Chapter 412 – Subordinate Lord

“These statues are merely used to deceive the ignorant common folk, though the statue in the old Minotaur Shaman’s hands is genuine Magic Equipment.”

Through the faint sunlight, Punk levitated a small fragment as dark as ink in his palm. Under the intense light, this tiny piece showed a tendency toward semi-transparency. Using the “Arcane Sight” spell, Punk could vaguely see crisscrossing crimson energy circuits inside.

The energy circuits retained clear traces of Abyssal energy. Had the statue not been too fragile and shattered into pieces, Punk was confident he could have restored the entire core of the solidified magic.

Even with just this fragment for analysis, Punk largely understood the statue’s operational principle.

Connecting to a Sub-Lord through the statue and channeling Abyssal energy wasn’t particularly difficult. As long as a Sub-Lord was willing to expend Abyssal energy and someone activated an energy transmission array, this energy could be transmitted unimpeded to the prime material plane without exceeding the upper limit (Legendary). This principle also applied to substances from the Abyss, such as demon flesh. When creating Flesh Golems, Punk had once brought a cage of low-level demons from the Abyss.

It now appeared the Minotaur Shaman’s statue operated on the same principle, except the energy transmission array was solidified onto the Magic Equipment. Once the solidified spell was activated, an energy channel connecting to the Abyss could be opened.

As for why a Sub-Lord would infiltrate power from the Abyss to “ants” who hadn’t even reached Legendary status…

At this thought, Punk recalled the Minotaur Shaman’s constant roaring:

“Your souls all belong to me! I shall offer you to my master, who will grant me supreme appreciation.”

“Sacrifice? No, this is simply pure enticement.”

Casually discarding the now-valueless statue fragment, a contemptuous smile curled at the corner of Punk’s lips.

The truth was now clear before Punk. The Minotaur Shaman placed souls at the entrance of the energy transmission circuit, while the exit led to a Sub-Lord’s domain in the Abyss. Detecting delicious souls at the entrance, the Abyss Lord would attempt to extend Abyssal energy to devour them. And since demons never understood the importance of conserving energy or efficient utilization, the Abyssal energy it invested would inevitably leak. Part of this energy would disperse through the energy circuits onto the statue, and these utterly insignificant amounts of energy—from a Sub-Lord’s perspective—were more than enough to astonish ignorant Master-Level powerhouses.

Thus, an energy theft operation requiring no direct confrontation with a Sub-Lord was successfully completed. Perhaps the statue’s creator knew the entire process’s true nature, but it was hardly surprising that ignorant users would mistake this leaked energy for so-called “blessings.”At this point, Punk had fully understood the true method by which the Minotaur Shaman utilized Abyssal energy. Frankly speaking, this approach wasn’t particularly sophisticated—theoretically, Punk could even craft a statue himself. The only challenges lay in locating an Abyss Lord and convincing a bunch of fools to believe that such a bizarre object was some kind of demon god’s blessing.

In fact, Punk could tell that such a statue was definitely not something a lowly Minotaur Shaman could create. Its creator was undoubtedly someone else, and this likely involved layer upon layer of mysteries. Even the entire Raging Wave Sand Sea might be entangled in it.

But Punk had no interest in meddling with these affairs. His sole objective was to kill Ovakain, nothing more. As long as this nonsensical Cult didn’t get in his way, Punk was perfectly content to ignore its existence entirely.

Of course, that might be wishful thinking. Punk had already killed a core member of their Cult and slaughtered a sizable Goat-headed Tribe. The possibility of both sides going their separate ways without conflict was now slim. Thinking this, Punk felt a headache coming on. He could sense how troublesome this Cult was, and Ovakain would undoubtedly sense it too. Punk could already imagine the black dragon using this Cult to cause him trouble.

“What a nuisance. It’s best to pursue quickly while this Cult hasn’t fully reacted. Otherwise… if this Church is full of trigger-happy fanatics, it’ll be impossible to make any progress.”

With that thought, Punk expressionlessly kicked aside the hill-like pile of statues and began preparing the “Super Swiftness” spell. He could sense that Ovakain had stopped moving again for some reason—a perfect opportunity to begin the chase.

However… before continuing this pursuit, there was one tactless individual who needed to be dealt with.

“Hey hey, Cyan, my old friend! Why are you in such a hurry to leave? You have no idea how much I’ve missed you after over five hundred years apart. Look, there’s still some warmth in the flames among these ruins—why don’t we have a campfire chat right here? I’m hungry after all that fighting, and… I found some great stuff!”

Whether genuinely carefree or with ulterior motives, Kane completely ignored Punk’s disdainful gaze as he pulled a large slab of cured meat from his Storage Bracelet. Judging by the generous coating of salt and spices, it must have been looted from one of the wealthier households in the Goat-headed Tribe.

“Ta-da! Desert-style cured meat! I’ve always heard that Goat-headed Tribe’s cured meat is the most delicious. Having wiped out an entire tribe, it’d be such a waste not to sample their famous cured meat!”

Bathed in the reflective glow of his golden armor, Kane hugging the massive piece of meat created a rather peculiar comical image. The seemingly sunny and cheerful smile on his face added an especially eerie quality to the gleaming knight.However, after hearing Kane’s obviously unnatural proposal, Punk, who had already grown impatient, turned around without a word and immediately hurled a warning “Velocity Kinetic Cone” at him. At the same time, Punk’s chilling voice emerged from the shadows beneath his mage hood:

“So you do have an ulterior motive. Do you want to stay in these ruins waiting for this Cult to arrive and launch their retaliation? Or are you waiting for the Benevolent God Church to come here and investigate? You even want to use your ‘old friend’ as a pawn? Kane, after hundreds of years apart, you’ve truly grown greedier!”

(End of Chapter)