In the distance, Rosian was crouched lightly atop a still-intact stone sculpture.

The horrifying scene of that giant hand slapping down just moments ago replayed endlessly in his mind.

Everything in the vicinity had been suppressed and sealed, making escape impossible.

The Level Six Knight, renowned for his Defense, had been instantly crushed to death.

’If that were me... an Undead Assassin not known for Defense... If I had taken that hit, I’m afraid even my bones would have been ground to dust.’

"Heh heh... What a technique..."

He squinted, surveying the area where the giant hand had dispersed the gray mist.

’Mr. Zorn’s power is truly unfathomable!’

As Rosian was marveling to himself, a giant hand of earth, at least a dozen feet wide, rose from where the Knight had been killed. It scooped up his mangled remains and, riding waves of elemental earth, sped toward the Ritual Altar.

’A Level Six Forbidden Knight. His remains and soul are all valuable resources.’

Rosian had fought the Knight to draw his attention.

Meanwhile, Zorn had silently cast an Ancient God Curse, allowing him to deliver the killing blow.

The Level Six Knight’s Forbidden Shield wasn’t weak, so to ensure the kill, Zorn had used the Eternal Calamity Whip.

While it didn’t completely seal the Ability, it shattered the Knight’s Shield, enabling the one-shot kill.

GLUG... GLUG... GLUG...

A moment later, Zorn poured the Knight’s remains, now a pile of gore, into the Ritual Altar.

He could clearly feel the power of the Ancient God Curse intensifying, anchored by the Ritual Platform.

Zorn then turned to Rosian.

"A Level Six presence is rapidly approaching from the southwest. They must have sensed the commotion here. Be careful."

"Understood!"

Rosian nodded and vanished into thin air.

After Rosian departed, Zorn extracted the Wandering Soul of the Level Six Knight from the Ritual Altar.

He cupped it in his palm and squeezed hard.

POP!

The Wandering Soul burst, and Zorn absorbed the essence that flowed out.

’The soul essence of a Level Six Sequence like this can barely increase my Level progression by about 1%.’

’But for a Sequence like the Blood Race, with their noble ranks, they’re equivalent to mini-bosses and would give a bit more.’

After savoring the Level Six Knight’s Wandering Soul, Zorn immersed his consciousness deep within the Ritual Altar.

The advantage of controlling the Magic Ritual Altar was the ability to effectively sense any powerful presences nearby.

If a powerful enemy, say a Level 7 expert, were to get close, Zorn would flee immediately.

With his current power, if Zorn were to face a Level 7 expert, being too slow to run would absolutely cost him a life.

Zorn had only just managed to restore his Resurrection count to 4/5 over the last few days.

In an environment this dangerous, stockpiling more Resurrections meant more security.

Soon, Rosian led the Level Six Forbidden Arsonist over.

The Arsonist Sequence is a higher-level version of the "Arsonist" Extraordinary Sequence.

Its members possessed the uncanny Ability to travel freely through flames.

Their mastery over fire was simply sublime.

Compared to the member of the Knight Sequence from before, this Forbidden Arsonist was far more difficult to handle.

Even a master of his craft like Rosian was forced on the run by this Forbidden Arsonist.

CAW! CAW!

A dozen or so Flaming Crows circled in the sky above.

They rained a constant barrage of fireballs down on Rosian.

Fortunately, as a member of the Undead Assassin Sequence with exceptional Body Technique Abilities, Rosian was able to dodge the incoming fireballs.

The Forbidden Arsonist, who had been zipping through the flames, came to a halt outside the misty sculpture garden.

He studied the mist for a moment, took a deep breath, and exhaled toward the ground.

WHOOSH...

A ball of searing flame blossomed instantly.

In an instant, a Flame Elemental Giant, ten to thirteen feet tall, took shape.

The Flame Elemental Giant strode into the depths of the gray mist.

The Forbidden Arsonist then glanced at the Flaming Crows circling overhead.

He followed the Flame Giant into the depths of the gray mist.

For opponents with powerful traversal abilities like this, the key was to neutralize their movement skills, which would eliminate most of the threat they posed.

And Zorn’s Eternal Calamity Whip was the perfect Divine Skill for the job.

The sacrifices of flesh, blood, and Wandering Souls from numerous sources had already raised the Ritual Altar’s power to a sufficient level.

Zorn then pushed the properties of his Eternal Calamity Whip to their absolute limit.

Hidden deep within the gray mist, Rosian launched a sudden Surprise Attack.

The Forbidden Arsonist immediately activated "Flame Walking."

Zorn, who had been waiting for this exact moment, instantly sealed the "Flame Walking" Ability with his Eternal Calamity Whip.

Injured and unable to escape, the Forbidden Arsonist was horrified.

He immediately threw up a Flame Barrier and counterattacked.

At the Middle Rank Level, the advantages of a Caster truly began to shine.

Having stabilized his position, the Forbidden Arsonist unleashed a torrent of Flame Magic.

For a moment, Rosian was forced into a steady retreat.

Zorn didn’t hesitate. After observing for a brief moment, he joined the fray, employing various forms of Witchcraft.

After a dozen breaths, once he had a rough grasp of his opponent’s techniques, Zorn coordinated a series of Forbidden Curses, culminating with the top-tier Forbidden Curse, "Rune Hand," to deftly crush the Forbidden Arsonist.

Compared to the "Ancient God’s Hand," which was immensely powerful and dealt severe overkill damage, Zorn normally preferred to use the "Rune Hand."

In its standard form, the "Rune Hand" was about the size of a square dining table and was entirely scarlet.

While not as powerful as the Ancient God’s Hand, it was still a top-tier Forbidden Curse.

However, it was far more flexible and maneuverable, and could even be used in concert with the Ancient God’s Hand.

With the elimination of the Forbidden Arsonist, Zorn reaped his rewards, and the Ritual Altar’s power was enhanced even further.

Deep within the thick mist of the third layer, relying on the powerful concealment provided by the Ritual Altar, the pair lured squad after squad of Church Knights into their traps, killing them one by one.

Time flew.

Before they knew it, over three hours had passed.

...

「Deep in the mist.」

Rosian, his face gaunt and his figure a battered wreck, came sprinting out of the fog.

"Run!"

He shrieked the moment the Ritual Altar’s silhouette came into view.

As he fled, Rosian’s right arm was a bloody mess, his right pauldron had been blasted to bits, and only half of his right ear remained.

But even so, he had still raced back toward the Ritual Altar to warn Zorn.

Just as Rosian finished his desperate cry, a dense web of bizarre, vein-like tendrils, each as thick as a strand of yarn, materialized around him.

Squirming violently, the tendrils shot out to entangle Rosian.

Getting caught in that was a death sentence.

WHOOSH...

A gust of wind from the Abyss whistled past Rosian’s ear.

HSSSS...

The bizarre tendrils were severed in droves, breaking their invisible restraining force.

Rosian seized the opportunity to reach the area of the Ritual Altar.

"Let’s go!"

Zorn grabbed Rosian, about to escape the danger zone through the Gray Mist Rift he had just opened.

However, the mysterious figure seemed unwilling to let them leave.

CLICK... CLICK... CLICK...

A sharp, distinct sound echoed from deep within the gray mist, ringing in both their ears.

It sounded like a clockwork mechanism being wound tight.

Instantly, both Zorn and Rosian felt their bodies stiffen.

Zorn’s expression darkened.

’It’s the [Clockwork Knight], a Middle Rank Forbidden Sealed Object controlled by the Holy Fierce Sun Church.’

’It can lock onto a target and force them to perform a mechanical dance, just like the [Clockwork Knight] itself.’

’Once you’re forced to dance on the spot, you’re as good as dead.’

But Zorn was prepared and immediately activated the power within the Ritual Altar.

BUBBLE... BUBBLE... BUBBLE...

Like boiling water, countless fist-sized bubbles of blood-mist rapidly filled the area around the altar.

Empowered by the Ritual Altar, Zorn broke free from the [Clockwork Knight]’s control and swiftly finished opening the Gray Mist Rift.

The two leaped inside and vanished.

「A few seconds later.」

BOOOOM—

A tremendous explosion roared to life, shaking the very earth.

The entire Ritual Altar was blown to smithereens.

The mysterious pursuer, who had followed their trail, felt the explosion of the altar.

After scanning the gray mist for a moment, they snorted coldly and departed.

...

「In a remote corner of the seventh layer of the Gray Mist World.」

"Whew... That was close... I almost died back there!"

Rosian gasped for breath, having narrowly escaped with his life.

Zorn, meanwhile, was examining the remnants of the destroyed Gray Mist Rift they had just escaped through.

He finally breathed a sigh of relief after confirming they hadn’t been followed.

"That was definitely too close."

On the third layer, using the Ritual Altar, the two had successfully trapped and killed seven or eight Church Knight Order squads. They had also taken down four Level Six Transcendent beings. Their results were more than fruitful.

However, on his last outing, Rosian had run into a Level 7 Transcendent.

The new Extraordinary Era was only just beginning.

It was highly unlikely for any of the new generation of Transcendent beings to have reached Level 7.

This meant that any current Level 7 Transcendent had to be a veteran, one who had honed their skills over a vast amount of time.

Every aspect of their skills and techniques would have been polished to an extremely high standard.

They also held high positions within major factions and wanted for nothing in terms of resources.

Add to that the fact their opponent wielded a powerful Forbidden Sealed Object... and the two of them together stood no chance.

Rosian was incredibly lucky to have escaped at all.

Fortunately, Zorn had opened a Gray Mist Rift in time for them to escape to the seventh layer.

If they’d been controlled by the enemy’s Forbidden Sealed Object, the [Clockwork Knight], they would have been in serious trouble.

After using Life Absorption to help Rosian recover, Zorn spoke.

"A Level 7 expert has already appeared on the third layer. That means the fighting has surely reached the fourth layer... or the front lines might have even spread to the fifth."

"Let’s go take a look at the fourth layer."

"Can... can you still fight?"

Zorn’s gaze fell on Rosian.

Though his physical wounds were healed, his Power of the Undead was severely depleted. His Breath of the Undead was much weaker than it had been at the start.

He and Zorn had already fought over a dozen battles together.

Four of those had been against Level Six experts.

"I can still go on for a while. It’s nothing!"

Rosian said, his voice raspy.

Zorn immediately opened a Gray Mist Rift leading to the fourth layer.

「A dozen or so minutes later.」

Zorn and Rosian came fleeing back out of the fourth layer.

The enemy’s offensive was ferocious.

The fourth layer had already fallen almost entirely into enemy hands.

The main battlefield was now on the fifth layer.

Level Six Transcendent beings had begun to join the fight.

But the number of Level Six Transcendent beings on each side was completely lopsided.

Even though Zorn and Rosian had killed four of them, the enemy still had at least twenty more.

In a direct confrontation between Level Six Transcendent beings, even with Zorn’s participation, their side would be doomed to lose.

As a result, the Transcendent team led by Madam Mable was currently engaged in a fighting retreat.

They were trying to preserve their strength, but it was clear the fifth layer could not be held. The retreat continued.

Zorn and Rosian’s efforts had been fruitful.

But Ogrande City’s official forces were in a constant state of retreat!