"This must be one of the main temples of the Evil God," Piers said solemnly.
"Teacher, let's go and get the Death Cane," Arkos said while gripping the black cover book in his right hand.
"Hehe, it seems you have already begun to feel the premonition," Piers said with a chuckle and quietly stepped into the yard. Other priests and holy knights followed him hastily, and soon their group arrived in front of the hallway entrance.
Meanwhile, Mage Sean and the other thirty mages moved away from the Dark temple and gathered a few hundred meters from the entrance.
They didn't care about the Death Cane at all.
After moments, Mage Sean took a wooden chair from his spatial ring and sat on it, calling all the first-tier mages closer.
"What should we do now? Shall we also follow the Light Church members or go back and look for other areas? We only have two months to stay in this dungeon. If we stay here too long, the royal family will be in trouble." Mage Sean said with a frown.
"Your Excellency, we should explore this layer and search for other temples. We will only be wasting our time by staying here. Moreover, snatching the Death Cane from Bishop's hand would be almost impossible. We had already gotten Traveler's Shield, Illusion Net, and Truth Eye. We should withdraw from here before the Red Python members come." A white-haired old man said while stroking his long beard. Upon hearing his wise words, everyone began to nod.
"What should we do about those three?" Mage Sean also thought that was the safest option and asked another question while pointing his fingers at three apprentice mages.
"Most probably, they are informers of the mysterious Red python organization. I think they will insist on staying here." That old man said solemnly and directly asked their opinions.
As he had predicted, they tried manipulating all the mages to fight the Light Church members.
After discussing a bit, the Royal Family group moved in another direction, leaving the three gray-robed figures outside.
Meanwhile, Bishop Piers and others didn't walk into the temple's hallway rashly; instead, they drew a weird ritual circle in the yard. After drawing the ritual circle, they placed candles, light elemental crystals, blood vials, and other herbs at the weird ritual circle's center and made a small altar. Once they prepared everything for the ritual ceremony, they silently waited for the Red Python group.
It didn't take long for a group of black-hooded figures to arrive at the entrance and join the three mages. Only 15 members remained in that group, but they looked more intimidating. The Red Python group leader, Susur, walked in the front and covered his small imp body with a black hood. At that moment, he fixed his eyes on the mysterious ritual circle and let out a cold snort.
"Destroy the ritual altar before he finishes the ritual ceremony," Susur ordered with a chilling abyssal tone. Then, he gave the Light Church followers a piercing look and removed his hood. Everyone, including Abium in Jordan's appearance, unsheathed their swords the next moment and began preparing for battle.
Meanwhile, five of Bishop's disciples and Bishop Piers also started to mutter a strange incantation. When they finished muttering a phrase, golden light appeared on the ritual circle.
Upon seeing this, Susur's lackeys, now in half-demonized form, also removed their hoods, showed their deformed blackish skin, and let out a battle cry.
Simultaneously, all their eyes turned red, and their whole body began to emit an immense abyssal aura everywhere.
Demon Susur, now in his mutated imp form, nodded his head and blinked his red eyes. At the same time, the strange snakehead on the demon's forehead began to let out a weird moaning sound and made a loud hiss.
The next moment, Susur's original head transformed into a cobra head and looked terrifying.
After that, he made an angry hissing sound at the light followers and charged at them.
Demon Susur had lost many things in the past few months and almost died multiple times. After Scylla stripped-down Susur's power, he used all of his remaining wealth and returned to the Easica plane hurriedly. He then made a sacrificial ritual to the Will of the Abyss and got a 'Sun' Divinity.
With the help of the 'Sun' Divinity, he even broke free from bloodline shackles placed by Scylla and became a Freed Demon. After absorbing the divine power hidden in the 'Sun' Divinity, he regained his formal strength and became more powerful. With his enchanted Snake-Demon bloodline spells and abnormal strength, he could battle equally against a beginner third-tier mage now!
'I can massacre everyone without any restrain. No one can stop me!' A cruel smirk appeared on his face as he dashed faster.
Meanwhile, Abium scanned the demon and was shocked to see Susur's spirit power.
'More than a thousand spirit points.'
With his physical strength alone, Abium knew this demon would be invincible when facing second-tier mages.
At the same time, Susur almost arrived closer to the Light Church members and muttered in Abyssal language,
"Chaos Plague!"
The next moment, a cold red mist came out of the demon's body and spread everywhere. Whenever that mist touched holy knights' bodies, they all began to cough loudly and fell sick in a few seconds. Even Abium got affected a little and quietly moved away from the mist.
By the time Susur reached the center of the ritual circle, nearly all the holy knights were already laid on the ground and showed twisted expressions on their faces.
Only three holy knights resisted that plague using defensive spell scrolls and cautiously stared at those red mists. At the same time, red blisters appeared on the other Holy Knights' skins, followed by black cysts. Anyone could tell that those Holy Knights were severely affected by this 'curse' spell and were already nearing their deaths. But what shocked Abium was the Bishop's and his disciples' current reaction!
Even after watching this horrible scene, Bishop Piers and his disciples didn't flinch. They continued to recite the incantation like nothing had happened.
When Susur and his ten demonized followers finally arrived at the center of the ritual circle, Piers's lips suddenly turned upwards, forming a mocking grin. Then, he silently tapped his spatial ring and took out a golden brass crozier.
At that moment, Susur blinked in shock and surprise and instantly understood that this incantation was to mislead him.
"Oh Lord of Light, please grant us the power to purify these wrenched souls and let them return to the Endless River of Life." Under the watchful eyes of demons, Piers muttered with a confident smile.
A heartbeat later, the whole ritual circle began to shake fiercely, and soon golden light enveloped the entire yard.
Multiple pure light chains came out from the corner of those circles and completely shackled all those deformed, demonized humans. Even Susur became completely chained and was pushed onto his knees.
Simultaneously, those golden lights began to cure all the blisters and healed the holy knights.
A rage appeared in Snake Demon Susur's eyes for the first time.
With a hateful glare, he used his hands to remove those chains but felt helpless. He could feel a strong power behind those chains and become annoyed.
But he didn't lose his calm and spoke with his slithering tongue.
"Wings of the Sun."
As his words ended, two dark crimson wings filled with dense pure mystic sacred power appeared behind him. For a moment, everyone, including Piers, felt a great amount of pure holiness descending onto the battlefield. It was as if the Will of the Sun had come to this place to protect this demon!
When looking at those wings, everyone felt a sacred feeling. It was as if they wanted to kneel in front of those two wings and worship it.
The two red wings were filled with pure holiness, which made everyone hold their breath in amazement.
Susur flapped those two wings angrily and broke those light chains like glasses. After obtaining the 'Sun' Divinity, Susur's body had already changed internally, and he had Law and Chaos powers.
He had completely abandoned the Chaotic Affiliation and moved to the Neutral Affiliation.
The planar restriction on his demon body had also disappeared after entering the dungeon, and his body had grown stronger.
He was in his peak state!
With a hideous grin, he stumped his foot harder and broke the golden lights.
Meanwhile, the golden lights shimmered and soon disappeared from there.
But dark red flames began to appear.
Watching this scene, Bishop Piers sighed regretfully.
"It seems I have misjudged the future vision. The real enemy is not only that Necromancer but also this demon. A demon who got blessed by the Sun, it's a terrible sight indeed." Everyone, including those holy knights, could hear his bitter voice.
"Heart of the Light." Once again, he spoke while taking out a strange illusionary dagger from his spatial ring and stabbing directly toward his heart. But no wound appeared. Instead, a strange golden light halo appeared on his head, and his whole body began to shine brightly. He took out a potion bottle without even minding his disciples' and holy knights' panicking shouts.
It was a scarlet red bottle and gave off a pure, sacred aura.
"Blood of the Divine!" Arkos and Snake demon Susur shouted in a shocked voice. One voice contained joy, while the other contained fear and horror.
With a stern look, Piers opened the tap and gulped it down. A strange silence appeared on the battlefield for a second, and soon Piers began to cast a spell.
"Pillar of Light!"
It was a third-tier Light spell.
Twelve pillars of pure golden light descended from the blue sky and surrounded Susur and his followers. The next moment, except Susur, all other demonized humans fell while letting out painful cries. A second later, they all felt the energy disappearing from their bodies and lay there motionlessly. Everyone could see they were barely breathing and on their deathbed.
Meanwhile, Susur hissed angrily and once again cast his demon bloodline spell.
"Chain of Chaos!"
The whole yard and temple began to tremble, and seven dark crimson snake head-like chains appeared from his chest. Each moved in a different direction and quickly aimed at the hearts of all the holy knights. Only Abium and the other three knights stood calmly and got ready to block it with their sword aura.
Bishop Piers's face turned grim as he saw this.
"Shield of Sacred Light!" He took a deep breath and cast a defensive spell without any other choice. A pure golden shield came from those pillars and formed multiple shields around all those holy knights. Everyone could hear a relieved sigh as they saw Piers looking at them worriedly. Upon seeing this, the Holy knights' hearts moved. Everyone began to look at Piers like he was their guardian. Even Abium became shocked by Bishop's goodwill. In the past, he heard this Bishop was cruel and got confused.
While Abium looked at Bishop in confusion, Bishop Piers cast his next spell.
A holy golden spear materialized before him, flying towards Snake Demon Susur's chest in a blink.
Crusade Strike, Another third-tier Light spell!
Abium could tell now this Bishop Piers intended to kill this demon here and now.
Suddenly, Piers saw Snake demon's red eyes looking at him with a mocking expression on its face.
Susur didn't even glance at the spear; he controlled his sacred Wings of the Sun and shielded his body.
'That red wings spell is troublesome.'
But Piers didn't get anxious. Instead, he touched his golden brass Crozier and cast another spell.
A small ray of light that gave off an intense heat aura came out from the Crozier and instantly flew towards Susur. It then directly pierced through Demon's Wings and caused the demon to stumble back.
A second later, an explosion appeared on Susur's chest.
Light's Fury! It was a third-tier spell infused with Light Law power.
Shock and fear appeared on Susur's face as he looked at a fist-sized hole in his chest.
"Damn it, not again." He muttered hatefully and flapped his dark red wings to fly away from there. Susur was a cunning demon who would never endanger his life for just some artifact.
Although he was tempted when he heard the news about Death Cane, he knew that artifact was not much worth it compared to his life. He could get similar artifacts out there if he made a detailed plan. Moreover, he could watch them from afar for now and might find a chance to sneak attack to get this later.
Meanwhile, Piers was stunned by that demon's cowardice and helplessly shook his head. After one last look at the sky, he turned toward those demonized humans and frowned.
But he didn't kill them; instead, he focused on the hallway entrance and pondered.
"Arkos, you are the key to this mission," Piers said solemnly and walked in unsteadily.
Meanwhile, Arkos nodded his head and followed after him solemnly.
On the other hand, Abium and others also took a step forward and followed them from behind.