Chapter 94 – Crazy Believers

Just as the devotees finished their prayers and were about to rise and disperse, a table tennis ball-sized pale white energy sphere silently rolled to the center of the inner chamber. Accompanied by flickering white light, the sphere slowly vanished, leaving the inner chamber as deathly silent as if nothing had happened… Yet some of the more powerful devotees could clearly sense that an unknown energy had enveloped this sizable area in an instant!

Simultaneously, with a dull explosion, a figure clad in gray robes soared over the devotees’ heads. This impossibly fast figure landed steadily right before the innermost iron door, its towering body completely blocking the passage that was originally only wide enough for one person!

Faced with such an unexpected situation, ordinary people would typically panic, especially since the mysterious sphere that exploded in the inner chamber clearly carried the aura of a Formal-Level spell. Any knowledgeable professional would understand the strength of the attacking enemy, realizing that a group of Apprentice-Level “cannon fodder” like themselves stood no chance of resistance.

Anticipating that agile devotees might scatter and flee, Punk immediately began preparing his next spell after Golem Number One blocked the iron door, aiming to prevent anyone from escaping the Silence Field’s range.

Apprentice-Level Evocation Spell—Earth Barrier: Creates a circle of stone barriers on the ground to surround enemies within!

In truth, although Punk wanted to keep captives for interrogation, he didn’t know any large-scale Formal-Level binding spells. Thus, he had to resort to an Apprentice-Level spell as an emergency measure. With his refined Formal-Level mana, even an Apprentice-Level spell would be impossible for these half-human, half-spider monsters to break through easily! Using an “Earth Barrier” to trap this group of caught-off-guard devotees was more than sufficient!

In less than a second, Punk had completed the spell model. Now, no matter how fast those creatures ran, they wouldn’t have a chance to leave the Silence Field and alert others!

However, faced with this sudden powerful enemy, the devotees’ behavior was extraordinarily bizarre. Not only did they show no signs of fleeing, but their faces also displayed not a trace of panic. On the contrary, their expressions shifted almost instantly from dull numbness to an uncontrollable, frenzied joy—as if a poor man had stumbled upon piles of gold and silver, becoming feverishly excited and impatient!

“Haha, the enemy foretold by the High Priest has arrived! It’s time to offer everything we have to the great Queen Tisha Xia’er…”

“In the eyes of Goddess Tisha Xia’er, no one can conceal anything!”

“The time has come, the time has come, it’s finally here…”

“Salvation, I too can finally welcome salvation! I am willing to offer everything—my life, my soul…”

Instead of showing any defense or alarm against Punk’s assault, these devotees loudly praised their so-called “one true god, Tisha Xia’er,” with some even weeping uncontrollably in their fervor.At the same time, the souls of these believers began to exhibit severe instability, with blood gushing violently from their mouths and noses. Their roughly “stitched” spider lower bodies twisted and struggled uncontrollably, the immense force even causing the sutures connecting their human torsos to the spider abdomens to snap one by one.

Soon, all the believers were drenched in blood flowing from their bodies. Yet not only did they ignore their injuries, some even remained kneeling on the ground, continuously thanking “Goddess Tisha Xia’er” for her salvation.

Punk stared dumbfounded as these fifty-plus believers’ bodies split open within mere seconds, organs splattering everywhere while massive amounts of blood converged into streams on the floor.

Punk immediately realized the situation had exceeded his expectations. Though the enemies’ transformation appeared to be mere fanatics engaging in frenzied self-mutilation, he detected a faint sense of danger permeating the inner chamber that had become a “dismembered corpse” ground.

Although Punk recognized the believers seemed to be sacrificing themselves to unleash some desperate final move, and he urgently wanted to interrupt their bloody, bizarre “ritual,” he happened to be holding a freshly prepared Apprentice-Level spell. By the time he dispersed this now-useless magic, the fanatics’ ritual had reached its final stage!

The believers’ bodies had completely fragmented into scattered flesh, their spider halves dissolving into green pus that mingled with the meat chunks. Their souls erupted with intensely bright red light, rapidly swirling around the strange spider statue to form a whirling soul vortex!

Large clumps of flesh from the floor flew into the vortex’s center until every last drop of blood and flesh had merged into a hovering sphere. The surrounding souls then cheered excitedly before plunging into this flesh orb!

After the last soul vanished into the meat sphere with a grotesque expression, the now crimson sphere slowly grew sharp segmented limbs and a smaller spider head. Eight of the most devout souls formed the spider’s eight eyes with fanatical fervor. As the spider fully took shape, a layer of dark green pus solidified into its carapace, through which one could clearly see excited faces writhing and swimming about.

The entire process lasted merely five seconds. Like a Transformer’s shift, though complex, it completed with astonishing speed. By the time the dark green spider fully formed, Punk – who had just dispersed his spell – had no opportunity to intervene.

However… weren’t these believers’ actions too synchronized? Their reactions too swift? Their self-sacrifice too resolute?

Choosing not to immediately attack the monster, Punk quickly retreated to create distance. While carefully observing the creature’s features, he began analyzing the peculiarities he had witnessed.With the Formal-Level thought process operating at high speed under the System’s assistance, Punk immediately began analyzing the three biggest doubts about this monster.

First, Punk believed that the unified choice of the same desperate tactic by these followers might be because their spider-like lower bodies were originally “installed” to serve as “materials” for composing their synthesized dark green spider form and uniformly transmitting certain commands.

The determination to sacrifice themselves was easier to explain – ordinary fanatics could readily offer their lives for their so-called deity without hesitation. Those madmen always displayed a chilling degree of “selflessness” when facing matters of faith.

But where did that… reaction speed, as if they had been waiting for this moment all along, and that deeply concealed anticipation in their eyes come from? Could it be that these fanatics already knew about his arrival and had long prepared themselves for this desperate struggle?

This was what puzzled Punk the most!

(End of Chapter)