The battle between “Shadow Walker” and the masked priest on the platform lasted only a minute. But both felt that it had been a very long minute.

For the priest, this small, agile figure was like an elusive eel, possessing fighting skills that were beyond comparison. Every powerful blow and surprise attack he launched was dodged. Even when he hadn’t reacted yet, “Shadow Walker” could rely on instinct to avoid the most vital areas. But that small dagger kept adding new wounds to him. By now, the attacker had only a few shallow wounds, while he was about to become a blood-soaked mess!

This filled him with intense anxiety and agitation. His sword strikes became stronger, faster, but also less controlled.

“Shadow Walker” was also secretly surprised. He knew his own abilities. He knew that he had no real experience with melee combat, and the wounds he had received at the cemetery the previous night hadn’t fully healed, limiting his movements…

How could he fight this seemingly formidable priest like this?

Clang—

The priest unleashed a powerful downward strike, which “Shadow Walker,” having calculated the distance, dodged. The tip of the blade only grazed his coat, landing on the ground, scattering some fragments.

“Shadow Walker” immediately pressed forward, his left hand suddenly striking the priest’s right wrist. This reckless, forceful blow caused his left arm to tense up, and the priest’s right wrist twisted unnaturally, making his sword fly out of his hand.

—Success?!

“Shadow Walker’s” heart was filled with joy. His right hand, which should have been used to slash the priest’s neck while the priest was unable to use his strength, unconsciously slowed down… This was a mistake that shouldn’t be made in combat, but it saved his life.

The moment the sword slipped from the priest’s hand, the eyes under the mask instantly turned crimson. A certain emotion and desire instantly filled his entire mind. The limp, hanging right hand began to writhe. Then it burst, several ordinary white worm-like tentacles emerging from the bloody mist, suddenly wrapping around the hilt of the strange sword.

His hand transformed into a monstrous thing in an instant. Then his arm, and half his body, became a writhing mass of flesh and blood. It burst through its black robe and stabbed towards “Shadow Walker!”

“… ?!!”

“Shadow Walker,” unable to dodge in time, was struck several times by the tentacles. But his right hand quickly returned to his front. His dagger sliced through the fleshy thorns, then he staggered back, avoiding the sweeping blow from the priest’s tentacles.

“This is me! I! I—”

The priest roared frantically, blood spurting from his face. The strange mask tore apart, falling to both sides, revealing his face—two eyes, a nose, one, two, three… and roughly a dozen mouths scattered across his face. Each mouth opened and closed. Disgusting saliva dripped from his mouths, falling into the mouths below.

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“Shadow Walker,” repulsed by this image, took a few more steps back.

“I’ve always been curious. Why do you have all seven deadly sins represented among you, when there are actually only five? You’re missing ‘Gluttony’ and ‘Sloth.’”

Selene’s voice came from nearby. She had passed through the heretics and reached the edge of the platform. “Shadow Walker” saw the continuous flow of blood from her clothes, staining the path behind her crimson. It was almost her entire blood volume, yet she could still move, and her expression was light…

This woman isn’t human!

“Shadow Walker,” shocked by the priest’s transformation, unconsciously thought that.

“If you say that lazy people wouldn’t join a cult, or that even if they did join, they would be too lazy to participate, then that makes some sense. But why isn’t there any ‘Gluttony’?” Selene, ignoring “Shadow Walker’s” various expressions, muttered to herself. “And I have another question. As a priest and the leader of these cultists, why would you perform the ritual incorrectly?”

Her voice wasn’t too loud or too soft. It was just loud enough for those around the platform to hear, including the now even more chaotic heretics and the two people on the platform.

“Let’s assume that praying to a god, a being of such high status, requires strict rules. Different invocations and rituals use different names… For example, when praying to the God of Wisdom’s Eternal Cycle, you should say ‘Wisdom revealed, knowledge symbolized, endless observer.’ When performing a ritual, you should invoke ‘The God who unravels all suffering, the God who abhors inaction, the God who transcends his ancestors.’ To put it simply, the deities have three main names, and their envoys have two. This is true for both formal prayers and rituals.”

Selene said, a thoughtful smile on her face,

“But I remember you didn’t say that during the ritual.”

The “Pride” conduit near the platform gradually stopped forming fireballs and, like many others, looked towards the masked figure on the platform, whose mask had fallen off, revealing his inhuman face.

Then, unexpectedly, a prayer was heard,

“I implore the Scholar of Sin, the long-abandoned god, the god of Death and Desire! Lord of Sin and Knowledge! Source of lust and wisdom… What comes next? Right, if you can hear me, give us a sign. Otherwise, your followers will start to doubt.”

Selene called out nonchalantly, then paused, waiting for a few seconds. She looked at the priest on the platform and spread her hands out.

“It seems he can’t hear us.”

She said lightly,

“So, those sacrifices you were making, who exactly were they being offered to?”

Her gaze moved to the “Pride” conduit next to her. She saw his body trembling for various reasons. So, she patted him on the shoulder and said,

“It doesn’t seem to be you.”

Then, she looked at the “knights” who were now fighting on her behalf.

“It doesn’t seem to be them, either.”

Selene spread her hands out, looking helpless.

“It couldn’t be me or my ‘Shadow Walker.’”

Everyone looked towards the priest on the platform, at his face, covered in mouths dripping saliva, and the sword clutched in his tentacles. Then Selene spoke appropriately.

“So, who’s left? Priest, the only ‘Gluttony’ conduit here?

It seems it’s only you.”

The priest didn’t answer, but suddenly struck the sword. The contact between his hand and the blade made a sharp shattering sound. An invisible sonic wave spread out, knocking the heretics down and then making them get up again before they could react. Even the “knights” controlled by Selene’s ritual were affected.

Their eyes lost their light, and their movements became stiff. They looked like puppets being manipulated.

The priest’s cloudy eyes looked towards the only two people in the hall who could still maintain their consciousness. He raised his sword-tentacles and muttered indistinctly,

“Mine… all mine…”