Ke-style law enforcement officers

Chapter 762 Fraud
Milo and the Golden lineage have a long-standing feud. Regardless of whether it was the Golden Tree's own will or not, the grudge between them cannot be explained in a single sentence.

But the Temple of Hooking Finger was different. He had never heard of it before coming to the Dream Realm, yet the other party wanted to take Milo's life without any explanation after just one glance, which made him wonder if he had some kind of temple-sensitive constitution.

...

Perhaps from the perspective of the Hooked Finger Temple, the Golden Clan's tactic of seeking revenge through the Serpent People after being wronged is shameful. But from another angle, one can see just how cunning Lu Kui's faction really is.

Of course, one can only understand that when facing Milo's pressure head-on, when the two ribs of his chest are crushed and his internal organs are ruptured under the heavy pressure.

That is, the fate of the goddess priestess who used the hook.

...

As everyone knows, apostles, servants of God, nuns, priests, bishops...

Regardless of their social class or title, all those who serve the divine authority are, in essence, just officially recognized spiritualists with an added layer of so-called blessing, nothing more.

No matter how far they've come, even if they've reached the boundaries of the higher realms, how could a mere Spirit Visionist possibly threaten the ancient beings, let alone an ancient being at the Shadow level?

...

Therefore, the priestess's fate was not much different from that of the giant python beside the tower.

Using the identity of a mage or warlock to fight against a warrior is a foolish decision, as the young man from the Gold Faction who appeared in Salub earlier proved with half his life, although the Temple of Hooks clearly had not received any relevant information.

……

For residents and visitors of Derasrien, today was definitely a day of both heart-pounding excitement and visual feast.

The battle broke out in the city's central square, and there were multiple temples involved. Such a lineup prompted the royal family of the neighboring "Silan Kingdom" to send scouts to infiltrate Deraslien to spy on the situation.

Regardless of the continent or era, temple law enforcement is not unusual in the eyes of the people, but it is huge news when a temple messenger carrying out the will of the gods is forced to be beaten.

And this is exactly what is happening in the central square of Derasrien.

...

Half of the python's body was buried in the debris on the ground.

As for the collapsed ruins directly in front, a figure bathed in firelight walked out, holding the priestess's long hair in one hand.

There wasn't even a scene of intense magical combat. One second the priestess was alluring and graceful, and the next she looked like she had been run over by a mudslide, her eyes rolling back, unconscious.

Whether Milo is too strong, the Priestess is too weak, or it's due to elemental weaknesses, it's probably impossible to find the answer anytime soon.

Milo intended to dig a hole on the spot and bury the priestess.

But after discovering that the other person had died so easily, he gave up the idea.

Such a weak priestess, neither her spiritual vision nor the secrets accessible to her social class, are worth Milo wasting his time spying on.

So he tossed the mangled corpse aside with little interest.

The dull thud of the body hitting the ground came from the smoke-filled ruins.

Milo walked toward Yan and Xiao Yan. He didn't glance at the corpse much at first, but stopped abruptly after taking a few steps.

Then he turned around to face the collapsed ruins.

After the dust and smoke from the burning flames dissipated slightly, a somewhat unfamiliar face appeared in mid-air.

The figure was nearly ten meters long, half-hidden behind the smoke and dust, with bare toes lightly touching the invisible air. The person was in a half-sitting, half-lying posture, looking very lazy and graceful.

Most importantly, her entire body was in a phantom, transparent spiritual state, bathed in azure holy light, and the disdain and contempt in her alluring eyes were clearly visible.

...

Milo glanced at the delicate, translucent face in the air, then turned to look at the "folded" corpse lying quietly in the corner of the ruins in the distance, and the blue gem that had disappeared from the corpse.

A look of realization, not entirely bewilderment, appeared on his face as he said:

"I knew it was so easy..."

That's right, the enlarged version of the spirit floating above the ruins right now is the Priestess herself.

This was a technique that Milo had never seen before, and it was not recorded in the first book. Perhaps it was some kind of powerful spell or magic unique to the Hooked Finger Temple.

Logically, after their physical bodies are destroyed, shouldn't the souls of these Blessers be drawn back to the temple?

But Milo had a feeling that the priestess's life form did not depend on that flesh and blood body; in other words, the ten-meter-tall spirit body floating in mid-air at this moment was her true form.

...

"I remember that ugly monster in the Hall of Prayer said something before it died... its mother had been wary of me all along, was she talking about you?"

Obviously, it's highly unlikely.

But Milo just had to be mischievous.

Because after saying that, he probably wouldn't have time to talk anymore. The aura and oppressive presence of the priestess were rapidly increasing, and in less than a few seconds, she had crossed the threshold between the inferior and the superior.

Ah, the old days...

Milo himself had not yet fully adapted to his current identity. Did he really think that someone who had barely passed the basic requirements could exert such a strong sense of pressure on him?

Or is the life hierarchy order in the Dream Realm more stringent?
……

...

From Milo's perspective, it's really not right for an old soul in spirit form to make him feel pressured in the present moment.

But in the eyes of the other onlookers in Derasrien, it was even more unacceptable that a lower-level being could directly confront an Old One!
The wandering psychics, in particular, were most astonished.

They knew this mysterious young man was a formidable opponent, but when they felt the lingering power of his past that sent shivers down their spines, Milo was already a dead man in their hearts.

So the original plan of following Milo to pick up the temple messenger's corpse was changed to following behind the temple messenger and waiting to snatch Milo's corpse.

Of course, when the Priestess's giant spirit appeared, the wanderers still evacuated Derasrien City as quickly as possible.

"Listen to me, if a monster of that level really starts fighting, you can't just hide in an alley to avoid the aftershocks."

"Get out of here, get out of here!"

...

……

So what would it be like if a fight actually broke out on the spot?

To Milo's surprise, a figure covered in the color of magma dragged a line of fire past the edge of his vision and rushed straight toward the priestess's spirit body.

That was Xiao Yan, blinded by rage.

Note that "bloodshot" is not an adjective in this context.

Her eyes were truly red, and she once again unleashed two terrifying rays as she ran.

Heaven knows how she, who was beating up a python just a second ago, suddenly jumped over here to join in the fun.

"Go away, go away."

If this young, reckless girl were to be strangled to death by the priestess in the next second, then Milo and Yan's trip would have been for nothing.

As Xiao Yan lunged at the priestess, Milo flashed forward, grabbed one of her feet, pulled her back, and flung her back towards the tower.

"Keep an eye on your crazy wife!"

Milo only had time to shout that once before he dared not be distracted by checking the battle situation below the tower.

Because the countless crystalline petals that bloomed from the priestess's spirit body had spread into the surrounding space.

Each of those crystalline petals has a similar structure, yet each one is derived from one of the edges of the previous one. 1 begets 2, 2 begets 4, 4 begets 8... This cycle repeats endlessly. What is most chilling is that each crystal possesses the same sharpness and killing intent. After such a cycle and accumulation, it has become a strangling domain covering the entire space.

...

Faced with such a formidable foe, Milo naturally could not afford to be careless. So he abandoned his usual gentle fire and instead used a spiraling flame of sin.

The pulsating black flames, growing stronger as they spiraled, contrasted sharply with the dazzling crystal flowers that dominated the entire sky.

It was yet another clash between light and darkness.

To date, Milo has never encountered anything that the fire of sin cannot burn.

Even the dreamlike petal killing array released by the priestess was no exception. When these two completely different forces were forced together, the resulting disorder in the space caused the natural light of the sky to dim completely.

It's unclear when it started, but all of Milo's battles have become this charged-up, high-explosive style, especially when facing powerful superiors from the Dream Realm.

In comparison, he still misses the more primitive fighting methods that rely more on physical strength.

Perhaps to satisfy Milo's peculiar fetish, after the flames of sin collided with the crystal flower, the flames and the melting crystal petals reached a brief state of equilibrium, forming a special domain.

This seems to be another dimension, because through the shattered crystal Milo, one can see the city ruins "outside", the tower, and Yan and Xiao Yan beating the giant python under the tower. Moreover, within the domain, a vague prototype of the city of Derasrien has appeared, with a central square, a tower, and even a stream of light in the sky.

And then the priestess spirit that was floating in the air suddenly flashed and reassembled into a small physical body, which was the same body that Milo had crushed earlier.

This made Milo subconsciously glance at the priestess's corpse lying in the ruins outside this strange realm.

The body remained lying there silently.

But then a "new" one appeared.

The only difference is that the new priestess is no longer so frail; she now possesses the physique she once had.

Furthermore, what bathed it was no longer the sapphire glow unique to the Hooked Finger Temple, but instead a kind of bewitching green light...

...

Standing in the domain formed by the black flames and the constantly fractal crystals, Milo clenched his fist. He didn't mind trying a different way of fighting here; combat was his forte.

Especially when his curiosity was piqued, Milo became even more eager to tear off the priestess's head with his own hands and see if what was hidden under her delicate face was really what he was thinking.

...

Those who know Milo know that he is often most frightening in this state, and even the Priestess of Hooked Finger, whom he was encountering for the first time, showed a hint of undisguised fear on her face.

Heaven knows how many superiors, ancient beings, and even gods his hands tore apart during the Blood Moon Cataclysm.

The only regret might be that he didn't bring his iconic physics-based sword with him.

...

Perhaps because Milo is still too weak right now, or perhaps because his physique is a bit too advanced for him, the Priestess can be considered the strongest life form he has encountered since entering the Dreamland.

The crystalline petals in the surrounding air continued to differentiate and bloom, intertwining with the spiral of sinful fire, achieving a mysterious coexistence, with both sides possessing an order of continuous superposition and repetition.

Bang! ! !
Unlike the swift killing scene not long ago, in this mysterious realm, Milo was actually sent flying dozens of meters away by a delicate slap from the girl in front of him, who was wearing a priest's robe and had bare feet.

Visible shockwaves even exploded in the air.

If Milo hadn't already acquired a great deal of humanity from the Rus' dynasty and tempered his physique with the gentler side of the fires of sin, that slap would have sent him flying back into Old Theon's Lake Harley.

Who would have thought that the Temple of Hooks would send an ancient being to make a move?

Yes, who would have thought?
In Milo's mind, after the battle of Tombstone Dream, the major temples were already outwardly strong but inwardly weak. The main body and its servants who were not completely dead had all entered the abyss. Even if there were still ancient beings in the temples, they were just some insignificant characters in the past. With the blessing no longer effective, these people who valued their lives were even less likely to leave their respective factions' blessing places.

The snake people and the gold lineage, who had the deepest grudge, did indeed do just that.

But the Temple of Hooking Finger was incredibly generous...

...

Bang! !

Within the area, the ground crumbled and sand and gravel flew everywhere.

Milo did have counterattacks, but they were extremely difficult. He needed to pinpoint the openings in his opponent's attacks with pinpoint precision, which was very challenging for someone with limited spiritual vision. In most cases, he could only rely on his sense of danger to judge his opponent's attack intentions.

The seemingly delicate and weak body of the young priestess contained a terrifying power more savage than the giant python beneath the tower. Her delicate slaps and jade feet felt like a thousand pounds pressing down on Milo.

...

After a barrage of bombardments.

In the dust-filled area, Milo was covered in wounds, his left face was covered in blood, and he was panting heavily, leaning on his knees.

On the other side, the priestess was almost exactly the same as before the attack. Apart from a few stains on her priestess robe, there wasn't a single scratch on her baby-white and delicate skin.

"A sinner who gives even the gods a headache."

The priestess lightly touched the rubble of the ruins with her toes and said these words to Milo with a playful expression.

"Who would have thought you'd meet such a miserable end? Heh~"

The contemptuous and somewhat mocking words, accompanied by giggles, echoed in this wondrous realm, reaching Milo's ears.

However, that did not provoke Milo in the slightest anger.

On the contrary, it was the strange tone in those words that made Milo's originally serious expression falter slightly.

Ok?
this is not……

...

This time, Milo truly shifted his gaze to the strange crystalline substances that constituted this area, those "petals" that constantly superimposed and grew repeatedly.

Some scenes that seemed to have happened not long ago, yet felt like a distant memory, flashed through Milo's mind.

-

"It's hard to imagine an 8-year-old child being stumped by such a question."

Three matches placed on the table…

That familiar face, and that voice…

"Many students submitted this answer, and Ms. Leia said they were all little idiots..."

The three matches were initially stacked, then transformed into a three-dimensional structure, and finally broke into multiple matches...

It's like the skeletal structure of coral or the leaves of a fern, constantly differentiating and self-replicating.

Even a single thread can create the entire universe.

That is "fractal".

-

...

Milo, who had been maintaining a cautious fighting stance, suddenly relaxed and stood up straight.

He said with emotion:

"Heh...it feels like something from a past life."

The priestess was taken aback by the sudden change in her serious demeanor: "What did you say?"

Milo, however, revealed a chilling smile:
"I said, it was so close! You almost fooled me again, you damn liar, hehehe..."

"Playing tricks!" The priestess's face darkened, and she swept towards Milo, accompanied by endless fragments of shattered crystals.

This time, however, Milo neither dodged nor avoided. Instead, he quickly drew strange runes on the ground with his blood. These scribbled and unpredictable runes floated up from the ground and attached themselves to Milo's body one by one.

The strangest thing was that eerie music was playing in the air.

...

It was probably the instant that the strange music started playing.

The priestess, enveloped in a storm of crystalline petals, completely halted her advance; at this moment, her ferocious edge was less than ten centimeters away from Milo.

At this moment, the priestess's youthful face had lost all of its previous composure and arrogance, as if the eerie music echoing in the air had stirred up her terrifying memories.

And Milo, who had "escaped with his life," leisurely hummed along to the music:
"In that place where the three suns rise is..."

Does this feel familiar?

BANG!!!!

With that, he punched the priestess in the stomach.

This time, the combined power of the sinful fire, the strange runes, and Milo's own physique shattered all the crystals that were constantly fractalizing and multiplying. The girl in the tattered robe shot out hundreds of meters like a kite with a broken string, crashing into countless buildings.

The other person had just struggled to get up from the rubble when he looked up and found Milo's sinister smile right on his face!
"what!!"

The priestess instinctively screamed.

She tried to run, but Milo grabbed her head and pressed her rosy cheeks against the sharp gravel.

...

"Still want to run?"

Milo never knew how to hold back when he struck. After pressing down on the forehead, he stomped on the other person's calf and crushed it to pieces. The middle section of the other person's calf, which was whiter than winter snow, was directly crushed and folded into an acute angle.

Logically speaking, the priestess's spiritual vision and physical strength are superior to Milo's, so she should not be so vulnerable as she is now. Even if she has completely given up fighting back, she should not be so humiliated.

But the truth is, she has completely lost the will to resist.

Because Milo has grasped his deepest fears.

Perhaps it's not so much that he "grasped" it, but rather that Milo "remembered" it himself.

Milo, using his heel to push against the priestess's completely crippled leg, displayed his brutal side and asked viciously:

"Why didn't you just find a place to hide? Why did you have to come here looking for death?"

“Imnal”.

...

"Stop, stop, stop, stop..."

"I'll do whatever you want if you want me to stop the music!"

"As long as that bastard Pagon isn't summoned! Anything is fine!!!"

...

At this point, Imnal finally stopped pretending.

What about the goddess priestess of the Hooked Finger Temple, or the remnants of ancient power?

That's utter nonsense. He is the Great Old One who controls the rules of fractals—Imnal.

Son of the Outer God Engel Korath, the fraudster whose ultimate goal was to destroy all sentient life in the multiverse and create endless chaos.

Long before Milo knew of Azati's existence, Imnar was already carrying out his evil plan, attempting to take Azati, the son of chaos, from beneath the city of Nanwei, right under the noses of the gods.

Although all of this guy's plans failed without exception.

His later plot to replace the Emerald God and monopolize the Eternal Kingdom was exposed by the Favored Ones, and he was imprisoned for a time.

...

However, after the events of the Blood Moon and the Tombstone Dream, the "divinity" of the Dream Realm became noticeably thinner.

Without those eyes that could see through its fractal disguise, Imnar felt reborn in the dream world, because there were so many missing gods that it could even choose which god to play based on its mood...

Yes, it has resorted to its old tricks again, just as it did in the Eternal Kingdom, this time replacing one of the Great Old Ones of the Temple of the Grip.

As for the reasons for doing so, they naturally cannot escape the ultimate goal of those in power: to plunder faith.

……

Milo could practically defeat Imnal with ease.

Even though he is now in a subordinate position, he can still manipulate things.

After all, Imnar's deepest fear was already in his grasp—the fear inherited from its biological father, Kolas, of the Andromeda Old God Pagon.

Moreover, the runes that Milo wrote in blood and the music he played were the first-order magic to summon the power of Pagon.

It was very similar to the method used to exile Imnar from the opera house.

Milo only needs to unleash the power of Pagon, and this guy will be defeated without a fight.

It's hard to imagine just how badly its father, Korath, was defeated by Pagon during the War of the Stars...

...

Clearly, Imnar was aware of this fatal weakness, which is why she was unwilling to reveal her true identity. From beginning to end, she disguised herself as the Priestess of Hook, wanting to kill the weak Milo in her most skillful deception and avenge her previous defeat.

So he successfully played the clown again.

(End of this chapter)