Master the Abyss, starting from an apprentice priest.

Chapter 596 Above the Dark Battlefield
The Principality of Darkness, on the border of the territory of Amest.

Deep within the mountain range formed by the bones of the Night Beast, Quesanx had completed his ascension, successfully inheriting Helmond's "true divinity," and returned to the Sacred Abyss to stabilize his new power and rest.

Luo Xiu remained standing in the same spot, before him lay a scene of utter devastation—Helmond, the “child of the dragon god” who had lost his true divinity, lay buried deep in the ground like a pool of flesh and bones, barely clinging to life.

But He is not dead yet. Just as Luo Xiu knew—Helmond, who had been transformed into a "Primordial Demon," was immortal, but His level had also plummeted, reaching the lower limit of the "Primordial Demon" level, lv.80.

"..."

Luo Xiu gazed at Him.

He took out his scepter, performed several healing prayers, and administered healing to the dying Hermond, watching as new flesh and blood grew from his bare bones.

"Roar……"

He was still growling, but the health points on the panel were indeed slowly recovering. Luo Xiu then retrieved the [Chains of God's Imprisonment] and sealed Helmond once more.

Although He has lost His true divinity of [authority], like Hastia, He is still a genuine "celestial spirit" and a genuine "primordial demon".

Maintaining the state of "Destroying His True Name" will preserve the attribute boosts gained from "Destroying His True Name". Although the attribute boosts gained from "Destroying His True Name" are almost halved after losing true divinity, Helmond is still a high-quality attribute pool.

After resealing Helmond into the [Chains of God].

A new notification suddenly popped up on the panel of this divine item—

[Divine artifact "Chains of the Gods" (currently active)]

[Blockade of India: 62%]

【…】

[Helmond's struggle (has ceased) – "The child of the dragon god," Helmond, has lost most of his power and is no longer able to struggle.]

【…】

This section originally showed that "Helmond's Struggle" would reduce the daily effect of [Divine Lock] by 1 to 3 percentage points. However, this debuff has now expired, and [Divine Lock] has completely and reliably sealed Helmond.

This is a good thing.

Luo Xiu thought to himself.

There's no need to worry about Helmond breaking through or damaging the [Divine Prison Locks] anymore; we only need to consider Hastia, which will undoubtedly make things much easier.

Luo Xiu then retrieved the [Divine Prison Lock], and after confirming that nothing was left behind, he summoned the "Golden Pegasus," mounted it, and soared into the sky.

His next destination was the pitch-black capital.

From here to the dark capital, at Pegasus's speed, it would take roughly three to four days.

But before we actually arrive.

Luo Xiu felt that his power as the "Apostle of the Styx" in the fifth level of the [Abyss] destiny had gradually stabilized. He could now perform a book-flipping exercise commensurate with his rank, learning new skills and knowledge from the "Abyss Holy Scripture".

With that thought in mind, he took out the Abyss Codex from his storage bracelet while on Pegasus's horse and began to read it.

He spent his time traveling, reading, and resting.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

……

The Dark Principality.

The pitch-black capital, within the city limits, on the outer edge.

The expeditionary force that had traveled thousands of miles from the Nolan Empire had already set up camp on a vast plain outside the capital.

Thirteen expeditionary forces were already stationed here, maintaining an average distance of fifty miles from the black behemoth city at the edge of the horizon.

Countless skeletons are buried deep in the plains in the middle, and several legions have already engaged in local wars with the Black Army stationed in the capital.

Although the final battle has not yet fully erupted, it has already quietly begun in various regions.

Over a period of seven days.

The vanguard scouts dispatched by the Empire have engaged in no fewer than a hundred skirmishes, large and small, with the Black Army patrolling the outskirts of the capital. The most common occurrence is the complete annihilation of scout teams of a dozen or so men. The most devastating intelligence reported back to the Imperial camps is that even the most elite hundred-man investigation team suffered a complete loss of life.

"Crimson Falcon"—that was the code name for this hundred-person investigation team. Its leader was even a Celestial Knight with a sixth destiny, but when they ventured deep into the area near the city walls of the dark capital, they completely lost all contact.

The expeditionary force learned of the annihilation of the entire survey team atop the towering, dark walls of Dadu, where the Black Army pierced and hung the heads of all the survey team's knights and soldiers with spears.

Even the leader of the "Crimson Falcon" investigation team—the Knight of the Day—was nailed to a specially made execution platform. Although he was dead, his body was modified by forbidden techniques, making him appear as if he were still alive.

The crimson execution fire burned him, and the corpse of the knight of the day screamed incessantly, "Ah—ah—!" The sound even pierced through the sandstorm and echoed across the entire plain before the dark capital. It could even reach the expeditionary army camp dozens of miles away, allowing many soldiers to hear it clearly.

The morale of many soldiers has already been affected. Even though everyone knows that the Empire has an absolute advantage over the Dark Duchy's army in terms of both strength and numbers, many soldiers still show fear of the upcoming decisive battle.

Meanwhile, the great sages who had arrived at the "Tower of Sages" had already set up a barrier to isolate spirituality, which finally silenced the eerie sounds coming from the direction of the dark capital, and the negative impact they had brought gradually subsided.

This was merely a scene, an interlude, that occurred before the final battle.

……

The Songyuan Expeditionary Force, stationed at their camp.

Inside a three-person-high open tent in the area where the "Descendants Legion" is stationed.

"Little train..."

"Shh... don't make any noise."

"..."

One of the "Descendants," "Great Blessing of the Enlightened," Alicia, gazed at Thomas, who was intently focused on engraving his skills onto a blank scroll.

"Skill creation" is now the main area where top-tier players like Thomas and Alicia invest their experience points.

Thomas was working on creating his own skill. He had failed three times in a row, but this time he was quite confident. He felt hot and thought he would definitely succeed this time.

until--

--boom!!!!!

From the moment the scroll surface began to flicker with tiny sparks, to the moment those sparks burst outwards like crackling electricity, and Thomas and Alicia heard the deafening explosion emanating from it, only a split second had passed.

"..."

The other "Descendant," "Iron Pot Stewed Crocodile," who was standing to the side, shook his head and promptly slammed his dual-wielded holy shields into the ground.

—Buzz! A buzzing sound filled the air as golden light rose from the shield, quickly spreading and enveloping it before the shock of the explosion completely dissipated.

It was as if a cage had been drawn on the spot, sealing everything that could move inside. The continuous explosions only echoed "boom, boom—" within the semi-circular Holy Shield barrier, without affecting the outside of the barrier or overturning the entire camp.

Until the explosion subsided.

"hateful!"

A look of sorrow crossed Thomas's face—

"The fourth time! This is the fourth time I've failed, damn it!"

"Why doesn't this lousy game have a pity system? Damn it!"

"..."

Thomas grumbled angrily. He had wasted another blank scroll, and there was a limit to the number of blank scrolls that could be applied for each week by the church. He had already used up all the ones he could apply for this week based on his merits.

Blank scrolls can actually be traded with other players, but Thomas is short on cash right now—he just crafted a complete set of "Epic" quality weapons and equipment, and his main-hand weapon has been upgraded to "Epic+". Weapons and equipment are always a money pit, and Thomas's wallet has just been emptied.

"What an empty house and empty cars, Thomas."

Alicia, clutching the staff that was taller than her, looked at Thomas with a hint of disdain and said in her usual listless and languid voice:

"I was just about to remind you that you ran out of mana when you used the final [Radiant Inscription] skill."

"..."

"Damn, I didn't notice."

Thomas sighed, rubbing his forehead.

As a priest, "mana" is not an attribute that Thomas can afford to have much of when he reaches the Triple Fate level.

He often uses overly complex skill combinations when creating his own skills—which does improve the effect and quality of a successfully created skill, but it can also cause his mana to be depleted before the inscription is completed.

However, the inscription process cannot be stopped halfway through to make a rebound, which often leads to failures in creating custom skills.

However, even so.

Thomas has already mastered most of the skills he primarily uses in "Triple Fate". This includes skills that other priest players have summarized from their combat experience, skills that are considered "essential", "T0", or "top-tier" in "Triple Fate", and Thomas has learned them all.

His main goal was to experiment more—for example, to combine several of his most proficient, rarest, or most sought-after skills to see if he could create some hidden and powerful abilities. He did manage to create two, but that was entirely by luck.

"...I was thinking that after I made something new, I would try to challenge myself with the weekly challenge."

The weekly "Shadow of Fate" is now the main permanent gameplay mode for players to obtain feat and experience rewards. Since "Gluttonous Tyrant" Brigantis, many new high-difficulty bosses have been added.

Characters such as Fafnir, the "Dragon of Destruction," Gabriel, the "Lord of Blood Sacrifice," and Alciaz, the "Lord of Illusion," and so on.
In fact, Thomas and his teammates focus on teamwork, which is enough to defeat most of these difficult bosses.

As for bosses like "Gluttonous Tyrant" Brigantis, "Wild Hunt Demon" Gabriel, and "Illusion Lord" Alziaz, which are rated as "Annihilation" difficulty, Thomas's team can also clear them at 10% of their difficulty after the dynamic balancing of strength.

Thomas originally wanted to try increasing the difficulty to 20%, but before he could do so, the weekly dungeon "Shadows of Fate" was updated again.

The new challenge level features Fafnir, the "Devourer"!

Unlike Fafnir, the "Destroyer Dragon" who has already entered the instance, the "Devourer Dragon" has become much stronger, with a huge gap between it and all the bosses that have already entered the instance. Thomas, who was eager to challenge it, tried to take it on, but was instantly killed as soon as he entered the instance.

Thomas didn't even manage to touch the "Devouring Dragon" once—he didn't even know how he died. Because of this, he started grinding like crazy these past few days, trying to improve his tankiness and damage so that he could try to challenge the "Devouring Dragon" with his teammates again and try to get the lowest reward.

"..."

Thomas recalled these events.

He sighed, retrieved the destroyed blank scroll, turned to his teammates, and said:

"That 'Devouring Dragon' Fafnir... what the hell? We've never even encountered this boss!"

"However, according to what's said on the forum, it was the bishop and... the paladins of the 'Godhunter' Templar Knights from the Holy Court, along with that saintess, who jointly carried out the campaign in Fafnir City... uh, is that Fafnir's new form? That's terrifying!"

"How exactly did the bishop kill Him... or rather, just how powerful was the bishop?"

"..."

"...I don't know. But I feel that I'm not far from the seventh level of destiny."

The crocodile shook its head and said:
“I regret it a little. I think it was too hasty to go on the expedition with Lord Gawain and Stuart. If we had stayed in Val Fortress or Fafnir, we might have encountered even more strange things.”

"For example, the 'Dragon Devourer' must be triggered by a hidden quest or a time-limited quest. To be honest, missing out on it is a huge loss."

"Next time, I'll follow the bishop everywhere. Wherever the bishop goes, I'll go. I'll be loyal to the bishop!"

"..."

“Indeed,” Thomas nodded.

“Indeed,” Alicia agreed.

The players were discussing excitedly when, at the same time, the curtains of their tents were lifted.

A priest walked in; it was their "Guardians of the Holy Spirit" captain—Connor, the "Purifying Priest" who, along with the players in the first tier, was on the "Triple Fate" path.

As soon as Connor entered, the players fell silent. Connor merely glanced at the mess inside the tent with a somber expression, sighed, and shook his head.

He hesitated for a long time, wanting to speak but ultimately said nothing more about the mess he saw.

He simply looked at Thomas and said:

"There are two things I need to tell you."

“First, from the [Supreme] side, General Albert conveyed a request to me.”

"Due to the destruction of the previous 'Crimson Falcon' survey team, the [Supreme] has now withdrawn most of its scout teams from the front lines. The mission to conduct an investigation in the plains of the Dark City will be handed over to you by me."

"General Albert has promised you a generous reward. And your qualities are sufficient to handle this dangerous mission. Therefore, I am here to inform you that you may decide for yourselves whether to accept the commission."

"besides,"

Connor paused, his eyes gleaming, and addressed the invaders before him:

"The archbishop has arrived."

"He has information about the war that he wants to know from you, so he sent me to tell you to go see him now, immediately."

……

(End of this chapter)