Within the dim palace, which resembled a bedchamber, hung numerous portraits of the Hunter Family. Although this family had long since faded into the mists of time, these paintings served as proof of their once-glorious existence.

A large number of divine servants were summoned, led by King Osis and several Trilobite Symbiotes.

Normally, most Trilobite Symbiotes did not reveal their identities. They assumed other roles, becoming outstanding individuals in various fields. Though the divine servants present knew their names, this was the first time they realized these people were the legendary divine species.

“So, that master is actually one of the divine species?”

“Wait, doesn’t that person look familiar?”

“Isn’t that a teacher from the Divine Servant Academy? I’m sure we’ve seen him before.”

The divine servants who had been summoned were somewhat excited, whispering among themselves.

After King Osis had taken a moment to appreciate Akmanmon the Third’s embarrassing state, he announced, “Begin the seal!”

The second step of the plan to seal the King of Ghouls was complete. Before Akmanmon could find a way to resurrect elsewhere, they had prioritized using the skull of the true Akmanmon as a medium to summon Akmanmon the Third.

The process now moved to the third step. The goal was to seal Akmanmon the Third completely, ensuring that this immortal King of Ghouls would never again appear before people.

All the Ability Users took their positions, standing at the nodes of the ritual formation.

They closed their eyes and focused their full attention, pouring their power into their spirits before linking with the entire ritual formation.

Their mental powers connected, and in that moment, they became like a single entity.

Then, through the ritual, they connected to another world. It was a world of dreams, a world belonging to Spirits.

The ritual drew power from various powerful existences within the Dream Realm. This realm served as an energy source, and most ordinary rituals depended on it for activation.

Borrowing power from such mighty beings often came with a cost. Unless a person’s identity held special significance, they had to pay a price. For instance, followers seeking power from their gods required either intricate connections or explicit permission to do so.

In contrast, drawing power directly from the Dream Realm itself was the safest and most reliable method.

“Kingdom of God, Dream Realm…”

Light voices overlapped, and the entire dim bedchamber emanated a mysterious and tranquil feeling.

Akmanmon the Third tried to resist. He refused to simply sit and wait for death.

Yet he did not even have a complete body. Only his head remained.

What made matters worse was the medium used for his resurrection. Akmanmon the First’s skull, the very vessel that brought him back, had been tampered with long ago.

The moment he activated his power, countless inscriptions etched into the skull flared to life, locking his power in place and rendering him helpless.

“So be it!”

He had trapped himself within a cage crafted by others. No matter how he struggled, there was no escape.

The sealing ritual finally converged into countless runes that spread across Akmanmon’s skin, forming a second layer of seals upon his surface.

Immediately after, King Osis personally stepped forward and lifted the skull, which was now covered in inscriptions.

He had someone bring forth an enchanting red flower as tall as a person.

A Blood Mist Cup.

Akmanmon the Third, now reduced to a head, was grafted onto the Blood Mist Cup.

Thin stems extended from the severed neck, maintaining Akmanmon’s vitality.

The flower cup swayed back and forth, and Akmanmon the Third’s head swayed along with it in an extremely bizarre display.

The Blood Mist Cup would prevent Akmanmon from dying while only his head remained. As long as he still lived, the next Akmanmon could not be born.

A thousand years from now, when Akmanmon the Third died at the apostle rank, someone would come to repeat this sealing procedure.

At this point, Akmanmon the Third had long seen through everything. His resurrection here had been arranged long ago.

Before he had even been resurrected, Osis had prepared everything, including the method to seal him.

Akmanmon the Third glanced at the Lizard Person Anu behind King Osis. He could basically determine that it was Anu who had transmitted the information from Kurmis’s side to King Osis.

The other party had not planned to kill him, but rather to seal him.

Thinking that he would not die, Akmanmon the Third immediately had another thought and was no longer worried.

“This is the First’s skull?”

“No wonder it could make me resurrect here. I had thought you used some method to precisely predict my resurrection point.”

“And no wonder the Feathered Serpent Kurmis acted like a madman, willing to affect his own god ascension plan just to kill the previous Akmanmon.”

“You were waiting for me here all along.”

Akmanmon the Third’s opinion of Kurmis rose somewhat. This fellow, who seemed extremely lucky, was not as incompetent as he had imagined.

“He did not lose out.”

“Trading one slumber for the Second’s death and my sealing…”

The only thing Akmanmon the Third found somewhat unexpected was who had conceived of this method to seal him.

He carefully examined everyone around him: King Osis, the Lizard Person, and all the divine servants.

Finally, he shook his head and fixed his gaze on King Osis.

“Who exactly thought of this?”

“The First’s skull is in the Scarlet Goddess’s hands. This was her idea, was it not?”

Akmanmon the Third’s face showed no expression, but his words carried an arrogance, suggesting that only such an existence could have schemed against him.

He looked at King Osis’s expression and felt his point was confirmed.

“I knew it would be like this. In the end, I still lost to those ancient gods.”

“But unlike Suero, I have not lost yet. I am destined to succeed.”

King Osis’s tall figure stood before the Blood Mist Cup, looking down at Akmanmon the Third’s head.

“You will never succeed.”

“You will be forever sealed in darkness. The ghouls you created will all turn to ash and smoke in the burning flames.”

“They will never again appear under the sun.”

Akmanmon the Third met King Osis’s gaze, unwilling to yield in the slightest.

“Evil?”

“Ghouls are evil, but snake people are righteous?”

If Akmanmon the First did not care whether he was a snake person or a ghoul, then Akmanmon the Third was a thorough and complete ghoul.

At this moment, Anu spoke up. “Justice or evil is not determined by words alone.”

“Your actions, aren’t they evil?”

Akmanmon the Third looked at Anu, his skin unmoving but his eyes carrying intense mockery.

“Fool.”

“Does a lizard person actually think he is one of the snake people?”

“They kill ghouls. They eliminate ghouls.”

“You are next.”

“In the eyes of the snake people, what difference is there between you and the ghouls?”

Akmanmon the Third opened his mouth and said coldly, “You are all monsters!”

Osis did not want to listen anymore. He had someone bring out a metal coffin, and then they worked together to place the Blood Mist Cup inside.

During this process, King Osis looked at Akmanmon the Third and said, “You are about to fall into eternal darkness, yet you are not afraid.”

Akmanmon the Third replied, “I am still alive. Why should I be afraid?”

“Before long, someone will find me. Someone will come to rescue me, and they will spare no cost.”

King Osis laughed in anger. “A fellow like you? Who would possibly come to save you?”

Akmanmon the Third told King Osis, “In this world, money, wealth, and power can make mortals rush forward. But there is one thing that can make Ability Users spare no cost.”

“Eternal life. Immortality. Supreme power.”

“The secret to becoming a god.”

“And I possess such a thing.”

“The Path of Wisdom.”

As Akmanmon the Third spoke, his voice suddenly grew wildly intense. It carried the same fervor as when Akmanmon the First had delivered speeches in the divine halls of the Silver-White Church before tens of thousands of believers.

The sound was bewitching, resonating deeply and penetrating the hearts of all who heard it.

Then, without warning, Akmanmon released a final roar. It thundered through the air like a violent clap of lightning.

The roar echoed throughout the entire palace, surging through the gates and carrying far beyond the walls of the lord’s mansion.

“Those who yearn for eternal life and immortality! Those who desire the extraordinary! Those madmen who launch assaults on the authority of gods!”

“Find me! Break my seal!”

“And I will tell you the method to become a god!”

For a moment, everyone raised their heads and looked toward the existence within that skull.

Even the guards and soldiers outside the hall turned back to look.

The voice echoed inside and outside the palace.

That one sentence stood out above all else.

“I will tell you the method to become a god…”

“The method to become a god…”

“Become a god…”

The phrase echoed repeatedly, a deafening and endless resonance.

It was as though it had been etched into everyone’s minds, leaving their hearts shaken and making it impossible to forget.

King Osis’s expression immediately changed, and he hastened the sealing process.

“Lock him inside!”

But Akmanmon the Third let out a great laugh. “Hahahaha~“

“You cannot kill all the ghouls, just as you cannot kill a mortal’s fear of death.”

“You cannot stop the greedy ones from coming to release me, because mortal greed is endless.”

“For the sake of becoming a god, for the sake of obtaining eternal life.”

“The things mortals can do, and the price they are willing to pay, far exceed your imagination.”

Osis snorted coldly. “Nonsense!”

Clang clang clang!

The inner and outer coffin lids were pushed shut and chains were wrapped around the outside, completely locking the coffin.

Amid his own wild laughter, Akmanmon the Third was completely sealed inside that coffin.

Next, Osis looked at everyone, his gaze scrutinizing each person’s eyes.

These people were all the core of Suinhor and also its strongest. He could not, and would not, silence them.

“Everyone is forbidden from spreading this fellow’s mad ramblings.”

“If he truly had a method to become a god, would he have fallen to this state?”

Everyone immediately responded, prostrating on the ground in extremely submissive answers.

“Our King, nothing that happened today will be spread.”

However, even Osis knew this was unlikely.

King Osis had no way to manage these matters now. He had to take the coffin sealing Akmanmon the Third to the ocean east of Ruhe Beast Island and sink it into the sea.

It would sink continuously with the seawater into the deep sea, where it would fall into the Blood Kingdom.

Only then would the Akmanmon incident be truly concluded.

Northern Suinhor

The Great Serpent Road area was teeming with danger and diversity. It was a place where bandits, mercenaries, wanted Ability Users, fallen nobles, and escaped slaves coexisted in a chaotic mix.

Over the course of more than a hundred years, these people formed villages. The villages slowly grew, evolving into small towns and eventually flourishing into cities.

Among them, the City of No Guilt was one of the most prosperous. Its name alone was enough to suggest what kind of place it was.

A flying magic carpet gracefully descended from the sky and landed in the city.

A bald, tattooed snake person, an Ability User, immediately rushed down from it and entered through the back door of a building that appeared on the surface to be a mercenary guild.

Walking all the way down, he saw the symbol of the Abyss Cult and evil paintings filled with flames.

In the paintings, countless charred corpses roared in caverns and struggled upward, as if trying to climb from the abyss into the mortal world.

After being inspected, the bald, tattooed snake person entered the innermost area and immediately prostrated respectfully before another snake person.

“Fallen High Priest.”

“The ghoul disaster in the south was quelled by King Osis. Even the King of Ghouls, Akmanmon, was sealed.”

This Fallen High Priest seemed completely unsurprised. “I’m not surprised at all. That so-called King of Ghouls is just a madman who doesn’t know his place.”

“That is the Scarlet Goddess’s land of faith. How could she allow a ghoul to occupy it? The fellow was too arrogant.”

Ever since the divine battle at Moon Eclipse City, when the God of Original Sin’s Door of Original Sin was shattered by the Ruhe Great God, the Abyss cultists had seemingly vanished without a trace.

Recently, with the appearance of the ghoul incident, turmoil had covered the entire southwest of Suinhor. Even the rest of Ruhe Beast Island began to see scattered ghouls, though not with the same madness as in the Red Earth Territory.

But the terror brought by ghouls made everyone aware of their existence.

The fame of the immortal one, the King of Ghouls Akmanmon, began to skyrocket, directly surpassing the once-notorious Abyss Cult.

This rise in prominence left many members of the Abyss Cult deeply dissatisfied.

They considered themselves the darkest and most fallen. To them, these ghouls from some obscure corner were unworthy rivals.

The bald, tattooed snake person said, “It is said that before Akmanmon was sealed, he said something.”

The Fallen High Priest patted his priestly robes and prepared to leave indifferently, casually asking, “What did he say? A loser’s wail?”

But at this moment, the snake person behind him said something that made one’s head spin. “He said he possesses the method to become a god. He promised to give it to whoever breaks his seal.”

The Fallen High Priest’s indifferent expression froze instantly. He suddenly whipped around, grabbing the bald, tattooed snake person on the ground.

“What did you say?”

A powerful force erupted from the Fallen High Priest’s body, pressing down on the bald, tattooed snake person.

The bald snake person trembled but still affirmed, “It’s true. That’s what he said.”

“Many people who participated in sealing Akmanmon heard it clearly.”

The Fallen High Priest immediately arranged for an investigation, and soon he obtained more accurate information.

Not only did they learn what Akmanmon had said, but they even discovered the name of the god-ascending secret technique he mentioned: The Path of Wisdom.

This was information that only the divine servants inside the bedchamber had heard.

The Abyss Cult had deep roots established over many years and could be said to penetrate every aspect of the world.

“The Path of Wisdom?”

The Fallen High Priest immediately felt something was wrong. Ordinary people could not possibly know the name of a god-ascending secret technique. Those who knew its name must have encountered it before.

Although he did not know whether the name The Path of Wisdom was fabricated, he felt he should report this to his master.

The Fallen High Priest came before a terrifying painting of burning flames and prostrated on the ground.

The ritual formation on the floor tiles lit up as he chanted, “Great King of Wrath.”

“Please respond to my…”

Through the power of the abyss, the Fallen High Priest prayed to his master.

Deep within the Dream Realm, the Abyss

The seven-layer Abyss grew increasingly grand. Its laws, power, and monsters interlocked like links in a chain, forming a complete world.

The enormous shattered egg floated in the void. Each layer of the Abyss had its own laws and was inhabited by countless abyss monsters.

Within the Dark Prison Abyss on the second layer, the domain was mainly dominated by vengeful Fire Corpses, though it was also home to other monsters like Swamp Demons, rotting Wing Demons, and Heart-Burning Demons.

In the towering flames, countless charred corpses wrapped in chains labored like slaves.

They roared in fury, dragging the severed heads of their enemies behind their chains.

These were the vengeful Fire Corpses.

They sent these charred black heads to the center of the Dark Prison Abyss, piling them into a great mountain.

Atop the mountain formed from countless charred heads stood a metal palace. Inside sat a king gripping a longsword with proud dominance, his terrifying might pressing down on the entire second layer of the abyss.

The Law of Wrath spread from him as the center, reaching every corner and even connecting to the mortal world.

Dark Moon, the King of Wrath.

The sword in his hand was called Moon Eclipse’s Remnant Light.

The King of Wrath’s name was renowned in the mortal world. In some rural villages, rumors of his followers often erupted, telling of people who offered themselves to the King of Wrath in exchange for the power of revenge and flames.

The commotion was not like that of previous demon kings, who would casually bring disasters covering entire cities or larger areas.

But for some reason, this power of revenge made certain people even more afraid.

Some people did not even regard the King of Wrath as an evil existence.

At this moment, the King of Wrath heard the news from his servant in the mortal world.

He immediately opened his eyes and descended from the fiery, scorching metal throne.

“The method to become a god…”

“Akmanmon…”

The name Akmanmon was not unfamiliar to the King of Wrath Dark Moon, but neither was it deeply significant.

In Dark Moon’s eyes, Akmanmon was merely a naive and weak child.

He just had not expected that this seemingly naive and weak child would become the true King of Ghouls.

What he did not know was that he himself was the one who had driven the other party completely mad.

However, he knew that he must obtain the method to become a god.

The God of Original Sin had fallen into slumber. Dark Moon yearned to possess divine power and sought to unseat the God of Original Sin from his place at the divine bone long table. The timing could not have been more perfect.

Within the palace were quite a few upper-rank vengeful Fire Corpses.

Each wore armor and wielded spears and blades. These beings had all once been subordinates of Dark Moon General.

Dark Moon thought for a moment and looked at one of his subordinates.

“The Abyss War will temporarily cease. Order each vengeful legion to withdraw.”

“Go find the King of Lust and the King of Pride. Tell them this news.”

“I want to join forces with them to obtain the method to become a god.”

The Abyss Kings warred endlessly, driven solely by their struggle for power and control. However, with the emergence of a greater force and more pressing objectives, it was only natural for their hostilities to halt.

A subordinate asked, “Why notify the King of Lust, Melde?”

Everyone knew that this Abyss King was a fanatical believer, praying to the God of Original Sin daily.

Dark Moon smiled. “Do you know how that Fallen Angel became the King of Lust?”

“The God of Original Sin used to be the Lord of Radiance of the Winged People, Melde’s god. But Melde alone dragged the God of Original Sin from the radiant heights of the clouds down into the filthy mud of the Abyss.”

“It can be said that the entire Abyss was born from her lust, from her possessiveness.”

“She is indeed a fanatical believer of the God of Original Sin.”

“But what she wants is to possess the Evil God of Original Sin forever, to make him hers and hers alone.”

“As the so-called King of Lust, how could one bear that name without intense possessiveness?”

“But what she truly wants to possess…”

“Is a god.”

Dark Moon gripped his sword hilt and walked before his subordinate. His pitch-black hand patted the other’s helmet, just as he had when he was still a general.

“To accomplish this, one must at the very least possess the power of a god, correct?”

“To accomplish this, she must become the master of the abyss.”

“From this perspective, her goal aligns with ours. Since our goals align, why can’t we cooperate?”

Although Dark Moon had become the King of Wrath, he still retained many traces of his former self as Dark Moon General, including his thinking and strategy formulation.

“Suinhor is the Scarlet Goddess’s land of faith, and King Osis is a divine species from the Blood Kingdom.”

“This time, we must strike in one blow and give him no chance to react.”

Stone Palace of the Fire Abyss

A Bone Demon King arrogantly received the letter from Dark Moon’s emissary and looked at the formal invitation upon it.

“A request from Dark Moon?”

“Heh. Is he willing to yield to me now?”

But after reading it and seeing the words “The Path of Wisdom,” he paused for a long while.

Then he stood up and carefully examined Dark Moon’s emissary.

“Go tell Dark Moon I agree.”

Black Mud Abyss

Inside the temple dedicated to the Lord of Radiance, the Fallen Angel Melde stood gazing up at the statue of the deity with the reverence of a deeply devout believer.

The statue, though long weathered and in disrepair, seemed to draw her in. Her eyes shimmered with an almost tangible yearning as she took in its every detail.

Slowly, she spread her arms wide. Moments later, she brought them to her chest in a gesture of fervent devotion.

Her face flushed a deep crimson, as though she were lost in the fantasy of some vivid, unspoken scene.

“God!”

“Only by becoming a true god myself can I be with you forever.”

The Suinhor City-State Alliance

The war had at last come to an end. The immortal one known as the King of Ghouls was sealed away.

With their mission complete, King Osis gathered his great army and began the journey back home.

The nobles of the Red Earth Territory had mostly died in the chaos of war, so Osis issued orders on the spot to change the Red Earth Territory into Red Earth Province.

The Char Territory and Delanvos Territory had fared no better. King Osis held the lords of these two regions accountable for their failures and brought them back to the City of Fire Protection.

Although they might one day become hereditary nobles of the City of Fire Protection, they would no longer hold power as if they were rulers of independent nations.

The governance of the Char and Delanvos Territories was entrusted to governors appointed by the Prime Minister. However, the devastation left by the war had deeply scarred all three territories, and it was clear their recovery would take a significant amount of time.

King Osis led the great army all the way toward the City of Fire Protection. The army’s procession was a display of his glorious achievements and martial power.

Halfway along the route, King Osis unexpectedly and secretly led a small team away, heading toward the eastern region of Suinhor.

The great army, along with everyone else, appeared entirely oblivious to his departure and continued its journey back at the same steady pace.

On the broad road, a small team escorted a massive, heavy vehicle forward.

This was no ordinary vehicle. Stone Demons were used to pull the cart.

Inside the vehicle was the sealed coffin of Akmanmon the Third.

One could see the coffin constantly experiencing anomalies. The sealed Akmanmon the Third inside was restless, requiring constant supervision and even the continuous addition of seals.

This also severely slowed King Osis’s speed, as he feared some accident might occur.

The Scarlet Goddess had devised the sealing method, but this was its first practical use. Naturally, some aspects had not been fully accounted for. As a result, King Osis was busy throughout the journey, identifying omissions and addressing any shortcomings.

When he noticed the chains on the coffin beginning to corrode, King Osis did not hesitate. He stepped forward and personally replaced them with chains forged from Abyssal Magic Gold. Once the new chains were in place, the coffin ceased all movement.

He instructed the guardians sitting at the four corners of the coffin, saying sternly, “Be careful!”

“There must be no mistakes whatsoever!”

Although King Osis did not say it directly, he was extremely sensitive about Akmanmon the Third’s final words.

He did not know if anyone would truly be moved by those words, but he knew that being cautious was not wrong.

Following the main road continuously forward, they entered the largest province in the east, Maya Province, which was formerly Maya Territory.

After reaching Maya Territory, the eastern ocean was not far away.

“We’ve arrived in Maya Province.”

King Osis also finally breathed a sigh of relief. He turned his head and shouted to the convoy, “We’ll rush to Maya City today, then make straight for the eastern coast in one go!”

Osis had initially planned to contact the Scarlet Goddess directly. However, the other Trilobite Symbiotes informed him that the goddess was occupied with more important matters.

As a result, he decided to personally lead a group to escort the coffin. He reasoned that if enemies truly dared to confront him, a large army would prove ineffective. In such a situation, a small and elite team would serve him far better.

This was not like eliminating ghouls, where a great army was needed to suppress all directions.

The heavily guarded convoy raced forward, the Land Dragons kicking up trails of dust.

The Stone Demons walked very steadily but made deep, rumbling sounds.

The city at the horizon’s edge was just beginning to come into view when the convoy came to an abrupt halt.

Blockers had appeared on the road ahead. These were no ordinary blockers.

Several snake people wearing masks sat cross-legged in mid-air. Their clothes floated lightly, bearing the symbol of the ouroboros.

Each of them was a Third-Rank Ability User. Behind them, one terrifying Seal Spirit after another had been summoned. Some took the form of burning flames, others resembled swamp monsters, and a few appeared as pitch-black, burned demon men.

The Third-Rank Ability User in the middle sat in the hand of a pitch-black demon man Seal Spirit, gripping a special bronze oil lamp.

That was not the end of it.

Looming behind them was something even more horrifying.

A massive, distorted black hole.

“What is that?” The few people opening the way at the front of the convoy stared wide-eyed at the figures.

“What’s going on? We didn’t see them just now!” The Land Dragons hissed as the suddenly stopped convoy became panicked.

“How did they appear?” No one understood.

In the distance, they had not seen these snake people at all, nor had they seen the black hole.

Only after entering the range of the black hole did they see these people and the terrifying, twisted circle.

The masked snake person lowered his head, looking down at the convoy below.

His gaze first fell on the vehicle pulled by the Stone Demons, finally settling on Osis, who was riding a Land Dragon.

The bronze oil lamp in his hand suddenly burned intensely, accompanied by a slow, rhythmic voice.

“Dark Domain.”

Darkness spread rapidly, engulfing this piece of the world.

It felt as though they had been pulled from day into night.

Meanwhile, several gazes from the depths of the abyss pierced through into reality.

Osis also stared intently at what lay ahead.

At first, he had not realized what the twisted black hole represented. But as the boundaries of darkness expanded without pause, forming a domain completely detached from the mortal world, a memory surfaced in his mind. His eyes widened, and he cried out in alarm.

“The Abyss Cult.”

“Divine Artifact, the Bronze Lamp of Greed.”

King Osis finally recognized what this thing was. It was an artifact ranked in the top fifty.

Artifacts of this ranking and sequence carried power and characteristics that were unimaginably strong.

Furthermore, almost none of them were ever in mortal hands.

This lamp was one of the few top-fifty artifacts circulating in the mortal world.

Moreover, it circulated not because it was truly lost, but because of the will of the Evil God of Original Sin, who was searching for the King of Greed.

This bronze oil lamp had fused with the God of Original Sin’s authority over greed. Through multiple disasters and sacrifices, it had devoured the power of multiple apostle-level beings.

Its characteristics and power were both extremely potent.

The three Abyss Kings had poured their power into locating this artifact.

They had done so for one purpose alone: to confront King Osis at this critical moment.