97: Chapter 97 The Sacrifice Begins

The other party wanted to sacrifice the entire city, which naturally included Nie Ning, so Malice Perception could still be triggered.

Now that he had found their location, things would be much easier.

Nie Ning went to the bottom of three buildings and smashed the fire alarms inside.

In an instant, the piercing "ring-ring-ring" of the alarm bells rang out.

The upcoming battle was bound to be fierce, so he could only do his best to minimize casualties.

Seeing people starting to flee, the stone bricks beneath Nie Ning's feet vibrated as an earthen pillar lifted him up, soon reaching the level of the rooftops.

At this moment, Nie Ning also saw the people conducting the sacrifice.

Those seven people were dressed in black cloaks and wore masks resembling some kind of beast; they were kneeling on the ground, chanting incantations.

On the ground was an array emitting an eerie black light, and in its center lay the assembled body of an evil demon.

Seeing Nie Ning ascend, the group was pale with shock, clearly not expecting him to arrive so quickly.

"You..."

Just as one of the Black-robed Men was about to speak, a white orb of light shot towards him.

Nie Ning couldn't be bothered to waste words with them.

If these people were allowed to launch the Sacrificial Ritual, it wouldn't just be one or two people dying; millions would likely be unable to escape this calamity.

*Boom!*

The sound of an explosion rang out.

In the massive explosion, the entire building shook twice.

Nie Ning originally thought he could finish them off, but a black barrier blocked the attack.

"We can talk. As long as you are willing to take refuge in my god, my god will grant you immortal life and great power."

One of the Black-robed Men stood up and looked at Nie Ning, offering the temptation.

Nie Ning rolled his eyes.

They really took him for an idiot, didn't they? Who would believe such words? At the very least, they should show him some benefits first.

Seeing Nie Ning remain silent, the Black-Robed Person continued, "My god represents the blac—"

*Boom!*

A violent explosion rang out once more.

"Ungrateful!"

The Black-Robed Person snorted coldly, waving his hand to send dozens of black arrows shooting toward Nie Ning.

Nie Ning had nowhere to hide and endured the black arrows with his body, but the earthen pillar beneath him was shattered, and he began to fall rapidly toward the ground.

However, it was clearly not that easy to kill a High-Tier Knight by falling.

As Nie Ning fell past the third floor, he simply waved his hand, and an earthen slope extended from the building.

Looking at the pedestrians watching the commotion below, no one else was coming out of the building, but in Nie Ning's perception, there were still a few people inside.

Seeing this, Nie Ning used Earth Control to envelop the people inside the building and send them outside, then followed up with Metal Control to pull out the building's steel reinforcements.

Without the steel supports, the entire building became precarious.

Nie Ning used Earth Control again to collapse the entire building, hoping to disrupt the Sacrificial Ritual.

However, he had still underestimated the sacrificers.

The building's collapse kicked up a massive cloud of dust, and the onlookers on the ground fled in all directions, but the Black Array in the sky still stood firm under the moonlight.

Looking at the array floating in mid-air and the sacrificers upon it, Nie Ning couldn't help but frown.

"The sacrifice has already begun; you cannot stop the descent of my god. I advise you to give up on that idea; joining us is your only way to survive."

With a hint of mockery in his eyes, the Black-Robed Person looked down at Nie Ning and spoke.

Using Earth Control, Nie Ning leaped lightly onto the building opposite.

At this moment, a black mist drifted in the sky, and wisps of red light flickered within the array. The corpse inside began to sprout granulation tissue, connecting with the joints of the various sacrificial bodies.

Nie Ning tried to use 'Meteor Blast' to attack, but it was all blocked by the black shield, whose strength already exceeded Nie Ning's attack power.

If this continued, by the time the body was possessed by the evil demon, the people in the entire city would likely suffer.

"Why hasn't Audrey arrived yet? I won't be able to handle this if it goes on."

Nie Ning felt bitter.

He couldn't even break that shield, so he had no way of stopping this sacrifice.

Maybe...

He should just run away?

He wondered if Lilith had left the city yet.

Before leaving earlier, he had asked the police to notify the Hervis Family and Borton.

After all, he might not even survive facing this kind of ghost-god, let alone the physically weak Lilith, Borton, and the others.

But just as Nie Ning was considering whether to flee, he thought he saw the black shield become slightly more transparent, though he wasn't sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

'Could it be that the Array Nodes have been destroyed?'

At this thought, Nie Ning condensed another orb of light in his hand.

"Don't waste your energy; you can't break this shield."

The Black-Robed Person spoke again, but his expression beneath the mask turned grim.

Because he could clearly feel that something seemed to be wrong with the array.

'How is this possible!'

Based on the timing, the Transcendents in the city shouldn't have been able to find the nodes so quickly.

*Boom!*

An explosion rang out.

Compared to before, the entire shield trembled twice in the explosion.

Seeing that the array really was weakened, a cold light flashed in Nie Ning's eyes, and the mana within his body began to rapidly gather in the palm of his hand.

An orb of light half a meter in diameter took shape in Nie Ning's hand.

But this was clearly beyond Nie Ning's range of control.

Not only was his mana being consumed rapidly, but signs of cracking even appeared on the surface of his body.

This was the consequence of overloading a sorcery.

Every sorcery has its limit; attempting to exceed this boundary causes mana to spiral out of control and makes the Runic Formulas constructing the sorcery unstable, thereby affecting the user.

Nie Ning didn't care about that anymore.

The massive energy orb moved slowly toward the black shield.

The Black-Robed Person's expression changed, and he waved his hand to form dozens of arrows to shoot at Nie Ning, but they were affected by the powerful suction of the white orb and veered off course.

The black arrows exploded around Nie Ning, but they didn't hurt him.

Under Nie Ning's control, the orb of light struck the black shield, and the resulting shockwaves were like a raging gale.

But he had still underestimated the shield's strength; the black shield did not shatter as expected.

Nie Ning didn't want to give up.

He could only use an attack like this once.

If he failed, he would have no choice but to flee, and millions of people would die because of it.

Suddenly, the color of the black shield faded rapidly.

*Crack~*

Under the impact of the orb of light, cracks appeared on the surface of the shield.

Seeing this and feeling that the orb was about to spiral out of control, Nie Ning made a decisive move and detonated it.

*Boom!*

The terrifying explosion formed a mushroom cloud, and the shockwaves spread with irresistible force.

It was like a hurricane sweeping through; even the building Nie Ning was on was mostly destroyed.

Under this blow, the black shield shattered like glass, and even a corner of the Black Array was blown away.

The Black-robed Men on the array were affected by the explosion, coughing up blood and becoming listless.

Even the black mist above was blown away, and the healing speed of the sacrificial body was also affected, becoming noticeably slower than before.

...