91: Church of the Abyss

In the fifth layer of the Shadow Abyss, the Shadow Power constantly boiled.

Amidst the dense Shadow Mist, Little Devils with hunched forms completed their evolution into Great Demons through violent distortion.

They also acquired the Abyssal Legacy talent, awakening three major abilities.

However, the abilities they gained were varied and strange; some lucky ones obtained abilities such as Elemental Control, Mental Control, Energy Absorption, and Clone Technique.

While weaker ones gained abilities like Dream Control, Memory Alteration, Illusion Control, and Summoning.

But aside from a few Demons with remote-oriented abilities, most of the Great Demons acquired physical strengthening abilities.

In just five hours, over five hundred Great Demons completed their transformation, including none other than Killing.

As a rising star, his ability to be among the first batch to advance shows how high his talent is.

Killing's appearance is also extremely unique among the Great Demon race.

His slender and agile figure, compared to the bulky and sturdy forms of his peers, appeared more elegant and nimble.

The bone blades at the ends of his arms became slender and sharp, exuding a deadly aura.

After advancing, Killing naturally also obtained the Abyssal Legacy talent and was favored by the ancient Demons, gaining three very powerful abilities.

The first is Time Stasis. The moment the skill is activated, a golden temporal field with a diameter of 50 meters forms centered on the caster. All targets entering the domain, including physical matter, energy fluctuations, magic trajectories, etc., have their movement speed forcibly reduced to near zero.

Killing himself gains 'Temporal Flow Exemption', allowing him to freely move and attack at will within the solidified time-space, controlling the power of life and death on the battlefield.

The second is Insight Prediction, which allows him to perceive hidden information in the surrounding environment, discover enemy weaknesses and traps, and predict future dangers to a certain extent.

The third is the same as Violent's, which is Body Strengthening.

And another talent he gained was not Source Resonance, but Killing Legion!

Enemies killed by Killing will transform into Killing Shadows existing in the Killing Space.

These Shadows possess half the strength of their original bodies and can slowly grow within the space, only dissipating when completely annihilated.

Ye Chen was somewhat surprised after reading Killing's panel. He originally thought it would awaken killing-type abilities, but he didn't expect it to deviate so much.

Judging from the first two abilities Killing awakened, he has a tendency to lean towards the Law of Time.

The Law of Time is an extremely overpowered existence in any world.

Cultivating to a profound realm, you could directly go back to your opponent's childhood during a fight and beat them into an imbecile...

And the Killing Legion talent is also very powerful, allowing Killing to become an army of one.

The more enemies Killing kills, the more Killing Shadows he will have, and the stronger his power will become.

It seems Killing needs to lead the Demon legions to conquer more.

Ye Chen thought to himself.

Furthermore, Killing originally possessed the 'Killing Absorption' talent, which allowed him to grow rapidly by absorbing the flesh and blood of enemies.

Now that the two major talents complement each other, continuing to be confined to the Shadow Space will undoubtedly restrict his development.

However, among the worlds currently being conquered, only the Sachi World is suitable for him to go to.

But the conquest of the Sachi World cannot be suppressed solely by violence. Will Killing going there disrupt the Archbishop's plans...

After careful consideration, Ye Chen finally teleported Killing and over five hundred Great Demons to the Sachi World, entrusting them to the Archbishop's command and strictly ordering them to obey orders.

...

Sachi World, Westar Town.

The Archbishop was extremely cautious when he first arrived in this unfamiliar world.

He first dispatched the Shadow Legion to scout the town's information and the various forces within it.

This was just a small border town; aside from conventional forces like the town mayor, there was only a small church called the 'Thorn Holy Cult'.

This cult worships the thorn as its totem of faith, firmly believing that suffering and pain can temper the soul.

Followers practice self-mutilation as a way to gain mysterious power.

However, this extreme doctrine was neither accepted by the noble class nor able to attract the common people.

Ordinary nobles naturally could not understand the suffering doctrine of this church, nor would they self-mutilate to gain power.

For the common people struggling at the subsistence level, self-mutilation through harming their bodies for cultivation meant losing basic labor capacity, which was tantamount to cutting off their own lifeline.

Therefore, the Thorn Holy Cult has always found it difficult to grow and expand.

Most of its followers are ascetics who agree with the doctrine, and disillusioned people who have completely despaired of life.

However, these followers often have more talent and perseverance than ordinary people when cultivating 'Power of Pain', and their strength is also greater.

After obtaining detailed information about Westar Town, the Vanguard Team's top combat force, Sky Knight Kalon, requested instructions from the Archbishop for the next course of action.

In Kalon's view, they should take Westar Town with lightning speed, use it as a base, and then gradually encroach upon the surrounding towns, causing massive casualties.

If they could cause great damage, thereby weakening the power of the World Will, the Abyss could send more powerful individuals to descend upon this world.

The Archbishop pondered and then rejected this proposal. This world was not an ordinary world; it had many strong individuals from various forces.

A head-on confrontation would not only alert the World Will but also attract attacks from other churches.

Since they had come to this world, they should act according to this world's rules and try not to attract the attention of the World Will.

And churches and the populace were excellent tools. If they could be utilized, the power they could gather would likely be more terrifying than the Abyss's support.

Having made up his mind, they began the first step – establishing the Abyss Church and occupying Westar Town.

Kalon proposed directly eliminating the mayor, the town guard, and the core members of the Thorn Church, allowing the Abyssal forces to take over directly.

The Archbishop did not refuse; this was the fastest way to take over the town.

But these people shouldn't be wasted; they could be sent back to the Abyss to be resurrected as Demons and then serve the Abyss.

After all, they had managed Westar Town for many years and were crucial to the town's stability.

Moreover, if they could all be incorporated into the Abyss Church, it would undoubtedly be the best advertisement in this place.

With the idea in mind, action naturally followed.

That very night, Kalon personally led the Shadow Assassins, infiltrating the mayor's mansion and the town guard barracks, quickly dealing with the key figures.

Their souls and bodies were immediately sent to the Abyss, and after transformation, they returned through the teleportation gate.

Subsequently, the Assassins went straight to the Thorn Church, killed all the high-ranking members, and used the same method to completely control the cult.

After being baptized by the Primal Sea, these individuals became the Abyss's most loyal servants, obeying the Archbishop's commands implicitly.

The next morning, Westar Town welcomed a brand new cult – the Abyss Church.

Compared to the dilapidated and shabby Thorn Church, the members of the Abyss Church were uniformly dressed.

The monks wore black robes embroidered with exquisite Abyssal Demon patterns, possessing a mysterious demeanor.

The knights wore shining silver armor, carrying standardized longswords and shields engraved with Abyssal Demon patterns, looking mighty and imposing.

The only regret was that this group of knights didn't have a single horse...

Kalon looked at the knights walking on foot and couldn't help but start calculating how to acquire a batch of high-quality mounts.

For knights clad in heavy armor, at least excellent warhorses were needed to bear their weight and equipment.

But this kind of strategic resource was clearly not available in Westar Town; the local area only had a few inferior horses and draft horses used for delivering messages and pulling goods.

The Archbishop also noticed this awkward fact.

Can a Guardian Knight without a mount still be considered a knight?

Perhaps... bring some Griffins from the Abyss to bolster their appearance?

After pondering for a moment, he sent the current exploration intelligence, the Vanguard Team's status, and a mount application back to the Abyss...