time, I will not fail again!!!"
"Damn it! We're too late!!!"
Romis and Lafinia had just arrived when they witnessed this shocking scene.
"To be reborn from one's own bloodline, using the lives of one's descendants as nourishment — what an evil false god!!!!"
Lafinia was beside herself with fury. She drew her longsword in a flash, and a sacred radiance soared into the sky.
"I will purify you!"
The radiant cross-shaped longsword blazed with dazzling light, carrying a desperate battle cry as it hurtled toward the reborn Chestaburt.
"A Legendary Paladin? One of
A flicker of wariness crossed Chestaburt's blood-red eyes, but madness dominated.
He thrust his right finger forward, and a terrible explosion collided with the holy cross-sword. Terrifying ripples of force spread outward in all directions.
— Meteor Burst!
"Anyone who stands in my way will die!"
Chestaburt declared, and layers of summoning light flickered to life around his body.
— Ninth-level Otherworld Summoning!
"Chitter! Chitter! Chitter!"
Countless roaring scorpion-shaped monsters poured through the portal. The sheer numbers made Lafinia and Romis's expressions shift repeatedly.
"We're pulling back!"
Romis's expression changed again and again before he finally gritted his teeth and made the call.
Lafinia's lips moved, but she voiced no objection.
The situation was painfully clear. Their side had only two Legendary powerhouses, while the enemy was a Demigod — they were not even in the same league.
With the mission a failure, preserving their strength had become the top priority.
"Go! I'll take full responsibility!"
His blue longsword radiated frost, forming numerous ice walls that blocked the scorpion monsters' advance, as Romis roared to those behind him.
Lafinia led the others back to the battlements in short order.
From here, they could see that a dark red cloud had formed around the altar with Chestaburt at its center. Massive amounts of blood-colored cloud gathered in a funnel shape, converging upon that false god, and the terrifying aura coalesced into the shape of a ferocious scorpion demon.
"None of you… shall escape!"
The horrifying scorpion phantom charged straight after them, while the countless scorpion monsters on the ground roared and began forming a loose encirclement.
"My faithful, there is no need for fear, no need for confusion…"
At that moment, a gentle voice suddenly rang out around them, carrying a strange power to soothe the heart.
"It is our Lord! Our Lord has descended!"
Romis dropped to his knees in that direction, and Lafinia bowed respectfully as well.
There, accompanied by the symbol of a vertical eye, space was torn open by invisible ripples, and the incarnation of a god emerged.
This was Heim's incarnation! The greatest power a true god could wield in the Material World!
After the failed assault on Chestaburt and the enemy's successful resurrection, Heim had finally descended in incarnation to clean up the aftermath.
His gaze first fell upon the blood-clouds and the monstrous scorpion in midair, and his expression grew solemn.
"A god intervened, clouding our divination, causing us to choose the wrong timing and allowing the enemy to successfully resurrect!"
Heim's words struck like a thunderbolt!
"Clouded? Our divination?"
Romis murmured, a deep chill rising in his heart.
His vast experience immediately told him just how terrifying this opponent was — hiding behind layers of darkness, like a venomous snake waiting for its enemy to show an opening, ready to deliver a lethal strike at any moment!