Chapter 411 – Statue

In the vast desert of the Raging Wave Sand Sea, within the massive ruins of what was once a Goat-headed Tribe settlement, nearly extinguished flames still emitted faint flickers. The temperature in this area far exceeded that of other regions, evidence of the terrifying inferno that had raged here.

At this moment, two figures stood beside a broken stone wall at the center of the ruins – likely the only living souls in this desolate place, and undoubtedly the architects of the devastating fire that had consumed these ruins.

Under the still blazing sunlight, their attire formed a striking contrast. The golden-haired man radiating sunny vibes wore full golden armor, making him stand out like a hero straight out of some chuunibyou fantasy.

Beside him, the mage exuded an aura of cold gloom. His black Mage Robe with red patterns added layers of mysterious and eerie atmosphere to his presence.

Undoubtedly, the knight between them was Kane, while the mage was Punk.

For two Master-Level powerhouses, slaughtering a Goat-headed Tribe without even a single Formal-Level enemy was absurdly simple. Even with a population of twenty to thirty thousand goat-headed people, even when they all hid in cellars dug beneath the desert – after Punk cast several “Sweeping Flames” spells, all the goat-headed beings turned to ash alongside their wooden dwellings in the blazing fire. After everything combustible in the entire tribe had been consumed, the thick aroma of roasted meat still lingered over the ruins.

“These goat-headed fools are utterly stupid. They don’t even know to flee when facing unbeatable enemies, just hiding in their cellars waiting for death. Who knows where all their supposed courage went? This makes killing them completely lacking in excitement for me.”

Playing with a Crystal Ball filled with blue specks of light, Kane shook his head while complaining about the goat-headed people failing to provide adequate entertainment. As he spoke, this knight of likely evil alignment maliciously channeled a ripple of Battle Aura into the Crystal Ball. Watching the blue specks convulse and curl into tight clusters, the cruel knight revealed a deceptively sunny smile.

“Enough. Put down those goat-headed souls and come see if you recognize these hideous statues.”

Seeing Kane idling distractedly nearby, Punk frowned and spoke with displeasure.

The two had already extracted souls from most of the goat-headed tribe members. Since the majority were ordinary beings without any professional levels, even Kane could easily extract a common creature’s soul using an Apprentice-Level magical trinket. As for Punk’s “Soul Extraction” spell, it could harvest souls in massive batches. After simultaneous slaughtering and soul harvesting, both had obtained quite satisfactory gains.However, compared to Punk’s high efficiency, Kane had only obtained about one-fifth of the Goat-headed Tribe’s souls, which undoubtedly left the seemingly carefree knight quite dissatisfied. So when he heard Punk’s question, Kane’s reply carried a noticeable edge of irritation:

“You ask what I know? I know nothing! Didn’t I already say that crazy shaman came to me on his own? Who knows which wire got crossed in these goat-heads’ brains!”

“You’re lying, Kane, and it’s a particularly clumsy lie because it’s coming from someone who’s especially bad at lying.”

Though Kane spoke without blushing or his heart racing, Punk didn’t believe a single word of his response. While it might genuinely be a coincidence, Punk thought that possibility was unlikely. It was more probable that Kane had sought out this Minotaur Shaman’s tribe for some purpose of his own.

But Kane clearly had no intention of answering Punk’s questioning. Seeing that he couldn’t brush it off, the knight who was poor at lying abruptly changed the subject:

“Can you actually discern anything from these ugly statues? The demonic style is already quite obvious. But is this really the work of a Sub-Lord? Or is someone else pulling strings behind the scenes? Honestly, I doubt whether those insane demons from the Abyss would actually engage in spreading faith. If a Sub-Lord’s intelligence has reached such levels, the multiverse would truly be in danger.”

Casually shattering a wooden sculpture with his lance, Kane watched the dark fragments scatter across the ground. His teasing tone now carried a touch of gravity. These statues had been discovered in many goat-headed households – large and small, they numbered nearly a thousand. Though they lacked the ability to channel Abyssal energy like the “Magic Equipment” statue in the Minotaur Shaman’s possession, these statues still emitted faint, eerie chaotic radiation, as if someone had coated them with Abyssal energy to make them release radiation.

It had to be admitted that Kane’s suspicion was quite reasonable. The old Minotaur Shaman’s acquisition of Abyssal energy through the sculpture clearly represented a Sub-Lord’s “bestowal,” but no matter how one looked at it, a Sub-Lord shouldn’t have any need to develop faith.

Not rushing to answer either Kane’s question or the one in his own mind, Punk curiously lifted one statue using Mage Hand. After sensing the energy fluctuations emanating from the statue for a moment, Punk lightly tapped twice on its base with his finger.

“Just as I thought!”

With the light touch of Punk’s magic-infused finger, a simple magic circle emitting faint red light appeared in a corner of the statue’s base.

“This is… an energy gathering array.”

Kane leaned in and studied it for a long while with furrowed brows before naming it, though his tone was full of uncertainty. For a standard combat professional like this knight, merely recognizing a simple magic array was surprising enough.

However… his “recognition” was actually quite incomplete. When it came to identifying Magic Equipment, Punk was the true expert.”To be precise, this should be a simplified version combining a secondary energy-gathering array and a radiation array. Likely to reduce costs, the person who inscribed it simplified this originally Apprentice-Level effective mini-array to such an extent that its current level has barely maintained Apprentice Rank. However, the trace of Abyssal energy attached to this array can still be effectively radiated outward, affecting these unfortunate ordinary ‘believers’!”

“So you’re saying… these statues have nothing to do with faith at all? They’re just energy emission devices?”

Picking up a small statue somewhat awkwardly, Kane couldn’t help but murmur to himself:

“So it’s just an Abyssal energy radiation device. Though small amounts of Abyssal energy radiation can indeed cause ordinary people to experience scattered thoughts, forget pain, and generate hallucinations. Probably these ignorant Minotaurs mistook these ‘side effects’ of Abyssal energy for some demon god’s blessing. But even so, something still doesn’t add up – what about the Minotaur Shaman’s statue? And who created these statues in the first place?”

(End of Chapter)