For a moment, Ieuan was at a loss, yet refused to give in. “I still have the princess. I’ll personally drag to Aurelius. If still refuses to surrender the Ritual Manual, I will spill his daughter’s blood before his eyes.”
With that, stormed out of the cavern, already barking orders for his guards to prepare the royal captive.
Inside the main hall of Roaring Storm Church, the air felt heavy enough to shatter ribs. Every breath tasted of thunder as unseen pressures pressed against the high beams. Jared stood at the heart of the hall, channeling the last threads of the Power of Dragons.
Infrnides, Flaxseed, and dozens of disciples ringed him, pouring their own energies into the Dragon Bell. Golden light pulsed from the bronze bell and collided with the swirling black demonic aura outside, each impact humming with a promise of imminent rupture.
“This isn’t working! The demonic aura is getting stronger,” Flaxseed exclaimed as wiped sweat from his brow. “Every charm I slap on the bell is reduced to ash the moment It touches the metal. Something is calling these demonic souls back, and they are growing restless.”
Infinides turned ashen, his spiritual energy already dangerously law. “Mr. Chance, the Dragon Bell’s power is almost depleted… The crack in the seal is spreading. We can’t hold on much longer!”
Jared gritted his teeth and forced the last spark of the Power of Dragons.
A spectral golden dragon coiled around the bell, its light briefly pushing the darkness back. Yet deep below the seal, an ancient malice gathered, vast and patient, like a beast waking after endless centuries.
Jared sensed its first breath and knew the next assault would dwarf all the rest.
Without warning, the stone floor shuddered so violently it felt as though some colossal heart had begun beating beneath Roaring Storm Church.
Tiles cascaded from the vaulted roof, smashing Into marble like iron rain. At the center, the ancient seal groaned, hairline fractures spider-webbed outward, and a torrent of inky demonic aura erupted, devouring every candle of golden light in a single breath.
A thunderclap cracked the heavens, a detonation so fierce it drowned thought itself. With that, the seal finally exploded, shards of sacred stone spinning like meteors.
From the newborn abyss surged legions of warped black silhouettes, their shrieks and roars weaving a murderous symphony that clawed at the mind.
Some resembled human phantoms elongated by nightmares, fangs where smiles should be. Others prowled like multi-limbed beasts, each limb wreathed in vapor that corroded even pure spiritual energy.
Those were, without a doubt, the hundred thousand demonic souls that Roaring Storm Church had kept suppressed for tens of thousands of years.
“Get into the Dragon Bell! Now!” Jared’s pupils contracted to pinpoints.
Summoning the last crumb of strength, slapped his palm against the bronze. The Dragon Bell ballooned to a height of over one hundred meters, sweeping Infinides, Flaxseed, and every surviving disciple under its bronze ribs.
The tide of demonic souls crashed over the bell. Runes etched along its skin blazed, holding back the venomous haze by the width of a heartbeat.
Beyond the bell, the world collapsed into hell. Courtyard walls burst like kindling under spectral impact, nearby forests blackened in an instant, trunks withering, birds howling before they fell.
Within thirty minutes, a hundred-mile ring around the church became a hellish domain.
What was even more terrifying was that amid the cyclone of wraiths, a shadow almost three hundred meters tall began to coalesce, its aura equal to the Human Immortal Realm.
A crown of bone-spikes perched upon a skull-like head, eyes smoldered like wells of blood. It was the leader of the demonic souls, Soul Devourer!
“Hahaha! After ten thousand years, I’m finally free!” Soul Devourer bellowed. “Hear my decree! Go all out and head straight for Celestia City. We shall storm the subterranean dungeon, free our kin, then raze the entire level six!”
“Yes, My Lord!” one hundred thousand throats of shadow roared in unison, their war cry bleaching color from sky and earth.
Night swallowed daylight as storm clouds convulsed overhead, lightning danced while black rain laced with demonic aura pounded the ground. In an instant, the spiritual energy of level six curdled into sludge.
Soul Devourer flicked a taloned finger, and a black token spiraled skyward, bursting into a swarm of light that scattered across level six. It was none other than the Demon Gathering Token.
Every Demonic Cultivator in level six felt its summons and erupted in fever. Whether it was Demonic Cultivators hidden within the deep mountains or spies lurking within the cities, each abandoned cover and rode dark currents toward Celestia City.
