Blasphemy!

Night fell, and Faro Fortress fell into a profound silence.

But in the underground space beneath the main keep, a massive magic circle was already prepared.

At the center of the formation was an altar carved with ancient runes.

Streams of blood, seemingly never-ending, flowed slowly from the center of the altar like trickling brooks, and a thick stench of blood and filth filled the entire underground space.

Vivian and the other pregnant women were brought into the underground space, their hands and feet still bound by the special chains as before.

As the other women smelled the strange odor permeating the space, most of them began to dry heave and vomit uncontrollably.

“Welcome to the birthplace of the new world.”

Adrian stood by the altar, his voice filled with fanaticism.

“Tonight, you and your children will become part of a divine and mighty power!”

The pregnant women began to cry, knowing there was no hope, yet still whimpering and begging the great, benevolent Lord City Lord to spare them, to spare the children in their bellies.

But the pleas of the commoners were completely ignored by Lord City Lord Adrian, who was already lost in his fanaticism, deeply immersed in his vision of future power, utterly absorbed in his own world.

“Let us begin.”

With his command, the knights of the Rhine Holy Church, who had been standing quietly by, began to move forward, forcing a pregnant woman who was about to give birth onto the altar.

The woman began to struggle frantically, tears streaming from her eyes.

“No! I beg you! Don’t hurt my child!”

Her pleas were in vain.

Adrian then took up a crimson dagger and began to chant an incantation.

The magic circle around the altar gradually lit up with an eerie glow.

Vivian’s senses suddenly tensed.

She could feel a powerful energy, filled with an ancient aura, gathering.

It was a power full of darkness and greed—

A strange, mixed “scent” was slowly seeping out from the cracks in the altar, converging.

It bore an irrefutable ancient mark, as if it had been dormant since the dawn of time, steeped in eons of silence and hunger.

It was like pure darkness, thick as ink, emanating an instinct of greedy consumption!

It felt as if merely perceiving its existence was enough to make one’s mind slip to the edge of the abyss.

The feeling was like a jumbled mix of the aura of the Demon Clan and the scent of other normal races, a twisted blend more chaotic than chaos, more mongrel than a mongrel—an indescribable, utterly deranged aura.

It wasn’t simple chaos, but a blasphemous “stitching” together of fundamentally opposing life essences that should have been mutually exclusive.

It was an aura that smelled like a demon, yet also like an elf, yet also like a human, or perhaps other races—a disordered mess that somehow resembled everything at once.

Every fluctuation of this aura was like a dull saw, grating back and forth on Vivian’s cognitive nerves!

At the most fundamental frequency that constitutes “life,” it mimicked every familiar existence!

Yet, at its very core essence, it revealed an absolute “otherness”!

It was like a clumsy mimic, wearing a “skin” made of fragments from countless races, trying to disguise itself as something “normal,” yet because of its fundamental internal distortion and disharmony, it emitted a nauseating sense of being a “counterfeit person.”

That cognitive dissonance of “almost, but absolutely not” instantly shattered Vivian’s psychological defenses.

An extreme revulsion and fear, born from biological instinct, seized her.

An icy chill snaked up her spine, making the hairs all over her body stand on end!

This wasn’t the vigilance one felt when facing a powerful enemy, but the most primitive tremor from the depths of her soul when faced with an indescribable “error” that blasphemed the very laws of life itself.

It was simply… blasphemy!

“Enough!!!”

As Adrian’s incantation reached its climax and the dagger in his hand was about to plunge into the pregnant woman’s abdomen, Vivian could bear it no longer!

With a furious shout, she unleashed her mana, instantly tearing the shackles on her hands to pieces!

“!”

The pressure of a Demon Lord instantly froze everyone present.

The dagger in Adrian’s hand halted just before the pregnant woman’s abdomen, unable to advance another inch.

“A demon!? How can there be a demon here!”

Adrian screamed in terror.

“What are you waiting for, kill her!”

“Oh, Lord! Forgive our sins and grant us strength!”

The Gospel Paladins of the Rhine Holy Church let out a great roar, and in an instant, the dim underground space exploded with several bursts of light—the knights who had been pinned in place by Vivian’s pressure erupted with Holy Light as a divine power descended upon them.

“Holy! Fearless as a lion!!!”

“The Lord’s blade is here! Your filth shall be severed this day!”

“In the name of the Eternal Holy Father! By the blood of the Redeeming Holy Son! By the fire of the Holy Spirit that incinerates all evil!”

“【Daemon’s Hammer】!”

“【Glorious Shield Bash】!”

“【Holy Wrath】!”

The knights roared, chanting holy words, praises, and prayers, their bodies filled with the mighty power of the God of Holy Light as they charged at Vivian!

According to the game’s settings, these Gospel Paladins were the most devout believers, the most fanatical evangelists.

They firmly believed in everything they worshipped, able to skillfully use divine arts to strengthen themselves and strike down their enemies.

They were bona fide elite monsters.

Being able to defeat a Gospel Paladin even signified whether a player’s growth, equipment, and skills were up to par, and whether they could enter high-difficulty dungeons.

But, these elite beings, who represented an entry-level test, were nothing more than glaring light bulbs in the face of Vivian, a Demon Lord, no matter how brightly they shone at this moment.

“Get in my way!”

With Vivian’s furious shout, a wave of black mana shot out with a swing of her hand, sending all the charging Gospel Paladins flying!

“Boom!”

With several loud bangs, the Gospel Paladins, who looked like moving shrines, were all slammed heavily into the walls, becoming deeply embedded, impossible to pull out.

“Y-you are… Vivian, the Demon Lord of Evernight!?”

As Vivian’s attack rippled out, the hood hiding her face was thrown back.

Adrian saw her appearance clearly and couldn’t help but scream.

“Hm?”

Hearing Adrian’s commotion, Vivian herself couldn’t help but be taken aback.

She had never expected him to recognize her at a glance.

Most importantly, how was this guy unaffected by her charm?

Logically speaking, although a city lord-level character had a decent level in the game’s settings, they were by no means capable of facing a Demon Lord and ignoring her charm ability—the Gospel Paladins were enhanced by faith and divine arts, and were themselves elite units against demons, so it was reasonable for them to have resistance to charm.

But this guy was still clear-headed, and even knew her identity?